Barack Obama needs to listen to the words of Michael Eric Dyson. In fact, he should give Dyson as much, or more respect than he gives me or any other black public intellectual in America. Dr. Dyson, no matter how you perceive his critique of President Obama, represents a form of insight that you are not going to find in politics, the pulpit or anywhere else. At the same time, I will confess that his words may also come from an impure place that lies within the darkest part of our souls. In other words, Dyson, Tavis, Barack, Jesse and every other ambitious man in America is always going to be tempted by the "Demon of Playerhaterology". Men are naturally competitive, and no man likes to be disrespected. Obama, as a condition for his employment, is often asked to disrespect other leaders across America who represent the essence of meaningful black thought. That's going to create a long list of enemies.
But let's make this point clear: When Tavis Smiley holds Barack accountable, that doesn't mean he's jealous of Barack. In fact, jealousy is an overly simplistic way to marginalize someone's comments before you even hear what they have to say. We must be more intelligent than that. The other truth is that even a jealous man may be making a good point. The same thing is true for Dyson's recent challenge to Barack Obama: He might not like Barack (I can't confirm or deny his personal relationship), but that doesn't mean that he's wrong in his assessments. Dyson was one of the first to publicly endorse Obama, long before many of the "Obama-maniacs" had gained the courage to jump on board his campaign.
To get a more balanced critique on this issue, I did something that we should all do: Remember that there is more to the universe of black scholarship than Cornel West, Boyce Watkins and Michael Eric Dyson. So, I've reached out to an army of black intellectuals who are committed to serving their communities (please take a look at their comments if you can), and asked for their assessment of Obama's first 100 days in office. One sad truth about the black intellectual in America is that the potential of black scholars has been muted, socially castrated and distracted from the God-given mandate to help people in the black community. Our one-dimensional training teaches us to dumb ourselves down in order to accomodate suffocatingly racist bureaucracies, bury our intelligence in abstruse niches and create a long stretch of non-transferable skills with no desire to distribute these skills to a broader audience. Given that intelligence is partially measured by one's ability to communicate complex ideas to a multitude of audiences, African American scholars have made ourselves into some of the least intelligent individuals in the black community. Even rappers like Diddy have more intellectual impact than most professors (remember the "Vote or Die" campaign?), and that's just plain crazy.
With that said, I want people to hear the words of Dyson without pulling out their pitchforks. We need to understand that during this critical time in black American history, we should not suck ourselves into the temptations of McCarthyism by shutting down every progressive voice that doesn't agree with the great Barack Obama. The other truth is that we should not "drink the kool-aid" that makes Obama into an instant sell-out because he doesn't wear his dashiki to work everyday. Barack is an important piece of black history and we must respect that.
Posted By: DAVID JOHNSON
Wednesday, September 22nd 2010 at 7:28PM
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