Have only heard a snippet of it, but I am sure its great. Here is my beef with how this is already being reported. Barack Obama is basically touting a message that you will hear coming from any serious black person in any black community. Louis Farrakhan was saying this shit thirteen years ago, but I didn't hear anything about Louis Farrakhan offering "a strong rebuke" to absent black fathers. That's because this isn't really about black fathers, or black families. It's about Barack giving voice to white frustration. That's not a reason for Barack not to say what he's saying. He did it in front of a black crowd, and it was the right thing to say. But reporters need to stop acting like this dude is the only civilized black man in the world. I just came from the beautiful Real Men Cook event here in Harlem. This thing has been going for almost twenty years now, celebrating fathers who are doing right, and serving as rebuke (if I may) to the ones that are ghost. We don't need Barack Obama to tell us to be fathers, though I'm glad he's doing it. We need reporters to actively engage the people they claim to cover.
UPDATE: I thought some more about this speech, and I figured out what bothers me. I don't think anyone disagrees with the content of it. In fact, I've maintained that Obama is spitting rhetoric that's old hat in the black community. But when this stuff is reported, it's written as if it's the first time anyone's said this. The basic rule seems to be among white media--if we haven't heard it, it didn't happen. It's the Elvis shit all over again. Elvis knew black music well. Rumors of his racism were the "whitey tape" of his day. In fact he had great affection and much praise for black performers. But that still didn't stop white music writers and white fans from acting like this dude had the original Blue Suede Shoes.
Likewise, I don't know think Barack is presenting himself as the first dude to say what he's saying, so I don't really blame him. But these reporters who are trying to write about "race in America" are a joke. It's also a myth to imply that Obama is saying something that white politicians are somehow barred by the Gods of PC from saying. Break me a fucking give. No less than MITT ROMNEY made the same point in debate when asked about black America. Anyway, below is Barack Obama--but first Ed O.G. who gave Obama game (props to commenter dwhite on that).
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
Interestingly, read around the Internet and you will see quite a few pundits point out that the numbers of single-parent family among whites are shooting up to resemble the ones among blacks lately and that therefore the speech was not as "black-oriented" as it may seem.
I have not seen anyone argue this was a Sister Souljah moment, which I was pleasantly surprised about.
Good post. The mainstream media coverage on this just proves once again that they have no idea what goes on within the black community. It's been impossible to attend any halfway "positive" event in the past 20 years without hearing this sentiment. Hell, didn't Ed O.G. give the definitive statement on it 17 years ago?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7PBeauTvBk
Also, the line "Anyone fool can make a baby; It takes a man to be a father," is lifted almost verbatim straight out of Boyz N the Hood.
(And I'm assuming that John Singleton was merely repeating a trope he'd heard a million times before somewhere else.)
He knew that this speech would be public and whatever good intention he had distorted! Didn't he give a speech like this last year?
I don't congratulate Obama on this a bit. Listen, Obama is smart enough to know that as a presidential candidate everything he says will be used as fodder. I'm sure that he is smart enough to know how white people will perceive things. They will look at it and go yea, Obama is the only good black man (of course because of his white upbringing). He is going to set black people straight, yea, tell those black men how its done!
Here is my point, the brohter does not care! The speech was black oriented and he did it to scold black crowds knowing that it will make white people cheer him on....this in the end will get him their vote. I am sick of people feeling the need to scold black people like their bad children constantly. It is easy to scold blacks by making general blanket statements which feed into the low opinion that many whites harbor about blacks. Yet he refuses to speak on the issues that politicans should be concerned with in regards to the black community?
The criminal just-us system?
His plan for crumbling inner city schools other than telling black parents to stop feeding their children "cold chicken for breakfast"?
The list goes on...
This message coming from Obama is not different than that from black leaders, ministers and community leaders. I believe that the impact will be no different either. However in the heads of his precious white voters and white people, Obama has come up with this concept of "personal responsiblity"; a concept foreign to the negro along with moral values, intellectualism, hard work etc...
People seem to only want to harbor on the negative when it comes to the black community. They love to round blacks off to the lowest denominator. I understand that too many black fathers have dropped the ball but many,many HAVE NOT.
I had a wonderful father's day with my father, uncles, grandfathers, cousins and friends. All of these men are fathers...good fathers. Honestly, I grew up only seeing black men being fathers. I have friends who are good fathers. I would like these men to get praised and not just a mention but praise!! Sometimes praising those who do the right thing makes those who do the wrong thing feel guilty.
