Rev. Jackson, are you kidding me? You want to "cut [Barack Obama's] nuts off" for "talking down" to black people? You are criticizing him for calling absent and neglectful black fathers to task and challenging them to acknowledge, raise, and proudly love the children they created from the day they are born?
Allow me to introduce you to yourself: here.
Allow me to introduce you to Sen. Obama: here.
If you want to challenge the presumptive democratic nominee on his political platforms because you feel they are inconsistent with what you deem best for the black community, speak up. If you have advice to offer from your own failed -- failed! -- campaign that might benefit Sen. Obama in the general election, clue him in. If you flat out hate the dude and think his policies are going to run this nation further into the ground, tell us why. But until and unless Sen. Obama joins the clergy, cheats on his wife, and fathers a secret child with his mistress, you are way out of line to suggest that his talks on the urgent need for black people to repair the black family are anything less than absolutely necessary.
Perhaps if someone had "talked down" to you years ago, things would have turned out better for your very own black family? Including your son, Jesse, Jr. who now works for Sen. Obama and had this to say:
Reverend Jackson is my dad and I'll always love him. He should know how hard that I've worked for the last year and a half as a national co-chair of Barack Obama's presidential campaign. So, I thoroughly reject and repudiate his ugly rhetoric. He should keep hope alive and any personal attacks and insults to himself.
Rev. Jackson I am of a younger generation. A generation who is beyond excited about the potential for social change that having a black president would bring. A generation who is also savvy enough to know that just any black president will not do.
We vote for Obama because he is proud to be a member of the black community but, in his words, is "not limited to it." We vote for Obama because he wants to use both sides of the political aisle to make this country what it can be. We vote for Obama because he is painfully aware of the needs of poor children of all colors growing up in broken homes and, as his supporters, we will follow him closely if elected to see that he makes good on his promises to protect them. But we also vote for Obama because he wears race as a proud badge, and not a bloody wound. He represents an America where we are aware of racial differences, but not held captive to them.
So, Reverend, if you are looking for a new way to defend the black community, I have a suggestion. Instead of calling for the removal of Sen. Obama's testicles, your ministerial energies might be better spent preaching to young men who, like yourself, find themselves unable to resist the temptation to wantonly father children outside of their marriages.
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" But we also vote for Obama because he wears race as a proud badge, and not a bloody wound. "
NICE! Thanks Taii. I just don't get Jesse....
Nice Article. Great job in calling out he Rev.
I'm a white republican and I know that Rev. Jackson and other civil rights leaders had to face down dogs and guns and billy clubs to just get the right to sit at a counter and eat. Or, have their children stay in a nice motel instead of the back seat of a car. Or, go to any public restroom instead of in the bushes.
Sometimes the pain and suffering we whites have perpetrated on our black brothers and sisters makes my heart ache.
However, as I grow older I also understand the difficulty of being marginalized and thought of as over the hill. Jesse is there. What he said was attention grabbing and undignified. Obama represents a success in the civil rights movement. Why can't the old civil rights leaders just look in the camera and thank all americans, white and black, for having the guts to nominate a black man for president? And applaud a man like Obama for catching the wave of civil rights. Wasn't that what it was all about?
Well said and thank you!
Excellent comment.
You just made me shed a tear, FirstShirt. Thank you!
Amen.
OUCH!!! And perfect!
I like that distinction between a "proud badge" and a "bloody wound" which is precisely why I couldn't vote for him, but will vote for Obama without hesitation.
I think it's great that he's calling on men to take responsibility for any & all children they help concieve, I just wish he didn't limit his call to young 'Black' men. I understand that Fathers abandoning their children is considered an epidemic in the African-American community but it is happening to children of all colors, hues & tones, in every neighborhood & community in America. I would also love to see Mrs. Obama start addressing the fact that girls/young women (of all colors) are having children while they are still children themselves - it takes two to conceive a child.
Yes, yes, yes. Go home Jesse. Run Jesse Run, away and keep your mouth shut. For good. You don't represent the black community, we are better than what you represent. This is the best article I've seen on Huff Post. Keep it coming.
am just wondering why jesse didn.t say same thing to bill cosby.he talked down to blacks more than obama.that even jesse had to cry on one ocassion but may be he did say same thing to bill cosby,just the mic did n't pickup.sorry jesse the african american community does not belong to you.barack does not need you to anoint him.
Speak the truth girl, shut him down...
If you speak for the younger generation of black Americans, then black America's future is bleak. Obama is pushing the white lie that the problems of black America's workers are caused by the behavior of black Americans. Try pushing that line on white workers as an explanation for their problems, Taii. White American workers trail white capitalists and managers in every significant social category. Are white workers to blame for this? Are they losing their houses and jobs, failing to go to college, etc. because they don't exhibit proper levels of personal responsibility and pull themselves up by their bootstraps? Is Phil Gramm right that white workers are a bunch of whiners who suffer a recession of the mind? Double standard, Taii, and the really pathetic thing about it is that you're a black woman. When did so many black people become Republicans? When did Democrats get in line to blame the victim?
