I’m contacting you because I have the opportunity of writing an article for “Il Manifesto”, one of the most important Italian daily newspapers, about Harlem’s vote in the last presidential elections.

The idea comes from a walk I had in Harlem, during which I met some activists of a local association, fighting for the racial equality, who showed a quite skeptical attitude toward the president-elect. I found such attitude particularly interesting, as in Italy the “black” vote (I apologize for the rude categorization) has always been portrayed as unanimously pro Obama. The rhetoric of the “end of racism”, of the “Change” has impressed here as well…
I believe that what you have written presents a very interesting and alternative point of view about the issue, as it goes beyond the simple electoral rhetoric.
Therefore, I would like to have the opportunity of having an e-mail or telephone interview with you, in order to get a more complete outlook.

If you were interested, please, answer me as soon as possible, since the article has to be ready at least a couple of days before Obama’s installation.

Thank you very much for your attention. Best regards,

Andrea Luchetta

in deep respect to all of u including obama, a great orater, and i’m sure a great individual.

Santos. you entered your article with true voice and conviction providing a sustainable foundation for your premise that Obama, almost as if in black-face, will, in the end, merely be that. And so i was engulfed clearly to the end of the article. Still, I could feel the harshness in your voice regarding all things white. And i think to myself: well if all i have with which to indict santos is a thumbs down for being harsh, then i should go no further. but i do not based on any what he has persented, but rather where he is leading.

It seems that i am simply afraid that we will become too polarized- a responsive militaristic black side and a responsive militaristic white side, so much so that it will be as if the only way to live on the planet will be for blacks to live on on side, whites to live on another and then filling in the “others” on whatever section that hasn’t been completely ravaged by the whites and blacks during the process of “confronting” each other and then separating.

It seems i am also nodding to Erykah’s response as well and, indeed, i am in the sense that there are ways in which Obama must go about getting the things he wants if he is to get them at all, lest he loose their attention and thus permission( however scandalously ridiculous).And that Obama’s narrative should be that of another black man whose plight seems more audacious in and of itself is unfiar on the grounds that even though as a product of systemic groupthink and unified slogans of coloredness, still as individuals, our own eyes, ears, nose, mouths and hearts should grant us the valdity of our own perceptions as just that-our own, and thus cannot be downplayed on account of not being enough of anothers’ narartive, in much the same way that no one can take the voice of santos a a living voice within what he perceived to be a part of or apart of the black community, regardlesss of his color.

But for all intensive purposes, it seems that Erykahs statement can take me no further because it misses the most important part, which santos hinted at in the beginining and ending. That obama may or may not be for black people is not enough for me. That problem lies not in whether he is leading us or pretending to, its that either way, he, like everyone else on the ballot is leading america or amerikkka, the human race in search of the empthy values, the values that trumped our country earlier, the values set in by Affluenza that helped to secure in us that it is okay to rise to the top for the sole purpose of consumption. That , obama, not uniquely on his own, but rather like eveyone else who reaps the benefits of this lifestyle, wants to “secure” this country not ultimately for the tranquility of our souls to sustain ourselves on modest lifestyles, but to consume. It is the egenda of eveyone who is permitted to be heard on the mainsteam media to get us to buy into the buying and selling that ultimately sells ourselves in to the market of buying and selling. And with this creed we as people who after years of unjustified oppression, yes, desire to rise our standards, yes, but have begun to do so in such a way that mirrors the same mehtods of those who ignited the oprression. We have been bred to be successful not to sit back and breath in the circumventing air and experience our spectacular earth and neighbors. We hae been bred to consume it by the drones. Advancement and enlightenment does not mean owning a home.It does not mean driving a brand new car. It does not

You have Conyers and Scott and all the Black Congress Members mesmerized following your anti-Impeachment stand. You are doing more harm to the country than good, by not supporting Impeachment. We need Impeachment to free the people from not only this horrible administration, but for the years of atrocities that have been going on. Go here: http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_dom_jerm_071221_impeachment_phobia_o.htm

We are at the whim of Presidents who always get away with crimes because Impeachment is not recognized as a successful correct standing verdict. If we had such a success, Presidents would be limited in their powers, and rightly so. They have no right to kill innocent people from lying Wars. That is wrong.

You should be speaking about nonviolence, and ending the nuclear program, and getting foreign countries to follow that lead. They will. They would rather use the money for their people and in good society, instead of supporting the monster nuclear industrial complex.

