The Black Commentator - e-Mailbox: BC too rough on Sharpton

No sooner had we put the November 13 issue of to bed last week, believing that our Female Clarence Thomas cartoon roller coaster ride was behind us, than reader Arthur Young wrote from Orlando to say that the Republicans were at it, again.

"Congratulations to your cartoonist for making the floor of the Senate. In their marathon session, the Republicans are using a blow-up of your Janice Rogers Brown cartoon. You can't buy that kind of publicity.”

Mr. Young was right, of course – so we threw away our old audience projections and prepared to accept the GOP’s latest free publicity gift. Clarence Thomas was back on the Capitol circuit, playing the Senate floor in his fright wig, signifying that he is Janice Brown – an encore to the act’s October 22 debut at the Club Judiciary, MC’d by Orrin “The Hatch,” the party-of-the-rich animal from Utah.

For props, the GOP troupe stacked cots in the Dead Dixiecrat Room so that visiting reviewers could imagine what a real counter-filibuster would look like if anybody ever actually tried to match ol’ Strom Thurmond in pure racist cussedness. (Strom won the coveted Meanest Cracker Award for his standup performance back in 1957, when he singled-mouthedly held back civil rights history for 24 hours, 18 minutes without a break. Unreconstructed fans still visit to kiss the yellow stain that marks the spot.)

The Republicans' November 13th all-nighter was designed to thrill old-timers who still hum Songs of the South, while simultaneously showcasing the New Colored Judicial Players, featuring Janice Brown – known for crying the Blues on camera at Hatch’s (or any rich white director’s) command.

Reviewers for the New York Times played the performance straight (see “Bitter Senators Divided Anew on Judgeships”), thus missing the whole point of the show. It takes a slick neo-liberal (that’s the same as neo-con, only less honest) magazine to give Orrin’s Outhouse Orators a proper write-up – a job for The New Republic’s Michael Crowley, who called his review “Theater of the Absurd.”

It's nearly 1:30 in the morning, and a group of bleary-eyed young boys and girls – who by now should be asleep, dreaming of rocket ships and ponies – have found themselves in the presumably baffling circumstance of being lined up for a press conference in the U.S. Capitol. They file into a rank-smelling meeting room just a few yards from the Senate floor, where a classic exercise in Washington Kabuki theatre is underway. Republicans are staging a marathon 30-hour debate to protest Democratic filibusters of four conservative judicial nominees. The meeting room, normally reserved for private GOP strategy sessions, has been transformed into a bustling propaganda center for the pro-judge forces. Inside, activists wear dark blue "Justice For Judges Marathon" T-shirts. The room stinks horribly of people, coffee, and decaying munchies….

Then things get sleazy. [South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey] Graham pulls out a blown-up version of a cartoon that appeared on an obscure black political website (www.blackcommentator.com). It depicts one of the stymied nominees, Janice Rogers Brown, as an absurdly stereotyped housemaid with a huge Afro. It's an offensive cartoon, no doubt about it. But no mainstream Democrat had anything to do with it. That hasn't stopped Republicans like Graham from repeatedly implying otherwise. Graham now says the cartoon came from "a liberal paper" – as if it had run in The New York Times – and then smears Democrats with it. "The Senate is sick," he says. "Our Democratic friends have gone too far." It's a truly revolting performance.

The New Republic knows what it’s talking about, specializing as it does in all things revolting. Back at the cyber ranch, the crew marveled at how our deep obscurity has gained us such vast attention from a loathsome audience comprised of people we despise. As the King of Siam said on his own, ornate stage: “It’s a wonderment!”

In Berkeley, California, cartoonist Khalil Bendib fretted that, despite his best and consistent efforts, the judicial robes he picked out for Clarence-in-drag-as-Janice – along with the scarf that exactly matches the one he hung around Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s neck in an earlier, full portrait of the High Court – keep getting mistaken for a housemaid’s outfit. “Those Republicans and neo-liberal-cons have no sense of fashion,” Bendib groaned. The publishers assured him that mammyness is in the eye of the beholder.

“But I put my soul into drawing Janice Brown’s very own caricature, so that the press would stop saying that I – an artist! – think that she looks like…like Clarence,” Bendib replied, inconsolable. “My interpretation of her captures the moral depravity that festers at her very core. How could they be so blind?”

The publishers could find no words to comfort their cartoonist, but instead plotted how to become even more obscure in the future.

