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Was Hugo Chavez a Better Black Leader Than President Obama?


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My hunch is yes because it seems our mixed-race President is incapable of mentioning let alone shining light on issues facing Afro-Americans in the United States.


Ignoring the images of Hugo Chavez portrayed in protector-of-the-status-quo news media, you will find that Chavez was a champion of rights and inclusion for Afro-Venezuelans. Chavez was the extremely rare Latino leader who acknowledged his African roots and sought full recognition of Afro-Venezuelans in the culture.  

 

From Al Jazerra: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/03/201336151053865910.html

 

From Black Agenda Report: http://blackagendareport.com/content/hugo-chavez-new-world-rising

 

Perhaps quite unknown to some Americans, racism and discrimination against people of color with darker skin in South and Latin America countries have followed a similar trajectory as in the United States since most Latino cultures have been dominated by European imperialists and/or Europeanized white Latinos for hundreds of years.  

 

Professor Henry Louis Gates explores histories of racism and discrimination in Latin and South America countries in his 2011 PBS series Black In Latin America, which can be viewed online at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/black-in-latin-america/

 

Surely. Rev. Jesse Jackson’s eulogy delivered at Chavez’s funeral tells what should have been widely known all along. His interview on Al Jazeera is even more telling, revealing how Chavez sent thousands of electricity generators to New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina before the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was able/willing to deliver any aid.

 

Jackson’s Eulogy: http://www.mediaite.com/tv/jesse-jacksons-tribute-at-hugo-chavez-funeral-he-fed-hungry-lifted-poor-helped-people-realize-their-dreams/


Jackson’s interview on Al Jazerra: www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/03/201339124113339.html

 

Yet Chavez haters cannot be ignored when pointing out the contradiction that the former military officer, so-called socialist, and champion of poor and marginalized communities had a net worth of nearly $2 billion when he died.


Nonetheless though, ultimately, there has to be great admiration and respect for a president who is proud of his nappy hair and other people with nappy hair.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I have not read the articles yet.  But I would say absolutely.  . 

 

In fact I would not consider Obama a Black leader he, as so many of his rabid supporters say, is a leader of ALL Americans -- not just the Black ones.  Obama is a leader who happens to be Black as it is defined here in the US.

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I definitely trusted Hugo Chevez over Obama. I agree with Cornel West who called President Obama a republican in black face. It is beginning about now to look like Obama was put into 'power' to finish what Bush started. We are being duped.

 

 

This brother make some good points in this video although I don't agree with him calling people stupid:

 

 

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Since I'm in this thread, I think it's only proper manners that I address the question posed in it before I address other issues...........

Was Hugo Chavez a Better Black Leader Than President Obama?

*If the term "Black Leader" is being defined as a leader who happens to be Black....

No

Because Hugo Chavez was not Black.

It's obvious he had African ancestry and I believe he mentioned it, however he also had European (Spanish) and Indian ancestry as well and looked more Meztizo than Afro.

*However if the term "Black Leader" is defined as a leader (of any race) who Black people are following.

I would have to say the answer would be Yes

Chavez's socialist policies benefitted the poor and lower classes much more than the capitalist "bail 'em out" policies of President Obama. And since most Black people are on the lower end of the economic ladder, they would benefit more under HIS policies than under Obama's.

I'm a capitalist, but I don't believe in crony capitalism and I also believe some things (like healthcare) should be socialized.

But concerning the brutha in the video............

I'm not sure if it's because he's driving and not totally focused on what he's saying, but the gentleman in the video seems too angry and inarticulate to adequately get his point across.

One shouldn't be so quick to make a video and broadcast it to a world wide audience until they know WHAT they want to say and HOW to say it....less you sound so sloppy that people will be  too busy laughing at you to focus on what you're trying to say.

Now I agree with him that President Obama hasn't done enough for Black people or most of the liberal base who put him in.

