Periodically, President Obama’s critics have asked about what he has done to advance the Black agenda.  He often speaks specifically about opening wider the doors of opportunity for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) people and women and seemingly not utter any words specifically about Black advancement.

To the chagrin to some, the President became the first sitting President to brazenly link the struggles of LBGTs, women and Blacks.  “We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall,” said the U.S. Commander in Chief as his paraphrased the 237-year-old Declaration of Independence during his inaugural address.

Seneca Falls was the site of the first women’s rights convention organized by women in the Western world, but one of the most eloquent speakers at the 1848 convention was none other than the formerly enslaved Frederick Douglass.  “When I ran away from slavery, it was for myself; when I advocated emancipation, it was for my people; but when I stood up for the rights of woman, self was out of the question and I found a little nobility in the act,” declared Douglass.  In the spirit of Frederick Douglass, for the President, “self” is often out of the question. Today, more than half of the Black population is female.

And while the 1965 March from Selma to Montgomery was a turning point for Black equality, during my recent visit there, I learned that Blacks generally did not equally share in the burden of openly fighting to end American apartheid.  In Selma, for instance, a disproportionate number of the bloody Sunday marchers lived in the nearby George Washington Carver low-income housing projects. So, it is hard for some Blacks to justify that they have paid their fair share for more freedom and that other groups are living off their struggles.

The 1969 Stonewall Riots took place in New York City when policeman raided a gay bar.  Instead of running out of fear of being identified, many of the bar’s patrons fought back. Many of the fighters were transgender and transsexual persons.  Many, if not most, of them were Black.  For sexual minority rights, Stonewall is an icon.

So, what more should the President say or do to specifically advance Black equality? I cannot think of any legal barriers that need to be broken, but plenty of systemic barriers that the President can lead a fight to dismantle.

For instance, take unemployment. Since the Black unemployment rate remains twice that of Whites, his Black critics should ask President Obama to urge Congress to pass a bill to give Blacks an incentive to read the NAACP’s annual reports on companies’ hiring and buying practices. And then pass another law making it illegal for Blacks to support companies that fail to hire and promote Blacks and procure goods and services from Black-owned companies.

On a more practical note, he could strongly advocate the passage of H.R. 40, a bill that Representative John Conyers has introduced since 1989.  The bill would simply study the affects of slavery and discrimination on the current status of African-Americans and suggest remedies. However, I really don’t believe he will move on any of these issues or should unless Blacks are motivated individually or via a “Black” leader to stop asking for these changes and start demanding these changes using our most lethal weapons:  money, voting and participation.  (And by the way, in this electronic age, decision makers are measuring your interest and participation by the tweets, clicks, Facebook postings, etcetera that you make, read and respond to - - - using Sharebars make it even easier to electronically share)

No, President Obama has not been a leader like Dr. King and has not focused on motivating Blacks to stand up for their rights nor has he been a Jesse Jackson specifically instilling in them pride and hope. However, he has been the President whose policies and images have advanced the Black agenda tremendously. I think his leadership in the passage of Obamacare, alone, is a boon for Black advancement.  No, Obamacare is not specifically Blackcare, but it’s a prescription Blacks very badly need.

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Organizers of the Africa Unite Now Festival, celebrating Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's Birthday, plan to hold an hour-long “Peoples Court Trial” of President Obama, former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, and the Secretary General of NATO for alleged war crimes against Africans, specifically Libyans, for the killing of Muammar al-Gaddafi.
 
Africa Unite Now Festival-2013
Celebrating Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's Birthday
Plum Orchard Center
12210 Plum Orchard Drive
Silver Spring, MD USA
Sat, Sep 21, 2013, 6p-3a
Trail starts at 8p, free

 

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The United States of Africa 2017 Project Taskforce is working toward establishing and declaring the existence of the United States of Africa in 2017.

APPEAL, the Association of People for Pan-Africanist Economic Advancement thru Leverage, held its first public meeting May 19 in Washington, D.C. (on Malcolm X’s birthday) and outlined the following as their goals:

• Financial Literacy Programs & Resources
  Historical & Cultural Literacy Programs & Resources
• A Think Tank to Analyze & Address Important Issues
• A Credit Union to Facilitate Economic Empowerment

• A Rare Account of Nat Turner's Rebellion
  
  

• Beneatha's Place Opens in Baltimore
  
  

• Curtis Mayfield
  

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