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Before getting into the main topic we will hear from Bro. Makola from The Patrice Lumumba Coalition who have organised a protest: Long Live Lumumba! Long Live Okito! Long Live Mpolo! Taking place on Tuesday, January 17th – 12noon-1pm at the Belgium Embassy, 17 Grosvenor Crescent, Belgravia, London, SW1X 7EE. January 17th being the 56th anniversary of the brutal, multi-nationally co-ordianted assassination of Congo’s first prime minister Patrice Lumumba – one of the brightest stars of the independence era, and his loyal aides Joseph Okito and Maurice Mpolo.
On January 20th Donald J Trump will be inaugurated as the 45 president of the USA, bringing to an end the tenure of Barack Hussein Obama, the country’s “first Black president.”
Most can recall the unbridled optimism from a profusion of commentators. It was lauded as “a dream come true for black Americans [who had] finally arrived in the promised land” (1)
The reverberations were felt globally. Writing for PoliticsInColor.com, political commentator Dr. Frank Mwine shared the bold prediction that an Obama election victory would be “the most important event in Africa’s history since the Slave Trade.” (2)
His campaign caught the imagination of Afrikans everywhere, even those that some activists asserted should know better. As Black Agenda Report Executive Editor Bro. Glen Ford shared in January 2008:
“We at Black Agenda Report are most concerned with the paralyzing stupor that Obamamania has induced in the Black polity. Even committed Black progressive activists have jumped on the candidate’s bandwagon-to-nowhere.” (3)
Ford, also broke down what he considered the perceptible evils of the Obama phenomenon:
“Barack Obama’s corporate-made and -financed presidential campaign is the product of three distinct factors, all mitigating against Black self-determination and political cohesion: 1) corporate decisions, made a decade ago, to provide media and financial support to pliant Black Democrats that can be trusted to carry Wall Street’s water; 2) a widespread desire among whites to prove through the safe and simple act of voting that they are not personally racist, and/or to dismiss Black claims of pervasive racism in society, once and for all; 3) a huge reservoir of Jim Crow era, atavistic Black thinking that refuses to evaluate Black candidates’ actual political stances, but instead revels in the prospect of Black faces in high places. A President Obama would, of course, be the zenith of such narrow, non-substantive, objectively self-defeating visions.” (4)
The divergent views among activists were made manifest in a series of debates on whether “Obama Good For Black People,” including two historic events in Harlem in December 2008 and June 2009. Viola Plummer; Charles Barron; Dr. Leonard Jeffries; Malik Zulu Shabazz, Dr. Ron Daniels and Dr. Gloria Brown-Marshall argued “Yea”; while the “Nays” included Mama Marimba Ani; Dr. James Turner; Nellie Baily; Dr. Donald Smith, Glen Ford; Jared Ball and Diop Olugbala. (5) A key tendency of the “Yeas” was less about President Obama’s policy positions than his being an inspirational symbol of Black achievement and success. The “Nays” did focus specifically on those policy positions as well as the ostensible reluctance to advocate for Afrikan people. However, those critiquing Obama often found themselves dismissed as out of touch “intellectuals” or even “Uncle Toms”. (6) An important contradiction the debates highlighted, particularly for the activists, was the tendency to give the whole USA project a pass because there was “a Black man in the White House.” Cultural warrior Mama Marima Ani spoke directly to this when she posed the most fundamental of questions: “what kind of person would want to be president of the United States of America?” (7)
The saying goes that the devil is in the detail. So the assessment of Obama should be based on available data rather than perception, as The Guaurdian’s Gary Younge highlighted in 2012, as the first term drew to a close:
“A Pew survey in January 2010 indicated that the percentage of black Americans who thought blacks were better off than they were five years before had almost doubled since 2007. There were also significant increases in the percentages who believed the standard-of-living gap between whites and blacks was decreasing. No wonder they love the president… There was only one trouble with these assessments. They weren’t true. African Americans, as a group, are far worse off now than they were when Obama came to power and the gap between whites and blacks in terms of wealth and income has increased under Obama’s tenure.” (8)
Commentator Antonio Moore summarises the outgoing president’s report card:
“By nearly every economic indicator, blacks are worse off than when President Obama was sworn into office. During Obama’s terms, black Americans experienced record lows in small business loans, and saw their lowest home-ownership rates in 25 years. This is along with having record highs in unemployment, and experiencing large amounts of wealth loss under his administration. Since Obama took office, the racial wealth gap grew over 30 percent.” (9)
