COMMENTARY
THOMAS SCOTT, MD

Six months into the first term of President Barack Obama, African Americans remain giddy and self assured over the election of a man of African descent to highest office in the land. The rhetoric of hope resonated deeply in a people who had their hopes all but crushed during the previous administration of George W. Bush. After all, under the Dubya regime, blacks witnessed the greatest loss of wealth since emancipation. This was accomplished through the notorious subprime mortgage debacle, and exacerbated by the economic collapse that followed. Black unemployment rates, traditionally high, continue to rise in the economic downturn that followed. Meanwhile, arrest and incarceration rates remain disproprotionately high, with rates now increasing for black teenagers, male and female. Violence against blacks - by other blacks, law enforcement officers, and white supremacists - have all increased. So called gaps, disparities, and deficits between blacks and whites loom larger than ever in areas of educational achievement, health, and economics. Nonetheless, black Americans remain hopeful, even in the face of a reality that indicates tangible suffering that seems to approach a breaking point.

Paradoxically, many whites who opposed the ascension of Obama to the Oval Office sound distressed, hopeless, and in dispair. One ould think it was them with 15 - 20 % unemployment levels. The irrational rants they espouse over the airwaves and post in cyberspace grow more shrill and desperate in tone. They are quick to point out the "failures" of Obama even after only 6 months has passed since he assumed power. How ironic is it that they complain about the billions of dollars spent by his administration trying to clean up the mess their man Dubya left. There are trillions for investment bankers who messed up the money but not for the rescue and reconstruction of our infrastructure and health care system?

It seems the difference between these groups lies in their hopes and expectations. Obama's rhetoric has not matched his actions when it comes to the war, health care reform or financial reform. It appears that those who complain the most may not lose so much as the changes Obama suggests do not really threaten to bring the "change we can believe in." Black people however, so far must be satisfied with living off their hopes and dreams just a little while longer while Obama caters to the demands of interest groups who are better organized and empowered.

Negroes went wild at Obama's election. Given the dire conditions extant in the black community this adulation borders on the irrational.
Obama, like his predecessors, is currently catering to those who put him in office. Blacks gave him their hearts, votes, and loyalty without making any explicit demands. How is it now that when Black unemployment is at the level of an economic depression (really worse) that Obama's response is "a rising tide lifts all boats"? He can get away with that because the alternative (rule by the axis of evil: neo-cons, corporatists, and christo-fascists) was exposed as inept, incompetent, and unjust.

Is Obama turning out to be as described before the election; a liberal version of Clarence Thomas, wedded to ideologies but not to the rescue and reconstruction of Black people? In response to that question many black apologists for Obama say, "he is the President of the US, not the President of (or for) Black people". Though true, this begs a more relevant question; to paraphrase Ancestor Sojourner Truth, "Aint I an American"? The bankers, the AIPAC, and now Gay & Lesbian groups are making demands on Obama and getting responses. How is it that those interest groups get heard? While they all have some degree of power that they parlay to benefit their groups, Blacks seem to be relevant only on election day. After the elections, the plight of Blacks and their issues revert back that of a liability for the major political parties, and apparentlhy for the President too.

Black people are ignorant of history. A black man or woman in charge is not the same as masses black folk prospering. The progress of 40 or so blacks is not the same as the progress of 40 million! The masses will not progress until they develop a comprehensive strategy that focuses on mastering the five (5) levels of power:

1. God - (a coherent religious concept that affirms, rather than marginalizes or degrades black people)
2. Guns - (self defense and protection of communities from exploitation, crime, and violence)
3. Knowledge - (develop a desire for acquisition and mastery of skills, information, and technology)
4. Money - (regain control of our own economic markets and use them to leverage wealth in such a way that our children can be educated, socialized, and empoyed in a manner consistent with, not in opposition to, a black agenda)
5. Votes - (strategic use of black political power not only during elections but in between them. Conscious Black people must be groomed for election or appointment to positions at every level of governance, from dog catcher to the Oval Office).

Black people will not be relevant until they think, speak, and act like a serious people to be reckoned with. Barack Obama can not do this for black people. In fact, his actions so far indicate that blacks are not a group whose concerns and legitimate grievances are worthy of focused attention. Other ethnic groups in the US understand what blacks have failed to grasp -- that society benefits those groups who function together cohesively. A consequence of this failure in the black community is that other groups are able to generate wealth by servicing the economic demands of Black people, since Black people themselves are unable or unwilling to do so. Therefore it is in the interest of other groups for Black social, economic, and political dysfunction to continue. Blacks, intoxicated by the hope engendered from the election of Obama, can not allow this to stand if they wish to assume their standing in the world as a free, respected, and equal people. Such hopes will only steal their futures by waiting for others to do for them what they can and should do for self.

So be not deceived by salvos from white folks who have, as Public Enemy told us in the 1990's, "Fear of a Black Planet". Obama's election is NOT an indication of the waning of racism/white supremacy but an affirmation of it. Indeed, racism will get worse as whites struggle to maintain power & privilege in a world that is 90% non white and a nation that will no longer see whites as a majority in less than 25 years from now. It is white supremacy/racism that we struggle against.

Start with the simple things from day to day to build your families and communities:

Develop and encourage high level self respect
Be serious
Study and work to improve one's self every day
Stop Gossiping
Stop committing acts of violence
Stop selling and using drugs
"they had me fighting on the frontline, but I'm in the back of the line when it comes to getting ahead"
-- Stevie Wonder, in his song, Frontlines