Comments on: The Day the President Turned Black (But has he turned back?)

By: freeman my ass!

freeman my ass! — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 13:41:04 +0000

Obama is not a real black man a real black man would have never made it to the "white house"(emphasise on the white)think about it his mom was white his black dad died when he was an infant he grew up in a white home with white values and experiences.to be trully black you have to really experience the oppression that we are faced with everyday...its funny and scary how the media plays an important role in influencing our judgement of a person,the very same media that is owned by these mobsters in suits who are still racist!to me obama is a typical example of what you call a "rent-a-black"!the world is in danger of all these criminals so much for HOPE obama!

By: eye hate banksters

eye hate banksters — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:16:56 +0000

first of all obama is not his own man his brought and paid stooge of geoge soros and goldman sachs
he nothing but a house negro doing the masters bidding

By: Kat

Kat — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:41:51 +0000

By all means let Obama hold the outrage (unless you want to see Palin or someone like her elected in 2012), just get busy leading in fixing the biggest problems and institutional racism is at or near the top of the list. One man isn't gonna do it alone, and unfortunately hasn't picked himself a team that'll move the ball down that court, either. Once again, looks like it's up to us. Let's not waste time and precious energy ripping on the Prez. It's too easy and it's unproductive. Skip who???

By: shondra dawson

shondra dawson — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 03:23:04 +0000

I am somewhat baffled by the controversy surrounding what I believe is inconsequential amidst the myriad crises presently facing the nation. However, it is most American of us all to bring "fixin's" to the plate when we are full, and leave them on the stove to burn when we are starving... A man arriving from a flight from Asia, with luggage in hand, arrives at the front porch of his home. Having trouble with the door, he shoves his way in, and receives a knock at the door from the police investigating a possible burglary. The police, by procedure, interrogate the man to discover he does, indeed, live there. The man is upset at the intrusion, the interrogation. The police officers don't like his bad attitude, and proceed to force him outside of his home and arrest him under the charge of disorderly conduct. This is a ridiculous scenario by anyone's standards, just based on sketetal circumstances. When you bring into account that the 911 call did not specify that the assailant was Black; did admit the men she saw were carrying luggage; identification and indications (photographs, memorabilia) did establish the man was in his own home; did establish he was a professor (and a public intellectual spanning over three decades) of an eminent university: it becomes beyond absurd, and the public is debating whether or not this is a race issue. Given only the bare bone circumstances, we would have never heard the story: if the man were White. Can you even imagine a White Harvard professor being arresting in his own home, under a suspected burglary, for having a bad attitude? Gates' race did play a factor, undoubtedly. As for how blatantly racist the officers were, there is a prejudice, yes, but a outright cross-burning, no. Gates is being just as reactionary as the police officers. Just as racist? No, just as reactionary... the scenario is showing the racial tensions in that community, not real racial hostility. But let us not leave this controversy with "race has nothing to do with it." Perhaps not all the time, but in this case, yes, unfortunately, it does. Greg Palast is attempting to point out the real racial hostility that is being ignored while tensions are being fanned into flames. I agree with him: there are real fights to pick in this country as far as the road to racial harmony and equality is concerned: let this incident be a reminder of the bigger fires out there to be put out...

By: Jim Callahan, Orlando, FL

Jim Callahan, Orlando, FL — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 02:00:11 +0000

Greg,
Check out the Life Insurance industry too.

Specifically: INDUSTRIAL LIFE INSURANCE.
"Efforts to change state law and ban the sale of industrial life insurance have failed in Florida, largely because of a strong insurance lobby."
http://www.fldfs.com/Hot_Topics/IndustrialLife/Ind_Life_Brochure.htm

" In one illustrative case, a Gadsden County farm worker paid $2,214 over 10 years on a burial policy with a $836 death benefit. The then-85-year-old would have kept on paying, if his money hadn’t run out after he moved into a nursing home.

Over the years, many consumers have purchased policies like the farm worker’s. If you have such a policy, with a small death benefit – be informed!"
http://www.fldfs.com/Hot_Topics/IndustrialLife/Ind_Life_Brochure.htm

BTW, according to the US Census, American FactFinder web site, Gadsden County, FL is 55.1% "Black or African American"

http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en

"In a nutshell, the problem involves small-face-amount policies sold to people who didn’t know they could end up paying more in premiums than their policies would be worth. About 1.2 million such policies are in force in Florida. * * * Although industrial life sales are on the decline, there still are nearly three dozen companies that have policyholders in Florida."
http://www.fldfs.com/Hot_Topics/IndustrialLife/Ind_Life_Brochure.htm

Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL

By: Jake Jameson Jr.

