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BlackCommentator.com Cover Story: What Will It Take to Bring Obama Home? - Home is where the heart is . . . . Moving Left – Part 18 By Desi Cortez, BlackCommentator.com Columnist

   
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Note: This commentary is in place of Mr. Cortez’s “Sharp n' Blunt” column.

Barack Obama, growing up as a somewhat-rare and unusual Inter-Continental Negro of the later 20th century, abroad, in the South Pacific, South Asia, never South Central LA. nor South Chicago . . . it wouldn’t be unthinkable for his philosophical base, his “home” not to be identical to that of mainstream Black America.

Yeah, that can be good . . .  and that can be bad.

America’s First Black President  was raised, not by big momma, aunt Earlene, aunt Johnnie-Mae nor the Huxtables - but by White folks . . . now apparently “good” white folks, but nonetheless White. And yes  that matters more then anyone wants to confess - especially in America, an empire constructed under racial apartheid.

There’s a loud n’ clear call for Obama to “come home,” back to his base, his roots. Will he come home?  But deeper yet - where is home for this President? I’d submit it’s where his heart lay.

Here’s our dilemma friends . . . and enemies; was the President’s attendance at Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s permanent mega-tent revival authentic, from the heart?. Alas, was his platinum-membership a reflection of his righteously Black heart, of his home.

If we understand where his home is, we might better understand what will bring him back.

Is this man “down” with what Wright was laying-down every Sunday?  Is the Black Panther Party’s 10 point program woven into this President’s genuine religious/political/economic foundation, or only a front? “Talented Tenth” camouflage? “Sho’ n’ tellin’“ the little folk what they need  to hear and see?  Pandering to his “always enraged” political base - Chi-Town’s alleged quasi-militant Black establishment. 

Or, is this President’s beliefs based on his unique and unusual globe-trotting, upper middle-class in-life experiences . . . implying the President’s perspective regarding who n’ what America is, differs with that of enlightened Afro-Americans.

Can Obama’s brainiac/beach-bum heart be in the same place as most Black folks? People raised in the Big Apple, LA, Land of body bag, wanna die - wear the wrong color rag. Detroit; the abandoned,  betrayed, gutted-out and stripped Motor-less City, East St. Louis (requires no nickname)  the city of un-brotherly love - Philly, or perhaps  Philadelphia Mississippi, where the Tea Party's iconic Great White Father began the redneck revolution we’re facing-down now? 

Or perhaps the President is little-more than a “entrepre-negro” who for whatever the reasons, finds himself miraculously a-top the world. Can it be . . . he doesn't really have anything he’s willing to die for, so he has not too much he’s willing to stand-up for, which would at least begin to decipher his “Let’s Make Deal” mentality. He’s a Black/White cat in a multi-colored world - he’s just always sought to get-along with everyone, empathise/sympathise with everyone, including Black Americans - of which he’s no parts of.

Problem is, following this rule,  tending  to go-along with people and ideals one really  doesn't  believe in . . . can get your ass in hot-water, plain n’ simple.

Obama can accommodate and assimilate like a dipped-in chocolate/vanilla pretzel and that still won’t satisfy the angry White people in America. The rage we see for this man begins and ends for most of his foes with an historical truth; don’t no White man, nor too many White women want to answer to a Black man. Boss, astronaut, next-door neighbor, brother-in-law . . .  President.

Let’s not delude ourselves; most of White America is over-whelmed with this “progress.” There political pronouncements graphically illustrate the polarized black n’ white state of America.

The question is . . . does Obama get that? It seems not.

I’m not one to dilly-dally; that’s the fear - that’s why you see these smoke signals coming off mountain peaks and mesa’s of the Black Forrest - this President’s views, historically speaking, are closer to that of a House Negro, as opposed to a field nigger. While most Black folks see themselves as out in the field, especially we Fredrick Douglass Progressives.

If there’s no struggle, there’s no progress.

You know the whole point of the difference between house and fields niggers was . . . nothing. Mainstream White America, even today deems us all merely Niggers - and the sub-par  treatment  of this President is a testament to that harsh yet lingering historical sentiment. But yet again - does BO get that?

All these questions leave your head spinnin’, I’d venture to say President Obama’s  “home”, and most Black folks homes . . . are two different places. 

As Malcolm stated, when master’s big-house was on fire, the house-negro worked damn-near harder then the master to get that fire out

If the master was sick  . . .”We sick boss”. . . .? We sick!!

Now see, I don’t view the President in such light . . . however multitudes do. Attribute it to 3 years of  negotiating/compromising and conceding-away FDR, LBJ and MLK’s hard work - to an inflamed opposition hell-bent on destroying the nation to, dig this, “get their country back.”

Here’s what million and millions of Black folks, including myself wanted Obama to do,  just to set-the-tone to his tenure in the newly redecorated Black House; Recall Sidney Poitier in the 60’s  classic “In the Heat of the Night” -  the scene where the county’s richest White man is in his greenhouse and backhands Poitier’s uppity character,  Detective Tibbs  - who instantly, I’m talkin’  a milla’-second backhands his pompous ass right-back.

