Here’s A Novel Idea: Support an African-American Woman for President!

It’s interesting that I have been reading various commentaries and heard a number of commentators on television state that although they are fed up with the American political system, the hypocrisy of the “Rethuglicans” and the “Dumbocrats”, they will vote for Barack Obama because among the establishment candidates, he is the best choice. They cannot vote for McCain because he has become too close to Bush lately and seems to have adopted a number of his policies. They cannot vote for Hillary because, although she is a woman, she represents the presumed privilege and entitlement of the “old guard”… plus she has been playing on the fear associated with the “race” issue, in her effort to secure the Democratic presidential nomination.

While Obama, although he is more style than substance, more rhetoric than depth, and has unashamedly made the political choice to keep his association with the Black community at arms length and has bent over backwards to project “white” American values, he is however seen as a “fresh” face… a change that America needs! Plus for many, both Black and “white”, his election to the Presidency of the United States… the first “Black” president… would be historical… and they all want consciously or subconsciously… to be a part of this historical event!

It is not surprising to me why “white” liberals America loves this guy… but for those who really want a change, or at least throw their support behind the potential for a real change from the norm… especially among the Black community… I would have thought that former Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, an African-American woman, would at least be given some consideration. In December 2007 she announced that she was seeking the presidential nomination for the Green Party of the United States. She has brought this message to the electorate:

“For far too long Black America has been at the mercy of political pimps and usurpers, particularly of the Democratic Party. It is now the year 2008, and we in Black America, in conjunction with our Brown, Red, Yellow, and White sisters and brothers have a genuine and serious choice in order to build a true people’s movement for real systemic change through the “Power to the People” campaign….” 

Mckinney has been a constant thorn in the political establishments’ side since being first elected to the Congress in 1992… to the point where it is believed that the Democratic Party itself worked against her 2006 primary re-election. Interestingly when asked about her views on Obama she stated: “We have to be careful with the black people who are put before us by the media.” 

It is understandable why the establishment controlled mainstream media has ignored her candidacy. It is understandable why she has received no support from the “white” liberal establishment. And yes, it is also understandable why she has garnered no support from the Black community! I have not seen, heard or read anything in support for her from the African-American community, especially from the so-called Black progressive blogging community. All the buzz, all the focus, has been on Obama and Clinton! Why is that? Why do I say it’s understandable that McKinney has received no support or consideration from her own community? 

Last Sunday I was watching Meet The Press and during a discussion on the Obama and Clinton campaign, it was re-iterated that the majority of Black people only started supporting Obama once he won the Iowa caucus on January 3rd, 2008. Analyzing Obama’s blowout win in South Carolina, they showed that polls in July 2007 had Clinton with 53% of the African-American support to Obama’s 33% in South Carolina. After Iowa, he carried the Black vote 78% to her 19% for his win in the South Carolina primary! His support among the African-American community surged once it became evident that enough “white” liberals and “white” independents were willing to vote for him… and he therefore had a chance to win (at least) the Democratic presidential nomination. Once again… politically… Black America was taking it’s cue from the “white” liberal establishment! In a previous post I made this comment: “There is one thing that the Democratic establishment knows they can depend on: the reaction of African-American community… they know their “negroes”… they have been studied, researched and most importantly conditioned by the Party.”

So there are certainly other choices and candidates for President, that those who are really searching for a “change” can support. No… they are not the establishment candidates and therefore are not likely to win. Another candidate for serious consideration should be Ralph Nader. McKinney (and Nader) do sincerely have the interests of ordinary people, including the Black community, at their core… more so than McCain, Clinton and certainly Obama. They do represent platforms for “real” change and not the “business as usual” mantra. So if the African-American community (at the very least) supported enmass Cynthia McKinney for President… an African-American woman running for a Party other than the two establishment Parties, this would be a true historic event… regardless if she wins or not!

Nevertheless, taking the initiative to research and expand your field of options so you can make the best, informed choice of whom to support for President is important. Voting according to your principles, instead of limiting yourself to the establishment candidates or just “jumping on the Obama bandwagon” in the hopes of having a “black” face in the White House, should be the primary objective to making sure one’s vote count for something.  

