Jesse Jackson Deserves Black Support: Boyce Watkins

by Dr. Boyce Watkins
www.BoyceWatkins.net

Today, I got a call on my cell phone. I wasn't going to answer the call, since I don't normally take calls from numbers I don't recognize. But this time, I made an exception. It was Jesse Jackson.

I like Rev. Jackson, and I find him to be an interesting figure in American history. I am also concerned about the recent spat with Senator Barack Obama, and how that is playing itself out in the eyes of the public. Honestly, I have a couple of perspectives on it, and I can see both sides of the issue:

1) For the longest time, Rev. Jackson and Rev. Sharpton have been accused (rightfully) of not doing all they can to open the door for new black leadership. That is part of what fueled the jealousy accusations thrust at Obama. The problem is that a black leader is not the same as an American leader. Given America's incentives to continue habits of oppression of Black America, a Black leader must be willing to sometimes put himself at odds with the power structure in order to achieve progress. A president would not be willing to do that, which is why Martin Luther King would never run for political office.

2) I was concerned that Rev. Jackson, one of our most influential African American figures, still has to rely on Fox News to get his message to the world. You don't go into your enemy's house to get food you need to survive. This shines a light on the need for more black-owned media outlets.

3) I am not a fan of the notion that everyone assumes that anyone who holds Obama accountable to the black community must be jealous of him. That's just stupid. Wasn't he just trying to hold black men accountable last week? Does that make him jealous of us?

4) When Senator Obama spoke to Latino families, he spoke of a path to citizenship. When he spoke to Jews, he spoke of Israeli security. When he spoke to women, he spoke of abortion rights. When he spoke to the National Labor Relations Board, he spoke of government policies to create more jobs. When he spoke to black people, he didn't offer one single policy solution to the massive unemployment and health problems in the black community. He simply said "You people need to be more responsible." That was an incredibly irresponsible way to talk about personal responsibility.

My question is: Why does the speech change when he appears in front of African Americans? Don't give me that stuff about him being a black man and feeling the need to lecture us over everyone else. That is a flawed assessment because a) Obama is also 50% white but has not given one lecture to White America, b) he is everyone's president, not some kind of boss of Black America, and c) If you can't address racism fairly, including white accountability as part of the conversation, then you should probably not address it at all. That's like talking about the War in Iraq and not mentioning George Bush.

The final question is: Why are black people so quick to accept negative public statements about their own people? Why don't we demand the same pride and respect that other groups demand? Are we the only ethnic group in America with individuals who are less than perfect? If not, then why are we the only ones being lectured for poor behavior? Why can a conversation with African Americans not focus on policy solutions from OUR GOVERNMENT that allow us to overcome 400 years of negative policy toward our communities? Don't we need the same policies that white women, Jews, and Latinos need or are we the only group being asked to ignore the use of our taxpayer dollars to help solve our problems?

I have always been a full advocate of personal responsibility and tough love. But the key part of the term "tough love" is the word "LOVE". Tough love that is shared in order to appease and get votes from enemies of black people doesn't quite qualify.

No wonder Bill O'Reilly loved Obama's speech.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Finance Professor at Syracuse University and author of "What if George Bush were a Black Man?" For more information, please visit www.BoyceWatkins.net.