I guarantee you that scene still today elicits smiles on the faces of millions, countless Black, Brown, Red and Yellow  folks when ever they see it. Why? Because we all know, once you survey the  story of America . . . you realize what really happened. History 101 explains White America’s justifiable paranoia n’ fear.

Historians will be baffled by Black Americans lack-of ill-will and contempt held towards our oppressors, i.e., the righteous desire to turn on James Brown’s Payback and play it all summer long - but we haven't. Instead we’ve stood tall n’ loyal to a country where . . . everyday, every god-damn day  “we wonder how our country feels about us . . . and how we feel about our country.“

Black America hoped  Obama would strut into the White House,  ala Denzel/George Jefferson, and on day-one,  portrait in the Oval office . . . confront Big George W. n’ Little Dick Cheney as they were packin’ their Samsonites,  tell them what t-i-m-e it really is . . . bitch-slap both in one swift, graceful Ali-like strike. 

The man failed,  in miserable hi-fashion to do this. . . .  for it was never his intent. No legal prosecutions for two punks who can hardly  leave the country due to alleged war crimes You gotta wonder; does his personal soundtrack  include the JB’s 60’s Black Anthem “Say It Loud . . I’m Black n’ Proud!”

Verbal fisticuffs,  as justified as it may well be isn't Obama’s style. This cat wants to stay above the fray, not get his hands too dirty - while  Black America, along with the aging Haight/Ashberry liberal Hippies and the wilting Flower Children hoped for a slug-fest; there was a coast-to-coast yearning  for  this man to walk-in, stat takin’ names, and whuppin’ serious ass.

However, that ain’t this man. I think he’s a “We are the World” kinda guy.

Here, let’s roll n’ stroll a little; best case scenario - Obama is engaged in a calculated three-tier chess match,  not the shallow barbershop checkers game most of us everyday people play, and surely not barbaric boxing.  We’ve no real-idea what  kind of  “political games” are played on  these different levels.

What we all may need to do is - sit down n’ shut-the-hell up, let this gifted man do what he do. . .

Peep this, yet another scenario; in the identical manner you’ve got guys like Donny Walhberg, Frank Sinatra, Timberlake, Burt Reynolds, coaches like Bill Parcells, Pat  Riley,  Rex “XXXL”  Ryan -  these men are considered to be , dig this, “Negro Whisperers” possessing  the ever-elusive Dr. Doolittle gift. . . they can talk to the human animals . .  they can hang-with, communicate-with Black folks at some deeper level then the everyday Fred n’ Barny.

Obama, on the flip-side, believes he speaks and understands  “their”  forked tongue language . . . .

Might Obama, noting his damn-near global upbringing, rooted in Eastern culture, his growing-up behind “enemy lines”, in the enemy's house . . . armed with an elite education, seasoned by his hi-falutin’ occupation behind Ivy League walls and in the hallowed hall’s of congress - the street credentials of  “community organizer from the Windy City - might he  honestly believe all the king’s men are nude, butt-naked, he can see straight through them?

The man believes  he can converse with well-dressed cave men (OK, Neanderthals at best) on the Right, perhaps he believes he can beat them at their own shell-game of words?

Is this it?  President Obama has the audacity to believe he can out-smart Archie Bunker, out-think the half-mad fat-cats in the GOP?  Behind closed doors, Obama prides himself, as many of us do, on his ability to play “Battleship” against well-dressed but quit angry Rednecks across the isle.

He believes he can orchestrate a bloodless revolution?

The question in most Black Americans hearts;  are White folks, speaking-in-general  - capable, able, willing or wanting to treat Americans-of-color with common decency and mutual respect? Recent history “screams” hell no. Nevertheless I don’t know if Obama, a man raised almost solely by his White mother, and her parents has these same concerns.

Has he been disarmed? Convinced of an humanity in White America . . .  I just don’t see, and I got on “Coke bottle-bottom” glasses.

Go watch a 1950’s western, when the “Injune boy” is raised by White settlers . . . he always thinks his adopted community will accept his people,  come-around and sing Kumbaya, (Black Feet Indians) but it never plays-out like that. The towns-folk slaughter the entire Indian village.

Despite Obama’s comments about his grandmother harboring some of the “typical racism” White folks tend to have, I think he believes, at the end-of-the-day most White Americans are willing and able to hold-hands and sing “this little light of mine . . .

I don’t.

So, since I don’t think like this man . . . I don’t know what, if anything could bring President Obama “home” -  not even our present-day reality;  the Republican Tea Party is about to strategically shut-down the government, deliberately  manipulate America into chaos and disorder of the highest magnitude and the lowest depths.

Isolated n’ insulated White America is  talking ballots or bullets, and please note; ammo n’ gun sales are off-the-charts . . . so Black folks, actually all Americans-of-color, had better gather ‘round the ol’ campfire and be  discussin’ ballots and bullets likewise . . . and passports - hey, giving these people what they desperately want - an lily-White America - that’s a valid option.