I also find it interesting how Obama never gives whites tough love. He cannot even tell them the truth about our society. He simply panders to their every need. Their divorce rate is through the roof! All of my white friends growing up had strained relationships with their parents because of this yet I hear no politican feeling the need to rail against it. The out of wedlock births in the Hispanic community esp. teenage preganancy is the heightest yet I don't see Bill Richardson or the mayor of L.A. addressing it.
I really am just sick of people making it seem as if blacks are the downfall of humanity and completely dysfuctional.
I live in Brooklyn, I had a father's day celebration yesterday and the turnout was tremendous!! Blacks fathers and their children and wives and girlfriends galore!! It was wonderful day in the park until it began to rain.
Black people, as Albert Murray pointed out, don't suffer from a lack of accomplishment. They suffer from a lack of recognition of their accomplishments.
Happy Father's Day
amen to rhondacoca...
but first, ta-nahesi, i just read the first 100 pages of your book. a tough read for a white guy not from baltimore - some of the language is pretty, uhm, idiosyncratic... but i'm beginning to love and hate your dad. you did a really good job of developing the complexity. i wish i could write like you.
anyway, back to barack.
perhaps i'm too hopeful. maybe i shouldn't be giving barack the benefit of the doubt. but i am kinda hoping he is a certain kind of manchurian candidate.
i'm hoping that the celebrated excerpt from his book - the part where he talks about having learned how to beguile white people by not making any sudden moves, etc... well, i'm hoping that that kind of inter-racial savviness blended with his years of experience organizing in Chicago (and attending a plain-spoken church)...
well, i'm hoping that the reason barack neer talks about racial grievances... the reason he concentrates on speaking of race in terms that don't threaten white people... is that he's deftly putting the horse before the cart. he needs the office to affect the change.
of course, democrats have always made excuses for their "chosen ones" only to see viscous betrayal once their votes were no longer of consequence... so i could be wrong...
but...
barack will most likely need to maintain the large african-american turnout if he hopes to win re-election... so... who knows? because the flip side of that equation is that he probably cannot afford to alienate the white vote in the new swing states he hopes to create...
this is hard.
I am not surprised that the press is seeing this as a 'yeah, you tell them Barack' kinda moment. He said nothing that has not been said before but being who is he, it gets more traction. I appreciate that he acknowledged his own shortcomings and that by being who is, he serves a wonderful role model. Raising a child is not easy but i doubt that there is anything more rewarding.
I've barely seen any coverage of this so am I out of the loop? I'm still far more concerned with all the people cheering R Kelly on and excusing his criminal activity and blaming a young Black girl for being fast. She has two parents who took a dollar and looked the other way so if Obama wants to be critical of a few people who deserve it then too bad if someone's feelings are hurt. People who act right shouldn't be offended. People who think because they act right they don't have to do anything about those 'other Black people cuz it ain't me' are also aiding and abetting. Just because some white person will look at it as demonizing does not make it so and the message and intent should not be subverted for their purposes. I can also comment that it should not take Black people to see a politician of his stature running a successful campaign before they believed it possible. That vision should come from within. There is too much negativity, pessimism and victimhood going on. Yes - there is institutional racism - I have personally experienced it many times. I cannot let evil rule my life wherever it comes from.
Been having a debate about this. Some folks aren't happy with it. I can see their point, but:
1. I've read the whole speech
2. He's right
3. Our jails are filled with fatherless, illiterate Black men
4. The breakdown of the Black family is the biggest threat to us as a sustainable community.
I read the entire speech. I agree with Obama, just as I agreed with Bill Cosby. As far as the 'coverage', Obama can't control that. I keep on saying this, but it reminds me of the speech he gave in Hampton, Virginia, chock full of policy proposals, yet the ONLY thing 'reported' from that speech, was a complete DISTORTION of one phrase - ' quiet riot'.
Amen to rhondacoca.
Rhondacoca, did you watch the speech? Here's the URL.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj1hCDjwG6M
I agree with RP. He did address government failures and policy in the speech.
Actually, I meant to say I agree with Rikyrah
Listening to the radio right now, and the Black Station is discussing the R.Kelly verdict. In the next hour, they're going to be discussing Obama's speech. Talk about irony. If this CHILD had the right kind of Black man FATHERING HER, she would have let R. Kelly piss on her.
