Eric Wattree

It is a curious yet instructive phenomenon watching Black male academics rush to the defense of Dr. Cornel West after he called President Obama a “Black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs.”

Thousands have been following the story of Ms. JoAnn Snow’s pursuit of justice within the Los Angeles District of the U.S. Postal Service. She was being forced to work for free, as are many others within the postal service. When evidence documented her abuse, the officials and government agencies mandated to protect her interests closed ranks. They guarded her abusers, preserving the agency's lucrative status quo.

Some have advised me to maintain a strict journalistic public persona.

They said if I begin to indulge my passion for music and poetry, I won’t be taken seriously as a journalist.

First, Mr. President, allow me to congratulate you on bringing Osama bin Laden to justice.

My conservative friends advise me that by implying that the GOP is a domestic enemy of America that I’m being unnecessarily divisive. One good friend said, “Contrary to what you love to espouse, the GOP is not the devil incarnate. It may be politically convenient for you, but it is not true.” I beg to disagree.

Many critics are pointing their finger at President Obama for failing to address various issues in the Black community. But that is not his job. The Black community is going to have to stop sitting around waiting for a messiah to solve our problems. It’s the Black community’s responsibility to address Black issues.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt established the Democratic Party as the party of the people. Its primary mandate became protecting the average American from those who sought to do them harm. But the current Democratic Party is falling down in a big way.

I haven’t totally given up on President Obama . . . yet. But I thought I’d write this just to ensure that there’s no need for speculation about how many members of his more politically sophisticated base views the current political landscape.

I rarely get into the debate over the lingering racism in America because I feel that the vast majority of the American people have made an honest and concerted effort to put racism behind us. So as long as it’s not blatant or damaging to individual or collective African-Americans, I look upon it as merely a distraction used to keep the American people divided and unaware of the most insidious threat to America — the gross assault on the poor and middle class.

In light of what is currently going on in the country I thought this would be an appropriate time to reprise this an article published in November 2009.