Written by John Walker
Well, leave it to John Walker on the 13th anniversary of the Million Man March to predict a dismal future for America. Walker’s fourth opinion piece for ClayCane.net is biting commentary on Sen. Barack Obama, his presidential chances, and the black community.
Gerry McEntee, AFL-CIO union leader says that he’s spoken to white working class union members who simply say they can’t vote for a Black man. These voters explain, “He’s not one of us” or “He’s Muslim!” Most of us have probably seen the recent video clip of an older white woman telling Sen. McCain that “Obama is an Arab.” In my opinion, this election is already decided — the pollsters just don’t have the research tools to figure it out with greater certainty.
Beyond my speculation that Obama may lose, I even have a remote desire that he does. Dare I say, it’s because of the naïveté of black people? If the stakes weren’t so damn high for our country, I probably would campaign for McCain for the sole purpose of seeing the pathetic reaction of Negroes the day after an Obama loss. Unfortunately, as necessary as an Obama win is for the country, it reinforces all of the lazy political and fiscal habits that black people have. I don’t want this present generation of Blacks to think it’s this easy to get to the Promised Land. When confronted with this statement, most blacks quickly counter by saying, “Of course an Obama candidacy is not going to change everything!” as though that is a sufficient answer.
Blacks tend to get excited for one-time events, anything that may dramatize the notion that the cosmos is either for or against us. For example, the OJ Simpson trial in 1994-95; Blacks were happy that Orenthal the Oreo got off for murdering them two white folks as though he represented the plight of Black men who are unjustly being devoured by a prison-military industrial complex.
Even though we know that an Obama candidacy will not yield any material advantage for the masses of black people – we still want it and need it for our psyche. We want our white step-brothers and sisters with whom we occupy this land to envy us for a change.
Blacks see supporting an Obama Presidential candidacy as their blow against the system. It is this worldview that I hear repeated on talk radio and in casual conversation that makes me want to take a bat to most of the damn near 40 million Negroes in America. As a nation, we really need Obama to win, the alternative in the personage of the McCain-Palin ticket is simply too dangerous.
As a people who are prone to religiosity as well as entertainment, or even more poignant — religion as entertainment, we have an appetite for drama. We love waiting on the miracle, the immaculate conception or at least the immaculate concept. In the off chance that I’m right and Obama doesn’t win — do we wait four more years for another Black messiah to emerge?
John Walker is a guest writer for ClayCane.net. This is an opinion piece and does not necessarily reflect the views of Clay Cane.
And i hate when people use the word “we” like they speack for all black people.How about trying “i”??Speack for yourself…
Hmm…no i see why sandra rose plugged you and called you a friend.Yall are both some lame ass non believers…..
Satan rules the world.
In the desperate state that we are in, to even entertain rhetoric from self hating house niggers and inbred cousin fucking hicks from the heartland is just sad.
The GOP are a bunch of greedy, amoral bastards who continue to dupe people, white and black, into thinking that by supporting them, that you will live the “American Dream”.
In other words, you will have 7 homes and 11 cars like John McCain or a billion dollar bank account like Bush and his buddies.
Face it, you won’t even remotely live like this. You will never be one of them. Being white or a house nigger doesn’t guarantee that you will transcend classes and live like the privileged few.
Think about that when the Sheriff is putting your possessions on the front lawn because the bank has just foreclosed on your one and only house or you are staring at the flag draped coffin of your son or daughter whose life was cut short in the deserts of Iraq.
Obama may not be the Messiah, but I do believe that he cares for the poor and underclass a whole lot more than the GOP and their latest puppet.
I find it ironic that Obama’s campaign is about HOPE. And this article is exactly the opposite.
When I see my 5 year old cousin talk about Barack Obama in the few words he knows, I can’t describe the happiness and genuine humble pride I felt that News Year’s Eve. And I couldn’t believe that tears actually welled up in my eyes when he told me ‘I want to be like Barack Obama’.
I can’t describe how important someone, a leader if you will, as a role model for the black youth to look at instead of your standard celebrity. I can’t express how joyful I am to see the civil rights generation who never thought they’d see the day.
It doesn’t matter if he wins or not. All this? All this I just described? Just this is enough. The audacity of hope…
C.H.A.N.G.E
COME
HELP
A
NEGRO
GET
ELECTED
i had to LMAO at STFU… that got me!!! but yeah Obama is one man. He’s not the Black Messiah, i don’t think i’m convinced enough that other black people believe that, either… i just happen to be with those people voting for Obama, not because he’s black but because of policy, and the hope that he will do the right thing when elected, we’ve been lied to by politician after politician, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t hold this man by his word, that’s why we live in a democracy, we choose the people that represent us, they don’t choose us, everything is not going to change with one man, but it can start with this one man
I personally don’t see anything worthwhile in Obama or McCain. They are both usually IMO. However, I am a Democrat so I vote the party line. Do I believe Obama will do anything to make this country better? No. He’s better than Bush. If McCain was a Democrat, I would be voting for him. There is nothing leaning me towards Obama other than his party affiliations. I have no respect nor trust in a politician. They all lie and I’m not naive enough to think Obama is the first one who is telling me the truth.
