The New Civil Rights ~ "You're Not Black If You Don't Support Obama"

As we arrive at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday season, commemorating the struggle for civil rights and freedom from racial oppression, I want to deal with the sentiment that seems to be arising within the black community. It seems that a new thought has arisen that says that if a black person does not endorse President Obama, or if he/she critically assesses him or what he has delivered during this Presidency, that they themselves are less faithful to the black community and in many cases not really black.

Blacks Rejecting Other Blacks With Various Opinions

Although I have been observing this phenomena for a while, recently, in my community, Tavis Smiley was rejected from being a featured speaker at the annual MLK Jr. Luncheon by a group of women calling themselves the Colored Ladies Book Club. This group, consisting of what would be considered successful, black women, many of them wives of successful black men, many of whom assume the civil rights leadership position as it pertains to the local black community. The Colored Ladies Book Club threatened to "boycott" the event because they had a problem with the criticisms that Tavis regularly levels towards President Obama and his actions during his presidency in relationship to the needs of the black community. In response to the abrupt end to his invitation to motivate the Peoria black community, Tavis said this:

“I don’t see my role as one of criticizing the president. I see my role as one of holding the president – this and every other president accountable,”...“Something is wrong with this country…that so often the political right, and I am no defender of the political right…gets accused of playing the game of political correctness. What this underscores is that those on the left, the Democrats can play that game of political correctness as well,” ~ Tavis Smiley

My thoughts and insights into the situation and a review of what I believe is the error of the Book Club, can be found on the Peoria Pastors Blog.

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Did Tavis Loose His Mind Or Just Go Crazy?

Special thanks to gcmwatch, I was able to secure a longer version of the interview.  Update 6/4/2010: See Tavis's defence below. Special thanks to Paul.

???WHAT???

Some things are just so unbelievable. This has to be a joke...right?

First Al Sharpton...now this!

Blessed!

Tavis's Defense:

Here’s Smiley’s Statement

“Since some members of the public have responded to excerpts from my conversation with the author Ayaan Hirsi Ali, I would like to clarify my point of view and the context in which that conversation took place."

“Ms. Hirsi Ali and I were talking about violence perpetrated in the name of religion or by people who claim to be religious. We agreed that there is extremism in Christianity just as there is in Islam and other faiths. We agreed that people have always found ways to use religion to justify heinous acts. Where we disagreed was that followers of any one religion are predisposed to violence. Unfortunately, history has shown us that believers of all stripes have been misguided.
“As a follower of that first-century Palestinian Jew named Jesus, I abhor violence in the name of religion. It is intolerable under any circumstances. I have always been very open about being a Christian and, indeed, for every program of my career, on both television and radio, I have always signed off with the biblical admonition to ‘keep the faith.’

“I have faith that the American public will continue to support diversity, pluralism, and tolerance, rather than finding artificial ways to divide us.”

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