Though you present yourself as supporting Senator Obama, it is clear that the purpose of your post is to divide this community. Why? First, no one with even the most superficial understanding of modern U.S. history, would disrespect the generation of African-American community leaders you are attacking.
Bill, Hillary and myself grew up with the fierce people. The best and most beautiful among us died before 30 and if they didn’t die of the own passion they were gunned down, like Malcolm X and John Lennon. But strangely enough the fierce ones, more than the rest of us, seemed to die young anyway.
I am sorry for you that the only fierce people you knew were so distant and are so dead. In my life I've known hundreds of fierce artists and activists. I know hundreds still. Who do you think these ministers and community leaders who support Senator Clinton are? These "house Negros" as you call them are of the fierce generations of African-Americans who carried the Struggle forward after the tragedy of all those right-wing assassinations. Their endorsement of Hillary honors a history of shared struggles and personal relationships, and current political alliances.
I actually do support Senator Obama's bid for the Democratic nomination, but I do not need to trash Senator Clinton or her supporters to do so. And you know what, I'm not worried about community leaders who support Senator Clinton. These leaders will ultimately respond to the demands of their constituencies, but they will do so honorably.
The underlying assumption of you post, my Republican friend, is that African-American voters, like Fox News viewers, do as they are told by their "leaders" or by "massa". We don't. We are a fiercely obstreperous people and heated political debates can be had at the drop of a hat. And why do I think you are a Republican operative? Who else would describe Regan as:
stabilization and a return to reason by a country marred by chaos and assassination which for a dozen years before was making America ungovernable.
Not an African-American community that was demonized and scapegoated by Reagan.
But what I want to know is how can a group of black Baptist preachers in the South unite to show their support for Hillary at the historic moment when a black man is running a juggernaut, in the words of David Brooks, to the Presidency of the United States?
I must admit you have me confused there. I thought the whole objective of this exercise was for each of us to decide who best represents our interests and vote for that candidate. Now, you want us Black Folk just to vote our color. That’s disappointing. (Do you actually think that John Edwards has no African-American support? I was an Edwards supporter.)
If you truly wish to support Senator Obama’s campaign, start by addressing the African-American community’s many constituencies as respectfully as he would.