Cornel West has a book coming out in which he blasts the journalists of today for not being critical enough of President Obama. This point raises some basic questions as do most of the points in the book. I want to list two of the points in the book before I address the questions raised by each point. 1. 2. Carl Rowan being dismissive of Malcolm X exemplifies the sell out journalism of the Sixties and of today. Here are the questions raised by these two ponts. Questions Dd West does not seem to have thought through. It is not clear why the most important thing that journalists should do today would be to be critical of Obama. Especially for Black journalists, shouldnt our criticism be more focused on those who have a clearly stated agenda of hurting our community? Black people have real enemies in ametica. There are those who want to take away our voting rights. There are those who think all of our children are thugs who deserve to be shot on sight. There are Presidential candidates who have openly stated that their agenda is not to make life easier for Black people. Why should our critique be focused on Obama instead of on these real enemies if Black America? Obama is not the enemy of Black America. Cornel Wests petty fight with Obama over a White House invitation is not our fight. We have a real fight on our hands with real enemies. Cornel has spent the last six years fighting Obama and has spent no time at all fighting those who would harm Black people. Obama spends all his time battling those who would harm us. The second point is the one about Carl Rowan, a black journalist of the 60s, being dismissive of Malcolm X. Why is being dismissive of Malcolm X so telling? Malcolm X evolved over his short life and was himself dismissive of many of his earlier ideas. Rowan, like Malcolm himself, did not dismiss everything Malcolm said. Some of Malcolm later ideas were embraced by many of his earlier critics. At least Carl Rowan did not kill Malcolm, as some did.Rowan never called for the assassination of Malcolm , as some did. With this Rowan line, West is just raising very uncomfortable questions for himself and others. Is he as critical of those who not only disagreed with Malcolm but called for his assassination? If your main aim is for a cute quotable quote (the Carl Rowanification of American journalism), careful analysis and reflection is a distant consideration and it shows, Dr West. West claims that under Obama, Black peoples condition on America has deteriorated in all aspects. This is not even remotely true. To cite just one rxample. For the first time in 30 years, Black incarceration rates have gone down under President Obama.
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 04:37:43 +0000