Steve Biko
I know this is "old news" but, I did say I'd finish this (for posterity, if nothing else). So, here's a continuation of those "distractions" and my thoughts on them - quick and dirty like, so's I can move on to more timely matters:
Wednesday, September 9: Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) shouts out "You Lie!" during The Changeling's Healthcare speech. My thoughts? Though Joe didn't (really) lie - is it me, or did he (along with all the tweetin'-during-the-speech, etc.) deliver a direct salvo of disrespect for this society-identified Black man. Call me a birther if you want to, I don't care. SOMETHING in that milk ain't clean!
Friday, September 11: Michael Jordan inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Yahoo! Sports writer, Adrian Wojnarowski wrote this description of that night thusly: Jordan’s night to remember turns petty. Here are a few interesting excerpts:
- "Something unworthy of Jordan’s stature, something beneath him..."
- "Whatever, Michael. Everyone gets it. Truth be told, everyone got it years ago, but somehow he thinks this is a cleansing exercise. When basketball wanted to celebrate Jordan as the greatest player ever, wanted to honor him for changing basketball everywhere, he was petty and punitive..."
- "Yes, there was some wink-wink teasing with his beloved Dean Smith, but make no mistake: Jordan revealed himself to be strangely bitter..."
Obviously he felt he had a few things to be bitter about and decided to let ya'll have it - after he earned all that coin you paid him. That's right, EARNED! Quit acting like ya'll gave him something (he was the greatest player ever - even you said so!). It would've been nice though (and IMHO, a helluva lot more manly) if he'd have let ya'll have it while he was earning the coin. But we all know how that mask-wearing-for-money goes.
Saturday, September 12: Serena Williams lost the U.S. Open semifinal against Kim Clijsters. Here's an interesting Open Salon article (with videos) by Kathy Riordan: What Was Serena Thinking? regarding the cussin' out Venus gave the line judge. Really??? John McEnroe anyone? Oops! Wrong color, wrong gender. And the judge was in fear of her life? Oh, I forgot. Angry Black Woman cussin' you out = life-threatening situation.
(I'd be remiss if I didn't offer this update - Serena says she 'loves' ESPN nude cover shot.
I have to admit, my immediate response when I saw the cover was, "Da-a-a-mn, what a beautiful picture of my chocolate Sister! And it is, but the damn "voices" just had to have their say:
Me: Much hell as they raised about her cussin' that judge out, here she is gracin' the cover of ESPN Magazine! Damn hypocrites!First thought that came to mind after that little tète-à-tète, was some of "Black" John Howard Griffin's account of his observations of white men regarding Black women in his, ought-to-be-mandatory-reading-in-all-schools, "Black Like Me." Once, he recounts his experience working at a New Orleans shoe-shine stand with his Black friend, Sterling to whom he'd told his "secret":
Voice #1: Truly! All that really says is - in general - not much has changed. Naked - we're fine. Vocal, not so much.
Voice#2: You feel like that?
Me: In general? Or in particular?
Voice #1 & #2: Both!!
Me: Let me get back to you on that.
And again, hitchhiking between Mobile and Montgomery, he caught a ride with a white man who expressed this:Well-dressed tourists mingled with the derelicts of the quarter. When we shined their shoes we talked. The whites, especially the tourists, had no reticence before us, and no shame since we were Negroes. Some wanted to know where they could find girls, wanted us to get Negro girls for them. We learned to spot these from the moment they sat down, for they were immediately friendly and treated us with the warmth and courtesy of equals. I mentioned this to Sterling.
"Yeah, when they want to sin, they're very democratic," he said.
"I'll tell you how it is here. We'll do business with you people. We'll sure as hell screw your women. Other than that, you're just completely off the record as far as we're concerned. And the quicker you people get that through your heads, the better off you'll be."There are many other passages regarding the whole Black-women-white-men thing (many with which I grew up, many about which I thought before, and post - "the husband"), but these illustrate best what I also think about the cover. Just sayin'.
Saturday, September 12: Alex Koppleman's Conservatives march on Washington is again, an interesting read, but HuffPos's 10 Most Offensive Tea Party Signs (PHOTOS) are even more interesting. The first set of ten are particularly illustrative of our post-racial nation heapin' all kinds of love on the Changeling.
Wednesday July 16: Sorry, I know this wa-a-a-y old, but indulge me please. After all, I never said a thing about "The Professor, The Policeman and The President." I was on the road when this happened. I heard about the whole Gates thing after the husband and I'd found an Alabama hotel room - very, very late at night (I'm 53 and the idea of travelling through the Deep South with my, society-identified white husband still makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck).
When I heard his, "Why, because I am a Black man in America?'' thing, please know that I was - ROFFLMBAO!! The-e-en, when I watched the Changeling's news conference (definitely a set-up, make-me-look-good question by "I-used-to-be-a-real-journalist," Lynn Sweet, if I ever saw one), all I could do was shake my damn head and say, "Oscar Grant and Adolph Grimes III."
“Gates then turned to me and told me that I had no idea who I was ‘messing’ with and that I had not heard the last of it’’...When the officer repeatedly told Gates he would speak with him outside, the normally mild-mannered professor shouted, “Ya, I’ll speak with your mama outside,’’ according to the report.
