Opinion
Attacks on President Obama and Common are frivolous
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19 May 2011
- Written by George Curry
George E. Curry |
The recent criticism of President Obama’s decisions to worship Easter Sunday at Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. and invite poet/ rapper Common to participate in a White House celebration of poetry illustrates how far his critics will stoop to manufacture a controversy.
Fox News was hysterical over the First Family’s decision to worship at the predominantly African-American church founded in the 1800s by former slaves. Sean Hannity, co-host of Fox News’ “Hannity & Colmes,” aired a clip from the speech that the Rev. Wallace Smith, the pastor of Shiloh, had given at Eastern University, in Davids, Pa.
“It may not be Jim Crow anymore,” said Smith. “Now, Jim Crow wears blue pinstripes, goes to law school and carries fancy briefs in cases. And now, Jim Crow has become James Crow, esquire. And, he doesn’t have to wear white robes anymore because now he can wear the protective cover of talk radio or can get a regular news program on Fox.”
After the clip aired as part of Hannity’s criticism of the president, Smith said his church received more than 100 threats via telephone and email.
“We received a fax that had the image of a monkey with a target across its face,” he told the Washington Post. “My secretary has received telephone calls that have been so vulgar until she had to hang up.”
On his show, Fox host Bill O’Reilly tried to dismiss Smith as a “racial activist” and kept objecting to Smith’s observation on Easter that the original U.S. Constitution was a flawed document that did not count African descendants as full human beings.
O’Reilly made the mistake of inviting the Rev. Amos Brown, pastor of Third Baptist Church in San Francisco and president of the local NAACP chapter, to discuss President Obama’s decision to worship at Shiloh. Brown noted that Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton had attended the same church as president without being criticized.
When O’Reilly said they attended under different circumstances, Brown corrected him: “It was the same church with the same pastor with the same views.”
After Rev. Brown refused to back down, O’Reilly quickly ended the interview. But, Fox did not end its assault on President Obama and his wife, Michelle.
The first lady hosted an event at the White House to celebrate American poetry and prose. Among the performers invited was Lonnie Rashid Lynn, the poet/rapper better known as Common.
Common |
The trooper was shot twice in the head with his own gun. Black Panther Party member Zayd Malik Shakur was also killed in the New Jersey Turnpike shootout. Both Assata Shakur and another state trooper, James Harper, were injured in the exchange of gunfire. Assata Shakur escaped from prison in 1979 and has been living in Cuba in political asylum since 1984.
In his tribute, Common wrote: “Assata had been convicted of a murder she couldna done. Medical evidence shown she couldna shot the gun.” Although Fox led the recent campaign against Common, the network’s Jason Robinson told Common last year: “Your music is very positive. And you’re known as the conscious rapper.”
Fox also sent out birthday greetings to rapper Ice-T whose song, “Body Count,” celebrated the murder of police officers. And, it never criticized Sarah Palin, who sees nothing wrong with placing shooting targets around photos of liberal Democrats.
On the Aug. 24, 2007 edition of “Hannity & Colmes,” Hannity introduced video of Ted Nugent, a musician and right-wing activist, calling President Obama “a piece of s—-” and referring to Hillary Clinton as a “worthless b——.”
When Bob Beckel, a guest on the program, challenged Hannity to disavow Nugent, he declined, saying: “No, I like Ted Nugent. He’s a friend of mine.”
It is unfair to hold President Obama responsible for the lyrics of Common and not apply the same standard to other presidents.
“The Daily Show” comedian Jon Stewart drove home that point when he cited the lyrics of Johnny Cash: “Early one mornin’ while makin’ the rounds/I took a shot of cocaine and I shot my woman down.” Cash was invited to the White House by presidents Nixon, Carter, Reagan, and Clinton.
In 1991, President George H.W. Bush invited rapper Easy-E to the White House. His group, NWA, released a song titled, “F—- tha Police.” Where was the outrage from conservatives then?
Again, there was no public outrage.
By today’s standard, Common’s lyrics are mild. So mild that The Gap featured him in an ad for its 2006 fall collection. He has also appeared in such movies as “American Gangster,” “Terminator Salvation,” and “Date Night.” Lost in the controversy was the purpose of the White House event.
As President Obama said at the event, “The power of poetry is everybody experiences it differently. There are no rules on what makes a great poem. Instead, a great poem is one that resonates with us and challenges us and teaches us something about ourselves.”
(George E. Curry can be reached at www.georgecurry.com/ and you can also follow him at www.twitter.com/currygeorge.)
