There
is poetry in the flow of human events, if one can only figure out
where the verse begins and, thereby, catch the rhythm of it all.
For months, 
publishers Glen Ford and Peter Gamble delayed completion of their
commentary, "America's
Black Rightwing Forum: The grotesque devolution of a Black news
program." Created by Ford and Gamble 25 years ago, the
syndication has since been transformed into a propaganda showcase
for the Right, featuring the anti-Black rantings of Republicans
Armstrong Williams and Niger Innis and their slippery help-mate,
host Juan Williams. NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, who took over as
host when the founders sold their shares in the program in late1980,
remains an ABF commentator and represents the progressive window
dressing on the GOP-dominated set.
Ford
and Gamble put off publishing their ABF broadside, week after week,
in favor of events that demanded immediate analysis. Then, Trent
Lott found his own, true voice. It was the perfect moment to turn
on the lights at the Republican Roach Motel that America's Black
Forum has become. An old friend and colleague read the piece, and
remembered. Askia Muhammad writes:
As
a founding panelist on ABF, who worked with Glen Ford right up
until the last moment on the show when Julian Bond came onto our
raggedy old set, I was shocked when I read this account. I know
Niger Innis, and he is all he's depicted to be in this account.
I
only wonder, why is Julian Bond still lending his substantial
credibility to this shill program? The money must be exceedingly
good (or necessary) for him.
Three
comments.
1.
I caution that none of us get too alarmed when there are right-wing
coup-d'etats of our media, and not be alarmed when there are left-wing
coups, i.e. Pacifica Radio's recent disenfranchisement of its
"Black" station in Washington. I realize that folks
on the left are much more likely to challenge the status quo than
are those on the right, but a coup is a coup.
2.
I'm old enough to remember when Tony Brown's Journal was called
"Black Journal," and when Dean Brown took advantage
of his relationship with Pepsico, the show's principal sponsor
at that time, to hijack that show morphing it into "Tony
Brown's Journal." There was a substantive, and qualitative
change in the program's content at that time. I long ago relegated
it into the dustbin into which I more recently deposited ABF.
3.
All of this leads me to issue my time-worn (but sill highly relevant)
axiom (warning) on this subject. It was told to me back in the
early 1970s by the late Al Johnson, once publisher of Chicago's
South Suburban News, and it still, it seems to me is quite applicable
today and in these instances (can I get a witness Julian???) to
wit: "All the successful Blacks have been bought. All the
rest are still for sale."
Askia
Muhammad is White House correspondent for The Final Call.
Brother
Adeyemi is a top-rank intellect in Princeton, New Jersey, and an
indispensable source of timely information. We prize his evaluation
highly.
Your
article regarding America's Black Right Wing Forum is so "on
point" that it should be "required reading" in
every African American household in this country! Thank you, thank
you, thank you.
The
stench of FOX News hangs heavily over America's Black Forum. The
show's treacherous trio - Niger Innis and Juan and Armstrong Williams
- are all connected with Roger Ailes' Republican regime at FOX in
one ugly way or another. Although ABF is a captive of the GOP, the
syndication is not a FOX property. Politically, however, there's
not a dime's worth of difference, so we're not concerned that some
of our readers got the impression that FOX owns ABF. Willie Boston
writes:
Thank
you for the wonderful and insightful article on ABF. While I try
to avoid the FOX News Channel as much as possible, because of
its odious and biased perspective, I was unaware of the nexus
between conservative foundations/think tanks and the commentators
on that show.
Florida
AFL-CIO Communications Director Rich Templin has to grapple daily
with the mouthpieces of the rich Right.
The
piece on the American Black Forum was EXCELLENT! Fox News is real
threat to all our nation's working people who have been tricked
with the "fair and balanced" mantra. The more we all
do to expose the sham the better.
.
Eddgra Fallin, of Huntsville, Alabama, is sick of looking at Armstrong
Williams' teeth.
Your
commentary on the takeover of the black media was "on point,"
as my kids say. How can we expose Armstrong Williams et al. for
the media whores that they are? I get so sick of turning on my
television set and seeing their grinning faces. Having said that,
I smell something fishy in this Trent Lott situation. Armstrong
was calling for Trent to resign today [Dec 13]. What is up with
that?
examines Armstrong Williams' latest maneuvers in
the lead commentary of this issue, "Trent
Lott Furor Threatens Faith-based Bribery Scheme." It is
long past time to document the role of Black operatives of the Republican
Party - both card carriers and the sneaky, closeted kind - in assaults
on African American institutions.
Dorinda
Moreno knows a rat when she smells one.
This
week's commentaries on America's Black Forum and Strom Thurmond
are eye openers. That which you know by the gnaw in the pit of
your stomach when you feel something is in error but don't know
the intimate details, your reportage makes perfectly clear. I
shall keep eyes opened and ears pealed to your news, welcoming
the raw truth, unpolished, uncluttered, forward and straight to
the point! No window dressing and plastic apologies. The likes
of Juan Williams steal from their own kind to embellish themselves.
