Garvey's Ghost: Black Talk

Mychal's Lesson

I've recently been introduced to Mychal Massie. I'm not the better for it but a few people he has run into will be the better for me writing about him. There are a lot of black conservatives that I cannot stand. Massie and Armstrong are perhaps the worst of the bunch. But Massie has such a nastly look about him AND he writes in such a nasty tone that he is perhaps the black male Ann Coulter. This time around Massie writes in an article entitled The Revolution Got Busted in which he "takes on' people he labels liberals and are well stupid.

he writes:

I posited to a militant social worker from the Oakland, Calif. area the following question: Had Bill Cosby achieved his gargantuan stature because he spoke forthrightly about the critically deficient role of parenting in the black community? He could not respond to my interrogative because to do so would have been to prove my point. So he rambled about needing to be patient.

Exactly what qualified the individual as "militant?" Does one simply have to say certain words and one is a Militant? The last time I saw any real "militancy" it was from the New Black Panther Party and not a social worker. But I digress. This encounter is actually very instructive to those of us who "stay black and die." I wrote on these very pages that the knee-jerk reaction that many blacks had about Bill Cosby's statements was uncalled for and unwise. Getting on Cosby's case because he's rich, or because one felt one didn't like "his tone." would needlessly distract from the hard truth in his message that the vast majority of us see each and every day. One should not be caught making excuses for peoples bad choices and bad decisions even when and if there are larger societal forces at play. It is consistent with African thought and philosophy to hold each person accountable for thier own actions. Had the "militant" in question had followed this line he would not have been fooled or tricked into supplying Massie with the ammunition to discredit him and would have been able to turn the tables on him immediately. We live and hopefully, we learn.

The next opportunistic victim of Massie was a young college student:

I, with no apologies for being heavy-handed, challenged a young Vassar "academician" (his word not mine) to step into the reality of the 21st century. His collegiate mind wrestled with my specific assignation of the cartoon character known as Aaron McGruder. Following his puerile logic, it was legitimate for McGruder to attack Dr. Condoleezza Rice, but it was not so for me to call him on it. This is the prevailing shameful mentality of far too many. It is a travesty that these young anachronists and those who sired them live in a self-imposed shadow world of accusations of white injustice and black inferiority.

Well we're not offered details as to what "purile" logic Massie was discussing, But I'm sure if he indeed understood what "puerile" meant he would realize that he himself uses such logic. So let me explain (again) why consciensious black people do not like Condeleeza Rice. We know she is a very intelligent person. In fact that adds to our problem with her. We know she was Dean of such and such, on the board of such and such and has a oil tanker with her name on it. The issue is that as followers of Dr. King's "Justice threatened anywher is Justice threatened everywhere." as followers of Malcolm X's call for human rights here in America. as observers of Muhammed Ali's "Ain't no Vietcong ever called me a Niggir." we object to Dr. Rice's lending her racial credibility to an adminstration that is waging an illegal war in Iraq. When one kills people or has people killed outside judicial or legal bounds one is a Murderer. So simply put George Bush is a Murderer. So is Condi Rice, Colin Powell. Donald Rumsfeld. Trust us, our distaste for Rice is shared with all the members of her clique in the white house. AS for her "qualifications." Any one who can read can find out that multiple sources of information about the threat to national security prior to 9-11 has shown that Condi either lied to the president, didn't inform him or flat out missed the importance of said information. That sir, makes her incompetent. And again, don't get us wrong, we think the entire adminstration is incompetent as well. And yes Massie you should feel free to attempt to "call me" on the issue. But seeing as I passed logic class with an A I believe you'll find my logic up there with the folks who invented the subject.

But let me direct something to the students who may be reading this. Becareful of what and to whome you speak. There is usually a group of people who think as you do who are probably better able to communicate what you want to say. Either learn the "company line" or don't speak. This is not to say you don't have 1st Ammendment rights but you must understand that the enemy is sneaky and is looking for the weakest link and you are probably it. I went through 2/3 of my college career not speaking on any black subject because I knew I was uninformed. By the time I opened my mouth my peers dubbed me "Hukem" or "Authoritative Utteranece of Blackness." Basically, anytime I spoke I usually had my facts straight. Yes I've added new information since then but the foundation had to be built. So consider yoursef warned and schooled. Do not allow yourself to be caught out there.

Anyway, Massie then goes off into left field to discuss Angela Davis and Gil Scott Heron. For some reason he feels a need to kick the man while he's down by discussing his recent drug arrest (assuming that to be true). Which proves what exactly? After all musicians are NOT revolutionaries though they may echo revolutionary ideas. In fact artists in general are a troubled lot and only really stupid people actually look to them for a plan. They are there for inspiration and inspiration only.

So there is one thing I'll agree with MAssie on: The Revolution is busted but there are those of us willing to put it back together and move forward and we don't have to compromise our principles in the process.