Did you notice how cool Barack was in the last debate? Have you notice how much gray hair has popped out of Barack’s head over the course of his campaign? Is Barack able to be himself? Can you really even get angry while in fear of being angry?
In that same/last debate, did you also notice how John McCain was blinking about a hundred thousand times a minute? Did you see the bulge in his neck? He was visibly upset, and you can tell by the way he was interrupting Barack and by his jagged responses. Did you also notice in the second debate when McCain referred to Obama as “that oneâ€? All Barack could do was just smile (and you know that somewhere in his bones, he would like to say that “this is some BSâ€.)
Anger is a natural emotion, but if you are black, Latino, a person of color, there’s no space in these United States for you to be angry. It has taken me years to understand that as a black person, it is not acceptable to be angry in America. People will be terrified of you, but this is not about me, (I am still angry and trying to realize the difference between proactive anger and reaction anger) this is about Brother Barack.
I pray that Our Beloved Brother Barack has some outlet. I pray that he and Sister Michelle have some private conversations about black stress and internalized racism. Black stress and internalized racism can lead to heart attacks and high blood pressure. I hear that he’s smoking again, that can only accelerate the process.
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J. Edgar Hoover (FBI Director for a very long time) constantly referred to black people, specifically civil rights leaders (including MLK) as communists or socialists. In the last few days, McCain’s criticisms of Obama’s economic/tax policies of “spreading the wealth†as socialism echo those old attacks and accusations of black leaders. That is racist and hypocritical, after McCain voted for the use of government funds to bail out Wall St.
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Here’s what inspired this post… Brand new DB!
[audio:http://nyc.duttyartz.com/mp3s/DavidBanner-WhenYouHearWhatIGotToSay.mp3]
David Banner – When You Hear What I Got To Say
David Banner talks Election ’08 with DJ Hyphen from DJ Hyphen on Vimeo.
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Tim Wise should not be one of the few white people in America who talk consistently about white privilege, but he is.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UJlNRODZHA[/youtube]