Any thoughts why Cornel West always finds it necessary to refer to the color of the Presidents skin

[still_one]

when he makes critical comments about him?

Does anyone else find that troubling?

[Autumn]

1. Maybe he's racist? Maybe he doesn't like Obama? I really don't know why he does that.

[still_one]

4. If you don't like Obama that is one thing, but what does that have to do with the President's race?

[KoKo]

94. He's a Racist Black Man with experience in Civil Rights Movement?

OMG...and a DU'er called him a "Coon!"

[Autumn]

96. What!!! Who did that? That is so wrong.

I hope the admins do something about that. Oh and the first part of my post you responed to? I should have added that was sarcasm.

[KoKo]

98. Downthread...here's the link...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5446086

[Autumn]

100. The admins see every alert, it seems that they would do something about that.

That post leaves no guesswork as to what the poster was saying.

[MohRokTah]

2. I think he's just still pissed off that he never made it into even the outer circle of advisors.

Much less the inner circle.

He, Tavis Smiley, and many others thought they were all going to be pulled into the White House.

What they forgot was the fact that to become president, one must be the consummate politician. Barack Obama acted accordingly. He pulled in political advisors.

[HipChick]

3. Al in..Cornell out

EOS

[still_one]

5. That is a probable reason why he is bitter, but always referring to the President's race inter-

weaved with his critique is really poor taste for a Princeton/Yale professor

[JaydenD]

107. I'm trying to think of an ex. of a repug white guy talking shit like that about George Dumya.

I don't think there is one,

[SummerSnow]

16. Do you remember when Tavis Smiley ..

held those 'state of the black union' events every year. When Obama became President he stopped. I don't know why they hate Obama so much. Puzzling to me. I notice when they are on shows and white people make derogatory comments about Obama they get angry. I think Tavis Smiley looked at himself as some kind of black leader and Obama took his thunder in his eyes.

[Stellar]

72. Exactly!

Steve Harvey really got on the case of Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, and this is where it got started. Take a listen when you get a chance.

[Tarheel_Dem]

76. Tavis & West were the "go-to" folks for black thought back in the day. As you say, Obama stole.....

their thunder, and probably cut into their $$$$, so they are still pissed. The sad part is, they are both intelligent people, but the very folks they claim to be fighting for, can't stand 'em anymore. It's ironic, but constantly attacking Pres. Obama, they became just like any garden variety teabagger in the black community. If you don't believe that, just go to any black barber shop or beauty salon, and start a conversation about those two.

[sheshe2]

132. Oh my~

"It's ironic, but constantly attacking Pres. Obama, they became just like any garden variety teabagger in the black community."

I love you Tarheel.


The stupid makes me pause and say~

[Tarheel_Dem]

145. She, that graphic is priceless, and exactly how I feel.

[Cha]

103. Well, Tavis got into a major snit because he invited then Senator Obama to his

Black State of the Union and he couldn't be there and offered to send Michelle in his place but Tavis said "No thanks.". Boy, did he miss out.

Cornel West and Tavis Smiley do a disservice to African Americans

I used to revere these two prominent black intellectuals. But lately, their critical voices have turned to crude Obama-bashing

. Smiley threw a tantrum in 2008 when President Obama couldn't make his State of the Black Union event (also saying "no thanks" to a proposal to have Michelle Obama come in his place).

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jul/26/cornel-west-tavis-smiley-disservice-african-americans

Oh, and Dr West doesn't leave First Lady Michelle out of his obnoxious rants, either..

A lesson for Cornel West

IT WAS not enough for Cornel West to ridicule the first African-American president as a “black mascot .’’ The loquacious professor also fired his blunderbuss at Michelle Obama. In the process, he splattered a generation of black people freeing itself from narrow identities and stereotypes.

The Princeton African-American studies professor belittled the First Lady’s causes of child obesity and assisting military families, by scornfully asking on the website Truthdig: “Why doesn’t she visit a prison? Why doesn’t she spend some time in the hood?’’

The down-with-the-people professor clearly has spent too much time in the ivory tower to see the many ways to be “in the hood.’’ It escapes him that 42 percent of African-American women are now obese, putting them on the leading edge of a crisis that is shortening the lifespan of US citizens.

West’s dismissal of Ms. Obama’s work with military families is even more peculiar. In a nation 13 percent black, African-Americans comprise 20 percent of the active-duty Army. More than a third of Army women are black. Retired Brigadier General Wilma Vaught, president of the national foundation that recognizes women’s military service, said Michelle Obama “is following in the footsteps of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s World War II fame.’’

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2011/05/28/a_lesson_for_cornel_west/

[3rdwaydem]

32. You may be onto something

I think he probably did assume that he would be an adviser to Obama in one capacity or the other.

[frazzled]

6. He was doing it before Obama was president

I really can't quite forget one Sunday driving in the car with Mr. Frazzled; we're not in the car much, so it must have been on one of our trips to visit his mom in the nursing home. Since she died in early 2009, this was either in 2007 or 2008, well before Obama was president. I believe it was well before he became the nominee. It was at some point during the primaries, and I think fairly early on.

At any rate, we'd tuned into the Tavis Smiley radio show on NPR, and he had his friend West on. And they start talking about Obama and West says, "He's not really a brother, you know. His mother was white." And my husband and I looked at each other and pretty much gasped. The conversation continued about how this fellow Obama (then our senator from Illinois) was not black enough, and in that sense, was some sort of fraud.

It was the moment I wrote those two jokers off as neither very deep nor very honorable. I'm not naive, and I know that colorism exists in the black community as a sort of internal racism ... but this went beyond colorism. It was pretty much just hate. The whole conversation was dripping with vitriol ... and Obama at this point had done nothing as president to be criticized for.

[HipChick]

15. a hidden secret Colorism

racism within the black community....Obama is the light skin yellow bruva

[bigtree]

19. you called him a "coon" in the other thread

. . . you called Cornel a "coon" and had your post hidden. Sure, you did it in a sly way, saying 'rhymes with,' but there it was . . . post #98

Now you want to tell someone about 'racism within the black community.'

" a hidden secret Colorism"

Sounds an awful like projection coming from you.

[HipChick]

21. no projection...that is generally how he is viewed in the black community

but called much worst...

[bigtree]

24. YOU called him a 'coon'

. . .here at DU.

Coon

An insulting name for a black person. Similar to 'Nigger'.

Originally a shortened form of the word "raccoon," used in reference to the animal. The black eye masks and noctural habits of the animal paralleled the characteristics of typical robbers and thiefs. The stereotype was then applied to black people.