I think you are missing the point. Obama is not saying personal responsibility and government responsibility are mutually exclusive. But what he is saying is that as much as government programs can serve as one of many helps the already existing fatherless black families need, the fact that more than 50% of black families are fatherless (YES, JUST OVER 50%!) dictates that personal responsibility is definitely a factor. Just as Crystal Meth seems to be a problem with working class whites (although not limited to them), systemic changes will definitely effect change, but so will personal responsibility i.e. keeping tabs on your kids and making sure they don't fall in with a bad crowd. I think you're overreacting here.
Excuse me!
Victim my struggling-to-make-ends-meet......foot.
I am a Black woman, as many know. How is a Black man not supporting his child a White person's fault?
Don't hand me the garbage about the "White man's keeping him down......
Not when a Brother in prison making 10-cents and hour sends his children child support.....
Not when HBCU's are courting White college students because there's not enough Black students enrolling.....
Parents raising their children will do more for the Black community than all the government programs combined.
As Senator Obama said turn off the t.v and video games and read with your children.
Know where your children are.....
Go to parent teacher meetings.....And not to kick the teacher's butt for telling you your child is failing.
For those of us raising our children to be productive members of society, he's not talking to us.
For those who get mad......well.....you may want to examine that a little closer.
We have to step up.
White people don't make Black people have children out of wedlock - nor are they responsible for those who won't educate themselves but expect a government check to be their main line of support. You have got to be kidding! I am a 50 year old Black woman and she speaks for me.
FYI - There are good and bad in EVERY RACE - but it is time for Black people to let go of the welfare check and get an education. You need to go and watch TV - oops - Obama wants you to turn that off and read..So just why don't you try reading something to educate your mind and stop looking for excuses. Blacks are not victims of any race moreso than their own. Instead of Jesse trying to lift Barack up he seeks ways to bring him down. The crab theory! If you are Black - you know about that!
In the black community you see black people behaving like fools. But plenty of white folks are completely irresponsible. Like the guy painting our house. He has six kids somewhere in Idaho and is busy cranking out another family with his young Asian girlfriend.
At least he's useful to us.
You have set it straight and wrapped it up just right. Amen sister!
If in fact there are numbers of your generation who lack the talent to produce what you have done here, then we are in far more trouble than even my morbid imagination could concoct. If you imagine that you are the first generation excited about the possibility of change, then the disconnect is more real than the aforementioned imagination can manufacture.
Dear Ms Austin:
I understand you outrage about the inappropriate remarks of Rev. Jackson. Although I am in the same age group as Rev. Jackson, I agree with you that Obama's call for personal responsibility is absolutely on the mark for the African Americans of all age groups. However, I resent your self righteousness in judging Rev. Jackson, who like all human beings, may have had moments of weakness. I am so appalled that a smart young black woman had absolutely nothing positive or complementary to say about Rev. Jesse Jackson's 45 years struggle for justice and equality. I personally argue that Obama would not be where he is had it not been the trail blazing candidacy of Jesse Jackson in 1984, 1988. No need to trash Jackson just because he made an inappropriate remark, which he has apologized for. I am a stronger support of Obama, but trashing Jackson does not advance Obama.
Most of us 30 and younger who are a significant portion of Obama's base can't even remember Jackson's run for prez in the 80's, so I'm not sure it's entirely correct to say that Obama would not be where he is had it not been for Jackson's candidacy. Obama is where he is because he is a profound leader and organizer who worked his way up the ladder to achieve success in every sense of the word.
All that you are suggesting here is that you need to take a little bit of time to study the work of those who came before you. You are admitting to a fundamental disconnect that is likely to lead to more uniformed decisions. Nothing happens in a vacuum.
Thank you.
I agree with you 100%
Taii,
After that post there is nothing left for me to say on this subject except, Thank you for saying what so many of us were thinking but had not the talent to say.
The disrespect for knowledge and experience will come back to bite this generation of whatever your selves in your butts.
Jackson spewing this crap is him being a hypocrite and I am a 43 year old black woman saying so, remembering that any good that may have been accomplished by this man has long since been negated by his later foolishness and philandering.
We all must grow and evolve as human beings-black, white, Chinese, whatever. He is showing no signs of any of that. Jackson knows he was wrong for stating that garbage. Unlike some, God gave me my own mind-I owe no allegiance to anyone "just because" and especially when he's black. That's ignorant.
SherryIndianapolis,
Rev. Jackson has apologized profusely! What else must he do? I am so tired of self-righteous people. Let any one of us who had never used crude language in unguarded moment be the first one to cast a stone. FOX News and the Corporate media are only interested in the politics of "divide and conquer." African -Americans must always guard against the "Willie Lynch" strategy employed by slave owners.
They should have a Blog Pulitzer. And you should get one for this submission.
Agreed.
Now, now, let's give credit where due here. I seem to remember a story of Reverend Jackson intruding himself into a delicate union negotiation at a brewery somewhere and as a payoff for him not rocking the barrel his sons with no prior experience were given lucrative distributorships. Now, this is a father doing right by his family, same as the Corleones or the Sopranos.
Woodstock represents justice forevermore. Abbie Hoffman threatened the promoter of that festival with disruption unless he received ten grand in cash. He was refused, so, during the set of Ten Years After, he and some of his lower east sidekicks jumped onstage. Whereupon Townsend bashed him with a guitar and the episode ended.
That's the way to talk down to interlopers who don't know their place.
Names in the foregoing may've been changed due to memory loss.
Tremonius:
I think you are delusional!
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Posted July 10, 2008 | 04:08 PM (EST)