Now, on to the point of this blog. Why am I not enthusiastic about Obama (or voting)? For a while now I entertained conversations from folks on the topic of the presidential election. What did I think about it, did I think Obama could win were the most common; though I often found myself reclusive from engaging in the diatribe. My responses in the beginning were optimistic at best. I surmised that it would be good for black children in America to see a black man as president, that this phenomenon of Obama would raise the self-esteem of millions of black youth throughout the country and encourage them to make more of themselves than what the television (BET MTV VH1) was giving them as role models.

I rested my case on this point for a while. However my own mind could not iron out a glaring contradiction. How could it be that a black man rise to the highest position in this country without having compromised himself and his dedication to African (American) people? I’ll admit to knowing nothing of this man prior to 2007. He was no champion of black people prior to this historical run. No advocate of civil rights such as (though to limited degrees John Conyers, Maxine Walters, and the like) I had never heard his name mentioned when we talked about black issues at all. Though I admit to not really follow the house or the senate. But here was this man, who seemingly came out of nowhere and had galvanized millions of American people unlike any other in the history of presidential elections as I have known them. Would he stand up for black people? Or would be be a better marketed democrat version of Alan Keyes?

It did not take me long to become thoroughly disenchanted by Barack. I cushion this statement by saying I know that McCain is the enemy. I have no question about it. I really think it was easy for all of us to tell that McCain would represent Bush. Since it was very obvious that McCain was the enemy and nobody I knew would be voting for him anyway; McCain never really was a thought process for me to critique. Bullshit is bullshit, it might smell different, have a different texture, come froma different person but all in all it is still bullshit. But Barack Obama on the other hand, this was an enigma. What did he stand for? Change. Hope. Progress. These were all very marketable statements. I am still impressed by the awesome marketing campaign employed by the Obama team. It seems as though they studied the best of guerilla marketing, fused it with seth godin, and sprinkled in a million dollar budget and youth targeted audience. But what did he stand for? It did not take me long to find out.

Reason Number 1: He is Pro-Imperialism

Around maybe Feb of 2008, I read that Barack Obama had voted for the FISA Bill which allowed the government to tap your phone, hence the above quote from the FBI Cointelpro Document. My thought was how could he do that? Support the patriot act? How and why could that be logical when the Administration who pushed it; had foreknowledge of the 9-11 attacks which was the reason it was created? Then I read that his advisor was former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzenzinski; who is the author of The Grand Chessboard and other books that serve as what we can call handbooks of American Imperialism. The book basically outlines how the last piece of the puzzle for global Western Dominance of the globe was in fact the region called The Middle East and its vast reserves of energy (oil). The book puts the quest for modern global dominance in the context of what other great imperialist nations had done i.e. Rome, Mongolia, etc. what they did wrong…but I digress. Brzezinski was Obama’s advisor. This explained his stance on Iraq, that they would keep US forces in the country to act as police (perform anti-terrorist strikes against AL-qaeda); never mind that the US invasion of Iraq was illegal in the first place given that the pretext was that they had Weapons of Mass Destruction that they did not have and that they had assassinated their leader Sadaam Hussein. I am not saying that Sadaam Hussein was not evil or whatever, I am saying that the US does not have the authority to do what it did in Iraq and that is overthrow a government and occupy it with people who sympathize with America. Link: Obama on FISA

Reason 2: He is Pro Israel

Later I would read that Obama’s comments to AIPAC (American Isreal Public Affairs Committee). Background on the Palestine vs. Isreal conflict is needed to understand this situation. Okay. Lets explain it like this. Suppose me englishmen were looking for a home. They get a couple of their rich companies (nations) to finance their occupation their move to North America. The native people of North America call North America Turtle Island. There capital is Washitaw. They are annexed to a certain area by force (guns, tanks, military from the rich companies i.e. nations) that does not even include their capital. The Americans even build a fence around their new area between them and the native peoples new territory. Remember there was no negotiation they just came in an took the land. The englishmen rename Turtle Island, America and claim Washitaw as their capital.

Now the native people fight back, they want their capital back. They are slaughtered but are relentless. They fight and fight and the international media highlights that the Americans are too brutal and intervenes to negotiate. The international media sides say 60/40 in favor of the Americans (cuz they got money and guns) and say Americans should chill out with the slaughter/discrimination and genocide but they can keep Washitaw as the capital. This is the situation in Palestine, except the Palestinians are the Indians and the Americans are the Israelis. Washitaw in my example is Jerusalem. Never mind that they didn’t have the authority to go and take the Palestinian land in the first place.

Some may say well the Jews who became the Israelis were there because after WW2 Holocaust they needed a place to go. Israel is their biblical homeland and they should be able to return to it. This is a myth. After the holocaust Jews relocated to South America, the United States and even the Congo. What has been done in Palestine is inhuman and a blatant disregard for the Palestinian peoples’ right o self determination. Suppose somebody came into your house saying that the bible authorized them to do it. Killed your family and moved you into the garage?

