One of the most oft used phrases when discussing the many perils facing black men in America is “single mothers cannot make a men out of their sons.” The overwhelming majority of people that make such utterances are people that purport to have the communities best interest despite such a detrimental self fulfilling prophecy and despite it paling in comparison to reality. The truth is there are single mothers making men out of their boys every day. Next month graduation ceremonies from kindergartners to PHD programs will be audiences full of single moms watching their boys take giant sized steps towards greater manhood so to say boys can’t make it to manhood and productive citizenry is a misnomer to say the least. That said there is a formula to turning a boy to a man under the roof of a single (black) mother’s household and clearly some are privy to that formula while others are oblivious to the modus operandi of a super mom—the type of mother needed to successfully raise a boy to a man (and a girl to a woman) devoid of paternal guidance and involvement.
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Sunday, May 8, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
The Hate that Hate Keeps on Producing
Anger, fear, hate and a state of total oblivion to senseless war were the active ingredients that concocted the the combustible 1960's. It's also eerily similar to the level of toxins that currently infect today's talk as it pertains to politics, ideology and the strictly visceral conditioned response to the myriad social issues that a society of 300 million plus face on a daily basis. We saw the reverberations of such a harmful mixture of energy aired out this past weekend when a lone shooter who was already weak of thought took to exercising his God-given man-made second amendment rights on a congresswoman he deemed a part of the problem with government. Though he failed in his assassination attempt of Gabrielle Gifford he successfully murdered in cold blood 6 innocent bystanders including a 9 year old girl and sending an additional 14 people to ICU with critical gun shoot wounds including his primary target Congresswoman Gifford who miraculously survived a point blank shot to the head from a 9mm pistol.
The incident that occurred in front of Safeway in Tuscon Arizona last Saturday was not the beginning and likely not the end of a streak of violence currently running through the vein of America. The news media is replete with imagery of hate, anger and even an encouragement of anger from certain political office seekers, holders and pundits on a 24 hour, 7 day a week basis. If such inundation is not bad enough the stoked ignorance, fear, anger and hate is mostly met with a tacit acknowledgement and even justification from this president and many of his political allies who have the same omni-directional target of angst on their back . This shameful imbalance and moreover misdirected public sentiment is one of the primary causes for the current climate of hate that our country is grappling with. It is also a primary cause for the uptick in political threats and violence being carried out today.
On the Defense
Unless you lived under a rock for the past few days (or watch Fox) you would be well aware that Sarah "Barracuda" Palin is under some well deserved fire(zero pun) for marking with cross hairs Gabrielle Giffords district to be taken out (with her in it) because of her vote for helathcare reform. To make matters worse for Palin in March of 2010 Mrs. Gifford while on MSNBC spoke in prophetic manner about the violent imagery of herself and others depicted on Sarah's website and on her facebook page. Sarah, never one to hold her tounge was uncharacteristically quiet and absent from public view upon Saturdays events. There were more Waldo sitings in the subsequent days than there were Palin tweets or facebook status updates. Were it not for the tragic loss of life and the trail of very serious injuries the shooter Jared Lee Loughner would be lauded for doing something that no one has been able to do since John McCain unleashed Frankenbitch on America--he shut her up for four days straight.
So when Mama Bear comes out of her self-imposed four day hibernation, you would think that she'd be a little contrite and show a hint of humility, but nope; In an eight minute Internet video response she cowardly and shamelessly excoriated the media for suggesting that the vitriolic hyperbolic rage that she, Glenn Beck and the Tea Party have been force feeding America be curtailed. She did not retreat from her ominous cross-hair propaganda hit, she instead reloaded on more of the same incoherent self serving patronage that she's become known for. The infamous road to no where must intersect with the high road because Sarah seems to have rejected them both in this eight minute diatribe of nothingness where she seemingly exacerbated her public relations (among us sane folk) problem by making an ill-timed, ill-fated and quite honestly inexplicable reference to her being made out to be a blood libel. Congressman James Clyburn summed it up best when he said that she was intellectually incapable of understanding the Arizona shootings.
Just to be clear Sarah Palin, Beck and the Tea Party are NOT responsible for the dastardly deeds of Jared Lee Loughner. Those crimes are 100 percent the fault of Lee and his obvious mental short comings. What Sarah and her band of angry crack pots are guilty of is setting up and maintaining a climate of hate, fear, anger and misinformation. Their failure to understand the causal link between violent or suggestively violent rhetoric and violence actually playing itself out in random order makes them guilty by participation. Some of them are willfully so and the others are ignorantly so. Whatever the case they are most certainly a large part of the problem and nothing close to being a solution for anything wrong with this country.
The Historical Links Between Rhetoric and Violence
If Sarah and Glenn are honestly unaware of the disastrous effects of their negative and even vile commentary they need only ask their network mate and fellow propagandist (albeit on a part-time basis) Juan Williams. Even if he is too caught up in the Fox hole to speak truth to the powers that be, they could re-visit his Eyes on the Prize documentary. They will see that before Medgar Evers was killed, he was overtly and publicly threatened. Before JFK was killed he recieved a plethora of threats. The same is the case for his brother Bobby as well as Martin Luther King Jr. Many years ago Louis Fharakkan apologized to Betty Shabazz (widow of Malcolm X) for his role in the death of Malcolm. He did not apologize to her for pulling the trigger or even ordering the trigger to be pulled. He apologized for helping to create an environment of pure hatred for Malcolm---one that ultimately led to his assassination.
Today we see the same kind of hateful vibrations enveloping America. In addition to the obligatory threats (if you want to call a 400 percent spike in presidential threats post 1/20/09 obligatory) we have a congressmen yell out "You Lie" while the president was giving his State of The Union address; You have several other members of the House of Representatives legislatively questioning the sitting presidents birth place and birth rights, you have very influential radio/television hosts that call him a racist, Socialist, Marxist, Elitist, Communist, and a Fascist (all in the same hour). His most innocuous and previously considered non-partisan measures have been met with acrimony and conspiratorial speculation by the elected officials that he is forced to deal with in congress--people who have convinced themselves and the voters that vote for them that they should be angry, very angry. And their anger is replicated on television and radio day in and day out. You also have a speaker of the House that does not believe in the word compromise. So much so that he opted to pass on the free ride to the memorial on Air Force One to honor a house member and some fallen hero's only to go yuck it up at a cocktail party at the Washington National Harbor.
Sarah Palin's biggest mistake in her facebook video fail was not her ridiculous reference to blood libel or even her inappropriate reference to the good ole days when politicians settled disputes with dueling pistols(really Sarah?). Her biggest mistake was coming out of hiding and making a statement about the Tuscon tragedy on the eve of the presidents address on the topic. If ever there were a bigger more complete contrast between Obama and the woman gunning for his job, this was it. She came off petulant while he came off presidential. She spoke mostly about her self and he spoke about the victims in a manner that made the audience feel as if he really knew them. He showed that he really did care about the victims of this tragedy and she showed that she only cares about her spiraling public image and made her self out to be the biggest victim. He showed that he truly wishes to unite the country and change the tone and tenor in Washington and she is hell bent on ostracizing those that don't agree with her and along with her guns and bibles she wishes to cling to the vitriolic rhetoric that she burst on the scene with in 2008. He lost that Tuscon district in 2008, she and McCain won it. He has that district on lock in 2012, she will not even be part of the conversation in 2012.
Obama in his address took the nation to a higher level at a time when our collective thoughts were in the doldrums'. Not only did he bring calm and peace to the loved ones of the victims, he called on rest of the country to speak and act with higher ideals. In that very instant he disarmed (at least temporarily) and moreover made less prosperous the biggest weapon formed against him--Propaganda and hate speak.
Hate will continue to beget hate, but love conquers all. Thank you Mr. President
The Calm Voice That always Prevails
Sarah Palin's biggest mistake in her facebook video fail was not her ridiculous reference to blood libel or even her inappropriate reference to the good ole days when politicians settled disputes with dueling pistols(really Sarah?). Her biggest mistake was coming out of hiding and making a statement about the Tuscon tragedy on the eve of the presidents address on the topic. If ever there were a bigger more complete contrast between Obama and the woman gunning for his job, this was it. She came off petulant while he came off presidential. She spoke mostly about her self and he spoke about the victims in a manner that made the audience feel as if he really knew them. He showed that he really did care about the victims of this tragedy and she showed that she only cares about her spiraling public image and made her self out to be the biggest victim. He showed that he truly wishes to unite the country and change the tone and tenor in Washington and she is hell bent on ostracizing those that don't agree with her and along with her guns and bibles she wishes to cling to the vitriolic rhetoric that she burst on the scene with in 2008. He lost that Tuscon district in 2008, she and McCain won it. He has that district on lock in 2012, she will not even be part of the conversation in 2012.
Obama in his address took the nation to a higher level at a time when our collective thoughts were in the doldrums'. Not only did he bring calm and peace to the loved ones of the victims, he called on rest of the country to speak and act with higher ideals. In that very instant he disarmed (at least temporarily) and moreover made less prosperous the biggest weapon formed against him--Propaganda and hate speak.
Hate will continue to beget hate, but love conquers all. Thank you Mr. President
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Barack The Magic Negro: Is it Myth, Reality or Both?
