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Our
readers seem to have made a collective resolution to write more
letters to 
in the New Year. They have succeeded in creating a column that
is chock-a-block with opinion and wit, well worth the visit.
Last
week's lead commentary, "Condoleezza
Rice: The Devil's Handmaiden," stirred a pot that we
believe has long been too tepid for the political health of
Black America. "If we cannot be moved to revulsion by brazen
acts of treason," we wrote, "then we cannot hope to
exercise the power of a coherent political force. Condoleezza
Rice is the purest expression of the race traitor. No polite
description is possible."
Anthony
Ware welcomed the opportunity to denounce George Bush's handpicked,
alternative Black "leadership."
Condoleezza
Rice is definitely a Race Traitor!!! But, where are Black
Progressives and Leftists criticism of her treason?? Other
than ,
Dr. Manning Marable and Dr. Ron Walters, strong Left criticism
is absent. Furthermore, many loyal opposition leftists/progressives
are celebrating and applauding Rice's appointment as National
Security Advisor. This reeks of blatant Class Solidarity.
We saw the same type of rank political behavior by the Civil
Rights establishment regarding Clarence Thomas's nomination
and confirmation to the Supreme Court. His decisions on the
Court are opposite African American interests. Ditto for Rice!!
African
Americans can't continue to cheer individual achievements,
even though color lines have been broken, especially since
appointees will sycophantically serve interests and themselves
to the detriment of the race. The White Man's party is skillfully
appointing Race Traitors while many African Americans are
rejoicing. It's high time that Justice be served cold and
swift to Race Traitors like Condoleezza Rice.
Michael
Kern agrees with ,
that the press are talking to the wrong people about Bush's
affirmative action policy.
Your
article was well written and obviously deeply thought out.
Though your point seemed subtle, it was right on point. During
the time of the talk about the President's comments, no elected
official was given any real press coverage, while hand-selected,
obligated, non-elected persons spoke for all African Americans.
Frightening!
Condoleezza
sends a cold shiver through Lance Beebe, in Boston. But, being
a white guy, he didn't know if it was his place to vent on the
matter.
I
have been feeling this in my bones for a long time, but no
black commentators are stepping up and saying what's really
happening. Where are the black leaders? No one will listen
to a white person talk about how the GOP is using minority
appointments to fool voters. We need minority leaders to make
a case against putting the WMP [White Man's Party] in power.
It's only going to get worse for minorities under the rule
of the GOP.
We're
glad to see folks using our preferred acronym for the Republican
Party. Beebe's remarks go straight to the question at the core
of our commentary: How long will authentic Black leadership
continue to treat with genteel civility the Black front men
and women who are eager tools of a savage, Hard Right strategy?
How many acts of betrayal will it take for polite Black society
to be "moved to revulsion" - and say so.
Such
questions appear to have crossed Norman Nithman's mind, as well.
I
really enjoyed your article, as it was the first one I've
seen that reflects my opinion of her. It seems like there
is no line that she is unwilling to cross in service to her
masters. The most disgusting thing I've ever heard her say
is when she referred to her family having to defend themselves
against "Democrat nightriders" in the South when
she spoke at the GOP convention. That may have been the case,
but she failed to mention that she was a Democrat herself
until 1982 or so, or that most of those nightriders switched
parties in the wake of LBJ's and the old GOP's civil rights
efforts.
I
also took a few minutes to read the articles on Randall Kennedy
[in ]
and was again pleasantly surprised to find opinions that were
similar to my own and that have not been otherwise discussed
in the media. I certainly intend on visiting your site often
in the future and telling my friends and colleagues about
it.
Mr.
Nithman was referring to our series of commentaries on Randall
Kennedy's literary assaults on Black dignity and sensibilities.
(See "The N-Word
3 Ways," August 22, 2002.)
Andy
Deck thinks we are being too selective, in singling out National
Security/Black Affairs Advisor Rice.
On
the face of it, of course, this editorial by The Black Commentator
is on the mark. But when it comes down to it, everyone in
Bush's cabinet has sold her/his soul for personal advancement.
Rather than demonizing any one in particular, I think it's
reasonable to step back and denounce the whole repulsive juggernaut.
