Madison J. Gray: Black Coalition Calls Obama 'White Power in Blackface'

"The same people, though, who staged the demonstration in front of the White House could have traveled just a few miles from it and saw everything from dysfunctional families to egregious poverty to wanton street violence all involving black people. But as I do my research on this coalition, I'm finding that it has nothing to say about its own direct efforts concerning these issues.

"In college, the blackness police quickly turned from militants to minstrels, and that's what this "coalition" is doing.

"As much as I agree with some of the points they've put forward, such as freeing Mumia Abu-Jamal, ending urban gentrification and promoting real justice for black people, having marches and shouting through bullhorns really doesn't do it for me anymore. So the question I ask is what action have you taken? What child have you fed? What young man have you given help in getting a job? What pregnant young girl have you helped get prenatal care? Those are the things groups such as the Black Panthers did back in the day. They were about far more than just marches. They were about action.

"Going back to my college example, there was lots of student activity among blacks on my campus. Many students participated in canned food and clothing drives, raised funds for the poor and infirm, tutored local children and helped to recruit more minority students.

"With the blackness police, though, if we weren't walking around donned in the same Korean-made African garb they wore, shouting regurgitated quotes from Stokely Carmichael and Malcolm X, then we were sellouts. These same dudes would never lift a single finger to actually uplift black people. So to me, their actions are suspect.

"They could quote Malcolm endlessly, but they apparently failed to read the instructions he laid out in the latter chapters of his autobiography about self-help.

"So, yeah, the coalition, like all black people and all people for that matter, should scrutinize the government, but they lose credibility when they say that Obama is letting black people down when they themselves do nothing to help those within shouting distance."

I have to admit I was disappointed that this coalition did not address the problems of the community as a whole.

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