But Seriously, that election....

I have to write something serious:
American is still racist. black people and a host of oppressed populations (women, latinos, LGBTQ, asians, disabled, poor, immigrants, non-christian, etc.) must now more than ever be in complete and total unity. The black vote that came out for Obama also contributed to the passing of prop 8 which discriminates on Gay and Lesbian people, denying them one of the most basic civil rights to marry, making that great Tuesday bittersweet because Martin Luther King Jr. would have voted no on 8. He and the Black Panther Party built strong coalitions with Gay and Lesbians. It's like were going backwards now. Folks have to own up to their heterosexism and homophobia and get over ourselves. We need to realize that freedom and equal rights for all, is a very simple concept and not complicated by religion, belief, etc. I hear black folks use the very same argument for prop 8 that whites in the south used against integration. (not that integration did us a whole bunch of good but that's another tangent) If you are straight, you must not tolerate homophobia. You have to speak out against comments, jokes and pure ignorance toward Gays and Lesbians, ESPECIALLY when they aren't around when you could just as easily let it slide. Just think about the nicest white person you can imagine who is at least 50. They heard white people say nigger 50 thousand times in the 1950's and 1960's and they said NOTHING. I had a staff person last year (white guy) mention that his Dad remarked how a nigger is running for president. He didn's follow up at all with how appaled he was and how sternly he reprimanded his Dad for being racist. This is 2007.

Now about this Obama thing. Obama is only a small part of the overall effort toward liberation and make no mistake, he is definately for the liberation. What people need to realize is that NOONE expects white supremacy to "change" overnight, or even in 8 years.
Obama's goal was to get elected and be president for at least 8 years, his goal is NOT to liberate black people and usher in reparations. His goal is to alter politics and involve an unprescedented number of disenfranchised citizens in the democratic process. He achieved that. Now what remains to be seen is how blacks hold Obama accountable while continuing to support him.
I am not against healthy criticism of Obama because he is the president of the most racist and murderous country in the history of the planet. I get that. And for that very same reason, we have only 2 options. 1. Take up arms and completely overthrow the government and wipe out the whole structure and start over. or 2. Work with the current structure and system to "dismantle the masters house with the masters tools".
What I hear critics of Obama say loud and clear is that it's simply not possible. But consider this: There's no way in hell Obama would have beat the Clintons by seriously challenging the white supremacist status quo. Even Rev. Wright had no love lost. He was pissed but as a man of God, as a Marine, as a truly compassionate man, he summed it up when he said :Obama's a politician and that was a political speech. (his speech on race repudiating Wright)
So if we can't use the masters tools, then where the hell is strategy #1? It's nonexistant. In fact, critics offer no action steps. We can't think and debate and analyze all day. If you go to a country where recession and economic depression is the normal economy, they talk about action. Support Obama, build more progressive political action committees, establish 501c4 organizations that can participate in partisian political activities, establish a constant fundraising apparatus, establish a progressive base, train and dispatch lobbists to the City, County, State and Federal governments. Hold public hearings, build coalitions, involve artists meaningfully, build on the momentum of the election and have a delegation at the inaguration, be strategic, write your representatives, all of them, not just for inaguration tickets but for explanations for their stances and votes, start asking questions for pete sake!!!! how can we use the Obama situation to our advantage? How can we educate voters over the next 2 years for the next election? What is the ultimate goal? What does freedom look like? How do we involve prisoners? How do we introduce initiatives? Who is already on the team? Cynthia McKinney? Dennis Kucinich? Barbara Lee? Pete Stark? Who else? How do we support them? How do we get more progressive congresspersons in the house? Obama can't do squat alone. He will need a majority in the house and senate, not of democrats but democrats or republicans who are truly progressive. Let's look at why people are republican. Some of them would actually suprise you with their politics but because of their constituency, they are republican. Just like some democrats are the black communities worse enemy (Joe Lieberman). The black panther party was a political party. They fell short of their final goal, to influence the political system from inside. Lionel Wilson, the first black mayor of Oakland was the compromise from Bobby Seale like Obama was the compromise for Cynthia McKinney.