[Peace-discuss] Obama and the anti-war movement

[C. G. Estabrook]

"...we need to treat black politicians differently than white
politicians..."

That's dangerous, Al.  Are you really saying that we should
say to Obama, "Look, your views on the war are as bad as the
typical white Democratic senator, but since you're black, we
won't condemn them quite so clearly"?  That's patronizing, if
not hypocritical or worse.

And where does it stop? 
  --to Hillary: "Look, your views on the war are as bad as the
typical male Democratic senator, but since you're a woman, we
won't condemn them quite so clearly"? 
  --to Joe Lieberman: "Look, your views on the war are as bad
as the typical gentile Democratic senator, but since you're
Jewish, we won't condemn them quite so clearly"? 

I suppose we could concentrate on (while male gentile) Richard
"The Troops are Nazis" Durbin, as the guy in the DI called him
this morning.  --CGE


---- Original message ----
>Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:37:23 -0500
>From: Alfred Kagan <akagan at uiuc.edu>  
>Subject: [Peace-discuss] Obama  
>To: peace-discuss at chambana.net
>
>Of course, individuals are empowered to write whatever they
like in 
>their own names, but when it comes to an AWARE position, I am
sure most 
>of us want to be more deliberate. We have already got quite a
bit of 
>feedback on how we approached the Obama event, and I have
participated 
>in several very useful and self-critical discussions.  I am
looking 
>forward to further discussion at our meeting on Sunday night.
>
>I think we are very lucky that several members of the
African-American 
>community have come forward to tell us about their reactions
to the 
>event.  We need to pay attention and digest these perceptions.  
>Immediate defensive reactions can't serve our purposes.  We
need to 
>seriously think about how we get to where we want to go, that
is, we 
>need to find ways to reach people who may be receptive to our
politics 
>but don't read what we read, watch what we watch, and discuss
what we 
>discuss all the time.  Our own perceptions of how we organize
are 
>limited. Constructive criticism from outside can be quite
valuable.
>
>I think we have already learned that the African-American
community 
>sees Obama very differently than most of us in AWARE.   Obama
is seen 
>as an advocate for African-Americans on domestic issues.  I
haven't 
>carefully studied his record, but I imagine there is good
reason for 
>this perception.  Even if he doesn't have much of a record
yet, he does 
>talk the talk and he is convincing.  He gives a good speech.
 He is 
>seen as a bit of hope rather than politics as usual.
>
>If we are going to be serious about our anti-racism work, we
need to 
>understand these perceptions and build our message around
what folks 
>are thinking.  I am not suggesting that we change our
opinions, I am 
>suggesting that we need to organize better.  We need to
clearly state 
>our anti-racist views at the same time we advocate our anti-war 
>positions.  We need to show some respect for Obama's domestic
agenda 
>and advocacy for the black community at the same time we try to 
>influence him to change his foreign policy positions.  We
need to 
>remind him of his anti-war position before the war, and urge
him to 
>reconsider.  As a politician, he should not want to be too
far behind 
>his constituency for a long period of time.  I don't think we
should be 
>calling him a warmonger, rather we should be trying to engage
him in a 
>productive dialog to show him the winds of change.
>
>To sum up, we need to be sensitive to the perceptions of the
black 
>community.  To be taken seriously by the black community, we
need to 
>treat black politicians differently than white politicians.
We need to 
>clearly state our anti-racist values in the course of our
work.  We 
>need to forthrightly criticize in a constructive way, with
the ultimate 
>aim of changing Obama's and others' foreign policy positions.
 We need 
>to engage black politicians, not beat them up.