This will cause some ripples.
Jamil Smith reacts:
"An odd, unproductive thing for @POTUS to say, especially overseas. Elements of this ring true, but time and place."
https://twitter.com/JamilSmith/status/723968008729821184
So it seems he knows there's some truth to the President's words but he's saying this isn't the time and place. But what is the time and place? No matter what this is going to kick the Hornet's Nest on a conversation very much worth having.
I for one am glad Obama goes here-regardless of whether it was the perfect time and place. Bill Clinton was widely panned for his confrontation with BLM a few weeks ago. But not everyone was so clear that the President alone was in the wrong. Many black folks on Twitter-including some in their 30s think BLM was way off base in just how confrontational they got with him.
It's easy to say he should not have said what he did but remember, these folks were literally calling him a war criminal and holding up signs calling his wife a murderer. How well would any of us hold up under those pressures?
What's more many in the black community also question BLM's tactics. For the President to take a stand here is very welcome in an important discussion that needs to be had:
"President Obama offered an indirect critique of the Black Lives Matter movement during a town-hall-style event here on Saturday, encouraging activists to engage with the political process and cautioning them that social change can be a slow and incremental process."
"At a meeting with young people on the second day of his visit to Europe, during which he championed a new trade deal between the United States and the European Union, the president took questions on a variety of topics, including Northern Ireland, transgender rights and racial profiling."
"After responding to a questioner who suggested that his administration had not done enough to address racial profiling at airports — a practice that Mr. Obama said he adamantly opposed — the president turned his attention to the Black Lives Matter movement."
"He praised the movement as “really effective in bringing attention to problems,” but said young activists should be more willing to work with political leaders to craft solutions instead of criticizing from outside the political process."
“Once you’ve highlighted an issue and brought it to people’s attention and shined a spotlight, and elected officials or people who are in a position to start bringing about change are ready to sit down with you, then you can’t just keep on yelling at them,” Mr. Obama said.
“And you can’t refuse to meet because that might compromise the purity of your position,” he continued. “The value of social movements and activism is to get you at the table, get you in the room, and then to start trying to figure out how is this problem going to be solved.”
"Mr. Obama began his career as a community organizer working on local initiatives in poor neighborhoods in Chicago. Sometimes, he said, solving a problem means accepting a series of partial solutions."
“You then have a responsibility to prepare an agenda that is achievable, that can institutionalize the changes you seek, and to engage the other side, and occasionally to take half a loaf that will advance the gains that you seek, understanding that there’s going to be more work to do, but this is what is achievable at this moment,” he said.
"It was not the first time that he has cautioned Black Lives Matter activists that social change cannot happen overnight. In a private meeting at the White House in 2014, Mr. Obama told a group of young black activists that change was “hard and incremental,” one participant said at the time.
"When some activists at that meeting said they felt that their voices were not being heard, Mr. Obama replied, “You are sitting in the Oval Office, talking to the president of the United States.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/24/us/obama-says-movements-like-black-lives-matter-cant-just-keep-on-yelling.html?_r=0
There is no question that there is a sentiment among many BLM activists that being involved in electoral politics in any way beyond criticizing it is selling out. Deray McKesson for his part has been criticized by a number of BLMers-Marrissa Jenae Johnson for example-for selling out. For them, the goal is to 'hold public officials accountable' mostly by protesting and criticizing them.
It is a worry going forward. It is ironic that while in 2012, African-Americans for the first time voted at higher levels than other groups, younger AAs seem to be reaching the opposite conclusion.
Historically speaking, the bedrock principle of the black civil rights generation has always been the utter sanctity of the right to vote. This is a right, which, 50 years after the Voting Rights Act, has been newly under attack in recent years.
The paradox is that while black folks as a group believe more than ever that their vote matters and it does make a difference, the younger millennial generation seems to be much more pessimistic about voting and electoral politics in general.
The race to take out Anita Alvarez was telling. When Kim Foxx defeated her, some of the activists made it clear it was not about supporting Fox but defeating Alvarez. Indeed some said that Foxx is now in the hot seat and that they view the very office of Cooke County's State's Attorney as racist.
