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It is impossible to distinguish between these groups’ Hard Right foundation-inspired political activities and the mandates of the federal grants. “[S]ince many of the organizations benefiting from Department of Education grants have a pro-voucher or education privatization ideology,” the PFAW report concludes, “there is no way of knowing whether federal tax dollars are in fact being used to implement NCLB or to further the ideological agenda of right-wing organizations.”

I enjoy your site immensely and find it provocative and real "Black."  Remember, "A man can't ride your back, unless it's bent. . ."  Keep up the good work.

African Americans, who possess little power and less money, and have yet to experience the full fruits of democracy, now find themselves ploys in the Hard Right's obscene and cynical war to destroy public employee unions and privatize education for the benefit of the rich. Fully aware that Black communities are in need of, literally, everything, the ultra-conservatives dangle vouchers. In return for these tokens of dubious value, we are expected not only to jettison our few allies in the political arena, but to purge our own leadership and principles, as well.

The article about "Bush's Phony Vouchers Movement" is an eye opener.  I witnessed first hand the terrible condition that the KC School District was in. In the public schools in the 60's and the 70's, we received the worn, torn and ragged with missing pages "books" they gave us to read and learn from. My heart was broken knowing that white kids always had brand new books and we got their 2 year old editions.  It broke my heart even more when my son experienced similar situations: no books, wrong books, books still in the warehouse, a brand new library with no books, a computer room with no computers.  Why? Because there were white people who would not and did not send the requisitions through so the schools could have all their supplies.

It was appalling to go to PTA meetings and see no books in the classrooms – only a teacher (white) sitting there with a smirk on his face. My son said "Mom all he does is sit there and we just sit there."  This is a blatant crime to commit on our children, yet through all of our protest nothing was done to improve the conditions. It has been 40 years and I still see no great improvements.  Now they come up with another plan to deny the poorest the right to a free education.  If you do the math the capacity of private schools is much smaller than public schools, so who is going to be at the bottom as always? Us.  I hope that one day we will have real democracy when it comes to education because right now Black communities are under siege and our education is one of the "Bush regime's" targets.  If Bush steals this upcoming Presidential election, education as we know it will become extinct to our own grand children.  America needs some "Divine Intervention" to save us from the grip of "Damnation."

Let us not forget that the most prestigious schools in America are black private schools; they include Tuskegee, Morehouse, Dillard University and a host of others.  They carry the load for leadership in black America.   Also in southern cities blacks are starting private schools by the truckloads, a return to a tradition that was started at the turn of the century.  It would be great for black parents, not the federal government, to make decisions about where children go.  Of course blacks with money have been sending their children to private schools for years, especially in the north.  It is difficult to think and act like free people, but this is required in a free society. 

The Thanksgiving story is an absolution of the Pilgrims, whose brutal quest for absolute power in the New World is made to seem both religiously motivated and eminently human. Most importantly, the Pilgrims are depicted as victims – of harsh weather and their own naïve yet wholesome visions of a new beginning. In light of this carefully nurtured fable, whatever happened to the Indians, from Plymouth to California and beyond, in the aftermath of the 1621 dinner must be considered a mistake, the result of misunderstandings – at worst, a series of lamentable tragedies. The story provides the essential first frame of the American saga. It is unalloyed racist propaganda, a tale that endures because it served the purposes of a succession of the Pilgrims’ political heirs, in much the same way that Nazi-enhanced mythology of a glorious Aryan/German past advanced another murderous, expansionist mission.

Your "thanksgiving" piece was outstanding.  Good work. I sent it on to all of my friends. Please, by all means, keep up your good work.  In these dark days we need as many voices of reason and clarity as possible.