However if you want someone to do something you must first figure out what exactly it is you want and put it down in writing and present it to him as a a PLAN.

What do you want?

Better schools?

Better paying jobs?

Free healthcare?

What is your AGENDA?

Another problem is too many Black people think that all they have to do is vote their man in and thier job is done.

A negro will put on a suit and tie and go vote, stop to get some Popeye's chicken and a red pop, and go home to eat and sleep soundly thinking his job is done.

Once you put a man in office you must support him financially and keep the money coming in to counter the money being sent from the opposing lobbyists to make sure your man stays on the inside and your agenda stays on the table.

Also you must support him through the media by constantly getting on television and radio arguing for YOUR issues and interests and not just going along with whatever your particular political party is promoting today.

Its' not magic, 

It's about money and influence....plain and simple.

BTW.....

I believe the "turtle looking guy" on CNN he's refering to is Don Lemon.

He's a pretty professional journalist in my opinion but being openly gay (not sure why HE had to come out while Anderson Cooper gets to stay in the closet) it's clear he supports Obama because of his pro-gay stance.

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"No, Because Hugo Chavez was not Black."

 

This is exactly why the term makes no sense.  As far as we know, Chavez may have MORE African ancestry than Obama, but you would not hesitate to call Obama  Black.  Besides if Chavez were in America, his African Ancestry alone would make him Black. 

 

Although here we lump all Spanish speakers into one category latin/hispanic which are words means just as much as Black/white.

 

The aljazeera.com article points our situations when President Chavez rose to the support and plight of several issues related to African descendants in other countries, including the United States [New Orleans, The Bronx, etc].

 

The pages of linked quotes is interesting: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20712033

 

I had no idea Chavez was so young...

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Troy

For the record, I see neither Chavez NOR Obama as Black.
I see both as men of African descent, but racially speaking neither are Black in my opinion.


As far as Chavez being seen as Black if he were in America......it depends.
His being of Spanish ancestry and being a Latino may negate the "one drop" theory in the eyes of most Americans.
How many Puerto Ricans have you known in New York who were Blacker than you but because they spoke with an accent were considered "Latino" instead?

Most Americans still see Latino as a race in and of itself.
 


 


Anika

THAT beady-eyed character is even spookier than the first negro you had on the stage!

Atleast the Black dude was just doing a little harmless ranting and raving on his way back home from the cleaners.....
Buy him a cold beer and he'll probably take back everything he said, lol.


But that White guy you put on ain't playing around....he's got an agenda.
He's in a suit and tie dropping some George Orwellian type shiit no one else could have even dreamed up.

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@anika99 thanks for posting the video.

 

This guy scares me because it seems he is a ruse, a plant, a troll.  Across the Internet, there are many so-called “Black commentators” who are actually underwritten by racist, white conservative groups. This is made clear to me from viewing his web site where he take extreme, right wing,
conservative view on every issue, every issue. 

 

For example, in the first article, he calls the Palestinian Authority a terrorist group, which is odd for a person of color because any reasonable analysis of the current Palestinian situation shows that the U.S. gives Israel $2 billion a year to maintain an apartheid system against people of color.

 

Second he seems to echo the talking points of the right wing, conservative media with his references to Jesse Jackson, Sharpton, and Ann Coulter.  That he alludes to Ann Coulter is indicting for me that he is right wing nut job. In fact go to any conservative web site and you will read/hear the same comments about Jackson and Sharpton and Dr. King. This is a standard, longstanding ploy by conservative media to discredit any
black leader, real or imagined.


And I would agree with @Troy that he does not offer an alternative voice because if you are getting information and “truth” from corporate-controlled media, be it Fox, MSNBC, CBS, etc., you are getting narrow viewpoints.


Finally, as I empirical rule, I immediately disregard anyone who calls people stupid and ignorant when they have survived 300-plus years of slavery, oppression, Jim and Jane Crow, racism, discrimination, etc. 