In 2007 shortly after then Senator Obama announced his intent to run for president there was an op-ed piece in the Los Angeles times entitled Obama the 'Magic Negro' in which the author is likening Obama to basically whatever it is that made Sidney Poitier, Will Smith, Morgan Freeman and the Michael Clarke Duncan’s of the world cross over box office hits. According to the author David Erehestein (via Wikipedia) The Magic Negro is a figure of postmodern folk culture, coined by snarky 20th century sociologists, to explain a cultural figure who emerged in the wake of Brown vs. Board of Education. "He has no past, he simply appears one day to help the white protagonist," The author expounds upon his wiki-weak definition of Magic Negro by saying “He's there to assuage white "guilt" (i.e., the minimal discomfort they feel) over the role of slavery and racial segregation in American history, while replacing stereotypes of a dangerous, highly sexualized black man with a benign figure for whom interracial sexual congress holds no interest." Hence his reference to Poitiers ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”, Freeman’s Driving Miss Daisy, Duncan’s Green Mile and any Will Smith flick.
The author maintains that Obama’s rise in popularity and political prominence had much more to do with mythical Hollywood cultural tendencies than it did his politics, oratory skills or even the anti-Bush political climate. The sentiments from the article gathered little moss because within a years time Obama had proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was more than a Hollywood myth by defeating the Clinton juggernaut en route to the democratic nomination.
A year later a far less innocuous version of the Magic Negro made even bigger headlines. This time it was in the form of a song by political satirist Paul Shanklin. It was called Barack The Magic Negro and it was a parody using the Puff The Magic Dragon theme. The fact that Rush Limbaugh used the song as an intro to his radio show is proof enough that it was offensive, but if that's not enough evidence peep the lyrics-- "Yeah, the guy from the L.A. paper Said he makes guilty whites feel good They’ll vote for him, and not for me 'Cause he's not from the hood (in a Sharpton voice with a bullhorn effect). Kind of cleaver for a race baiting wind bag like Rush Limbaugh who needs such insidious and divisive commentary to feed the ethos of his mostly racist and mostly ignorant listeners but a terrible idea for a person with aspirations of being chairman of the Republican national committee. That was the mistake made by the then front running candidate to head the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee. In December of 2008 Chip Salter who was campaigning to lead the RNC for the next two years thought it prudent to mail copies of the“Barack The Magic Negro” song to the voting members of the RNC. Needless to say it became a public relations nightmare for himself and the party and he ended up having to withdraw his name from contention forcing the party to play their race card by making an undue, unneeded and moreover unproductive choice of Michael Steele as the first HNIC of the RNC. If Obama is the lefts Magic Negro Steele is no doubt the rights 'Tragic Negro'. Beware of flying pigs and frigid temperatures in hell if Michael Steele is retained as chairman of the RNC.
Upon taking the oath of office in January of 2009 Obama was up against the most concerted effort to obstruct progress by an opposing congress than any man before him but with a super majority in the house and a filibuster proof 60 seat senate majority he had enough numbers to get the stimulus passed averting a double dip recession and even worst a second great depression. He was able to get the Lilly Ledbetter Act passed making it illegal to be so immoral as to purposely pay a woman less money than a man for the same work. Then Ted Kennedy died and the seat long held by the liberal Lion of the senate fell into republican hands stripping the democrats of their filibuster proof majority and making the filibuster the weapon of choice in operation make Obama fail. Even still, the democrats were some how able to get health care reform passed giving rise to the demystification of Obama's Black Magic in action. Health care reform was followed by Wall Street and credit card reforms adding more notches to Obama's political belt but also fueling more anger from his republican counter parts who put their money where their mouth was and took full advantage of the Citizens United ruling by funneling unmitigated and unprecedented corporate funds in to the campaign coffers of almost every tea bagging republican that vowed to oppose Obama over doing what's right for their constituency and the country as a whole.
The inordinate amount of money that flowed into the political arena was enough to frame the debate and from health care reform to financial reform the president and his democratic congressional allies were on the low end of every opinion poll relative to the beltway banter. It was looking pretty bad for anyone sporting a D next to their name.
As expected and widely predicted the democrats were creamed by the republicans and saw their super majority in the house turn to a super minority, and in the senate they saw their one time 60 seat majority hold reduced to a very simple majority. As the president held a news conference following what he called a shellacking by the republicans the dejected look on his face combined with his passive aggressive tone had him looking weak and defeated. He took blame for not being bi-partisan enough with a GOP senate minority leader that vowed to make him a one term president and an incoming speaker of the house that says compromise is a bad word (when he's not weeping). At the time the president was looking like the new kid at school with no friends and desperate to gain some. He was not looking very magical.
Then came the compromise heard round the world where he granted a two year extension of the Bush era tax cuts for all Americans including the top 2 percent of wage earners who did not need or deserve the huge tax breaks that are sure to leave an even larger hole in the deficit. You would have thought he carried out a preemptive strike on Granada with how the news of the deal was received, regurgitated and reported by liberal leaning media outlets. They were disappointed in the president for extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy for two years even though in the deal he extended unemployment and further reduced payroll taxes for 95 percent of Americans as promised by the president on the campaign trail (a promise he actually over delivered on). It was still not enough to satisfy the liberal base of the democratic party and for almost a week there was talk about the president capitulating and caving to republicans and there was even discussion about a primary challenge (who knew their talent pool was that deep?) much to the chagrin of the of the moderate minded among us who either understood the precarious predicament the president was in, was satisfied that on January first they would not see a reduction in their pay check or the discontinuance of their unemployment benefits. While the most liberal wing of the democratic party was busy whining and licking their wounds, and the republicans were still taking victory laps celebrating what ended up being a Pyrrhic victory; Obama, Nancy Pelosie and Harry Reid were quietly crafting a series of deals that would make pulling a rabbit out of a hat seem like a rather simple task.
Who would have ever predicted that after two years of saying no in lock step to the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, no to the ratification of the START treaty, No to the food safety bill, no to the 911 first responders bill and no to every other measure proposed or supported by this president that in span of two weeks he would have enough senate republican yes's to complete his socialist take over of America? I mean that's pretty much why they said they were saying no in the first place. All pun a side the accomplishments of Obama and this lame duck congress is nothing short of miraculous when you you consider the fact that all the republicans had to do is run out the clock. The president was on the ropes with a rapidly eroding base and in rope-a-dope style he scored big with the judges (the American people) by knocking down Mitch McConnell's 'no pact' and actually getting some of his most pressing initiatives passed in to law as promised on the campaign trail and while he's been president.
Next to gay American soldiers, unemployed folks who narrowly escaped their benefits ending, working Americans that did not want to see their pay checks decrease by way of higher taxes and the 911 first responders who are living with and dying from cancer and other respiratory issues the president and his fledgling party were the biggest winners because in the midst of the 2012 campaign season they need all of the wins that they can get and in two weeks is a big fucking deal as vice president Biden would say. The biggest loser(s)? No doubt that would be the senate minority leader Mitch McConnell. Even before these last round of wins by the president came to fruition McConnell's leadership was in question because of how his power in the senate has been usurped by the defacto minority leader and avid Tea Partier Jim DeMint who many blame for the republicans not taking over the Senate giving McConnell and the republicans the carte blanche powers that they were hoping for. McConnell lost his caucus and if I were a republican strategist I would seriously urge my party to reconsider him as a leader in the senate due to his suspect leadership. The bad part about Mitch is unlike Michael Steele he is not an affirmative action hire. He was appointed leader based on skill set, a skill set that has yet to yield results for himself, his party or the American people.
In conclusion and moreover to answer the original query, the 44th president is not a Magic Negro, he's much closer to a highely erudite pragmatic politician with foresight and a keen understanding of people and politics. He's also a very lucky guy because the leadership on all levels of his oppisition party (House, Senate, RNC) are a very poor and ineffective bunch that can't even do the wrong thing right.
The author maintains that Obama’s rise in popularity and political prominence had much more to do with mythical Hollywood cultural tendencies than it did his politics, oratory skills or even the anti-Bush political climate. The sentiments from the article gathered little moss because within a years time Obama had proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was more than a Hollywood myth by defeating the Clinton juggernaut en route to the democratic nomination.
Name That Tune
Numbers vs No's
Upon taking the oath of office in January of 2009 Obama was up against the most concerted effort to obstruct progress by an opposing congress than any man before him but with a super majority in the house and a filibuster proof 60 seat senate majority he had enough numbers to get the stimulus passed averting a double dip recession and even worst a second great depression. He was able to get the Lilly Ledbetter Act passed making it illegal to be so immoral as to purposely pay a woman less money than a man for the same work. Then Ted Kennedy died and the seat long held by the liberal Lion of the senate fell into republican hands stripping the democrats of their filibuster proof majority and making the filibuster the weapon of choice in operation make Obama fail. Even still, the democrats were some how able to get health care reform passed giving rise to the demystification of Obama's Black Magic in action. Health care reform was followed by Wall Street and credit card reforms adding more notches to Obama's political belt but also fueling more anger from his republican counter parts who put their money where their mouth was and took full advantage of the Citizens United ruling by funneling unmitigated and unprecedented corporate funds in to the campaign coffers of almost every tea bagging republican that vowed to oppose Obama over doing what's right for their constituency and the country as a whole.
