"No Excuses"? Come Again, President Obama

First he declared that Blacks had advanced "90% of the way" to equality; then he scolded single, poor Black mothers for feeding their kids Popeyes chicken for breakfast; then he ridiculed Black men as boys; and now he tells Black children that they have "no excuses," no legitimate concerns about the centuries-old system of injustice which has strived to sabotage their success?

Can't say I didn't see this coming, though.

In his 35 minute-long Thursday evening speech to the NAACP, on occasion of its centennial celebration, President Obama stopped by to inject more tough-love serum into the Black community. Of the many questionable things he said, more striking were his charges that, for Black children, the odds are not as stacked against them as they might like to believe. Insult bribed injury shortly after.

Although he acknowledged that the "pain of discrimination is still felt in America," Obama castigated Black children who might use these "excuses" to act irresponsibly in school: "Yes, if you're African American, the odds of growing up amid crime and gangs are higher. Yes, if you live in a poor neighborhood, you will face challenges that someone in a wealthy suburb does not have to face. That's not a reason to get bad grades, that's not a reason to cut class, that's not a reason to give up on your education and drop out of school. No one has written your destiny for you. Your destiny is in your hands - and don't you forget that."

Even though for every 10 cents a Black family makes, white families make a dollar; even though a Black family's median income is 61% that of Whites; even though Blacks are, despite only 14% of the U.S. population, incarcerated 6 times the rate of Whites, Obama is pretty confident that their destiny isn't somewhat pre-written before arrival into this world.

His speech before the NAACP--televised internationally--was but a mere reprisal of his June 15, 2008 Father's Day speech, in which he thundered: "Yes, we need more cops on the street. Yes, we need fewer guns in the hands of people who shouldn't have them. Yes, we need more money for our schools, and more outstanding teachers in the classroom, and more afterschool programs for our children. Yes, we need more jobs and more job training and more opportunity in our communities. But we also need families to raise our children."

One of Obama's greatest faults, as it concerns his assessment of Black America, is that it doesn't always matter what he says, but how he says it. There's a certain arrogance and smugness that White politicians have always exhibited when talking-down at/to Black audiences, and Obama appears no different.

He doesn't get it, does he? He doesn't understand that certain occasions serve different functions, and cannot merely be used as bully pulpits to beat upon the most fragile members of society. He doesn't understand that it's not just okay to name-drop Du Bois and Dr. King, Jim Crow and Emmett Till, thinking such names guarantee ghetto passes to chastise Black people for everything under the sun.  He doesn't understand that merely pointing out the obvious, highlighting the structural disparities between Black and Whites, does no good when you dismiss the implications of those structural inequities by blaming the disenfranchised for their disempowerment. 

In his NAACP speech, Obama also lectured Black parents on what personal responsibility looks like. It is, he said, "putting away the Xbox and putting our kids to bed at a reasonable hour... attending those parent-teacher conferences, reading to our kids, and helping them with their homework."

To the Black kids watching him, his words were simple, yet definitive: "No excuses. No excuses. You get that education. All those hardships will just make you stronger, better able to compete. Yes, we can." As a politician, it's self-serving to encourage kids, especially Black ones, to "get that education." It adds political capital to your coffers to blame Black kids for the draconian testing policies they are subjugated by, the culturally-inappropriate pedagogy stuffed down their throat, and the elimination of all elements of creativity from the classroom. It's the expedient thing to do.

But if you're Barack Obama, the equation gets a little complicated. For you, the load gets a little heavier. It becomes questionable for you to ask that Black kids weather the storms of an inhumane society, and simply "get that education," when you appointed as your Secretary of Education a guy with no teaching record whatsoever, a guy whose academic credibility does not exceed a Bachelor's in Sociology. Questionable, indeed. Critical thinkers begin questioning your dedication to educational transformation when you appoint as Secretary of Education a guy who, while "CEO" of Chicago's Public schools, closed down public schools abruptly, building privatized ones in their stead; permitted the army to invade the sacred spaces of the classroom; and notoriously butted heads with the Teacher's Union--a guy you, President Obama, didn't trust enough to hand your kids over to. Again, the plot thickens quite a bit. 

Nonetheless, what a breath of fresh air it always is when an elitist Black politician shoots down the dreams of Black children: "They might think they've got a pretty good jump shot or a pretty good flow, but our kids can't all aspire to be the next LeBron or Lil Wayne."

Isn't he lovely?

Isn't it ironic--or better yet, telling--that the same man who rebuked his Attorney General for candidly analyzing society's avoidance of Race-related issues, now insists that racial inequality is approaching its death rattles.

And to those who would argue that I seem to never have anything positive--or nice--to say about the president, I ask you this one question: Has he ever said anything positive--or nice--about Black people?

Obama is an erudite, a legal scholar, an avid reader. His brilliance is undeniable, but he seems to lack any clear understanding of the issues that matter most to Black people. This reality was on full display last week when Obama traveled to Ghana to deliver a speech before the country's Parliament, and instead of incriminating foreign governments, policies, and companies in the destruction of Africa's sovereignty, he scolded African leaders for their "corrupt" and coup-loving ways. 

This is Obama's game, and he plays it so well. Of course, he hardly only condemns the victims, rebuking every sense of their dignity. Obama is more sophisticated, more suave. He prefers to douse his neo-conservative personal responsibility sermons with sprinkles of "Hope" and "Change." Obama is never questioned when he takes essentially the same stances Fox News hosts espouse. For Obama, the Horatio Alger myth is as good as it gets: Those who "pick themselves up by their bootstraps" are the finest of the human race.

But I disagree; so did Dr. King, Malcolm X, Fannie Lou Hamer, Ida B. Wells, and every other Black freedom fighter who assesses the world from the vantage point of the oppressed. Obama, it pains me to say, is of a different ilk.