I’ve read Dr. West’s comments and the thoughts of what he said from around the pundit-sphere, including JJP. As a great admirer of his, I’m glad he addressed the issues head one, honestly and directly.

One of the biggest challenges I face when discussing worldly issues with my Black friends is the innate sensitivity in our discussion if its shifts to cultural upbringing. Whether light-skinned or dark-skinned, well-off or working class, the moment a hint of these issues seeping into our conversation sparks raw emotion. Quite simply, the :”Black enough” complex rears its ugly head.

Similar to “American enough” or “Christian enough”, all of you know what I’m talking about. It is at the center of this issue and what has caused many of us, who have tried to stay above the petty race-baiting, to react so angrily and fervently.

We all love President Obama and his brown family. We all want to see all of us who have worked hard, supported each other, watched Cosby together, learned our history, and lending our voice to be together. We don’t like divisiveness and we certainly don’t like anything that looks like crabs in a bucket ESPECIALLY if accusations of cultural reference get flung around.

It is in that vain that my dear brother Dr. West kindled such firecracker.

The question I have for all of my progressive and intelligent audience, however, is can you open your mind to the possibility of something else outside of your emotional shock?

I watched the video above three times and asked myself:

  1. Has the President championed ideas and programs that specifically target poor and working people?
  2. Has the President addressed, in any speech or recommendation, ideas to reduce disproportionate incarceration of poor Black men?
  3. Has the President proposed taking any percentage of the war budget to combat ANY of these issues?
  4. Do I feel that the President has a sense of urgency about these issues and that they are true priorities on his agenda?
  5. Have the needs of those who need it most been communicated as a higher priority than those who do not?

President Obama, God bless him, has stated that a rising tide lifts all boats. Well, what if you don’t have a boat?

Granted, many will respond that albeit important questions, they don’t excuse the language nor tone of Dr. West over the past week.

In that sense, I agree with Dr. West.

In the grand scheme, it doesn’t matter. If we’re truely and honestly exhausting our vocal chords and brain sinew analyzing and debating the true personal revenge of a Princeton professor to a former Univ. of Chicago professor, we, not Dr. West, have truly missed the point.

So what if Dr. West feels slighted.
So what if one of our Black intellectuals is actually human and articulates his frustration in the context of cultural formation.
So what if he was wrong to hold onto it for so long.
So what if he was right to honestly defend himself.
So what if our Black heroes (for me it’s Dr. Lacewell-Perry, President and First Lady Obama, Dr. West, Corey Booker, and Deval Patrick) don’t hold hands and project their bastion of Black awesomeness on us all the time, everyday through their words.

Yes, it is a giant distraction and it makes us feel like our kitchen table conversations are on display for the Boston Globe to chime in on.

The true question that I have to ask myself, and I believe we all have to really push for with Barack going into 2012 is this:

Did any of the answers to those questions directed at the President have a ‘yes’?

If not, why is that?

Finally, does any of Cornel’s points attempt to answer that?

I believe they do.

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