Thursday, March 03, 2011

Conservatives trying to use DOMA decison to drive between Obama and the black community

It's getting ridiculous how the religious right are trying to trot out their versions of "black leaders" to eviscerate President Obama over the Justice Department's decision not to defend DOMA in the courts.

It began last week when Mike Huckabee claimed that Obama's decision was alienating him from the African-American community - a charge which was hilarious to me because I never remembered Huckabee as a black leader.

Then we heard various rumblings from organizations such as the National Black Church Initiative (whoever they may be) and then religious right favorite Harry Jackson  - who was designated as The Most Influential Black Christian in America in the article which gave voice to his disapproval.

I personally never knew that there was a vote on that sort of thing.

And even though The Washington Post came out with a very good article clearly showing that us black folks don't care that much about the DOMA decision to turn against Obama, conservatives continues to trot out "black leaders" (with very little prominence outside religious right circles) to no doubt give an impression of a groundswell.

Next on the list is an old favorite loudmouth of mine, Ken Hutcherson:

"For him to stand up and say that he's not going to defend the law [DOMA] tells me how much he is overstepping his bounds in the aspects of going against the people's will -- and we've seen that over and over and over again the last two years," says the pastor.

Asked it that could that be considered arrogance, Hutcherson responded: "It's past arrogance. I think it's delusional."

In other words, blah, blah, blah. My guess is that sooner or later, this mess is going to hit the conservative blogs and maybe then Fox News.

Folks, let's not delude ourselves. Black folks are not turning against President Obama because of the DOMA decision.

There is no way that this decision will suddenly cause us to abandon the President and much less align ourselves with a party who aids and abets "individuals" making potshots at First Lady Michelle Obama's weight. The black community will not link ourselves to a party whose leaders don't have the basic decency to shoot down rumors about President Obama's birth.

What this attempt to drive a rift between President Obama and the black community demonstrates is just how much some on the right don't particularly see the black community as comprised of individuals, but rather non-breathing commodities.

It's a helpful thing to remember the next time these folks start whining about how lgbts are trying to "highjack" the civil rights movement.

Are they really concerned with the integrity of the civil rights movement or are they just trying to reserve it for their own highjacking?



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