If only they could have landed careers in sports management!
Mr.
Deck is, of course, free to pick his own demons. Black America's
problem is that the ruling party and the media conspire to prevent
us from picking our own leaders. Condoleezza Rice is
at the center of this scheme - that is, until the Republicans
pick another Black person to play the role.
Timothy
Young wants to close the curtain on Bush's Black Review.
We
as a people still look at images and not the message behind
the images. The Bush crime family are murderers who should
be impeached, if we had a media with a spine we would be impeaching
these criminals, Powell and Rice included. They are complicit
in the mayhem that plagues this country and especially the
black family. I thought your voice did not exist. Thank you,
I shall be a continuing member of Black Commentator.
Lots
of newcomers found our site from postings at their favorite
political hangouts. Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair
published the Rice piece in full on Counterpunch,
their invaluable address, bringing us to the attention of Debbie
Shatila, from Virginia.
Concerning
your recent article in Counter Punch I would like to add something.
Namely that the reason the Republicans have been so effective
in their "black strategy" is not only because they
control the "white corporate media," but because
this strategy of theirs has worked before.
To
give two recent historical examples: it worked in dividing
and dispersing the women's movement, and it has worked on
the "Reagan Democrats," or blue collar whites. I
can only hope that the Republican strategy doesn't work again,
which is to say to pit Blacks against each other. This is
a very old game they are playing.
As
a white person, my perspective is that the right wing Republican
objective is not only to suppress black people, but to severely
weaken the left and all opposition as a whole, further. The
fact that the Black Caucus in Congress, (thank goodness),
has been so vocal in speaking up for their beliefs, has made
them, (and Blacks in general) an even bigger target of late.
The
Black Caucus has been carrying the banner for all liberal
Democrats, and if it weren't for them, the Democrats would
be totally without any merit whatsoever, and the Republicans
know it and see it as a threat.
Robert
Powell is another example of white revulsion at the role
Condoleezza Rice so willingly plays in Bush's race farce.
As
a white Southerner, civil rights worker and peace protester,
let me say "You hit the nail on the head" in your
comments on Rice. I went to school in segregated Birmingham
and wondered how we could all go to church, yet do nothing
when the bus driver got up and moved the sign back in the
bus to let white folks sit down, making the black folks stand
up. When I asked my mom why that was, she said, "Because
that's the way it is." Rice comes from my hometown, and
is the female equivalent of the Uncle Tom Clarence Thomas.
My heart bleeds for such betrayal. What is almost funny is
that my classmates who called me "traitor" when
I integrated Woolworth's and protested the Vietnam War and
this one as well, now look at a fellow Birmingham native,
and admire her: a "colored" woman who represents
their ideals, but would never have been there had they
been able to reverse integration laws. Wonder if they ever
see the paradox in that.
Reuben
Smith can't get the picture out of his head: Rice, sitting behind
Bush in a Black church, throwing kisses at the congregation
on MLK Monday.
Anyone
who calls themselves African or African American should be
mad as Hell with the display at the Black church with the
Bush man. The Black (maybe) preachers are pimps of the people.
Not all but too many of them. This is not a new statement
for me. I have said this for years. Fifty percent of the problem
is the pew. When will we wake up? Ms. Rice? No comment. The
commentary said it all.
John
Kaminski is an Internet columnist whose work appears in Rense,
Scoop, Online Journal and other progressive websites.
I
love getting your newsletter, and I especially loved the piece
about Condoleezza Rice. I think your voice is a lot more important
than you may realize, because you consistently advocate for
humane positions most of the other so-called liberal voices
in the media discard when it's inconvenient for them, or they
don't think it will play well at the polls.
I'm
sending the Rice piece around to my list as an excellent peek
at the hypocrisy of the Bush cabal. I hope it will help expand
your readership.
Yvonne
Black sees a kind of brain drain underway - and a moral dilemma,
as well.