The inordinate amount of money that flowed into the political arena was enough to frame the debate and from health care reform to financial reform the president and his democratic congressional allies were on the low end of every opinion poll relative to the beltway banter. It was looking pretty bad for anyone sporting a D next to their name.
Mid-term Malaise
As expected and widely predicted the democrats were creamed by the republicans and saw their super majority in the house turn to a super minority, and in the senate they saw their one time 60 seat majority hold reduced to a very simple majority. As the president held a news conference following what he called a shellacking by the republicans the dejected look on his face combined with his passive aggressive tone had him looking weak and defeated. He took blame for not being bi-partisan enough with a GOP senate minority leader that vowed to make him a one term president and an incoming speaker of the house that says compromise is a bad word (when he's not weeping). At the time the president was looking like the new kid at school with no friends and desperate to gain some. He was not looking very magical.
The compromise Heard Round The World
Then came the compromise heard round the world where he granted a two year extension of the Bush era tax cuts for all Americans including the top 2 percent of wage earners who did not need or deserve the huge tax breaks that are sure to leave an even larger hole in the deficit. You would have thought he carried out a preemptive strike on Granada with how the news of the deal was received, regurgitated and reported by liberal leaning media outlets. They were disappointed in the president for extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy for two years even though in the deal he extended unemployment and further reduced payroll taxes for 95 percent of Americans as promised by the president on the campaign trail (a promise he actually over delivered on). It was still not enough to satisfy the liberal base of the democratic party and for almost a week there was talk about the president capitulating and caving to republicans and there was even discussion about a primary challenge (who knew their talent pool was that deep?) much to the chagrin of the of the moderate minded among us who either understood the precarious predicament the president was in, was satisfied that on January first they would not see a reduction in their pay check or the discontinuance of their unemployment benefits. While the most liberal wing of the democratic party was busy whining and licking their wounds, and the republicans were still taking victory laps celebrating what ended up being a Pyrrhic victory; Obama, Nancy Pelosie and Harry Reid were quietly crafting a series of deals that would make pulling a rabbit out of a hat seem like a rather simple task.
Who would have ever predicted that after two years of saying no in lock step to the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, no to the ratification of the START treaty, No to the food safety bill, no to the 911 first responders bill and no to every other measure proposed or supported by this president that in span of two weeks he would have enough senate republican yes's to complete his socialist take over of America? I mean that's pretty much why they said they were saying no in the first place. All pun a side the accomplishments of Obama and this lame duck congress is nothing short of miraculous when you you consider the fact that all the republicans had to do is run out the clock. The president was on the ropes with a rapidly eroding base and in rope-a-dope style he scored big with the judges (the American people) by knocking down Mitch McConnell's 'no pact' and actually getting some of his most pressing initiatives passed in to law as promised on the campaign trail and while he's been president.
Winners and losers
Next to gay American soldiers, unemployed folks who narrowly escaped their benefits ending, working Americans that did not want to see their pay checks decrease by way of higher taxes and the 911 first responders who are living with and dying from cancer and other respiratory issues the president and his fledgling party were the biggest winners because in the midst of the 2012 campaign season they need all of the wins that they can get and in two weeks is a big fucking deal as vice president Biden would say. The biggest loser(s)? No doubt that would be the senate minority leader Mitch McConnell. Even before these last round of wins by the president came to fruition McConnell's leadership was in question because of how his power in the senate has been usurped by the defacto minority leader and avid Tea Partier Jim DeMint who many blame for the republicans not taking over the Senate giving McConnell and the republicans the carte blanche powers that they were hoping for. McConnell lost his caucus and if I were a republican strategist I would seriously urge my party to reconsider him as a leader in the senate due to his suspect leadership. The bad part about Mitch is unlike Michael Steele he is not an affirmative action hire. He was appointed leader based on skill set, a skill set that has yet to yield results for himself, his party or the American people.
In conclusion and moreover to answer the original query, the 44th president is not a Magic Negro, he's much closer to a highely erudite pragmatic politician with foresight and a keen understanding of people and politics. He's also a very lucky guy because the leadership on all levels of his oppisition party (House, Senate, RNC) are a very poor and ineffective bunch that can't even do the wrong thing right.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Information Warfare: The NAACP vs. The Tea Party
A few years ago when the NAACP decided to have a mock funeral for the N-word I wrote, ranted, raved and lambasted them for such a public display of wasted time, energy and effort. Not to mention the fact that they were trying to kill a word that still enjoyed a very colorful life in black movies, books, music and vernacular. Such an exercise in futility had me thinking at that time the organization had lost all relevance. I felt like immediately canceling my lifetime membership, and if I had a membership to begin with I would have buried my Colored Peoples card right along with that empty casket they claimed contained the ever evil N-word. I must say this last week has me singing a totally different tune to the point that in my humblest opine they’ve never shown more relevance in my lifetime. They recently voted on a resolution calling on the Tea Party to repudiate (refudiate if you speakth Palish) the overtly racist elements of the Tea Party movement and for them to end their affiliation with the white supremacist groups that are closely associated with the movement. The resolution was wisely worded and less of a rebuke and more like sage advice from an organization that’s been around for a century to one that will be lucky to see a decade. “We take no issue with the Tea Party movement. We believe in freedom of assembly and people raising their voices in democracy. What we take issue with is the Tea Party’s continued tolerance for bigotry and bigoted statements. The time has come for them to accept the responsibility that comes with influence and make clear there is no place for racism & anti-Semitism, homophobia and other forms of bigotry in their movement”, NAACP President Ben Jealous
Many of the same sentiments that I expressed vis-à-vis the NAACP’s burial of the N-word were expressed by most of the people that I discussed this issue with. To my great surprise they felt as though the NAACP should be out doing other things to advance colored people. Most of the people (black and white) that I spoke with felt as though the NAACP, an organization founded just over 100 years ago to combat racism was wrong for calling on the Tea Party, a wing (some call base) of a major American political party to curb the racist elements emanating from many of its members and affiliates. In other words they were being called out by many for actually doing the very job that they were established to do by the decree of the Niagara Movement. As bewildered as I was at the negative reactions from many of the people with whom I discussed this incident I was caught totally off guard by the official response from Mark Williams the then party spokesperson. “I am disinclined to take lectures on racial sensitivity from a group that insists on calling black people colored” is what Mark Williams told CNN. He would have been okay had he stopped at that rather innocuous quip. I don’t particularly cotton to being called colored so I’d go so far as to say the man had a good point and a way with words. However his official response to the NAACP’s resolution was to write a mock open letter to Abraham Lincoln in which he is speaking as the NAACP head Ben Jealous asking Lincoln to rescind the emancipation proclamation.
Dear Mr. Lincoln
We Coloreds have taken a vote and decided that we don’t cotton to
that whole emancipation thing. Freedom means having to work for real,
think for ourselves, and take consequences along with the rewards. That is just far too much to ask of us Colored People and we demand
that it stop!
In fact we held a big meeting and took a vote in Kansas City this
week. We voted to condemn a political revival of that old abolitionist
spirit called the ‘tea party movement’.
The tea party position to “end the bailouts” for example is just
silly. Bailouts are just big money welfare and isn’t that what we
want all Coloreds to strive for? What kind of racist would want to end
big money welfare? What they need to do is start handing the bail outs
directly to us coloreds! Of course, the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People is the only responsible party that
should be granted the right to disperse the funds.
And the ridiculous idea of “reduce[ing] the size and intrusiveness of
government.” What kind of massa would ever not want to control my
life? As Coloreds we must have somebody care for us otherwise we would
be on our own, have to think for ourselves and make decisions!
The racist tea parties also demand that the government “stop the out
of control spending.” Again, they directly target coloreds. That
means we Coloreds would have to compete for jobs like everybody else
and that is just not right.
Perhaps the most racist point of all in the tea parties is their
demand that government “stop raising our taxes.” That is
outrageous! How will we coloreds ever get a wide screen TV in every
room if non-coloreds get to keep what they earn? Totally racist! The
tea party expects coloreds to be productive members of society?
Mr. Lincoln, you were the greatest racist ever. We had a great gig.
Three squares, room and board, all our decisions made by the massa in
the house. Please repeal the 13th and 14th Amendments and let us get
back to where we belong.
Sincerely
Precious Ben Jealous, Tom’s Nephew NAACP Head Colored Person
Race, Race Baiting and Racism
Before we go any further let’s bring a little clarity to what racism is and what racism is not, and moreover let us be of the understanding that racism is NOT the biggest problem posed by the Tea Party movement. The biggest threat posed by the tea party is their ability to drive the message of the day despite it being insidiously fallacious, misleading and to the detriment of most of the countries citizens, the environment and much of the third world. Sometimes that message is cloaked in a racially offensive or divisive sound bite, but the intent in MOST cases is to use race as a means to attract a certain voter. Racism and more specifically race baiting tactics are merely recruiting tools employed by conservatives to bolster their numbers due to the fact that they have little else to offer working class people of any race. Racism is NOT Mel Gibson in a drunken expletive and epithet laced rant secretly recorded by his gold digging baby’s mother. Racism is not even some clown yelling out the N-word at aKlan Tea Party rally. It may be offensive to many (half of which use the word themselves) but in and of itself it’s much closer to an egregious act of ignorance due to the public relations nightmare that goes hand in hand with public displays of overt stupidity. In order for racism to be threatening it has to be systemic and institutionalized whereby by those with the racist, ethnocentric, homophobic, xenophobic, islamophobic (feel free to add a phobia) worldviews are in position to discriminate, disenfranchise and most frightening legislate.