Considering that Obama is a black man, it would make alot of sense for him to emphasize on the behalf of the Palestinians, I mean dag; considering the history of America it would appear obvious that we would be on the side of anyone who was being oppressed. But he was not. He sided with the Israeli government and said that the capital of Israel is Jerusalem. Link: Obama on Israel

Reason 3: He Says We Should Respect the Sean Bell

Sean Bell was the a soon to be newlywed black father who was shot to death by police the night of his bachelor party. The police who shot him said they thought he had a gun (don’t they always say that?) though no gun was found. They police shot over 50 times!! One police officer actually reloaded his gun and shot some more after emptying the clip. The result was (of course) the police were found not guilty and acquitted. We have seen this in the black community before. So many times before. We thought that this time we would get justice. But nope. Obama said we shout respect the ruling of the judges in the matter. How can we respect the ruling? More importantly why? If he is about change; why does he support more of the same when it comes to Africans being brutalized and killed unjustly by the police? Link: Obama on Sean Bell

Reason 4: He is against even a study for African American Reparations

Really don’t need to say much about that. Oh, except that J.P Morgan whom has it’s roots in the slave trade (it’s predecessor companies profiteered from the slave trade and as a result are the foundation of the company) and in fact offered an apology in 2007 to African Americans; is one of Barack Obama’s top contributors to the tune of over 200,000 dollars. He indicated that reparations would be a “distraction and make people feel as though they paid the debt” Problem is we don’t even have a clue as to how much of a debt is owed because he opposes even a study to find out. Link: Obama Against Study For Reparations

Okay So Your Not Enthusiastic About Obama; Why Voting?

Well I will first say that I am an advocate for Cythia Mckinney but I am well aware of the fact that a great number of people are not aware of the fact that an all women african/american|african latino ticket is in place for the Green Party. People who do know, say well if you vote for the Green Party you are actually voting against Obama; and you know Obama even if you don’t agree with him is better than McCain. The line of reasoning is that you should go with the lesser of two evils. I rather go with neither and would actually be glad to give the Green Party my vote. If the Green Party gets 5% they get equal funds to campaign in the 2012 election. Cythnia Mckinney is actually more inclined to speak for the people who have been oppressed, questioning the 9-11 attacks on the house floor while in the House of Representatives and holding sessions on Cointelpro and on the death of tupac shakur. Rosa Clemente has been organizing the grassroots for a long time, advocating for black and brown unity within the Malcolm x grassroots movement. Neither Cynthia nor Rosa have been able to get any air time from the major media machine, because the presidential election is governed by money and they don’t got money like McCain or Obama. Cynthia is featured highly in the film American Blackout; which covers voter disenfranchisement which actually brings me to the point of this post, as to why I am not enthusiastic about voting or Obama.

What Happened to The Elections Being stolen in 2000 & 2004

In 2000 greg palast indicates that 1 million black votes were cast away in this country. No discussion of voter disenfranchisement has taken place in 2008. Not one, considering that this was the topic of discussion in Ohio in 2004 and in Florida of 2000. Hindsight is always (dependent on whose looking) 20/20 and we find that votes were lost all around the country. So if I did vote; there is no guarentee that my vote would event count, let alone take away from Obama, let alone if I were even so optimistic elect Cynthia Mckinney for President (never mind how historical it is to have two women of color running a presidential ticket)

So tell me; should I be enthusiastic?

One thing that does excite me is the heightened political consciousness of lay people. Everybody has an opinion based on the information they have received thus far, and this is mine – even with it’s cynicism. To wrap all this up, considering the FBI document from 40 years ago that I cited in the beginning, also considering that political prisoners are still in prison as a result of that same Cointelpro; do we honestly believe that America would allow a black man to come in a right the wrongs of this corrupt government? This is the same government that assassinated Malcolm, Martin, exiled Marcus Garvey, has trade sanctions on Cuba, won’t lift a finger to help Haiti, enslaved my ancestors, exterminated the indigenous people of this country and still practices imperialism by invading countries overthrowing it’s leaders in the name of democracy. We shall see, but I honestly don’t think so.

To Prevent the Rise of A Black Messiah

Fact is, given the history of this current and its current attitude toward race, and Obama’s insistent color blindness – it appears that Obama may be the quintessiential “black leader”. He has been groomed for the position, and has no affiliations with militant black nationalists. For all intents and purposes Cointelpro’s goal was to prevent real black leaders from being successful in making a better world – to make real change. So when did the memo go out to allow a black messiah to rise up again? If they killed Malcolm and Martin, how can who the hell left the gate open to allow Obama in? Why have we not heard him stand up for oppressed people like Malcolm or Martin or Lennon or Che? Will we see that? I don’t know. Unlike Mckinney he asked no questions about 9-11. Which is how we got into this war in the first place. Cynthia Mckinney stood for truth. BUt we know she won’t win the election. We know the election is classocracy; with the spoils going to the person with the best marketing plan and budget to back it up. Corporations endorse presidential candidates like sports drinks endorse athletes. God only knows what will iron out in the wash in the weeks to come regarding this bailout and Bush, given what washed out after the Enron scandal. Who is putting money behind Obama? What are their politics? What is the agenda of the financier?

To Conclude This

Let me say I am not anti-obama, I am anti-imperialism. In Africa, neocolonialsim took hold after colonialism. Defined loosely neocolonialism is when the subjects of the colony are given control of the colony as long as they are in line with the colonies policies. They go to the colonies schools, dress like the colonial powers and are an extension of their colonies power. When the colonist say they gave the country independence or freedom, and the country is controlled by people that the colony put in power it is not sufficient to say oh there is a black leader in power. What is that leaders orientation given the historical reality faced by his or her people. It is because of these questions and realities that I find myself not enthusiastic about Obama or voting.