President Obama — resentment and envy from many corners
[Beneath The Spin]
On Professor Boyce Watkins’ website, Your Black World, Watkins displayed a banner saying, “Interesting: Al Sharpton compares President Obama’s struggles to the crucifixion of Jesus.” Beneath the banner it says the following:
“This past Easter, Sharpton spoke on the Tom Joyner Morning Show and compared the struggles of President Obama to the crucifixion of Jesus. He specifically stated that he is not comparing Obama to Jesus, but did say that the criticism that the president has received shows that ‘with every crucifixion, there is a resurrection,’ referring to the president [emphasis added]”
Then when you clicked on the “article,” there was no article. It was a two paragraph rant spewing unsubstantiated allegations, right out of the GOP play book, by one of Boyce Watkins’ closest cronies, Yvette Carnell, a self-described anarchist:
“Critics of Sharpton, like Yvette Carnell, believe that the backslide has occurred because Sharpton was selected to ‘manage’ the black community rather than represent it.
“Part of the reason that Sharpton may be inflexible in his position is that it was recently revealed that he was an FBI informant, after federal agents caught him in a drug deal and threatened him with prison time. Critics of Sharpton charge that once the FBI has you in its grasps, it would be very risky to be an enemy to the government.”
Okay, so what was the purpose of this?
If Al Sharpton specifically made it a point to say that he wasn’t comparing Obama to Jesus Christ, what was the point of running the blurb in the first place? I’ll tell you what the point was – Boyce Watkins was going out of his way to stir up controversy where there was none, which only serves to disrupt unity in the Black community during a time when it’s needed more than ever.
Sharpton was simply pointing out that the hostility toward Obama is similar to the hostility directed toward Jesus during his life, and he’s absolutely right, so what’s so controversial about that? Common men go through many of the same experiences that Jesus did, Just like I’m sure that Obama and this writer have share many common experiences as a result of being African-American males in America, but that doesn’t mean that I’m comparing myself to Obama, or that Obama should be compared to me.
Thus, Sharpton simply stated a fact that wasn’t even worth writing about. So in typical demagogic fashion, an insinuation was simply left dangling in the air to be misinterpreted by the uninformed, and as fodder for those with malevolent intent toward the president to be spun whatever way they saw fit. Again, whoever wrote it, whether it was Watkins himself, or one of his cronies, was purposely trying to create a controversy by exploiting the racist claim that Black people see Obama as the Messiah.
So why is that a racist assertion?
The assertion is racist because it implies that Black people don’t have sense enough to know what’s in our own interest; that we’re simply mindlessly supporting Barack Obama because he’s Black; and that we don’t simply respect him, but we idolize him. It’s an assertion that’s designed to place Black people on the defensive, as though there’s something innately wrong with our respecting the first Black President of the United States, a Black man who’s reached the highest level of power in the world.
In addition, it completely ignores the fact that White people have been supporting and admiring White presidents since this nation’s inception, yet, no one has ever suggested that they’re confusing John F. Kennedy with the Messiah. So the hidden implication underlying the claim that Black people view Obama as the Messiah, is that Black people don’t have sense enough to know the difference between Jesus Christ and a politician, and no Black person should take that kindly, because it’s a subtle and covert way of calling us stupid.
Thus, as Black people, we’ve got to learn to look for such hidden meanings and see through them. Because under the hidden meaning, there’s also a hidden agenda. They want us to become so determined to prove to the world – and due to the religious guilt, ourselves – that we don’t perceive Obama as the Messiah, that we’ll curb our support of him to prove it. So we shouldn’t buy into that ploy for a minute.
When we’re confronted with such a ridiculous assertion – regardless to whether it’s made by White bigots, or Black bligots – we should immediately make it clear that we support Barack Obama because it’s in our interest to support him; and we respect him, because we see him as a man who deserves respect. But we’re not idiots. We know the difference between a living, breathing, human being, and Jesus Christ.
Thereafter, you should dismiss the bigot, or bligot, out of hand.
For more columns by Eric L. Wattree wattree.blogspot.com
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Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
Religious bigotry: It’s not that I hate everyone who doesn’t look, think, and act like me – it’s just that God does.