Mark Williams is well within his right to write letters to dead people. No one begrudges him for having a vividly sophomoric imagination. What we take issue with is the fact that he as a spokes person and leader of the Tea Party movement, one in which thanks to Congress woman Michelle Bachman now boast a congressional caucus in its name , would pen such invective for the public to see and his followers to heed. As an arm (strong arm) of the Grand Old Party Mark Williams and the Tea Party make no bones about their plans to install like minded politicians to fill every elected position in this nation from your local school board to the oval office. The more successful that he is the further back we go as a nation. The more the Tea Party controls the daily narrative day in and day out the more likely they are to see their conservative utopian dream come to fruition. Mark Williams and the Tea Party dreams are America’s worst nightmare. I applaud the NAACP inserting itself into the information civil war taking place today in American politics. It’s because of their interjection Mark Williams has been excommunicated by the Tea Party. And while that represents one of many a win is a win.
More Bright ideas
As if Mark Williams literary melt down was not enough bad press for the movement another Tea Party darling and the maker of the ACORN Pimp Chronicles, Andrew Brietbart decided it would be a good idea to remix a speech given to the NAACP in the hopes that it would impugn and discredit the organization. If his plan would have been to pull the wool over the public eyes for 24 hours or less the hair brain scheme could be considered a success. Unfortunately for Brietbart, The Tea Party and Fox News who looped the tape ad nauseam---that 25th hour came and with it came the revelation that the tape was doctored and the message being conveyed to the NAACP by the speaker Shirley Sherrod was the exact opposite of the one being conveyed in the Brietbart cut , paste and smear job. Even though the administration jumped the gun in firing her and looked rather foolish in the process it’s an undeniable fact that once again the Tea Party and its affiliates were caught red handed nefariously using race to conjure a scandal. The argument on Fox now is the administration is the big loser in this week’s events when in fact next to the Tea Party, Mark Williams and Andrew Brietbarf they are the week’s biggest losers because once again their major headline story was a complete fraud. Sure they want to focus on the firing and it having not been their decision, but they are the ones that gave legs to the story in the first place and there is nothing that they can do to shake that solid truth. Honorable mention for the week’s biggest losers has to go out Sarah Palin for being so quick to “refudiate” the NAACP for their resolution then goes totally silent when the NAACP’s claims are just as quickly proven to be true. Mention also goes to the handful of token black faces that continue to show up at these rallies to play cover for them, or placate them on facebook and the blogosphere by denying the obvious.
More superlatives
The president gets the award for biggest lesson learned. He’s always talking about teachable moments and my hope is this was a learnable moment for him. I have no doubt that he at least tacitly approved of or urged Sherrod’s resignation and while I understand his reasoning it’s time he finally accept the fact that the duplicitous forces on the Fox News network and in the republican tea party will stop at nothing to distort the truth. There is no floor to how low they will go to infect politics with race baiting in order to divide and conquer . The lesson learned is not that they are this unscrupulous-- that’s a tactic long employed by Fox news. The lesson learned is to no longer react to the dirty tricks being employed by them. No longer make decisions based on what Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity says and thinks. He literally needs to use his presidential bully pulpit to tell them to (STFU). To his credit he tried to do that early in his term and got hit from all angles of the media for doing so. Hopefully the REAL news organizations learned the lesson that Fox is dangerously deceptive and needs to be discredited across the board. Van Jones and ACORN are but two examples of such successful smear campaigns and both Jones and ACORN could have used a little extra backing from the POTUS and a broader perspective from the MSM when they were edited out of politics by Breitbart and Fox News.
The biggest winners no doubt are the NAACP and Ben Jealous. Even though they jumped the gun in their initial response, they corrected themselves and more importantly they laid a piece of bait and almost to a tea (all pun) the conservative movement snatched it hook, line and sinker. They were able to sideline two of the major voices and forces in the Tea party movement in just one week of activity. Even bigger than Ben Jealous and the NAACP’s win--- Shirley Sherrod’s long week took her from being an evil racist villain to a sympathetic victim caught in the cross fire, to the American hero that the unadulterated truth revealed her to be. Were it not for Brietbarts bright idea the country would have never learned of this woman of such courage, strength and character. Her life is an amazing story that will be indelible inscribed in our countries history. The biggest winner is the public at large and those who sport a progressive ethos. The truth was spared and in the process the deniers of truth were caught with their pants down and their hand in the cookie jar. As November nears we will see more Tea party/FOX/GOP shenanigans. Hopefully the lessons learned this week will stick long after the 25th hour.
Many of the same sentiments that I expressed vis-à-vis the NAACP’s burial of the N-word were expressed by most of the people that I discussed this issue with. To my great surprise they felt as though the NAACP should be out doing other things to advance colored people. Most of the people (black and white) that I spoke with felt as though the NAACP, an organization founded just over 100 years ago to combat racism was wrong for calling on the Tea Party, a wing (some call base) of a major American political party to curb the racist elements emanating from many of its members and affiliates. In other words they were being called out by many for actually doing the very job that they were established to do by the decree of the Niagara Movement. As bewildered as I was at the negative reactions from many of the people with whom I discussed this incident I was caught totally off guard by the official response from Mark Williams the then party spokesperson. “I am disinclined to take lectures on racial sensitivity from a group that insists on calling black people colored” is what Mark Williams told CNN. He would have been okay had he stopped at that rather innocuous quip. I don’t particularly cotton to being called colored so I’d go so far as to say the man had a good point and a way with words. However his official response to the NAACP’s resolution was to write a mock open letter to Abraham Lincoln in which he is speaking as the NAACP head Ben Jealous asking Lincoln to rescind the emancipation proclamation.
Dear Mr. Lincoln
We Coloreds have taken a vote and decided that we don’t cotton to
that whole emancipation thing. Freedom means having to work for real,
think for ourselves, and take consequences along with the rewards. That is just far too much to ask of us Colored People and we demand
that it stop!
In fact we held a big meeting and took a vote in Kansas City this
week. We voted to condemn a political revival of that old abolitionist
spirit called the ‘tea party movement’.
The tea party position to “end the bailouts” for example is just
silly. Bailouts are just big money welfare and isn’t that what we
want all Coloreds to strive for? What kind of racist would want to end
big money welfare? What they need to do is start handing the bail outs
directly to us coloreds! Of course, the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People is the only responsible party that
should be granted the right to disperse the funds.
And the ridiculous idea of “reduce[ing] the size and intrusiveness of
government.” What kind of massa would ever not want to control my
life? As Coloreds we must have somebody care for us otherwise we would
be on our own, have to think for ourselves and make decisions!
The racist tea parties also demand that the government “stop the out
of control spending.” Again, they directly target coloreds. That
means we Coloreds would have to compete for jobs like everybody else
and that is just not right.
Perhaps the most racist point of all in the tea parties is their
demand that government “stop raising our taxes.” That is
outrageous! How will we coloreds ever get a wide screen TV in every
room if non-coloreds get to keep what they earn? Totally racist! The
tea party expects coloreds to be productive members of society?
Mr. Lincoln, you were the greatest racist ever. We had a great gig.
Three squares, room and board, all our decisions made by the massa in
the house. Please repeal the 13th and 14th Amendments and let us get
back to where we belong.
Sincerely
Precious Ben Jealous, Tom’s Nephew NAACP Head Colored Person
Race, Race Baiting and Racism
Before we go any further let’s bring a little clarity to what racism is and what racism is not, and moreover let us be of the understanding that racism is NOT the biggest problem posed by the Tea Party movement. The biggest threat posed by the tea party is their ability to drive the message of the day despite it being insidiously fallacious, misleading and to the detriment of most of the countries citizens, the environment and much of the third world. Sometimes that message is cloaked in a racially offensive or divisive sound bite, but the intent in MOST cases is to use race as a means to attract a certain voter. Racism and more specifically race baiting tactics are merely recruiting tools employed by conservatives to bolster their numbers due to the fact that they have little else to offer working class people of any race. Racism is NOT Mel Gibson in a drunken expletive and epithet laced rant secretly recorded by his gold digging baby’s mother. Racism is not even some clown yelling out the N-word at a
Mark Williams is well within his right to write letters to dead people. No one begrudges him for having a vividly sophomoric imagination. What we take issue with is the fact that he as a spokes person and leader of the Tea Party movement, one in which thanks to Congress woman Michelle Bachman now boast a congressional caucus in its name , would pen such invective for the public to see and his followers to heed. As an arm (strong arm) of the Grand Old Party Mark Williams and the Tea Party make no bones about their plans to install like minded politicians to fill every elected position in this nation from your local school board to the oval office. The more successful that he is the further back we go as a nation. The more the Tea Party controls the daily narrative day in and day out the more likely they are to see their conservative utopian dream come to fruition. Mark Williams and the Tea Party dreams are America’s worst nightmare. I applaud the NAACP inserting itself into the information civil war taking place today in American politics. It’s because of their interjection Mark Williams has been excommunicated by the Tea Party. And while that represents one of many a win is a win.