While I don’t agree with the author, everyone getting upset of ones mans opitnion only confirms what he is saying
we have an appetite for drama. We love waiting on the miracle
This idiot prefers to see a McCain/Palin presidency just so he can feel good about shouting I told you so.
John, was that you begging your massa at the Klan rally to “take it to Obama?”
BTW, I am an Obama/Biden supporter for many reasons, and I am not your Negro.
Shut up and go vote! Now that a black man is nominated, black ppl wanna sit around and dissect who, what, when, where, and why.
In the last 20 elections, you’ll either went and voted for someone or you sat ur azz at home, not caring about politics. Now that there’s a black candidate, every other black man wants to get an opinion all of a sudden.
Go pull that lever for Obama and then look down.
Clay,
While I appreciate your column, I don’t see the need for you to allow others to publish opinions here. This person does not speak for the masses. I don’t necessarily see the merit of his comments and it does nothing to elevate your credibility.
Opinions are like a common body part, we all have one, and they all stink (get it?).
Stick to what works.
p.s. btw if it really is c.r.e.a.m.
cash rules everything around me, then b rocka has already won!
FYI mr walker
i respect your opinion and i think you have some valid points.
i am a registered democrat and have been for the last 24 years…i lost all faith in politics when i voted back in the 80′s for the california lottery. it was said that a lot of the money would go towards schools…it did, when i went back to my old high school for homecoming, they had bars and lots of security.
i vote democrat but think like a republican…if i made a lot of $ i would not want to be paying a lot of taxes…i would feel like, i got mine, now you go get yours, however, i am not what you would call “wealthy” so i qualify for anything…tax breaks…free lunch, wic, food stamps, whatever…give it to me!
like tony rock said…black people are not lazy…we’re on vacation.
be real…this nation would not be no where near as great and powerful as it has become if it were not for African Americans who built this shit from the ground up!
like Paul Mooney said…they made us build the white house and you KNOW d.c. is blacker than black and they had the audacity to call it the white house. that’s just cruel!
anywho…ever since that first election…i basically vote for the lesser of two evils.
really, if you have a choice between lucifer and his little brother, pick the little brother ALWAYS!
again i say before we are dems, repubs, white, black, str8t or gay, we are capitalists!
b.rocka is capitalizing on every angle and people are eating it up.
i say that the one who raises the most “capital” is the winner…hasn’t it always been that in the past? look what happened in ’04 did gore get outvoted or outcashed…be real people. this is just like the emancipation proclamation, and the civil rights movement, not about black or white but green!
*****again these white hoes are simplistic and blindly follow anyone-aren’t they the same ones who made the palin-type glasses sell out? i betcha my left pinkie toe that that hoe does not even have a prescription for those lenses-someone from mccains camp told her to put them on so she can “look smart” SMDH stupid white hoes!
DO NOT GET.
P.S. The picture used above was photoshopped.
Just vote, OK?
ITA with a few posters who’ve said they’ve yet to hear a black person declare Obama the Messiah of black folks Nope, we wouldn’t vote for him if his views were like McCain – we didn’t vote for Shirley, Jesse or Al when they ran, we wouldn’t vote for Condi or Colin if they ran.
It’s not “us” propelling Obama’s candidacy – it’s young, affluent, white folks in the north and the south.
Do I believe the polls? Yes. There are racist folks in America, but America is NOT racist by its very existence.
In order to claim the process, we have to participate in the process, be unafraid to lose, and continually challenge the status quo. The Obama candidacy has also made a lot of white folks really take a good look at themselves, their fears,and where they truly stand in this country.
I’m guessing a lot of white folks that could “never vote for a black man” will overcome their fears and ignorance and do just that.
For the first time in a very long time, we all have been given the opportunity to talk openly and candidly about race, racism, our domestic future, in open, intelligent terms, as opposed to the lurid, sick and sexually perverted conversations and debates on race that surrounded the O.J. trial.
Win or lose, Barack Obama has FOREVER changed the game, and the black vote and campaign dollars will have priority from here on out.
An Obama win would be good right about now…but I can’t help but share the sentiments of this article…
i dont see anywhere that he says people would vote for obama if he had the same agenda as mccain. how did anyone interpret that?