You can't justify that by pointing to something you claim others have said in some 'black community' that I'm certain is a figment of your imagination.

[HipChick]

26. Reading is fundamental..

Instead of stalking and accusing me on DU...expanding your reading to various articles written about Cornell West in the black community may simply expand your awareness...

[bigtree]

29. stalking? I'm responding to your remark about 'a hidden secret Colorism' in THIS thread

. . . which I find amazingly ironic, considering your 'hidden' colorism in the other thread about Cornel.

You called him a 'coon.' That's what I read. I think that's more ignorant and outrageous than anything I've read here in criticism of Dr. West.

I sincerely doubt that you can fathom just how ironic your chiming in on these threads appears in light of that comment of yours. It's even more amazing to see you defending it here by pointing to what you call the 'black community.'

[HipChick]

34. You seem to be determined to follow me all over DU today to respond to my posts

when I am reporting on articles that have been written about him in the black community...I am sure Google is not broken in your part of the world, but you seem to want to continue with a personal attack instead...like I said reading is fundamental..


http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5446372

[bigtree]

37. two threads about Cornel is not 'all over DU' and you know it.

. . . I'm responding in this post to your defenses of calling Cornel a 'coon.' which I think makes your criticisms of his own comments about Obama highly ironic and hypocritical.

You can't defend that comment by claiming 'stalking' or any other fanciful defense you've contrived here in this thread.

[HipChick]

38. Your continued personal attacks..

are consistent with e-bullying...if you don't want to google and see the truth for yourself...

[bigtree]

41. personal attacks? e-bullying? Are you suggesting that I've no right to respond to your slur?

. . . or to respond to your repeated defenses of it?

Good luck with that.

[HipChick]

42. You have hi-jacked OP's thread as a way to personally attack me..

I believe that what's PM's are for..but continue if you must with the personal attacks..

[bigtree]

45. If you feel you've been 'personally attacked' then ask a jury to take down my posts

. . . like they took down your own.

[Al Carroll]

49. He does have a point since you are...

...attacking one of the most prominent anti racist activists in the nation, Cornel West, by falsely accusing him of racism, while at the same time trying to avoid the question of your own racism.

That's roughly equal to Glen Beck's tactic of accusing Obama of being anti white (even though Obama is white also) to hide Beck's own racism.

[Number23]

85. I am disgusted and disappointed in Cornell but your comment was beyond offensive

[ancianita]

48. If you think that then you show that you don't know the black community one damned bit.

Wow. My eyes are opening up. Sure hope you're open to 'evolving,' because this doesn't look too innocent at all.

[1StrongBlackMan]

146. Are you a member of the Black community? eom.

[Number23]

83. I believe that 100%. When Corny said that Obama "fears free black men" he lost me FOREVER

That type of bitter stupidity and unending ignorance should not be lauded by anyone. He is a hater plain and simple.

So if anyone said that they heard him say "Obama's not a brother because his mother was white" I wouldn't doubt it one damn bit. It is totally in line with every other bit of bullshit that has spewed forth from him over the last 8 years and why no one black has any time for him.

[U4ikLefty]

104. link?

[Number23]

109. Yes, there are plenty on the Internet.

[U4ikLefty]

111. Then give me one to prove your 'Corny said that Obama "fears free black men"' quote.

since there are "plenty"

[Number23]

112. Aren't you and your demands precious. And as unnecessary as they are laughable

[U4ikLefty]

113. So you've got nada? m'kay

[Number23]

114. You may make demands of your family members without a "please" but I ain't your family

And does your Google not work or something? What is the point of this exchange when you could have taken 4 seconds and Googled "Obama fears free black men" and come up with 400 results instead of making a needless spectacle of yourself with me?

[U4ikLefty]

115. I'm simply asking for one of those 400.

I'm sure you can provide me with an education on the evils of Cornel.

[Number23]

116. Lots and lots and lots of people have posted lots and lots and lots of comments

(including with links) to some of the cringe worthy foolishness that has leaked from Cornel's mouth since Obama hit the stage. If you're looking for education there is plenty to be found right under your nose without worrying me for it.

[greyl]

118. Here:

“I think my dear brother Barack Obama has a certain fear of free black men,” West says. “It’s understandable. As a young brother who grows up in a white context, brilliant African father, he’s always had to fear being a white man with black skin. All he has known culturally is white. He is just as human as I am, but that is his cultural formation. When he meets an independent black brother, it is frightening. And that’s true for a white brother. When you get a white brother who meets a free, independent black man, they got to be mature to really embrace fully what the brother is saying to them. It’s a tension, given the history. It can be overcome. Obama, coming out of Kansas influence, white, loving grandparents, coming out of Hawaii and Indonesia, when he meets these independent black folk who have a history of slavery, Jim Crow, Jane Crow and so on, he is very apprehensive. He has a certain rootlessness, a deracination. It is understandable."

http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/the_obama_deception_why_cornel_west_went_ballistic_20110516

[Cha]

120. Thank you, greyl for doing the poster's work for them. "..Obama has a certain fear of free black men

"Barack Obama has a certain fear of free black men,” West says"

[pnwmom]

147. You could have taken the 2 seconds it took me to find it. And it's even worse in context.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/160725/cornel-west-v-barack-obama

“I think my dear brother Barack Obama has a certain fear of free black men.… It’s understandable. As a young brother who grows up in a white context, brilliant African father, he’s always had to fear being a white man with black skin. All he has known culturally is white. He is just as human as I am, but that is his cultural formation.”

[Cha]

121. "Barack Obama has a certain fear of free black men,” West says" Others are doing your work for you.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5448630

[raven mad]

151. http://www.eurweb.com/2011/05/video-cornel-west-believes-obama-fears-free-black-men/

It's a video. Are you satisfied?

[Cha]

108. Wow, frazzled! Maybe that's why Dr West didn't get invited to the Inauguraton.. could not be.. but,

geeze.. that's just crazy talk and the kind I'm use to coming from "mr so entrenched in people's skin color" he's rendered himself obnoxious. His own worst enemy.

"At any rate, we'd tuned into the Tavis Smiley radio show on NPR, and he had his friend West on. And they start talking about Obama and West says, "He's not really a brother, you know. His mother was white." And my husband and I looked at each other and pretty much gasped. The conversation continued about how this fellow Obama (then our senator from Illinois) was not black enough, and in that sense, was some sort of fraud."

