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Obama Is Avoiding Black Neighborhoods [Updated]

By SusanUnPC on May 5, 2008 at 9:27 AM in Barack Obama, Indiana, Race, Race Card

UPDATE: From “Blacks in Indy bemoan lack of candidate visits” in the Indianapolis Star: “Obama’s absence, in particular, has been galling to some blacks, community leaders say.”

“IT IS JUST UNUSUAL”: Amos Brown, who hosts “Afternoons With Amos” on WTLC-AM (1310), said that “with 42 percent of the state’s black voting population in Marion County,” the short list of appearances in Indianapolis by Barack Obama “does raise some eyebrows.”
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Uppity Woman wrote a heck of a story on May 1 that blew my mind: “Obama Snubs Black Media.” Now, thanks to UPI, we find out that he’s also avoiding black neighborhoods:

RALEIGH, N.C., May 2 (UPI) — Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has been avoiding stops in black communities in his quest to become the first black major party nominee for the U.S. presidency.

The saddest line in this sorry story? “Isaac Onah, a political science professor at the University of North Carolina, told the Boston Globe that black voters appear to understand Obama’s campaign strategy.” Oh great, Barack. Even your hapless black supporters know you’re trying to win white votes by not being seen with them.

Maybe Obama’s like his preacher. He talks the talk about racial equality and believes in black nationalism. But where is Rev. Wright having his church pay for and build his multi-million-dollar mansion? In an overwhelmingly WHITE and GATED community, on a golf course. Talk’s cheap, isn’t it.

Furthermore, Obama can “run but he can’t hide”: USAToday’s’s story today by Susan Page, “Poll: Flap over pastor hurts Obama,” notes that “Barack Obama’s national standing has been significantly damaged by the controversy over his former pastor.” Writes Page, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll’s finding raises “questions for some voters about the Illinois senator’s values, credibility and electability.”

Here’s one more quote:

Darryl Carson, a 41-year-old industrial clerk, told the Globe he sees Obama “walking a thin line.”

It’s thin alright. Thin on honesty, integrity, and just plain being who you are, instead of running from it.

There’s something profoundly, deeply tragic in this.

I can dig wanting to be the “post-racial” candidate. But wanting to be the candidate who avoids people who look like him? That’s the ugliest form of politics.