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Circular Firing Squad Warning: Obama the Wonder Boy Had Better Get Out Ahead of the Impending Black vs. Hispanic Implosion

To date, the defining dynamic of the fight for the Democratic nomination has been race versus gender—which will the left symbolically end first? Race won, once Clinton's race-baiting went several bread crumbs too far. Major upheavals both likely and notwithstanding, the dilemma now facing both candidates, but especially Obama, will be surfing the coming tsunami between blacks and Hispanics, America's largest minority group. All that's at stake is the disintegration of the Democratic coalition.

Obama is running 3 to 1 behind Clinton among Latinos (25 percent of the electorate) in vote-rich California, for instance, with Super Tuesday looming. Similar realities confront him across America. If Obama wants to be the nominee—and survive his first term as Prez—he'll have to close that gap without alienating blacks, a tightrope I would happily ask my worst enemy to walk. What's the brother to do?

He's no doubt sincere in his sympathy for the realities that Hispanics—especially the illegals—face, and keenly aware of the politico-economic realities surrounding the hotbed immigration issue. He's also quite aware that blacks are—let's go with—'conservative' on (Hispanic) immigration and its consequences. He can gamble that they will give him the same pass they gave President Clinton over Sister Souljah, Lani Guinier and welfare reform but that's doubling down with your high school senior's college fund. That is not only true where black-brown collisions are overt (blacks displaced by brown, lower-wage workers) but also as Obama will be seen to simply be paying 'too much' attention to brown concerns, spending ‘too much’ time with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus rather than the Congressional Black Caucus. You can diss blacks for John, but for Jose? Bet Obama wishes he could talk about black homophobia some more. Instead, hideously, he has to talk about this:

Obama's intention is to draw distinctions between himself and Clinton on what are otherwise indistinguishable positions on immigration. Both have adopted the standard Democratic approach of favoring tougher enforcement along with earned legalization.

The Illinois senator is differentiating himself in three key areas: driver's licenses, a promise to take up immigration reform his first year in office, and his background as the son of an immigrant (his father was Kenyan) and a community organizer in Chicago.

Obama made the promise to Latino leaders to take up immigration reform in his first year after Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., chairman of the Democratic caucus, said his party might not raise the divisive issue again until the next president's second term, assuming a Democrat wins.

Latino leaders felt betrayed. For them, an immigration overhaul is a top priority in light of state and local crackdowns on illegal immigrants and federal raids in workplaces across the country.

Clinton has not made such a promise, saying only that she would make her best efforts.

Obama stalwartly took the dare on this knowing he won’t need to Ebay a crystal ball to figure out that what Latinos mean by "overhaul" and what blacks do are something close to polar opposites. And where jobs (and wage level in particular) are concerned, feelings can only run high, run deep and run personal. But for all the ink spilled on the black–Hispanic stand off, we keep missing the point.

It’s not about which group experiences or has absorbed the most racism; it’s not about which group suffers more. If we keep our heads, it’s much less serious than that. It’s pure interest-group politics, a reality which only confuses us because the king of all interest groups—powerful white men—culturally defined the term to mean 'illegitimate, unAmerican cabal,' i.e., every group but them. So, we spend time fighting about who's an 'interest group,' when we all belong to several, rather than how to navigate the natural chasms separating each. Each group, however much they overlap, cares deeply about its own problems while remaining more or less blasé about others’. In the case of blacks versus Hispanics, racism and skin color are the age-old distractions the powerful have always employed to keep the powerless at each other's throats when they have so much incentive to join forces. Because they have so much incentive. No group should have to apologize for looking out for itself, just as no group has the right to have its preferences made impervious to critique.

Clinton is merely going to triangulate to divine the path of least resistance for greatest gain and work for political Pareto optimality; she’s going to upset the traditional apple carts as little as possible. But if Obama is to live up to his visionary, trans-everything reputation, he has to do more than that. He has to elevate the discourse itself and sweetly force each group to 'come to Jesus' and take a good, hard look in the mirror. All, of course, while providing each a face-saving way toward the high road. You don't have to confess or testify. You just have to change. He has to make both groups—all groups—believe it's taking the high road when it's merely giving up unfair advantages or unreasonable positions.