Dr West sounded like a jealous mean girl before Obama became President.. now it's just the Tavis and West Vitriolic Tour and sure they have some ODSers to give them applause .

mahalo frazzled~

[conservaphobe]

7. Dunning-Kruger. nt

[beerandjesus]

8. Probably because he supports RAND PAUL!!!!

[still_one]

11. another rand paul post, oh my

[woo me with science]

63. LOL

Or he could have boxes in his garage...

[REP]

9. Cornel West is in love with the sound of his own voice

[still_one]

10. That is true, but doesn't really answer the question, unless it is for shock value

[Cad Bane]

12. Cornel is a jealous old fool who thinks he owns blackness.

Black people can be racist against other black people. It's quite common actually.

The shit Cornel had to say about Obama (and his family) was disgusting. He sounded like a black Rush Limbaugh.

Obama is scared of free black men.

Obama is only comfortable around white jewish men.

Obama is a white man in black face.

These are all things Cornel's hateful ass has said. Someone who says shit like this can't be trusted to have a fair view of Obama as a President.

This is someone who hates his very being. Calling him "Brother Barack" isn't fooling anyone.

ODS has a great way of revealing people's true nature.

[conservaphobe]

13. And it gives the handful of racists we have on the left cover...

They can attack the President using West's rhetoric and claim the critic who said it was black, nothing to see here, move along.

[BlueCaliDem]

35. AND on the AlwaysWrongRight.

Tavis and Cornel are giving these White racists a license to attack President Obama who, for that narrow-minded group, is too black.

I know there is racism among Blacks. My best friend simply can't stand Beyonce because "why does she need to dye her hair blond"? I didn't know it was an insult to her to comment that her beautiful daughter looked a lot like Beyonce. I swear, she nearly had a stroke! She also can't stand Halle Berry because her mother is White. She says they're not true to their race. ?? True to their race? What does that mean??

Anyway, I'm Asian so that was a curious thing to say to me. That's why it's stuck with me all these years.

[Number23]

86. You nailed it. And some are all up in that other thread with their "Brutha West speaks the troof"

bullshit as they are in EVERY thread that criticizes this president. As obvious as they are boring as hell.

[JustAnotherGen]

71. It's not racism

Its Colorism - and it's been supported by the dominant culture for many years. I don't disagree with anything you say - but you are fairly new here . . . Writing that word gets you pummeled. I'm thinking of doing a post in the AA Group - because I DO think Colorism is in play with West. It's in the way he wet after Melissa Harris Perry too. It's just there.

And I enjoyed reading your post!

[Cha]

117. " .. He sounded like a black Rush LImbiuagh". exactly and those with ODS giving

Dr West.. an Hoo Rah!

Taking one of those lies..

"Obama is only comfortable around white jewish men."


Illinois State Senator Barack Obama at a community meeting in his district with his state representative (second from right) House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie


Barack Obama with his grandmother Sarah Hussein Obama in her home in the village of Nyagoma-Kogelo, western Kenya, 1987


After his graduation from Harvard Law School, working on a voter registration drive in Chicago

The rest of the story..
The Obama Diary http://theobamadiary.com/2014/08/23/where-the-hell-were-these-blackademics-before-2008-2/

[flamingdem]

137. +++

nice!

[Cha]

142. ..

hey flamingdem

[Cad Bane]

14. Cornel and Tavis wanted to raise their profile on Obama's coattails

Instead because of their petty jealousy and obvious hatred they have been increasingly marginalized in the black community.

They have lost many friends and connections because of how they have treated Pres. Obama.

It's ironic because as their stock has plummeted within the black community, it has risen in the white ODS "left" community.

White people on the "left" who don't like Obama have been desperate to find a black voice to parrot their views. Just like right wingers on Fox News like Hannity pimp their "black friends" who spew anti-Obama rhetoric.

Naderites who couldn't couldn't tell Cornel West from Kanye West before Obama took office, now use him as a mouthpiece for their Obama hate.

[Chathamization]

18. Eh...didn't West support Nader in 2000? N/T

[Mr Dixon]

17. SMH

Haters are Going to hate, i never liked this clown nor Travis smiley both are snakes. It always pisses me off when people try and claim OBAMA should do more for the Black Community and ignore the rest of the country, how fucking stupid is that, there would be no progress and no second term. Obama has done just about as much as he can do with his executive orders, Once again he is not a fucking KING or wizard to wave a magic wand and everything turns to rainbows and pink ponies. The Public is so stupid it makes my head hurt sometimes.

[WillyT]

20. Really ??? - Maybe Jesse Can Show You why... From Memphis... To Chicago...

[HipChick]

23. Let's not forget Jesse called Obama names too..

I won't repeat them here...

[bigtree]

25. oh, go ahead

. . . I won't alert on you.


. . . not right away.

[HipChick]

27. I don't know why you are stalking me all over DU?..Anyone can google and see what Jesse called Obama

[bigtree]

33. two threads, both about Cornel, which you chose to post in. Not stalking, responding to your remarks

. . .which I find incredibly ignorant and permanently biased and tainted by your remark calling Dr. West a 'coon;' a remark that you've not only defended, but done so by claiming it's supported by the 'black community' . . . now, defending that racist slur you made by pointing to Jesse Jackson.

When Jackson or anyone from the 'black community' comes to DU and makes that remark, I will certainly point out to them how racist and ignorant I believe it is to make and defend such a slur.

[HipChick]

36. Really? Google must be broken in your part of the world...

Because anyone who can read, can see the same information I see....but I guess you must continue with your personal attack quest...

[bigtree]

39. you're the only one I've seen with the temerity to call this accomplished African Americanprofessor

. . .a 'coon' on DU and defend it by pointing to something you claim someone else has said, as if that excused it, somehow.

[HipChick]

40. yet if you google, you will find approximately 34,567 hits saying the same thing...

but keep the personal attacks and blinders going if you must...

[bigtree]

44. googled on DU, our internet community (which is the ONLY relevant comparison)

An audio diagnostic, Zimmerman saying, "fucking coons'

DJ Fired For Calling Condoleezza Rice 'Coon'


I Was 'King Coon' Until I Hit Back (my own article)

from my article:

My parents certainly knew the importance of civil rights, as their own livelihood and their own expectations of comity and acceptance were challenged by my African-American mother's pale skin - which was often mistaken for that of a Caucasian individual - and her marriage to my dark-skinned father. Their own work experience was advantaged by the new civil rights initiatives which were opening the workplace for blacks and providing opportunities which often were in the very civil rights field that they were counting on to lift them out of the oppression that their earlier lives had endured during segregation, Jim Crow, and the like . . .

