Jackson sharply criticized...Barack Obama for “acting like he’s white”

The Rev. Jesse Jackson called Tuesday on Democrats seeking the 2008 nomination for president to give S.C. voters “something to vote for” when they go to the polls in January.

On a statewide tour to register new voters, Jackson said South Carolina will determine “who has momentum” in the primary when it votes Jan. 29.

Jackson sharply criticized presidential hopeful and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for “acting like he’s white” in what Jackson said has been a tepid response to six black juveniles’ arrest on attempted-murder charges in Jena, La. Jackson, who also lives in Illinois, endorsed Obama in March, according to The Associated Press.

“If I were a candidate, I’d be all over Jena,” Jackson said after an hour-long speech at Columbia’s historically black Benedict College.

Link

... and deal with the fact that Barrack *IS WHITE*

place a racial purity meter on everything he does. He's not running to be a black President (like Jackson did)--he's running to be everyone's President.

I've worked with chaps from India are as dark-skinned as 80% of so-called American "black people" and they're technically "Caucasoid," which IMO is a hair's breadth from "Caucasian" with the exception of their skin color. Objectively a half-this-half-that background can go either way and the term "Mestizo" is far more apt as the USA is peopled by more and more descendants of mixed-ethnicity marriages. Other parts of the world have adapted this social nuance, we should in the USA.

Americans should just get used to a broader way of looking at the world instead of dualistic either-or thinking, and I think this is so damned obvious that it belies a disingenuity on the part of many self-described "blacks." Barrack's mother is white & raised him for most of his childhood.

In the West ethnic/racial identity tends toward making distinctions toward minority "appearances." But in Latin America, ethnic identity tends toward the majority ethnic group (i.e. ethnic Maya vs. ethnic Spanish). "Passing as white" used to be a big deal in the USA.

I'm very concerned by the way that blacksploitative media continue to reify some very negative stereotypes to the extent of actually inculcating a very negative identity in minority males (& I'm taking the lead from Bill Cosby, etc.). It's exploiting a social dualism where the truth is far more subtle, with so many "African Americans" having a great deal of AmerIndian lineage, etc. Take a good look at many "blacks" and you can see very clear American Indian features.

Obama has referred to himself as African American. His wife and children are black and their personal lives are established with the black community. The fact that he's running a Presidential race different from how Jesse ran his does not diminish how he refers to himself.

STFU Jesse

Who is the source for the quote? It's not a sentence, just a dangling inference that Jackson said this. The 'report' says Jackson 'doesn't remember' saying it. I don't think it's substantiated enough in this article's account that Jackson actually said this. Is there any other reference?

It is amazing to me that many here are ready to attack based on four words with no context.

I wonder if anyone noticed the full quote from a student in attendance at Jackson's speech.

“The main thing when you speak to students is to get them to move,” Porcher said. “He moved students today. He got them to come down to the floor and register to vote.”

There is no evidence that this "quote" is real. The reporter appears to have made it up.

considering Jackson's notorious comments he himself has made back in the day ... I am old enough to remember Jesse Jackson calling New York "Hymie Town."

I'm sorry, but AFAIAC Jackson plays the race card in marginal but highly visible cases in a manner far too facile for my taste.

It reeks of pandering and trivializes real racism elsewhere.

What a stupid statement.

Does Jackson forget that Obama's mother is white?

oh boy it'll be hell to pay on that one.

... esp. considering his mother raised him most of his childhood.

It's a far more apt description than the puerile duality of "white" vs. "black."

He's not. You can look at a picture of him, and see that he is brown.

Pakistanis and Indians are not "black," are they? And yet a good many of them are just as dark, or darker, than Obama.

Barrack was raised by his mom for most of his childhood. Mestizo is far more apt, eliminates the dualistic thinking that pigeon-holes Obama as looking black but acting white.

re-read my post. I didn't say Senator Obama is "black."

One chap posts that Obama is "white" b/c he's half-white.

The OP's point wasn't that Obama is "white" per se, but mestizo. Which he is.

You replied "No, take a look at him, he's brown."

I took your meaning to be that there's only the duality of this vs. that. OK, you didn't mean that, but your reply was "No...". So there you go.

My point being that some "white guys" from India are swarthier than Obama is.

Question:

Saying he's "brown" is fine, but then wouldn't it then be OK to also say he's "colored?"

Yeh, yeh, I know.

Since mulatto has a bit of an off-color etymology, I think mestizo best fits....

Some people are white, some are brown, some are red, some are yellow, and some are black. That shouldn't be too confusing for even you.

.. and I find those distinctions oft times overly simplistic and generally unhelpful.

I've schooled, lived & worked with a number of mixed-ethnic people & a variety of S.C. Asians, and the whole "brown / white / black / yellow" either-or categories are a bit too simple, but goes wanting for something that is generally agreeable in a variety of contexts. I've heard "yellow" for instance used in a pejorative context too many times to want to hear it again.

