Garvey's Ghost: Black Talk

Co-option by any other name

Long time no blog. Been busy with different programming projects. Anywhoo, I was perusing over the articles on BlackElectorate.com and stumbled across this piece by Star Parker in which she discusses the "Credibility of black conservatism." Like Armstrong Williams, Star is a Republican Lackey, probably smart enough to not get caught out there like Armstrong Williams. On him she says:

Armstrong Williams' poor judgment in not revealing being compensated by the Department of Education to promote No Child Left Behind is unfortunate. With his stepping into the line of fire and acknowledging his errors, we'll be able to get this behind us and move on.

Armstrong "stepping into the line of fire? Not quite. He was busted plain and simple. So let's not give him more credit than he deserves. But that really isn't my real point of contention with this piece. My real problem lies with this point:

An increasing number of blacks understand that their future lies in mending their communities, restoring traditional values, rebuilding the black family and helping inner-city black men get control of their lives and aspire to become husbands, fathers and breadwinners, rather than players.

The support for school choice is as strong in the black community as in the white community. As the national dialogue on Social Security reform proceeds, I am confident that increasing numbers of blacks will get the simple message that personal ownership rather than taxes and government will build black wealth and autonomy.

I am far more concerned with the ongoing destruction that occurs every day in the black community that directly reflects the politicization of African-American life that has been going on for the last 50 years.

This statement is really a problem. Among we Pan-Africanist, regularly ignored and dirided from both sides of the black political establishment have always advocated the restoration of black communities, families and traditional ( as in black traditional) values. We have always expoused that Black men become husbands, fathers and co-breadwinners rather than players. What is most insulting about the statement by Star is the implication, that is rife among black conservatives, that so called Black liberals are not for those things. In reality the real issue that black conservatives have with black liberals (and we Pan-Africanists) is the following (from Star's piece)

So, black conservatives outrage black liberals not just because they are supposedly sellouts, but also because they are selling out to whites.

This is an extremely important point, that will be the crux of power plays within the black community: Black conservatives, by and large do not discuss or make real attempts to deal with White Supremacy. What they do is take the economic empowerment philosophies of Garvey and divorce them from their social and political components. What we get is that Blacks would do best to
"do as whites do" in almost every respect. In no place will you find "black conservatives" at the head of liberation struggles anywhere. The ideologies of Nkrumah, Kenyatta, Cabral, Cesaire, etc. with all thier own faults, are not to be seen in black conservative conversation. Why? because as arch-Negro McWhorter likes to state: They ain't Africans. So divorced from their global history, they cling to that which they can only understand, American Ideology, even when the facts on the ground do not support allegiance to such things.

For example, Star supports School choice and says most blacks do too. This is probably true But in reality school choice, as proposed has serious problems. By allowing students who are able to go to other schools and have the money for them follow, leaves a poorer public school for those left behind. So instead of addressing the real issue of public education: That it's budget is but 1% of the Defence budget and property taxes in poor neighboorhoods leads to poor funding, black conservatives advocate that which they do best, run to the white folks. What real black thinkers would propose is the scrapping of property tax based education funding in favour of monetary distribution based on school population/need and an increased education budget. After all if $200 Billion can be found to kill people in Iraq, then there must be aq couple billion to spend on public education. But Black conservatives are too busy supping with the white folks in charge, who love them for not making them feel uncomfortable, to even spend time advocating this line.

That's why black conservatives are such dangerous figures, They are even more dangerous as more and more black youths grow up with no clue of even recent black history to recognize the dangers of this group and this very group is who black conservatives will be targeting in the future and is where Republican Party growth in black membership will come from. Be clear here: Pan-Africanists, and other "Black Power" advocates had best get thier acts together because white money is infiltrating black communities like crack in '85: It ain't gonna be pretty.

Links:
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/sp20050118.shtml