Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/Video/News Video
News VideoVideo

Green Party VP Calls President Obama an ‘Uncle Tom’, Watch Jill Stein Try to Soften Blow

Posted byBy Ricky Riley | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

Green Party vice presidential nominee Ajamu Baraka defends calling President Barack Obama an “Uncle Tom” during CNN’s “Green Party Town Hall” Wednesday, Aug. 17.

Host Chris Cuomo asks Baraka about his past statements calling Obama the term. He minces no words and reassures the host that he meant what he said.

Since Obama took office, Baraka has become a vocal critic of the president’s policies and handling of Black issues. He tells Cuomo that Obama has let Black people down by not taking a vehement stand against systematic white supremacy.

“What I wanted to do was basically to tell people who had this hope in Barack Obama, that if we were concerned and serious about how we could displace white power, we had to demystify the policies and the positions of this individual,” Baraka says in the clip from the town hall. “So that was how it got framed, to shock people into a more critical look at this individual … and I stand by that.”

However, Green Party presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein swarms as she tries to dance around Baraka’s use of the term.

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top