Conversely, there are those that say that Obama’s presidency suffered the most blatant obstructions as any in history, accompanied by strident disrespect and racism (10) – not to mention the glut of conspiracy theories. (11) Yet in spite of all this, some proclaim Obama’s terms a success:
“President Obama passed bills with benchmarks to reign in the big banks and restructure the floundering auto industry. He green-lighted the U.S. Navy Seal team which killed Osama bin Laden and made serious progress in ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan until the military situation shifted due to ISIL. He created a national healthcare system, signed landmark drug and crime legislation, passed a nuclear non-proliferation deal with Iran, ended Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in the military and reestablished relations with Cuba, among other accomplishments. Whether or not you agree with his policies, Obama fought hard to fulfill his campaign promises and succeeded far beyond what the opposition predicted, or is willing to admit.” (12)
(1) Robert Winnett (05/11/08) Barack Obama’s historic win is a dream come true for black Americans http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/3384010/Barack-Obamas-historic-win-is-a-dream-come-true-for-black-Americans.html(2) Dr. Frank Mwine (18/05/08) Senator Barack Obamas Nomination Puts Africa Ahead. http://www.politicsincolor.com/articles/opinions/05/18/2008/senator-barack-obama%E2%80%99s-nomination-puts-africa-ahead.html(3) Glen Ford (01/01/08) 2007: The Year of Black ‘Media Leaders’ – Especially Obama. http://blackagendareport.com/content/2007-year-black-%E2%80%98media-leaders%E2%80%99-%E2%80%93-especially-obama(4) Ibid.(5) Jared A. Ball (29/09/09) The Barack Obama Debates Collection. https://imixwhatilike.org/2013/09/29/barackobamaconsidered/(6) Deron Dalton (04/11/08) Steve Harvey: Cornel West, Tavis Smiley are Uncle Toms. http://thegrio.com/2011/08/10/steve-harvey-cornel-west-tavis-smiley-are-uncle-toms/(7) Marima Ani (04/11/08) Breaking the Silence: Fulfilling The Promise. https://www.abibitumikasa.com/forums/showthread.php/41244-Breaking-the-Silence-Fulfilling-The-Promise-by-Marimba-Ani.(8) Gary Younge (03/11/12) Barack Obama and the paradox behind his African American support base. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/nov/03/obama-african-americans-paradox(9) Antonio Moore (04/11/08) African-Americans Didn’t Do Well Under President Obama. http://www.newsmax.com/AntonioMoore/obama-african-american-wealth/2016/12/21/id/765065/(10) John Blake (01/07/16) What black America won’t miss about Obama. http://edition.cnn.com/2016/06/30/politics/why-black-america-may-be-relieved-to-see-obama-go/(11) Asawin Suebsaeng and Dave Gilson (02/11/12) Chart: Almost Every Obama Conspiracy Theory Ever. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/10/chart-obama-conspiracy-theories(12) Elizabeth Austin (09/09/16) In Defense of the President: Barack Obama’s Impact and Legacy. https://intpolicydigest.org/2016/09/09/defense-president-barack-obama-s-impact-legacy/
Tonight, we ask the question
Where has 8 years of Obama left us?
1. Did “Obamamania” reduce some activists to a paralyzing stupor?
2. If so why and how?
3. Is Barack Obama an inspirational symbol of Black achievement and success irrespective of his policy positions?
4. Is the plight of Afrikans in the USA a result of Obama’s policies?
5. Did Obama succeed far beyond what the opposition is willing to admit?
Our very special guests:
Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka: Resident guest who is Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement and UNIA-ACL Ambassador for the UK and national co-Chair of the interim National Afrikan People’s Parliament. Bro. Ldr is a veteran activist of over 30 years standing, a featured columnist in The Whirlwind newspaper and author of Mosiah Daily Affirmations and Education: An African-Centred Guide To Excellence.
Bro. Glen Ford: Executive Editor, Black Agenda Report. Bro. Glen was reading newswire copy on-the-air at age eleven and got his first full-time broadcast news job in 1970. Since then he proven himself to be a versatile and pioneering broadcaster undertaking roles as political correspondent, interview host, music DJ and news anchor. Some of the ground breaking shows that Bro. Glen established include: Black World Report (1974); America’s Black Forum (1977); Rap It Up, (the first nationally syndicated Hip Hop music show, 1987); BlackCommentator.com (2002) and BlackAgendaReport.com (BAR), (2006). In addition to writing weekly articles for BAR, Bro. Glen co-host Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network alongside Nellie Bailey at 11:00 (EST) every Monday .
Hear weekly discussions and lively debate on all issues affecting the Afrikan community, at home and abroad. We talk it straight and make it plain!
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