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In BC's quest to illuminate some
of the unpleasant truths confronting black America, outrageous
ridicule is a most potent weapon. Near the beginning of the Iraq
war BC skewered the war pornography of the embedded
press, dressed the already very scary Janice
Rogers Brown in a Clarence Thomas fright wig, and echoed Amiri
Baraka when he called Condoleezza
a skeeza. We even ventured to offer our own helpful suggestions
concerning the real relationship between the president and his
most trusted
advisor.
But being outrageous in a time when outrages are
the stuff of everyday public policy is increasingly difficult.
Cartoonists in the mainstream media are boldly going to truth-telling
places where till a short time ago, only BC would
have ventured. The Bush administration has, in the year just
past, lowered its ethical, moral and legal standards to nightmarish
depths we could not have imagined. As they lower their standards
of behavior we at BC intend to raise the level
of our analysis in the coming year and stay ahead of the pack,
delivering what our readers demand.
Some BC readers expect no better
of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice than they are seeing, though
we disagree with the reasons they offer:
"Bruce, peace, you have to understand the
History of Europeans to understand what is going on today. Rice
is a product of the teachings of War People. She was raised
in a Euro educated household and went to a Euro college and
lived in a Euro society and therefore looked African but was
really Euro so don't be upset at what you see. Don't be upset,
just try to play defense and be ready when she and other Black
Euro turn on the race."
Peace
Phil,
Dear Phil,
We at BC don't believe there's
any such thing as a "war people," or that race is the
real dividing line here. Mobutu,
Idi
Amin and Papa
Doc were all black. The unelected crews that masquerade as
the government of Haiti today are black. The folks who engineered
the genocide in
Rwanda were and still are as black as their victims. Clarence
Thomas is black. The "race" Condi Rice and her ilk
have turned their faces against is the human one.
That said, African Americans are different from
the rest of America. At the beginning of this illegal war, two
out of three blacks opposed it, compared to one in three whites.
I recall as a young man almost forty years ago hearing brothers
recently returned from the war in Vietnam telling how until some
time in late 1966 or early 1967 Vietcong deliberately tried to
spare black soldiers when possible. When the Iranians took US
embassy personnel hostage in the late 1970s they initially offered
the black ones a different deal from the white ones. The world
outside North America recognizes that we are different from our
white neighbors.
Abroad, we may all be Americans, but we come from
and most of us will return to very different Americas. Part of
our outrage at the Colin Powells and Condi Rices is due to the
fact that their careers are helping to destroy the good name of
black America around the world.
Respectfully,
bd
A deeply misguided reader, Anita insists that we
ought not "bash" the Secretary of State. A portion
of her email to us reads as follows:
"This note is in reference to negative statements
made about Condoleezza Rice It is my opinion that she does her
job well. She may be our president someday. We as Blacks in
America need to stand behind our Black folks right or wrong who
are close to white leaders in power. I believe no one ever forgets
where they come from and what we as a people have endured. Support
and love Condoleezza Rice. She may be your first Black woman
president. Stop bashing her."
Dear Anita,
We don't bash at BC. We do truthful
and incisive commentary. Black Republican appointees like Clarence
Thomas, Colin Powell and son and Condi Rice are tokens who owe
their symbolic importance to the existence of a black polity,
but whose every public act violates the interests of that polity.
Black Democrats on the other hand, are generally obliged to pay
enough lip service to the Black
Consensus to get elected, after which their performance in
many cases has been less than stellar.
The notion that the black faces, whether Republicans
or Democrats appointed or elected to high office are automagically
entitled to loyalty of the black masses is just plain silly.
Respectfully,
bd
Back in September, on the eve of what used to be
called Congressional Black Caucus week, BC and
CBC Watch issued report
cards for all members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Hard copies were handed out at the Congressional
Black Caucus affair. They were graded on nine "bright line"
issues that included the vote to authorize the illegal war in
Iraq, and the hideous bankruptcy bill which passed early in the
current legislative session. Several members of the black caucus
flunked outright, with the lowest grades going to David Scott
of Georgia and Harold Ford of Tennessee, who was so chagrined
that he absented himself from most of the affairs of the Congressional
Black Caucus that week.
Brother Clay wrote us thusly,
"We have a few CBC members who hope to exist
without accountability. The stakes are too high in this political
climate and the losses for black people are already staggering.
These fence sitters should not be allowed to pursue personal political
goals on the back of constituents who so desperately need a voice
in the halls of the Washington. What other cause is more noble
than the call of the poor and deprived? No black politician should
be allowed a pass. Keep tapping the shoulders of these backsliders."
Dear Clay,
We thank you for your support. Please be assured
that BC and CBC Watch will be doing further follow-up
on the performance of members of the Congressional Black Caucus,
from its stellar performers like Rep. Conyers of Detroit and Cynthia
McKinney of Georgia to underachievers like Senator Barack Obama
and derelicts like Harold Ford and David Scott.