Slobbering, sputtering Senators

Hard Right racists, like Pavlov’s dogs, are easily conditioned. Their buttons can be pushed to dramatic effect, by accident. Apparently, spending one’s entire existence in a delusional bubble wherein moral turpitude equals the highest state of civilization renders the Bubblian susceptible to the slightest stimulus. has managed to push these troglodytes’ buttons without even trying, in that we want nothing from them except that they disappear from the face of the Earth. Yet, they insist on including us in their Golom-like conversations, while we carry on our dialogue with our target audience with no regard for the enemy’s presence, or non-presence, whatsoever.

So, when we depict Clarence Thomas as a woman, it is not to bait Orrin Hatch and his fellows, but to communicate a political message about Janice Brown to our core readership. “ didn’t ‘mammy-up’ Janice Brown,” we wrote in our October 30 issue, “we inflicted Clarence on her, a social death in Black America and a fate that she has earned. The nightmare specter of another Clarence Thomas haunted every member of the Congressional Black Caucus, causing them to demand that their fellow Democrats in the Senate block Janice Brown by every means at their disposal.”

The Orrin Hatches explode in fury at Khalil Bendib’s cartoons because “the white American rightist loves his handful of special Blacks with the same intensity that he hates the great mass of the race.” However, for The Black Commentator, that is only a collateral consequence of our efforts.

We become concerned when politicians and activists in our own broad ranks act the fool, compelling us to write articles such as last week’s Cover Story, “Al Sharpton’s Political-Emotional Breakdown.” Maddened by what he perceived as the Jesse Jackson (Senior and Junior) camp’s “betrayal” of a pact, the Black presidential candidate lashed out at Howard Dean, the recent beneficiary of Rep. Jackson’s endorsement, on November 4. We concluded that Sharpton was suffering from an acute case of “Jesse Jacksonophobia.”

The diagnosis was confirmed the very next day, November 5. As leaders of a wide and deep spectrum of Black America prepared to urge Senate Democrats to filibuster Janice Rogers Brown’s nomination to the federal bench, Sharpton was busy spouting the Republican line to the Sinclair chain of TV stations.

“I don't agree with her politics,” said Sharpton of Janice Brown. “I don't agree with some of her background. But she should get an up-or-down vote.” Sharpton opposed the filibuster, a last-ditch tactic designed to deny a legislative majority – in this case, Republicans – an up-or-down vote in the full Senate. Then Sharpton spoke words that could have been scripted for Armstrong Williams or some other Black GOP hireling."We've got to stop this monolith in black America because it impedes the freedom of expression for all of us. I don't think she should be opposed because she doesn't come from some assumed club."

For , Sharpton’s bizarre, Hatch-like logic and suicidal trashing of a great swath of Black leadership showed that he had lost both his personal discipline and political equilibrium. The attack on Dean, although disturbing for its incoherence, timing and cynicism, paled in comparison to Sharpton’s November 5 mega-tantrum, which we believe endangered an extremely important political project that heartily endorsed. (See “What the Black Presidential Candidate Must Do,” April 24.)

The magnitude of Sharpton’s 24-hour disaster-nightmare (the next day he reversed his position on the Brown nomination) lies in the distance he put between himself and the Black consensus. For example, the National Black Chamber of Commerce, Inc., a fairly conservative organization that has no problem cozying with Republicans, could not abide the elevation of Janice Brown to the federal bench:

We strongly encourage each and every one to vote against Justice Brown for the sake of America….

There is a clique amongst our generation that says thanks to the previous generation and then immediately turns to the next generation and says "Too Late, it is time to close the door once again". Justice Janice Rogers Brown along with her crony Wardell Connerly is of that ilk. Her extremist opinions approach those of the late Supreme Court Justice Taney (Dred Scott decision). We find that unacceptable and will fight it to the end. We have come too far to turn back to Jim Crow by neutralizing the Civil Rights Act. How on earth can we look our children in their eyes by returning to the ugly?

Clearly, Sharpton was not in his right mind when he urged an “up-or-down vote” for Brown, misleadingly framing the issue as a matter of fairness. As Ralph Neas, President of People for the American Way, said, “Never in our history as a nation have we authorized a simple majority to force a vote in the Senate on a judicial nomination or any other matter.”

This is the kind of thing that one cannot just let “slide.”

