Not sure how this Zaid Shakir article totally flew under my radar, but I just read it yesterday and found it to be extremely pertinent to the current Obama lovefest.
Imam Zaid reflects on the truly revolutionary stances taken by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. near the end of his life. In particular, he quotes one lecture Dr. King gave one year before his assassination:
"I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin to shift from a “thing-oriented” society to a “person-oriented” society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered..."
And then he really hits the nail on the head when he contrasts that with Obama's approach:
"Herein lays Dr. King’s legacy, an uncompromising struggle against the “giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism.”...Obama is a viable African American candidate because he has steadfastly refused to deal with the issues Dr. King was dealing with at the end of his life, even though they are just as relevant today as they were forty years ago."
When Obama talks of change is he referring to racism or materialism or militarism? Of course not, for if he were to target those substantive issues, his fate would most definitely be in more line with that of Dr. King's:
"In the aftermath of that speech Dr. King was condemned by many African American leaders such as Whitney Young and Roy Wilkins. President Lyndon B. Johnson, who saw himself as a great friend of the “Negro” people was irate. The growing schism between Dr. King and the power structure had been cemented."
In reality, the problem is not with Obama, but with the American 'democratic' system that is so impervious to change.
WAW
5 days ago
5 comments:
Naeem, I completely agree. Isn't it crazy how one group of people can have so much power? They will do whatever it takes to keep it too! Kill, torture, lie... But who will oppose them? The group of sheep called the "middle class"? They eat up anything served to them and they are deaf to the voice of truth and reason. Who can open other eyes and their hears? What is the antidote? Taqwa. But, aaah, how to inject them with it.
~SAHRA
Hey Naeem,
I read the Zaid Shakir article on his blog. What we have to note here is the difference in the cause that MLK was leading and what Obama is seeking.
MLK was a "civil rights, human rights" leader. He took up a cause for women and Blacks in America. It was for a particular group of people to obtain some equality in an unequal society.
Obama is seeking to be President of the USA where he "has or suppose" to represent all people. Therefore to get the majority of the people to vote for him he cannot ruffle any feathers in the process. Therefore WE cannot expect him to be the one to take up the major problems that people suffer be they black or white. He addresses the problems which both/ALL people share. Like the war, jobs that are going overseas, lack of affordable healthcare etc. Issues which ALL people can relate too!
Leave the specific but REAL problems which blacks and some whites and others face for people like Jesse Jackson or Rev Al to tackle. Their approach proved unsuccessful since they choose to focus on a narrow group of people who do not represent the MAJORITY of people to win a nomination and possibly an election.
MLK and Obama cause and purpose are quite different from each other. MLK wanted to see change and justice for a particular group in a broken system. Obama wants to see change of leadership and mentality for a nation. King did not ask the people to be their leader he took it upon himself to lead. Obama is asking the people to be their leader… the people need to give him the right to lead them.
-F
AA- F,
Excellent points. While I agree that MLK and Obama are/were fighting on different battle fronts, their war is the same. They are/were both leaders calling for change, so they are required to voice their opinions, regardless of ruffling feathers.
And isn't that the point of Shakir's article? Namely, that the political system is in shambles when a presidential candidate has to alter or muffle his beliefs (assuming that Obama actually does believe in the problems of racism, militarism, and materialism) in order to merely 'have a chance'.
Finally, you say that Obama has to address the issues that ALL people share and you cite the examples of the way, jobs going overseas, and healthcare. But aren't the fundamental causes of those problems rooted in materialism, racism, and militarism?
Seems like a truly visionary leader whose mantra is change ought to be tackling the root causes of society's ills, no?
ASA Naeem:
I personally agree he should tackle the root causes of the issues namely "racism, militarism, and materialism" but then he will not get a chance to win. And Americans like winners. They also like martyrs like King.
But the system is what it is not a perfect one but one where you can have enough impact to make "some change” Change comes in various ways. In many ways if it were not for King and Malcolm and many others before them, someone like Obama will not even stand a chance to be winning BIG in states where they are over 90% white.
Plus the country has grown in many ways as we live in a global economy and exposure to other races on college campuses etc have made many people less fearful of the OTHER. Even as the country more so the politicians incite the public that Hispanics are taking away the jobs etc. On the ground you do not hear the average American angry or upset that a Hispanic is cutting their lawn or laying the line for the cable and all the other work Americans refuse to do.
So yeah he Obama should look into the real problems of society but at this point it will not get him into office. Brother what ever happened to Hikmah. Let him get in first them we HOPE the "BLACK LOBBY" :) will hold his feet to the fire to get these issues addressed. Of course the issues of "racism, militarism, and materialism” are not specific to Blacks only. But in America this group seem to be the most affected by those three issues.
-F
Change and hope. Obama is basing his campaign on pure sophistry.
It's change vs experience, Black vs White, man vs woman. Choose your poison.
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