Acting White: President Obama Angers Black Press

President Obama accomplished many things at his first press conference last week, including rubbing some of his home-folks the wrong way. Of note, he invited representatives of both the black and Puerto Rican-press to sit up front and knock elbows with 50 year correspondent Helen Thomas, the Associated Press (AP), and Reuters. However, getting a prime seat and getting on the questions list are not the same.

After being frozen out of the questions, Hazel Edney, a black reporter from the Black Press of America exclaimed, “we were window dressing”. Another anonymous black-press reporter said of Obama, “he ought to be ashamed.” Normally, minority press representative can be found in cheap seats, or standing in the entryway, so the angst is somewhat understandable, but not really.

Here we have a president wading into the alligator-infested waters of the country’s problems, and the last thing he needed was a ‘black’ question. What are you going to do about blacks with this, that, or the other problem? I understand the focus, but the probability of these types of questions assumes Obama’s perspective and solutions are white-only, and represent the old-school. He is everybody’s president and we should take his word until proven otherwise. As they feel each other out, it is up to the black-press to convince Obama that they are not out to embarrass him or grandstand at his expense.

The first thing they can do is drop the chips on their shoulders that cause them to feel slighted if they are not treated above non-black organizations. The comment by Ms. Edney ignores that there will be more briefings where, with her current admonishment of the president, she is now likely to be standing back in the entryway. No Obama press staffer wants to be the one who gave clearance to a person who embarrassed the boss.

Rather than seeing the seating as a positive gesture and encouragement to move beyond the confines of speaking only for the black community, these journalists returned to the status quo of taking shots at the president. What they ignore is that as long as his solutions encompass the widest swath of the citizenry, the public does not care about the nuance of his operation. The professional press, on the other hand, should care very much that he is juggling more inclusive access. The comments of the black-press are exactly the reason why caution is warranted. Their shirtsleeve-emotional responses show a lack of professionalism toward cultivating this important invite. In-your-face confrontation and insults are not the way to win a front-row seat or spot on the next question list. Time to turn over a new professional leaf.

James C. Collier

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