Thank you for your impassioned article on the American "thanksgiving" holiday.  You and your readers might not be aware that there has been a Native-led protest in Plymouth, Massachusetts on "thanksgiving Thursday" every year since 1970.   We talk about the true history of the pilgrims and of thanksgiving, as well as about conditions today in Indian Country.  We also march through the streets of Plymouth.  Although only Native people speak at National Day of Mourning (we think that there should be at least one day a year when white people stop talking on our behalf and when folks can stop and listen to us for a few hours), we sincerely welcome our non-Native allies.  For more information, see our website at: http://home.earthlink.net/~uainendom/

One of the first things I noticed when George W. Bush campaigned for the presidency was his obvious love of putting black people in photo opportunities. How better to prove the compatibility of conservatism and compassion than with a healthy dose of contented black faces. I always imagined his advance team screaming into their cell phones anxiously awaiting reconnaissance for campaign events. “No black people? Find another place!” My suspicions were proven correct on Thanksgiving when our President pulled off yet another propaganda coup by flying to Iraq for Thanksgiving dinner with the troops.

What will happen next year at the Republican convention? Will every speaker be black instead of every other speaker as at the 2000 convention? If I turn on my television and see Aretha Franklin and Chaka Khan I don’t know what I will do. Maybe that will finally push me over the edge and send me to a nation that doesn’t rely on imagery to make me feel good.

I truly admire and love your writing and I couldn't agree with you more regarding the imagery used by the current administration. You hit the nail on the head! I'm with you – if ReRe's boobs and Chaka's Weave show up at the convention – I gotta go Rasta and head for the Islands! LOLOLOL.

Proud of you my Sistah!

It is not possible to communicate to you here how much I enjoy your writings on .  

You are incisive and brutally frank in expressing your views, a trait which is sadly missing in this country and especially missing among the so-called "Black Political Leadership.” Your use of the English Language is exhilarating and brilliant.

Congratulations, keep up with the good work. I look forward to reading your comments on the burning issues in Black society today.

I thought I would send you a note and let you know how much I appreciate writing like yours that cuts to the chase.  Whenever I see Black divas performing for the Republican Party (aka Vanessa Williams singing at Ah-nold Schwarzenegger's gubernatorial inauguration) I want to hurl.  As says of such people: "They have stained Black people's honor, voluntarily."

I'm not for embracing our Black celebrities who act like they don't know us until they get in trouble (ala O. J. and Kobe, and now Michael).  I've often thought that our race is probably the most forgiving race on the planet, and that's probably been our saving grace.  My argument is we probably shouldn't be unwilling to forgive one's transgressions; maybe just not be so "quick-on-the-draw" in issuing out forgiveness.

The Republican National Committee hasn't gotten the message that African-Americans can't be fooled because you parade Condi, Colin, Ward, Rod, Armstrong and those Blacks running think-tanks that serve as a front for doling out school vouchers, in front of us to get us to accept them or their message.  Especially when their actions speak much louder than their words.  Will the Black "moderates" of the Congressional Black Caucus ever get the message and stop the futility of trying to build bridges with these mentally deranged individuals?  Or are we doomed to forever be sold out just so they can have a comfortable life at our expense?

It is writings like yours, and publications like that continue to remind me that I'm not in the fight alone, and it appears that those numbers are increasing everyday.  Some day our message will be heard – I just want to experience it when it happens.  Keep writing.

What a wonderful piece of writing! It's really nice to read what one is thinking.  Especially those of us who always seem to vote for the losing candidate or believe in the idea ridiculed by the mainstream.  Thank you!

I'm a grad student in the school of Public Policy and Administration at USC.  About twice a month, I frequent all the Black political web sites I know of, from the "Policy 21" group to the "Black Commentator."  Whether partisan or non-partisan, dem or rep, I enjoy reading and discussing issues concerning my people with my people, whether we always agree or not. I don't have a "party affiliation," for as Malcolm X said, "The Democrats are foxes and the Republicans are wolves."

I read your column (and enjoyed its raw cynicism) on the Black Commentator about "Bush to Central Casting."  The following is a quote from your article that caught my eye:

"The Republicans express the worst kind of cynicism by using black faces as a cover for their policies. They know that black people, even those who want to meet a President, are not going to vote for them. Colin, Condi and turkey on Thanksgiving won’t change minds in voting booths. The Democratic nominee, whoever that is, will get at least 90% of the black vote and Republicans know it."

