African immigrants are proud to see one of their own (Barack Obama) rise to such prominence in American politics.
From coast to coast, Somali, Ethiopian, Nigerian and Kenyan Americans are knocking on the doors of their fellow African immigrants, registering new citizens to vote, raising money and preaching Obama’s mantra of hope and change. They hope that his prominence will change their status as one of the nation’s least-recognized immigrant groups, and that he will one day provide aid to help ease the turmoil and poverty in countries such as Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan.
At a Caribou Coffee shop on East West Highway in Silver Spring, where Somalis and Ethiopians often gather, Ahmed Eyow, a Somali, said supporting Obama is a no-brainer.
“Obama is one generation away from Africa,” said Eyow, who immigrated to the United States nearly 30 years ago. “I have nothing against my brothers and sisters, black people who were born here, but his father is like me. His father was an immigrant. I can relate to him the way I can relate to my own children. He’s almost like my son.”
I think that it is great to see a story of how a person can rise from any background to prominence, and it would send a great message to the rest of the world. However over the past few months Obama has come off to me as very packaged. Yes, I know that all politicians “package” themselves, but Obama seems to be a very special and calculated case. I am beginning to wonder if there is anything authentic about this guy.
Obama has spent local political career trying to attach himself to black Americans (those that are descendants of slaves). Not being a decedent of slaves himself, Obama shored up his “cred” by joining Dr. Jeremiah Wright’s church on the South Side of Chicago (another calculated choice of location). He made himself into an “African-American” rather than the son of an African immigrant.
Now that he is running for higher office that became a liability and he took a different direction. He is now a “post racial” candidate. There is nothing wrong with that and I prefer “post racial” politics to the race hustling of the Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons, but this is where Obama hitched his political wagon when he initially ran for office on the South Side of Chicago.
Now that he has won the nomination, he is emphasizing his white roots. Again, there is nothing wrong with a person embracing all sides of their heritage. My problem here is that this is cold political calculation and does not seem to be real. A decade ago, he was rejecting all of this, now he is embracing it now that he is running for higher office without explaining that he had a change of heart or any of that. All of a sudden, he is a “post racial” guy that transcends race. So my problem is who is the real Obama? The one that joined Dr. Wright’s very openly and proudly pro-black church or the post racial guy? What form will he take if he takes office?
Now he seems to be backing away from his pledge to withdraw from the disaster that is Iraq, broke his promise on public campaign funding and already has a series of “flip flops“. This is not including the sweetheart deal he received on his mortgage on top of getting his $2 million mansion for $300,000 under the asking price in 2005, which was 2-3 years before the current fall of housing prices. The more I hear this guy, the more the voice in my head tells me: “This guy is completely full of crap”.
One thing I can say about McCain (and no, I am not supporting McCain) is that he seems to be straight forward and authentic. You know exactly what you get with him. In comparing Obama and McCain, I can’t help but think of what Malcolm X used to say about “the fox and the wolf”. The wolf snarls and the fox smiles, while both will eat you.
On the other hand, Bush has been such a disaster (and McCain promising more of the same) that the fact Obama is not Republican is probably good enough in spite of the fact he has no authenticity.
Filed under: Bad Culture, Politics, Race | Tagged: African-Americans, Barack Obama
Obama, being the son of a Kenyan immigrant, is probably the biggest living argument AGAINST African-Americans to come in a long time
And then we have Muslims supporting McCain.
Patrick’s comment is interesting because I have always thought that the fact that the only black candidate to get this far is actually half-white and shares little of the background or attributes of most other blacks in the US other than their skin tone, African ancestry (and a love of basketball), is actually significant. A lot can be read into that. Don’t get me wrong, white folks getting over the complexion hump is significant, but it is superficial in the end isn’t it. The substance is what lies underneath. Perhaps the country has not come as far as many would like to think.
Muslims should have certainly realized by now that THEY are not wanted or cared about as a constituency by Obama. His need to repeatedly deny ANY connections to Islam or being Muslim isn’t enough to let us know how we are viewed in the eyes of the American public? His mommy and daddy being ATHEISTS is preferable to either of them being Muslim. He just yesterday made that exceedingly clear. Religion today IS a test no matter what the Constitution states or others who view it as a holy sacred text may claim to the contrary.