There are fancier ways of saying this, but since offense can't be avoided with those determined to be offended, let's apply the KISS rule and save some pixels: Just as whites aren't much interested in black problems ("nobody gave my immigrant great grandfather—who didn't own slaves—special treatment"), blacks are shockingly unmoved by Hispanics' problems and vice versa. Blacks, quite reasonably, have little reverence for immigration and resent the most often repeated lie in America: "We are a nation of immigrants." Kunta Kinte did not come here to make his life better. So, while the non-slave-descended get all misty-eyed about immigration and can potentially be reached via arguments based on that shared experience, blacks remain aloof.

Latinos, conversely, don't much care about slavery and Jim Crow—look at what we've been through!—except as proof of racism and insofar as the latter affected them. Those experiences occurred through no fault of theirs, so why, they reasonably argue, shouldn't they, too, employ the same type of race-based proportional representation and affirmative action arguments that blacks have long made? Why indeed?

Blacks relied on enforcing the Constitution, an unforeseen, unthinkable argument which could not be forever denied, much to white consternation. Now Hispanics invoke the rubric of ‘civil rights.' Oh, snap! Until now, blacks haven’t been forced to accept that they really seem to have meant ‘black rights’. (Recall that Malcolm X and MLK found little traction among blacks for the transnational directions in which those two visionaries were moving.) Obama needs to make them answer the question: Civil rights or black rights? You can make the argument that the movement is inapplicable to immigrants (and gays), or only to illegal immigrants—so let's hear it.

What we're witnessing here is the slow, agonizing death of identity politics, the scourge that white supremacy bequeathed America. Identity politics, just as did overt racism and white supremacy, is collapsing under the weight of its own contradictions. And it is collapsing in Hispanics’ favor. Damn logical and moral consistency. As blacks like to bitterly say in dismissing Latinos' (or gays') invocation of movement rhetoric, "Y'all weren't on the Edmund Pettus Bridge." True enough. Tough noogies. Unless blacks are ready to put an 'expire by' date on the "Letter From the Birmingham Jail."

Hispanics may be ‘free riders’ on the civil rights movement but they’re free riders who can’t be thrown off the bus without blacks admitting that ‘civil rights’ was as much a code word as ‘states’ rights’. If Obama does his job right, we'll soon get to see how the same black officials who fought for affirmative action, proportional representation on police/fire forces, civil government, political re-districting, etc. can dismiss the same Latino demand. Conservatives and the DLC crowd are dismissing Obama's Hispanic overtures as mere pandering. I say give the brother a minute. He may yet pander. But we need to give him some room to see if he's actually going to try to lead. MLK had a much harder job, but he helped America see the error of its ways. Let's see if Obama is his true heir. Let's see if he can make minorities see the error of theirs and avoid engaging in the same sort of soulless bigotry and greed their ancestors died to end.

Just as the discussions over Hillary’s laughter and tears, and Barack’s 'true' race and religion were heinous to endure, so shall be this discussion. But it must be had. Until we say these things out loud and confront ourselves, we won’t be able to realize just how untenable some of our sacred cows are.

Comments

As has been noted over and over again, the black mayor of Los Angeles won over sixty percent of the Latino vote and all of California's black congressmen are from heavily Latino districts. This is a myth provided by the Clinton campaign. She may still get their vote because she is better known, but the Latino population in California is no more racist than the black population in South Carolina who elected a white against Al Sharpton. This type of divisive propaganda hurts the country. We need to unite more and continue trying to destroy whatever remnants of racism are still left...they are still too much.

Posted by: Rebecca on 02/01/08 at 5:12 PM Respond

as someone who have undergone the effects of prolifing I can not agree with you less. The truth is this; we can not seek freedom without recognizing that freedom is a right to all, to do otherwise is to seek false fredom that could only lead us to where we began. We Blacks we not econmically deprived because of Latinos, we are deprived because of the prolife we have been given and the selfishness of others. So if we can not face this truth, we are not ready for a new america. it is tough but it is the truth. So thankyou though I might not agree to all of the wordings of your arcticle but I can not deny the truth when I recognize it.