Thing is, though, most of the racism and discrimination was well undercover. Reasons and justifications needn't be openly discussed to deny a kid access to those elements of society that folks wanted to restrict for themselves. You just turn your back. Or, you just decide, as a group, to exclude. That characterized most of the problems I had as a result of the color of my skin. No open hollering racial epithets at me when I walked down the street, like the folks in Cumberland, Md. did when I visited there in 1979. No outright discrimination like I experienced as an adult looking for work and in the actual workplace. Just indifference and exclusion. Coded racism, undercover.

I did have one small period where I was under direct and open assault for the color of my skin. In my overwhelmingly white-populated junior high school, there was a fellow and a few of his friends who thought it would be funny to follow me around the hallways calling me 'Jigaboo' and 'King Coon'. The open use of obviously derogatory insults like the N-word would have been out of the question in that community at that time.

For folks not familiar with these epithets, they are terms used at the worst periods in our nation's history to belittle blacks. I knew of them, because my father had used those terms, 'coon' and 'jigaboo', in a derogatory manner, to cynically describe someone he knew.

This taunting from my classmates continued for weeks, with other students emboldened to jump in with their own taunts. I'd keep my head down and hurry to class. One day, I had had enough and I saw the ringleader standing beside the gym. I didn't wait for the taunts. I just opened-up and hit him square on the jaw. I fell and cracked my elbow in the process which swelled like a balloon.

Upshot of it all, the fellow was surprised beyond his belief that I would strike back in such an arbitrary manner; as were all of his friends standing around. I wasn't a large or menacing kid, but I'd made enough of an impact by striking back in that fashion that I never had so much of a hint of taunting or confrontation based on my race from anyone there again. In fact, the fellow I had hit came to me in private, shook my hand and apologized. He said he really didn't know what he was doing or why. I never forgot that.

Much of the racism we experience in this 'modern' age -- so far from the overt and institutionalized expressions of our nation's racist and discriminatory past -- isn't overt or obvious; especially to those who haven't been at the receiving end of it all. That reality requires a special kind of vigilance among us which isn't readily understood or identified with by folks who don't see the perniciousness in small, seemingly benign and marginal slights and insults which once were so openly accepted and encouraged against our black population.

In many ways, I see the need to move past the reflexive defensiveness which often deepens the controversies or draws unwanted attention to something which is, perhaps, better left unremarked on. There has been remarkable progress past the old civil rights battles for acceptance and acceptability among our peers which is a product of an enlightened generation determined to put all of that behind us.

Yet, I can't countenance having our discourse go all the way back to the place where folks were comfortable and secure that their slurs and their stereotypical insults wouldn't be met with forceful condemnation by society as a whole, and met by individuals determined to elevate our interactions above these opportunistic appeals to those things we sometimes use to divide or alienate.

There seems to be a revival of that racism and bigotry which is being encouraged by the cynical politics practiced by the present batch of republican candidates. That attitude is certainly trickling down to folks in our communities who are encouraged by these pols to identify their own opposition to this presidency with these racist and bigoted appeals which have root in our nation's tragic past.

In many ways, President Obama has refrained from directly confronting the rhetoric; choosing instead to direct the conversations to something more substantive than those things folks use to divide and conquer. That's likely the most productive course, but, it involves biting back those things which we feel we need to defend against (if only to define ourselves outside of the insults and stereotypes offered in these sly attacks on our humanity).

I'm not convinced, though, that enough folks out here are truly familiar with all of the nonsense which has been resurrected from the past in a cute attempt to replicate the divisive attitudes and expressions which characterized a more confrontational age. It's going to take some education from those of us whose life experiences aren't readily available in a google search; rendering our experiences mostly invisible and mostly unbelievable to a new generation. I hope for understanding. I fear, though, we'll be fighting many of the old battles out in the open again. That may well be for the best, in the long run.

In the time being, though, the sly appeals to the racism and toleration of the resurgence of some of the divisive rhetoric and attitudes of the past is a disturbing and disheartening trend which will require vigilance and a determined response.

. . .you're right, Google is my friend.

[ancianita]

53. That's a defense commonly used by right wing bigots. You don't want to use that defense anymore.

[still_one]

57. Except Jessie recognized it was wrong and apologized for it, and meant it. Big difference

[woo me with science]

22. Maybe a sense of deep betrayal

from someone he thought had ample reason to be on the side of the most marginalized, oppressed, and vulnerable in this country.

[notadmblnd]

28. I always got the impression that he did not like the president

What sort of racial remarks does he make?

[HipChick]

31. Cornel West called Al Sharpton ‘the bonafide house negro of the Obama plantation

Obama is not his only target...

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/30/cornel-west-calls-al-sharpton-the-bonafide-house-negro-of-the-obama-plantation/

[ancianita]

52. Yeah, well the whole plantation metaphor can explain all of us and our positions on the "capitalism

plantation." That's in-house black historically-based rhetoric. Calling each other "sellouts," "house slave," "field slave" are common. So what. Get over it.

[HipChick]

58. Contradicting yourself much?

[ancianita]

60. Explain. I don't see it.

[JustAnotherGen]

73. Historically though - that's not been the case

A house slave was often a member of the family. Did you know that? She wouldn't have looked like Mammy or Prissy in Gone With The Wind - she would have looked like Halle or Vanessa Williams. Don't believe that lie you've been told over and over again. It's a stereotype used to create separations within the community - its been by design to hide the shame and the truth.

And it's not "rhetoric" - its deeper than that. These are high level social constructs. I tried explaining the concept of black hair care to someone this weekend who I'm pretty sure had no idea the scope of money available to be made. But good hair v bad hair goes to those words you used in your post.

www.lipstickalley.com - there are sections on Colorism, interracial dating etc etc. Read there and see how the far left should use caution in dismissing the language and trying to take it over for an anti capitalism movement.

Don't assign such horrific living conditions to the modern American man or woman. It simply doesn't compare . . .

[ancianita]

84. Not assigning anything; describing how I've heard this same accusation made, many times, and yet I

haven't seen that it means burned bridges for the community. In my view, as horrible as plantation life was, how it's publicly used by black leaders isn't for whites to judge.

I heard "Uncle Tom" thrown around in the 70's and 80's, as well, but got the distinct impression that I could never use or judge black speakers' use of that phrase unless I had a personal relationship with the person talked about.

I'll check out the link, thanks.

[HipChick]

90. lipstickalley.com?

I would not recommend that site, neither Bossip - folks dont seem to really want to know what really goes on. Keeping the blinders seems to be status pro

[JustAnotherGen]

93. For the Colorism debate

I absolutely would.

I also love The Black Snob.