I agree with the first sentence in this statement (to a degree), but Democrats do the same thing. I don't think that the GOP is sacrificing Cabinet positions simply to recruit the black vote because they've proven they don't need the Black vote to win.  I think the deciding factor for Bush putting those people in their positions has to do with their history of supporting him and his policies.  No president will put someone in power that they don't think they have a handle on.  Replacing Condi and Colin with whites won't make anything better.

However, at the same time, I do realize the political significance of any president putting multiple blacks in visible positions of influence (an incredibly recent trend in federal politics).  And like you, I do not assume that his intentions are completely admirable. 

And as a non-partisan, I see no difference in Bush having Aretha sing than if Gore had Aretha sing.  Neither one goes home at the end of the night and dreams about how wonderful black people are.  No matter who was in power, Clinton or Bush, I can only remember my East Oakland Neighborhood getting worse and worse and more young blacks pregnant or in jail. 

I think the brightest political future for blacks will show us casting aside partisan politics and using our resources together for the improvement of our people.   Why should we be playing these same "political games" (for the same reasons) whites play when our situation in this country is so drastically different? We can take advantage of Bush just like some of us took advantage of Clinton. But that's just my opinion.

Anyway, keep up the good work and I will keep reading it.

I am glad you enjoyed reading my column but if you responded to what you call "its raw cynicism" you missed the point. It is our system that is cynical and confuses persons like yourself so much you become incapable of taking a political stance of any kind. No where in your letter is it clear what you advocate. I find it interesting that someone studying public policy would not have any discernible political belief other than to call himself non partisan. You only say what you are not (republican or democrat) but you do not say what you are. Are you a social democrat, anarchist, libertarian, communist, black nationalist or adherent of some other political movement? Where do you stand Mr. Ledet?

I will accept that conditions in your hometown are unchanged regardless of who is in the White House, but that makes it all the more important for an educated person like yourself to clearly formulate a political point of view. Your graduate degree will be of little use to East Oakland if you quote Malcolm X but have no ideas of your own to offer.

The terrible realities of life in America make it easy to throw up our hands and say a pox on both your houses. As a student of politics you should realize that the powers that be rely on your frustration to create and sustain the conditions that exist in your neighborhood. If our only response is to say that there is no difference between a fox and a wolf then they will be able to do what they want in East Oakland and every other community in this country.

Good luck with your studies. 

Thank you for your column in The Black Commentator on Martin Luther King's foresight and courage in speaking out against the Vietnam war in 1967.  Your linking this speech to the current situation in Iraq is timely and absolutely relevant.

I was unaware of Dr. King's specific words in objecting to the Vietnam War. Your quotes from his speech show how the same forces that pushed us into Vietnam are currently at play in Iraq.  I will keep this in mind as we approach Dr. King's next birthday celebration, an election year and the continued tragedy being played out in Iraq. Again, thank you for your column.

Just want to let you know I enjoy your website.  Came across it about nine months ago and my Thursdays have never been the same. A lot of times I know I should be in bed, because I get up early.  But, I'm glued to my computer screen reading the great and truthful articles in your Commentary.

People just don't know they're not getting real news from the mainstream (corporate) media.

I like the articles written by Tim Wise a lot. Its good to know some white people think like he does and express it. Keep up the excellent work.

You published the link to Amnesty USA several times in the articles.  I was hoping you might publish a link to Amnesty International’s Tulsa Chapter as well.

“MG Dodgen admitted to the Birmingham, AL press and in his sworn testimony this year that he used the racial epithet in the past. He was called as an Army EEO witness after one his managers used the term in an official email to allegedly insult Dr. Clara West, a black AMCOM engineer. MG Dodgen also admitted in his testimony that ‘Tarbaby’ is used at the Pentagon. Dr. West is the Class Agent in a Title VII complaint filed last August in the Northern District of Alabama by nearly 50 minority workers alleging racial discrimination and harassment at AMCOM.”

White managers at one of the nation’s most sensitive military installations routinely assault Black employees with an archaic racial epithet, undermining even the pretense of unified national resolve in the “War on Terror.”  At Huntsville, Alabama’s Redstone Arsenal, a military and civilian culture holds sway that seems to revel in the language of unrelenting war against the humanity and dignity of African Americans.

What do they call a Black Ph.D. at Redstone?  Tar Baby.

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