Is Black Activism Dead?

As the United States enters the 8th month of Barack Obama's historic presidency, there are still a lot of unanswered questions. The economy is still on shaky ground with the unemployment rate rising. As the war in Iraq is winding down and now the war in Afghanistan is moving up in level of importance. But the issue that is dominating the talk in terms of domestic policy is healthcare reform. The president campaigned on providing affordable universal healthcare access to the 47 million Americans who don't have it. African Americans have the highest percentage rate of the uninsured people in this country. As Congress and the nation wage an epic debate on this issue, black people have pretty much been on the sidelines of this tug of war. At the raucous and contentious townhall meetings during the August recess, their was barely a black face to be seen at any of these events. The NAACP and the National Urban League, the two stalwarts in championing black issues, had organized nothing to educate black people on this issue. It was shocking that on the biggest piece of legislation to be brought to Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act 0f 1965 along with the first black president their seemed to be silence in the African American Community. How was it that with the planets aligned for the issue that affected us most with the president we loved the most we couldn't do anything? The answer to the question was sobbering at best. The problem is that the Obama campaign and changed the way people organized around issues. The centralized approach that dominated the civil rights movement from its inception was longer effective in the era of social networks and blogs. The grassroots movement which gave the power back to the people and away from a few charismatic leaders is the new order of the day. The problem in the black community was that their isn't any type of foundation for this type of movement. Besides a few black folks who went to Ivy League schools and started their own thing, their really ain't shit to talk about. We need to start public policy forums, think tanks, blogs and groups to get fresh ideas from younger generations. It has been astonishing the rate the white liberals have outpaced us in the last 5 years. Since the election of 2004, the left wing of the Democratic party has become very influential on the internet. Websites and blogs like Moveon.org, The Huffington Post, and The Daily Kos which were first seen as radical have now moved closer to the mainstream of the party. These outlets along with others like them have helped raise millions of dollars for Democratic candidates along with helping to shape policies that the party runs elections on. But we as black Americans who are seen as the soul and base of the Democratic Party, have no real power to affect anything outside of our elected officials. Besides civil rights, we have no real signature issues we can bring to the table. We have to be engaged in politics on the local, state, and national levels. For many black people, voting is the only time we are involved in political discourse and we have to be dragged out to do that. We can't sit back and say that since we got a black president that the coast is clear. We have to continue to press his adminstration about issues we feel strongly about even if he doesn't. We can't have Obama give the complex conversations to others and then tell us about this personal responsiblty crap. I think black people need to expand their minds past their own communities and think of themselves as players in the global community.But finally we have to hold black media to task as well. We can't have these guys throwing Obama and his people softball questions just so they can get interviews with them at later dates. It was discouraging to see BET show the President's Speech to the Joint Session of Congress on the issue of healthcare 1.5 hours after all the other media outlets had shown it. I guess they decided that showing the movie 'The Hair Salon" for the millionth time had precedent over the president speaking. The only reason they did it was because they knew we wouldn't care. How long are we going to let this happen?