Mayor Ron Dellums made the massive error of backing Senator Hillary Clinton in the Presidential race, a sure sign that Barack Obama will win the nomination.
Of course, this didn't come as just a simple endorsement -- it came as yet another Clinton deal. In this case, Hillary placed Mayor Ron Dellums in some role in her campaign.
How many times she's done this in some form makes one dizzy. But what's really wild is that Dellums would back someone who's flipped-flopped on so many issues and supported the Iraq War that it's not funny.
Plus, Dellums apparently can't bring himself to back a young Black Senator named Barack Obama. It's funny with some older African Americans in Oakland. They're so afraid of anyone Black who can be in charge that they'd back someone White. I'm serious about this, and would not write it if it were not true.
The real mental slaves are those who say to me -- who are Black -- that Barack can't win because he's Black. I tell each person that they're afraid of Black success. They're not comfortable. They're also some of the same people who gave me problems when I worked to bring the Super Bowl to Oakland.
Former Oakland City Manager Robert Bobb said it best to me in 1999: "Oakland is a crab-barrel city. You (speaking to me). You're young. Black. Smart. You're a threat."
I guess the same could be said for Barack Obama, which makes me fight harder all the more for him. Dellums will wind up on the wrong end of this race, because we're going to win.
But the message Dellums is sending is one I find terrible. It says the endorsement Oakland's African American leaders can be bought and that's a terrible sign. I say to anyone young and Black, pay this no mind, and continue to back Barack Obama.
Of course, this didn't come as just a simple endorsement -- it came as yet another Clinton deal. In this case, Hillary placed Mayor Ron Dellums in some role in her campaign.
How many times she's done this in some form makes one dizzy. But what's really wild is that Dellums would back someone who's flipped-flopped on so many issues and supported the Iraq War that it's not funny.
Plus, Dellums apparently can't bring himself to back a young Black Senator named Barack Obama. It's funny with some older African Americans in Oakland. They're so afraid of anyone Black who can be in charge that they'd back someone White. I'm serious about this, and would not write it if it were not true.
The real mental slaves are those who say to me -- who are Black -- that Barack can't win because he's Black. I tell each person that they're afraid of Black success. They're not comfortable. They're also some of the same people who gave me problems when I worked to bring the Super Bowl to Oakland.
Former Oakland City Manager Robert Bobb said it best to me in 1999: "Oakland is a crab-barrel city. You (speaking to me). You're young. Black. Smart. You're a threat."
I guess the same could be said for Barack Obama, which makes me fight harder all the more for him. Dellums will wind up on the wrong end of this race, because we're going to win.
But the message Dellums is sending is one I find terrible. It says the endorsement Oakland's African American leaders can be bought and that's a terrible sign. I say to anyone young and Black, pay this no mind, and continue to back Barack Obama.
Comments
If Mayor Dellums doesn’t understand Oakland, nobody does. He was there when it all began. Mayor Dellums is not afraid to support black leaders; he has supported and endorsed Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Assemblyman Sandre Swanson and Supervisor Keith Carson, to name a few. You shouldn’t write otherwise, because it isn’t true. Do your homework before attacking one of the few Black leaders that has paid the price.
You are perpetuating the “crab-barrel” mentality. One doesn’t have to be torn down to support the other. Senator Obama and Mayor Dellums are both successful men and both should be respected and supported. Mayor Dellums’ endorsement of Clinton in no way takes anything away from his integrity or his distinguished career.
I say this to anyone young and Black, Senator Obama and Mayor Dellums both deserve respect, you don’t have to choose. We’re all going to win.
I do love what Dellums did while in Washington, but that does not mean I have to sit for the decisions he's made as Oakland's Mayor, including this endorsement. If you do your homework, you will painfully find that there was a "gift" attached to it.
Senator Obama's not only the best choice, he's the one who can win. But my experience is that many of us as African Americans are fearful of a society without racism -- a true meritocracy where we're rewarded for our talent, period.
Does that speak for you?
It does not speak for me.
I have no problem being at odd with many of Oakland's Black politicians who've supported Clinton and not Obama. I think such a decision is totally irresponsible to the need to send a message to our young Black men and women that they too can be Presdent, and be supported by folks who are considered Black.
My view is simple: I don't care what a person does personally. But professionally, that person, if African American, should support other Blacks. Period.
That applies to Senator Obama and Oakland's Black elected officials. Many of them dropped the ball as far as I'm concerned, and I'll never look at them the same way again. I will be supportive, but with a jaundiced eye.
I'm glad to be in the private sector, and not working in Oakland politics.