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      *In the wake of the November election, Obba Babatunde would like to get some issues off his chest. The veteran of film and television is fed up with the lack of passion among some African Americans in this country when it comes to issues affecting our community.

      “We’re so comfortable in our own individual lifestyle, that we somehow allow ourselves to be subjugated to what the result of a situation is, rather than taking action – at the smallest thing,” Babatune says. “Case, point and example - if I make a comment that is somehow implying in someone’s mind that I might be saying something either homophobic or anti-Semitic, people from those communities immediately go crazy and they come after me. [The African American community doesn’t] do that. We’ll say, “Man, that don’t bother me, but if someone steps to me personally, etc…” But as a group, as an organized body, we don’t do it. And that greatly concerns me.”

      The native of Jamaica, Queens, New York says Bush’s reelection is the result of Republicans “being organized as never before in terms of record numbers coming out to the polls.” Whether it was a general malaise with politics or a lack of an organizational effort to get Kerry supporters into the voting booths, Babatunde is convinced that apathy exists among too many African Americans – evidenced by the lack of outcry surrounding the Internet rumor of blacks losing the right to vote in 2007.

      In 1982, according to the story, Ronald Reagan amended the Voting Rights Act of 1965 for another 25 years - until 2007.  At that time, congress would revisit the issue and in addition to congressional approval, there needs to be the approval of 38 states for the law to be extended.

      “Whether it happened or not is my point,” says Babatunde of the Voting Rights Act expiration rumor. “My point is that [the Act] was amended.  The maturation date was extended. To date, we have not said, ‘Wait a minute, this is ridiculous. Why is it that the thing was simply the maturation date was extended, rather than the fact that it wasn’t entered into law?’ The right to vote is ours. Period. The end.  Why are we on a pass? And again, that is the example that I speak to. Whether it happens or whether it doesn’t is debatable. But what is not debatable is that when it was voted to be extended, there was no great uprising, and there still has not been any to date.” 

      [Editor's note: The Internet rumor was ultimately a hoax. According to the United States Department of Justice, both the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, guarantee that no person can be prohibited from voting because of race or color. That guarantee is without expiration.  However, lawmakers did add some provisions that are up for review in 2007.  Those include things like a ban on poll taxes, allowing the government to register voters if local registrars of voters refuse to do it, and monitoring of elections where there may be concern over everybody getting a chance to vote.]

      Compounding Babatunde’s frustration are the differences between today’s reaction to injustices and the steps taken by members of the Civil Rights movement during the 60s.

      “Years ago, there were organizations that took to the streets, literally,” he says. “We boycotted the buses and there was something that people could actually involve themselves in – to really feel they were a part of it. We don’t have that at this time.  We are completely polarized. We have more individual wealth and less collective power than we’ve ever had before.” 

      With two films on the horizon for 2005 – “The Celestine Prophecy” and “The Black Man’s Guide to Understanding Black Women” – the busy actor’s success in Hollywood has not clouded his concern for the political future of the black community.

      “I don’t mean to speak cavalier and make this sound like this is an easy problem to solve or resolve, but I’m saying it has to have a starting point,” he says. “And it is something that certainly I believe at least deserves a dialogue in pursuant to the specifics of this election.”