Jake Jameson Jr. — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:35:37 +0000

quote: "he came from some other monster that the machine was afraid of," Exactly. They don't call this Obamageddon for nothing. The FedReserve benevolent dragon "the great bernanke" is the monster. The demopublicans are two sides of the same corrupt coin. There are no elections here in the USA. And you still have these idiots talking about the "liberal media" which is wholly owned by Zionist Jews and Fascist Republicans. Paid liars clutter the airwaves in the USA with patent disinformation. The dreary half-asleep "americans" rushing on their way to nowhere, road raging, uninformed, gullible, self-centered dumbasses...we are indeed circling the drain.

By: Kaj Leers

Kaj Leers — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:08:09 +0000

Greg,

Mind the statistics over here. I'm not sure, but if there are exponentially more impoverished black people living in cities, one would think that they would stastistically speaking be overrepresented in the sub-prime pushing column.

Much like people living in certain areas in Nevada, California, New Mexico and Florida seem overrepresented in the overall sub-prime mortgage victim stats.

Sincerely,
Kaj Leers
The Netherlands.

By: Elaine

Elaine — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 10:50:47 +0000

Interesting...

Now Obama got a little flak from the media for 'being black' (whatever that is suppose to mean). Yet, turn the tables Greg...think about it for a while and then answer me this...

Greg what is being black? Your article implies that it means having one's home under foreclosure. It implies being beaten by cops (King). It implies not having one's vote count.

So I ask you Greg... What do YOU think of Blacks in America? hmmmmm...

Interesting

By: Jorge Serrano

Jorge Serrano — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:46:37 +0000

Hello Greg. I not only agree but think you went easy on Obama. I've also been coping with having my hopes for a real black man, an advocate for the downtrodden, crushed. Still waiting for a people's supporter instead of a Wall Street puppet.

By: Elizabeth Dowling

Elizabeth Dowling — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 21:05:53 +0000

Greg...
There are people praying for the death of Obama, and the huge surge in gun sales proves that some may be doing more than praying. President Obama is more like that man in Florida who was too scared to protest that his vote was stolen in 2000; he did say something, but then he wanted to calm it all down. The President's own life is something that is of concern. The mortgage situation is dire, but the banks have been given about 35 years (since Nixon) worth of give-aways, including under Carter and Clinton (southern Democrats); I am just glad that little things, such as executive compensation, are now being reviewed. Much more must be done: little bills that eat away at the assumptions of privilege. Yes, everybody needs to emphasize again and again that there are racist policies; remember all the black farms that were foreclosed by Reagan's policy of using local lenders, not government lending, for farms? The local lenders simply would not lend to black farmers, and the previously successful farms had to be sold. But such publicity is not just the job of the President. What about the gag order in places where people used to discuss such things: the churches? They were the center of the 19th century abolition movement, but who is allowed to discuss anything of substance now without losing tax exemptions? It is moral outrage that is needed, taught in places where morality has some meaning (which it does not in most workplaces, or in politics). I also hope that the hate crimes bills pass; this wouldn't just apply to gay people, but also to black people. I think such a bill should be strengthened to include discrimination in many areas, including lending, jobs, etc. The Humphrey Civil Rights Act of the 1960s hasn't gone near far enough in enforcing fairness. Then there is healthcare. The worst crime in America is solved, but not prosecuted: the systematic murder of poor people who cannot afford health care. There is no statute of limitations on murder, we are told, and then large corporations, health insurance, tobacco, etc., are allowed a license to kill. The worst image yet in my mind was hurricane Katrina: black people unable to get hospital treatment, while the more affluent were air-lifted to better hospitals. Could the President speak out? He does support healthcare, although he is all too willing to compromise, but perhaps he thinks that is the only way to get it. Finally, I think that we need to focus on healthcare, not because we need to ignore the question of race relations, but because healthcare is one of those areas most needed by all people, especially those who have been shut out of jobs, housing, etc.