So Michael Eric Dyson and Cornel West are at it again...

[jono]

Half way through the new republic article, it's one black man taking down another for white entertainment.

I just finished it myself. It's almost as if Dyson has written West's eulogy as an academic, has labeled him a hypocrite and a charlatan. He of course used much better language that I have expressed here.

 

[MarcusGarvey]

Half way through the new republic article, it's one black man taking down another for white entertainment.

It took me a whole day to get halfway through. I suspect I'll have completed it by today's end. When he started talking about how West was no longer a great writer and then provided that deconstructionist style criticism of how writing can be so much more taxing then eloquent speech...I was like "oooouch". Not only because it's true, but because it seemed unnecessary. Aside from that, I don't think he's off base. It's very easy for West to get on a soapbox and talk shit from the safety of being completely ignorant of all the nuances of politics and economics. One of his main issues with Obama has been the lack of assistance to poor people. To me, it just seems so very cheap and easy to say "do something for the people in poverty." That's a buzz word that garners almost universal acclaim from everyone listening. Who doesn't want to help poor people? I've never heard him, nor Tavis for that matter, giving concrete solutions as to how to solve these problems without alienating the rest of population. You can't just throw up programs to help the poverty without funding it some how. There are tonnes of moving parts that have to be considered, which guys like these don't have to deal with before, during or AFTER they propose the solutions. They are both jealous and petty.

I don't disagree, but not a fan of MED writing this, doesn't sit well with me. The man wrote you a letter of recommendation, even if he's gone senile, let it be.

 

[ThaNubianGod]

The truth is many black Americans won't be satisfied until Barack and Michelle show up on their front porch with a $1million dollar check with their name on it

Couldn't name one person on their local city/county administration

but whining about what President Obama ain't doing for them

What has Obama done? Take a look at the low wage jobs he keeps pushing just so he can have good unemployment numbers. Where is he with drug laws? I mean this guy was a regular drug user, yet he's lagging behind while states are fixing things themselves. How many black men have their lives ruined because of this Drug War? Education? He's more worried about getting illegals easy access. I don't have a problem with Dream Act type policies, good for them, but where is Obama on the education of Black kids?

Let me put it to you like this. I'm in LA, and Obama has been here 20-30 times since president. Nearly all his trips are about fundraising, but here's the thing.......this guy has never traveled south of Pico blvd., unless he's heading to LAX. Obama can come to LA, chill with celebs, take their $$ for his own benefit, but can't even drop by the hood, and at least use his influence to try and get plans/projects to help things there. Hell, he can't even speak to people.

At the end of the day, Obama's term could be John Kerry's, or Hillary's, or John Edwards, and so on. He's just a generic Dem pushing agendas that benefit that party. At no point has he ever used his unique position to really do much of anything for Black America. He's done more for Cuban-Americans than us.

 

[Meta_Conscious]

Criticizing someone for being out there with the ppl instead of writing shit that few ppl will read seems silly.

 

[playmaker88]

.... that Porridge is never gonna be just right.

 

[obnoxiouslyfresh]

Half way through the new republic article, it's one black man taking down another for white entertainment.

I just finished it myself. It's almost as if Dyson has written West's eulogy as an academic, has labeled him a hypocrite and a charlatan. He of course used much better language that I have expressed here.

Every paragraph, I was like daaamn....goddaaaamn....holy shit.... whoooooo laaaaaaawwd

 

[obnoxiouslyfresh]

Half way through the new republic article, it's one black man taking down another for white entertainment.

It took me a whole day to get halfway through. I suspect I'll have completed it by today's end. When he started talking about how West was no longer a great writer and then provided that deconstructionist style criticism of how writing can be so much more taxing then eloquent speech...I was like "oooouch". Not only because it's true, but because it seemed unnecessary. Aside from that, I don't think he's off base. It's very easy for West to get on a soapbox and talk shit from the safety of being completely ignorant of all the nuances of politics and economics. One of his main issues with Obama has been the lack of assistance to poor people. To me, it just seems so very cheap and easy to say "do something for the people in poverty." That's a buzz word that garners almost universal acclaim from everyone listening. Who doesn't want to help poor people? I've never heard him, nor Tavis for that matter, giving concrete solutions as to how to solve these problems without alienating the rest of population. You can't just throw up programs to help the poverty without funding it some how. There are tonnes of moving parts that have to be considered, which guys like these don't have to deal with before, during or AFTER they propose the solutions. They are both jealous and petty.

I don't disagree, but not a fan of MED writing this, doesn't sit well with me. The man wrote you a letter of recommendation, even if he's gone senile, let it be.