I don’t want you to accept the blood crimes from White America. Those crimes are theirs. Keep yourself unsullied…and follow the Lord. Martin Luther King is using me to get through to you. He is very much alive. Those who support war will perish from this world. Follow Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, and Jesus himself, and you will come to see that glorious light of truth and well being. McCain is a murderer. The Lord knows how many children he maliciously killed in bombing raids over N. Vietnam. He targeted a school of children and killed them all. Instead of serving time in Prison he is running for President. This is quite insane. Our country is divided now by 4 parties； Republicans, Hillary, Obama, and the Independents. Independents would support Impeachment, Hillary would support impeachment because she is practical, and would see vindication for the false outrageous Impeachment proceeding they brought against her husband Bill. His acts had nothing to do with National Security…yet his acts of love are chastised, while Bush’s acts of murder are revered. This is insanity. Sex is not worse than murder, yet America has the distinction of making sex worse than murder. It is not right. Now they are making a big deal over Governor Spitzer, and his encounters. Actually Sex is freedom of speech, as the congress has passed in concern to Larry Flynt. And I know that our religious ideals say that pornography is wrong, and adultery is wrong, and I would agree, but I think murder is worse. There needs to be less pornography on the web, and less to do about politicians getting demonized because they had a sexual encounter. That is a violation of privacy, and really who cares? It harms no one. It just stirs trouble up between Church and State.

If you support Impeachment it will bring more people to unifying American, than the divisions that exist today. Republicans need to accept the mantle of Impeachment, because they are truly in the wrong. I ask you to rally for Impeachment, and not make yourself a member to the history of Presidential Criminals. If you do not we are headed for a worse scenario, because now race becomes an issue in the Impeachment process, and it will divide America further.

I ask you to go for Impeachment of Bush and Cheney. I also ask you to share the ticket with Hillary, as a gesture of unity. If you continue to divide for the nomination, people will go for McCain, from Hillarie’s camp. You will lose the election. If you became the VP with her, it would unite the party and there is a window of opportunity to bridge the difficulties. When you impeach Bush and Cheney, that will set America on a good course and things will dramatically change. Believe me Barack. The world awaits justice to come to America, without it our world is in bondage to an America that gets its way, by the use of intimidation and getting away with murder. This is not a happy way to have the world. The Lord would not want that….

I am working for you, when you see your senses and understand the real meaning to lead a country. It means justice for the people who have suffered from Bush and Cheney, and all the years past of innocent people killed by American bombs.

If you do not seek Impeachment it confirms to me you support the crimes of Bush and Cheney, and I will have to oppose you, by now seeking the Impeachment of Barack Obama. I am praying for you brother. Don’t make me your enemy.

Human welfare is an interesting topic that you and Hillary are ignoring in this election. Why are you pitting Black America against Women? Why are you forcing us to choose between a black man as being the first President and a woman to be the first President? Is that fair to us?

The Republicans really like this because it is something we stupid Democrats have done to divide the party. Why are we doing this at a time in history when we need to come together to end the war, and help our disenfranchised people?

You are right you have more delegates, but not that much more and you may have slightly more in the popular vote, but not that much more. You don’t have enough to win the nomination. It is becoming a stalemate.

My question to you is since you are a Christian; you believe there is God and Jesus Christ right?

So tell me Barack which one are you? Are you the 1st meaning God since you are in the lead, or are you 2nd since God created Jesus? Whatever your greedy or personal ambitions are, you are failing to realize that being number two or the VP is not a losing position. Many know that VP Cheney is the President telling GW what to do. Many know Jesus as number 2 is quite the best.

I fail to see why you want to divide the Democrats, unless you are really a Republican hell bent on destroying the party and dividing it. Mark my word Barack; Hillary supporters will jump to McCain, not to you when the election comes in November.

You and Tom Daschle have a fun joke claiming someone in the number 2 position is asking the number 1 to be the VP is more than disconcerting, because you forget the voters on this in the party. That being; you pit us and bait us to prove whether we are racists or not. We are all bigots if we don’t vote for you, and we continue to disenfranchise women rights for it.

You should be fixing problems like this, not using them to your advantage and making the people choose thereby causing a riff in our cultural community. Your lack of identifying this shows your arrogance to the people who end up being forced to choose.

I support Hillary because Bill and Hillary proved they have done it before. They made you to where you are today, and you forget that. Hillary has been a Senator longer than you. You are lying that you did not vote for the war. You were not even a Senator then when the issue came to vote. Why are you lying? Clearly she has more experience than you.

