Grace Lee Boggs on Obama and Black Leadership

From The Michigan Citizen (via Prometheus 6; thanks, Sylvia!):

Is Obama Black Enough?
By Grace Lee Boggs

This is a good question because it challenges us to stop glossing over the huge changes that have taken place, both positively and negatively, in Black leadership over the last 50 years.

In the 50s and 60s we may not have called it “Black leadership” but there was no doubt what we had in mind. We were talking about “the movement.” Southern Blacks, rising out of obscurity, determined to rid their communities and this country of Jim Crow, risking their lives by sitting in front seats on buses, sitting down at lunch counters, registering to vote. Small groups of deeply-committed and highly-disciplined individuals engaging in non-violent actions that forced millions of white Americans to look at themselves and recognize the crimes that have made possible the rapid economic development of this country. SNCC students transforming themselves and humanizing this country by simple acts that raised the fundamental question of what it means to be a human being, thereby inspiring women, Latinos, Native Americans and Asian Americans to challenge patriarchy and racism.

In the North men like Malcolm challenged us to look into the mirror by transforming themselves from hustlers into community leaders and searching for new ideas when those which had initially inspired their transformation tuned out to be too narrow. Students inspired us by walking out of schools demanding Black history and Black administrators.

Between 1965 (the year Malcolm was killed) and 1968 (the year Martin was gunned down) Black leadership was taken to a new level by King. Agonizing over the twin crises of the Vietnam war and the urban rebellions, he called for a radical revolution in values, not only against racism but against materialism and militarism. Warning against integration into the “burning house” of U.S. capitalism, he emphasized the need for two-sided transformation by and of Americans, both of ourselves AND our institutions, a transformation that would take us and the world beyond both traditional capitalism and communism.

King was killed before he could put this new revolutionary/evolutionary transformational vision of revolution into practice and make it widely known to the world.

After his death civil rights leaders, ignoring King’s warning, seized upon the opportunities that had been opened up by “the movement” to enter the “burning house” of U. S. capitalism. Instead of calling upon the American people to confront our consumerism and militarism, instead of challenging corporate globalism, these opportunists became a part of the system, evaluating Black progress by how much they and other Blacks were catching up with whites.

In 1977, with the support of the civil rights establishment, Maynard Jackson, Atlanta’s first Black mayor, used scabs to break the garbage workers strike. In the late 70s civil rights leaders turned Blacks into a special interest group inside the Democratic Party, just as the Democrats were becoming indistinguishable from Republicans in their dependence on corporations for campaign funds

As a result, the word “black” has lost all its movement meaning. So Bill Clinton, the man who sponsored NAFTA, who got rid of Aid to Dependent Children, who bombed Iraq, and who now suggests that Hillary’s first act as president would be to send him and George W’s father around the world, can be called this country’s “first black president”!

Meanwhile capitalism has morphed into corporate globalization, the materialism of the American people has skyrocketed, inequality is mushrooming inside the United States and between the global north and the global south, violence continues to escalate both at home and abroad, and the planetary crisis is reaching the point of no return.

Had it not been for the movements of the 50s and 60s, Obama and Hillary would not be front runners in the presidential race today.

But neither Obama’s ethnicity or Hillary’s gender is enough to earn my support. Neither is calling on the American people to confront our materialism and militarism or challenging and proposing alternatives to corporate globalization. At this critical period in human history that is what we should be requiring of ourselves and of any presidential candidate, whatever their race, gender or religion.

Fortunately new leadership is emerging out of obscurity, at the grassroots level, building community instead of running for office.

Comments

[Vincent]

To Obama or Not to Obama, To Hillary or Not to Hillary, is a bizarre question. I recognize the historical significance of a POC and a woman competing head-to-head for the Democratic nomination to run for President of The United States. As an idea, this is all very cool. After the "historical buzz" wears off, I am left with the fact that the media only talks about "Was Hillary too angry last night?" "Wow! Obama is likable and has so much passion. Can Hillary stop his "movement"?" (movement is a little too strong a characterization) I wish that there was a burgeoning dialogue about ideas, philosophies, and policies that lead the country in a direction that truly helps people lift themselves out of poverty, that educates every child in the U.S., that ensures the health of each American, and that ensures we live in peace with our neighbors. I am not hearing that. Clinton and Obama seemed to be dabbling at reform, not leading reform. Change this, experience that, and electability this. Separate from their rhetoric, the institutions that violate society are the same institutions that financial back both the Clinton and Obama campaigns. This makes me believe that it is unlikely that they are serious about reform. So, when you boil everything down, the substance of the candidate's positions does not ignite my civic-social-political soul. As Ms. Boggs says, the action is in the grassroots. Although, if you like horseraces, Obama - Clinton is an intriguing race....oh that's right they are want to be President.

peace,

v

[kameelah]

thanks for linking this. just like i told brownfemipower my response to this article ended up be a long post

http://kameelahwrites.blogspot.com/2008/01/reflecting-on-presidential-elections.html

basically, i ended with
"Maybe I am erroneously waiting for my Prince or Princess Charming of presidents. Maybe I will die a cheeky 4'11 (b/c I shrunk) old woman clamoring on about capitalism's foot on the necks of poor people, shuffling to community action meetings and holding her breathe in wait for the "perfect" candidate all while still writing this blog. Maybe I wont. What I do know for certain is that I have a right to dream about a radical transformation in my country's values and a return to the painful (but necessary discussions) about the radical (there goes that word again) change we hoped to see."

[ZC]

Wow. Excellent point, Ms. Boggs. The part that really struck me was "...these opportunists became a part of the system, evaluating Black progress by how much they and other Blacks were catching up with whites."

I might even go so far as to add that the [white] feminist movement has suffered the same fate -- trying to catch up to the power of white men -- which is why it is still grappling with race. How interesting then to see both Hillary and Obama as symbols of the state of affairs of both of these movements. It's as if the system is saying, yes, we will accept a white woman or a black man as president, because really these people don't represent the grassroots, don't want to change anything, they merely want into the system as it is. they are not threatening and won't rock the boat, so ok, we'll let you in.

How sad. And yet, we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Perhaps fate still has a hand to play in this game, and reform can work its way into the mix somehow.

[one seer]

Now is not the time. Leave all who lie, distort, hurt, murder, and the followers to their own divices. Cast not your pearls to the swine. You need not appear. Let them feed upon their own. Step back and watch evil. Do not cry for the future, for these among us will pass. You have stayed, unseen for 300 hundred years, 4-8 years nothing. Let bush and company continue after all they will get (death, distruction)and the worlds condemnation, lift not a hand. Do not buy, spend, or create but what you need. We hear you. One seer