I couldn't help but think of this considering the topic, as well as your avi. Sometimes, it just comes to this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGeW7zhu0Ag

 

[ThaNubianGod]

It's very easy for West to get on a soapbox and talk shit from the safety of being completely ignorant of all the nuances of politics and economics. One of his main issues with Obama has been the lack of assistance to poor people. To me, it just seems so very cheap and easy to say "do something for the people in poverty." That's a buzz word that garners almost universal acclaim from everyone listening. Who doesn't want to help poor people?

There's a long list of things Obama could do for poor Black communities. Hell, he's doing it left and right for poor illegal immigrants. Simply put, it's never been high on Obama's agenda list. He simply doesn't care, I don't think people realize this. That's why people like West are upset with him.

 

[a.mann]

@ThaNubianGod

Say YOU are president of the United States which has a population of about 318.9 million people

13.2% of this number rarely votes or follow the economic and political discourse of the country.

Regardless of that

Name 10 things YOU will do to specifically change their lives for the better in the time you have in office.

 

[a.mann]

If you don't speaking in the hypothetical

How about list the policy and legislation you think should be implemented that will stop racist white supremacists from being racist white supremacists

 

[obnoxiouslyfresh]

It's very easy for West to get on a soapbox and talk shit from the safety of being completely ignorant of all the nuances of politics and economics. One of his main issues with Obama has been the lack of assistance to poor people. To me, it just seems so very cheap and easy to say "do something for the people in poverty." That's a buzz word that garners almost universal acclaim from everyone listening. Who doesn't want to help poor people?

There's a long list of things Obama could do for poor Black communities. Hell, he's doing it left and right for poor illegal immigrants. Simply put, it's never been high on Obama's agenda list. He simply doesn't care, I don't think people realize this. That's why people like West are upset with him.

It's all but evident that in the past years, that this is not the reason West is upset with him. He has become very petty, seemingly jealous, and personal with the nature of his criticism. This is no longer him calling a politician to task. He still mad about some damn inauguration tickets.

 

[Meta_Conscious]

on some real shit, y'all sounding like Obama dick riders.

 

[kingblaze84]

Cornel West is absolutely correct

 

[jono]

The great irony of our time is that in the age of Obama the grand Black prophetic tradition is weak and feeble. Obama’s Black face of the American empire has made it more difficult for Black courageous and radical voices to bring critique to bear on the U.S. empire.

the Obama presidency has been primarily a Wall Street presidency, drone presidency, mass surveillance presidency unwilling to concretely target the new Jim Crow, massive unemployment, and other forms of poor and Black social misery. His major effort to focus on poor Black men was charity and philanthropy—not justice or public policy.

.

[The cowardly capitulation of Black leadership to Obama’s neoliberal policies in the name of the Black prophetic tradition is pathetic. The role of the NAACP, National Urban League, and Black corporate media pundits, who so quickly became Obama apologists, constitutes a fundamental betrayal of the Black prophetic tradition. The very idea of Black prophetic voices as an extension of a neoliberal and imperial U.S. regime is a violation of what the Black prophetic tradition has been and is. This violation enrages me when I think of the blood, sweat, and tears of the people who created and sustained this precious tradition. The righteous indignation of the Black prophetic tradition targets not only the oppressive system that dominates us but also the fraudulent figures who pose and posture as prophetic ones while the suffering of the people is hidden and concealed. To sell one’s soul for a mess of Obama pottage is to trash the priceless Black prophetic tradition. Is it not hypocritical to raise one’s voice when the pharaoh is white but have no critical word to say when the pharaoh is Black? If the boot is on our neck, does it make any difference what color the foot is in the boot? Moral integrity, political consistency, and systemic analysis sit at the center of the Black prophetic tradition.

-

Cornel West

 

[kingblaze84]

The truth is many black Americans won't be satisfied until Barack and Michelle show up on their front porch with a $1million dollar check with their name on it

Couldn't name one person on their local city/county administration

but whining about what President Obama ain't doing for them

What has Obama done? Take a look at the low wage jobs he keeps pushing just so he can have good unemployment numbers. Where is he with drug laws? I mean this guy was a regular drug user, yet he's lagging behind while states are fixing things themselves. How many black men have their lives ruined because of this Drug War? Education? He's more worried about getting illegals easy access. I don't have a problem with Dream Act type policies, good for them, but where is Obama on the education of Black kids?

Let me put it to you like this. I'm in LA, and Obama has been here 20-30 times since president. Nearly all his trips are about fundraising, but here's the thing.......this guy has never traveled south of Pico blvd., unless he's heading to LAX. Obama can come to LA, chill with celebs, take their $$ for his own benefit, but can't even drop by the hood, and at least use his influence to try and get plans/projects to help things there. Hell, he can't even speak to people.

At the end of the day, Obama's term could be John Kerry's, or Hillary's, or John Edwards, and so on. He's just a generic Dem pushing agendas that benefit that party. At no point has he ever used his unique position to really do much of anything for Black America. He's done more for Cuban-Americans than us.

