Uppity Negro Network™

I had to take my car to the dealership for the usual yearly maintenance today and this morning I heard the Roland S. Martin show and the topic was whether or not preachers and pastors should be political and if so, how much.  So, when I got back in the car after picking up the car this afternoon, the radio was still on and I heard the dulcet Arkansas tones of former President William J. Clinton. 

Naturally, I knew that this was “Keepin’ It Real” with your host Rev. Al Sharpton, or should I say Sha’pton.

Despite the various pronunciations of his name, I have much respect for Sharpton and the work that he has done with the National Action Network–2007 was definitely a banner year for him.  However, it appears that in this race that he has stopped short of endorsing Hill’ry for president, and I’m quite interested to know why has he?  Does he know the level of alienation he may receive from some, even those who are city chairmans for the N.A.N.?  Be that as it may, my particular issue I had with him today was his guest and just how today’s program was handled.

It was quite interesting to hear callers call in and ask our 42nd president what was Hil’ry’s stance on various position and what would Hil’ry do if she was elected to office.  Well, duh, just ask Hil’ry!  But I guess, her husband is just as good as her; because since the New Hamps— primaries apparently, there are four top runners for the Democratic nomination: John Edwards, Barack Obama, Hill’ry Clinton and Bill Clinton.  It appears to me and the UNN that in fact the Clinton’s are tag-teaming Obama and his campaign.  But, last I checked, Hill’ry’s name is the only one that is on the ballot, and not her husband.

At this point in the race, the fallout concerning race is palpable in the African American community.  Even though polls have historically been erroneous (one need only look at the Iowa caucuses and the N.H. primary), it appears that the African American community was only looking for one reason to vote for Barack Obama, one that perhaps Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson had failed, for whatever reason(s), to accomplish: simply to be electable.  Perhaps the African American community was sick and tired of endorsing symbolic candidates, but really wanting to endorse one who could win.  As Hill’ry cried after she saw her sweeping victory crumble following her 3rd place loss to Obama and Edwards, the black community realized that Obama had a chance, and poll numbers have changed as much as 40 percentage points according to some sources in favor of Obama over Clinton.

The palpability of the fallout had a name today and its name was Bill Clinton.

The Cliff Kelley Show, here in Chicago is the talk show following The Al Sharpton Show at 3PM, and the first caller of the show launched into an invective against Al Sharpton about how could Sharpton allow for Bill to speak on behalf of Hill’ry and how insulting it is to his listeners to insult their intelligence do such.  He was on such a roll, he continued to talk about how much of a stepin’ fetchit Andrew Young and Rep. John Lewis were for their anti-Obama comments (I personally wished he had laid Bob Johnson out for his Uncle Tom comments as well).

Some black people want Hill’ry, who has less elected legislative experience than Obama, simply because “da Clintons been good tuh-rus,” but meanwhile, the Clintons have been treating the black community like he did Monica Lewinsky: using us whenever it was politically advantageous–and he’s good at it, so we keep coming back for more.  Lest we forget the welfare to work program which had marginal benefits for some, but devastating impacts for others–or even NAFTA which has had devastating impact on this current jobless economy, but you see no one talks about that.  Even today, one of the latter callers asked what was Hill’ry’s position (visibly I’m rolling my eyes as I write this) on the North American Union (I might get an FBI file for just typing that) as it relates to the immigration and jobs for people who are born citizens here in the U.S. to which the words North American Union DID NOT come from his mouth and he simply dealt with the issue of immigration.

Even as I write this and the 5 o’clock news has just wrapped up here in Chicago, it was a big enough news story that it had its own special segment.  So to those, who feel that we must repay the Clinton’s with our vote because they have been “good tuh-rus” then, they need only watch who’s really playing the race card, and who’s pandering to who.

Keep it uppity, JLL

I’m really not one to use a lot of theologically loaded words to describe how I’m feeling.  When I do use these “churchy” words and phrases, generally my friends know I’m poking fun at those who use them and really mean it.  This is a result from my parents who, although are fundamental in core Christianity, err on the side of liberalism as it relates to everyday life.  So I was quite shocked when she invoked I John chapter one in reference to someone on the TV who was commenting on last Thursday’s Iowa caucus.  Well, I knew it was ABC News, and there’s only one person my mother can’t stand on ABC News and that’s George Stephanopoulos–whom my mother is persuaded is a “mini antichrist.”

