Rhetoric Race and Religion
by Joseph Boston
R3 Contributor
*Parts of this first appeared in the Joseph Boston blog
The greatest principle of all is that nobody, male or female, should be without a leader. Nor should the mind of anybody be habituated to letting him do anything at all on his own initiative; neither out of zeal, nor even playfully. But in war and in the midst of peace—to his leader he shall direct his eye and follow him faithfully. And even in the smallest matter he should stand under leadership. For example, he should get up, or move, or wash, or take his meals .. only if he has been told to do so. In a word, he should teach his soul, by long habit, never to dream of independently, and to become utterly incapable of it.- Plato
Gil Scott Heron once famously said “The revolution will not be televised” and like the spoken word that gave us light in the biblical narrative of Genesis- the word became flesh.
We’ve been in the midst of a revolution since the election of President Obama in 2008 but not in the manner in which we think. The election of Barack Hussein Obama brought with it much excitement and many mentions of “HOPE”.
Hope for the present and hope for the future, in particular for people of color. The election of Barack Obama signified a historical turning point, manifested in the hope that the election of the first black president of the United States of America would in particular bring forth a change for Black Americans. A change that they had been fighting for before there even was a United States. Many would state that this “change” has indeed happened.
The report however, isn’t good. Black Americans by and large aren’t doing better despite the presence of a president of color. As black intellectuals engage in a form of verbal mandingo fighting in regard to the job this president is doing as it relates to Black Americans, I lean toward the small but growing dissenting voices that are calling the president to task.
Using the President’s recent comments in regard to the not guilty verdict from the racially charged Zimmerman trial and murder of Trayvon Martin as a reference point, I contend that what we are privy to is a selective form of “black paternalism” where the president deftly and hypocritically, conveniently plays the role of “black daddy” to what White America believes to be its bastard problem children of America: Black Americans.
As Black Americans applaud the candour and welcome comfort of his words (even I do to a degree) there is a duality to them that speaks to long held beliefs that White Americans have about Black Americans of which due to the political correctness of this era they are unable to freely express. Who better than the “black president” to convey that message without a backlash of anger and calls of racism? In Obama, white patriarchal power has the perfect messenger to speak to Black America.
Symbolically, what Obama said was deep, and spoke much truth about the Black experience. This has tremendous import because no one from such a position of power had stated what he said before and more importantly, stated it from a place of connectivity. That aside, there is a vacuous hypocrisy that lacks any weight other than the power of emotive rhetoric and in light of the contemporary struggles that African Americans are now facing in the 21st century what we need from this president and administration is effective policy, not rhetoric.
Follow Joseph on Twitter @josephlaboston
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