RunCynthiaRun.Org

VoteNader.Org      

(African)-American Idol

Brotherpeacemaker turned me on to this story. His commentary is worth sharing: “As a favor to Senator Kennedy, who early last week suffered a seizure and was later diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, Senator Barack Obama delivers the commencement address at Wesleyan University! It’s interesting he could make last minute plans to make this possible when he couldn’t fit programs like the State of the Black Union into his itinerary even when given plenty of advanced notice.”  Very astute observation Brotherpeacemaker!

Kanye West spoke “power to truth” when he went off script and exclaimed, during a live on-air telethon for Hurricane Katrina victims in September 2005, that “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people!” Well it appears that Barack Obama doesn’t care much about Black people either. He didn’t care enough to attend the annual State of the Black Union forum which was held earlier this year in New Orleans!! Obama cited scheduling conflicts, as his priority was focusing on his presidential campaign. Tavis Smiley who organized the event, faced a blacklash.. yes I said “black-lash” … for criticizing Obama’s decision not to attend the forum. At the time, I shook my head at the vitriol spewed towards Smiley by so-called “progressive Black bloggers”, the “Obama Fascists”, claiming among other things, that Smiley was jealous of Obama’s success and had a “crab in a barrel” mentality, because he had the audacity to question their Messiah. It got so bad that he received death threats and his mother and brother were harassed. It got so distressing that he ended up quitting the Tom Joyner Morning Show (read commentary here). When I lived near the Canada-U.S. border in Windsor, Ontario… across the river from Detroit, Michigan… I made it a point to listen to the TJMS on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I could hear what Tavis had to say. I didn’t always agree with him but he was always enlightening and honest in his opinions.

The bottom line is Obama decides it is more vital to his self-interest to step in for Ted Kennedy on short notice to address the future aspirations and endeavours of preppy Wesleyan University graduates, than to make the time to address the issues and concerns that are important to the survival and upliftment of Black America (read commencement address here). There is no doubt where his loyalties lie.

Compared to Barack Obama, Clarence Thomas is starting to look more and more like Louis Farrakhan.

For What Shall It Profit Us

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the world, and lose his soul?” – Mark 8:36

American politics is a system that breeds cynicism, corruption, cronyism, and mediocrity. The most successful political candidates are usually the ones that offer quick and easy solutions to problems that can have deep social implications. Can’t afford to rebuild the roads? Issue a bond, borrow the money, and let future generations figure out how to pay for it. Need to balance the federal budget? Tap the social security money reserves intended to help pay for people’s retirement and let the politicians in office when it’s time for people to retire figure out how to get the money. People are complaining about the racial disparity in the public school system? Instead of spending money to support the schools that are lacking, usually in the black neighborhoods, we can spend money on bussing so we can shuffle students around to various schools so everyone can be mediocre. Are the gasoline prices getting too high? We can suspend federal taxes for a time period so that the eighteen cents that the government collects to repair roads and other services stops. Instead of paying four dollars a gallon gasoline with eighteen cents going to taxes we can pay four dollars a gallon and someone just pockets that extra eighteen cents. In the world of politics, immediate, simple solutions are key to winning over a public with little interest for the details of public social issues.

To compound this problem, there are powerful entities that want to make sure that their interest are well represented whatever the political environment. Wealthy corporate and private entities will use whatever vast resources at their disposal to wield influence on just about any serious political candidate from the local level all the way to the federal. These people have the resources to influence even the most powerful politicians to their disposal. It is a foregone conclusion that this influence involves money. But the ultimate goal is the power to bend others, even the most committed type A personality, to act against their own self interest no matter what. Often, it is a system of quid pro quo where I scratch your back and you’ll scratch mine. It is a prime condition for secrets that betray not the public’s trust or sense of faith, but the public’s sense of comfort that the politician will do whatever so the public doesn’t have to care about it. A politician’s penchant for secret deals and under the table partnerships and is a prime environment for fostering the corruption and cronyism.