Without Bill and Hillary, truly where would you be? Maybe not in Politics I bet. I also realize that we whites fought in a civil war to give blacks freedom. Lots of white people died for you. But no one has died for women in this country. They are used as sex objects, and never respected in the office place, just like your demeanor in wanting to be the first, instead of looking out for others.

I truly wonder how many sex scandals there would be if a woman was in charge. I think there would be none.

They have been men in the Executive Office from George Washington to GW Bush. I fail to see any change to that if you become President, since you are also a male. You are using your race as a ploy to get in office, without considering what you are doing to women rights in this country.

But wouldn’t it be great to join and stop this division you are stirring , by embracing not only woman rights, but also black Americans in being the first Black American Vice President.

It would join the party and assure victory in November, without the fear of losing Hillary supporters.

Don’t say the opportunity didn’t come and was not asked. Your failure to do this, and you end up losing in November with a divided Democratic party, you will feel more than regret. We will hate you.

All I know is politicians like you who do not take responsibility for the moment due to race and sex discrimination, are not leaders but sadistic #*$% who torment the people to choose between race and sex. I am beginning to hate you now, because clearly Hillary recognizes this and you clearly don’t.

With Gods Blessing,
Mr. Dominic Jermano

• Increased funding for the Community Development Block Grant program
which provides housing, job training, and other services to
impoverished urban areas.
• A $1 billion, five-year expansion in job and career training programs
for low-income Americans.
• The creation of a series of “Promise Neighborhoods” across
America patterned after the Harlem Children’s Zone in New York
City. Low-income families in these promise neighborhoods will be
o ffered parent counseling, childcare, job training, healthcare, financial
advice, afterschool programs, technology training and other services to
help them escape the cycle of poverty.
• An expansion of the Head Start program for preschool children in
high-poverty areas.
• An increase in the maximum Pell Grant award for low-income college
students.
• Expansion of the Nurse-Family Partnership where nurses visit low income
expectant mothers at home to ensure that they receive proper
prenatal care.
• An increase in the earned income tax credit which will allow low income
working families to keep more of the money they earn.
• A proposal to increase funding for the Jobs Access and Reverse
Commute program so that low-income workers can get to their jobs at
a reduced cost and the children of these workers can receive free public
transportation to childcare facilities.
• The establishment of an affordable housing trust fund that will produce
14,000 new units of a ff o r d a b l e housing for low-income families
each year.
• Increased access to capital for blacks and other minorities through
Small Business Administration programs.
• Job training, substance abuse and mental health counseling, and
employment opportunities for people who have been incarcerated.
Since blacks are five times as likely as whites to have been in prison,
these programs will disproportionately benefit African A m e r i c a n s .
• To further raise the minimum wage rate and the child tax credit.

As Theodore Cross stated regarding Obama’s plan in his recently published article in the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education titled, “Barak Obama is the Superior Candidate for African American Voters,” ” Obama has put a lot on the table, maybe too much.
Nevertheless. . .here. . .is an elaborate and unqualified proposal to use presidential power to deal with some of the most severe problems of A f r i c a n Americans and other minorities. ”

Mr. Santos should go to Obama’s website and check it out before he declares Obama’s compliance in a conspiracy of silence. Mr. Obama loves black people and it comes through in his 2 New York Times bestselling books, “Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (1995) and The Audacity of Hope (2005). He is not afraid to speak out on the issues. He is an astute politician who knows that in order to win the nomination and subsequently the presidency, he has a walk a racial tight rope so that he is not branded as the black candidate and thus end up on the heap pile of unsuccessful black candidates who came before him. He has learned well that while “in your face “ activisim may help you win the battle, you will still lose the war. King and the Black Nationalists of the 70’s used those tactics which yielded government appeasements, but left the order of white supremacy in tact. Santos may well disagree with his methods, but to brand him as an Uncle Tom who will gain the presidency only to sell Blacks and other people of color down the river is a heap of nonsense.

Second, Obama was indeed an effective organizer in Chicago. However, he is also a Columbia University and Harvard Law School graduate. His wife, Michelle is a Princeton and Harvard Law School graduate. Neither one of them came from wealthy families. When you are Black in this country and do not have the wealth of your white counterparts to fall back on, you need to become a millionaire to pay for all that education. Neverthless, both he and his wife left the corporate realm and took on civil rights cases to enforce the rule of law. Obama’s bank account does not negate his ability to perform grassroots organizing. In fact, his campaign just reached the million donor mark. He has raised more money than any of his opponents, none of it public, all of it grassroots.
Third and last, Obama is also aware of the issues regarding Empire and the protection of human rights for all mankind. While many were backing away from the issue of torture, including McCain, a former Vietnam POW who endured five years of torture, Obama spoke out against it. According to Naomi Wolf’s article, “Why Barak Obama Got My Vote,” just published yesterday in the Huffington Post, “Of all the candidates running now, he is the leader on understanding the threat to the Constitution and actually taking action, not just mouthing soundbites, on the need to deny torturers space in our nation and to restore the rule of law.

