This whole Obama Gospel Tour thing gets stranger and stranger. Either there are total idiots running the Obama campaign or he has moles from other campaigns working to sabotage his effort. I think my youngest, who was a political junky at age 5, could have run a better effort as a kindergartner. Obama seems to be trying to be this election cycle's Howard Dean. Here are highlights of the latest aspects of the debacle from Jasmyne Cannick's blog(http://jasmynecannick.typepad.com/jasmynecannickcom/2007/10/make-me-wanna-h.html):
[W]hat the hell were Obama’s people thinking when they invited a white openly gay minister to open for his South Carolina gospel concert with Donnie McClurkin? Is he trying to lose the race? That’s all I want to know.
It was bad enough that Obama’s people, and I say people because I eloquently explained on Tuesday how these types of things can happen, invited and announced a gospel concert tour through South Carolina with openly homophobic singers Mary Mary and the ex-gay Donnie McClurkin which sparked accusations of Obama running a homophobic campaign. But keepin’ hope alive, I tried to make the best of it hoping that the protests would be used as a teachable moment for Obama and his campaign advisers.
No such luck. First we get the standard statement, that I will point out was posted in the LGBT section of his website in the beginning and not the website’s general newsroom, as if to say that this is for the gays only and we want to keep this under wraps. But to add injury to insult, Obama’s campaign announces that he invited an openly gay minister to open the gospel concert. Initially I thought he’d gotten with someone in the Black same-gender loving community, perhaps a minister from Unity Fellowship Church, or some other minister that was of African descent. Instead we get Rev. Andy Sidden, a white South Carolina pastor.
First of all, let’s address the issue of having a white gay pastor at a campaign event that’s geared towards religious African-Americans. Here we have a perfect opportunity for African-Americans to internally address the issue of homophobia with an African-American presidential candidate and instead of inviting a Black openly gay pastor, they invite a white man. Um, are we trying to see a repeat of 2004? Because if that’s the goal, we sure are headed down the right track. And in the end, in my opinion it’s Black gays who have the most to lose from this happening as there’s already a general consensus that gay is synonymous with white. All this will do is further that notion and drive it home undoing all of the work that Black lesbians and gays have done over the past decade within their communities.
But what about the message in using a white openly gay pastor at a Black event to convince Blacks that homophobia is wrong? What kind of message is that going to send? So now I am wondering who or what constitutes as an ally? Is an ally an ally when it’s beneficial to them and them alone? Is an ally and ally when there are no media around? Is an ally an ally when they have millions in the bank and are still going after the same pots of money as their lesser-funded “people of color” counterparts? Tell me, are we allies then? Because an ally would have bowed out gracefully and encouraged, oh I don’t know, maybe an African-American gay civil rights organization to take the lead.
Now back to my man Obama, who over the past week has made it increasingly difficult for me as an African-American to overlook a horrendous mistake that was only made worse with the announcement of the invitation of Rev. Sidden. But where does all of this leave Black gays? What are we supposed to do? You keep pushing us against wall and I know we let you slide before, but this one can’t be overlooked. We deserve better. Nix Sidden and invite an openly gay Black pastor. Then let’s sit down and talk about this so it doesn’t happen again. Anything less, and it’s a wrap.
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