Home  News National News Blacks agree with Obama’s message
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Blacks agree with Obama’s message |
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Written by Dr. Garth Rose & Sonia Morgan
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Thursday, 17 July 2008 |
Despite Reverend Jesse Jackson’s off-mike negative comments about Barack Obama that caught the nation’s attention recently, Blacks seem to be in agreement with Obama that they need to take personal responsibility for their lives.
The sentiment was clear when Obama addressed the NAACP annual convention in Cincinnati on Monday, to rousing applause. Obama told the gathering that if Blacks were serious about reclaiming the dream, “we have to do more in our own lives, our own families and our own communities.” He, however, also stated that while Washington must provide greater education and economic assistance for Blacks, they must also demand more of themselves.
Reverend Jackson had accused Obama of “talking down to Black people” and said he wanted to castrate him for it. Jackson was caught rebuking Obama at a conference in which he participated a recently, while speaking to another participant and assuming that his microphone was turned off. Jackson later apologized to Obama.
Unlike Jackson, however, many other civil rights activists support Obama’s stance on Blacks being more responsible and think Obama is doing well in creating a balance between being the first Black presidential candidate and the need to speak to and for all races.
Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory, an African American who also supports Obama’s position, said Obama has been addressing Black issues like unemployment, mortgage foreclosures and the issue of high percentage of Blacks in prisons.
Here in South Florida, the president/CEO of the Urban League of Broward County, Germaine Smith-Baugh said that she did not pay much attention to Jackson’s tirade. “I haven’t the energy for that”, she said in an interview with National Weekly.
Smith-Baugh said she fully supports Obama’s theme of responsibility by Blacks which she added fits squarely with the mission and motto of the League – ‘Empowering Communities and Changing Lives’.
“The Black community needs to do this every day – empower themselves, their communities and change their lives. This requires living responsibly,” Smith-Baugh said.
Echoing Smith-Baugh’s sentiments, Lauderhill Commissioner, Dale Holness said, “What I encourage our young people to do is to take responsibility for themselves and this world and I think this is one of the areas that we as Black people haven’t taken seriously. The message Obama is laying out is apt. We are responsible not only for the things that happen in our lives, but in our world.”
However, some Obama critics believe that he is singling out the Black community, since he does not seem to address this issue when he is speaking to other ethnic groups.
Obama told the NAACP meeting that he was aware that some people thought he was too tough on Blacks for “this responsibility stuff,” but he wasn’t going to stop talking about it. He continued that no amount of government assistance will make any difference if Blacks don’t seize more responsibilities in their own lives.
Earlier this year, on Father’s Day, Obama made a similar speech at a Black church in which he encouraged Black men to be more responsible fathers, and play a better role in participating in their children’s lives.
Republican candidate John McCain was scheduled to address the NAACP convention on Wednesday.
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