Thanks
for writing such an insightful article; it is clearly one
of your best. You captured very succinctly what is really
going on here. As an African-American who takes great pride
in the achievements of our people it makes me very sad to
see such talents as Mr. Powell and Ms. Rice wasted on such
a corrupt administration. Does power and access mean so much
to them that they would support such blatant racist and unconstitutional
- not to mention immoral - policies. If they are the best
representatives of African-American achievement, we really
do have a long way to go.
Susan
Balmer prefers a psychoanalytical approach to the Condoleezza
syndrome.
My
own impression of Ms. Rice from seeing her only on "Meet
the Press", etc., is that I wonder if she is really human
or a robot - she is as "cold as ice" and I've never
seen her demonstrate a single emotion. She just keeps rephrasing
the Bush administration's platform only in different terms
with no emotion at all - as I've said, I've wondered if she's
some kind of puppet.
We
agree that any Black person who has willingly spent two decades
in the company of the Bush family and associates cannot help
but be diminished by the experience. It happens that a noted
clinical psychologist/psychotherapist, Alvin Wyman Walker, PhD,
PD, PC, is among 's
readership.
"Condoleezza
Rice: The Devil's Handmaiden (or more accurately, Black Nanny)"
was a superb piece. Keep up the excellent work.
C.
Morris confirms the good doctor's diagnosis.
Fantastic
article! It also happens to be true.
Michael
Dickinson was born in England, but reads
in Istanbul, Turkey where he makes a living as a teacher of
English. Dickinson puts his hand to collage and offered his
comment on The Devil's Handmaden with the following image:
Along
with writing, Dickinson has had several exhibitions of his collage
work, examples of which can be seen at his Website.
Friends
of Condoleezza
As
expected, the perennial "crabs in a barrel" complaint
arrived in the mailbox, posted by Dr. Agatha Carroo, of Dimensions
News in Raleigh, North Carolina.
You
are true "Uncle Toms". Why is it that we Blacks
imitate the behavior of crabs? If one attempts to escape from
the barrel, the others pull him/her back in. I am tired of
the so-called black politics that attempts to postulate that
we should all think alike. Why don't you rant and rave against
the "rappers" who call black women bitches and 'ho's
and are pure representations of who we are. You want to spend
your hollow time in an assassination of character of someone
whose brief case you are not fit to carry.
There
is nothing in Condoleezza's briefcase except stacks of instructions
from George Bush. And isn't it amusing how the crab-watch crowd
can't help flailing their own pincers, sending the poor Hip
Hop artists straight to bottom of the barrel, and derogating
to the sub-bellhop class.
Not
so long ago, the old "crabs" condemnation had weight.
Back in the days when African American elected officials were
few and invitations to sit on elite boards near non-existent,
Black appointments to prestigious positions were justifiably
celebrated:
As
a people historically excluded from high titles, Blacks have
applauded every African American "first" as a collective
victory. This was a logical and correct response to the solid
wall of white refusal to tolerate the presence of Black
faces in high places. In such circumstances - which still
prevail today in vast swaths of American society - individual
advancement actually does represent a kind of collective triumph.
Today,
with Black elected office holders numbering near 10,000 (only
about 50 of them Republicans), the Right's strategy is to appoint
servile Blacks to high-profile positions, in a transparent attempt
to create an alternative Black leadership. Condoleezza
Rice proved her usefulness to this strategy by giving Bush her
meaningless blessing on affirmative action. The media played
the event as if a representative Black American voice were talking,
rather than a White House hireling.
Through
some convolution of reasoning, Rice's eager service to an anti-Black
administration is lauded as "independent thinking."
Rev. Ceasar I. LeFlore III sent a message titled, "In Defense
of a Black Woman."
I
find the brutal and unfounded attacks against Condoleezza
Rice and other black conservatives disappointing, and unfortunate
to say the least. I know that some in the African - American
community are bound and determined to remain faithful to the
liberal democrats, no matter how empty and repetitive their
promises are to us. To argue against that unwarranted loyalty
would be a waste of time. But it always astounds me how independent
thinking blacks who do not conform to that party line are
viscously attacked by people who seem to resent their independent
thinking as treason. Why can they not be afforded the same
nobility of motive as any other black thinker who is sensitive
to our social concerns, only having a difference of opinion
on how best to arrive at solutions for them? Is there not
room for more than one opinion in the black community?
