When I heard the controversial and heated comments about President Obama that were made by my respected colleague Michael Eric Dyson, I felt like a 2nd grader running outside to see the fight between two middle school kids. Both Barack and Michael are men I've grown to appreciate, and I love them for their strengths as well as their imperfections. Michael was the reason I became a public scholar during graduate school, as I would watch the words flow out of him like an MC in the booth dropping his hottest album. The man is good, damn good.
Barack Obama needs to listen to the words of Michael Eric Dyson. In fact, he should give Dyson as much, or more respect than he gives me or any other black public intellectual in America. Dr. Dyson, no matter how you perceive his critique of President Obama, represents a form of insight that you are not going to find in politics, the pulpit or anywhere else. At the same time, I will confess that his words may also come from an impure place that lies within the darkest part of our souls. In other words, Dyson, Tavis, Barack, Jesse and every other ambitious man in America is always going to be tempted by the "Demon of Playerhaterology". Men are naturally competitive, and no man likes to be disrespected. Obama, as a condition for his employment, is often asked to disrespect other leaders across America who represent the essence of meaningful black thought. That's going to create a long list of enemies.
But let's make this point clear: When Tavis Smiley holds Barack accountable, that doesn't mean he's jealous of Barack. In fact, jealousy is an overly simplistic way to marginalize someone's comments before you even hear what they have to say. We must be more intelligent than that. The other truth is that even a jealous man may be making a good point. The same thing is true for Dyson's recent challenge to Barack Obama: He might not like Barack (I can't confirm or deny his personal relationship), but that doesn't mean that he's wrong in his assessments. Dyson was one of the first to publicly endorse Obama, long before many of the "Obama-maniacs" had gained the courage to jump on board his campaign.
To get a more balanced critique on this issue, I did something that we should all do: Remember that there is more to the universe of black scholarship than Cornel West, Boyce Watkins and Michael Eric Dyson. So, I've reached out to an army of black intellectuals who are committed to serving their communities (please take a look at their comments if you can), and asked for their assessment of Obama's first 100 days in office. One sad truth about the black intellectual in America is that the potential of black scholars has been muted, socially castrated and distracted from the God-given mandate to help people in the black community. Our one-dimensional training teaches us to dumb ourselves down in order to accomodate suffocatingly racist bureaucracies, bury our intelligence in abstruse niches and create a long stretch of non-transferable skills with no desire to distribute these skills to a broader audience. Given that intelligence is partially measured by one's ability to communicate complex ideas to a multitude of audiences, African American scholars have made ourselves into some of the least intelligent individuals in the black community. Even rappers like Diddy have more intellectual impact than most professors (remember the "Vote or Die" campaign?), and that's just plain crazy.
With that said, I want people to hear the words of Dyson without pulling out their pitchforks. We need to understand that during this critical time in black American history, we should not suck ourselves into the temptations of McCarthyism by shutting down every progressive voice that doesn't agree with the great Barack Obama. The other truth is that we should not "drink the kool-aid" that makes Obama into an instant sell-out because he doesn't wear his dashiki to work everyday. Barack is an important piece of black history and we must respect that.
Some are tempted to take sides on the Dyson vs. Obama situation, and some are sitting in the middle. I am doing neither, since I wish to do the impossible and support both sides of this important conversation. You see, racism forces us to make uncomfortable choices, since we are all bottlenecked into the fight to become the HNIC. We are asked, as a condition for our advancement, to denounce those within our culture who make the power structure uncomfortable. We are told that getting Barack Obama elected means we must chop off the political heads of Jeremiah Wright, Jesse Jackson, Tavis Smiley, Louis Farrakhan, Cynthia McKinney and Cornel West. I will never make such a choice, and neither should you.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Finance Professor at Syracuse University and author of the forthcoming book, "Black American Money", set for release on July 15, 2009. For more information, please visit www.BoyceWatkins.com. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered directly to your email box, please click here.
Comments: (18)
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By: monique on 6/17/2009 6:10PM
Here's the deal. Obama needs to listen to black leaders, since his pulse on the black community is distracted by his historical oppressors. If we don't remind him where he comes from, then we are not exercising our constitutional right to speak up on behalf of African Americans.
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By: J.W on 6/17/2009 6:21PM
i have supported obama and every office he has ran for,but what i see now disapoint me.it seems to me that obama has made an effort to distance himself from the black community and its leader,we try extremly hard not to critize the brother,but we must stop acting like every black person in america is happy with obama, many if not all were his supporter and voted for him.his choice to distance himself from our leader is hurtful because these are the people that let our greivances known to america,so when you ignore them,you ignore our greivances.obama has denounce some of our most important black leaders,as to say shame on you for your behavior and the things you say about america,but its these things that were said that got us this far and him as far as he has gotten,we are comparing him to DR.KING but if king was alive would also distance himself from him and what about brother malcolm,dubois ,f douglas america did not approve of them either,it has haver approved of any black leader,so to get the approval of w/america you disrepect 100s of year of strugle that black people and its leader has fought and died to make jan,20 possible for him,not shame on j wright but shame on obama,not shame on j.jackson but shame on obama,not shame on farrakhan,but shame on obama,not shame on sharpton but shame on obama and diffenately not shame on m.dyson, i know obama is a proud black man but i hope that he does,nt wait till its close to election time to show it.