I love Tobago.

So my fellow Black people . . . if we’re waiting on this cool-cat in the Oval office  to transform into Fredrick Douglass, or Stokley Carmichael, which I am - disappointment is our inevitable fate.

To move Obama to the Left, we need a democratic contender to push the debate further then this man wants and his “cabinet” want to take it.

I nominate Bobby Seale, Co-fonder of the Black Panther Party and one-time candidate for Mayor of Oaktown.  Julianne Malveaux would surely liven up the VP debates, yes? Professor Ludwig Von Michael Eric Dyson in the VP slot . . . I’d pay to hear that battle-of-words.

Obama needs  to be pushed n’ prodded by “hi n’’ mighty” influential Black grand pooh-pahs from all our institutions and organizations, who need to call on this President, pow-wow with him, break-bread, let their legit concern be heard - the Black American Empire is crumbling . . .  and afterwards they can all approach the podium and explain to CNN what common ground and goals have been hammered out - at least valid, visible  expectations of his commitment to Black America. 

We ebony word-smiths across the land - we need to sing the same simple-ass song . . . Obama don’t do us wrong, don’t sell us down the river.

He must be enlightened to the fact - a second-term requires the chocolate masses be motivated n’ mobilized - so if he continues to behave like a man who’s got no backbone, with only a midget’s handful of convictions he’s willing to stand tall n’ be convicted of . . . even the lesser-of-two-evils gets old at some point.

I just want the  brother to pull me aside and Dr West next time we’re all  together and give us the George and Johnathan Soledad Brothers secret  handshake, utter Angela Davis’s 1967 phone # . . . just give me a sign you’re still in the “Organization.”

As a nation within nation, Black folk are confronted with an entrenched conservative establishment  which plans to not merely “turn back the hands of time,” progress,  they want to “rip the clock right-off the wall,” return to yesteryear . . . we’d better, as a people with an inherent  shared bond,  seriously examine our options.

Stay n’ fight? for what, a unavoidable hundred year blood-bath? Your children . . . and their children in an US of A which resembles the worst of the Middle East . . . What? You think not? Recall South Africa; 5% million Whites, willing to oppress via tactical genocide - and you think the millions of angry White folks who secretly fly the Confederate flag here aren’t willing to at least try to exterminate 20 or 30 million Black folks.

What about flight? Black Americans should be making sure their passports are in-order; “Back to Africa, the Caribbean, Canada . . . “  

It would seem only a murderous event, an failed-attempt on this Presidents life, or that of his loved ones might awaken him to the fact he’s got to stop singin’ . . . n’ start swinging, bring this home, fight for the basic rights of Americans-of-color, women and workers, do battle against our foes -  racism, sexism n’ classism.

But he’s already receiving “die-Nigger-die” luv letters by the boatload, nonetheless he’s still asleep at the helm.

I’ve got to get back to the lab, with my pen n’ pad, so in a nutshell here’s our nightmare,  we Black  folks who still believe our children are young, gifted n’ black, that Black is beautiful and those of us who still believe in Black Power - our collective and individual  fear is this President is “Plastic Man.”  He thinks like one of my brothers-in-law, life ain’t nutin’ but pussycats and plastic cards, all that glitters . . .  is titanium, and “God is money, money is god.”

Can Obama harbor no real progressive ideology, despite being a college law professor? He’s willing to cut-a-deal with the devil, without realizing the historical accomplishments he’s erasing?  A step forward may not always be progress - it could be over-the-cliff or into a barn-size oven. . . .

I’m banking this ain't what the brother is; my bat-senses tell me otherwise, I’ve still got his back. 

And between you n’ I, I like to believe . .  . both the President  and Dr. West are smart enough to realize he needed an enemy from the Far-Left to do endless battle with - as to counter any charges of pandering to his alleged Huey P. base - who better then the Black Wizard, Dr. West? This is all going according to Melvin Van Peeples script.

We know Mr Limbaugh better then he knows himself. We had to, how do you think we got here?

Click here to read any commentary in this BC series.

Click here to send a comment to all the participants in this BC series.

BlackCommentator.com Columnist Desi Cortez was hatched in the heart of Dixie, circa 1961, at the dawning of the age of Aquarius, the by-product of four dynamic individuals, Raised in South-Central LA, the 213, at age 14 transplanted to the base of the Rocky's, Denver. Still a Mile-Hi.

Sat at the feet of scholars for many, many moons, emerging with a desire and direction . . . if not a sheep-skin. Meandered thru life; gone a-lot places, done a-lot of things, raised a man-cub into a good, strong man, produced a beautiful baby-girl with my lover/woman/soul-mate . . . aired my mind on the airwaves and wrote some stuff along the way. Click here to contact Mr. Cortez.

 

 
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July 28, 2011 - Issue 437
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Est. April 5, 2002
Executive Editor:
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BC Question: What will it take to bring Obama home?
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