I always had a problem with the statement that that girl had 'parents'. She had an egg donor and a sperm donor- parasites both. PARENTS would be IN JAIL for what they did to R.Kelly after finding out what he had done to their child.
R.Kelly is the most famous of a situation that has proliferated during my adult lifetime. When I was growing up, if you saw a teenaged mother, when pointing the finger to the father, you found yourself pointing to a teenaged boy - someone of her peer group.
No longer. With no alarm being sounded by our community, these teenaged girls are more than often pointing to GROWN MEN. Grown men who have preyed upon these young girls. What would make these GIRLS think that it's ok to be with these GROWN MEN? The hunger inside of them that they're trying to fill due to a MISSING FATHER.
Sorry....she WOULD NOT HAVE let R.Kelly piss on her.
I'm not saying that Obama's speech will stop teen pregnancy.
But, the preying on our young girls by older men IS a problem. These young girls are vulnerable to these older men, because of the hunger that they have due to that they have missing fathers.
I didn't have the issues with Obama's speech that others had. I know that he wasn't talking about my father or any man in my immediate family - because they took care of business.
But, the whole defensiveness, as if he's lying; as if he's making it up.
Maybe if we had 10,000 Black men in jail instead of 1,000,000, whose most common traits are: Fatherlessness and Illiteracy, then maybe I could see something wrong with what he said.
The flip side of that, on the female side, is our young women being preyed upon by older men, because of what they are missing. Women who make mistakes in their personal lives that scream the trite word ' Daddy Issues'...might not land them in jail, but bring chaos to their lives, nonetheless.
Like I said before, I'm conservative (with a small c) on this issue.
Well, I have a problem with it; the same way people had a problem with Rev. Wright (Hmmm... There were no "Wright can't control the media coverage" caveats. WHY???) "It's not what he said (though Obama does, in fact, say some problematic, barbershop level bs) but how he said it" and the whole context and setting of it all. I thought he was going to stay away from Black churches?
I like the contrast one commenter made. She questioned what kind of speech Obama made on Mother's Day. Hell, he could have revived Reagan's welfare queen imagery. "It's the truth." "It's a problem."
So I guess Reagan was right, too. And don't get me started on Bill Cosby let alone Obama's conflicted azz.
Why is all the castigating bs absent here?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcI0njqh1iw
I guess expecting consistency, other than consistently talking about Black people as that special group riddle with pathologies, is asking for too much. Notably absent in the YouTube is Obama's strong emphasis on Native Americans taking "personal responsibility" for all those stats where Native Americans are, how did he say, "doing worst."
Notice how there was no "SPECIAL OBLIGATION" rhetoric regarding the governments responsibility to African-Americans. No, that sh*t might drift into those uncomfortable race conversations (for Obama's beloved White folk) on topics like affirmative action and, God forbid, Reparations for starters.
Notice too how he doesn't take that "person responsibility" bs on the road with him when he talks about those "bitter" poor/working/middle class Whites he paints as misunderstood or unacknowledged "victims."
Now why is his Mini-Me Cosby routine acceptable for a presidential candidate but something he won't (and some say can't) be done or directed at any other group? This is all about how Black people see themselves and our place in the society/world. I, for one, say we are more than deserving of same respect, sensitivity and bs-free treatment. We are no Obama's redheaded step-children.
He got something to say about things in the Black community while running for president... KEEP that sh*t right in line with the same way he speaks to every other group. Don't be colorblind in one eye and curiously save all that "personal responsibility", "we have to do better ya'll" rhetoric for Black people ONLY.
And it's like he's caught in the Cosby matrix. It's like he says, "to hell with the cause, let's damn the effect." But maybe Obama solved this Tim Wise statistic related riddle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C55zE_qJd2g
Excuse me while I put in a call to Jim Webb so he can't get Obama's head out his narrow azz on this subject. There is a serious disconnect because the QUIET RIOTS idea Obama floated (at Hampton?) should better inform his view... if it wasn't just disconnected rhetoric.
But maybe someone can show me where Obama has made a strong point (not just one in passing) that the prison industrial complex et al has impacted the Black community in ways -- that people publicly acknowledge with the METH epidemic -- that threaten its sustainability.
Excuse the typos and such. One part I messed up should read:
Excuse me while I put in a call to Jim Webb so he can get Obama's head out his narrow azz on this subject.