It is truly difficult for me as a member of the black community to develop a comfortable trust in someone who has become so adept at thriving in such an environment. With rare exception, the political environment of the manipulators and the manipulated rarely has the black community’s welfare at heart. Indeed, a politician that makes the choice to reveal his or her self as a proponent of the black community is a politician that will be quickly guided to the exit door signaling an end to their political career. Therefore, a politician, whether black or white, will do well to keep any affiliation with the black community as distant as possible.

Black politicians have been able to achieve public office at all levels of government. Blacks have been city councilmen, mayors, state representatives, governors, and federal representatives. The only office black people have yet to hold is the president. But just because a black person holds a certain political office means nothing to black people. Black people are just as likely to be lynched by the police in cities with black mayors or black police chiefs as we are in cities with all white public officials. The black community is ignored in states with black governors just as we are in any other state. Poverty in the black community is just as rampant. Black unemployment is just as pervasive. Education for black people will be just as lacking. Medical care for black people will be just as disappointing.

With all of that said, there is an inherent flaw in the black community’s proclivity to put its collective faith in any politician. A cursory glance at American history will show that some politicians have appeared as champions of social change and an enormous boon to the black community. People in the black community have been programmed to accept America’s most famous politicians as people who have done well for the black community. The black community is supposed to appreciate George Washington because he freed his slaves in his will. But the fact is that George Washington condoned and supported the institution of slavery just like every land owner in his day. The black community is supposed to be thankful to Abraham Lincoln because he freed the slaves. But little is mentioned of the fact that Mr. Lincoln was a stout segregationist he never wanted to end slavery, who believed in the superiority of the white race, and would never condone black people achieving equality to white people. John Kennedy may have made the phone call to Doctor Martin Luther King when he was in prison for his civil disobedience. But Mr. Kennedy had a history of selecting some of the most conservative judges to fill the openings in the American south. And while the black community may thank Lyndon Johnson for passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Mr. Johnson condoned the public harassment of all civil rights icons throughout his presidency. And these are the presidents we are supposed to admire.

Richard Nixon hired Donald Rumsfeld to head the office charged with the responsibility of eliminating poverty in America. Hiring the uber neoconservative to manage one of the most socially oriented offices in the presidency is akin to hiring a fox to guard a chicken coop. Ronald Reagan initiated his war on welfare with his story of the black welfare queen who sits at home and robs the federal government blind as justification to cut the social welfare programs that helped the black community to the bone. And no president could have manifested more disinterest in the welfare of the black community than George Bush during the Katrina disaster. President Bush declared a state of emergency for parts of Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana, but his declaration didn’t include New Orleans or the parishes with a heavy black population.

So it is with a great deal of suspicion and low expectations that a black politician becoming president will do anything with the black community in mind. Indeed, it is interesting that a black politician that has to defend himself against white people who regularly make everything from highly suggestive racial innuendoes all the way through to outright blatant claims of African American inferiority will dismiss such language as something that must be ignored, but will become visibly outraged and angry when his former pastor says that the black politician is required to make politically advantageous moves in order to win the highest political office in the land.

It is understandable after all. A lot of black people say that the pastor should keep quiet in order to help the black man win the presidency. But what will the black community gain other than bragging rights that a black man has finally reached the final political frontier? If the experience with the black governor and the black mayor is any indication, we won’t gain anything that will achieve anything for us. It will be business as usual.

Most of the social changes that have benefited the black community did not come from public office. The social changes that we have craved came through activism. It came through people who have been front and center in the church. Most of our changes have come from the black community that works hard and made sacrifices of dignity, sacrifices of physical pain, sacrifices of time and money, and the ultimate sacrifices of life. No politician is willing to make these kinds of sacrifices to help the black community. The black politician has an image that white people can trust him or her to uphold. Social changes, the type of changes many white people protest in order to keep their white privilege, will damage that image of trust. It is the black church that has gotten us this far. If black people are to ever come back together again to continue our long, arduous fight for some kind of racial equality in America, it will be through the black church and not through any political office.

The way things look it is a fairly safe bet that soon a black man will wear the title of President of the United States. In order to help the black man gain that title, a lot of people are ready to turn their back on the liberal theology of the black church. Many of us are willing to sell our soul in order to gain what we think is the greatest political office in the world. And black people want those bragging rights so badly that we are ready to allow the only institution that has ever truly worked in our favor, the black church, to be labeled as some relic of a segregationist past fueled by black people’s victim mentality. The black community stands ready to abandon our collective soul.