Lipstick Alkey hands down for personal care - always there first for product insight. I'm a member there. Especially after some of the snide in the corners bigots at DU - it is a breath of fresh air to be able to be a woman amongst women - first.

[still_one]

62. It wasn't overtly "racist", but effectively saying the President isn't "black enough". The latest

one was calling the President a "...brown faced Clinton".

Why inject the color of the President into his disagreements with the President?

[riqster]

30. His expectations were not met, so he's pissed off.

The thing to remember about our expectations: they are OURS. Expecting someone else to meet our expectations is basically projection.

[woo me with science]

46. What utter bullshit.

We have a right to expect that politicians who campaign on changing the malignant Bush agenda will not turn around and defend, entrench, and expand it.

[riqster]

47. See, that is your expectation.

I expected him to stop the bleeding, do triage, and stabilize the dying patient.

The "malignant Bush agenda" goes back to the 1970's, and to expect anyone to single-handedly rip out the hydra and cut off all of its heads is naive in the extreme. Your expectation, like that of Dr. West, is understandable but unrealistic.

[woo me with science]

54. See, this is one reason why the Third Way is so malignant.

Last edited Tue Aug 26, 2014, 05:33 PM - Edit history (6)

You wrote:

The thing to remember about our expectations: they are OURS.

No, expectations come from what the candidates promise they will stand for...the direction they promise to take the country. Your response here echoes the familiar Third Way talking points that attempt to reshape Americans' expectations of what they have a right to expect from our political process and our politicians. A drumbeat of antidemocratic propaganda suggesting that:

* our votes are owed through party loyalty
* politicians don't need to earn our votes or prove that they will be representing our voices
* criticizing politicians is rude, disloyal, or a sign of working for the other "team"
* lying to citizens in campaigns is to be expected, because winning is the goal
* citizens should cheer, or at the very least restrain all criticism during election seasons, so as not to disturb the delicate plans of our candidates

Obama campaigned as the anti-Bush, and he has done the opposite. He has not "stabilized" the dying patient; he is aggressively assaulting it by continuing and escalating the very same direction of policy.

Mass spying on Americans? Both parties support it.
Handing the internet to corporations? Both parties support it.
Austerity for the masses? Both parties support it.
Cutting social safety nets? Both parties support it.
Cutting food stamps? Both parties support it.
Funding farm bills with "pension smoothing? Both parties support it.
Corporatists in the cabinet? Both parties support it.
Tolling our interstate highways? Both parties support it.
Corporate education policy? Both parties support it.
Bank bailouts? Both parties support it.
Ignoring the trillions stashed overseas by corporations? Both parties support it.
Trans-Pacific Job/Wage Killing Secret Agreement? Both parties support it.
Drilling and fracking? Both parties support it.
Wars on medical marijuana instead of corrupt banks?
Deregulation of the food industry? Both parties support it.
GMO's? Both parties support it.
Militarized police and assaults on protesters? Both parties support it.
Indefinite detention? Both parties support it.
Drone wars and kill lists? Both parties support it.
More war in Iraq and Syria? Both parties support it.
Funding Israel to carpet-bomb Gaza? Both parties support it.
Targeting of journalists and whistleblowers? Both parties support it.
Private prisons replacing public prisons? Both parties support it.
Unions? Both parties view them with contempt.

Perhaps the corporate-purchased parties themselves have something to do with this conclusion by the American people:

Poll: Half of Americans dont care which party controls Congress
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024988821

The Third Way fiction that Obama has been trying to reverse the Bush agenda but has merely been obstructed is just that: fiction. It is a baldfaced lie, as has been documented over and over and over again by the president's own PROACTIVE and AGGRESSIVE actions to defend, entrench, and sustain it. Do you really need me to post the extensive lists of those actions again, that had absolutely nothing to do with Republican obstructionism?

Claiming that criticism of those betrayals comes from unwarranted expectations is, to put it quite simply, horseshit. I call it, "Third Way blase," this attempt to treat as utterly normal the fact that we are routinely lied to by those who pretend to represent us. That corporate money drives the direction of policy now, instead of the people's voices. That, in the words of Jimmy Carter, "America no longer has a functioning democracy."

[riqster]

67. Like I said, it's projection.

You are projecting your anger onto me. Not accurately, not appropriately, not rationally. Just blowing a semi-articulate screed at those who are not in 100% agreement with you, and by so doing alienating people of good will who could be your allies.

That is why I pay scant attention to such arguments. Because at the end of the day, nothing is good enough, nothing is pure enough, and even if someone could meet the expectations set out...why, the expectations would be raised anyway.

Obama was not my first choice. None of the Dems that ran were after Kooch dropped out. But he is a fuck of a lot better than the alternatives presented at the time.

Don't like it? Present a better choice. Not an externalized vision , but an actual candidate who does and will continue to meet your standards.

[woo me with science]

68. War is Peace.

This is how propaganda works. Ignore the policies and the administration's own behavior. Just keep repeating your conclusion that is utterly incompatible with them.

"2+2=5"

It appeared that there had even been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grams a week. And only yesterday […] it had been announced that the ration was to be reduced to twenty grams a week. Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it.

Life, if you looked about you, bore no resemblance not only to the lies that streamed out of the telescreens, but even to the ideals that the Party had to achieve.

"How can I help seeing what is in front of my eyes? Two and two are four."
"Sometimes, Winston. Sometimes they are five. Sometimes they are three. Sometimes they are all of them at once. You must try harder. It is not easy to become sane."

[riqster]

70. Like I said. Typical non answer.

[sabrina 1]

149. That answer was completely clear. Telling people that 2+2 = 5 perfectly describes

the Third Way rhetoric we are becoming so familiar with in order to try to defend the policies implemented by Bush and in many cases, strengthened, rather than deconstructed by this administration. See 'Education' eg.

But go right ahead and keep trying to convince people whose vision is practically 20/20 that what they are looking at is not what they see. That 2+2 = 5. It won't work of course, but it's a free country, well sort of, so you are perfectly free to keep providing those examples of 2+2 = 5 and 'it's all about the voters' expectations and has zero to do with our elected officials' excuses if you wish and have lots of time to waste.

[riqster]

150. But that is not what I said.

The poster was venting about rhetoric that was not in my post, and ignoring what was in it.

