Readers Corner – Email from Readers

In the past month, we’ve received many comments from BC Readers, comments that are much too good to let molder away at the bottom of our electronic Inbox!

Regarding Between The Lines: For A True Fresh Start – Remove The Conviction Box, by Anthony Asadullah Samad, BC Columnist in Issue #208:

I currently reside in Austin, TX. In Dec 2000 I was convicted of Class A Misdemeanor- Simple Assault (30 days jail time). Since then, I’ve completed college with a Bachelors of Science in Telecommunications (2001), Due to background checks with now what seems to be about 80% of employers these days, I’m unable to find a job. I’ve been lied to, discriminated against, terminated from employment without cause while on the job. Since the conviction of 1999, I haven’t run into any issue with law enforcement; here it is 2007 and I’m continuing to be unsuccessful. The past 7 years have been almost impossible, just to even survive. I was wondering if there is anything that I can do or somewhere I could go to help me to help myself & family. -KR

This, from an Obama supporter, in response to the commentary of Dr. L. Jean Daniels, PhD, Guest Commentator, Can Obama Become the Person Some of Us Envision? in Issue #211:

Look Black Commentator, don’t bash Brother Obama about passionate or unpassionate speeches and where he stands on certain national security issues such as the patriot act!

The man has a history in our community when it comes to fighting draconian laws that violate the rights of Black citizens. So that should give you some indication as to where he stands on the patriot act. It is better for him to remain silent for now on certain issues because of (white xenophobia). Remember white folks are scared! So when a powerful, well educated Black phenomenal wonder like Barack Obama speaks about issues of national security, he has to be careful. In his case it’s wise to be evasive on some issues. We must remember that as a Black man he cannot afford the presence of a Black bold and brazen militant appearance and dare I say it, be seen with too many high profile Black civil rights figures. Why? Because this will cost him that mainstream democratic white, latino, asian, vote base that you speak of.

For once, there must be a silent alliance amongst Black leadership figures and our people. We must use the stealth and cleverness of Nat Turner, have the intellectual wisdom of Frederick Douglass, and the sophisticated clandestine savvy of our Mother Harriet Tubman. Anything less is failure. We as a people can not afford to let Uncle Tomism or the Willie Lynch syndrome, stand in our way, Black self hatred advocates, like Stanley Crouch, posing questions like is Obama black enough? must be silenced! Men like this pose a danger to our communities’ survival.

In addition remember that the issue of Black reparations can and will be presented to the main stream public and a possible compensation settlement could be reached along with a formal presidential apology for the enslavement of our ancestors. I warn you we must do this for our own survival as a people. Black Americans are fooling themselves if they think that Hillary Clinton or any other white candidate will do this.

Vote Obama if you love your Black Mamma! -KJ

Next, reaction and response to Unapologetically Young, Black and Female… To Live and Drive in L.A., by Jasmyne A. Cannick, BC Columnist in Issue #211:

Unfortunately, I see many disturbing and incredible things on a daily basis, living in the Bronx, NY. The level of ignorance amongst many of our people is quite staggering.

I agree wholeheartedly with your statement that not everyone is socially, emotionally or mentally qualified to be parents. From eleven year olds on the streets at 2:00 a.m. to small children playing on subway platforms and near bus stops, I see many instances of child neglect that makes me shake my head to myself.

As soon as we label the parents of children like this as “ignorant”, people get deeply offended and always say “lighten up, it’s not that bad”, but it is that bad and getting progressively worse by the day.

It’s quite a quandary to be in:

1) If I move to a “better community” where I don’t have to interact with ignorant adults and their equally ignorant children, how will things ever get better, for them or the communities?

2) If I remain in the Bronx, I will most likely lose my mind one of these days, and it is true that we can’t “save the world”.

I hope things turn around soon for our people, but somehow, I doubt it. -CJH

Regarding A Funny Phenomenon Among White Liberals and Progressives by Dr. L. Jean Daniels, PhD, Guest Commentator in Issue #212:

I just read your article in the current issue of BlackCommentator.com and as a white liberal or progressive I agree with you 117 percent.

I think this is something the “reformer” Left will never get past. They always just re-create the same forms as the right, ones that don’t threaten that privilege and prosperity. They want to reform the system…which means, they don’t want to overthrow the system. They want to keep the system.

But look at the masthead of The Nation. The supreme being at the top, away from everything else, then everyone else ordered from most to least important. The janitors don’t even make the list.

The Nation or anything like it can’t teach me anything about democracy. They know nothing of democracy. Those of the Left are always creating these organizations and web sites and putting themselves at the top rung. “Founder and Big Cheese.” They confuse activism with resume building. Activism can’t be about the self.

Anyway, I have been thinking about race in a certain way and have a question for you about identity and race. I think that when we caucasians call ourselves “white”, we are defining ourselves in opposition to “Black” people. If so, then racism would be at the core of our identity, somewhere near where it gets formed. The solution would entail unraveling ourselves almost all the way back to where identity is formed, where race is introduced, where “difference” is recognized. (If that’s possible, assuming I’m right about my theory.)

The next generation might have it easier if we changed those references. I can’t tell anyone else how to define themselves, but I can call myself something more appropriate (or accurate), such as caucasian or European, or German.

Interesting point: when I first wrote the previous sentence, I added, after the word “German,” the clause; “….which is my background.” I used “background” instead of race or ethnicity because it was difficult for me to even consider that I have race or ethnicity, since I am “the norm.” It’s others who have race and ethnicity.

