Can we all just get along? I knew that sooner or later some black folks would start complaining about being left out of Barack Obama’s campaign. To those black leaders in Racine who have a problem with being included in Barack Obama’s campaign, please chill out and don’t ruin a good thing. We are on the verge of making history in a major way. I guess it is okay to voice your concerns but don’t start a media frenzy to tip the scales in Hillary Clinton’s favor.
News reports have said that as Racine prepares for Democratic Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign to roll into town today, some leaders in the black community feel the campaign has ignored them.“I’m quite irritated about it. I feel that it is not the spirit of inclusion that the Obama campaign in a national way has expressed,” said Ken Lumpkin, publisher of the Insider News. “I think that the players in Racine do not understand the message that Obama is putting out there, which is a positive message — inclusion, working together, a color-blindsociety.” State Rep. Bob Turner, D-Racine, said although he has not gotten directly involved with the Obama campaign, he has heard concerns that the campaign was not reaching out to the black community.
“I know how these things can happen, but there’s no excuse for it,” Turner said.Dan Leistikow, spokesman for the Obama campaign, said the campaign is striving to include everyone who is interested.“The campaign is working to bring as many people into the process as possible, reaching out and working with community leaders of all backgrounds — often with a very short turnaround time,” Leistikow said. “We’re reaching out to folks who have expressed concerns and want them to be a part of this event. Sen. Obama is looking forward to the opportunity to hear from the people of Racine and share his vision for change in America.”
The article published in The Journal Times, further states that Racine city Alderman Michael Shields, chairman of the Democratic Party of Racine, which supports both Democratic presidential hopefuls, said he has been out of the loop from both the Obama and Clinton campaigns. He received one call from an Obama representative and met with a Clinton campaign staffer once, he said.“You would think the Democratic Party chair needs to know what’s going on,” Shields said. “I kind of feel this wouldn’t happen if the chair was a different color.”Although the people putting the local campaign efforts together probably didn’t mean any harm, Shields said, all the news he gets is secondhand.“We’re a strong part of this community, people of color,” he said. “I think they should be included.” Trying to start some mess is what they are attempting to do with this incident.
Additionally it states that Beverly Hicks, director of the Racine branch of the NAACP, said she was surprised when she saw news of the Obama event on TV Tuesday morning. During the time she has been director, for the two previous elections, the organization always received calls from the headquarters of campaigns inviting members to events. This time, she was not notified. She called the rally organizer, who offered her two tickets. Normally, Hicks said, the organization gets at least 20 to 25 tickets.“I was somewhat upset with how that whole thing went down,” she said. “It was like a slap in the face.”But former Alderman Keith Fair said the campaign itself has been communicating locally. Fair met with an Obama field coordinator Tuesday to discuss strategies for reaching out to all of Racine.“I believe that they’re reaching out to a diverse segment of the community, and they’re bringing people together,” Fair said.
You can read the rest of the article at:
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/02/12/local_news/doc47b27828cb9f5033572181.txt
Filed under: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Racine, Wisconsin
Black Political Thought 