They must be toppled!
We
tried to reason with Reginald Carter, of Cleveland, Ohio, when he
first wrote to us defending ABF host Juan Williams. However, Mr.
Carter remains in Juan The Whiner's corner.
I
think you got Juan wrong. I have observed his commentary and debate
for years and never did I detect that he might be a "closet
Republican." I will admit that he appears to relinquish the
floor too easily to those I've perceived as his political opposites
- namely the conservatives - preventing him from effectively defending
his side of issues on the table. But to paint him with the same
brush as Armstrong Williams - give me a break. Juan is simply
a bit too easy going - but, not necessarily a sell out.
What
Juan Williams doesn't want to "relinquish" are the fat
rewards for anti-Black performances on television. Brother Carter
assures us that he is now a regular
reader, so we are confident that the veil of illusions will soon
be lifted from his eyes.
Brenda Brody is a communications specialist in
New Orleans. As such, she has been frustrated at the difficulty
of figuring out where Armstrong Williams is coming from. We were
pleased to clarify the situation for her.
Your
two articles today on the Black Rightwing Forum and on Trent Lott
and Strom Thurmond were just what I needed. It answered a lot
of questions. I did not know who Armstrong Williams was, though
I have seen him puppeting the right wing message and I wondered
who this Tom was, with his lips moving, and the repug-lican message
coming from his mouth. Now I know whose hand is up his ass making
his head move.
Coincidentally,
and more than a thousand miles away in New York City, Mark McNease
arrived at precisely the same anatomical analysis.
It's
good to see you speaking out about Juan Williams, Innis, all the
puppets (Black and white) with the hand of Roger Ailes up their
asses. There are many other reasons why I appreciate your site,
not the least of which is my growing thirst for truth in a sea
of lies and my despair at the tabloidization of the American media.
Watching television these days makes me feel lost in a wilderness
of fools, charlatans and psychopaths. Thanks for being an oasis.
It
is both rare and good to feel as if in an oasis, while Trent Lott
and his (suddenly disloyal) Black minions take the political heat.
Trench-mouth
Lott
Our companion piece to the ABF commentary,
"The Living
Legacy of White Minority Rule" pointed out that both Trent
Lott and Strom Thurmond are from states and counties that were home
to Black majorities at the times of their births. Dayton, Ohio's
Reverend Willam Schooler's ministry is also concerned with temporal
matters of race.
I
will do my part to share the information you provided with those
I associate with at every level, Pastors throughout these United
States, government officials at all levels that I know, black
radio owners I know and anyone else that will receive the article
and care to discuss the article with me.
American racists and what they stand for must
be exposed even if exposing them costs some of us our own lives
or our level of comfort. Christ died for revealing the truth and
I am willing to follow Christ.
For Christ Himself said, "know the truth
and the truth shall set you free." All truth frees us from
captivity whether mental and or physical. The truth will also
free some people from racists who reveal their true thoughts/hearts
as Senator Trent Lott and others like him did at the birthday
party of Senator Thurmond.
J.
Chamberlain has a more secular take on Trent Lott.
If
[Minnesota Sen. Paul] Wellstone had not been murdered he would
now stand up in the Senate when they next convene and DEMAND that
Lott step down and resign from the Senate, period... anything
else is a cover up and business as usual for the pigs in power.
Caesar
I Howell III, a chemist from Washington, DC, wonders why it took
an Exorcist-like convulsion from Trent Lott to stir Black leadership
to righteous anger. Actually, those are our words. Mr. Howell put
it a little differently.
Considering
the utter stupidity of Trent Lott's truthful explanation of that
"Black Problem" that Strom Thurmond would have been
able to correct if he became president, I have a problem with
our lack of leadership and their silence over the past 30 years
prior to this remark. Lott's recent diatribe and PR, "I'm-truly-sorry-that-you-problem-people"
excuse has proven that we continue to think like sheep just prior
to the dinner table....
Troublesome"
Harvard
One
does not pick on Harvard University without generating a response.
Guest Commentator Shelton Amstrod's December 5 piece, "Harvard:
The Strange Career of a Troublesome Institution," provoked
irritation, anger and amens. Richard Buery is a member of the Harvard
class of '92.
I must be missing the point of Shelton Amstrod's
commentary on Blacks and Harvard. The article identifies dozens
of racists who have been affiliated with Harvard throughout its
history. While we should never forget that shameful legacy, I
doubt it distinguishes Harvard from any other long-established
American institution. But I'm not sure how this horrible history
leads to his conclusion - that "those Blacks who seek to
append themselves to this corrupt legacy will suffer a shameful
disgrace."