More Bright ideas
As if Mark Williams literary melt down was not enough bad press for the movement another Tea Party darling and the maker of the ACORN Pimp Chronicles, Andrew Brietbart decided it would be a good idea to remix a speech given to the NAACP in the hopes that it would impugn and discredit the organization. If his plan would have been to pull the wool over the public eyes for 24 hours or less the hair brain scheme could be considered a success. Unfortunately for Brietbart, The Tea Party and Fox News who looped the tape ad nauseam---that 25th hour came and with it came the revelation that the tape was doctored and the message being conveyed to the NAACP by the speaker Shirley Sherrod was the exact opposite of the one being conveyed in the Brietbart cut , paste and smear job. Even though the administration jumped the gun in firing her and looked rather foolish in the process it’s an undeniable fact that once again the Tea Party and its affiliates were caught red handed nefariously using race to conjure a scandal. The argument on Fox now is the administration is the big loser in this week’s events when in fact next to the Tea Party, Mark Williams and Andrew Brietbarf they are the week’s biggest losers because once again their major headline story was a complete fraud. Sure they want to focus on the firing and it having not been their decision, but they are the ones that gave legs to the story in the first place and there is nothing that they can do to shake that solid truth. Honorable mention for the week’s biggest losers has to go out Sarah Palin for being so quick to “refudiate” the NAACP for their resolution then goes totally silent when the NAACP’s claims are just as quickly proven to be true. Mention also goes to the handful of token black faces that continue to show up at these rallies to play cover for them, or placate them on facebook and the blogosphere by denying the obvious.
More superlatives
The president gets the award for biggest lesson learned. He’s always talking about teachable moments and my hope is this was a learnable moment for him. I have no doubt that he at least tacitly approved of or urged Sherrod’s resignation and while I understand his reasoning it’s time he finally accept the fact that the duplicitous forces on the Fox News network and in the republican tea party will stop at nothing to distort the truth. There is no floor to how low they will go to infect politics with race baiting in order to divide and conquer . The lesson learned is not that they are this unscrupulous-- that’s a tactic long employed by Fox news. The lesson learned is to no longer react to the dirty tricks being employed by them. No longer make decisions based on what Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity says and thinks. He literally needs to use his presidential bully pulpit to tell them to (STFU). To his credit he tried to do that early in his term and got hit from all angles of the media for doing so. Hopefully the REAL news organizations learned the lesson that Fox is dangerously deceptive and needs to be discredited across the board. Van Jones and ACORN are but two examples of such successful smear campaigns and both Jones and ACORN could have used a little extra backing from the POTUS and a broader perspective from the MSM when they were edited out of politics by Breitbart and Fox News.
The biggest winners no doubt are the NAACP and Ben Jealous. Even though they jumped the gun in their initial response, they corrected themselves and more importantly they laid a piece of bait and almost to a tea (all pun) the conservative movement snatched it hook, line and sinker. They were able to sideline two of the major voices and forces in the Tea party movement in just one week of activity. Even bigger than Ben Jealous and the NAACP’s win--- Shirley Sherrod’s long week took her from being an evil racist villain to a sympathetic victim caught in the cross fire, to the American hero that the unadulterated truth revealed her to be. Were it not for Brietbarts bright idea the country would have never learned of this woman of such courage, strength and character. Her life is an amazing story that will be indelible inscribed in our countries history. The biggest winner is the public at large and those who sport a progressive ethos. The truth was spared and in the process the deniers of truth were caught with their pants down and their hand in the cookie jar. As November nears we will see more Tea party/FOX/GOP shenanigans. Hopefully the lessons learned this week will stick long after the 25th hour.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Thoughts on the Black Republican
For years it’s been an enigma to me the 10 percent or so of black people that vote republican vs. the 90 percent or so of us that vote democratic, independent or abstain from the process all together. I always wondered what it was about the Republican Party that would warrant their staunch support. In this age of Obama and a multicultural America one would think that 10 percent would dwindle but the opposite seems to be happening. I’m coming across more and more black people that strongly identify with today’s conservative philosophies. I’m not really talking about the black republican that votes so because he makes In excess of 300k a year and is voting that way to get the best tax rate for the tax bracket he’s in. I’m talking about the bougie Negro, the ones that think because they change their party affiliation they have arrived and are automatically better than the 90 percent that pay too much attention to the racial insensitivities of their party leadership or generally disagree with their policies. They will argue that by becoming a republican they are morally correct and the 90% of black people that don’t listen to AM talk radio all day are morally corrupt. By no means do I suggest to say that black people in this country should vote or think on monolithic terms. What I am saying is I expect any self aware self respecting black man or woman to be cognizant of if not of the historical bigotry within their voting click the contemporary post Obama bigotry that has gotten so blatant that even white Americans are beginning to question the mental capitulation of today’ black republican. The black republican is as oxymoronic as a white Black Panther in 1970 or equivalent to 10 percent of the Nation of Islam being Irish-American. Can you imagine 10 percent of MS-13 being Hindu? Being a black republican today defies that much logic.
Black republicans are a confused group of people. You will confuse yourself trying to understand the politics of the black republican before understanding the psyche of the black republican and understanding it from a historical perspective. The Black republican is older than the Republican Party itself and what I mean by that is the 10 percent of black people that identify themselves as republican today have a mentality and world view consistent with the 10 percent or so of who have historically sided with the power structure no matter how detrimental they were to the other 90 percent. In fact many in that 10 percent have at times been more detrimental to their people than the powers that were.
When the transatlantic slave trade began there were Africans that actually sold other Africans in to bondage. It was not a lot of Africans doing this just about 10 percent or so; During chattel slavery there were black overseers that would whip a nigga’s ass quicker and more brutally than the white slave master. There were not a lot of black overseer; Just about 10 percent or so. Then there’s the 10 percent of proper speaking light skin slaves that worked in the house and enjoyed all of the accoutrements that came with being a house slave vs the 90 percent of the dark skinned slaves speaking negro dialect in the field. I say all of that to say that the 90 10 dichotomy as it relates to left right politics in black America has nothing to do with issues of the day and everything to do with the way some of us are wired or programmed. Some of these black republicans were born this way and the black republican in them was evident as early as the sand box when they failed to learn how to share their toys and then some of them were nurtured that way either by their parents, media imagery or from years of hating the black skin that they were born in. Either way they are afflicted with what’s called plantation psychosis. Plantation psychosis is what you would diagnose black folks that exert a slave like mentality. Plantation psychosis is certainly not exclusive to the 10 percent because there are many in the 90 percent that still retain some of the engrained traits from chattel slavery. We’ll talk about field Negroes when I opine on the BET awards, pig feet or some other field Negro related phenomenon. For now we’re going to focus on the 10 percent that thinks by virtue of them joining the grand ole party they are the cream of the African-American crop.
Now that we understand the mindset of the black republican we can more easily understand their political philosophy. In a nut shell their political philosophy is whatever it is that their former slave master philosophy is at the given moment. Now I know that sounds harsh and I’m sure all republicans whether black, white or Bobby Jindal will have a problem with what I am saying but they’d be hard pressed to prove me wrong because the examples of their TomCoonery and tonkenship are plenteous. It would be far too easy to point to the ironic appointment of the first black head of the GOP on the heels of the democrats electing the first black president, or the fact that Rush Limbaugh has all but emasculated him to the base for thinking his appointment came with freedom of thought. I’m not going talk about how he made him come on air to apologize and reword his opinion of the de facto party boss for the listening pleasure of his 20 million rabid followers.. .… I will instead recall an episode from the Glenn Beck sitcom.
I was flipping thru the channels and happened to catch his symposium on black America with an all black GOP audience and panel. As I watched this modern day minstrel show I did not know whether to laugh at these fools or to feel sorry for the dearth of critical thinking and intelligence displayed by Glenn’s guest. Topic after topic they allowed Glen Beck to frame every question or comment in a manner that pigeon holed all non conservative black people as immoral, illiterate or naive. According to them you are either a responsible black republican or an irresponsible black liberal depending of the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton for direction. They went on to cosign each and every reasonless conclusion he arrived at. They even offered a few of their own. From him questioning why we call ourselves African-Americans to, (as if he has a right) to him inferring that 90 percent of black America depends on government assistance, they nodded their head in agreement. At one point he asks a young black conservative what were some of the root causes of the crime and poverty and high unemployment in the black community and this clown goes in to a diatribe about abortion. Now everyone is entitled to their opinion on abortion, I don’t begrudge him for being against it but what the hell did it have to do with the topic of discussion?
His keen less observation summarized the entire Glenn Beck comedy hour, in fact his retort to Glenn’s query is a synopsis of how all black republicans process and interpret data . If you know a black republican I implore you to take them to task and ask them why they are republicans and I assure you the answer you get from them will be a half truth, or a fallacious argument whether it is a fallacy of division or fallacy of composition each and every opinion they arrive at will be devoid of the empirical evidence to support their claims and unless you suffer from plantation psychosis you will be leave the conversation scratching and shaking your head.