I think I'm going to have a bone to pick with Eugene Robinson if he let's Obama slide on his 2008 edition of castigate Black people for Black Pathology #1. And that's because Robinson records Obama as saying:
“We have to talk in the public square, not only about the obligations of fatherhood but the joys of fatherhood.”
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20070619_obamas_fathers_day_sermon/
Obama seems to stuck in a singular mode. And it's funny how that "public square" thing works (see the definition of terrorism and Rev. Wright's statement on U.S. terrorism that Obama rebuked).
Again, asking for consistency is asking for too damn much, apparently.
I don't think I've ever been as disappointed in Barack Obama as I was this morning after having a night to process his speech.
Dog whistle, Souljah, whatever current buzzword we can use really doesn't fit. As some of the commenters have said, we've heard it all before from people who really have no idea what single parents do everyday to keep a family together. Deadbeat dads falling back into their kids' lives is not the panacea for American life...oops, sorry...black American life that it's made out to be. The complication and the layers involved cannot be ironed out before the media. That is the one thing I need for Obama and the others to admit while the cameras are on. The public whipping is getting old.
rhondacoca
let me also second your amendment. unfortunately i'm not impressed with this brother's speech on black father's. in fact i'm liking him less and less after that shuffling act. i must have missed something. i got the part about hope and prayer, having faith in the lord, god gonna lead you in a better direction and so on. what i missed were the promises. you know the promises that commits him to a particular action that helps provide that foundation for hope. it need not be all that specific but it should come in somewhere close to the weight of the ones he makes every time he steps in front of a jewish congregation and promises to be the best friend israel has ever had. he does not go in front of the congregation and sell hope. no, no, no. he's not even talking about change. in fact he talks about keeping things exactly as they are, right or wrong, as they are. hope to me and mine guns and butter, or should i say f-15's and nukes to others. obama may be a nice guy and he might be black, but he's got the same ole huckster message of past politicians and rev. ike type preachers. he dances to the same music that hillary danced to and mccain for that matter. to his credit mccain is up front and open. he'll keep you doing the bidding of others of his ilk, forever.
folks who compare obama in any way to cosby or farrakhan are confused by the bright lights. these men commit themselves to the betterment of black men and the black community, and have done so for decades.that is their promise. obama is committed to being a politician which is not to say that he doesn't care about black fathers. its just that speeches like this highlight rev. wright's main point, he's a politician and i'm a pastor. pastors can talk about hope and in this sense mr obama was switching roles. politicians do that from time to time. but they also make and when held accountable keep promises. what promise has obama or any of these others made to you? what can you hold him accountable for?
Yeah, I really wish Obama had talked about helping the black community instead of just passing out blame. He should have said something like this-
"Yes, we need more cops on the street. Yes, we need fewer guns in the hands of people who shouldn’t have them. Yes, we need more money for our schools, and more outstanding teachers in the classroom, and more afterschool programs for our children. Yes, we need more jobs and more job training and more opportunity in our communities......
We should be making it easier for fathers who make responsible choices and harder for those who avoid them. We should get rid of the financial penalties we impose on married couples right now, and start making sure that every dime of child support goes directly to helping children instead of some bureaucrat. We should reward fathers who pay that child support with job training and job opportunities and a larger Earned Income Tax Credit that can help them pay the bills. We should expand programs where registered nurses visit expectant and new mothers and help them learn how to care for themselves before the baby is born and what to do after – programs that have helped increase father involvement, women’s employment, and children’s readiness for school. We should help these new families care for their children by expanding maternity and paternity leave, and we should guarantee every worker more paid sick leave so they can stay home to take care of their child without losing their income.
We should take all of these steps to build a strong foundation for our children."
Oh, wait, he DID!
Actually, that's not enough. He should have talked about white people creating AIDS and Yakub on his island, then he could be totally fucking authentic like Farrakhan and Wright, and not a no-good POLITICIAN who is "shuffling" for white people. He should also demand reparations, because that will totally help him get elected.
You guys are geniuses.
>>>
Oh, wait! He's not supposed to be the "Black president" except for when it will "totally help him get elected." Oh. This would be a situation where it's okay anything else would be TOO MUCH.
When denouncing Rev. Wright, how did he say, "FOCUSING SO MUCH" on our own plight? Hmmm....