Dean and the flag

Sharpton’s November 4 attack on Dean at the Rock The Vote debate, in Boston, must be seen in the context of his surging “Jacksonophobia.” It was certainly a disingenuous assault, since Sharpton had not made an issue of the remarks in question since Dean delivered them to thunderous applause at a winter meeting of Democrats, in Washington. (Sharpton had chastised Dean for other statements, such as the former governor’s claim to be the only white candidate to speak about race to white audiences.)

applauded Dean last winter, and we were shocked that Sharpton chose to mangle his opponent’s clear meaning in the wake of the Jackson endorsement.

We have divided the Sharpton-issue letters into two general groups – those that address our stance on Sharpton’s characterization of Black leadership as an “assumed club,” and the readers that want to talk about Dean’s presidential merits. We emphasize that the thrust of our story was about Sharpton’s “Political-Emotional Breakdown,” although we were disappointed to learn that some readers focus entirely on Dean, pro and con. Since we wrote the piece, this must be our fault.

A brother named Luther writes:

Sounds more like a 'Meltdown' than a 'breakdown'!!

Lucius Earles got energized by the article.

After reading your commentary on Al Sharpton and his monumental faux pas, I forwarded a note to everyone who looks like us to hook themselves up.

Ms. Oddameeze Black is concerned that we may have done unnecessary harm.

I am a frequent reader of and enjoy it very much. I usually agree with your opinions and am very appreciative of a publication that I can identify with that usually espouses my views. However, I have to say that I think the above article was too harsh in its evaluation of the damage done by Sharpton. Most people that will vote (S. Carolina) probably either did not hear of the "breakdown" or certainly did not assign it the same significance as . Therefore, I think that your focusing on the "breakdown" may have been more harmful than the actual event (but is your journalistic prerogative). I have great respect for your work and the publication and want to keep it that way.

Naturally, we pondered the impact that our commentary might have on Sharpton's chances, especially in South Carolina, where African Americans may comprise a majority of the primary vote, and where we hoped that Sharpton would whip everybody. We decided that our obligation was to the "influencers" that make up our audience, people that do keep up with events and expect us to offer analysis. Frankly, we don't believe we can or should maintain credibility with the audience if we pretend important events just didn't happen.

A reader named Kwabena thinks Sharpton can turn it around.

I appreciated the article on Sharpton and hope he recovers from the political breakdown. I guess my question is why haven't we focused more on the Rev's and Rep's erratic behavior?

Kwabena was referring to Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. More than 20 members of the Congressional Black Caucus have endorsed presidential candidates; only New York Rep. Edolphus Towns has come out for Sharpton. never expected that Sharpton would garner significant backing from any of the major players in the institutional Democratic Party. We wrote:

Sharpton’s job was to be available for the voters in the primaries, thus allowing them to make a political statement that would be heard clearly throughout the Democratic Party. His primary task is not to win the nomination or trigger some flood of endorsements. Sharpton is an intelligent man, who began his campaign journey well aware of the possibilities and limitations of his candidacy. In cautioning Sharpton that “Black voters are your only hope of wielding clout as a leader of an effective Party bloc,” we purposely did not give weight to endorsements from Black elected officials, who must play the game on an already existing field. Sharpton’s mission was to alter that field by the weight of his Black tallies on primary days, especially the February 3 ballot in South Carolina, where Blacks should comprise a majority of Democratic voters.

Janis McEvoy appears curious as to what the smiling faces of TV news are making of this.

Interesting article about Al Sharpton. I was equally interested in finding out that a "few" media personalities would like to hear more of Sharpton in the debates, since he is so "funny." I agree, but wonder if Al is playing the jester to a bunch of white men. What do you think?

Corporate media enjoy laughing at everybody except those in power. It is one of their most repellant characteristics. But that’s the subject of a future commentary.

In Chicago, Colette D. Marine thinks Howard Dean is a straight talker on race.

I want to offer my congratulations to you for your insightful pieces dealing with Howard Dean's flag remarks. More than that, however, I want to offer you my gratitude.

Back in August, I tuned into C-SPAN and watched as Howard Dean told a crowd of thousands in Bryant Park (NYC) all about such civil Republican tactics as placing thugs outside polling places in black areas to physically intimidate black voters. I moved to the edge of my seat and whispered two words: "get kevlar."

Let's face it. We all know this stuff goes on. Independent media covers it and, when we're lucky, and the stars are aligned, even big media will hint at it. But candidates at the national level? If they touch it at all, they euphemize it. Rare is the national candidate who will come right out and say these things explicitly.