[LuvLoogie]

124. Is there a book on tape version of this?

[cascadiance]

82. I think you are hitting more on the real reason...

I think when Obama was campaigning so much on a nebulous "change" agenda (without filling in the details), many people had a lot of hopes that he would really bring some progressive changes to bear in our government, which sadly, he really hasn't in many areas that we really hoped he would. A lot of people as Democrats are disappointed in how he had them feel betrayed by what he's actually done or not done since being elected. Yes, there's been a lot of obstructionism, but there still are many things that Republicans couldn't have stopped that he should take ownership of. Things like appointing severe corporatist Rahm Emmanuel as his chief of staff to help him select his cabinet, selecting corporate lobbyist Tom Wheeler to head up the FCC which now has taken away Net Neutrality, not using executive actions to stop Keystone oil pipeline in its tracks, and doing his own lobbying efforts behind the scenes to try to get the TPP stealthily passed in congress. These are actions that most Democrats really didn't want happening from a person that promised the "change" they had hoped for.

I think for African Americans, it takes on an added disappointment in that Obama getting elected was a major accomplishment in overcoming the racist history in our country in getting a person of color elected. It might not happen again in our life times. And for many people like West, they were really hoping that Obama would set a template for other African Americans running for high office to follow that would really bring progressive reform that might help get us to elect more of them to office and help him be more proud of his racial heritage and roots, and I'd be a proud American if I felt that more persons of color could be an avenue for change we need too.

I think we might have similar problems if Hillary gets elected and continues the more corporatist leadership that Obama, Republicans and Bill Clinton have been engaged in in their presidencies. If we were to elect someone like Elizabeth Warren instead, and she would set the template for a woman being elected to office being one of progressive change that so many of us want and need, then I think that would pave the way for so many more women to be elected in offices around the country too. If someone like Clinton, or another woman corporatist is the first person elected, then it will jade the American electorate even more, who will then feel that it doesn't matter who they elect, that all of the politicians that run and get elected are corrupt S.O.B.'s, and many would stay at home.

In short I think West WANTED to be Obama's biggest fan during the election, but has felt severely disappointed in his subsequent actions, and is verbalizing that as a feeling of betrayal in more extreme terms than others might voice.

[Chan790]

43. Troubling, yes. By no means inexplicable.

It's not really confusing why West does this, he's pretty straightforward considering he will never state the very point he's dwelling upon:

He believes the President is in-authentically black and does not share in the communal black experience.

[ancianita]

56. You're right. Because he believes that black authenticity is part and parcel of humanity, and that

BO has fallen short of living and serving that humanity.

[JustAnotherGen]

74. Define black authenticity

What does that mean?

I'm a black woman -I'm interested in what that means.

Is it "new" black?

A certain hairstyle?

A certain color spouse?

[ancianita]

89. Those are the choices? Interesting list. I've no idea what any "new" black is.

What is authenticity at all?

If you're sincere, the issue that I see West and Smiley presenting is about living -- or, as president, governing -- the way one presents oneself. To me, he explains authenticity in light of its human value here. In the context of governing in the interest of "all" Americans, the "correcting" that Dr. West points out relates to Obama's leaving out black people's interests along with a lot of other "humanity."

I certainly don't presume to define black authenticity except as I've heard this man and others define it. But if you insist, I'll give a definition more thought. And you could offer one, as well.

[JustAnotherGen]

91. I'm a woman first

My race does not define me - it's how I've experienced America.
We are not a monolith.
I do not use brother or sister unless I'm referring to one of my siblings.
Achievement is everything.
It's nice to be important - its far more important to be nice.
Reach down and pull up - but when dragged let go.

I don't think Obama has forgotten me. I've seen a man - who I share more in common with in many ways than I ever will Smiley or West. I look at him, Booker, and yes - even Ford - as partners. They do not assign blame to black women and do not ask us to subjugate ourselves to their will. I see this in many young voices of feminism as well. And certainly our partnership with the GLBT community is one.

I'm quite familiar with Mr. West's body of work. It just doesn't fit the narrative that most young black Americans need in order to move forward. We can't hear him in between all the brothers.

We don't need the "brothers" - we need to hold the line and hear more CEO's. We need to "win" with other groups. We need less faith based - and more reason based objective thought. Striking down DOMA - was as much a win for us black folks as it was the GLBT community. Had Rmoney won - I have no doubt we would have had more attacks on the rights of women.

Some of the strongest voices at DU who see what is going on with black America - are from those groups. We are better together.

You asked me to define new black - I'm one. It's all there.

[ancianita]

95. Thanks.

[JustAnotherGen]

75. And what drives that?

Having a Caucasian mother?

Having grown up with Uncle Charlie?

Why does West get to own that?

Is he relevant to Gen X and younger?

I'm Gen X - I can't relate to him at all.

[Chan790]

78. I have no idea, frankly.

I'm not sure I agree with him even.

[ancianita]

50. Yeah. Because, being black, any and all blacks do that if they damned well feel like it. And calling

Obama "Brother Barack" is REAL. Not bullshit, and only whites who don't understand black rhetoric naysay how West talks about Obama. Obama knows. He doesn't need a bunch of whites here hand wringing about how the bigots of the left will exploit this public difference. For all anyone here knows, they're both having a good laugh about whose side whites take.

I'm WAY Left. White. Have read every Cornel West book. Taught one of them. Listen to Smiley regularly. I and many whites I know support both Obama AND these two naysayers. The name calling here is unfair.

Support doesn't equal agreement. Working with the black community, I've been told by members -- working class and professionals -- of the black community, that criticism from within is acceptable, part of black history. In-house criticism is expected; they believe in their own and want to strengthen, toughen them. They've seldom mistaken "unity" for "uniformity," and neither should whites.

Sure, Cornel and Tavis have resented being overlooked, but if bigoted whites from any part of the political spectrum didn't have West's and Smiley's words to exploit, they'd invent some black critics' words to exploit, anyway, even if they had to search quotables from black history's famous. Don't think West and Smiley are unaware of this.

Whites' wanting allies to make their criticisms 'valid' or 'not racist' go back a long way. From either party on any number of issues. It's election time. Let's not use "baby with the bathwater" put-downs or imply a total tear down of two critics whose own very well respected body of work has made them culture builders in the black community.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

51. Meh... the academic cultural left doesn't like being transcended or challenged

Obama neither jives with their preferred cultural narrative or pays them any particular tribute.

[msanthrope]

61. And that is the DU Post of the Month. Sub in the "DU cultural Farthest Left," and you have

explained this forum.

[still_one]

66. Isn't that special.... Ironic because the right wing haters believe that is what Obama does

[Wella]

55. Perhaps because he expected more of him as an African American

And because he's bitter.