The Soul Of Barack Obama: Part 2

“When you have a philosophy or a gospel, I don’t care whether it’s a religious gospel, a political gospel, an economic gospel or a social gospel…. if it’s not going to do something for you and me right here and right now…. to hell with that gospel! In the past, most of the religious gospels that you and I have heard have benefited only those who preach it. Most of the political gospels that you and I have heard have benefited only the politicians. The social gospels have benefited only the sociologists. You and I need something right now that’s going to benefit all of us. That’s going to change the community in which we live, not try to take us somewhere else. If we can’t live here, we never will live somewhere else.”                                                                                                    

Barack Obama has a problem. The majority of those whom Hillary Clinton call “hard-working white people” don’t like him. They don’t trust him. But most importantly, during this Democratic primary process, it has translated into not voting for him. Ohio, Michigan, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana and West Virginia have so far rejected his “change” message. According to some exit polls, up to 40% of these card carrying Democratic Party “hard-working white people” state that they would not vote for him and stay home or vote for McCain, if he became the Democratic presidential nominee… (especially after he was caught making disparaging comments about their core beliefs in God, guns and illegal immigration during a private fundraiser in San Francisco). This is a serious problem for Obama. It’s not enough to garner the African-American and “white” yuppie liberal vote to secure the presidency. He needs a significant amount of votes from these “hard-working white people” to win.

So even after he made the choice to politically align himself with “white” America by first, turning his back on dissenting African-American voices, and second, by playing his “race card” to reassure “white peoples” that he was just like them… well the “white” half of him anyway…  they still went about rejecting him in the Pennsylvania primary (as well as in Indiana and West Virginia). Therefore desperate situations require desperate measures. Like Bill Clinton in 1992 , Obama needed his own “Sister Souljah Moment”. It came once again in Reverend Jeremiah Wright.  

On April 28th 2008, Rev. Wright gave a speech at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. on “The African-American Religious Experience”. This speech touched on the three aspects of the prophetic theology of the Black Church: the theology of liberation; the theology of transformation and the theology of reconciliation. This is one of the most enlightening and poignant discourse on the historical African-American Christian experience I have ever read. There was no mention (or attack) on Barack Obama, nor his presidential campaign. However at the end of this speech, the moderator posed questions based primarily on his relationship with Barack Obama and the repetitious media looped, so-called “controversial, hate-filled, un-patriotic and anti-American comments” by Rev. Wright.

Rev. Wright, who was not making a political speech and therefore had no concern with appeasing any constituency, answered the questions posed to him honestly and truthfully. He said what he believed… he shared what he felt… with no attacks on Obama, although it was obvious that the moderator was attempting to bait him into doing so. But perception is more powerful than reality… especially when it comes to politics. Obama utilized this as his “Sister Souljah Moment” and went on the attack. The next day after Rev. Wright’s speech, Obama held a press conference where he denounced, not only the comments of his former pastor, but the man himself (read transcript). Obama stated, with feigned exasperation: “I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened over the spectacle that we saw yesterday.”  

What… pray tell… so outraged Barack Obama about the comments of Rev. Wright? What in his speech on the African-American religious experience and how it led to the development of the  prophetic theology of the Black Church, so outraged Barack Obama? Why did Rev. Wright’s honest and truthful  responses to the questions posed to him, so outraged Barack Obama? According to Obama:

“But when he states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS, when he suggests that Minister Farrakhan somehow represents one of the greatest voices of the 20th and 21st century, when he equates the United States wartime efforts with terrorism, then there are no excuses. They offend me. They rightly offend all Americans. And they should be denounced. And that’s what I’m doing very clearly and unequivocally here today.”

