Can't have Black folks looking more unified than white folks.
Professor Ogletree says he “finds puzzling the idea that a president who happens to be black has to focus on black issues,” and Dr. Height agrees. Having counseled every president since Franklin D. Roosevelt on matters of race, Dr. Height made a plea in a recent interview for Mr. Obama to be left alone.
“We have never sat down and said to the 43 other presidents: ‘How does it feel to be a Caucasian, how do you feel as a white president? Tell me what that means to you,’ ” Dr. Height said. “I am not one to think that he should do more for his people than for other people. I want him to be free to be himself.”
Blacks Question Obama’s Approach to Race
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
WASHINGTON — There was no big speech or fancy ceremony when President Obama observed the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday last month. Instead, for his first King holiday as president, Mr. Obama quietly installed a rare signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation in the Oval Office and invited a small group of African-American elders and young people to come see it.
The private gathering — “an intimate discussion,” in the words of Dorothy Height, a 97-year-old grande dame of the civil rights movement — was typical of Mr. Obama, who has steered clear of putting race front and center in his administration. But that low-key approach is frustrating some black leaders and scholars, who are starting to challenge Mr. Obama’s language and policies.
On Capitol Hill, members of the Congressional Black Caucus are expressing irritation that Mr. Obama has failed to create programs tailored specifically to African-Americans, who are suffering disproportionately in the recession. In December, some of them threatened to oppose new financial rules for banks until the White House promised to address the needs of minority groups.
“I don’t think we expected anything to change overnight because we had an African-American in the White House, but the fact still remains that we’ve got a constituency that is suffering,” said Representative Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland. “I think he could do more, and he will do more.”
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Newsvine
Furl
Google
Yahoo
Where and when did any black
Where and when did any black folk ask or demand that the President focus on black folks' issues alone? Since I have a tendency to be irreverent, which hasn't mellowed with age, I think Dorothy Height's comments only adds to my belief that she stayed far, far, far too long in her post at the National Council of Negro Women. Far too long.
@P6: on looking unified
Do you think this coverage of "Blacks not a monolith" is a New York Times-specific thing? Did it start with Obama, or is it just more obvious now that he's President?
Well, we knew there would be coverage. They can't skip over this. The black press can't either. I think whether Obama does things that are race-specific or not, either way it's news. If he finds a "magic" way to lift all boats, even black ones, that'll surely be news. And whether we question him in public or show a united front, either way it's news. You could argue that it should be just as much news when other races and ethnicities are or are not unified behind "one of their own" but I won't argue it.
@ptc
Is the above a literal or rhetorical question? I can't tell (it's probably me) so I'm asking before getting all excited.
Is this a useful organization we should pay attention to, or has it seen better days? Does it matter to us whether Dorothy Height is still head or not? I don't want to get lost in subtext, but it strikes me that if you're not a fan of the NAACP, it might extend to other hoary organizations.
@ProfGeo
I don't have any particular qualms with the National Council of Negro Women other than my opinion that Height's overly long tenure through at least three, if not four, generations of black women depleted a large measure of its creativity and energy. She should have gotten her hat in the 1960s. The failure to prepare and accept transition within the leadership of the Black Electorate is a long standing problem. Height exacerbated the problem given that there were (and still are) so few slots available for black women to lead black civil rights organizations. The National Council of Negro Women is an organization that could have made a real difference at one time.
@ ProfGeo
Not new at all. And because what you see depends on where you look, it's going to get reported when it involves a President.
But Prof. Ogletree says Obama "happens to be Black"? And Dr. Height needs to be clear it wasn't Black folk asking those questions. The questions I hear asked are along the lines of, "Hey, why is it that the only time you acknowledge Black folks' issues the way you do other folks' issues, it's to agree with other folks about us?"
@P6: But Prof. Ogletree says...
Professor Ogletree said he “finds puzzling the idea that a president who happens to be black has to focus on black issues.”
I had trouble with that-- having heard and read Ogletree, I wasn't sure it sounded right. Would the author of All Deliberate Speed leave it at that? I believe he was quoted accurately but I'll bet there was context we're not getting.
@ptc: so few slots for women
I follow you re: your specific comments on the National Council of Negro Women, but this isn't Dorothy Height's fault, is it?
@ProfGeo
I clearly didn't attribute the entire problem to Dorothy Height but she was/is part of the problem.
Professor Ogletree said he
Once you're no longer Black but merely happen to be Black, one could well find it puzzling.
That phrase, and its specific meaning, annoys the hell out of me.
Well, he wouldn't be the
Well, he wouldn't be the first to seemingly abandon some long-held principles and convictions now that Obama is President, would he? One more thing- that article should be labled an op/ed, because it's damn sure not straight reporting.
@ptc
I inferred, but maybe you didn't imply, that you were linking the problem of "so few slots available for black women" to her tenure. I only see her blocking one slot. Ben Jealous is also blocking one, Marc Morial is blocking one, etc. Were you going somewhere else with that?
@ProfGeo
My point about Height was that given the paucity of slots that were open to black women and, in particular, black women who had come of age during the era of the modern Civil Rights Movement, it was shameful that she and others did so little to prepare a place for them. A place for them to demonstrate their leadership and hard-won organizing skills, which I believe would have eventually established a new leadership model within the Black Electorate and led to a more progressive and dynamic agenda. I wasn't asserting that there was a causal link between her tenture and the lack of slots for black women. Hell, a black woman should have been appointed to lead the NAACP years ago.
Obama is reading P6 again!
Our due concern in these pages over who is heading up civil rights organizations is gaining attention. But we'll never be able to prove the White House agenda includes what to do about this thread...
President Obama official schedule and guidance, Feb. 10, 2010. African American leaders meeting
Lynn Sweet
on February 10, 2010 8:00 AM
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 9, 2010
DAILY GUIDANCE AND PRESS SCHEDULE FOR
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2010
Late morning, the President will then meet with African American leaders in the Oval Office to discuss the economy and jobs. This meeting is closed press. Expected attendees include:
Dr. Dorothy I. Height, Chairwoman, National Council of Negro Women
Benjamin T. Jealous, President, NAACP
Marc H. Morial, President and CEO, National Urban League
Rev. Al Sharpton, President and Founder, National Action Network
Another take on Ishmael Reed
Nation of Cowards has weighed in:
http://nationofcowards.blogspot.com/2010/02/ishmael-reed-on-movie-precious-hes.html
Ishmael Reed on the Movie "Precious": He's Absolutely Right and Dead Wrong
And, check this. Reed went
I wonder what the Professor's reaction would be if Reed hadn't gone ad hom on Neal? And, in fact, I wonder why Reed felt the need to do that. It's entirely unnecessary.