Wolf references an article, “Lawyers for Gitmo detainees endorse Obama.” Wolf notes that “In the article, reporter Charlie Savage notes that ‘More than 80 volunteer lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainees today endorsed Illinois Senator Barack Obama’s presidential bid. The attorneys said in a joint statement that they believed Obama was the best choice to roll back the Bush-Cheney administration’s detention policies in the war on terrorism and thereby to ‘restore the rule of law, demonstrate our commitment to human rights, and repair our reputation in the world community. The lawyers who signed this letter — prominent names on the list included Washington lawyer Thomas Wilner, retired federal appeals court judge John Gibbons, and retired Rear Admiral Donald Guter, who was the Navy’s top JAG officer from 2000 to 2002 — applauded Obama for having stood up in 2006 against aspects of the Military Commissions Act. Unfortunately, his fight was ultimately unsuccessful — which is why we are all still in danger. But unlike other candidates he truly fought and he understood the nature of the danger: ‘When we were walking the halls of the Capitol trying to win over enough Senators to beat back the Administration’s bill, Senator Obama made his key staffers and even his offices available to help us,’ the lawyers wrote. ‘Senator Obama worked with us to count the votes, and he personally lobbied colleagues who worried about the political ramifications of voting to preserve habeas corpus for the men held at Guantanamo. He has understood that our strength as a nation stems from our commitment to our core values, and that we are strong enough to protect both our security and those values. Senator Obama demonstrated real leadership then and since, continuing to raise Guantanamo and habeas corpus in his speeches and in the debates.’”

Wolf further notes that, “Senator Clinton also opposed the law. . .She gets the danger; many of her colleagues do too. But this issue requires bold language and action. Senator Clinton has not foregrounded the issue of the subversion of the rule of law in her appearances or speeches; and I am very VERY sorry to say that she did not oppose torture until he [Obama] opposed it.”

Wolf concludes, “I say this with regret: She and her husband really know how to run a country; they delivered eight years of peace and prosperity. I know her to be a skilled politician and motivated by sincere love of country. Mrs. Clinton would be a terrific executive — in a stable democracy. But that is not enough right now. These are times that should try men’s souls — and women’s also. In a closing society, a leader has to be willing to face down evil, engage it and call it by its name.”
You can read Wolf’s article in it entirety at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/why-barack-obama-got-my-v_b_89017.html

For the sake of time and space, I think I will stop here as I believe I have sufficiently argued my point. Santos conspiracy of silence theory just simply doesn’t hold water. Well, at least not in this case. So folks should move on as there is nothing to see here. We’ve got a fight on our hands. Obama well understands that far more that any candidate running today. If you read and engage what he says, you will know that he will be the first to tell you that we have a long way to go before we get to the end of racism. But in the same token, the lens he is looking through doesn’t see race as the end all and be all of political discourse and activism. A very hard lesson Black folk ( I am one of them) are going to have to learn. He is the real deal. He truly wants to bring about change. Santos and the rest of you should join the movement and say with him and me “Yes we can!”

Jaun, after reading your piece, many good liberal Democrats are saying …

“I don’t understand all the fuss…as a white liberal, I’m very happy to learn from Mr. Obama that racism is 95% over…and for my tortured guilt, this means I’ll be voting for my brotha!

We are all in the same boat
It’s people power not black power
I watched “Roots” 5 times
The Cosby show was awesome”!

This is what Obama’s “Change” is about.

“. . . Obama’s connections to companies like Archer Midland and other parts of Agri-Business [intent on taking] agricultural land of the 3rd World for [the ruinous scam of] Ethanol . . . documented pretty solidly in a Harper’s Magazine write-up on Mr. Obama a little over a year ago.”

I would be grateful to Mr. Hureaux if he would please supply the date of this no. of Harper’s.

Liking Obama over Hillary is pretty much a personality distinction. So,, creating a coalition between neocons and neoliberals (and a strong case can be made that Obama has done just that) is a healthy coalition? We’re not talking about Bobby Kennedy or John Kennedy or Martin Luther King, none of whom where ever compared to someone else, by the way. The latter is the first clue of authenticity or the lack there of.