The
selective outrage as to what is unacceptable black behavior
is laughable. Some would dare to castigate Ms. Rice for publicly
voicing an opinion different from their own concerning affirmative
action, which is her right. But where is the outrage when
Jesse Jackson validates black genocide through his support
of those in the American eugenics movement who conceived and
implemented "The Negro Project," developed to control
and reduce black population in America? Why are so many of
us silent when Jackson fathers children outside of wedlock,
knowing that the 75% illegitimacy rate in our community has
devastated it almost beyond repair?
The
mistreatment of this brilliant black woman, Ms. Rice - who
is arguably the most powerful woman in the world - is an outrage.
I would think that you would be proud of black political achievement
when you realize that we now have blacks in real positions
of power in this country, which is unprecedented. We now have
a black Supreme Court justice, Secretary of State, and National
Security Advisor to name just a few. There is a great chance
that the next Vice-president of the United States will be
black. Black conservatives care deeply for our community and
want to see it truly empowered beyond the empty promises of
those who claim to care for us. It's unfortunate that many
of us can't see and respect that.
Condoleezza
Rice is an appointed weapon wielded in opposition to "Black
political achievement," the Republican Party's alternative
to actual, existing Black leadership. We suspect, however, that
some of us would cheer if a Black were appointed Lord High Executioner
of African Americans.
Note
that Rev. LeFlore, while deploring 's
"brutal and unfounded attacks" on Rice, in the next
breath charges a Black minister - whose leadership credentials
are backed up by millions of Democratic primary votes
- with complicity in "black genocide."
The
old crab barrel is sounding more and more like a blood and guts
juke joint on Friday night.
Armstrong
Williams' Coup de Grits
If
the corporate brand of Black appointive politics touted by consultant-propagandist
Armstrong Williams gains traction, the Right may one day select
its designated Black "leaders" from a catalogue -
produced, of course, by Armstrong Williams. ("Armstrong
Williams' Big Move: Black Personnel Director for GOP Inc,
January 16.) Williams has maneuvered himself into position "as
the central player in the party's drive to recruit Black candidates
for electoral and appointive office."
Williams'
own raving, rightwing views, we wrote, are shared by "no
significant segment of Black America," including few among
the ten percent or so that identify themselves as Republicans.
Damon
Owens, of Houston, had these thoughts on our assessment of Williams:
I
just recently discovered your website and now I'm scrambling
to get caught up on the intriguing commentary presented here.
In your introduction to the e-mail responses you received
on your recent Armstrong Williams piece, you referred to Williams
as "the most widely despised Black man in the nation."
I'm curious as to how he achieved that title, considering
the fact that there are quite a few contenders for it. They
include Niger Innis, Ken Hamblin, Joseph Perkins, the so-called
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, Ward Connerly, and last but not least,
Clarence Thomas. With a cast of characters like this, I'd
say choosing the most widely despised is quite a challenge.
Keep up the great work!
Half
in jest, we suggested that
might hold a contest for "Most Despicable" Black front
person for the GOP. For the "Most Lasting Harm Done to
Black Interests" award, Clarence Thomas is certain to win,
hands down. Supreme Court justices serve for life.
Bush
Affirmative Racism
For
millions of African Americans, affirmative action is anything
but an abstraction.
Cheryl F. Dudley writes to us from Norristown, Pennsylvania.
Her parents attended historically Black Johnson C. Smith University
in Charlotte, North Carolina. Ms. Dudley is an Ivy League graduate
who assumes that she benefited in some way from affirmative
action.
George
W. Bush's action against the University of Michigan coupled
with his throwing a bone (i.e., pledging to allocate more
money) to HBCUs is making an educational segregationist (separatist)
statement in respect to access to higher education. In other
words, we are being sent the clouded message that we are not
welcome into so called white schools that exercise the "affirmative
action" principles of giving easier access to persons
who have resources such as money, alumni connections, the
advantage of private, prep or well funded public school educations.
Black folks will then have one choice in terms of higher education:
the choice of my parents and other forebearers.
.