Wow – I’d have to say that John Walker is a blatent racist (is that what you call someone who hates his own people?), and hoping for the demise of a whole section of society.
People would vote for Obama even if he had the same agenda as McCain? Are you f-ing kidding me?
I believe there are two kinds of people. The first kind are the people that sit and bitch about a situation because (a) it’s the laziest way to handle life and (b) you can blame others and say “I told you so” when the failure you wished for is realized; and the second kind are people that get off their asses and do something to make a change in the world, so that others can be encouraged and emboldened to do the same.
I think John Walker fits in to the first category of people. What a shame – beautiful writing style with horrible content.
Michelle Obama was on Larry King the other night and she said that she doesn’t listen to hate like this. 20 months ago, she and her husband were told, “this will never happen.”
Well guess what – it’s happening.
i must say, i am starting to enjoy john walker's OCCASIONAL opinion pieces here
i don't always agree with the man, but he is a good writer & never afraid to share his…perspective
14/19 comments are anonymous. stop insulting people behind “anonymous.”
1:09 said: “As for the monolithic part, sorry, but, everyone does not think the same, which is why the person who penned the article has an opinion different from others, no harm, no foul, freedom of speech. Now that churl in that t-shirt with the slur, that’s an issue I have more of a problem with than any of what Mr Walker wrote, but, realize to some blacks, its not a issue on any level.“
perfect point. no one has mentioned that picture and the picture accentuates some of Walker’s points.
I am so over the fact that Clay Cane allowed this rhetoric to be demonstrated on his board. I had more respect for him. But if you really read into some of clay stuff, his sentiment’s aren’t as far off than John Walker’s….I mean…REALLY! So why in the hell am I surprised.
By John Walker’s assertions, Black people would still support Obama if his ideals were the same as McCain’s. Really John? Yes, there are some people who are voting for Obama simply because of his color, but I believe that most Blacks are following MLK’s lead and judging him by the content of his CHARACTER. You are diminishing the intelligence and ability of Mr. Obama and the intelligence and savvy of Blacks in general.
You have already sounded the death knell of his candidacy and it sounds as if you want others to join in your miserable predictions. Sorry, Mr. Walker, but I am having NONE of it! Your “Black radicalism” sounds more like slave mentality pessimism. And you can keep that shit to yourself.
All I can do is agree with @1:09.
Everybody go to the f***ing polls and vote! Plain and simple. The number one issue here is that this country is completely and totally f***ed up and needs to get its s#!t together fast.
Now there is no denying that I am definitely for Obama, but in the same breath I know that he won’t fix this country overnight. He does have the interest of everyone who believes that this is still a free country and hopefully he will do his damnedest to insure that your civil liberties are restored to the best of his ability. If you think for one second that McSame will do that for you, then God help you…
This article is stupid as hell. Instead of sitting at your computer writing this crap, you should be doing what I and tens of thousands of Black Obama supporters are and have been doing, actively supporting Barack by registering voters and pledging to get them to the polls on Nov. 4th. Go door to door and talk about Barack to your neighbors and why he needs their vote. Donate to his campaign. Write letters to your local papers explaining why we Barack’s proposals are best for this country.
What I’m sick of is cynical black folk like you! Everyday after work, I get out in my community and do all of those things I just wrote about. So don’t sit on your butt writing bullschitt articles like this to try and tell me what I’m doing won’t make a difference.
When Obama is elected and we make history, I will be able to tell my grandkids I helped make it happen. What will you be able to say. Nothing.
The whole write up was a generalization of black people. And of course he has his own opinion, which is protected by freedom of speech. However, we the people who read this mess have a right to be dead set against his ideals…and thus we have our opinions about what he wrote.
@12:52, I have yet to meet any black person who thinks O is going to save them, most are just happy to see that he has got this far, well, at least those of a certain age group.
As for the monolithic part, sorry, but, everyone does not think the same, which is why the person who penned the article has an opinion different from others, no harm, no foul, freedom of speech. Now that churl in that t-shirt with the slur, that’s an issue I have more of a problem with than any of what Mr Walker wrote, but, realize to some blacks, its not a issue on any level.
So, keep it real, and, just vote, be it for Obama, Bob Barr or Mickey Mouse, just vote, more black people have died for that right than anyone else.
Why do black people always proclaim that we are not a monolithic group and then criticize black folks who don’t fit the black norm culturally or politically. Many blacks accuse each other of “acting white”
okay, i dont want to argue with anyone. i just think it’s a given that when talking about the black, gay or whatever community, the person never means EVERYONE in the galaxy. Even right here he says, “most of the damn near.” Even if there was “some” and “certain” in every sentence people would still say the same thing.
