Sharpton: “African Americans Cannot Wait For Obama to Write a Black Agenda to Himself”
by Yvette Carnell
Self appointed representative of the black community, Rev. Al Sharpton, and National Urban League head ,Marc Morial, were among those who met on Monday to 
craft a black agenda to take to President Obama.
Marc Morial signaled that ensuring the fiscal cliff does not hurt blacks is one of his priorities.
“Preserving tax cuts for those already battered Americans is the very least that our leaders can do to give some continuing relief to low-, middle- and working-class Americans,” Morial told reporters on Monday.
Fine. But the fictional fiscal cliff is about America in general, not black people specifically, so, we shouldn’t construe not going over the fiscal cliff as a win for black people.
To Morial’s credit, he did list additional issues on the black agenda, which include; working for parity for blacks in education, health care and the economy; reforming the criminal justice system; and protecting and defending voting rights.
Problem: The items mentioned are so general that any move Obama makes on any of these issues could be considered a win. Truth is, the folks in charge of the black agenda waited too late to move on it, and now they’re scrambling, hoping the president will do something, anything, to help them save face.
Sharpton is right in saying that we can’t wait for Obama to write a black agenda to himself from us, but that agenda should’ve been written years ago, around the time when Sharpton was on 60 Minutes explaining his vow not to criticize Obama during his first term. Now, however, we have no leverage. We are at the mercy of Obama, hopin’, wishin’, and prayin’ that he tosses a little something our way.
Understand that the only person with any leverage now is Obama. He holds all the cards, and that’s because our so-called leaders don’t understand how this political card game is played. Which brings me to the central point: Maybe it’s time for new leaders.
Yvette Carnell is a former Capitol Hill and campaign staffer turned writer. She is currently an editor and contributor to Yourblackworld. You can reach Yvette via Twitter @YvetteDC or on Facebook.
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It’s time for all of our BLACK LEADERS and organizations to write up a comprehensive agenda…set some goals…offer recommendations and then get that to the President. That should be done whether the President is Obama or someone else. How much money can be obtained to support some Black-owned businesses? If the PRISONS and Justice System are such an awful problem — what should be done? How should it be changed? What needs to happen in our public schools to make them better for our children? Write it down in specifics.
If McCain or Romney had won…these leaders would already be working on their AGENDA and maybe some other petitions to present.
So…stop blaming Pres. Obama and get something co
ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS…!!!
I feel Angelo’s point.These problems that plague Black America didn’t crop up over night.The CBC has been in Congress since the seventies supposedly addressing Black America’s problems at the national level.What has the CBC done to address Black America’s problems?Nobody i’ve heard has held the CBC accountable for what their mandate was supposed to be.President Obama is POTUS and has to address issues for the whole country.My question is ;What is Black folks doing for their own well being?Why are we always looking for someone else to address our issues.Other than the few local and national leaders of the past we have done nothing to help ourselves.We’ve gone backward like Michael Jackson doing the moon walk.Niggnorance has gone rampant in our community.Can President Obama fix that?The real root of the issues plaguing Black America can’t be fixed by President Obama.Only Black America can truly fix our problems,the fix starts and ends with us.
Ms. Miller,
Delusional is the name of this game…
It’s time for all of us Blacks and organizations to write up a comprehensive agenda….set some goals…offer recommendations and then get that to all the White male chauvinist Repuke Reps and Senators and to all robber baron companies….
Just wait and see how they will respond….Which they will tell you Blacks to kiss their butts…..
This is what Black folks should do: Organized, boycott all white businesses and start your own businesses just like the Black Wall Street of Tulsa, OK ……Why isn’t there a Black Town like China Town……??????…….
Olin, I agree that more Black people should start their own businesses, factories, and other enterprises. However, have you read what happened to BLACK WALL ST.? White people attacked it and killed it. So there is still the need to attack our problems in a variety of ways. Simply by having segregated affairs is not a panacea for the situation and never has been. Unless the Gov’t is going to exempt Black folks from paying taxes, obeying their laws, and otherwise doing what other American citizens are required to do…we will not be “separate” and should not be duped into thinking we are. No… I am for battling for our rights on all necessary fronts…even if we have to confront the rightwing nuts in Congress. Our forefathers fought them too.
Every time I hear the question, “What can Obama specifically do for the black community?” I ask myself what is it that we can do for oursleves. I agree with Derrick on this one. It is time that we look at why there is a severe wealth disparity between blacks versus white and black versus asians. Do Asian experience racism like blacks? They certainly do however, the wealth they’ve amassed far exceeds the wealth of african-americans and we were here the longest. The difference between Asians and African- Americans lies in the fact that they exceeed in education, innovation and entrepreneurship. On top of that, they keep it in the community and employ their own. Have you seen their businesses and who they employ. That’s a model to follow. It’s time to wake up find a partner/s and brainstorm on how to amass wealth. With money, lies power and influence over a political agenda.