[still_one]

59. ok, that may be, then why not word it as you just did? Instead he prefers to make the critique

embedded with racial overtones, to the effect that he says the President, "isn't a real person of color"

That is simply not the way to carry on a professional dialogue, and the way you phrased it is the way to carry on a professional dialogue

[Wella]

64. It's the language of betrayal. Cornell West has been fighting the good fight for a long time.

I think he thought that, finally, African Americans were going to get a break and that this White House would really help the situation. Instead, Obama seems to be focused on building up Homeland Security, militarizing the police (I know this started under Bush, but Obama is building on Dubya's foundation), and cutting budgets for education, the one thing that can lift people out of a life of poverty. (The states are also drastically cutting budgets.) When Obama does focus on economic or social justice, it tends to be about GLBT, abortion, or immigration issues.

All issues deserve some recognition, of course, but there is no way to compare the physical dangers of poverty and out-of-hand policing that the African American community deals with every day to any of the other causes Obama is espousing. An African American president with African Americans at heart would be working on certain key issues that are at the heart of the community. Off the top of my head, here are some that I think are crucial:

1. Poverty: figuring out how to bring economic empowerment to the African American community. These means lots of money poured into job training, mentoring entrepreneurs, teaching important business skills like accounting.

2. Education: African American neighborhoods have some of the worst schools in the nation. The current focus on test scores (a la Michelle Rhee) does nothing to help--it actually makes it worse. There are real educators out there who know how to help all kids learn how to read, do math, and explore the arts (which actually accelerates learning.)

3. Drug Rehab: One of the first thing Newt Gingrich did in 1994 was pull away money for drug rehab. This greatly affected many neighborhoods (including one where a minister friend of mine was working) and left many children at the mercy of drug addicted parents and caregivers. The War on Drugs criminalizes a medical problem: remember, many of these addictive drugs (like heroin) were produced in pharmaceutical labs (Bayer for heroin) and dumped on the street. The community did not invent these itself. African Americans are the nexus of the drug war: having the drug trade infest the streets and having the cops dumping everyone in jail to feed the prison industrial complex. A president on the side of Black America would be certainly addressing this. If low level drug offenders were given rehab instead of prison (and with as much as prison costs, rehab could be funded on some of that money), this would cut off the prison employment pipeline.

4. AIDS: PBS Frontline had a great program on AIDS in the African American community, one of the few places where AIDS is growing in the US. This has to be addressed immediately because AIDS will decimate the community eventually. AIDS meds are extremely expensive and many folks don't even get AIDS tested.

I am sure you can think of many other crucial issues.

This president, sadly, only seems to give lip service to major issues is Black America. His policies seem to keep enriching Wall Street while militarizing the police at home. That's just my take.

I think Cornell West feels the same way. He feels betrayed by the original promise of Obama. He and Tavis Smiley (whom I respect very much) did their best to point out just how poor Black America is, and they were right. There is also spreading poverty among working class Whites as well. And here is one place where color doesn't seem to matter: no one in government seems to truly care about the poor, no matter what color they are. They give a lot of lip service, especially in election years, but they don't seem to really take it seriously. As long as they have their Wall Street investments and their million-dollar homes, they don't notice that the rest of the nation is slipping into a grinding quicksand of poverty.

I understand that Cornell West's language is offensive, but I think he has seen enough and I believe he is just thoroughly shaken by the betrayal.

[still_one]

65. This isn't about Mr. West, and he has made it so by his rhetoric. You and I obviously have

views on Mr. West and Mr. Smiley

[Wella]

88. I understand why you're upset: his language is uncalled for

We agree that much. I just think he's tired, frustrated and betrayed. I usually like what he has to say.

[still_one]

119. That is right. He effectively is saying the President isn't "black enough". What does that have to

Do with being frustrated and upset about the President not doing enough to help the poor?

"Obama is just a brown faced Clinton"..,

He knows exactly what he is doing. Do you really think he is trying to influence the president to change his policies by saying "he is an Oreo?"


Is that how someone, who says he is a man of god tries to influence someone?

Of course West has a lot of good points, but for his academic credentials you would think that he would realize that using that kind of inflammatory language detracts from his message. In fact it goes a step further, it can be interpreted that white people don't care either about the poor.

Personally I deplore most generalizations

[Wella]

122. I didn't take it that way: I thought he meant that he doubted the President's commitment

to the needs of the community. But I can see it could be understood differently. I am really sorry he put his frustration and betrayal in this way, but I understand some of what I think he is feeling. The community really needed leadership and Obama was really the promise of that.

[still_one]

128. I wish he had just stuck to that then, instead of adding the inflammatory rhetoric in like an

afterthought

[Wella]

131. You and me both

There are so many important issues and sometimes it seems so damned hopeless.

[Tarheel_Dem]

77. What a load.

[KoKo]

97. A well reasoned post... Thanks...! Recommend!

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

81. It isn't the President's job to kiss his ring

[Wella]

87. I don't think Cornell West is asking for that

I think he wants more attention paid to poverty and education in the community.

[Cha]

123. Dr West is his own worst bitter enemy. Yeah, it's all Obama's fault that Cornel has gone

batshit over the edge.

[Wella]

126. That wasn't exactly the intent

But there is a feeling of betrayal. The community is actually worse off now. Poverty is much worse across the board. That may not be Obama's fault, but his seeming lack of leadership on this issue does rankle a bit.

[Cha]

129. West was doing it before Obama became President.. I don't buy any vicious whine Cornel is selling..

Star Member frazzled (11,959 posts)

6. He was doing it before Obama was president

I really can't quite forget one Sunday driving in the car with Mr. Frazzled; we're not in the car much, so it must have been on one of our trips to visit his mom in the nursing home. Since she died in early 2009, this was either in 2007 or 2008, well before Obama was president. I believe it was well before he became the nominee. It was at some point during the primaries, and I think fairly early on.

At any rate, we'd tuned into the Tavis Smiley radio show on NPR, and he had his friend West on. And they start talking about Obama and West says, "He's not really a brother, you know. His mother was white." And my husband and I looked at each other and pretty much gasped. The conversation continued about how this fellow Obama (then our senator from Illinois) was not black enough, and in that sense, was some sort of fraud.

It was the moment I wrote those two jokers off as neither very deep nor very honorable. I'm not naive, and I know that colorism exists in the black community as a sort of internal racism ... but this went beyond colorism. It was pretty much just hate. The whole conversation was dripping with vitriol ... and Obama at this point had done nothing as president to be criticized for.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5445830

[Wella]

130. I didn't hear the show myself, so I can't speak to what the person heard

I have not heard West refer to Obama in that way. That's all I can say.

[Marr]

79. Did you find it troubling when it was accompanied with praise?

I'm going to guess not.

