#Obama: Black Paternalism and the Passive Revolution, Part 2

Last updated on: August 5, 2013 at 8:58 am by Andre E. Johnson

#Obama: Black Paternalism and the Passive Revolution, Part 2 2013-08-05T08:58:00-05:00 Andre E. Johnson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

by Joseph Boston
R3 Contributor

*Parts of this first appeared in the Joseph Boston blog
**Read Part 1 here

Ta-Nehisi Coates at “The Atlantic” has been writing some balanced critiques on the president focusing on black paternalism. In the piece entitled “How the Obama Administration Talk to Black America” Ta-Nehisi Coates writes a forthright critique on the hypocrisy of the black paternalism of this president in regard to Black Americans that is noticably absent when it comes to the nations other oppressed demographics. He states “In all of this, those historians will see a discomfiting pattern of convenient race-talk”

This rears its head yet again in the speech President Obama gives about the Zimmerman verdict in relation to the tragic murder of Trayvon Martin, where he speaks to the reality of life for black males in America and what can be done to help make that better.

How are we doing a better job helping young African-American men feel that they’re a full part of this society and that — and that they’ve got pathways and avenues to succeed — you know, I think that would be a pretty good outcome from what was obviously a tragic situation. And we’re going to spend some time working on that and thinking about that

President Obama speaks as if he lacks power or agency to do something about this. He acknowledges that there is black pain and a context to that pain that he himself has experienced but apparently is powerless to do anything about it. All while he presides over a “War on Drugs” that is significantly impacting African- Americans to the benefit of the prison industrial complex and a financial recession that has devastated the black community and home ownership.

The hypocrisy of all of this is that the president has been on record and stated that he’s not the President of Black America but the President of the United States. So, he’s the President of the United States when it comes to policy, but when it comes to black pain or dictating “black personal responsibility” as reflected in his speech at Morehouse College last year, he’s the Black President?

The speech while symbolically powerful is relatively meaningless and is a continuation of rhetoric that directly speaks to Black Americans paternalistically but paradoxically denies the reality of black folk when it comes to working toward policy that will make a difference. I ask, in what way does President Obama want to make black males feel more inclusive as he seeks to put a staunch advocate and user of the police tactic of “stop and frisk”, NYPD Police Commissioner “Ray Kelly” into his cabinet as the Head of Homeland Security. Ta-Nehisi Coates again brings the president to task with yet another brilliant piece from his column at “The Atlantic” entitled “Profiling Comes to the White House” by stating that:

Communities do not become pariahs simply through the actions of independent citizens. Policymakers send signals about what is acceptable and what is not. Should Barack Obama appoint Ray Kelly to head the Department of Homeland Security the signal will be clear: Profiling is not, as Obama once claimed, “morally objectionable” and “bad police work,” but an acceptable tactic presently condoned at the highest levels of government. Such a development — in Obama’s second term, no less — would be a betrayal of African-American voters who endured long lines and poll tax tactics to elect this president. This should not happen. This can not happen.

I echo Ta-heisi’s sentiments. This should not and cannot happen. Whether it’s in defense of injustice being perpetrated on American citizens as President of the United States or whether it’s as the sometime but non-existent role of “Black President of the United States” where he acknowledges and identifies with black pain and the context within– he is compelled to do something about it. The one thing he can’t do, the one he shouldn’t do is be an active or passive participant in that oppression and pain all while he profits from it as he has by the black voter turn-out that assisted in securing his two terms.

I’ve long stated that with this president, with as enigmatic and distracting as his presence has been, he is a “

master reverse code switcher”.

When it comes to getting votes, he knows how to play ball, give dap, and reference hip-hop to engender himself to the black community but when it comes to effective policy for Black Americans he adopts a malignant color blind gaze that leaves them without anything substantial in terms of effectual change.

However, I believe that it’s this reverse code switching and his very presence that has passified black progressives and voices of dissent. This is the mark of what the Italian socialist, philosopher, sociologist and writer Antonio Gramsci dubbed “passive revolution”. In a brilliant piece written for Al Jazeera by William I. Robinson entitled “Global Capitalism and 21st Century Fascism,” Robinson outlines the process by which white patriarchal power proceeded to conduct a “passive revolution” in light of growing dissent at the tail end of the Bush administration. He states:

The Italian socialist Antonio Gramsci developed the concept of passive revolution to refer to efforts by dominant groups to bring about mild change from above in order to undercut mobilisation from below for more far-reaching transformation. Integral to passive revolution is the co-option of leadership from below; its integration into the dominant project…..

Obama’s campaign tapped into and helped expand mass mobilisation and popular aspirations for change not seen in many years in the United States. The Obama project co-opted that brewing storm from below, channelled it into the electoral campaign, and then betrayed those aspirations, as the Democratic Party effectively demobilised the insurgency from below with more passive revolution.

In this sense, the Obama project weakened the popular and left response from below to the crisis, which opened space for the right-wing response to the crisis – for a project of 21st century fascism – to become insurgent.

It is this “passive revolution’ that the illusion of “hope” was brought to America but in particular Black Americans. It is under this same passive revolution that Black Americans have seen the first “Black President” refuse to acknowledge black oppression from the perspective of policy but receive a a heavy dose of proverbial “fireside chats” when it comes to black personal responsibility and “behavior management”, things of which white patriarchal power has always faulted black Americans for not doing: working hard and good conduct.

The message hasn’t changed, the face is just different. It’s more benign and relatable however it is still as ineffectual. It is for this reason I believe that the Obama presidency has shown us that it doesn’t matter what color the President of the United States is, unless the systems behind the man that stands in the front of the presidential seal are completely changed, the office of the president will remain openly hostile to the plight of black people– even if it be passively so as in the case of this latest iteratation.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

August 4, 2013

Being Black, Lesbian, and Muslim In The South

Next Post

August 5, 2013 Everything I Know about Racism I Learned in the Church

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Amy Steele Andre E. Johnson Book Reviews/Series Brian Foulks Call for Chapters Carol Howard Merritt Classes Conferences Contributors Crystal St.Marie Lewis Daniel White Hodge Earle Fisher Eulogy Fredrick Robinson Guest Contributions Henry McNeal Turner Institutes Interviews Joseph Boston Katherine Whitfield Kimberly Peeler-Ringer Lectures/Roundtables Natalie Bullock Brown R3 Book Series R3 Contributor Rashad Grove Readers Reflections Symposiums Teaching Traci Ellis Travis Harris Uncategorized Video

Select a Month June 2020 February 2020 December 2019 November 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 October 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz