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By Muata Greene
"The liberal elite have no problem with
African Americans or other oppressed
people as long as we keep our place and
don't surpass them ideologically and mentally."
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As
I watched the blow by blow, word by word coverage of the primary season
in America and of the Democratic primaries, I thought that this is the
period in the United States of America when the ideology of
"Paternalistic Liberalism" has reached its ultimate.
You ask, what is Paternal Liberalism? Paternal is a late
middle-English word meaning father, belonging to a father. Liberalism -
a middle-English word denoting a freeman, social reformer, easy going,
unselfish.
The above meanings conflict one another in my opinion, because it
becomes very difficulty to be both father-like and parental and yet
liberal to your off spring - or should I say to people who historically
have been kept under you - tutelage. This ideology is very prevalent
from the right and, yes, the left too.
Let's look at the Democratic primary and how the Democratic Party
liberals went after a young man of mixed heritage, of a darker hue.
Senator Barack Obama in a very eloquent way along the way to the
nomination tried to run a "post racial campaign;" then came his victory
on Super Tuesday. He won in South Carolina, so it was dubbed the Black
primary, when all the Democrats were fighting it out for the African
American vote. The African American electorate became torn between the
Clinton state of the art machine and Obama's hope for a new "race free
America." Paternal Liberalism, which affects the actions of the
oppressors and the oppressed, had some Black people saying they would
not vote for Obama because they believe it wouldn't make a difference -
that somebody in a high up position would find a way for him to lose.
This patriarchal system that was created during slavery in the south is
part of America, and has developed over the decades where it has
ideological roots in white America. The liberal elite have no problem
with African Americans or other oppressed people as long as we keep our
place and don't surpass them ideologically and mentally. This is the
other part of the so called "glass ceiling."
I have experienced this in the left also, as an activist for 30 plus
years, where liberal elite progressives in many venues always want to
direct me ideologically and tell me what it means to be progressive and
as long as I do not challenge their perception in the open they are
happy, but when I mix it with my own theory based on practice study and
practice - then it then becomes a issue.
The purpose of this ideological statement is to open a honest dialogue
about race and chauvinism on all levels of United States politics, in
order to make real strides in building the new post racial, with
working class power and a socialist economy.
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BlackCommentator.com
Guest Commentator Muata Greene is a New York-based activist, a member
of AFSCME Local 2507,& Center for Labor Renewal Endorser.She can be reached at [email protected].
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 is published every Thursday |
Executive Editor:
David A. Love, JD |
Managing Editor:
Nancy Littlefield, MBA |
Publisher:
Peter Gamble |
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