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By: Nzingha Shabak on 6/17/2009 8:52PM
First of all Dr. Dyson is not a black leader, secondly I could not read the whole article, but what I did read I could not find out what was said, by either. May I remind writers please start your comment by stating what was said or done.
We must all realize the majority of black folks did not support President Obama when he first made the announcement he was going to run for president, black folks did not begin to support President Obama until they saw all the white folks supporting him (sic, dumb, stupid). As smart as President Obama is, I can understand why he is slow in coming out to get something started for black people, like Economic development in the black community. I have heard he is supporting Reparation for Balcks now. We black people makes it very hard to support, those who did not support our brother in the beginning, and went around supporting a white woman, whose husband is responsible for sending more black men to prison during his administration, than any other president in this country's history, and so many other things this racist did, along with Hilliary's help, and support.
Dr. Dyson is an educator and preacher, neither one makes his a leader.
Nzingha Shabaka
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By: dan on 6/25/2009 6:02PM
dr. m. dyson's comments were on point. how does a black man with all that power quiet his distrustful citizens, by distanting himself from who he is and his people. and do you know who speaks for us? ok, fine be president for all the people, but in the mean time don't turn a deft ear to my peoples plight. and shabak stop blaming people for our prison popl. problem. its something we need to deal with asap. you know as well as i do its way way to many b/m's out here making some terrible choices. (dropping out of school,dealing drugs for a living, robbing folks,killing each other, raising hell on the regular)our race is out of control in some aspects, anybody notice but me. whose going to address it. what do you think would happen if you emptied all the prisons in america?
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By: shahidah muta on 7/27/2009 7:48PM
why should we as black folks continue to support because one looks like us? There is nothing shameful about holding each other accountable. Obama has dissed the black community. And I am sure he will disrespect our black leaders too. Right not they are too fearful of us to still us. Obama even has Colin Powell questioning many of is policies.
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By: Oluwaseun on 6/18/2009 4:30AM
Every political office usually outlives its convener and evolves at every slight change into the creation of successive influences. I believe the observations made of the person of Mr. President aren't divergent, rather they are sectional and from a view-point. But we are talking of 100days (or so) in view of handling something that has roots in successive leadership in America. The office of the President isn't as restricted as the free person of Mr President but it is restrictive! I am of the opinion (please correct me if wrong) that a system that allows participation and restricts change. In one of the campaign slogans that distinguished him, that word was pivotal in that Americans retorted to believing there was a change-they-could-trust. There is an environment where CHANGE thrives. There are structures, systems and governments that do not accomodate sharp change. Where lies America now? Is it in the middle, out-of-it or in-process?
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By: dan on 6/25/2009 10:23AM
i respect your comment, it is well written and is directed at the problem the president faces in making real change within a system that by default is structured to protect itself from major outside influnces. so the question remains how do we affect change.
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By: monique on 6/21/2009 9:59AM
This is a very important critique. Black people cannot and should not be divided by these debates. Obama should be challenged, and challenging him does not mean you are undermining him. He can't get credit for being a great black leader if he is not directly managing problems in the black community. That would be like saying that Al Roker is a great black media pioneer. The truth is that Al doesn't say a word about being black. This doesn't mean he hasn't achieved anything, but he is not the same as Tavis Smiley.
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By: dan on 6/25/2009 6:02PM
i agree with you monique when does the agenda begin to address our particuliar needs as a people. black people are waiting and have been waiting for so long for someone to address our list of needs in the black community. tavis is a champion when it comes to putting the word out front about us. i just hope it won't wait until its to late. we losing to many of our black son's to the system at a critical stage inh life. how can that part of our popl. ever expect to become productive in this society with so many strikes against them.
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By: celina on 6/23/2009 4:08PM
All of you need to get over yourselves. This includes all of our so called "black scholars." President Obama is not President of the NAACP or some local chapter of the Black Expo. He is President of the Uniteted States of America. PERIOD. I am of the same generation as both he and Michelle and know all too well what is necessary to walk a fine line between our black community and the rest of the world. I understand as should all of you "educated" scholars that black people are not the only people in the United States. The man is doing one hell-of-a-job. He does note need a few disgruntled black intellectual brothers crying "foul" and bringing up the 'he needs to listen to blacks more' cry. I am proud he is in this office. He has already raised the stature of the black community and the black man two times over. The last person he needs to hear from given all of our nations ills is a scholary black Judas.
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