I wish better terms were in use ... "chocolate" is OK, for instance, as are "vanilla," "olive." I've never met an Japanese person who actually had a truly "yellow" pigment... it's more yellowish-orange which, in color definition, is golden.

friend Dick Gregory included part of a speech he delivered in Selma in his wonderful book, "Nigger." Let's look at it:

"Now let's take it one step further. This is a Bible here. We know it's a book. Now if I sat here and called it a bicycle, I have called it something it is not. So where does the bicycle exist? In my mind ..."

Words do have meaning. "Mestizo," of course, has been used to describe people who have parents who are European and Native American; it has been most commonly associated with those who have Spanish and Central American Indian parents.

Some people may use it to describe other people. However, words like Mestizo, mulatto, and as Dick noted, nigger, are words that reflect how one person defines others. But those others are real and distinct people. An example would be Senator Obama: many different Americans will have different words come to their mind to define him. However, without any question, he is brown. When I see him, I see a handsome, intelligent, talented man who will play a leadership role in our country's future. I think he will even help us redefine how we see one another, as human beings.

I admire Rev. Jackson's contributions, but there's a reason he's not a candidate.

Someone I admire said something about not the color of the skin but the content of their character. Whatever happened to that?

or not do.--

Last night ABC had a special on Elvis.
According to Jesse, Elvis didn't have the "right"
to write and sing 'In the Ghetto', because he
was white, and " didn't know" what the ghetto was like.
Nevermind that Elvis grew up in the projects, himself.

Hmm- the rap group that did a mix with tapes
of Elvis, performing that very song, didn't seem
to think so.

Jackson does more harm than good.

their racial purity by Jesse's guidelines.
He must think he is the Racial Purity Police now. :eyes:

Strikes again...

Or for that matter, any presidential candidate?

I'm made up of several different nationalities myself.

Bluntly... It is exactly what pisses off Southern Whites about African American leadership.

It is not that they are necessarily wrong about a particular case...its that theytned to use these thing to invoke evidence of Jim Crow.


Obama to his credit is not going to take this bait. largely because he is not of that generation and he knows instinctively that he is the fulfillment of MLK's Dream.

That is a big part of his general acceptance of southern whites. Unforunately not being black enough resopnates in the African-AMerican community who may not get behind him in large numbers unless he wins the nomination.

Funny though the "he's not black enought" is largely propogated by the FOH crowd.



Aarrrrrrrrrrrr Arrrrrr
Happy TLAP Day

so I'm inclined to believe his words were probably taken out of context. The MSM hates Jackson anyway...

That's interesting.

however, hanging nooses from a tree to keep black kids from sitting under it...THAT would be race baiting. Having a tree that only white kids can sit under...what the hell is that if not evidence of Jim Crow.

Our candidate SHOULD be talking about this. And if they're too fucking scared of southern whites to stand up for what's right then none of them really deserve the fucking nomination. (Not that any of their republican counterparts deserve it either.)

Well Obama did exploit that hole Don Imus thing, even though Obama has appeared at fund raising concerts with performances by Ludicris, the R&B'ers named Nappy Roots. If it isn't direct race-baiting then it's hypocritical nonetheless. It's hard to swallow sanctimony from Obama when he's looked the other way when it came to exploiting his mestizo image. Imus' off-color remark was made in passing, Ludicris OTOH writes nasty garbage all the time.

http://prorev.com/2007/04/imus-bashers-clinton-obama-used-foul.htm

"I'm shocked, shocked to see off-color remarks on talk radio! ... Here are your winnings sir."

Don Imus is a flaming racist bigot.

Ludicrous and Nappy Roots are not.

So where's the hypocrisy?

Show me the evidence. I've never seen evidence that Don Imus is as you put it a "flaming racist bigot."

If you can't prove this you're just propping up Imus as a strawman.

OTOH, Ludicris is demonstrably a flaming misogynist bigot:

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/ludacris/movebitch.html

QED baby, QED.

And calling Ludacris a misogynist because of song lyrics is like accusing Bob Marley of shooting a sheriff.

What, did I stumble into the O'Reilly Factor?

People are quick to criticize Jesse Jackson! Let us look at what the man went through? Let us look at the root cause of the story! Jena 6. Once again, the main issue of this stroy is getting ignored. Point your feet in the shoes of the parents of the six young men in Jena. Not to mention, the quote is based on a loose interpretation of what was said. Did he say Obama is acting "like he's white"? Looks to me like it was put in quotations to stir something up. So please people, address the topic at hand. This should not be about Jesse or Barak. I should be about the 6 teenagers whose lives hang in the balance.

Not going there.
Title possibly misleading in reference to article.