Dr. Cornel West says Obama's policies are racist

WASHINGTON – As frustration continues to build at the height of our nation’s worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, disgruntled watchdogs from both the right and left have targeted President Barack Obama as the sacrificial lamb primarily responsible. When asked by ‘Democracy Now!’ to give his thoughts on rapper Kanye West calling George W. Bush a racist, Princeton professor Cornel West inexplicably drew parallels between Bush and the Obama Administration.

“He doesn’t care about the Black poor: The evidence is overwhelming! . . . His policies [a]re . . . generating misery among poor people, disproportionately Black and Brown,” said Dr. West.

“The Obama Administration seems to have very little concern about poor people and their social misery . . . (L)ook at the policies of Black Farmers – a settlement already in place but they don’t want to execute it because they don’t want to be associated with Black folk too explicitly . . . (W)e can go right across the board—look at the policies of the new Jim Crow.”

Keep in mind: West and Obama were supposed to be good friends. So, I’m totally shocked by the outburst.

That said, West’s opinion shouldn’t be discounted. The animated rascal sits on the executive boards of several prestigious organizations such as the National Parenting Association, the Fund for Community Leadership Development, Ebony Ecumenical Ensemble and International Bridges to Justice.

West certainly has clout, no doubt.

However, his assessment about Obama and the Pigford black farmers is flat wrong.

How so? I’ll explain.

Years ago, when he was the Junior Senator from Illinois, Obama gave strong support to reopening and refunding the black farmers settlement. Come on Dr. West? You gotta give the man some credit for that.

Unlike his peers from both parties, Obama stood alone in Iowa, hardly a fertile source for black farmers, and forcefully endorsed legislation in Congress that would give black farmers another chance to benefit monetarily from the Pigford settlement.

This, my friends, involves challenging the Department of Agriculture’s shortchanging of black farmers as it pertains to farm subsidies made liberally available to their non-black farming counterparts.

I guess what I’m trying to say is: Obama did his part. My question to Dr. West is: “What more could he have done?”

Wayne Hodges, an MBA from St. Mary University, is the Editor-in-Chief of MassAppealNews.com. He also serves as District Committee Delegate in Johnson County and he’s an adjunct professor in Kansas City.