My point exactly, Obama has been a PROFOUND disappointment. His war on terror looks almost exactly like Bush's (not as bad but similar), he's still a slave to Israel, he hasn't changed American foreign policy much at all, and he's promising illegals all the goodies in the world, while Black Americans, especially the young, still struggle in this economy. I have no reason to be impressed with Obama, Cornel West has yet to be wrong on Barack.

 

[D. Morgan]

The great irony of our time is that in the age of Obama the grand Black prophetic tradition is weak and feeble. Obama’s Black face of the American empire has made it more difficult for Black courageous and radical voices to bring critique to bear on the U.S. empire.

the Obama presidency has been primarily a Wall Street presidency, drone presidency, mass surveillance presidency unwilling to concretely target the new Jim Crow, massive unemployment, and other forms of poor and Black social misery. His major effort to focus on poor Black men was charity and philanthropy—not justice or public policy.

.

[The cowardly capitulation of Black leadership to Obama’s neoliberal policies in the name of the Black prophetic tradition is pathetic. The role of the NAACP, National Urban League, and Black corporate media pundits, who so quickly became Obama apologists, constitutes a fundamental betrayal of the Black prophetic tradition. The very idea of Black prophetic voices as an extension of a neoliberal and imperial U.S. regime is a violation of what the Black prophetic tradition has been and is. This violation enrages me when I think of the blood, sweat, and tears of the people who created and sustained this precious tradition. The righteous indignation of the Black prophetic tradition targets not only the oppressive system that dominates us but also the fraudulent figures who pose and posture as prophetic ones while the suffering of the people is hidden and concealed. To sell one’s soul for a mess of Obama pottage is to trash the priceless Black prophetic tradition. Is it not hypocritical to raise one’s voice when the pharaoh is white but have no critical word to say when the pharaoh is Black? If the boot is on our neck, does it make any difference what color the foot is in the boot? Moral integrity, political consistency, and systemic analysis sit at the center of the Black prophetic tradition.

-

Cornel West

I don't have an issue with those statements.

Also not really sure of what "black prophetic tradition" is either though.

 

[obnoxiouslyfresh]

Cornel West is absolutely correct

Where was his great prophetic critiques against power, and why when all these things were happening in the 90s was he more interested in having access to the White House and hanging out with Bill till late in the night? He's full of more shit than a Christmas turkey. Respectfully.

 

[ThaNubianGod]

@ThaNubianGod

Say YOU are president of the United States which has a population of about 318.9 million people

13.2% of this number rarely votes or follow the economic and political discourse of the country.

Regardless of that

Name 10 things YOU will do to specifically change their lives for the better in the time you have in office.

First, that 13.2% is the reason Obama even made it out of the primaries. The 13.2% is like a quarter of Dems votes. let's not diminish the impact of the Black voter.

Second, I don't feel like listing out 10 things, but I'll give you 5 real quick.

1) Setup national program to expand online classes for public colleges. This would increase access for applicants, and lower costs to boot. Teacher Unions are blocking this though, and we know the Dems bow down to them.

2) De-criminalize Marijuana nationally. Obama has no problem passing executive orders, to the point he's given defacto amnesty. So how about doing what many states have done, and de-criminalize weed. Think of how many young lives will be saved by not putting them in the system for this BS.

3) REAL tech immersion in poor communities. That means more than just "donating computers", and crap like that. Tech is the future, and we should be teaching kids the basic of programming, and engineering. We should be pushing teens towards careers that will payoff, but that starts at a young age.

4) National initiative to aid Adult education/re-training. So many adults are stuck in a place where the skills they have are no longer needed, but no funds to really change careers.

5) More business grants. We know banks hate lending to Black business people, but targeted grants to aid poor communities could really help with revitalizing areas that have been forgotten. Obviously, the type of business would be restricted, but the goal is to bring impact jobs/businesses to poor communities.

So basically, stop the mass incarceration of Black youth in this Drug War, encourage job growth in Black communities, open practical access to education, and give adults a chance to transition to a new lifepath. Obama could do much more, but these 5 things could be done rather easily, and quickly. Again, he's done more stuff helping illegals than these 5 things.

The problem is he's done nothing.

 

[Ajackson17]

I agree with a lot of Dr. West and Obama turned out like Umar and a lot have said he would. He done very little for thode who supported him the most. It's sad but What Umar said really came to pass.

Let's keep it 100

A lot of these black "conscious" militant folks are full of shit

and much like their right wing conservative counterparts

they also make a substantial living ($$$) feeding off of their target demographic ignorance,paranoia and frustration

That's why you do your own research and do a critical analysis. The research of my own has me leaning towards them. This is years of my own research.

 

[a.mann]

on some real shit, y'all sounding like Make A Wish Foundation sponsors.