Why Jesse Why? is the question Margaret Kimberley asked in
her  Freedom
Rider column last week (April
7, 2005).
Does it concern Rev. Jackson that the Schiavo case is already being
used to stack the judiciary with conservatives? It must be clear to
Jesse Jackson that publicly choosing sides in this story puts one of
his feet in a different camp. If he sides with Tom DeLay on any issue
then he has to accept responsibility for the consequences.
Reader Elaine Farran hopes our politicians were listening.
Thank you for that truly brilliant article.
As we all waited for Democrats and Progressives to make a statement,
it was a ray of hope to see Jackson emerge - until we realized
he was on the wrong side!
We all abhorred that tragedy, but even I, a non-entry in political
terms, could see where the Schiavo case was heading with the
neo-cons.
So glad you added your voice to the discussion. If
only our politicians were listening.
We also heard from Dan Elliott of Sacramento.
Dear Freedom
Rider -- Just a note to compliment you on standing up to Jesse
Jackson & the
chorus of sycophants who will now attack you as a heretic.
Brother Elliott informs us he was a Run Jesse Run precinct-walker
1984/88 and a donor to the Rainbow Convention, 1989.
In the March
31, 2005 issue of , Freedom Rider took
aim at Self Hatred at Harvard.
Nothing can ruin a Sunday morning like a New York Times
magazine article with a dubious title such as, “Toward a Unified
Theory of Black America.” The alarm bells are immediate because
the Times loves to give attention to black people who are either
in jail or on welfare or who have impeccable credentials but who
are horribly confused.
Roland Fryer is in the latter category. He is a 27-year old assistant
professor of economics at Harvard. His ideas explain why economics
is called the dismal science. The word dismal doesn't begin
to describe the damage to black people that Fryer and his ilk can
cause.
Dean Chambers of
Oakland, CA was pleased Margaret stuck her fork in that Fryer.
Thanks for challenging this ongoing proliferation on
conservative black pseudo-intellectuals. If you are black and want
to get rich, all you have to do is get a degree from a prestigious
white university and start criticizing black people; get a book deal,
the marketing is a given. After that your road to fame and fortune
is on the fast track. If you come from the ghetto you might score
extra points, even though I seriously doubt all the hype and biography
of some of these people.
When Sylvester Stallone was marketing Rocky he was telling everyone
he was from Hell's Kitchen in New York, but of course he grew up
in the suburbs of Philly. So many actors have done the same thing
and you know the stories of some of these people like Fryer may be
a bit distorted as well. But really that is not the main issue as
you know; the main issue is that they are simply tools that are used
to absolve white guilt and provide some black people with a false
sense of direction, i.e., that we have totally arrived and that race
is now irrelevant.
Who was it that said perhaps the worst thing about racism is not
what white people or oppressors do to the oppressed, but what it
makes them do to each other? I think it was Nathan Hare, the notable
black psychologist, who lives here in the Bay Area. Ward Connerly,
Shelby Steele, Condeleezza Rice, and Clarence Thomas come to mind
when I think of this image.
Well, I am just so happy that you stay at it. Keep challenging
them and provide people like us with some validation that we
see what
we do see: a serious psycho-social illusion, developed via the
tricknology of money, fame and fortune and the Willie Lynch psychology
of divide and conquer. It is really sad how many of our own brothers
and sisters get caught up in it. Stay strong, and remember we
will win this struggle, ‘cause we know good will overcome evil!
Last week (April
7, 2005) Dr. Martin Kilson of Harvard began a three-part series entitled
"Probing the Black Elite’s Role for the 21st
Century".
In this essay I want to reflect on the issue of what the outreach-to-Black-masses-leadership
profile of today’s Black elite should be by looking back
historically to how this leadership profile evolved out of fragile
Free Negro communities
in the pre-Emancipation Era.
Dr. Kilson has been contributing to since
our second issue in May of 2002. Every offering from him has been thought
provoking.
Reader J. Hutton provides evidence this series is not an exception.
You
must be aware that when any Black folk read or hear of a "Black
Elite", he, or she, immediately thinks they belong to the
class.
Probably because everyone possesses a talent of some
sort. I submit that
merely being an intellectual and/or a leader does not a qualify
one for
belonging to an elite class. They might become
qualifications when our standards become those created
by we ourselves. Among those qualifications should be listed
'serving
our people'.
Perhaps then, fewer of our talented tenth will
not find it so easy to join our enemies. As things stand
now, almost our entire
formal education is that chosen by white folk.
Entertainment industry attorney, Marlin L. Adams, Esq. accuses Dr.
Kilson of blowing smoke.
Hey ,
I read Martin Kilson's article in anticipation of a real analysis
rooted in a thorough presentation of facts and the positing of
a clear reference
point.
However, Kilson failed to deliver on all fronts. His article
is a simple recitation of facts devoid of analysis and synthesis.
E. Franklin Frazier's point was simply dismissed, without delving
into
the damning evidence of "play-play" attitudes amongst
the bourgeoisie, attitudes that ultimately led to the impotence
of the
current Black bourgeoisie (75% of all Black business grosses
$25k or LESS; only 450k or so Black folks in America earn $75k
or better).
The last thing we need is another sleep inducing panegyric about
how well some of us are doing.
Co-Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Glen Ford responded to Atty. Adams.
We know for a fact that Dr. Kilson's intent was not to describe "how
well some of us are doing." Rather, his series (three parts) focuses
on the obligations to the rest of us that, historically, the relatively
small number of Blacks who are "doing well" have
recognized, through outreach mechanisms to the masses. With
all due respect,
we think you have misjudged Dr. Kilson. Possibly, you expected
him to
say things that he, in fact, did not.
Indeed, the striking aspect of Kilson's data is that the "striving" class
was so small.
There are two more parts to Dr. Kilson's trilogy. Please approach
them with an open mind.
Part
II appears in this issue.
David T. Gray, who reads in
Claremont, NH found his juices flowing last week after reading "A
Riddle For Black Conservatives: What Would Happen If Terri Was
Toya?" by Guest
Commentator
Rev. Reynard
Blake, Jr.
This article describes perfectly the rank good-ol-boy stench emanating
from DC right now, with a helping of spineless Demlicans who signed
that ridiculous legislation into law. Not to mention the craven, boot-licking
media at their servile best. A few observations:
The media would have ignored the incident if Terri had been Toya
because the Good Ol Party would have also ignored it and not necessitated
the media's obliging response.
The American public disapproved of the government intrusion into
the Schiavo case by a 83% majority and this disdain grew as the
media turned up the exposure. This despite said media perfidiously
portraying
the incident as tearing Americans apart thus justifying the limelight.
But this is a favorite stratagem of the Four Stooge Media that
serves three purposes:
They can manufacture a story and sustain it for as long as politically
advantageous to them.
They can show their bona fides of "high standards and balance" and
thus obviate any insinuation of liberal media bias by such GOP nutzoids like
L. Brent Bozell III of the Media Access Project. They supply the bulk of
the heat to the media through accusatory phone calls and avalanches of e-mails
and
have been credited as stopping the network presentation of the TV movie "The
Reagans" because it was not a fitting panegyric to his manufactured illusion that bolsters quite a few planks of the GOP platform.
His "image" can now be embellished at every opportunity now that he
has passed and can not shatter the illusion by opening his mouth or showing himself
in public. He was "discouraged" from making an appearance at the
RNC's that were held prior to his death and effectively ushered to the sidelines
when
his cowboy spirit got stoked up.
In a "your either with us or agin' us" type White House tyranny
the media must present themselves as dutiful lapdogs willing to carry water
for the Bushies or describe the sweet smell wafting from White House whenever
the
Bushies decide to make a fecal donation to the Constitution.
In the not too distant future when the Black Intellectual Community, hosted on
C-SPAN by Tavis Smiley, has a forum on an issue of special pertinence to the
Black community they put to the Black Conservatives the question of What If It
Was Toya? Could prove very enlightening.
I think that the question posed in one article in , Why Jesse Why? is a real
head-scratcher, considering the lack of a mention of the Black American baby
who was denied life support through the Futile Care Law signed into law by a
pro-life pretzel in the White House.
Since there was no Storming of the Bastille after the results of the 2004 election
the Bushies see themselves as impervious to any kind of scrutiny or challenge
to their exercise of power.
I feel they are in for a rude awakening, I just hope the people don't wait
too long for the catharsis.
The first sign could be the denial of UN basher John Bolton to the UN as American
AMBASSADOR! Ambassador of What? Deviltry.
Radio BC
You can visit the Radio
BC page to listen to any of our audio commentaries
voiced by Co-Publisher
and Editor-in-Chief, Glen Ford. We now publish the text of the
radio commentary each week on the Radio BC page.
We thank each of you very much for your readership. Please keep writing.
gratefully
acknowledges the following Websites for sending visitors our way (listing
is in no particular order):
http://www.democraticunderground.com
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info http://www.bartcop.com http://www.commondreams.org
http://membersf.blackplanet.com
http://buzzflash.com
http://www.cursor.org
http://www.liberaloasis.com
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