This critique of Bush's action is made more
painful in light of the reality that most HBCUs are severely
under-funded and are struggling to keep afloat in the midst
of changing economic, sociopolitical realities. It is yet
another dirty trick on Bush's part. A trick he is willing
to play time and time again - funneling money into private
enterprises in order to taunt the "Rev. Dr. Greedyguts"
to show their salaciousness, as well as parading and exploiting
the high profile Blacks in his cabinet or advisory circle.
I think it time to call him (George W.) again on this one.
The
Right Rev. Dr. Greedygut
For
those of you who have not yet been introduced to the Right Rev.
Dr. Greedygut, we refer you to our January
2 issue. The Reverend is a stand-in for the category of
Black clergy that George Bush hopes to entice into Republican
ranks with faith-based blandishments.
Dan
Welch is already familiar with the character. Mr. Welch writes
to us from Salem, Massachusetts.
While
I agree with your alarm at the potential fracturing of the
black political consensus, I may be a bit more optimistic
(or dismissive) regarding the right wing's transparent and
clumsy efforts in the faith-based initiative. My own feeling
is that, even if the initiative passes, people will just take
the money and run. More importantly, our opposition is based
largely on the well-reasoned assumption that it is a sham,
a diversion unlikely to have any impact on the material reality
of the lives of people it purports to help. Even if the Democrats
are too stupid and self-defeating to block the faith-based
scheme, this fact will quickly be borne out.
Dan
Welch and his wife, Julia Nambalirwa Lugudde, run The Greenhouse
School, in Salem.
Anti-War,
Anti-Racism
Last
week's The Issues commentary, "An
Anti-Racist Peace Movement", praised the organizers
of the January 18 demonstrations in San Francisco and Washington
for being demonstrably "serious about creating a
genuinely multi-racial movement against the pirates who control
the U.S. government." Of the 30 or so A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition
speakers on the Washington Mall, at least 17 were African Americans.
"A.N.S.W.E.R. stated plainly, for all the world to see,"
we wrote, "that anti-racism is a core principle of the
movement they seek to build."
A.N.S.W.E.R.
picked up our piece, and sent it around. C.E. DeSophia got a
copy, in Richmond California.
I
just read the article taken from the Black Commentator about
the 1/18 peace marches, which International ANSWER sent out
to their e-mail list today. While I celebrate with you that
there were so many black speakers on the podium, I was very
sad to see how few African-Americans were in the crowd in
San Francisco. The same was true at the October anti-war march
here.
The
war Bush intends to fight will negatively impact African-Americans
- even more than other Americans - in many ways. I hope a
way is found to encourage Black Americans to protest the war
and to stand publicly against racism wherever it is found,
whether in the U.S. or in Palestine or anywhere else. I also
hope we can all work together to oppose the selfishness and
greed underlying our government and the multi-national corporations
that run our world in these times.
Blessings
on your work!
A.N.S.W.E.R.
is the acronym for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism. Natalie
Finch learned of
through the A.N.S.W.E.R. mailing. She writes to us "for
my child, Ruby."
As
I wipe away tears after reading your article - sent by ANSWER
- I want to tell you that I thank God for your strength and
your leadership in the struggle for social justice. I am raising
my beautiful daughter to carry the mantle of the struggle.
I am teaching her to stand up and fight, to keep standing
up and keep on fighting. She is carrying on - she does things
to help her classmates and others at school. When she sees
kids being mistreated or mislead, she steps up and corrects
the wrong in a gentle way - but in very determined manner.
I teach her by my example - although I am much more "in
your face" about it.
I
thank God that you, her sisters and brothers, allow me to
show her the love and fortitude and righteousness that is
at the heart of the struggle for justice and peace among African
American people - historically and right now, right up front,
leading the cause. I can only hope to someday earn the right
to call you my sisters and brothers, as we meet out there,
in the streets. I follow in your footsteps and I feel deeply
honored to follow your lead.
Praying
for, pleading for, demanding justice and peace.
Mrs.
Judith McConnell Stevens writes from a feminist perspective.
They
want us all to die... black, yellow, brown, and white for
their profit. The black activism is one that we all share.