I dont like everything he said here but my arguement isnt that he means EVERY black person.
John – can you ask Clay to edit some and certain in this? SOME people arent good with critical reading.
To godeep…
He said “Black People” and “Blacks” not ‘Some Black People” or “Certain Black People”.
Mr. Walker WAS making all inclusive generalizations.
Someone should make it known, black people are not monolithic, we are all different just like very other group in this country, and, we would not be hearing such a negative vibe from a Hispanic, Asian or native American if one of their own made history. Blacks are still their own worse enemy.
where does the writer say all or every black person? I dont see that. no intelligent person means EVERY SINGLE PERSON in that group.
Dead on Derrick from Philly. Like I’ve said repeatedly, the president is 1 man. This one man still has a house and a senate to work with and win over, thus, all of this hype about policies and experience only carries so much weight when we wanna keep it really real.
As a young black male, nothing makes me want to vote for Obama more than the fact that his presence in such a prominent role can, and will have an incomparable effect on so many young black males’ views on what’s attainable for a black man. This is not the same as thinking that he’s gonna fix our problems because we’re black.
Blacks are so quick to forget how many of our kids have no role models for success that don’t hold a ball or a microphone.
And somebody tell John Walker to go sit down somewhere.
I am so sick of crass, condescending, perfect(Imperfect) negroes posting articles that speak for the entire community. Self hate goes a long way, and the writer of this article’s expressions go way beyond criticism and opinion to all out hate and disgust for a people. Black people. And the people on this board should be outraged, livid about the fact that people like this “John Walker” continue to “Clarence Thomasize” the very ideology of black hope.
Even if he does not get elected, just seeing a black man whose not insecure and condescending(Like the writer), occupy the white house is hope that some people in this country have a sense of autonomy that does not reflect the old nature. Both black and white.
And even if he does win, if a black person is inspired enough by his story to start a business, go to college, galvanize a community, cease killing, and invest in ourselves, then thats alright with me dammit!!!!!!!
We’ll take the same pride in a Barack Obama presidency that Irish Catholics took in the JFK presidency–that white southerners took in the LBJ (initially) and Jimmy Carter presidencies–nothing more, nothing less.
Have you seen the reaction of black children when you ask them who Barack Obama is? My 5 year old nephew shouts his name in the same joy he shouts, “Spiderman!)
Is the Obama presidency going to stop young black men from killing each other on the city streets? Not any time soon…but gradually it may help young black folks to value each others lives a little more. It aint gonna’ hurt, is it?
I agree with some of his commentaries, but they’re always condescending and depressing about the intelligence of blacks in general.
It’s like he’s saying ‘I’m the smart nigra that can see through the bs and you ignorant slaves are blind fools who think Obama will pay all your bills and send your little tar babies to college for free.’ Just b/c a few fools you heard at church/the barbershop feel Obama is the 2nd coming, doesn’t mean everyone does.
STFU John Walker! Was that BLACK enough for you???
Wow, I’d have to say how can he bundle the opinion of a few black people into the opinion of all black people, I know I don’t want Obama to win because of some envious psyche I’m harboring for white people. I wasn’t even for him at first. But look at the choice we have an POW who’s right hand man is an extremist that’s an idiot. No Obama becoming present isn’t going to change anything for black people, this guy has totally missed the mark. I hope as many people in this country hopes that he changes AMERICA as a whole. Too many black folks like to speak for all black people, just because there are a few as he put negroes who lean towards religion and divine intervention doesn’t mean everyone does that. You’re talking about a small percentage of people. I’m a very intelligent person and I’m sorry I’m not voting for anyone because of the color of their skin. People are always complaining about how black people like to start things and not finish it for example The Million Man March. Yes its true it was a powerful moment in black history, but who do we have as our leaders. I personally don’t need anyone to lead me but some people do. There are no MLK jr’s out there NO ONE CARES! so stop whinning about how dissappointed you are about the state of the black nation and do something about it if you’re so dissappointed. You’re forgetting the fact that we’re a nation of people with no culture, and no roots, so for some folks religion and their religious leaders are all they have. I hope that as time goes on and America gets so mixed up that no one can no longer say I’m black or I’m white because you just won’t be able to tell anymore, but hey that’s just a dream of mine, but for the time being I do what I have to do for my family and not worry or express my disappointment for something I’m not willing to fight for.
PEACE
I agree that an Obama win on 11-4-08 will not change the material condition of most black people in America. I want Obama to win, however, if only to show blacks in America once and for all that no one and nothing can save them (not even a black president of the U.S.) except themselves and good OLD FASHIONED hard work.
Wow this is a cold ass artical.
not all black people are alike