Okay I see. Obama and “white” America are offended by the good Reverend’s “ridiculous propositions”. Regardless of the fact that a number of reputable scientists have questioned the origins and purpose of HIV and AIDS (see here for one reference). Regardless of the history of Europeans and early Americans purposely infecting Native Americans via smallpox virus laced blankets in an effort to eradicate them, as well as the fact of the American government’s involvement in the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. Regardless of the fact, that despite one’s opinion of Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, they have worked continuously against all odds to empower and enlighten African-Americans… and his call for the “Million Man March” was a historic and influential event in the history of those of African descent everywhere. Regardless of the fact that the American government have been implicated numerous times in the assassination of populist leaders at home and abroad… in Africa, Asia, the Middle-East, the Caribbean, South and Central America. Regardless of the fact that the American government has and still supports militarily and financially, regimes which deny their citizens basic human and democratic rights, as well as terrorize them into submission to ensure the profits American multinational corporations. 

What I find most grievous is Obama’s “ridiculous propositions” that he had no idea that these were the opinions of his pastor. A man who was his pastor for over 20 years! The pastor who married him and baptized his children! He asserts angrily, like Peter when Jesus was about to be crucified: “I never knew the man!”  What I also find disturbing is the silence of the so-called religious, social and political leaders in the Black community, which is not only a signal of their lack of support for Rev. Wright… but also a signal to “white” America that they can attack his character and motives. What I find most disgusting are the attacks by the so-called “progressive Black bloggers”! Are we all so blinded by our insatiable hunger to have a “Black” face in the “White” House that by proxy, we are willing to sell our own souls through Obama, to gain the world!? Brotherpeacemaker provided an excellent treatise on this point in his post entitled “God Damn The Black Community”.

There is one thing I do agree with Obama though, when he made this statement in regards to the speech and comments by Rev. Wright: “It is antithetical to our campaign. It is antithetical to what I am about. It is not what I think American stands for.”  He is correct that their campaign is not about honesty and truth. He is correct that he is not about honesty and truth. He is correct that America does not stand for honesty and truth. We all know deep down, no matter how much we try to fool ourselves, no matter how deaf, dumb and blind we allow ourselves to be… that the campaign, Barack Obama and America are all about “political posturing” .   

I do understand the unbridled and blind desire of those in the Black community, not only in America but also worldwide, to see Barack Obama succeed in his quest. Here’s the paradox to the whole issue for me. A part of me does also hope that he makes history and succeeds all the way to the presidency.  If I lived in the U.S.A., I would vote for Barack Obama… because he is Black… and for no other reason! As I stated before, he is no better nor worse than Clinton or McCain. He is a politician. So I would vote for him. NOT for me, but for my son. Barack Obama, as a Black man who made it all the way to become the President of the United States of America,  would be an example, an inspiration to those of African descent… to my son… that you could succeed in whatever goals you set out to achieve.

However as a Father, it would be my mission to teach and by example impart to my son, that in becoming a man and being a success in life, first and foremost, nothing… absolutely nothing… is worth achieving if you have to sell your soul to get it!                         

A Conservative View Of Black History

America is a sentimental country always ready to embrace its past. As a nation, we have memorials to just about everything and everyone under the sun. Our public memorials run the gamut ranging from the simple white cross seen on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere as one drives down the highway, no doubt a makeshift memorial to someone who must died in a local traffic accident, to the elaborate marble cathedrals dedicated to fallen presidents in the nation’s capital. And there is plenty that fall in between these two extremes. Not too long ago I heard someone promoting the dedication of a memorial to the spouses of veterans. Our memorials run the spectrum indeed.

America is a nation that embraces its history. Every year cities within the nation compete to host the largest and most festive Independence Day celebration. The rhetoric is that an American just isn’t an American if he or she doesn’t don their red white and blue uniform and fervently wave the stars and stripes on this illustrious holiday. We are proud of the fact that our forefathers had the gumption to stand up to the British monarchy. We love our Memorial Day and our Labor Day. We celebrate holidays based on religious history. The so called birth and death of Jesus are two of the most popular holidays known to traditional America. The idea of having Jesus’ birthday competing with other religions trying to get a little recognition for what they feel is important is a bit too sacrilegious for many vocal Americans. We love to celebrate our history.