Your battle is ours. We women are more than 50% of the population
yet have very little power or money. Every minority woman
is worse off than her male counterpart around the world. Slavery
and sexual mutilation exists for women in many countries.
This is unthinkable in the 21st. Century. With the Bush administration,
we will go backwards instead of forward to a more peaceful,
just world.
An
African American duet treated the Washington crowd to moving
song. We managed to misspell their names. Luckily, Luci Murphy
sent us a corrective letter.
Thank
you for the kind words about the singing of "Mother's
Day." Yes, Pam Parker and I sang it, but we didn't write
it. Peter Jones wrote it at my request.
Here,
again, is the refrain from "Mother's Day."
You
take our money
You think I don't see
You use it to fire
On women like me
U.S.
out of step with globe
noted the worldwide acclaim won by Illinois
Governor George Ryan, who commuted the sentences of 167 death
row inmates. ("World
welcomes death commutations.") Hazel Brown Rockeymoore
joined in praise of the outgoing Republican's action.
First
I would like to thank you for such a wonderful e-magazine.
I mean it is wonder.... ful! The thought-provoking, insightful
and deep articles mean so much to us as Black Americans. Your
site should be "must" reading for all Americans
- of all races.
Gov.
Ryan did a courageous and magnificent thing when he commuted
those death sentences. He transcended political parties when
he did that. My question is, "where were the responses
from our Civil Rights organizations? Where was the response
from Mfume, Julian, Jessie and the Congressional Black Caucus???
Political parties should not have mattered in this instance.
Right is right and wrong is wrong. God tells us in the Book
of Deuteronomy that, "My thoughts are not your thoughts
and my ways are not your ways." I feel that God was directing
the Governor of Illinois in this instance. May God bless Governor
Ryan!
Keep
us the good work. May God bless and keep you - the Publishers
of the Black Commentator.
Letters
like Ms. Rockeymoore's make us happy and energetic. So, we sent
her links to statements by NAACP Chairman Julian
Bond and Rev.
Jesse Jackson, both of whom applauded Gov. Ryan.
Censoring
young Black minds
In
our January 23 RE-PRINT, "Institutional
Racism and the Censorship of Kohl Fallin," Alabama
writer and professor Wythe Holt recounted the story of Kohl
Fallin, a high school student who was censored when she complained,
poetically, about her white classmates' use of racial epithets.
"Mediocre and below is what we are supposed to amount to
in your mind," Fallin wrote. "When I hear these words
come out of your mouth it makes me want to slap the white off
you and leave you with some sense."
Professor
Holt pointed out that Black school officials participated in
the censoring of Kohl Fallin's poem. "High-placed black
adults go right along with this sort of racism, even facilitate
it, probably to save their jobs and to appease an aroused white-dominated
power structure," said Holt. He continued:
Censorship
sets a terrible model for training young Americans to be open
with their feelings, to express themselves, to think and act
for themselves, to be active citizens in a free democracy.
Yet racist censorship was visited upon Kohl Fallin by her
high school authorities, and it has not been corrected despite
her strenuous efforts and those of her parents and other allies.
Racism is with us still."
Holt's
commentary found its way to a teacher named Jasmine, who says
she is personally familiar with Kohl Fallin. Her letter is directed
to Professor Holt.
I
found your comments to be very enlightening as to the response
to Kohl Fallin's poem. You brought such light to it that I
had not gleaned before. I was looking only at the word "slapping"
- a word that to me spelled inciting a riot. However, your
interpretation of the slap was much deeper than my original
interpretation. Thank you so much for your comments and for
interpretation. I taught Kohl in the 5th grade at which time
we did a great deal of personal writings. Subjects that students
could chose for themselves - nature, family, relationships,
pets, etc. - was the usual fare for the majority.
Kohl
in her maturity has chosen subjects closer to her heart for
today's society. I take my hat off to Kohl for her fearlessness,
directness, and reality thinking in her current writings.
I'm sorry that in this point in time young people are still
burdened with the pathos of racial prejudice. Why must this
always be a source of pain for our young people after all
the wars, deaths, destruction, and inferior feelings and attitudes
that many of our youth must carry on their shoulders? It is
also a shame that there are adults in administrative positions
who allow this division to manifest itself. I'm sorry Kohl,
that you had to write such a poem. Perhaps one day, this world
will see how Christ wants us to live and you can go back to
writing beautiful poetry about love of family, relationships,
and nature.