Farrakhan? Well, apparently personal responsibility and the focus on fatherhood is NOT ENOUGH because over a decade ago Min. Farrakhan made a call for a Million Man March.
what?
((( What? )))
What do you think the Million Man March was about McCrackerson?
What part of Obama's speech did you miss? This part?
"Ironically, this quintessentially American - and yes, conservative - notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright's sermons."
So actually it's NOT ENOUGH for "personal responsibility" to find "frequent expression" in the preach and practice of Wright/Farrakhan. That's beyond obvious. Now open your mouth and fill in the blanks.
What "should" they (Farrakhan/Wright) do? Again, obviously talking about "personal responsibility" is NOT ENOUGH. Matter of fact, you came straw man in hand completely ignoring the self-help tradition of both Wright and Farrakhan.
It seems a big odd to me that when Mr. Obama said something *behind closed doors* that could be seen as a "rebuke" to white working class voters, he fell all over himself saying "sorry." I have never heard of a candidate scolding potential voters like this. I can't imagine him doing this to anyone else. He has offered a big hug and kiss to everyone else in the country....
Some very though provoking analysis here, Mr. Coates. I will definitely be coming back for more.
I was disappointed that the headline coverage of Sen. Obama's speech was "Obama rebukes absent black fathers." I watched the whole thing, and while he was of course speaking to a predominantly black audience, the message was directed at fathers generally.
Fatherhood is hard. I've got two kids myself, and my wife and I had them on purpose, when we thought we were financially ready to do so, and it has still been a real struggle. My folks were divorced when I was two (and each of them was divorced a second time within ten years after that) so I was very careful in selecting a mate because I didn't want to subject my kids to that. Nevertheless, it has been a struggle to provide for them, to raise them right, to deal with their problems, and to deal with the changes their arrival imposed on my relationship with their mother. In an especially weak time, I did consider leaving, but I realized that I could not bear to do so, for their sake. Watching Sen. Obama's speech really made me proud that I did stick around.
In response to Tayari Jones' comment about the response to the "bitter voters" remarks, that whole episode was very frustrating to me, but I think for different reasons. Listening to the context of the Senator's original statement, it is clear that he was pointing out the truth that Republicans use guns and religion as wedge issues to get poor whites to vote against their economic self interest. He had nothing to apologize for, and he wound up reacting defensively to the distorted picture of what he was saying that the media and his political opponents portrayed.
My political analysis of the speech is that it was some brilliant jujitsu. Not a Sista Souljah tactic of criticizing black culture, but instead he used a positive message as a way of getting to the right of John McCain on family values issues.
Of course "family values" is an ultimate political Rorschach test - what I mean in this context is strengthening the family unit as the basis for raising good citizens. The Christian right likes to use the term to reflect their opposition to abortion, contraception, pre- or extra-marital sex, homosexuality, and so on. The counter-response from left is that reproductive freedom and marriage equality leads to more and stronger marriages and fewer fatherless homes.
It's interesting that Sen. Obama is not speaking much to those issues - doing a little research, I see that he's got a strongly pro-choice record, but I can find no mention of reproductive rights on his website's issues page.
He has said that gay marriage is an issue for the states to decide, which in my view is the closest a presidential candidate can come to supporting it. I was surprised to learn that Sen. McCain has said the same thing. Looks like gay marriage is not going to be a Republican wedge issue like it was in 2004.
McCain has a completely pro-life voting record, though. I do not expect him to proclaim that fact very loudly, however, if he's really trying to get Clinton's voters into his camp. I am curious whether Obama will bring it up during the campaign.
oh my god. that 'real men cook' thing is so beautiful. is the nutritional issues thing like a growing awareness in the black community? (is it new, is it old?) i'm curious. there was that hamburger song by lupe fiasco, and now there's that raw foods restaurant at 145th and st nick that seems to want to make an organic food coop for the neighborhood (not specifically for the gentrifyers like me.. which is yay! they called me sister lisa when i came in, it was so fun). the raw food restaurant and the signs they had about seminars about how to cook healthy, seemed so wonderful. is this (nutrition/diet/cooking attention) a newish phenomenon?
ps thanks for posting the song video. that was beautiful too.
Great post! Check out my commentary about how the "8th Grade Graduation" mentality has become pervasive throughout our society: http://eclecticdialectics.blogspot.com/2008/06/8th-grade-pomp-circumstance.html.