We love our past and we love our monuments to days gone by. The Golden Gate and the Brooklyn bridges are held in high regard despite the fact that their engineering achievements have been eclipsed decades ago. Buildings from a long bygone era are protected as museums of architecture and enjoy must be preserved at all cost status. We collectively mourn the death of actors and celebrities that have not made a public appearance in decades. Antiques from the past in pristine condition enjoy value that dwarfs the national treasure of some countries. Some antique cars can be sold for tens of millions of dollars. It would not be surprising to see an antique tin can with its label intact fetching a sum north of a million dollars. And it would not be surprising to learn that the product originally sold by the case for just a penny. Our history, and the symbols of our history, are precious to us.

But, one area of America’s past that is avoided like the plague is America’s relationship with its black community. Any time any body brings up a reference to slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, or affirmative action, the wayward armchair historian is attacked as if he or she is a history terrorist. Some people will go so far as to say that these eras of institutionalized racial discrimination are simply too painful and too divisive a time in our history to bear scrutiny. Any one who insists on trying to learn something from these periods of history are simply trying to exert some kind of leverage against the dominant community for the sins of their ancestors and elders. Arguably, any weight the study of the history of racial disparity may have on the collective white community is trivial at best, but more than likely it is nonexistent.

Interestingly, a number of Americans from the racially generic dominant class that just so happens to be predominantly white, refer to any attention devoted to the study of America’s sordid past of institutionalized slavery or any instance where the norm consisted of the black community being abused and/or neglected, as a desperate effort to cling to a victim mentality and blame everyone for the black community’s failures but the black community. The idea that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it is thrown out the window like the proverbial baby and bathwater. And, low and behold, America is repeating its past as if by script.

At the dawn of the twentieth century, while the dominant community was doing its thing to deny black people the right to be human, the right to vote, the right to an education, the right to own property, the right to dignity, and the right to just about everything else, some black people were painting the majority of the black community as waiting for handouts and for outside assistance, the type of assistance that was considered an entitlement by members of the dominant community. Black people needed to stop playing the victim and get an education. But for some reason, it was okay that black people were not entitled to the same tools to obtain an education that was regularly offered to the dominant community. Black people wanted jobs. But somehow, black people were not entitled to the same jobs offered to non blacks but to the more menial jobs that paid poorly and few people wanted.

Booker T. Washington was most apologetic to the dominant community. At the beginning of the twentieth century Mr. Washington was quick to suggest that the black community could best defend itself from the racism of white America when we quit expecting anything from the white community. The white community is more than welcome to black labor but didn’t have to fully compensate our ancestor’s for it. And interestingly enough, Mr. Washington was heralded as the respectable leader of the black community by the dominant community. The black community must adapt itself in order to become a respectable component of the dominant community. The black community must contort itself into a social reform that more closely emulates behavior that the dominant society will find respectable and tolerant worthy.

The same holds true today. The vast numbers of respectable black people regularly promoted on television are the type of people who will be quick to tell people in the black community to exercise some kind of personal responsibility. We are regularly told to quit being lazy and give up the victim mentality. If somebody doesn’t want to hire us then we need to find someone else who will. If somebody doesn’t want to educate us we simply need to find somebody else who will. And while we play a game akin to looking for an opportunity in a haystack most white Americans will find their opportunities without the impediments that hinder black people. But ask the people in the dominant community and the problem isn’t the insidious social racism that limits opportunities for black people. The problem is that black people don’t do what is necessary to step up to the plate and find their opportunities despite the fact that white people are afraid or simply refuse to engage us.

Yes, it is very true that black people need to step up to the plate. We cannot wait for a handout from the dominant controllers or from our black brothers and sisters who have done well. Black people have no choice but to look high and low, far and wide, in and out, up and down for our opportunities. The hurdles against us require us to jump through hoops of fire in order to find what others simply walk up to or just wake up and find in their lap. Unfortunately, when blacks do find the opportunities that allows them to succeed and prosper, instead of doing everything we can to help make things a little easier for the next black person, we are more likely to hold back with the standard rhetoric of work hard and you too can make it.

Some black conservatives who have achieved their success with the help of programs along the lines of affirmative action want to turn around and dismantle these programs to prevent other blacks from taking advantage of them. Some say that affirmative action prevents black people from achieving their best and gives black people the impression that they cannot compete with other races. Again, the problem isn’t the racial discrimination that excludes black people from taking advantage of certain opportunities. The problem is the black people who expect an equal and fair shot at opportunities. These people actually promote the idea that the institution that doesn’t freely give opportunities to the black community isn’t the problem, the institution that assures a racially diverse population of people taking advantage of their opportunities they offer is the problem facing society. The last thing we need is someone trying to do something for the black community. Discrimination isn’t the problem. Reverse discrimination is the real problem.

