As a lifelong political activist, I got an early Christmas present. Black folks’ reluctance to criticize President Barack Obama is giving way to reality. And the reality is, power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.
Let me be clear: I am not interested in second-guessing Obama. Instead, it’s about accountability.
Like you, I watched Obama target the needs of Wall Street banksters, and address the concerns of Blue Dogs and one dirty dog.
Yet in the name of being president “of all Americans,” Obama refused to respond to the demands of the Congressional Black Caucus and address issues especially important to black folks. Are we not Americans?
The whispered criticism has apparently been heard. Obama is scheduled to make his first appearance as president on “The Tom Joyner Morning Show” this morning.
While Joyner will show Obama some love, Smokey Fontaine of NewsOne.com told TV One’s Roland Martin, “the Obama love fest is over”:
Well, we’ve lost the passion. We’ve lost the emotion, and we should not be above criticizing the President. Just because he’s African-American, that does not mean he’s above our criticism; but what’s true is when he wants to rally us to get behind him – and he needs our support right now – we’re not there, because he hasn’t given us the attention that we deserve.
For Martin and Fontaine, the Gannett interview was the turning point:
You can listen to a livestream of the Tom Joyner show, here.MR. MARTIN: And – and I think you’ve got to get those questions in. When – when you give an interview with Gannett News Service, we talked about when he said that was a mistake having a – a direct economic plan for African-Americans. No. You’ve got to speak to us on our issues, on our terms, whether it’s this show, whether it’s Joyner and Harvey, Baisden, Sharpton – all those shows. You[‘ve] got to communicate with us in our way.
MR. FONTAINE: And it’s got to be more than communication, too. We – we know that the brother can make a nice speech. We’ve seen –
MR. MARTIN: Right.
MR. FONTAINE: -- that all over the world.
MR. MARTIN: We need the policy to back it up.