BC thinks it is time to step outside
the uncritical celebration of black business people who've "made
it" and black officials who get elected or appointed. We've
been boastin', roastin', toastin' and coastin' too long. It's
time to confiscate all the free black passes and do some critical
analyses of where the black political class is leading us, and
whether it's anyplace we really want to go. Toward this end we
intend to deepen the conversation around the performance of the
black political class who serve as mayors and functionaries in
such cities as Atlanta,
Detroit and New Orleans.
Jerry Watts asked the question directly in the BC
cover story of November 17, 2005: "What Use Are Black Mayors?"
"…scholars of black urban politics spent
far more energy explaining how a certain black candidate was
elected mayor as opposed to explaining whether his election
meant anything substantive to the residents of the city. …
"Many of us did not ask simple but crucial
questions. For instance, did black mayors govern in ways
that differed from their white predecessors? Were black
mayors good for the urban poor? Did black mayors expand
housing opportunities for the impoverished? Did they commit
more resources to schools in poor and black neighborhoods?"
As the new year begins, too many of these questions
remain unasked and unanswered. BC will do its
part to move that discussion along. And we promise that nobody
will get a pass.
Respectfully,
bd
Finally, the recent Radio BC commentary
which addressed the question of whether
Hispanics are an ethnic group continues to generate informed comment
from our readers.
Mr. Johnson writes
"I found this book to be most enlightening:
Afro-Latin
America, 1800-2000 by George Andrew Reid, one of quite a
number of works on race and ethnicity in Latin American societies.
"I've made it my personal mission to visit
as many Afro-Latin societies in Latin American countries as
possible. In general these communities are for all extensive
purposes invisible; literally hidden out of sight by a completely
Eurocentric elite. There are Afro-descended people wherever
the Spanish or Portuguese kept slaves, i.e., everywhere. Even
Argentina once had a mulatto president. However, extreme poverty
and discrimination has reduced the Afro-Latin populations over
the past 200 years in a de facto genocide. As a general rule,
Latins officially talk about class and ignore race, while North
Americans talk incessantly about race and ignore class as a
result of the respective national narratives - the USA is a
classless society; racism does not exist in Brazil, Colombia,
Peru, etc. Both narratives are national propaganda to keep
the white elites ensconced. We in the US are moving toward
a Latin model - the colorblind society - because, it diffuses
black consciousness and political protest…
"However, in both cases there is a change in
consciousness afoot. It was very heartening for the Afro-descended
Hugo Chavez to state that, ‘I am African' in front of an international
forum. I'm sure it sent tremors throughout Latin America. Lula
of Brasil is Afro-descended, and, today the indigenous Evo Morales
won the presidency of Bolivia. The potential of the indigenous
descended and Afro-descended populations of Latin America to coalesce
in order to challenge the established order is promising. Because
there are well over 100 million Afro-descended Latin Americans,
we 30 million Afro-descended North Americans would do well to
become aware of their situation. Thus, in a very real sense we
have a stake in how the ‘Hispanic' identity evolves. We can
influence to what extent the African presence in Latin America
continues to be marginalized and purposely hidden from view.
Unfortunately, the "Hispanic" immigrants
to the United States are heavily Eurocentric because of color
and class. Cuban and Brazilian immigrants are indicative of that
trend. Miami is full of "white" Cubans and Brazilians,
but both Cuba and Brazil are anywhere from 40 - 60% Afro-descended
depending on who you ask. Colombia is at least 30% Afro-descended,
and the rural people being killed in the U.S. fueled war against
cocaine and U.S. inflamed Colombian civil war are a majority black.
Mr. Johnson continues:
"Of course the greatest influx of immigrants
are from Mexico and Central America, which is mostly indigenous
descended working class poor, many of whom are inculcated in
the racist hierarchies of their respective countries. However,
they are usually clear that they are not white, which is as
it was in their respective homelands, and if not, they are certainly
made aware by the racist US society.
"In conclusion, folks of color had better
learn about, appreciate, and assist each other, and specifically
Afro-descended people. In the globalized 21st Century, to be
poor and powerless is to be colored. It's the W.E.B. DuBois's
20th Century color problem evolved into the 21st Century. The
logical response is a globalized identity for people of color
of not being "white", which is a social construct
enforced by brute force. After all, we folks of color have
far more in common in terms of our respective history vis a
vis the Euro-American hegemony of the last five hundred years,
than not. In that sense I feel far more solidarity with Iraqis
than the white folks I work with everyday. The Iraqis and my
people have both been the targets of unfettered white American
aggression and terror. There is even greater solidarity when
I consider Latin America and especially Afro-Latin America,
whose history is my history, just in a different language."
We value the comments and feedback of BC
readers. We hope, in the coming year to give you some things
to think about, some others worth writing to us about, and most
of all, some information you can act upon.
Happy New Year.
bd
Please send your correspondence to BC
Associate Editor Bruce A. Dixon at [email protected].
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