By now there must be many Americans who can see that Barack Obama is not a Muslim. He has denied the religion of his father and totally embraced the religion of his mother. He has stated and demonstrated that Christianity is his faith of choice and he attends church regularly. He has derided his spiritual leader Jeremiah Wright and the final nail in the coffin is his disdain for Islam and Muslims as evident in his speech of June 4, 2008 to the American Israeli Political Action Committee, AIPAC. This is the lobbying agent that insures that every politician in this country sells their soul to the Israeli agenda. Obama defied reality by shattering hope that peace and justice would come to Palestinians by declaring in clear terms that whatever Israel wants Israel will get when he is president and that the Palestinians can expect more of the same.
I don't know about anyone else but I, as an African-American and Muslim, am deeply offended. I view the electoral process as inept and deceptive. The election of 2000 was rigged in favor of our current president. The citizens returned to the voting booths in 2004 and were again denied a change in government. And even when they voted in a Democratic majority in congress in 2006 change was an illusion. The two party system has failed us. Yet in these last sixteen months change one can believe in was the theme of Obama's campaign. Change that would give the people the power that is endemic in a democracy. Change that would insure jobs for the skilled and able who want to work in this country. Change that would see the issues of utmost importance to Americans, i.e. health care, the economy, and the environment become priorities that are dealt with immediately in order for this country to recover from a debilitating war that has left over 4,000 service people dead and thousands wounded for life. Change in an education system that would allow our children to flourish academically and steer clear of the prison system. Here was a person of color whose advancement was made possible not only because of his intelligence but because of the sacrifices of the pioneers of the civil rights era. Barack Obama represented himself as the right person for the job.
When he stood before the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill and sang praises to the state of Israel, I could feel the resonating sigh of anguish and disappointment from those who hopes for true justice and peace were dashed. He talked about eliminating threats to Israel but never once did he mention removing Israel's threat to the rest of the region.
His commitment to Israel tells me that my basic concerns don't matter. Elections have always favored corporations and their hold on our government. The poor are suffering today and those who are members of the middle class will be joining them soon. But a majority of the American people can't fathom how the crisis in the Middle East directly affects our way of life here. As an African-American male Obama should be sympathizing with the plight of the Palestinians based on America's history of oppression of people of color from slavery to the present. Instead Obama's commitment to guarantee funding the state of Israel has guaranteed that the poor will get poorer and many of us will be joining their ranks. In essence he lied when he said there would be change which we can believe in.
True change comes in the form of recognizing the Palestinians right to return to their homes. True change means an end to the apartheid wall that Israel is building to segregate and humiliate the Palestinians. True change means denying funding to Israel as long as they continue committing genocide on the Palestinian people. Anything short of these changes is equivalent to continued suffering here and abroad.
When he stood before AIPAC and announced that our bond with Israel would be unbreakable today, tomorrow and forever, I understood that Israel will continue to kill, starve and abuse the Palestinians with the blessing of the United States of America.
The King James version of the Bible says “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul”. The Quran says, “For the life of this world is but goods and chattels of deception”. Barack Obama has sold his soul to the state of Israel and we have been sold a bag of goods deceiving us into believing that true change would come.