Posted by: dotyboy on 02/01/08 at 5:44 PM Respond

Rebecca, the myth provided by the Clinton campaign?

More like the reality provided by the endorsements of the current Los Angeles mayor, a Hispanic A Villagrossa, and the United Farm Workers.

The myth is that it's because they don't like blacks. The truth is they like Hillary.

Posted by: Elizabeth on 02/01/08 at 5:45 PM Respond

Race in this race is a very unfortunate outcome. We began the race arguing the merits of the people we had to choose from and now this? We were more or less color-blind going in. I'm sorry but I feel like we had some measurable progress in the past decades. Now people are voting based on color. Less integral is bad news. Why do we keep sliding backwards? Even Democrats succumb to the downward spiral of tribal regression.

The bottom-line is - white, Hispanic, black - we're in for years more fragmentation and power struggles. What happened to us?! Wake up Democrats...this is a stupid, devolving path for us

Posted by: Patrick J Gauthier on 02/01/08 at 7:09 PM Respond

Smart writing, Deb. Keep on keepin' on.

Posted by: Austin on 02/01/08 at 9:09 PM Respond

Obama the Wonder "Boy?" Uh, Deb, are you sure you want that in the title? I've never understood why that word is STILL considered a racial slur against black men (Do black women flip out at being called "girl?") but a racial slur it remains, and a silly one at that. *sigh*

Posted by: D.Rose on 02/01/08 at 11:28 PM Respond

well written and to the point with one caveat. How in the hell is it Clintons fault that the black race is suppressed by the top 10% of this country? the ASIANS WORK AROUND IT, THE CHINEESE WORK AROUND IT ,THE KOREANS WORK AROUND IT tHE vIET NAMESE EVEN WORK AROUND IT, AND IN THE PROCESS push THEIR YOUNG TO excell IN SCHOOL AND THEY DO.

THE VICTIM GAME IS EASY TO PLAY, BUT HOW DO YOU JUSTIFY PLAYING IT.

jUST ASDKING.

Posted by: michael dittamorenightslider on 02/02/08 at 12:24 AM Respond

And then someone posts something like that... *shakes head*

Posted by: D.Rose on 02/02/08 at 3:07 AM Respond

*shakes head*

and a heavy *sigh*

Posted by: capt on 02/02/08 at 7:19 AM Respond

Isn't it funny how suddenly everybody is an expert on Latinos?

Posted by: Karen on 02/02/08 at 10:10 AM Respond

I would love to know who started the notion that "Latinos" hate/dislike "Blacks." Latino and Black people share the same grandmother from Africa. We are family, we are cousins. What is missing is our "History." The slave trade sent Africans to the North America, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Domin. Republic and South America. So there I've said it. Do not let them divide and conquer us. What has the party in control today actually done for Immigration? Not a damn thing. Vote for a change! Vote for Obama!

Posted by: MSO on 02/02/08 at 11:54 AM Respond

Why don't we all just accept that racism is a perfectly natural behavioral pattern, you know, like homosexuality. Can't we all just agree to hate each other?

Posted by: Daniel on 02/02/08 at 7:06 PM Respond

>>>>I would love to know who started the notion that "Latinos" hate/dislike "Blacks." Latino and Black people share the same grandmother from Africa. We are family, we are cousins. What is missing is our "History." >>>>

In a 2006 study that ten academic researchers conducted of various racial groups’ attitudes in Durham, North Carolina (published in August 2006 Journal of Politics), 59 percent of Latino immigrants said that few or no blacks were hardworking, and 57 percent said that few or no blacks could be trusted. By contrast, only 9 percent of whites said that blacks weren’t hardworking, and only 10 percent said that they couldn’t be trusted. Interestingly, the survey found that blacks were broadly well-disposed toward Hispanics....

Posted by: Steve on 02/04/08 at 6:59 AM Respond

>>>>As has been noted over and over again, the black mayor of Los Angeles won over sixty percent of the Latino vote and all of California's black congressmen are from heavily Latino districts. >>>>>

Misleading at best. Though many black CA congressional reps come from districts whose POPULATION is now majority Latino, the voter rolls in these districts are still not majority latino because so few latinos vote given eligibilty issues (In 2004, only 34 percent of adult latinos were registered to vote and only 28 percent voted, compared with 56 percent of adult blacks who voted).

