Cornel West's Race-Baiting, Antisemitic Slander on President Obama

When Glenn Beck said that President Obama has a deep seated hatred for White people and White culture, we on the Left - and really, all Americans of good conscience - were outraged with good reason. When Rick Sanchez displayed naked antisemitism and spread around the conspiracy theory Jewish people control the media, we weren't too happy about that either. Racism and race baiting, coming from any corner of the American political discourse, is not a welcome idea. It does remain to be seen, however, how the Professional Left responds to the equally race baiting, Jews-are-controlling-Obama type comments by Cornel West.

http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2011/05/cornel-wests-race-baiting-antisemitic.html

They nearly universally were against West's comments.

My comments are not meant as a criticism of Obama so much as attempting to explain West's comments. It is hard sometimes for others to understand how being mixed race shapes one's worldview. Obama is not the child of a black man or woman who inherited the legacy of slavery and the understanding of the racism that comes with it. He was raised in a very different place by his white mother. Hawaiian influence on him probably made him feel more like a mixed race indigenous Polynesian in some ways. Even his own sister is Asian. Being mixed race in Hawaii is not the same as being mixed race in Birmingham.

He also has a foot in his African father's world too. But more of the weight leans on the worldview he inherited from his mother. He is articulate, brilliant, and has learned to negotiate the treacherous path of institutional white racism. He was a middle class kid raised with white values who went to Ivy league schools. His African American history is totally different from most black men.

Probably his one real connection to other African Americans' life experiences comes from his connection with his wife and daughters.

One cannot dismiss what West said even if you don't agree. He understands the conflicts that exist for a mixed race person. So do many other mixed race people. There is not always a level of acceptance by others of either race. Mixed race people struggle over identity issues.

I would never criticize Obama's choices because it is probably less a choice than the way he was raised in his mother's home.

One always hopes that a mixed race person could be a bridge to both worlds. I am sure West hoped this would be true of Obama. I think he is simply critical of Obama's seeming lack of concern for the condition of the average black man and woman who is struggling in America while he seems very interested in accommodating the desires of the largely wealthy class of white Wall Street financiers.

The rest of his points got lost in the noise.

As a child of two African Immigrants I am an inside-outsider in the black community. I don't have the same upbringing and experience as them, so the only thing that links me is skin color.

So I can understand the conflict to an extent.

I think West could have stated it in a slightly more polite way. But I understand his frustrations.

Thanks.

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EPIC FAIL. Haoles (white people) are a distinct minority in Hawai'i where he grew up. Even his elite alma mater Punahou has been racially diverse for decades (legend has it that the reason was that Punahou got tired of being beaten by the Japanese kids from McKinley in football on an annual basis).

There is a Polynesian outlook reflected in Obama's worldview that is different from the experiences of mixed race African Americans from other parts of the US. But his white mother and grandmother also helped shape his view of the world.

I personally think he was lucky to have experienced the rich diversity he grew up with as a person of color in Hawaii.

Kinda creepy thinking about him and his friends sitting around trying to psychoanalyze the President obsessively. Couldn't he just read some of Obama's many books?