In the age of President Barack Obama, a number of minorities have made their voices heard. Latinos have come out in force to push for passage of the DREAM Act, while the lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer community has made their presence known with the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” However, one group has been noticeably absent from the media coverage: black dissenters. @@DREAM Act: http://www.barackobama.com/obama-for-america-immigration-2?source=OM2012_LB_G_immigrationreform-search_dreamact-gen&gclid=CInHg7PkhqkCFRpVgwodIWU_pA@@
The media industrial complex has consistently marginalized blacks who challenge President Obama’s policies and aggressively push for measures to help the working class. Despite little changing on the ground, Obama defenders have pointed to the amount of legislation he’s passed as proof that criticism isn’t warranted. Media outlets have used these people to imply blind loyalty to Obama is normal.
Black dissent has been America’s moral conscience since the first slaves arrived in this country. When rhetoric of freedom and liberty abounded, Americans could count on speeches like Frederick Douglass’ “What to the Slave is the Fourth July?” to expose the reality facing America’s oppressed people. @@http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=162@@
With a black president, many expected that these voices would get a permanent place in the political discourse, but the opposite has happened.
This has been on full display the last couple of weeks as Princeton professor Cornel West has been tarred and feathered by virtually every major media outlet for calling out the president. In an interview with Chris Hedges, Dr. West asserted that Obama doesn’t fight for poor and working class people, has a fear of free black men and is most receptive to the demands of upper class white and Jewish men. @@http://www.princeton.edu/africanamericanstudies/people/faculty/cornel-west/@@ @@http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_obama_deception_why_cornel_west_went_ballistic_20110516/@@
Many critics likened this to Glenn Beck’s ramblings asserting Obama has a deep-seated hatred for white people. The difference is in the empirical evidence. From passing health care legislation that disproportionately benefited insurance companies to extending the George W. Bush tax cuts to staunch support of Israel, one would be hard pressed to find Obama pushing policies detrimental to upper class white and Jewish people. @@http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIZDnpPafaA@@
However, Obama has raised taxes on the lowest wage earners with his extension of the Bush tax cuts as well as quietly ramped up the raids and detention of anti-war protesters.
It only seems natural for black progressives to sound the alarm when tactics like COINTELPRO — a counter intelligence program designed to restrain political dissent —  and policies like Jim Crow have terrorized our communities throughout history.
However, figures like Al Sharpton have continued to defend Obama, saying he can only do so much as president. Yet these same people were vocal throughout George W. Bush’s presidency. @@http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Al+Sharpton@@
It’s far from the first time Obama has gone against black advocates for the working class. He has also engaged in a public spat with civil rights legend Harry Belafonte. Obama has shown no hesitation to throw prominent progressive black voices under the bus, including Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Shirley Sherrod, Rep. Maxine Waters and Rep. Charlie Rangel. Under pressure, he has dropped black people more than Jaison Williams used to drop passes. @@http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Belafonte@@ @@http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_Wright@@ @@http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resignation_of_Shirley_Sherrod@@ @@http://waters.house.gov/@@ @@http://rangel.house.gov/@@ @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=70439@@
Major news media gives little voice to poor people to begin with. Unless there’s a natural disaster or a juicy crime story, the media industrial complex doesn’t care what low-income individuals have to say.
Instead, it assigns pundits to bring the poor and working class perspective to the agenda-setting news.
As more authentic advocates like Dr. West are silenced, we get programs like MSNBC’s “The Black Agenda” hosted by Ed Schultz, a white pundit. While someone like Schultz may be familiar with the issues, he doesn’t possess the feeling of urgency in working class communities and the understanding that “compromise” is unacceptable when it only sacrifices the lives of the poor.
Not allowing people to speak for themselves and share a fair platform with the decision makers who are destroying their communities is allowing injustice to continue unstopped.
The Civil Rights movement benefited from the media capturing the crimes against black people. With the expansion of technology and decentralizing of media, there is no excuse for the invisibility of dissenting black voices.
Blind hope benefits no one. I, like many, voted for Obama and hoped he would at least advocate for the voices we don’t hear in Washington.
The reality is we helped elect the black CEO of Phillip Morris. Many progressives carry so much pride they’d rather start smoking than push back against blatant subordinate rule.
This period in time resembles the Harlem Renaissance. Although many black celebrities were gaining prominence, the working black people of Harlem weren’t allowed in the clubs, and many were pushed out of their homes. The same white elite bankers and businessmen responsible for the gentrification made all the money off the artistic movement.
When we discuss the Harlem Renaissance we tend to omit these economic realities, preferring to focus on the growth of culture and celebrity.
Likewise, even though we have a black president, the black unemployment rate is almost twice the national average and blacks are more than six times as likely to be incarcerated as whites.
The need for dissent is as urgent as ever, especially in the black community. Don’t let the smooth talking spokesperson fool you into suffering in silence.