Jamil Smith reacts:
"An odd, unproductive thing for @POTUS to say, especially overseas. Elements of this ring true, but time and place."
https://twitter.com/JamilSmith/status/723968008729821184
So it seems he knows there's some truth to the President's words but he's saying this isn't the time and place. But what is the time and place? No matter what this is going to kick the Hornet's Nest on a conversation very much worth having.
I for one am glad Obama goes here-regardless of whether it was the perfect time and place. Bill Clinton was widely panned for his confrontation with BLM a few weeks ago. But not everyone was so clear that the President alone was in the wrong. Many black folks on Twitter-including some in their 30s think BLM was way off base in just how confrontational they got with him.
It's easy to say he should not have said what he did but remember, these folks were literally calling him a war criminal and holding up signs calling his wife a murderer. How well would any of us hold up under those pressures?
What's more many in the black community also question BLM's tactics. For the President to take a stand here is very welcome in an important discussion that needs to be had:
"President Obama offered an indirect critique of the Black Lives Matter movement during a town-hall-style event here on Saturday, encouraging activists to engage with the political process and cautioning them that social change can be a slow and incremental process."
"At a meeting with young people on the second day of his visit to Europe, during which he championed a new trade deal between the United States and the European Union, the president took questions on a variety of topics, including Northern Ireland, transgender rights and racial profiling."
"After responding to a questioner who suggested that his administration had not done enough to address racial profiling at airports — a practice that Mr. Obama said he adamantly opposed — the president turned his attention to the Black Lives Matter movement."
"He praised the movement as “really effective in bringing attention to problems,” but said young activists should be more willing to work with political leaders to craft solutions instead of criticizing from outside the political process."
“Once you’ve highlighted an issue and brought it to people’s attention and shined a spotlight, and elected officials or people who are in a position to start bringing about change are ready to sit down with you, then you can’t just keep on yelling at them,” Mr. Obama said.
“And you can’t refuse to meet because that might compromise the purity of your position,” he continued. “The value of social movements and activism is to get you at the table, get you in the room, and then to start trying to figure out how is this problem going to be solved.”
"Mr. Obama began his career as a community organizer working on local initiatives in poor neighborhoods in Chicago. Sometimes, he said, solving a problem means accepting a series of partial solutions."
“You then have a responsibility to prepare an agenda that is achievable, that can institutionalize the changes you seek, and to engage the other side, and occasionally to take half a loaf that will advance the gains that you seek, understanding that there’s going to be more work to do, but this is what is achievable at this moment,” he said.
"It was not the first time that he has cautioned Black Lives Matter activists that social change cannot happen overnight. In a private meeting at the White House in 2014, Mr. Obama told a group of young black activists that change was “hard and incremental,” one participant said at the time.
"When some activists at that meeting said they felt that their voices were not being heard, Mr. Obama replied, “You are sitting in the Oval Office, talking to the president of the United States.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/24/us/obama-says-movements-like-black-lives-matter-cant-just-keep-on-yelling.html?_r=0
There is no question that there is a sentiment among many BLM activists that being involved in electoral politics in any way beyond criticizing it is selling out. Deray McKesson for his part has been criticized by a number of BLMers-Marrissa Jenae Johnson for example-for selling out. For them, the goal is to 'hold public officials accountable' mostly by protesting and criticizing them.
It is a worry going forward. It is ironic that while in 2012, African-Americans for the first time voted at higher levels than other groups, younger AAs seem to be reaching the opposite conclusion.
Historically speaking, the bedrock principle of the black civil rights generation has always been the utter sanctity of the right to vote. This is a right, which, 50 years after the Voting Rights Act, has been newly under attack in recent years.
The paradox is that while black folks as a group believe more than ever that their vote matters and it does make a difference, the younger millennial generation seems to be much more pessimistic about voting and electoral politics in general.
The race to take out Anita Alvarez was telling. When Kim Foxx defeated her, some of the activists made it clear it was not about supporting Fox but defeating Alvarez. Indeed some said that Foxx is now in the hot seat and that they view the very office of Cooke County's State's Attorney as racist.
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