African-Americans slam Obama
‘White power in black face’:
US: Decrying Barack Obama as “white power in black face,” hundreds of
African-Americans marched on the White House Saturday to protest
policies of the first black US president, and demand that he bring US
troops home.
More than 200 people gathered for the first public demonstration by
African Americans against the Obama administration since his historic
inauguration in January, and slammed the president for continuing what
they described as Washington’s “imperialist” agenda around the world.
“We recognize that Barack Hussein Obama is white power in black
face,” civil rights activist Omali Yeshitela, chairman of the Black is
Back coalition which arranged the protest, called into a megaphone as
the group marched outside the mansion’s gates. “He is a tool of our
imperialist enemies and we demand our freedom. ”
Protesters also called for Obama to order troops out of Iraq and to
scrap Africom, the controversial year-old United States Africa Command,
and demanded “hands off” Venezuela and ends to the Cuba embargo and the
Zimbabwe blockade.
Several demonstrators held up placards bearing messages such as “US
out of Afghanistan” and “Stop US war against Iraq.”
Charles Baron, a New York city councilman and former member of the
Black Panthers, a Black Power movement in the mid-1960s and 1970s,
attacked the president for turning a cold shoulder to the plight of
African-Americans.
“We’re not satisfied with him, and... this hope and change rap has
not been a reality for black people,” Baron told AFP during the
demonstration.
Washington, Sunday, AFP |