[still_one]

80. I find it troubling that he finds it necessary to personalize the race of the President in

conjunction with the views of the president, as though the color of the President's skin is relevant to the President's views.

So my question to you is did he use the color of the President's skin when he was praising him, and if so, what did the color of the President's skin have to do with the praise?

In Mr. West's mind are people of color supposed to think a certain way, and who appointed him as the decider on that basis?

and obviously since you have come to a certain conclusion about "me", without the benefit of the full context, your logic is as flawed as Mr. West

[sendero]

92. Because the idea we live in a color-blind society...

.... is ludicrous?

[still_one]

102. His verbosity about the President has NOTHING to do with a "color-blind" society. It has to do with

Mr. West's view that the President is "not enough of an African American"

Gee, for a theology guy that is mighty "christian of him".

[sendero]

143. What amuses me most..

.. is that someone can say 100 things, all true and one questionable and people will focus on the questionable to avoid having to deal with the true.

[LloydS of New London]

99. Excuse me?

I'm a lot more concerned with armed-to-the-teeth white racists fixating on the President's skin tone!

[still_one]

101. seems like they have something in common with Cornell West then

[Cha]

125. Then go post on those threads .. we'll discuss Dr West's assholery. And, quite capable of

multitasking.

[JaydenD]

105. The guy seems to seek the spotlight,

he wouldn't get near the light if he was supportive of the President.

Hey, did you hear what that smart black guy said. He thinks Obama is an awful President! gets a lot of attention. Unfortunately from everyone, not only the officially bagged and ignorant.

[U4ikLefty]

106. Cornel is consistent & the cheerleaders hate that.

under the DU bus with him along with MANY others.

This place has become a joke.

[Wella]

127. He has consistent beliefs

And I share those beliefs. I think what Cornell West is trying to say is it's the belief system that's important, not the color of the person in the White House. That's how I took it, anyway.

[Cha]

133. Says West's "Cheerleader".. Yeah, he's been a "consistent" asshole talking about everyone's

skin color he's hatin on.

[BainsBane]

110. I think he expected more from him

I suppose he thought since he was African American he would be fundamentally different from other Presidents. While Obama's personal experiences are different, he is more alike other recent presidents than different from them. I'm not quite sure why West ratchets up the rhetoric to quite such a degree.

[Cha]

134. "Cornel West’s tragic meltdown" by Joan Walsh May 19, 2011

A few fair complaints about Obama drown in a sea of personal racial attacks. Is this how identity politics ends?

snip//

"Melissa Harris-Perry and Adam Serwer wrote majestic takedowns of Cornel West’s vicious and deeply personal rant against President Obama published this week, so I didn’t think I had to. But there’s one thing missing in the torrent of reaction to West I’ve seen this week: a recognition that maybe this is the way identity politics had to end, not with a bang but a whine. Dizzying racial and personal insults have come from all directions, and they’re beginning to lose their meaning.

Much has been made of the personal pique that animated West’s attack on the president: How dare the bellhop at West’s hotel Inaugural Weekend wind up with tickets to the event itself when West didn’t? How could Obama stop returning his calls? West’s animus was impossible to miss, and it clearly drove the awful, ad hominem anger of West’s invective.

The most tragic thing, to me, about West’s meltdown was the way he tried to frame it as a universalist defense of poor and working-class people — who in fact haven’t gotten enough help or attention from this too-close-to-Wall Street administration — but then somehow descends into personal attacks on the president as “a black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black puppet of corporate plutocrats.” If that wasn’t bad enough, West claims Obama’s problem is that he is afraid of “free black men” due to his white ancestry and years in the Ivy League. “He feels most comfortable with upper middle-class white and Jewish men who consider themselves very smart, very savvy and very effective in getting what they want,” West claimed.

Give Brother West credit for consistency: On MSNBC’s “The Ed Show” Tuesday night, he repeated his criticism that Obama is too close to “upper-middle-class white brothers and Jewish brothers.”

Oh no, the Jews again. Haven’t we been here before?"


snip//

"The Washington Post’s always terrific Jonathan Capehart says that, essentially, West is “no better than a birther,” challenging the president’s credibility on specious, deeply personal racial grounds."

The rest of the story..
http://www.salon.com/2011/05/19/cornel_west/

[ucrdem]

136. His latest rant got a feature page on InfoWars

via William Kristol's Weekly Standard:

http://www.infowars.com/cornel-west-obama-a-counterfeit/

Breitbart gave it a platform, too:

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/08/25/Cornell-West-Counterfeit-Obama-Is-Brown-Faced-Bill-Clinton-Kenny-G-in-Brown-Skin

They especially like the "brown-faced Clinton" quote, which both use as a subhead. I'd say that perfectly illustrates why it's wrong for West to use racialized discourse to criticize Obama: it give license to wingnuts to use the same kind of language, and it doesn't take a PhD to figure that out.

[flamingdem]

138. Now isn't that special!

He has arrived.. somewhere

Enjoyed his talks maybe 10 years ago or so

[HipChick]

139. He is used by many so-called Dems as a basis of attacking the President

as often evidenced on this forum

[Cha]

141. Oh, why the hell not?! His racial rants are doing their work for them. I see DIrish has

just made an OP about "West being the right's favorite Black guy"..

".. I'd say that perfectly illustrates why it's wrong for West to use racialized discourse to criticize Obama: it give license to wingnuts to use the same kind of language, and it doesn't take a PhD to figure that out."

the fuck West cares? It's all about him.

thank you, ucr

[BainsBane]

144. That really is ugly

I'm more familiar with West's academic work. Seems like he really has gone off the deep end, and it's really personal.

[Drunken Irishman]

135. West is a bitter, ignorant blowhard...

His attacks are projection at the finest - as he's a guy whose entire career has been isolated from the true civil rights movement. West grew up to well-to-do parents (his father was a defense contractor) and has spent his entire life living an affluent lifestyle. When he's dead, 100 years from now, no one will remember him or link him to anything substantive with the civil rights fight. It burns him up inside to know he's marginalized by the likes of guys like Al Sharpton and Barack Obama - and it's not a coincidence his bloated rhetoric is used by the right to slam Obama.

Just Google West and hotair.com and see what I mean. He's being used as a black figurehead to attack the President and he'll happily do it. But the irony here, or maybe it's hypocrisy, is that West attacks Obama for not advancing this or that and, in the end, Obama, as a community organizer, did more on the streets of Chicago than West has ever done.

[HipChick]

140. He's being used as a black figurehead to attack the President...

and supported by many here on DU...