Some black folk ought to be sent "straight to DVD" for the disrespect they showed to Tavis Smiley during the election, simply because, as a black man, he would not get on the Obama bandwagon, hook, line, and sinker. Now, I know that Tavis can come off sometimes as the "king of black folk" and I personally don't agree with Tavis on several key issues. And I know it is none of my business, but I am a little concerned that he is not married yet. But I digress. However, with all that aside, "America cannot be America" if a black person cannot disagree with another black person without being kicked out of the "Black America Club".
Newsflash: I "is" a black man, and I did not vote for Barack Obama for two simple reasons:
As a Bible-believing Christian, I am against the homosexual agenda in every way, shape, form, and fashion.
- I am against abortion and I am for life.
However, I am still proud of Barack Obama and his family and how they are representing. Again, "America cannot be America" if I, a black man, can't be free to disagree with Barack Obama, a black man, but at the same time show appreciation and respect for him and his family.
Be that as it may, here are three reasons why I believe some black folk ought to apologize to Tavis and welcome him back into the "Black America Club:"
In America, Tavis has the right to support who he feels is best qualified to do the job. Even if Tavis had voted for John McCain, black folk should still respect him for supporting who he believed was the best person for the job and not jumping on the "all black people should vote for Barack Obama" train.
In America, a journalist and a citizen can raise whatever questions he or she wants to raise about presidential candidates and other elected officials. This is the American way.
Tavis is right. We should hold President Obama "accountable," just as we would hold anyone else in elected office accountable. In the past, we have had several Negroes get into power and then act as though they forgot where they came from. Just because Kwame Kilpatrick, Sheila Dixon, and Roland Burris are black, does that mean we should not hold them to the same ethical and moral standards that we hold all other elected officials? Barack Obama's blackness does not exempt him from being held to the same standards to which we hold other elected officials. I don't mean any disrespect, but at the end of the day, Barack Obama is just an elected official like any other elected official, subject to be voted out of office if he does not do what we tell him to do. In America, the power is not in the presidency, the power is in the people.
Do yo' thing Tavis and "keep the faith".
Alonzo Brooklyn is a full-time writer and commentator. His weekly column can be read at www.BlackChristianNews.com as well as http://AlonzoBrooklyn.WordPress.com. You may e-mail him at: alonzo.brooklyn@gmail.com.
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tavis is just envious of obama. that's a fact
It is so sad that careful examination of a "public" figure generates accusations of "hater-ade" about persons who disagree with popular opinion. Why can't dialogue take place on the merit of content rather than some supposed "hidden jealousy agenda" by dissenters. This is a free country. When I last checked we still possessed the God-given right to disagree with other humans - it's called individuality and unique design by our Creator! Tavis just spoke the truth. I am not his fan, but I am a fan for honesty in life and especially public debate on pivotal issues. I am a Christian Black American citizen who voted for an independent Christian candidate Alan Keyes.
First of all, the first amendment give us the right of freedom of speech but sometimes the things that we say gets us into much trouble our tongue is hard to tame and no one can control their tongue. It has gotten a lot of people killed and in trouble. Yes Travis has the right to say whatever he wanted to say but when it comes to Obama. A Lot of people are sensitive to him and are defensive because of the fact that this is our first black president and he has that intelligent look of condidence and he has a very clear sounding voice. He proves his fact and I don't think that they voted for him because of his color. I voted for him because I felt he could do the job and I prayed to God before I voted for he to let me choose right and he won so my pray was answered I think that we have alot of opinions about him all wrong if we don't give him a chance then we will never know. So what if choose Rick Warren to do the speech gay people can pray as well as straight people and no matter what they are still human and if this man loves God I am sure that God will get him out of any sitution if he prays enough about it and believes in what he says.
Thank you for your courageous blog! As a black man I also didn't vote for Obama. I agree with your positions on abortion and gay marriage, but that wasn't the reason. Obama broke promises during the campaign to the very people that supported him. Most of his supporters were against warrantless wiretapping but he voted for it anyway. Most of his supporters are against the war in Iraq but he has taken no significant steps to end it. Most are against the war in Afghanistan but that war is being accelerated. People were upset at Bush for the bailout. Obama voted for it and has done more bailouts since then. Obama promised to review and overturn unconstitutional actions taken by Bush such as indefinite detention and the "no fly" list. Instead the Obama administration has expanded those things, and his chief of staff said that if you are on the secret no fly list you "have no rights because you are not part of the American family" and therefore your 2nd amendment rights do not matter.
Tavis Smiley had Cornell West on several months ago. Professor West, who campaigned for Obama, called the new president a "neoliberal" who is "controlled by Wall Street" and is "taking from the poor to give to the rich". He was referring immediately to what is going on with the bailouts. But the so called "cap and trade" program being used to fight "global warming" (which is really caused by the sun) does that in spades. The cost of cap and trade will be passed on to the consumer. The beneficiaries of this system will be the super rich like Al Gore who can afford to by farmland and let it go fallow as a "carbon sink" and then sell the "carbon credits" to the corporations. It is time to quit looking at Barack as simply a "black president" and look at the agendas he is pushing and decide for ourselves if they line up with what we want.
For the record I neither voted for Obama or McCain. I voted for constitutionalist candidate Chuck Baldwin.