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


  • BRICS Expansion is Positive – But Not a Coherent Challenge to US Power
    Morning Star Online
    BRICS Expansion is Positive – But Not a Coherent Challenge to US Power
    30 Aug 2023
    The expansion of the BRICS beyond Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa is an important development but not one that will challenge U.S. efforts at domination.
  • Black Agenda Radio August 25, 2023
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio August 25, 2023
    25 Aug 2023
    Impending Haiti occupation and Black face imperialism, attacks on abortion and reproductive rights, how the climate crisis impacts Black people.
  • Haiti Under Attack from Imperialism in Black Face
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Haiti Under Attack from Imperialism in Black Face
    25 Aug 2023
    Austin Cole joins us to talk about the Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team efforts to mobilize against the impending occupation of Haiti which will use African and Caribbean nations to do U.…
  • Attacks on Abortion and Reproductive Rights Harm Black Women
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Attacks on Abortion and Reproductive Rights Harm Black Women
    25 Aug 2023
    Qiana Arnold is a birth justice associate and a full spectrum doula at Support Your Sistah at the Afiya Center in Dallas, Texas.
  • The Climate Crisis, Part 1
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The Climate Crisis, Part 1
    25 Aug 2023
    Forrest Palmer is a native of Los Angeles, California who is now an electrical engineer residing in Houston, Texas.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us