They will say Abe Lincoln was a republican and they ended slavery Blah blah blah. What they won’t say is the political disunion some 145 years ago was north south and not left right. Emancipation came as result of the south being reactionaries with antiquated ideas on governance, sort of how they are today. They will then say Martin Luther King was a republican blah blah blah.. and again they will fail to mention the fact that the democrats south of the mason Dixon line were called dixi-crats and the dixicrat party platform was Jim Crow law, so King being a democrat in 1954 would sort of put him in the same category of a black republican today. Furthermore once LBJ signed the Civil Rights Bill all of the dixiecrats defected to the Republican Party making the GOP the anti- Martin Luther king party. So in addition to these moon bats relying on ancient history and men that have been deceased for generations to make the case for why black people should vote republican today, their points miss the mark . The same is true for their contemporary justifications for being a house slaves. They don’t make sense and they don’t have to because it’s the color of their skin that makes them a commodity not the contents or lack thereof between their ears. Just proclaim themselves black republicans, take a shot or two at the president and they automatically qualify as subject matter experts on any subject. Whether it be healthcare or constitutional law if you have a black face and you’re indifferent to Obama in the minds of conservatives you’re a genius and deserve a pat on the head for changing your names to Toby.
In closing I want to reiterate that the fact that it’s not about black people being monoliths so the question has nothing to do with any kind of perceived loyalties. It’s their realness and authenticity in question along with the consistent rhetoric to reality deficit.
To the black republicans who might be watching I mean this out of love. Keep it real. And by that I don’t mean the way you walk, talk or pull the lever while in the voting booth. Say that you are card carrying members of the GOP because black face is the flavor of the moment and it is a personal and not collective benefit to being a black republican today. If some of you could come to grips with this reality you would find it a lot easier to explain your choice in politics. …I mean no offense; it’s just what I was thinking
Black republicans are a confused group of people. You will confuse yourself trying to understand the politics of the black republican before understanding the psyche of the black republican and understanding it from a historical perspective. The Black republican is older than the Republican Party itself and what I mean by that is the 10 percent of black people that identify themselves as republican today have a mentality and world view consistent with the 10 percent or so of who have historically sided with the power structure no matter how detrimental they were to the other 90 percent. In fact many in that 10 percent have at times been more detrimental to their people than the powers that were.
When the transatlantic slave trade began there were Africans that actually sold other Africans in to bondage. It was not a lot of Africans doing this just about 10 percent or so; During chattel slavery there were black overseers that would whip a nigga’s ass quicker and more brutally than the white slave master. There were not a lot of black overseer; Just about 10 percent or so. Then there’s the 10 percent of proper speaking light skin slaves that worked in the house and enjoyed all of the accoutrements that came with being a house slave vs the 90 percent of the dark skinned slaves speaking negro dialect in the field. I say all of that to say that the 90 10 dichotomy as it relates to left right politics in black America has nothing to do with issues of the day and everything to do with the way some of us are wired or programmed. Some of these black republicans were born this way and the black republican in them was evident as early as the sand box when they failed to learn how to share their toys and then some of them were nurtured that way either by their parents, media imagery or from years of hating the black skin that they were born in. Either way they are afflicted with what’s called plantation psychosis. Plantation psychosis is what you would diagnose black folks that exert a slave like mentality. Plantation psychosis is certainly not exclusive to the 10 percent because there are many in the 90 percent that still retain some of the engrained traits from chattel slavery. We’ll talk about field Negroes when I opine on the BET awards, pig feet or some other field Negro related phenomenon. For now we’re going to focus on the 10 percent that thinks by virtue of them joining the grand ole party they are the cream of the African-American crop.
Now that we understand the mindset of the black republican we can more easily understand their political philosophy. In a nut shell their political philosophy is whatever it is that their former slave master philosophy is at the given moment. Now I know that sounds harsh and I’m sure all republicans whether black, white or Bobby Jindal will have a problem with what I am saying but they’d be hard pressed to prove me wrong because the examples of their TomCoonery and tonkenship are plenteous. It would be far too easy to point to the ironic appointment of the first black head of the GOP on the heels of the democrats electing the first black president, or the fact that Rush Limbaugh has all but emasculated him to the base for thinking his appointment came with freedom of thought. I’m not going talk about how he made him come on air to apologize and reword his opinion of the de facto party boss for the listening pleasure of his 20 million rabid followers.. .… I will instead recall an episode from the Glenn Beck sitcom.
I was flipping thru the channels and happened to catch his symposium on black America with an all black GOP audience and panel. As I watched this modern day minstrel show I did not know whether to laugh at these fools or to feel sorry for the dearth of critical thinking and intelligence displayed by Glenn’s guest. Topic after topic they allowed Glen Beck to frame every question or comment in a manner that pigeon holed all non conservative black people as immoral, illiterate or naive. According to them you are either a responsible black republican or an irresponsible black liberal depending of the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton for direction. They went on to cosign each and every reasonless conclusion he arrived at. They even offered a few of their own. From him questioning why we call ourselves African-Americans to, (as if he has a right) to him inferring that 90 percent of black America depends on government assistance, they nodded their head in agreement. At one point he asks a young black conservative what were some of the root causes of the crime and poverty and high unemployment in the black community and this clown goes in to a diatribe about abortion. Now everyone is entitled to their opinion on abortion, I don’t begrudge him for being against it but what the hell did it have to do with the topic of discussion?
His keen less observation summarized the entire Glenn Beck comedy hour, in fact his retort to Glenn’s query is a synopsis of how all black republicans process and interpret data . If you know a black republican I implore you to take them to task and ask them why they are republicans and I assure you the answer you get from them will be a half truth, or a fallacious argument whether it is a fallacy of division or fallacy of composition each and every opinion they arrive at will be devoid of the empirical evidence to support their claims and unless you suffer from plantation psychosis you will be leave the conversation scratching and shaking your head.
They will say Abe Lincoln was a republican and they ended slavery Blah blah blah. What they won’t say is the political disunion some 145 years ago was north south and not left right. Emancipation came as result of the south being reactionaries with antiquated ideas on governance, sort of how they are today. They will then say Martin Luther King was a republican blah blah blah.. and again they will fail to mention the fact that the democrats south of the mason Dixon line were called dixi-crats and the dixicrat party platform was Jim Crow law, so King being a democrat in 1954 would sort of put him in the same category of a black republican today. Furthermore once LBJ signed the Civil Rights Bill all of the dixiecrats defected to the Republican Party making the GOP the anti- Martin Luther king party. So in addition to these moon bats relying on ancient history and men that have been deceased for generations to make the case for why black people should vote republican today, their points miss the mark . The same is true for their contemporary justifications for being a house slaves. They don’t make sense and they don’t have to because it’s the color of their skin that makes them a commodity not the contents or lack thereof between their ears. Just proclaim themselves black republicans, take a shot or two at the president and they automatically qualify as subject matter experts on any subject. Whether it be healthcare or constitutional law if you have a black face and you’re indifferent to Obama in the minds of conservatives you’re a genius and deserve a pat on the head for changing your names to Toby.
In closing I want to reiterate that the fact that it’s not about black people being monoliths so the question has nothing to do with any kind of perceived loyalties. It’s their realness and authenticity in question along with the consistent rhetoric to reality deficit.
To the black republicans who might be watching I mean this out of love. Keep it real. And by that I don’t mean the way you walk, talk or pull the lever while in the voting booth. Say that you are card carrying members of the GOP because black face is the flavor of the moment and it is a personal and not collective benefit to being a black republican today. If some of you could come to grips with this reality you would find it a lot easier to explain your choice in politics. …I mean no offense; it’s just what I was thinking
Monday, February 22, 2010
Y2k to 2010
I wanted to take some time early in this New Year, new decade and still fairly new century to reflect on where we are, where we’ve come since Y2k, and where I think we are headed as a nation and a global community. The 21st century no doubt will be marked by innovative, technological, political and social change not only on the local and national level but across the globe. As we venture further into this decade we will notice an increased level of interconnectedness with all of the Earth’s inhabitants to the point that the price of tea in China will most certainly be relevant to what the price of sugar is in Iowa. We’re barley 10 years in to the 21st century and we’ve had numerous first time occurrences, we’ve reached myriad millstones and witnessed scores of unexpected twists and turns that at varying times during the past decade held captive the collective attention span of the entire globe on a single phenomenon or phenomenal event. We witnessed at the turn of the century a president literally steal an election, the very next year we got attacked on our own soil and the World Trade Center disappeared before our lying eyes. The president that stole the election within two years started two wars none of which were against a Government that ordered the attack. We saw our economy spiral into recession and we narrowly averted a repeat of the 1930’s great depression. People were not only losing their homes in record numbers they were losing their banks as record banks and financial institutions went under along with all the underwater homes.
We witnessed in the Nation’s capitol and her surrounding suburbs a two man murder spree with long range rifles. Can you imagine ducking and hiding under your car while pumping gas because you’re afraid of random sniper fire? I can because I saw it done. I even did it myself a few times. The last decade also saw death and destruction not brought on by man. We witnessed an American city drown during Hurricane Katrina. While the incident itself was a natural disaster the response to it OR lack thereof a response was a manmade disaster and it typified the level of leadership we had at the time. We witnessed on a global scale disasters of biblical proportion with the Tsunami in south East Asia and an earth quake in China. All told almost half a million people perished in those two incidents alone. This is in a decade replete with natural disasters. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti as we as they struggle with the greatest natural disaster of that country’s history and easily the greatest natural disaster of this new decade and we are only 2 months in.
