“They are both enthralled to the corporate powers,” he said of both Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton. “They’ve completely ignored the presidential pattern of illegality and accountability; they’ve ignored the out of control waste-fraud military expenditures; they hardly ever mention the diversion of hundreds of billions of dollars to corporate subsidies, handouts and giveaways; and they don’t talk about a living wage.”

First off, let me just say I like Ralph Nader.  I think he is right about corporation having too much power over government.

The mass media headlines might lead some to believe that he’s said something to bookmark him as a racist. CNN writes: “Nader accused Obama of attempting to “talk white” and appealing to “white guilt” in his quest to win the White House.” If you don’t read the whole original Rocky Mountain News article you might be led to believe that Nader is a racist.

I don’t think is racist, but I do think he is wrong.

Talking White

Here is what Ralph Nader said:

I haven’t heard [Barack Obama] have a strong crackdown on economic exploitation in the ghettos. Payday loans, predatory lending, asbestos, lead. What’s keeping him from doing that? Is it because he wants to talk white? He doesn’t want to appear like Jesse Jackson?

I’ve been accused of “talking white” before.  My first question to this is, “How do black people talk?” or “How are blacks supposed to talk?” Suggesting that a group of people must talk a certain way begs the question: How do all of those people talk? Whatever unsubstantiated attributes are imposed on that group is a stereotype, a generalization that is nothing more than a presumption. Even statistics based on scientific research says nothing of any one persons capabilities or attributes.

In the interview with Rocky Mountain News, Nader is talking about the issues then he veers off into race bait land.  Our cultural background and upbringing determines HOW we speak. Obama was brought up by his P.h.D mother (who happened to be a white woman).  Is he supposed to pretend like he was raised in the Bronx projects by a mother with a jr. high school education (who happened to by black).

When you talk to your boss at work, your supervisor, and co-works you will use different mannerisms, Nonverbals and language than if you’re at home with your family & friends. If you are speaking in front of students in a economics class you are going to have a different way of speaking than if you are in a church giving a sermon.

We all do it. It is necessary to communicate with a syntax that your audience can understand. I guess Nader doesn’t seem to understand that.  Knowing how to effectively reach your audience is what separates a decent communicator with one that is over the top.

I don’t think that Ralph’s statement implies that he is a racist, but I do think he should have thought that statement through and learn more about the candidate who is the target of his scorn. From the “talk white” statement he does seem to have looked into Obama much at all.

White Guilt?

“He wants to show that he is not a threatening . . . another politically threatening African-American politician,” Nader said. “He wants to appeal to white guilt. You appeal to white guilt not by coming on as black is beautiful, black is powerful. Basically he’s coming on as someone who is not going to threaten the white power structure, whether it’s corporate or whether it’s simply oligarchic. And they love it. Whites just eat it up.”

I think it is time to move on.

We need to stop playing the white/black games, realize that world is composed of a million shades of gray and fix the problems. I’m black (important to the context of this paragraph). The black community is not going to get anything with guilt OF ANY COLOR.  Appeasing or pointing at the guilt ridden is not going to create jobs or stimulate the economy.  Guilt is not going to fix the breakdown of the family in poverty stricken parts of America (urban or rural).  We are not going to get anywhere with blame or scape-goating. It makes things temporarily easier to deal with because it allows us to displace and/or dissociate our problems.  Nothing can move forward until the actual problem is identified.  Blame is a psychological defense mechanism that does NOT fix anything so it is of little use when moving toward solutions.  What we (not just black/white but “WE“ the poor, the down trodden, the homeless, the economically distressed) need is jobs, a stronger dollar, a stronger economy and representatives that support the people not just the highest corporate bidder.  We are just as important as our corporate counterparts.  The candidate that will have the closest thing to this realization will get my vote.

Nader’s intentions are always good but he should do more homework on the candidates if he actually wants to get votes.