I was on the edge of that same seat recently, head in my hands, tears in my eyes, watching a field of candidates do their best to destroy what could have been a moment of greatness in Democratic politics, a moment when candidates at the highest and most publicly visible level finally opened an honest dialogue with Americans about what's been going on in racial and partisan politics in the past few decades. I'm not naive. I know Howard Dean can't single-handedly reverse Nixon's southern strategy. The idea is absurd. But we did have the opportunity to take the first few steps down that path, at long last. And that's not absurd.

Unfortunately, it meant more to the rest of the field (with the blessed exception of Carol Moseley-Braun) to score short-term, personal, political gains. These guys knew what Dean was at, not just because they had heard him talking about this issue for months, but because there's no such thing as a Democratic politician at the national level who doesn't know what this is about.

So now what? How and when will we get our next moment? And will we foolishly squander it again? Or might we yet turn this current fiasco into a real dialogue?

Ms. Marine raises a very important point. At the Boston debate, Rev. Sharpton tag-teamed with North Carolina Senator John Edwards to make it less likely that Dean or any candidate will again directly address the racist insanity of southern white voting behavior during this campaign. They will go back to tiptoeing around the elephant in the room.

Barry Frier is from Manhattan. He doesn’t tiptoe anywhere.

As a (white) person who had taken a very active role in the '84 & '88 Jackson campaigns, I was very interested in and grateful for your article on Rev. Sharpton. It clarified things that were emotionally clouded, and helped to support my decision to back a Democratic candidate with whose positions I don't agree down the line. It encourages me to see that my certainty of the necessity to remove the present junta from power, and in Howard Dean's solid conviction in a coherent and integral set of beliefs is shared so broadly. The American people can recover from fear, and take their country back!

Gertrude F. Treadway is a frequent correspondent.

Your lead article on Sharpton vs. Dean was wonderful. I find myself always having to read these lengthy articles in their entirety to my husband who agrees with every word also. I happened to watch the debate in question and was horrified by the sparring among the candidates. They truly seem to have lost sight of the prize which is to retake the presidency in 2004.

Anyone with a modicum of intelligence could see where Dean was coming from in his remark about "white guys in pick-up trucks with Confederate flag decals." Racism is still the issue which divides us more than any other in the South. Take it from a Southerner who knows and has lived through it for 73 years!

We appreciate the compliment from Martin Japtok, an associate professor of English at West Virginia State College.

I wanted to thank you for your cover story on Rev. Sharpton which I found to be excellent both in terms of principles and strategy (sometimes a difficult marriage).

From Santa Monica, California, Jonathan Aurthur writes:

Your site is excellent. I loved the piece on Dean and the Confederate flag decal flap. I'm a white Marxist who doesn't believe the Democratic Party is alive enough to do what Dean says needs to be done, namely, unite blacks and poor whites in the South around their common interests (without pandering to white bigotry), but I certainly believe somebody will have to do that if we're to have any hopes of a progressive movement in this country. Thanks for your clear analysis.

What is particularly interesting to me about the Dean flap is that his only public defenders (at least that I've read) have been black progressives – e.g., you and Constance Rice, who wrote a very good piece in the LA Times saying essentially what you said. In other words, the people who would in theory be the most offended by what Dean said are the ones who got it! All the attacks from white "liberals" and Dems fall into the "methinks thou dost protest too much" category. They're terrified of having to confront reality, which is that U.S. society is a class society, under all the "class, race and gender" generalities.

We also have no illusions about overcoming white false consciousness. But, that's what white progressives must try to do, if they are to be regarded as progressive. We think Dean mouthed some of the right words. Clearly, such language does not resonate well in the American political discourse.

Constance L. Rice is Condoleezza’s very progressive, lawyer-activist first cousin. Her November 6 Los Angeles Times commentary was titled, “Confederate Flap: Stand Firm, Howard Dean; Candidate's allusion to poor Southern whites opens an important issue.”

Et tu, ?

Susan Balmer is a longtime reader. She’s upset with us.

My printer is broken so I'm forced to try to rely upon my memory of the above article but I thought it was extremely harsh and even the title of your article is very insulting – I'm "Shocked and Awed." I'm especially shocked as well that your organization appears to want to support Howard Dean as the Democratic candidate for president? Have you really checked his record? Unfortunately, I could only find 2 articles right now: "Dean Not Progressive on Mideast" Ahmed Nassef, AlterNet, June 30, 2003 and "Dean And The Union" Tom Paine.common sense, July 21, 2003 and the one article I couldn't find right now is one I think was written by "Veterans for Peace.”