[...] Tariq Nelson writes of Barack Obama: African immigrants are proud to see one of their own (Barack Obama) rise to such prominence in American politics. [...]
Interesting points in this post. I have linked to this at The DC Feed.
[...] I have posted more thoughts on the Obama phenomenon and his support amongst this East African brethren here. [...]
McCain is just as phony and flips flops the straight talk expressed derailed a few years ago
Two words: Cynthia McKinney
With the exception of my sister and I everybody else in my family voted for Hillary and I have no problem with that. As long as it’s not John McCain , it’s all good.
I do have to agree. The Obama hype is beginning to ware down with me also. Initially, I was all excited about this guy. He spoke the right words, promised this , promised that. Now he sounds more checkered these days. It’s like he procrastinating, unsure of himself. He’s disowning everything that was once dear to him and this bothers me. Even if I don’t( I won’t) vote for John, the man does deserve his props for being consistent.
These days he is just taking people for granted. I could be wrong, but I have the strangest feeling that if he ever makes it to the Whitehouse, there will be some disappointed people out there.I’m slowly beginning to feel that way about him as time passes. At the same time, I ‘m not voting for ‘ol Johnny,either.
Lets be realistic - Obama should not do anything for AA that we should be doing for ourselves - that relates to any presidential candidate.
Obama’s symbolism is enough - most politicians at this level are pre-packaged anyway.
Obama has put himself in this position which requires a great deal of shrewdness and savyness that has to be admired.
Obama would have made the Ottomans proud.
Salaam
As-Salaamu `Alaykum,
The most recent issue of the Black Agenda Report had an article titled “Cynthia McKinney Deserves Our Support, Obama Does Not.” http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=681&Itemid=1
Although I displayed this, I don’t think that any significant amount of Blackamericans will abandon Obama. As sophisicated as we would like to think that Blackamericans have become politically, most will vote for Obama based primarily off of the identity politcal factor (even though he’s bi-racial and not from the offspring of the ex-slaves).
I’m curious as to how many Somali and Ethiopian brothers and sisters in America know about his platform and his stances on warrantless wiretapping, gay marriage, redeploying troops from Iraq to Afghanistan, etc. Probably very little.
What has been most disturbing for me in the past 15 years is how Blackamericans have sheepishly followed the Democratic Party in most election cycles.
What makes the Black Agenda Report’s endorsement and Abu Usamah’s comment important is that if or when Blackamericans and Americans in general decide to make the leap towards supporting 3rd parties, the Democratic Party and Republican Party will be forced to engage people in more meaningful ways instead of being the puppets of special interests.
When Pres. Bush spoke in front of the NAACP convention in Detroit, he was met coldly except for one comment - the Democratic Party has taken you for grant. He received applause for that one statement,
Some may say that voting for a 3rd party candidate would be throwing away votes, but I disagree with this reasoning. If people voted their conscious more often, our nation wouldn’t be dominated by two parties. Look at what happend in recent history when Jesse “the Body” Ventura became the governor of MN running on the Reform Party ticket.
WALLAHU `Alim.
Wassalaam
I Agree, vote an alternate party.
Obama is a politician and he is doing what politicians do:flip-flopping, telling every one what they want to hear in order to get their support,but at the end it all comes down to this: who do you want in the White House?An other Bush or a man of color.I think the choice should be clear for us AAs, having a “black” president will open a lot of doors that we thought impossible.
Allegiance to color is not a good enough reason to vote for someone. I can not see myself voting for Alan Keyes, Ward Connerly (if he ran for office) or for the current mayor of Detroit.
I hope that we never forget that there were “black” overseers on plantations keeping the “black” slaves in check. Moise Tshombe was a “black” man, who was behind the murder of Patrice Lumumba in the Congo.
Just being “black” doesn’t mean working vigorously for the improvement of the lives of “blacks” or having one’s best interest.
That “black” argument is a little played out.
The game is politics it’s not an authenticity contest once he gets power the real Obama will come out and his strategy will be a failure or a success sometimes we got to try to see the forest from the trees. History and his deeds will judge Obama it’s like the story of Khidr many times Musa couldn’t understand why Khidr was doing things that seemed amoral but when he looked deeper he saw the moral clarity of Khidr. One thing is for certain we don’t want McCain so we have to roll the dice with Obama and hope he doesn’t crap out.