In a posting on her blog a couple of days ago that you might have missed, Taylor Marsh ask the question; Who Is Injecting Race? Citing a speech that Barack Obama gave in front of a mostly African American audience
"They're trying to bamboozle you. It's the same old okie-doke. Y'all know about okie doke, right? ... They try to bamboozle you. Hoodwink ya. Try to hoodwink ya. Alright, I'm having too much fun here. ... " - Barack Obama
Those are the classic words of Malcolm X.
"You've been hoodwinked. You've been had. You've been took. You've been led astray, led amok. You’ve been bamboozled." - Malcolm X
Mind you, Barack Obama is a devout Christian, which Malcolm X was not. But why isn't Barack Obama's speech, which he touts on his presidential website, being used as exhibit A, not only for using words that reach out to his community, but also as an example of how he's using race whenever he can and when it suits his needs and benefits his candidacy? Mind you, there's nothing wrong with using all you have in your arsenal. But there is no coverage of this speech anywhere today.
Where's the other side of the story? The side that illustrates the African American candidate using words from a famous black leader to reach his own constituency in a more direct way; talking the language that they all know so well.
So let me see if I got this straight here, If a black man (Obama) uses similar phrasing, that another Black man (Malcolm X) once used in a speech 40+ years ago, to a mostly black audience, that means he's using race to reach out to Black voters?
I really can't even blame Tayor on this one, this goes to a larger point about how Black leaders of the past have been consistently and systematically marginalized and compartmentalized as "race men" in contemporary society. Martin Luther King is reduced to "I Have a Dream"... Malcolm X is reduced to "Chickens coming home to roost".
Would anybody seriously think that if John McCain decided to paraphrase the words of Thomas Jefferson infront of a mostly white crowd that he would somehow be trying to appeal to their race?
Of course not... but a black guy quoting another black guy? well that MUST be about race!... listen to him! he's using that super duper, coded, jive turkey, negro language!
.
.
.
.
.
.
Quick, somebody call Barbra Billingsly!
Cut me some slack, Jack! Chump don' want no help, chump don't GET da' help!