The Power of Images - 2009

White folks control the image-making mediums such as the movies, television, videos, and print/newspapers and magazines, and utilizes a powerful ability to shape the perceptions about blacks for whites, and even for blacks...

2009 started with one of the most powerful, positive images, for and of black folks - the swearing-in and installation of Barack Obama, to the office of President of the U.S., and the first black President, ever.

The fact that blacks are only 11% of the population and less than 5% of the voters, meant that most of those who supported him were whites, followed by a high percentage of other ethnic groups.

Looking back at 2009, it is useful to ask, what did whites achieve and get out of his election, and what purpose did it serve for them? I would argue that they attained a long-sought image of being racially tolerant, progressive, and free from their racist history which has existed since the beginnings of this country. This of course also meant that internationally, they could point to Obama's election as proof of their progressiveness and good intentions toward others. This has been a bonanza for promoting and advancing our efforts in the arena of foreign diplomacy, worldwide.

But with every positive step forward, there are usually several steps backward, and I point to just 3 that were particularly offensive and onerous to me...

- The green-lighting, financing, and distribution of the movie "Precious", which offered some of the most negative stereotypes of blacks ever seen in a movie, ....another powerful image-destroyer of the black family...

- The over-the-top build-up and hype of the talented Tiger Woods, for the past 15 years, starting from when he was an amateur and then becoming the best pro golfer and the world's 1st billion dollar athlete. All this was followed by one of the most intense and vicious destruction of his image, when he was revealed to be a serial adulterer with a long list of white bimbos, to the embarrassment of his Swedish wife....another powerful image-destroyer of the black athlete...

- The recent February, 2010 issue of 'Vanity Fair', with it's cover photo of Tiger Woods, upper torso naked and darkened, and wearing the knit cap commonly worn by prison inmates. This 'darkening' also occurred on the cover of a prominent magazine, when OJ was on trial in 1996. Neither of these darkened images were unplanned, but were very deliberately placed for maximum effect.

- The terrorist 'attempt' by a black Nigerian to bring down a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas day - not only were the warnings about him strangely ignored by those in charge of our security, but he was suspiciously allowed to buy a ticket (paying cash and without any baggage) and board the plane in just a tee-shirt, headed to Detroit in the height of winter. In the many pictures of him that have been posted after his arrest, he looks just like an average young black man on the streets of any of our American cities - another powerful image destroyer of black males....

I am viewing these as the push-back by white supremacists against the hugely positive image created by Obama's election to the presidency. I suspected that there would be a reaction, but I was not prepared for the scope and the intensity of their fury. They were not going to let such a positive image stand, without highlighting and promoting multiple negative images to counteract the positive ones.

If you doubt that white supremacists have the power to create and build-up, then destroy and tear-down, as they choose, I offer these examples as proof....