By the way, I sometimes recognize how and when my subconscious influences and even directs my decisions, but not always. That little undetected influence, however, is probably what causes those Liberals to keep making those decisions that keep that privilege intact. -FWC

Thank you for your article about white liberals/progressives and racism. As a white male I realize that by virtue of gender and color I am among the most privileged in this society, not because of who I am but because of what I am. This could only be possible by the application over centuries of institutionalized racism and oppression. Therefore I have always felt that I had an obligation to fight against both racism and oppression.

This cannot be done from above by white liberals and progressives for they have never been the victim of institutionalized racism and so could never understand what it is like to be an African American in this country today. Yes they may have the best intentions and can quote statistics and the historical record but neither of these alone qualifies them for leadership. African Americans must determine the character of and lead the struggle and whites must be able to understand and support this struggle because it is far from over.

Hurricane Katrina and the shooting of Sean Bell laid bare for all to see that despite voting rights, desegregation and affirmative action, African Americans still suffer from racial disenfranchisement. Only by accepting this reality and their place in it can whites be effective in helping to bring about change. Not by avoiding but by confronting the uncomfortable truth. -SC

Very good piece in BC. Coming on the anniversary of Dr. King’s birth, and this evening my local group (the Sierra Club here in Portland) cosponsored a panel of New Orleans and Portland people on what has been happening in N.O., reading your article reminds me yet again that yes, it really is happening NOW. New Orleans has once again become the staging point for the dispersal of a community — that painfully assembled itself from the fragments of post-Civil War America, the legacy of Congo Square and the disparate pieces of the Caribbean Diaspora. Being a white American myself, I continue to observe the denial of many that this could be happening.

Darryl Wellington puts this in the context of the “right of return” in his excellent article last year in Dissent: And I recall once again that Dr. King said that peace is not the absence of conflict but instead the presence of justice. -FH

Carl Bloice’s Left Margin commentary, More Blood for Oil in Issue #212, elicited this comment:

Terrific piece on the Black Commentator Web site. It seems that “insurgent” has become frequently misused. One definition of insurgent: a person who revolts against civil authority or an established government.

When the US or other country goes into a foreign land and overthrows the government, any citizen of the occupied country who resists this action is labeled an “insurgent”. This is an interesting play on words. -PB

Many readers wrote to tell us their thoughts on Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence, Riverside Church, New York City, 4 April 1967, reprinted in Issue #212. Can’t you just hear his voice?:

Once again, your site has given me an enlightened look at war. I’m always glad to click into The Black Commentator, because there are views and perspectives I can’t get anywhere else. I appreciated particularly the Dr. Martin Luther King speech on the Vietnam war. I was amazed to find that we had supported with money and arms the French fight against Vietnamese independence. Even my husband, a Vietnam Vet, didn’t know that.

I hope that our country will turn back to the philosophy of Dr. King and quickly retire from the war-mongering that has led us into Iraq, Somalia, and Afghanistan. -JM

Thank you so much for putting this piece of artwork on the web [29’s drawing of Dr. King]. I’m grateful that artists are willing to share their passion with the rest of the world. I will be using this piece on an agenda for a Service Unit Meeting for Girl Scouts. -CM

Regarding Bill Fletcher’s Cover Story in Issue #212, Reconsidering “Black Politics”:

Regarding the piece on Black politics: its appropriate that this essay appeared during the week of MLK’s birthday/holiday. In that regard it is instructive to consider MLK’s politics when we try to discern just what “Black politics” really means. As a starting point, let us consider the contextual parallels of MLK’s ascending politicization in the late 60s to current conditions. Dr. King called out the connection of the U.S. imperialist/racist incursion in Vietnam with the ongoing exploitation of Black and other poor Americans. Now consider the striking parallel of the Iraq tragedy and the growing economic inequalities in the U.S. which of course disproportionately affect people of color – post-Katrina New Orleans is just the most glaring example. Like Dr. King, we must structure Black political thought around a critique of a system that invades, oppresses, enslaves, & exploits to further its interests. Assimilation into that system is not an [integral part of] Black politics at all, in fact it is the antithesis of the tradition of Black political thought from Nat Turner to Frederick Douglass to W.E.B. DuBois to Dr. King to the Black Panthers to Cornel West. Can we honestly say that Condaleezza Rice or Barack Obama or Colin Powell embrace anything close to “Black politics”? Here in Ohio it was none other than former secretary of state and republican gubernatorial candidate Kenneth Blackwell who systematically disenfranchised thousands of African American voters to help G. Bush steal the 2004 election. He’s another Black politician, but is he even close to subscribing to “Black politics”? Genuine Black political thought is that which is grounded in the rich historical context of the Black struggle for liberation. Anything short of that is a capitulation to the racist/classist/sexist domination system. -PEF

I wanted to thank you your penetrating article on the importance of Reconsidering “Black Politics”. The fact is – a fact that unfortunately most Americans (Black, white, Latino et. al.) don’t appreciate, is that when Black folks – back values, back priorities, and back leadership catch a cold, the country gets really sick.

Today we really are a sick country which points to serious confusion (and worse) within the Black body politic. Indeed, we’ve only really been well from about after the death of MLK to 1980 when Ronald Reagan uncorked the old stupid white genie that has run amuck domestically since 2000 and is now running amuck around the world. That means we were only “good” for a very short period of time and are back to our old ways.