Black people need to learn to expect nothing from the dominant community. Nobody owes us a handout. And to that tidbit of information we can add the fact that nobody owes us a fair shot at anything. And if that isn’t enough, it appears that some successful black people are intent on making it their responsibility to make sure that the black community doesn’t forget that the black culture that is our birthright is best left behind and forgotten in order to help the dominant community to perpetuate the coincidence of racial disparity that always find the black community at the shitty end of the measuring stick. If our so called black role models have their way black history will be forgotten and we will repeat the past as if by script.

Women of the African Diaspora Conference

Tags

Afro European Sisters Network, Black Women in Europe, Women of the African Diaspora

As part of the Kwakoe festival in Amsterdam there will be a conference for Women of the African Diaspora.

Program*

Presentations/Panel Discussion:
Being a Black Woman in a Global Society
Surviving and Thriving in the Corporate Culture

Musical Performance:
Carole Beausaint Denis

Networking Hour

Bazaar
Sisters with businesses will be able to display and sell their products.

Gift Sponsor:
Mariposa Imports

Registration link

*Subject to change

BEWC launch in September – a follow up to the 1st Black European Women’s Congress in Vienna last year

Tags

Black European Women's Network, Black Women in Europe

A lot has been going on since we met in Vienna last year.

Each woman was charged with doing whatever she could in her country. For my part I promised to spread the word. My efforts can be found here.

Leah in Sweden has organized a group of sisters and held meetings to draft proposals from the Black Woman in Sweden’s point of view. She is happy to report that Sweden seems to be ahead of the curve in promoting equal rights and access to Black Women.

The first strategic meeting of BEWNET (Black European Women’s Network)took place in Vienna from 13-14 March 2008. One of the outcomes was the unanimous decision by all present at the strategic meeting to change the name of our network from Black European Women’s Network to “Black European Women’s Council” for strategic reasons.

The next steps shall be to register BEWC as an international association under the Belgian Law.

September 9th 2008 is the official launching of BEWC in the European Parliament in Brussels. I definitely plan to be at this historical event.

For more information contact AFRA the addresses. They intend to send out the invitations by mid June.

Right Or Wrong We Need Support

Fifteen police officers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania were captured on video beating the shit out of three black men pulled out of a car after a traffic stop on Monday night. The fifteen police officers have been removed from street duty. The beating looked similar to some kind of gang activity where the victim is overwhelmed by multiple gang members waylaying in on his or her ass. The three black men have been charged with criminal conspiracy, aggravated assault, simple assault and reckless endangerment, according to court officials. But that really doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if the police officers are right or wrong. People throughout the community will come from far and wide to defend the actions of a little street justice from this badge wearing posse.

On Wednesday, Doug Oliver, a spokesman for Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter made the statement, “At a glance it does appear to be a bit beyond the pale…Officers are not allowed to operate outside of the law…We are not going to prejudge the situation based on the video…We all saw the video, but none of us was there.”

No doubt there will be some claim of some kind of investigation. These police will simply say that they were in fear of their life and were trying to defend themselves. The police will claim that these suspects were trying to break the officer’s feet when the officers were kicking the suspects in the head as they were lying face down on the ground. The police will claim that they had to beat the suspects because the suspects didn’t respond to police commands fast enough. They will say that they were suffering from some derivative of contagious shooting called contagious beating the shit out of somebody or contagious smack down. They will go before a judge and the esteemed Honor will say something totally unbelievable but perfectly legal like there isn’t enough evidence here to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the suspects’ civil rights were violated while cops were kicking their ass. The dominant community will support their police far beyond any shadow of a reasonable doubt whether they were right or wrong.