I regret that I was unable to see that CNN debate (only caught glimpses of it after the fact) so I know I shouldn't say much but when I learned that J. Jackson, Jr. had endorsed Howard Dean I was horrified – I couldn't believe it – I thought that if he endorsed anyone it would be a fellow congressman (D. Kucinich). I e-mailed Rep. Jackson last night expressing my supreme disappointment (I don't expect a reply).

Howard Dean and Bush were classmates at Yale (they have their pictures in the year book) and his record from previous statements offers no genuine chance for change in the direction our country is headed – no reduction in the military budget, no peace between Israel/Palestine (he's an acknowledged "hawk"), more destructive trade agreements resulting in more loss of American jobs overseas, more troops being sent to Iraq - no hope of a single payer health care plan (what a joke, he's a doctor as is his wife). While he pretends to have been totally against the Iraq war, he was quoted many months ago saying, "If I could have voted for it, I would have" (again, I'm paraphrasing) but one has to wonder about his sincerity, thus, just more enforcement of the Bush administration policies only he can pretend to be a Democrat. No wonder Rev. Sharpton felt "betrayed" as well as outraged. I feel the same way and if you choose to call it "self-pity," I choose to call it despair – if Dean is the candidate against Bush, Bush is going to /steal/buy/cheat (whatever it takes) to get re-elected. If Dean is the candidate, I'll be forced to vote for him because I'd vote for a "rabid" dog in order to get someone in the White House who is not overtly Republican, but it will be with a very sad heart. Thank you for your time and I think you kind of owe Rev. Sharpton a "little slack." I'm sure your article has hurt him as much as the betrayal by the Jacksons – they betrayed not only him but me as well.

replied: We took no pleasure in describing Rev. Sharpton as having undergone a "Political-Emotional Breakdown." But he did, as his remarks on Janice Brown amply demonstrated. Our obligation to our audience of "influencers" is to deliver an honest analysis, not to please folks. We are not cheerleaders. Sharpton has gotten a great deal of "good ink" in these pages. He brought the bad ink on himself.

Thaddeus Delay at first seems to travels in several directions – or more likely he is carefully circling the issue to see all the sides of it.

I listened to Tavis Smiley this morning on Tom Joyner's show and he spoke of some flap concerning Janice Brown gaining the support of Al Sharpton. Much to my dismay I vowed to find out for myself whether or not this had actually been a true statement or had his words been misinterpreted. Upon investigating it seems Rev. Al was simply placing his faith and beliefs in the system allowing everyone the opportunity to be voted upon, whether they support our (black folk's) agenda. He even stated as much, that we have to stop disqualifying someone solely because their political and sociological insights don't agree with our agenda. I can honestly say I understand where Al is coming from – we don't have to agree totally with everyone we support for politics or any facet of American life.

The problem begins when the views are so extremely opposite of what the national agenda has become for colored folks, the reconciliation of the two platforms is near impossible and very improbable. The Rev. disappointed me by quickly issuing a retraction, advocating an end to the comfirmation hearings and routinely denouncing Brown as a judge and dismissing any representation through her of anything resembling a black folk's agenda. Disappointment because a retraction that comes so quickly is either from a misinformed candidate or from someone who 'let the heat get to him'. I don't want a candidate who is going to support someone like Janice Brown. Al Sharpton is NOT that candidate, I believe, yet I also don't want someone who is going to buckle under the pressure of opinion and dissenting viewpoints. Before all of this we knew what Al Sharpton stands for and what he believes in and while times change and so do opinions, it is absolutely necessary for a Leader to believe and convince his people to have those same discussions. Rev. Al has not lost a vote but that oh so familiar 'political buckling' is akin to the 'voting with your wallet' that has infected our politics for years. I have not always agreed with Rev. Al on all the issues he has championed but he always left the impression of a strong man and leader who stood steadfast to his principles. I hope politics hasn't caused his convictions to waver, in hopes of residing on Pennsylvania Avenue, in that WHITE HOUSE.

Keep fighting the fight.

Spook Who Sat By the Door

Last week, we characterized a letter from Jasamin Smith as reflective of the “Spook Who Sat by the Door” school of Black politics – the expectation that aspiring Black officeholders that side with The Man are likely to return to the fold once they are established in positions of power. Ms. Smith said we distorted her message – so she gets another shot.

