Garvey's Ghost: Black Talk

Two faced Mofos and the Co-option of Black Power Ideologies

When Bill Cosby came out the closet and put a certain segment of the black community on blast for their low expectations, bad parenting and lack of foresight, Many, if not all, Black conservatives had mutliple orgasms. They were glad that Cosby had dealt a blow for "self-responsibility" and striking a blow against the "victim mentality" that holds so many blacks back from their potential. I agree with Dr. Cosby and wrote many many times in his defence against those that saw Bill Cosby as an "Elitist" person, who was bad talking the "most vulnerable" of blacks and "Crazy." Now we find the Black Conservatives showing their two faced nature when they defend Dr. Rice.

Many Black conservatives, are upset because a number of cartoonist, most of them white, and a number of us other black folks, have called Dr. Rice what she is, a "handmaiden" of the white conservative establishment, commonly known as an "Aunt Jemimah." Walter Williams (Whome I refer to as "Willy" 'cause he apparently has the IQ of one. - that was low wasn't it?) wrote a vigourous defence of Dr. Rice. he sighted that she has a PhD and an expert in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

And?

No one is saying that Rice is not "educated." We're saying she's traitorous to the overall goals and aims of the Civil Rights movement from which she benefitted from. She refused o testify to the American People regarding her mishandling of intelligence reports. The "greatest Terrorist act" in American history occured under her watch. And there is ample documentation of her general incompetence or purposfull manipulation and falsification of information in order to invade Iraq. And since that was was illegal, both from the standpoint of international law and from the fact that Iraq was not an imminent threat to the US, that makes George Bush and co., including Rice, Murderers under the law. Simple. That the justice department has been sufficiently infiltrated to not make a case of this, does not negate these facts. So regardless to how many Degrees she has or how many ships have her name on it, she is a traitor to the ideals of Dr. King, Malcolm X, and the strong men and women who proceeded and broke bariers for her to be where she is today. Thier philosphy is clear: Justice. Peace. Equality.

But what Willy really messes up is when he states:
Being 68, I lived at a time when the idea of a black Cabinet official was little more than a pipe dream. Robert C. Weaver's 1966 appointment to the Department of Housing and Urban Development made him the first black Cabinet officer. Since that time, there have been other blacks appointed to high office. None has encountered the vicious attacks visited on Dr. Rice and Gen. Colin Powell, and what's worse, the most vicious attacks have come from their fellow blacks.

To make sure I was correct in my recollection of blacks in earlier periods, I called my 81-year-old friend Chuck Stone, former writer for the Philadelphia Daily News and now professor at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. I asked him whether he recalled instances of today's demeaning, insulting attacks. He said no, and we recalled how black people came to the defense of people like Reps. Robert Nix and Adam Clayton Powell, for whom Stone served as chief administrative assistant. Professor Stone also reminded me that the differences between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois didn't produce today's virulence.

See Willy and Chuck Stone have missed a few things. When Marcus Garvey was around, WEB Dubois had plenty of bad things to say about his rival, including calling him a "fat, black pig." Something I think a black person, especially one who is clearly mixed, ought to refrain from saying. Garvey would often refer to Dubois as a "half breed." so I guess they were even. fact is, considering the times, Blacks have always had relatively nasty words for those they deemed as traitors or misleaders. Either way, No black should be exempted from being called out when they are out of line. This doesn't mean there can't be intellectual differences, but to do whatever it takes to get a pat on the back from white folks, is plain and simple, tom- foolery.

but oh, wait!! Willy is outdone by one Mychal Massie Who in a reverse of the usual Black Panther and Black Power Rhetoric, refers to those of us who point out Dr. Rice's deficiencies as, gasp, "Negroes."

He thinks Strom Thurman is a good white man, unfairly maligned by "Negro Liberals" because of his segrgationist past. he points out that Thurman changed parties, and hired a black aide. We should all bow down and face the direction of Strom's Grave.

Please!!

How many Blacks were strung up from trees because of Strom's incitements? How many blacks were stripped of thier rights by police in his state? or nationally under his watch? How many police beatings? How many instances of shady bank dealings and redlining? Please, I had no love of a segregationist then and I sure ain't cuttin' him some slack because he hired a black aide.

Then Massie attempts to distract the reader by listing the litany of crimes against black people done by the Democratic party. Well to the informed among us "negroes" we say;

And?

We know this already. That's why a majority of us are not affiliated with either party. We don't change masters, we get off plantations.

But let me address the "informed" who may be reading. We need to get seriously organized and start to use the tools to get our message out. We cannot afford to be marginalised while others latch on to our policies and call us names in the process. Much of the conservative agenda of self-respect, non-victim mentatily, responsibility, economic independence are rightfully ours. These are the hallmarks of Nationalits from Martin Delany, Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Kwame Tourem The Black Panther Party and many others. we must be organized in our speech lest we get cought out there looking as if we defend policies that we don't and allow others to coopt portions of our message without historical context. And note that I said "historical" rather than "proper" context. Saying "proper" leaves the field open to challenge ( who says it's proper) whereas "historical" is only challengable by preseting information that contradicts what you say, and most times our adversaries are very deficient in thier knowledge of history.

We need to create forums and press releases that immediately counter mis-information from our "conservative" look alikes. That thier critiqes go unchallenged in the press is simply a recipie for disaster. We cannot just wait and hope that someone picks up our publications to find out our point of view. We need to put it out there where it is unavoidable. for example, When Bush was under critique about the inheritance Tax ( or perhaps some other issue) thousands of letters supporting Bush went to newspapers and magazines all over the nation, these letters were all the same, they only needed to be printed out (or copy-pasted) and sent off to a newspaper to hit the opinion pages. this might seem low down and unfair, but it get's the message out. The ACLU has a similar machine, where they will send emails to congresspeople on an individual's behalf, but I've never seen anything that addresses these "conservatives" and rightly so, because they expect "us" to do that work. And we are not. Our deepest thought should not be on a Hip Hop website (no offence to those) nor the message boards of "booty call" forums. The Black Commentator is the closest we have to a regular informed "non-youth orientated" web presence. And by "non-youth orientated" I mean it's not trying to "party for your right..." or entice you with celebrity gossip, you come for the straight info, no chaser. what BC needs to do, if it wants to take on the task outlined above is put itself to put out PR's in response to any "known" conservative, BC posses the connections and writing talent to pull this off.

I used to recieve PR's from teh Radical Black Congress. But to be honest thier umbrella status was, IMHO a serious impediment to me, as a Garveyite, taking them seriously. They had such a wide agenda and groups to cater to, some of whome really had little in common other than being "liberal." So being told that I was homophobic or inherently mysogynistic, simply made me ignore what they had to say. Similarly, being lumped together with Anarchists, Communists, Socialists, Punks, and other assorted groups with many divergent points of view simply was and is not effective for serious black organizers who have as their primary concern, the welfare and empowerment of disparate black comomunities.

One of the strengths of Garveyism and the UNIA was not only did it explain who and what it was against, it also had a very clear message of what it was for and a program on how to get there AND a means for the 'common man" to participate. Right now it appears to many that we are simply whining "negroes" who pass the buck and let anything go. We are mistakenly tied to the Democratic party and other "parties' except "our party."

Links:
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41598
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/walterwilliams/ww20041124.shtml