Don’t get me wrong the decade was far from all doom and gloom and my overall belief and understanding is that we as a people are headed for a kinder more peaceful union and global community but I’d be lying if I said we will get there devoid of struggle. The last decade also saw us for the first time elect a black man as president and the first such progressive since JFK. While his politics are a stark departure from the last guy that manipulated his way into office there is growing resentment of him by some in this country for not continuing the John Wayne style of governance. Even though it’s a relatively small group of people myopically opposed to progression it’s a very loud and well financed group that in all honesty would rather the country to go back 60 years to 1950 than fully emerge itself into the 21st century. Money and repetition have a strange affect on how history is perceived.
It’s for that very reason that we as American people need to remain vigilant about what’s going on today as well as know the truth about what happened yesterday. If you don’t know the past you don’t know the present and if you’re unconscious of the present tense there is no way that you can accurately predict what’s in store for the future. Case and point Ronald Reagan. I was 7 when he took office and about 15 when he left. Had not the 1980’s been indelibly inscribed in my memory I would have thought that Ronald Reagan was the greatest man since Ghandi based on how people today recall him. His presidency by all accounts was a failure and widely acknowledged as such by even the folks in his party. The last decade saw his death and I swear along with burying that old bastard folks seemed to have buried their memory of the 80’s and all concepts of cumulative effects. You’d never think that he came in office with there being a 700billion deficit and left office with it at 3 trillion. Or the fact that he held the receipts for the weapons of mass destruction that quote unquote made Iraq such a grave national security threat. Or that his administration was responsible for initially arming and emboldening Osama Bin Laden to thwart the Soviet influence in Afghanistan during the cold war. Now think about that for a minute. He had the CIA arm and train Osama Bin Laden on how to be a terrorist. And he sold WMD’s to Iraq. How’s that for America’s favorite president and How do those facts about Ronald Wilson Reagan comport with the image of him today.
They are already trying to re-make the Bush/Cheney 8 year disaster and we have not even recovered from it yet. How’s that for gall? They will tell you that he kept them safe for 8 years. REALLY?? How ambiguous of an answer can that be? Think about that for a second. HE kept US safe. How many people lost their homes, thier jobs and life savings under him? How many people fell into poverty from 2000 to 2008? George Bush is not what I would call a safety net. As it relates to terrorism saying that he kept us safe for 8 year is sort of like saying because you took Flintstones vitamins since you were six you did not get cancer. Really it is, and anyone that uses that argument do please tell them that they are a douche bag
Speaking of doucehbags our new president being the progressive that he is precipitated another movement that’s gained a lot of steam called the Tea Bag Party. Now these geniuses are what you call the quintessential douche bags. They will call Obama a socialist and facist in the same breath even though the two ideologies are on the opposite end of the geo political spectrum. That’s like telling someone to go right and left at the same time. They have mastered the art of repetitious drivel. It’s what I call when you hear and say something enough times no matter how illogical or ridiculous it sounds it becomes truth, to the idiot parroting the false statements and any one unfortunate enough to share their menial IQ. An example would be your typical FOX News analyst
They have no concept of cause and effect. They will totally ignore the cause and blame the affect on anyone and anything that strengthens their already struggling argument. Depending on who it is you could tell them the sky is green and sure as hell they would pull out their guns and tell you they will fight and die for their green sky. Seriously, If Sarah Palin told them that we did not start paying income Tax until January 20 2009 I swear to you these folks will all but erase the memory of ever filling out a W2 prior to Obama becoming president. And recognize him as the author of income tax legislation
Speaking of Sarah Palin boy did she take us all by storm just before the turn of the decade. While I agree with most normal Americans that she’s an idiot and unqualified to be the president’s press secretary let alone the president, I will say this, her meteoric rise to political prominence is an overall good thing and a great American story. She gives slackers and regular Joes around the world hope that it’s never too late to get your act together and be something when they finally decide to grow up. I would say a person that took 7 years and 5 schools to get a 4 year degree in journalism no less qualifies as slacker at least as far as a presidential hopeful go. Even becoming the leader of a major political party is a pretty great feat from someone out of slacker nation (regardless of the fact the party is full of Neanderthals). So while I laugh at her and poke fun at her silly antics I secretly admire how far she’s come. I watched her debut as a FOX News analyst and there’s never been a job more qualified for her skill set. What she lacks in journalistic integrity she more than compensates with comic relief. She’s even better after Rachel Maddow and Jon Stewart opine her footage.
All in all the next ten years will prove to be as aw-inspiring as the last ten were. We will see more change, monumental achievement, more pain, more struggle, more class war fare and more of the political pendulum swinging right and left but so long as the majority of us remain conscious, vigilant and spiritually grounded the best of our yesterdays will continue to be the worst of our tomorrow’s. There is a Buddhist term called Kosen Rufu in a nutshell it’s defined as the overarching goal of achieving world peace and human happiness. Whether your Christian, Muslim, Jewish or atheist, whether you live in Nashville Tennessee or Soweto S. Africa. World peace and human happiness is a common goal of all people from all walks of life and for the most part if enough of us make it a priority to at least think on such humanistic goals world peace and the absence of war will come that much closer to fruition.
Lets make it a good one!
We witnessed in the Nation’s capitol and her surrounding suburbs a two man murder spree with long range rifles. Can you imagine ducking and hiding under your car while pumping gas because you’re afraid of random sniper fire? I can because I saw it done. I even did it myself a few times. The last decade also saw death and destruction not brought on by man. We witnessed an American city drown during Hurricane Katrina. While the incident itself was a natural disaster the response to it OR lack thereof a response was a manmade disaster and it typified the level of leadership we had at the time. We witnessed on a global scale disasters of biblical proportion with the Tsunami in south East Asia and an earth quake in China. All told almost half a million people perished in those two incidents alone. This is in a decade replete with natural disasters. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti as we as they struggle with the greatest natural disaster of that country’s history and easily the greatest natural disaster of this new decade and we are only 2 months in.
Don’t get me wrong the decade was far from all doom and gloom and my overall belief and understanding is that we as a people are headed for a kinder more peaceful union and global community but I’d be lying if I said we will get there devoid of struggle. The last decade also saw us for the first time elect a black man as president and the first such progressive since JFK. While his politics are a stark departure from the last guy that manipulated his way into office there is growing resentment of him by some in this country for not continuing the John Wayne style of governance. Even though it’s a relatively small group of people myopically opposed to progression it’s a very loud and well financed group that in all honesty would rather the country to go back 60 years to 1950 than fully emerge itself into the 21st century. Money and repetition have a strange affect on how history is perceived.
It’s for that very reason that we as American people need to remain vigilant about what’s going on today as well as know the truth about what happened yesterday. If you don’t know the past you don’t know the present and if you’re unconscious of the present tense there is no way that you can accurately predict what’s in store for the future. Case and point Ronald Reagan. I was 7 when he took office and about 15 when he left. Had not the 1980’s been indelibly inscribed in my memory I would have thought that Ronald Reagan was the greatest man since Ghandi based on how people today recall him. His presidency by all accounts was a failure and widely acknowledged as such by even the folks in his party. The last decade saw his death and I swear along with burying that old bastard folks seemed to have buried their memory of the 80’s and all concepts of cumulative effects. You’d never think that he came in office with there being a 700billion deficit and left office with it at 3 trillion. Or the fact that he held the receipts for the weapons of mass destruction that quote unquote made Iraq such a grave national security threat. Or that his administration was responsible for initially arming and emboldening Osama Bin Laden to thwart the Soviet influence in Afghanistan during the cold war. Now think about that for a minute. He had the CIA arm and train Osama Bin Laden on how to be a terrorist. And he sold WMD’s to Iraq. How’s that for America’s favorite president and How do those facts about Ronald Wilson Reagan comport with the image of him today.
They are already trying to re-make the Bush/Cheney 8 year disaster and we have not even recovered from it yet. How’s that for gall? They will tell you that he kept them safe for 8 years. REALLY?? How ambiguous of an answer can that be? Think about that for a second. HE kept US safe. How many people lost their homes, thier jobs and life savings under him? How many people fell into poverty from 2000 to 2008? George Bush is not what I would call a safety net. As it relates to terrorism saying that he kept us safe for 8 year is sort of like saying because you took Flintstones vitamins since you were six you did not get cancer. Really it is, and anyone that uses that argument do please tell them that they are a douche bag
Speaking of doucehbags our new president being the progressive that he is precipitated another movement that’s gained a lot of steam called the Tea Bag Party. Now these geniuses are what you call the quintessential douche bags. They will call Obama a socialist and facist in the same breath even though the two ideologies are on the opposite end of the geo political spectrum. That’s like telling someone to go right and left at the same time. They have mastered the art of repetitious drivel. It’s what I call when you hear and say something enough times no matter how illogical or ridiculous it sounds it becomes truth, to the idiot parroting the false statements and any one unfortunate enough to share their menial IQ. An example would be your typical FOX News analyst
They have no concept of cause and effect. They will totally ignore the cause and blame the affect on anyone and anything that strengthens their already struggling argument. Depending on who it is you could tell them the sky is green and sure as hell they would pull out their guns and tell you they will fight and die for their green sky. Seriously, If Sarah Palin told them that we did not start paying income Tax until January 20 2009 I swear to you these folks will all but erase the memory of ever filling out a W2 prior to Obama becoming president. And recognize him as the author of income tax legislation
Speaking of Sarah Palin boy did she take us all by storm just before the turn of the decade. While I agree with most normal Americans that she’s an idiot and unqualified to be the president’s press secretary let alone the president, I will say this, her meteoric rise to political prominence is an overall good thing and a great American story. She gives slackers and regular Joes around the world hope that it’s never too late to get your act together and be something when they finally decide to grow up. I would say a person that took 7 years and 5 schools to get a 4 year degree in journalism no less qualifies as slacker at least as far as a presidential hopeful go. Even becoming the leader of a major political party is a pretty great feat from someone out of slacker nation (regardless of the fact the party is full of Neanderthals). So while I laugh at her and poke fun at her silly antics I secretly admire how far she’s come. I watched her debut as a FOX News analyst and there’s never been a job more qualified for her skill set. What she lacks in journalistic integrity she more than compensates with comic relief. She’s even better after Rachel Maddow and Jon Stewart opine her footage.