The truth as best we can tell has not changed with time, is that what we know makes the Dem choices pretty paultry.

Max

You said it all. One need only look at the smiling, applauding warmongering Ben Nelson over the shoulder of Obama to see the picture unfold.

The image of Obama as President and how it will triangulate the African American community is as some one said abouve (but I take it from The Heart of Darkness): the horror the horror!

Great post
Max

Top advisers to Obama

Former Amb. Jeffrey Bader, President Clinton’s National Security Council Asia specialist and now head of Brookings’s China center, national security adviser

Mark Brzezinski, President Clinton’s National Security Council Southeast Europe specialist and now a partner at law firm McGuireWoods, national security adviser

Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Carter’s national security adviser and now a Center for Strategic and International Studies counselor and trustee and frequent guest on PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, foreign policy adviser

Richard A. Clarke, President Clinton and President George W. Bush’s counterterrorism czar and now head of Good Harbor Consulting and an ABC News contributor, sometimes Obama adviser

Gregory B. Craig, State Department director of policy planning under President Clinton and now a partner at law firm Williams & Connolly, foreign policy adviser

Roger W. Cressey, former National Security Council counterterrorism staffer and now Good Harbor Consulting president and NBC News consultant, has advised Obama but says not exclusive

Ivo H. Daalder, National Security Council director for European affairs during President Clinton’s administration and now a Brookings senior fellow, foreign policy adviser

Richard Danzig, President Clinton’s Navy secretary and now a Center for Strategic and International Analysis fellow, national security adviser

Philip H. Gordon, President Clinton’s National Security Council staffer for Europe and now a Brookings senior fellow, national security adviser

Maj. Gen. J. (Jonathan) Scott Gration, a 32-year Air Force veteran and now CEO of Africa anti-poverty effort Millennium Villages, national security adviser and surrogate

Lawrence J. Korb, assistant secretary of defense from 1981-1985 and now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, informal foreign policy adviser

W. Anthony Lake, President Clinton’s national security adviser and now a professor at Georgetown’s school of foreign service, foreign policy adviser

James M. Ludes, former defense and foreign policy adviser to Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and now executive director of the American Security Project, national security adviser

Robert Malley, President Clinton’s Middle East envoy and now International Crisis Group’s Middle East and North Africa program director, national security adviser

Gen. Merrill A. (“Tony”) McPeak, former Air Force chief of staff and now a business consultant, national security adviser

Denis McDonough, Center for American Progress senior fellow and former policy adviser to then-Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, foreign policy coordinator

Samantha Power, Harvard-based human rights scholar and Pulitzer Prize winning writer, foreign policy adviser

Susan E. Rice, President Clinton’s Africa specialist at the State Department and National Security Council and now a Brookings senior fellow, foreign policy adviser

Bruce O. Riedel, former CIA officer and National Security Council staffer for Near East and Asian affairs and now a Brookings senior fellow, national security adviser

Dennis B. Ross, President Clinton’s Middle East negotiator and now a Washington Institute for Near East Policy fellow, Middle East adviser

Sarah Sewall, deputy assistant secretary of defense for peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance during President Clinton’s administration and now director of Harvard’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, national security adviser

Daniel B. Shapiro, National Security Council director for legislative affairs during President Clinton’s administration and now a lobbyist with Timmons & Company, Middle East adviser

Mona Sutphen, former aide to President Clinton’s National Security adviser Samuel R. Berger and to United Nations ambassador Bill Richardson and now managing director of business consultancy Stonebridge, national security adviser

And I think it’s attention to nagging details like this that the current mass support for Obama ignores, which to me, underscores everything Brother Santos said here. The difference between the movement of forty years ago and the one that exists now is that the “new” left was fresh, had learned from the old left, had new thinkers like Mills and Marcuse and de Beauvoir to learn from. The Obama phenomenon, on the other hand, is postmodern, and, near as I can tell, flush with the arrogance of new political blood who insist that it’s all going to be different now that they’re here to show us all the way. Well, we all made that mistake. The question is, what do you have in your toolkits that we haven’t seen before? And the resounding answer I have to come up with, after having listened to Obamania talk for a long time now, is absolutely nothing.

Thank you!! I have read other articles you have published on your website and they are always dead on. This article is a comprehensive analysis of the web of racism that we live in. I intend to share your article as widely as I can, i,e., to the few who are willing to see “The horror, the horror” (Apocalypse Now).

michael