In fact, when black California congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald died suddenly last year, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus mounted a major drive to win her seat because of the district's Hispanic population, but black voters serious outvoted Latinos and the Congressional Black Caucus held onto the seat.

Posted by: steve on 02/04/08 at 7:08 AM Respond

Danny, you are so wise. Israel Knesset Member Nissim Ze'ev on Thursday proposed establishing "rehabilitation centers" to suppress the sexual tendencies of gay people(could also be used for racists-ed).
“The government should initiate this; these people are dangerous and we must keep an eye on them,” he said as the High Court discussed whether to cancel the Jerusalem gay pride parade due to the firefighters' slow-down strike. “If such a center is built, many of them will flock to it in order to help themselves. “ Ze'ev added that gay people must be made aware of “how their lifestyle is destroying our existence”. Zeev went as far as comparing the gay movement to a "plague that may destroy Jewish Israel", adding that this "plague" should be dealt with "just as the Health Ministry is dealing with bird flu."

Posted by: Ze'ev on 02/04/08 at 7:17 AM Respond

The word on the 'street' among Latinos is that Obama is 'harder' on immigration than Clinton. Seems he supports the "wall." Does he? Whether that is true or not is another matter. Seems to be the main, or only issue in play.

If he says the wall is a joke tonight, perhaps it will help him.

Posted by: elydog on 02/04/08 at 12:10 PM Respond

You right elydog. That Obama doesn't run with our set. You know if he gets in, it will not go good with us.

Posted by: Loco on 02/04/08 at 12:16 PM Respond

Obama gives the impression of being one of those black snobs with mainly white friends who have money and prestige to offer him. He fully embraces the racist black voters who just want to see a black president and think any talk of civil rights only applies to blacks, and he tries to sound like Martin Luther King Jr. when he sells dreams to black folks and rakes in the white-guilt voters, then he sounds totally different when he talks to white folks interviewing him. It's easy to see by his snobbish attitude toward Hispanics now that he will try to turn them and other non-black minorities into second class citizens if he became president. He sells himself as a mythical flawless hero who came out of nowhere, and that also makes Hispanic voters uneasy.

Posted by: jason garcia on 02/10/08 at 5:08 AM Respond

blacks stay collective, jobs. your children are trashed for South America to dump in here.
Latinos and blacks is a narrowed vision. It is Latinos against Americans, that is why people cross the boarder kill white Americans, and Brown Ameican boarder agents are in Jail for nothing.whites always want to pretend it does not effect them. When it is more poor whites then blacks hispanics is replacing, and their children futures are at risk. Latinos are let in this country to undermine all americans. Obama and Hillary need to follow the Constitution Article 4 free from foreign invades. All Americans should gear up and file a class action suit against the government. Because the first Amnesty was without a democratic process. Also in this suit we should remove hispanics and children of hispanics from the first anmnesty the right to public office, the right to vote, the right to public benefits. Because Americans did not agree on any of this. If we don't do this. they will use the whole south America against North America. If we want to be invaded so Bad let us go get the whole continent of Africa they are suffering and starving. And see who outnumbers who. Africans was on all land a million years before any other race was thought about. Our statues are in Mexico and Aztec. So anytime they say something about land, they should be reminded well it belongs to the Africans first.

Posted by: felicia king on 02/11/08 at 2:10 PM Respond

Posted by: felicia king on 02/11/08 at 2:11 PM Respond

The big division in the Democratic Party now is between those who think it's appropriate to refer to Barack Obama as "Wonder Boy", which everyone knows is a derisive color-aroused slur, and those who understand that no candidate can win the Democratic nomination by systematically alienating the Party's most loyal constituency, all of whom cringe when they hear the word "boy".

And let's not forget that 60% of the Democratic Party now supports Obama, and certainly none of us approve of him being called "boy". Stop it or there's going to be blood in the streets!

Yes, I said it! Calling a Black man "boy" is fighting words. Don't call for a fight unless that's what you want.

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Posted by: curtain on 06/16/08 at 8:02 AM Respond