"Excruciatingly
insightful"
We
had to put this in bold type, 'cause it feels so good.
Our thanks to Betty Baye, columnist for the Courier-Journal
in Louisville, Kentucky, who puts good words to even better
use.
Don't
know how I haven't been tuned into you previously, but my
sister, I believe, turned me on and already I'm hooked. As
a columnist and editorial writer for a daily newspaper, the
commentaries I've read thus far are well-written, excruciatingly
insightful and in some cases, as funny as hell. Even when
we're being serious, our folk can be funny. Thanks. I'm going
to love my subscription.
We
are also in debt to Ms. Baye's sister, a woman of vast intellect
and refined taste.
An
anonymous benefactor performed a similar service for Freddie
Wilson.
I
was referred by a good white friend of mine to visit your
website. I am very pleased as a black man that he did. Our
issues regarding society are plagued by our history. However,
we will be lucky only because of pure ignorance that at the
end, we will all die still being segregated. What a shame
it will be to leave the earth with no real understanding as
to how to live in harmony.
Tendai
Johnson is an educator in Baltimore. We are delighted that he
has put us to work.
I
am truly appreciative of your commentary and analyses. I have
emailed this particular paper to friends and plan to use this
article for a discussion in a class I teach at Morgan State
University. I will be sharing your address with my students
so that they too may benefit directly from your wonderful
paper.
Thank
you for being.
Mr.
Johnson teaches "Introduction to the African Diaspora"
for the History Department at Morgan, and is Director of the
Office of Institutional Research at nearby Coppin State University.
Alice
Copeland informs us that she is known as "The Dissident."
For
the bravery of the Black Caucus who walked out on this illegitimate
president, I give thanks. For the bravery of Cynthia McKinney
who, like me, sometimes over-reaches in her oratory, I give
thanks. I hope she will not be disheartened by her treatment
by Georgia voters. The saddest thing of all, is that black
people are disproportionately represented in our cannon fodder,
doomed to die for a greedy hypocritical, killer administration.
Bush kills 250 Texans through capital punishment, they each
have killed maybe one; he gets the presidency, they get death.
How? Why? No sense, and our populace is getting even dumber.
You are one of the shining stars.
Larry
Piltz also rates
a cut above the norm.
The
perspective I get from your articles is remarkably refreshing
and deeply stirring. It's also vitally freeing to read the
actual bottom line, unadulterated, unapologetic truth and
reality that come from your writers and contributors. I've
read a lot of other sites and publications for many years
now, and yours is the absolute only one that starts at the
heart of the matter, stays in the heart of the matter, and
finishes there too. Other sites, of course, also have good
perspectives but yield much too quickly and easily to the
temptation to become hip and clever and thereby become too
lightweight and smarmy to be taken seriously for long. I doubt
that would ever happen at Black Commentator.
Dr.
Jeffrey Levine writes: "The Black Commentator is Class
Commentary."
I
just wanted to take a moment to commend you on your excellent
commentary and journalism. Black Commentator pieces are beginning
to appear on many liberal/left-wing listservs. Keep up the
good work people!
Sue
Dennis:
You
have done it again! Your comments are concise, insightful
and clearly presented. John Stanton's guest article re: Bush's
Ugly America was chillingly clear, thus frightening. After
reading the Condoleezza Rice editorial, the combined effect
was startling, to put it mildly.
Thank
you, again, for a good read.
Katherine
Dillon:
Thank
you for The Black Commentator! I will suggest it to my friends.
At this very troubled time in global history, we need these
voices more than ever.
Yoni
Reinberg, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:
I
have to say,
has done it again; On the top of my required reading on the
web, not only does it rally leftwards like other great progressive
mags but it does so with style, from the colors on your website
to the perfect quotes and words you use.
Please
keep up the good work!
"Rally
Left!" What an energetic image.
Because
of the heavy volume of mail, we've saved some letters for publication,
next week.
Keep
writing.
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