All in all the next ten years will prove to be as aw-inspiring as the last ten were. We will see more change, monumental achievement, more pain, more struggle, more class war fare and more of the political pendulum swinging right and left but so long as the majority of us remain conscious, vigilant and spiritually grounded the best of our yesterdays will continue to be the worst of our tomorrow’s. There is a Buddhist term called Kosen Rufu in a nutshell it’s defined as the overarching goal of achieving world peace and human happiness. Whether your Christian, Muslim, Jewish or atheist, whether you live in Nashville Tennessee or Soweto S. Africa. World peace and human happiness is a common goal of all people from all walks of life and for the most part if enough of us make it a priority to at least think on such humanistic goals world peace and the absence of war will come that much closer to fruition.
Lets make it a good one!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Are you serious NY Post?
By now we have all seen or at least heard about the cartoon depiction of the monkey being shot by two New York City policemen in last weeks New York Post . As well, most of us have heard of the subsequent protests and boycotts of this daily trash chronicle. Unless you live in New York City or you're from the New York City area, the idea of protesting in front of, or boycotting the tabloid sort of leaves you on the side lines with no way to really redress your grievances . It's all good to denounce the post or join a cause on Facebook saying you're boycotting, but in actuality your voice is not really being heard .
Ruppert Murdoch and more importantly the sponsors of his various media holdings not feeling your anger and disdain over this overtly offensive and vile depiction is just as bad as Col Allan (the Post's editor) allowing Sean Delonas to go to final print with his highly offensive scribble scrabble. We the people cannot allow such offensive and potentially dangerous insinuations to go unchallenged and unpunished. While the New York Post is the most egregious offender in this instance the problem in and of itself will not disappear if some how the protest and boycotts are successful in getting the editor and the cartoonist fired. The NY Post is a mere subsidiary of a larger more powerful and just as bigoted conglomerate. News Corp is the parent company of the New York Post and they have more than enough entities that can affectively be targeted from people of all regions to send the resounding message that needs to be sent. They own FOX news and all of the local FOX stations around the country. They own The Wall Street Journal, MySpace and a plethora of talk radio stations on the am side of your radio. The bad thing about this fact is they have a very large bully pulpit for which to spread their smut, lies and evil intentions. The good part is they leave us myriad targets for which we can show our angst and disgust. If you have a Myspace page shut it down(Facebook is better anyway). If you watch any of the network programs on FOX like 24 and other propaganda shows take note of the companies that sponsor them. Send them letters and let them know that you will boycott their product if they continue to do business with Ruppert Murdoch's media holdings. If you watch FOX News take note of all of the lies and half truths that they routinely tell and again bring this to the attention of their sponsorship and let them know that their products will stay on the shelf if they continue to pay for the likes of Sean Hannity and Bill O'Rielly. If you really want to have your voice heard you need to start at the top. The only way those at the top will lend an ear is if you hit them on their bottom. The bottom line is all they know and all that motivates them. That is why Murdoch took the unprecedented step of issuing an apology for last weeks offensive cartoon. We need to let him know that he was a day late and a dollar short and we will continue to protest not only his tabloid news paper, but all of the media holdings that fall under the umbrella of News Corp.
Likening Obama to a monkey is offensive and bothersome enough, but had they stopped there most of us could have lived with that rather innocuous corny jab. The injury in this case was far more insidious than the insult. The image of the monkey being shot dead in the streets by New York City cops no less was the biggest evil in Delonas depiction. The drawing is all too consistent with the rising tide of anger, racism and assassination threats that has preceded Obama's rise to the highest office in the land. To truly understand the intent of Delonas, The NY Post and for that matter Ruppert Murdochs entire organization one has to fully understand the power of the subliminal mind. Once you plant the seed in the subliminal mind that it is okay or even necessary to do physical harm or bring death to a certain person or a certain movement the out growth will be conscience acts of violence. We saw this in New York the days after Obama was elected just like we saw this during the turbulent 60's. In fact history is replete with this gang mentality where certain people or certain industries were able to gin up their base to go out and do what they themselves have not the heart or power to accomplish. We have to call these purveyors of hate violence and ignorance out on the esoteric messages that they send.
They cleverly left themselves and out clause by correctly stating that it's the house of representatives not the president that wrote the stimulus just as the house writes all bills, but this particular bill just as any land mark legislation was and is inextricably linked to the president who signs it to law. So when on page five of the post Obama is signing the bill and on page six you have a monkey being shot with the caption " they will have to find someone else to write the next stimulus" who is the first person that comes to mind? What is the dominate message being sent?
By virtue of you reading this blog I can safely assume that you don't listen to a whole lot of conservative talk radio. I implore you to give it an ear just to fully understand the mentality that they are promoting to their legions of idiotic followers. We saw glimpses of it during the campaign at the bubble head Palin rallies but the they are getting worse. We need not allow their messages laced with hate, anger, re-infect this country.
Ruppert Murdoch and more importantly the sponsors of his various media holdings not feeling your anger and disdain over this overtly offensive and vile depiction is just as bad as Col Allan (the Post's editor) allowing Sean Delonas to go to final print with his highly offensive scribble scrabble. We the people cannot allow such offensive and potentially dangerous insinuations to go unchallenged and unpunished. While the New York Post is the most egregious offender in this instance the problem in and of itself will not disappear if some how the protest and boycotts are successful in getting the editor and the cartoonist fired. The NY Post is a mere subsidiary of a larger more powerful and just as bigoted conglomerate. News Corp is the parent company of the New York Post and they have more than enough entities that can affectively be targeted from people of all regions to send the resounding message that needs to be sent. They own FOX news and all of the local FOX stations around the country. They own The Wall Street Journal, MySpace and a plethora of talk radio stations on the am side of your radio. The bad thing about this fact is they have a very large bully pulpit for which to spread their smut, lies and evil intentions. The good part is they leave us myriad targets for which we can show our angst and disgust. If you have a Myspace page shut it down(Facebook is better anyway). If you watch any of the network programs on FOX like 24 and other propaganda shows take note of the companies that sponsor them. Send them letters and let them know that you will boycott their product if they continue to do business with Ruppert Murdoch's media holdings. If you watch FOX News take note of all of the lies and half truths that they routinely tell and again bring this to the attention of their sponsorship and let them know that their products will stay on the shelf if they continue to pay for the likes of Sean Hannity and Bill O'Rielly. If you really want to have your voice heard you need to start at the top. The only way those at the top will lend an ear is if you hit them on their bottom. The bottom line is all they know and all that motivates them. That is why Murdoch took the unprecedented step of issuing an apology for last weeks offensive cartoon. We need to let him know that he was a day late and a dollar short and we will continue to protest not only his tabloid news paper, but all of the media holdings that fall under the umbrella of News Corp.
Likening Obama to a monkey is offensive and bothersome enough, but had they stopped there most of us could have lived with that rather innocuous corny jab. The injury in this case was far more insidious than the insult. The image of the monkey being shot dead in the streets by New York City cops no less was the biggest evil in Delonas depiction. The drawing is all too consistent with the rising tide of anger, racism and assassination threats that has preceded Obama's rise to the highest office in the land. To truly understand the intent of Delonas, The NY Post and for that matter Ruppert Murdochs entire organization one has to fully understand the power of the subliminal mind. Once you plant the seed in the subliminal mind that it is okay or even necessary to do physical harm or bring death to a certain person or a certain movement the out growth will be conscience acts of violence. We saw this in New York the days after Obama was elected just like we saw this during the turbulent 60's. In fact history is replete with this gang mentality where certain people or certain industries were able to gin up their base to go out and do what they themselves have not the heart or power to accomplish. We have to call these purveyors of hate violence and ignorance out on the esoteric messages that they send.
They cleverly left themselves and out clause by correctly stating that it's the house of representatives not the president that wrote the stimulus just as the house writes all bills, but this particular bill just as any land mark legislation was and is inextricably linked to the president who signs it to law. So when on page five of the post Obama is signing the bill and on page six you have a monkey being shot with the caption " they will have to find someone else to write the next stimulus" who is the first person that comes to mind? What is the dominate message being sent?
By virtue of you reading this blog I can safely assume that you don't listen to a whole lot of conservative talk radio. I implore you to give it an ear just to fully understand the mentality that they are promoting to their legions of idiotic followers. We saw glimpses of it during the campaign at the bubble head Palin rallies but the they are getting worse. We need not allow their messages laced with hate, anger, re-infect this country.
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