In the individual dealings with the black community the support the dominant community gives its representatives is overwhelming. Had this beating not been caught by the WTXF-TV helicopter that just so happened to be in the vicinity, the suspects would have showed up at the police station bloodied and battered and in need of immediate medical attention, the police would have simply said that the suspects fell as they were getting out of the squad car. The infamous police code of silence and blind support for fellow officers would not require any investigation to the contrary.

But now that there is a video made public, reluctantly, an investigation must ensue. Witnesses will be collected and if their testimony will be damaging to the police officers it will be dismissed because the police will be assumed to have more integrity than the black suspects. Few people from the dominant community will contest such an assumption. Most people will support that assumption even though they would never tolerate it being applied to themselves. If these people don’t stand behind each other, the dominant community would have a great deal to lose.

The dominant community will support their own. A radio host, fired for demeaning and humiliating black women, will be supported to the point that, not only does he get his job back, he will get a ten million dollar settlement for his troubles. Boot camp guards caught on camera murdering a black teenager too exhausted to continue his calisthenics are acquitted of murder. Police who kill a black man on his way to his wedding are acquitted of any wrong doing. Senators running for reelection will point to a black man in the audience and tell the crowd to say hello to macaca, a racially derogatory term, and people still voted for him. A local district attorney charge black high school students of second degree attempted murder for fighting with white high school students who aren’t charged with anything. When the district attorney is investigated by federal agents, there isn’t enough evidence to warrant charges. A comedian stands on stage and uses numerous racial epithets against black people in the audience and video sales of the television show he appeared in skyrocket over the following week. And the number of racist who consistently make blatant derogatory remarks against the black community reads like a who’s who in network news.

If only the black community could garner such support from our own. When the radio host made his remarks about black women, half the black community was pointing the finger at the other half of the black community. Somehow, we had brought this upon ourselves by allowing gangsta rap music thrive in the black community. The fact that gangsta rap is a product of a music industry ultimately controlled by the dominant community and the fact that the white community is responsible for seventy percent of gangsta rap purchases never registers to half of the black community. If black people would not tolerate our women being degraded through gangsta rap music maybe white radio hosts wouldn’t think it was acceptable to degrade black women.

Black comedians stand in front of white people and deride poor blacks for the condition of the black community. Black celebrities advocate the abandonment of the black community in order to truly feel free. Black celebrities will do their best to market themselves as a single person rainbow coalition with every ethnicity in the spectrum in their family lineage with their African ancestry pulling up the rear. Famous black men advertise the fact that they don’t date black women. Famous black women return the favor and eschew dating black men. Black entrepreneurs want to hire white people as their sales force and keep their black employees in supporting roles.

When a black preacher has the audacity to say that the dominant community has played a significant role in keeping the black community in a condition of perpetual substandard existence, the black community will question his motives and accuse him of trying to sabotage another black man’s bid for the white house. We want to hush the man with the courage to be vocal in his call for the recognition of our condition. White people won’t want to hear that shit. If that fool doesn’t keep quiet the black community will lose any hope of putting one of our own in the white house.

And? A single black man in the white house isn’t going to change the conditions of the black community if we have to get him there under some subterfuge that everything is hunky dory. Equality and fairness isn’t going to trickle down through the public simply because we have a black president. Illinois had its first black Senator in forever and has conditions in Illinois change for its black population? It may be true that there have been some improvements but the racial status quo remains squarely intact.

The black community has produced our share of judges, police, doctors, legislators, lawyers, philosophers, historians, explorers, engineers, actors, singers, athletes, scientist, teachers, entrepreneurs, dreamers, bureaucrats, inventors, poets, entertainers, authors, administrators, astronomers, astrologers, astronauts, mathematicians, metallurgist, farmers, marketers, and any and every profession you can think of. What will be one more? What will change for the black community if one of our own was to become president? If the only black man that sits on the Supreme Court is any indication, it won’t mean a thing if that black person does not have a full appreciation of what it means to support the black community.

Like many people, I believe it will be a significant achievement when a black person becomes President of the United States. But I’m not ready to sacrifice black people who speak the truth about racial disparity in order to achieve that goal. I support the black man or woman who wants to be president. I support them with all of my heart. But more importantly, I will support the black community. And that includes the black person who has the courage to stand up and says that there is something wrong with this country that tolerates so much racial inequality.