I am stupefied by all of the psychoanalysis media outlets are devoting to the fact that Reverend Jesse Jackson’s was “caught on tape” saying the following about presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama:
See, Barack been, um, talking down to black people on this faith based … telling niggers how to behave … I wanna cut his nuts off.
Frankly, I am neither surprised by the fratricidal rage inherent in what he said nor by the vulgar way in which he said it. After all, in a December 11, 2007 article entitled Bill Clinton has had more black women than Barack Obama…so what?! , I was moved to pose the following rhetorical question:
What’s behind this open conspiracy [amongst old-fashioned black leaders like Rev. Jackson and Andrew Young] to commit racial fratricide against Obama?
The question was rhetorical of course because the answer was (is) so obvious: old-fashioned jealousy.
Indeed, no matter how much Jackson protests his support for Obama, I’ve always gotten a palpable sense that he does not want to be alive when the first black man is elected president of the United States – unless he’s that man. No doubt he feels he’s more entitled than Obama….
Meanwhile, pay no attention to people like Professor Eric Michael Dyson trying to rationalize Jackson’s comments by suggesting that he was merely expressing frustration about Obama’s failure to hold white America accountable for the plight of black people. Because, like Obama said about other visceral critics, if Jackson believes that, he has not been listening to Obama’s speeches.
Never mind that it’s politically, socially and racially indefensible to even suggest that telling black men to honor their duties and responsibilities as fathers is talking down to black people; or that, in making his professed apology, Jackson did not apologize for what he said but rather for any hurt (subconsciously to himself I’m sure) being caught on tape saying it may have caused….
At any rate, the most newsworthy part of this story is the way Jackson’s erstwhile protege, Rev. Al Sharpton, has deftly marginalized him. After all, Sharpton did not merely settle for condemning the remarks. Instead, he made a point of casting Jackson as a crotchety old fool who nonetheless “has done great things [and] had a great career.” Talk about putting an old goat out to pasture….
Then of course there’s the patricidal intrigue between Jackson and his son Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Because junior effectively killed his father’s political career by condemning him as a public embarrassment and mocking the clarion call of his civil rights activism (i.e., “keep hope alive”) as follows:
I’m deeply outraged and disappointed in Reverend Jackson’s reckless statements about Senator Barack Obama….He should know how hard I’ve worked for the last year and a half as a national co-chair of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. So I thoroughly reject and repudiate his ugly rhetoric. He should keep hope alive, and any personal attacks and insults to himself.
Things that make you go hmmmm
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Bill Clinton has had more black women than Barack Obama…so what?!
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