In viewing the letter to the publisher posted about Janice Brown, for clarity sake let me say I make no intentional or unconscious reference to the "Spook at the door" ideology at all. For clarity sake, my contention that Janice, Clarence, Colin, and now even Al, will come back "Home" is grounded more in Truth of the Original intent, a mandate that moves beyond the Hollywood dramatization of ideas presented in the movie. Laughingly, the movie may have some merit from a sterile intellectual point of view.

The plug for the movie, however deserves merit – fine film. More correctly, my jesting comment about Janice Brown's "nigga getting trigga-ed" was to show that the Republicans are simply using her to truly expose her ideology at this time. They would never truly support her because she inherently can decipher the truth, that does not always exist in their own law structure. Whether she can live up to her personal inherent nature remains to be seen.

She follows past law meticulously, as they have argued, but later, immediately renders an opinion that shows how the law may need to be rectified because of the Bias existing in many of the old law structures.

They claim, She argues, that following case law may be the way the government is structured and she has stated she has no problem following those laws, even though she may disagree with it.

That she is caught in the Quagmire about her opinions, when she professes the real Truth about Government and the law in her personal opinions, is simply to expose her as I have postulated earlier.

Detoxifying Dayton

Maddi Breslin, who readers of this column know as “Maddi Bee,” one of our wittiest correspondents, showed her serious, get-down-to-business activist side in her November 13 Guest Commentary, “How a Neighborhood Defeated the U.S. Army: People Power Rolls Back Environmental Racism.” The tale of successful resistance to Pentagon plans to place a VX “disposal” plant in her Dayton, Ohio neighborhood was picked up by several environmental publications. We’re proud she told it here, first.

People told us: “You can’t beat the Army. They have their ways. They’ll brush you aside. We don’t think you can win against them. They have the power.” We didn’t believe that for a hot second. Once we educated ourselves and knew about the destructive nature and history of this VX substance and the unsuccessful experiments to get rid of it, we knew in our hearts we’d never quit. We were determined and we worked daily, weekly, monthly for 11 months. Among other things we demonstrated, petitioned, educated, leafleted, orated, conducted large community meetings with almost no money….

We beat the Army! They tried to shuck and jive, push us aside, give non-answers to our many questions. Yet and still, their best was not good enough.

In Whitakers, North Carolina, Judye Thomas reminds readers that getting the stuff out of your own back yard isn’t the end of the story.

Congratulations to the folk in Dayton for their diligence in fighting to keep the toxic soup out of their neighborhood. However, I want to remind all of us who work to rid our communities of toxins – that it will go somewhere – and we need to find out where it is going if we say no and partner with those communities to keep it out, as well. We will win this war only when all of us partner to find better solutions than dumping it in our back yards!

King on Vietnam – and Iraq

Freedom Rider columnist Margaret Kimberley felt it was necessary to bring King Day to the fore early, so that we can get it right, in January. Last week’s piece was titled, “A Time to Break Silence: Reclaiming Dr. King.”

As we prepare to honor Dr. King in 2004 we must remember his words about the war in Vietnam. Iraq is the Vietnam of our era. I have often said that when reading the Riverside speech the word Vietnam should be replaced by Iraq and the statements made at that time applied to our situation today. Because people in power didn’t listen to King in any serious way we have repeated all that he warned us about 36 years ago….

“We are adding cynicism to the process of death, for they must know after a short period there that none of the things we claim to be fighting for are really involved.”

Ms. Kimberley’s words touched John Rabun, in Huntsville, Alabama.

I had known that King was anti-war, but I had never seen excerpts from that speech before. I will try to find the whole speech now. The excerpts were moving, poignant, and depressingly still true.

Joseph Osorio also checked in with Kimberley.

I just wrote to Freedom Rider to say I enjoyed the site, referencing a link from your article. I guess you ARE Freedom Rider. I'm very impressed. I enjoy

. You write some great stuff, keep it up. I agree with everything I've read in your archives so far, particularly the references to the stupidity in this country.

The Fruits of Opportunism

Former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney wowed the folks in Philadelphia, earlier this month. The crowd was already warmed up, in celebration of Mayor John Street’s reelection victory. In her speech, titled “We Demand Reparations,” McKinney cautioned against the scavenging class that walks and talks among us. A case in point: Denise Majette defeated McKinney's reelection bid, last year - with lots of white Republican help.