Now I haven’t heard him “deny the Father” as I John chapter one says or proclaim high christology, which goes against I John 4, which speaks to one admitting to Christ coming “in the flesh” so for the purposes of The UNN, he is not the antichrist, but I still have a bone to pick with him–and that damn George Will!

But first Stephanopoulos.

He made a comment on Thursday night while outside the state house in downtown Des Moines, Iowa looking casket ready as a result of bad makeup and bitter cold temperatures talking with Charlie Gibson, that “of course the African American” votes went to Barack Obama.  My mother blanched as only she could and I had to shush her in order to finish listening to their commentary and wait for the commercial break.  Up until then Stephanopoulos never had said anything that I had taken and particular issue with. 

Well, those days are now over.

As I move closer down the spectrum in my belief that he may in fact be the antichrist, I just couldn’t believe that a journalist fixed their mouths to say that “of course the African American” votes went to Obama in a state where 93-98% of the populace is white.  Even though The UNN does unashamedly and unapologetically endorse Sen. Barack Obama for the presidency of the United States, it should NOT be assumed that The UNN endorses Obama because of the same racial background.  I (The UNN) endorse Obama because he speaks the change that I want to see in this country.  Being from Illinois, I know his record in the state senate and what he endured when he lost his campaign against Rep. Bobby Rush in the 1st U.S. Congressional district here in Illinois.  Also, I have a memory of when Barack Obama was running for state senate and him being a member of our church prior to him being a superstar politician.  The fact that he is African American is merely a plus!  African Americans have never voted on someone on the sole basis of their skin color–if that was the case, Harold Washington wouldn’t have been the only black mayor in the history of Chicago. 

Now, George Will said on the same night as well, following a wonderful report from Donna Brazile, that that Thursday wasn’t so much a win for Obama as it was a loss for those like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton echoing the same sentiments that he had in Newsweek that “all the others still subscribe to a racial narrative of strife and oppression that has remained remarkably unchanged through 50 years of stunning progress, of which Obama’s candidacy is powerful evidence.”

Oh, you know where I could go with this one; the myriad of issues I have with such an uninformed statement.  Briefly, I take issue with this because primarily it means that to be rich, white and old, as George Will, one can speak with impunity against people such as Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.  If George Will would actually listen to Operation Push on the radio he would realize where Jackson stands on the issue of race in the face of blistering statistics–something Will likes to quote as well.  If George Will took the time to read Jackson’s syndicated column that runs in the Chicago Sun-Times, he’d know that Jackson is a man of reputable ilk.  He is not to be messed with, and how dare George Will speak from his seat of white privilege?  But I guess, its white privilege, he wouldn’t notice that he’s doing it.  And as far as Al Sharpton is concerned, anyone who remotely listens to Al Sharpton’s show knows that for all intents and purposes that he’s in Hil’ry’s camp.  Al Sharpton has consistently beleagured Obama for not pressing the issues of poverty and health care as they relate specifically to the black community. 

This is what I’ve been saying for quite some time now, when we have people like George Will and George Stephanopoulos who have dismissed and disregared Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton as viable sources of political information, then how dare we as the black community disregard them as well?  To whomever is reading this, I challenge you to name five NATIONAL (and I stress national and I do NOT count the dunderheads that FoxNews consistently finds to spew their own slanted rigamarole as the sole viewpoint of black America) political commentators, either television or print media.   Even when I challenged myself at first, it took some time.  And even though it can be done, the fact remains that most cannot do it.  This does not mean that I agree with everything Al Sharpton has to say, but I believed he hit the nail on the head when he appeared on the Jimmy Kimmel Show (Sharpton is the only reason I watched that trash that night) when Kimmel asked him who would he endorse.  Sharpton replied, to the effect, that his job was to turn up the heat, on all of the candidates, and who ever could stay in the kitchen and take the heat would get his endorsement.

I will close simply by saying this: if race is not an issue, then what does it profit George Will and Stephanopoulos by extension, to even mention it? 

Keep it uppity, JLL

coming up, The UNN’s nomination for Fool Fest 2007.