Presumptive Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama, experienced a backlash during one of his speeches today when he was heckled at a town hall meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida by a group of young black men.Actually, let me rephrase that because I think "heckled" is a strong word. Rather, The men held up a sign saying, "What about the black community Obama?" to get his attention. Then, the crowd began chanting in unison, which gained them an aknowledgement from him. Obama maintained his composure throughout the meeting and calmly answered their questions after his speech.
You may be wondering what questions the men had for the first viable African American presidential candidate. Well, they asked about Jena 6, Sean Bell, and other racial incidents over the past two years about which Obama quickly and eloquently responded.
Now, I am not to going to hype up this incident anymore than CNN and other mainstream media have managed to do. The truth of the matter is that presidential candidates get heckled ALL THE TIME. What I will say is that I think the media is playing this one up especially because it is a case of black men rising up to harass another black man, especially this particular black man.
The incident does give me a bit of pause. I think we, as Black Americans need to realize that Barack Obama is not the PANACEA for black people nor is he able to answer for years of oppression and injustice we have faced.
As president, he will not only have to focus on race relations in this country but he has to fix the jacked-up U.S. economy, and work on mending fences in the Middle East.
We, as black folk, won't be able to have him on speed dial whenever something goes wrong in our neighborhoods.
He will be a busy man, just as past presidents have been. What we can hope for is that he gives us a ring every once in a while, which is more than we have gotten during the last eight years of George W. Bush.
Comments: (95)
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By: anthony woolbright on 8/01/2008 3:59PM
I HOPE ALL THIS FOOLISHNESS STOP. IF YOU CANNOT HELP STOP COMPLAINING. OUR COUNTRY IS ALL READY IN TERMOIL AND THIS BLACK AND WHITE ISSUE IS CRAZY! WE ARE ALL AMERICANS.LET THE BEST MAN WIN.
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By: moonforge on 8/01/2008 4:14PM
This same group needs to go to a McCain meeting as well and ask these questions. All Presidential candidates need to answer hypothetical questions from the citizens they will possibly serve. "African American" people need to understand when Obama becomes President he is not just "our" President he is ALL of America's President. Regardless we need someone in office who has every race, gender and religious background's well being in mind.
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By: lvalentine on 8/01/2008 4:50PM
Well, like always I think he was genuine, honest and said the right things. GOD BLESS YOU BARACK OBAMA and may He keep you in the mist of the storms ahead.
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By: lvalentine on 8/01/2008 4:51PM
I respect Obama for letting the American people know he is running to be president of The United States of America. He is not a "Black" candadite, but a presidential candidate. He was right to say that he is not one that will be on spead dial for the Black race, I respect him for this. This is what has to be to be a president not to be for any one race, but for the American people as a whole.
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By: Kia on 8/01/2008 6:44PM
I agree with the other poster, these same guys need to to to a McCain rally and heckle him and ask him what he'll do for the black community ifhe were elected. Obama is not a black candidate, he's a candidate for the entire USA.
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By: Flora Lee on 8/01/2008 6:03PM
Come on people we are not foolish enough to believe that Obama can "do it all" for Black folks. We know that racism, oppression has many years and layers of institutionalism. We as people need to know the issues and vote for those who address our issues. Be informed, but we also need to give Obama support if we believe he represnts the issues we believe are important
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By: QuiteNice on 8/01/2008 5:38PM
This was powerful....I hope that it is showed over and over again. Obama just told the truth, point blank.....
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By: Emory Wright on 8/01/2008 5:59PM
I'm from St. Petersburg, these uhuru idiots do stuff like this all the time.
They are a bunch of losers and hypocrites.
You never hear a peep out of these fools, until a white police officer shoots a black kid.
When Black people kill other black peole, they are silent, they don't march, hold press confernces or protest black on black crime.
I've never heard them once address the fact that only 27% of black males in Pinellas county graduate from Hhigh school.
They have never tried to get drugs out of the black community.
There's only about 25 of them, and all they want to do is try to start a riot. That's one reason they don't rally against crime, because the criminals are the only ones that will help them engage in their foolishness.
If they would stop blaming white people, & black people who have sense, for all their problems maybe then they could accomplish something in life.
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By: lightnthadark on 8/01/2008 5:59PM
Here we go again I think that we have got to educate each other on what it means for Obama to be the president he will be the president for EVERYONE and he is not going to get the chance if we continue to try to make him address just black issues we need him to address people issues like a failing education system and failing economy so heckle him about that. Our time will come and we will be heard!!!!
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By: Emory Wright on 8/01/2008 6:18PM
I'm from St. Petersburg,these uhuru idiots do stuff like this all the time.
They are a bunch of losers and hypocrites.
You never hear a peep out of these fools, until a white police officer shoots a Black person.
When Black people kill other black people, they are silent.
When a Black person kills another Black person, they don't march, protest or hold press conferences.
I have never heard them once address the fact that only 27% of the Black males in Pinellas county graduate from high school
They have never tried to get drugs out of the Black community.
There's only about 25 of them, and all they want to do is try to start a riot.
That's the reason they never rally against the criminal element in the Black community, because the criminals are the only ones who will help them engage in their foolishness.
If they would stop blaming white people for all of their problems, and stop calling Black people that disagree with them sellouts,maybe they would be able to do something positive.
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