Radical hip-hop artist and political activist Sister Souljah ... She's got soul, but she's not a soldier ... Photograph: Public domain
After the fuss over a track by radical rappers East Cost Avengers that calls for the kidnapping and execution of broadcaster Bill O'Reilly, right-wing pundits and bloggers have been trying desperately to connect Barack Obama to the track on the somewhat shaky premise that Obama is an African-American, and rap is music is popular with African-American youth.
Obama's opponents are hoping for what is known as a Sister Souljah moment. This is where a candidate kicks the crap out of some "extremist" or an embarrassing popular-culture straw dog in order to appear sensible, grown up and, most importantly, mainstream.
The original Sister Souljah moment came during the 1992 presidential race when obscure rap artist and radical political activist Sister Souljah found herself at the centre of a major political shit storm as a result of this video where she made the perfectly reasonable and totally punk-rock claim: "If there are any good white people, I haven't met them."
She followed this up with an equally awesome and much-quoted-out-of-context comment from an interview with the Washington Post about the Los Angeles riots: "If black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?"
Bill Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate at the time, in what was widely seen as an attempt to distance himself from Jesse Jackson in the minds of white voters, seized on these remarks and, in a speech to the Jackson-led Rainbow Coalition, (which Sister Souljah had also been asked to address) said: "If you took the words "white" and "black" and you reversed them, you might think David Duke was giving that speech."
After that everybody with a brain called Clinton a dick. And every attempt by politicians to give themselves more mainstream appeal by attacking a non-mainstream idea, artist or activist has been labelled an SSM.
Unsurprisingly, Obama has been accused of having had more than a few SSMs during his campaign. These have included:
His comments about black fathers, his rejection of the (perfectly justified) anti-racist rantings of pastor Jeremiah Wright, his support of Bush's surveillance bill, Jesse Jacksons's on-mic Obama bashing, his repudiation of Bernie Mac, and his comments about Ludacris.
Today, Sister Souljah - her musical career blown to Christmas and back by Clinton's attack - is a successful writer and community activist. I wish there were more like her - and like the East Coast Avengers. As for all the bands that haven't put out singles calling for the execution of Bill O'Reilly: what's wrong with them? Why not? What are they thinking? What excuse could they possibly have?
Maybe that should be the first question in every band interview from now on: When are you going to release a track calling for the execution of Bill O'Reilly? You soft, thumb-sucking, sat-on-the-fence, ineffectual, self-absorbed, disconnected, irrelevant, sell-out, worse than useless, prematurely middle-aged liberal bastards?
Can anybody with even a basic grasp of history imagine being a young African American and not being totally incensed and ready to express that fury to anybody who'll listen?
More pertinently, can you imagine being a sane, educated and reasonably well-informed young musician who doesn't burn with an all-but-inexpressible hatred and anger? Sister Souljah and the East Coast Avengers shame just about every other allegedly alternative musical act on the planet. If you're not being attacked by the likes of Bill Clinton, Bill O'Reilly and Barack Obama, you're really not doing your job.