Harvard's
past and present is full of evildoers and evil deeds, but is also
full of noble individuals who have played a central role in the
fight for freedom and justice in America, people such as DuBois,
Charles Hamilton Houston, and Bob Moses. It is also a center of
the study of African-American history and culture. The implication
at the end of Amstrod's commentary - that somehow a good education
is bad for African Americans - is highly offensive, and smells
to me of the worst-sort of African-American anti-intellectualism
that condemns our children in cities across the country to charges
of "selling out" and "acting white" when they
work towards academic achievement.
Amstrod's
assessment of Harvard "rings true," however, to reader
Carol D. Tart.
Thanks
for the information. I have been researching this very subject
for quite some time. Everything written rings true. However, it's
not just the white establishments that uphold these so-called
"black" intellectuals as the best of the best, it's
also the elite and "sub-elite" blacks as well.
As far as Randall Kennedy ["Nigger: The
Strange Career of a Troublesome Word"] is concerned, his
book is truly one-sided. And, it was at the request of the president
of Stanford that he wrote the book after giving several lectures
on the subject at the university....
Yes, one knows there is a problem with the so-called
black intellectuals at Harvard (and other Ivy League institutions)
when it calls its department specializing in the study of Africans
and African Americans/Blacks Afro-American Studies. I don't
know of any educated Black people who call themselves Afro-anything.
Yet, Henry Louis Gates is a GOD!
Therefore, it's the responsibility of Black people
to now denounce these mis-educated fools. Unfortunately, most
Black people are afraid. Even more important is the fact that
when the time comes for Black people to speak up on this subject,
they must realize that much of what is considered Black history
in America (and beyond) may just be a pack of untruths.
Lawrence
Watson used to work at Harvard. He now heads up a firm called SaveOurSelves
Productions. We can understand why.
The
writer makes perfect sense. As a former administrator at Harvard
who worked closely with Derrick Bell on the public protest in
1988 that led to Professor Bell relinquishing his tenure, and
my administrative position being eliminated the following year,
Mr.Armstrod's commentary is a haunting reminder to all of us that
history is preface.
The
price we are all bound to pay because a few of us in the "big
house" trash our culture, legacy, and history in order to
gain legitimacy on the white lecture circuit is a travesty of
monumental proportion. More of us have to express our disdain
with this new revisionist history being written and espoused by
some of us who hold the rest of us in contempt.
Marjorie
Loring thinks that "Harvard" might be concerned about
criticism in the pages of The Black Commentator. If only that were
so.
One
wonders how Harvard's current administration would receive this
piece. I'd love for you to send it to them and ask for a response.
What a powerful publication you are producing!
Superpower Piracy
Our
December 5 lead commentary, "Rule
of the Pirates" was posted all over the Internet, apparently
in some very intelligent places. (We hold all those who agree with
in very high esteem.) Jim Lynch is a new visitor; we think he'll
stick around.
Your
'Rule Of The Pirates' commentary is a beautifully crafted, well
written critique of the Bush administration. ("They have
allegiances to no one", indeed). So well written, in fact,
that I'm left feeling - well, I guess I feel as though you pulled
your punches. The gist of what you say is that these people are
traitors to their country. "Treason" is a far more powerful
accusation than "piracy". And given all you say, a far
more accurate one.
Vernon
Vanpoucke is also a newcomer to these pages, who knows how to talk
to the hosts.
Your
commentary on Bush and Cheney drooling over the prospect of profit
from war was brilliant. You are insightful. Thanks for opening
my eyes a little wider.
We
conclude with three letters from recent visitors to
who were kind enough to announce themselves and to explain their
reasons for staying.
Sue
Dennis:
I am not an African-American, but have strong beliefs regarding
Social Justice. There are, I'm afraid, too few voices of reason
willing to work to get our nation back on track. We need to regain
the ground lost since the day of the terrible attacks on our nation.
We need to have a more open and clear view of the future, instead
of the current trend towards secrecy, small mindedness and unseemly
lack of concern for the international repercussions of our actions.
Prof.
Peter McLaren, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information
Studies:
The Black Commentator will become a major site for my students'
research at UCLA. Your commentaries and analyses are urgent and
important.
Charlotte
Masterman, Eagan, Minnesota:
I have signed up to receive your news. I heard of you through
www.democrats.com. I am an old Scots-Irish grandma with a bit
of American Indian and French blood with seven beautiful biracial
grandchildren - black, American Indian and caucasian. I worry
so about them because of the unremitting effects of racism that
still permeates every sector of society. I like to have a heads
up on what is going on from a black perspective.
Mary
Edwards, Davis, California:
I am on the e-mail list for Democrats.com, and they have been
featuring some of your articles. Your combination of relevant,
in-depth coverage and perceptive, much-needed, analysis is pretty
much unparalleled in the press right now. Something you undoubtedly
are aware of, but something that many thousands of Americans are
aware of, also. The Internet has become practically our only source
of information.
I
have been forwarding your articles to others with a mouse right-click-to
other liberals who appreciate the political orientation and the
prose, and to some independents who need the facts that they are
not getting anywhere else!
Please
keep real journalism alive in case democracy survives....
Keep
writing.
