Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Harlem's Mae Jackson: When Obama Speaks, Whose Lips Move?
Bill Quigley
16 Jun 2009
🖨️ Print Article

If you don't see the video above, click here.

Mae Jackson is a New York City based writer, poet, dreamer and doer whose record of activism on behalf of her people stretches back to SNCC. A founder of Art Without Walls, an art program for the children of imprisoned women, she is well acquainted with the difference between surface change, and fundamental, revolutionary change.

Here are a few minutes of her address to the crowd at May 31, 2009 event memorializing the early 20th century Harlem activist Hubert Harrison, in which she lays out a clear understanding of whose lips move when our First Black President speaks. Referring to some of Barack Obama's widely acclaimed orations at the Democratic convention, atop Lincoln's tomb, and other places, she tells us

“..those wonderful speeches made by the young man from Chicago were actually crafted, that's written, by three young white men 25, 26 and 31 years old. We got the unfortunate opportunity once again to see the world through their eyes. Obama was the spokesperson. Same as when you buy a painting, that doesn't make you the painter...”

She explains how the establishment turned took the politics out of activism, neutralizing and de-politicizing young political activists by turning them into “community organizers."

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • Brett Wilkins
    Video Shows Girl Trying to Escape Inferno as Gaza Family 'Burned Alive' in Israeli Massacre
    28 May 2025
    The story of Ward Al-Sheikh Khalil is a horrifying reminder of the human cost of Israel’s war on Gaza. As thousands of Palestinian children face death, the world must confront the devastating…
  • Socialist Workers' Movement of the Dominican Republic
    Fighting Apartheid in the Dominican Republic is Essential!
    28 May 2025
    Fighting apartheid in the Dominican Republic is essential to achieving redress for people of African descent in that country.
  • Justin Fenton , Ben Conarck , Pamela Wood
    Forensic Failures: 36 Police-Custody Deaths Should Have Been Ruled a Homicide, Audit Finds
    28 May 2025
    Independent audit finds patterns of racial, pro-police bias in Maryland’s chief medical examiner’s office.
  • Louisiana Workers Council
    Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful’ Cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and More
    28 May 2025
    This fact sheet, put together by the Louisiana Workers Councils, explains how Trump’s “big beautiful” budget bill cuts essential services and benefits for workers in order to give to the wealthy.
  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio May 23, 2025
    23 May 2025
    In this week’s segment, we discuss the legacy of Malcolm X and the state of the political party that many Black people feel trapped in. We are joined by a guest in Libya who explains the lasting…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us