sometimes on race and specifically Black American issues the more sensitive they get. I hate it.

I feel like it annoys me so much almost *because* I'm a fellow Black immigrant/African immigrant descendant too tho lol. Like... I can empathize with a lot of the identity stuff, early immersion in non-Black environments, feelings of displacement and longing, and other things BO (or those interviewed who knew him in earlier years) has shared about his life. But in being able to relate to all that, when he or Kamala or whoever *insert non-ADOS Black politician* have their little "not gonna do something that's ONLY gonna benefit Black people, nooo!" (c) moments, it's glaring to me how little effort there must have been to truly connect with Black American history and experiences beyond a superficial level. I mean if we take away the HBCU, the Black sorority, the Black spouse, the Kwanzaa statements, etc.. these mealy-mouthed positions they take sound like they're coming from who exactly??? The disconnect is even more egregious considering Black people like us (i.e. immigrated to America or are immediate descendants thereof) account for only 10-20% of the Black people in the US they've repeatedly relied on to get elected (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/24/key-facts-about-black-immigrants-in-the-u-s/). Like, fucking give back.

Re: this podcast specifically I would say Obama finally warming up to the justification for reparations (tho still not even believing in it enough to advocate, with all his hedges and excuses) does sound more like a political calculation, in anticipation of a study bill actually passing congress in coming years and being signed into law by Biden or Kamala or whoever. It sounds like he doesn't want his legacy to be that he was the first Black pres and opposed reparations for Black Americans, while his non-Black successors end up advancing the cause more than he did. But that is his reality (eg. https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/obama-opposes-reparations-slavery-article-1.314179).

Tbh I'm skeptical of whether he could even credibly voice full-throated support for reparations at this point without looking cravenly opportunistic, given his track record of dissent. In fact if BO was my friend, I might ask if he's considered stfu about reparations and supporting quietly in the background, out of respect for his wife's and children's ancestors. Honestly. Because his trail of anti-reparations quotations and interviews is so long and has trended the complete opposite direction of the polling on this issue.

If as an elected Black official and afterwards he's (still) uncomfortable standing with (talk more of fighting for) Black constituents on an issue this transformative, on an issue polling has shown majority Black support for decades, then *at the very least* he should stay completely out the way of those who lack that discomfort. And again, I still like him, and sympathize a lot with the resistance he was up against as the first Black pres. I'm under no illusion that he could have advanced reparations efforts during his tenure. But he never ever had to go as far as being a leading voice of opposition, and this mealy-mouthed speaking-for-the-racist-side bs he's doing even til now has got to go. Do no harm.