We shake the tree – the activists in our community – and then the opportunists come along and pick up the fruit.

“I heard that,” writes C. Lee:

The speech is excellent. When reading her words you can understand why they wanted to remove her from her seat in the House. She is a strong and beautiful Black woman; you can feel the hurt and pain from the unjust treatment of our people by this racist system .

“Black and Urban Power Under Siege”

On November 6 we rolled out Part III of our series, “Wanted: A Plan for the Cities to Save Themselves,” a project that we will return to repeatedly in the coming months.

The cities will be transformed, of that there is no doubt. But unless Black political institutions transform themselves more rapidly than Big Capital’s rush through the urban core, there will be no base for collective African American action, no harbor for the dreams of a people. The nation itself will lose its soul to the disconnecting, atomizing fury of organized greed….

Labor must take the lead in nurturing Plans, tailored to every targeted locality. In the process of formulating plans for the cities, people’s dreams become tangible – and as Dr. Martin Luther King understood, dreams are the real stuff of movements. It is the stuff that is lacking in far too many Black-led urban political groupings, circles that care more about a piece of the next corporate contract that floats their way than the stability, prosperity and dignity of African Americans as a whole.

Arnold O. Walker is a realtor, originally from Chicago, now happy in Texas.

I don't doubt what you say about big business & inner city Blacks, however, there are two ominous clouds on the horizon that threaten both big business and Blacks, as well as the entire country. These clouds are called Asia and more specifically, China. The second cloud is called "currency collapse.''

China and its huge population, as it matures into a world producer of cheap goods, will undercut the world in prices for years to come. Secondly, as our currency cheapens and it ceases to be the world reserve money, our indebted society will simply collapse.

Let the White Boy have the cities as they become Humpty Dumpties. The smart Blacks are moving back to the South and small communities where they can better organize their talents and build better communities.

replied that the coming currency collapse (which we believe will be accelerated by global recoil from entanglements with the U.S.) will be merciless on the small communities that Mr. Walker imagines as a haven. A closer look at the demographics shows that when urban Black northerners move South, they tend to gravitate to urban areas - including those who grew up in smaller communities. Mr. Walker was not dismayed.

As I'm sure you know statistics and demographics can be misleading depending on how they are used. Most Blacks relocating to the South still have family and friends in the smaller communities who own property free and clear of debt. When the coming crash takes place those Blacks in the metropolitan areas will be able to retreat to their families only minutes away and live out the economic storm in relative quiet. These Blacks will be able to grow their own food and live off the land while many Blacks in the Northern cities will be trapped in poverty with nowhere to hide from the storm. Example: I live in Kilgore, Texas, a small rural city with about 13K population. We are 90 miles east of Dallas and 90 miles west of Shreveport, LA. I am seeing this trend already as a real estate broker.

Good news

We never met Marilyn Monteiro, but we know she’s good people.

I am an African American women – a veteran of the struggle against racism in this country.

I have only recently discovered your e-journal. Let me say in the strongest of words – I love your work! Keep on keepin' on! I was interested in finding out more about Janice Rodgers Brown and read your brilliant article "Testi-Lying to the Senate and the People…" After finishing that article I was sooo very proud of you. Your tone, language, insight, analysis are all masterful. And your uncompromising stand against the reprehensible ploy and forces of racist Hatch and his Hatchlings is much appreciated and very much needed.

As you steadfastly assert and act upon – "Sometimes you just have to call a Tom a Tom, and a Janice a Clarence!" Bravo to you all and long live your courage, clarity, uncompromising honesty and journalist skill. Thank you for being there for the millions of us who need your voice.

I fully support your work and will continue to follow your pages. I have sent your web site address to as many of my friends as possible.

Similarly, George W. Sherrell III is a man of erudition and depth.

After being an avid supporter of George Curry and his EMERGE magazine, it made me feel real good seeing that other editorialists have the fortitude to use their creativity in a positive fashion.

Keep up the good work. You are doing a good job.

Finally, we’re glad to meet Francine Oputa, currently at California State University, in Fresno.

I just discovered you and I am impressed. You have gained a consistent
reader. Good job.

Keep writing.

gratefully acknowledges the following organizations for sending visitors our way during the past week:

All Facts and Opinions

Daily Kos

African America

Black Planet

The Volokh Conspiracy

Black Electorate

Anti-Racism Net