I voted for Obama, sure, but what other choice did I have with the rigged two-party electoral system? And I always vote because people died to secure that right?  There will never be real choice until there are one or two more political parties in America.


To be sure, Obama has been disappointing. But there are more reasonable, nuanced, thoughtful criticism elsewhere, seemingly anyplace else as it seems that indeed common sense bypassed this charlatan.


One, of many, good places to get smart, reasonable takedowns of Obama Administration policies is at http://blackagendareport.com/


There you will get fact not irrational, immature, disrespectful rants.

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@Pioneer 1  Intriguing comments.

 

But…well…according to protocol of European colonizer and the American KKK-inspired one-drop rule, Chavez’ skin was dark, so he was Black!!

 

Since you are keen to Chavez social policies, are you then aware of the parallels with Fidel Castro and Afro-Cubans?

 

Afro-Cubans were widely discriminated against before Castro came to power.

 

In fact there are some accounts that it was mostly so-called white Cubans who fled when Castro seized power.  Nonetheless, that parallel with Chavez is an untold story.

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@Troy


Nice overview article on Chavez.  I still think his comment at the U.N about Bush, “The Devil Was Here,” is poetic and priceless, regardless of political views.  

 

Certainly Chavez had his fault, but the same can be said for leaders of many nations.  Witness the many nations in the European Union that are going bust.  It cannot be said that Chavez bankrupted Venezuela.


That is why I always seek information outside of the American corporate-controlled, protector-of-the-status-quo media as they always echo the foreign policy of whatever presidential administration is in power.

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@anika99, regarding the second video

 

Well…sort of…kind of redemption for you with that one….but…really…he’s seem just a wee bit paranoid!!  

 

Nonetheless, the brilliant thing about really good conspiracy theorists is they cannot be dismissed whole cloth because there is always, always a grain, albeit tiny most times, of reality and/or truth that they might be onto something.


But better him than that no-common sense Negro guy.
  

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Anika the guy in the video did a lot of bitching :-)  But I was waiting an alternative, something we do differently.  Let say we stopped supporting Obama what should we do then?

 

 

Bitching some truth, although I did not agree with his pro republican comments. As far as I am concern the democrats and the republicans are all the same.

 

 

Pioneer, concerning that seedy eyed character white guy you mention... 'truth is sometimes stranger then fiction."

 

Sounds like someone on this thread voted for Obama, lol!

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96d_CzrfxsM

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Need

I'm hip to the history of how the young lawyer and his band of men took power in Cuba and how most of the wealthy White Cubans fled to Miami because the new Communist government seized most of their land and businesses and was planning on seizing the rest of thier wealth....lol.

All Americans and AfroAmericans in specific can learn quite a few lessons from the Cuban people not only in independence but in medicine and agriculture. You must wonder how such a small island nation maintains itself so well through a 50 year embargo.

Pound for pound (and probably in actual numbers given the state of Black youth in America today) there are more Black doctors and scientists in Cuba than any other nation in the Western Hemisphere.

Anika

Cornel West!

Now that's a name that I can trust.

Always on point, and in an eloquent way.

We need more Black intellectuals who can articulate our concerns in an effective yet non-hostile way.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Greetings to those with whom I am familiar and to those with whom I am not

 

My two cents:

 

Because leaders are simply people, none of them are without their flaws. 

 

Hugo Chavez did many wonderful things that many will never hear about simply because he refused to be a puppet of imperialism. This made him a "ruthless dictator" to both those who knew better and those of us who did not know better yet allowed (and continue to allow) the mainstream media- the mouthpiece of the western agenda- to choose our friends, allies, enemies, even our more general likes and dislikes. 

 

It is my opinion that we are quick to parrot yet slow to research. Quick to accept the given yet slow to question it. Perhaps if this were not so, we would be more apt to question our conditioning, our pre-programmed biases...or at the very least, be aware of their origins.

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