Why the chuckle you ask? So, so many reasons! A whole post worth really. But, since I slept it, I'll just say a few things.
First of all, let's take a look at the Professor. While I have enjoyed his work, and even on occasion, used them for - "teachable moments" - during a bi-weekly dialogue on race relations that I founded and moderated for almost three years in South Florida, I am just astounded at the speed with which he went from, "Do you know who you're messing with?" to, "Why, because I’m a Black man in America?" (à la Clarence Thomas and his "high-tech lynching" shenanigans)! Just amazing to watch!
Did he really think because he was a Harvard-educated/employed house fella that he'd not be treated like he was - Oh horrors! Black? - by a, you-don't-know-your-place-OR-how-to-act-in-front-of-a-crowd-of-white-folk, WHITE, blue collar cop?? Another big PUH-L-E-E-EZ!!
For all he purportedly knew, he obviously didn't really know (thought he was all manner of "free" cuz they said he was a "renowned" Harvard professor). And isn't it funny how some Black folk always "go home" when the adopted family spurns them?
Really, was the goal of the struggle to "be like Mike?" Damn, I didn't think so, but it seems so for the new (old) Black "elite." The classism to which he resorted (as did his sister, Oprah during her interview with then-Sen. Barack Obama, "I don't think it's about race anymore, I think it's about class."), spoke volumes. Yeah, Crowley knew exactly with whom he was "messing" - a Black man who, despite all his achievements, was simply - in his neck of the woods (in our post-racial nation) - just an uppity, nigger over whom he had the "legal" power - to put in his place (asinine, no real-power-havin', not speakin' out on real police "acting stupidly," current resident of the Big House, notwithstanding).
And all I can say about the much-ado-about-nothin' "Beer Summit," is - Lawd have mercy!! Bless his heart, he doesn't have any shame at all now does he? Got to manufacture "acceptance!" No, not even that - just tolerance!
Did he really think because he was a Harvard-educated/employed house fella that he'd not be treated like he was - Oh horrors! Black? - by a, you-don't-know-your-place-OR-how-to-act-in-front-of-a-crowd-of-white-folk, WHITE, blue collar cop?? Another big PUH-L-E-E-EZ!!
For all he purportedly knew, he obviously didn't really know (thought he was all manner of "free" cuz they said he was a "renowned" Harvard professor). And isn't it funny how some Black folk always "go home" when the adopted family spurns them?
Really, was the goal of the struggle to "be like Mike?" Damn, I didn't think so, but it seems so for the new (old) Black "elite." The classism to which he resorted (as did his sister, Oprah during her interview with then-Sen. Barack Obama, "I don't think it's about race anymore, I think it's about class."), spoke volumes. Yeah, Crowley knew exactly with whom he was "messing" - a Black man who, despite all his achievements, was simply - in his neck of the woods (in our post-racial nation) - just an uppity, nigger over whom he had the "legal" power - to put in his place (asinine, no real-power-havin', not speakin' out on real police "acting stupidly," current resident of the Big House, notwithstanding).
And all I can say about the much-ado-about-nothin' "Beer Summit," is - Lawd have mercy!! Bless his heart, he doesn't have any shame at all now does he? Got to manufacture "acceptance!" No, not even that - just tolerance!
17 comments:
Hey, Deb! Trippin' through the PUMAsphere, I'm noticing that a lot of us seem to be on a sort of "through the Looking Glass Backwards" post racial introspective trip, and gosh darnit, it's pretty durned interesting.
I did the Gates thing contemporaneously, and all I can say is, the record of who said what when doesn't always match up. That, "talk to your mama," etc., stuff is only in Crowley, the fine, upstanding officer's report, as far as I know, so I take it with a grain of salt. Also, two police officers entered the house, were presented with ID and an offer to verify home ownership/rental with a phone call to Gates' place of employment, and they still felt the need for him to step outside? Ain't buyin' Crowley's version, or the other cop's blue line quasi-backup, though unlike you, I got no love for Gates after he founded The Root to pimp for Obie to the black folks on MSNBC's dime January before last. Until that point, there were still a lot of black folks, like the ones who handed Brother President his head against Bobby Rush in 2000 who weren't yet feelin' the O love Gates started peddling by the truckload.
Anyway, that being said, we're pretty much on the same page, as usual. Love to read your thoughts on stuff, you do know that, doncha?
Mi hermana, I follow tennis fairly closely. I believe you are off the mark with your characterization of what Serena did and the context. I won't get into the history of whose outburst got what penalty over the years. She threatened physicial violence toward another woman significantly smaller than she. There is no defense for her actions and words that night. Period. That does not excuse, of course, all the idiocy and hypocrisy from the rest of us.
When I saw her display, I felt shame and sadness, because I knew what would be made of it. It was personal for me because Ms. WIlliams bears a resemblance to someone I love dearly. I can't see Serena without going to certain places in my mind and my heart. Honestly, do you think that was a proud moment for Ms. Price? That was willow-switch-to-the-back-of-the-legs behaviour and should be called out as such.
Now for the generally speaking portion of my commentary--
Bad behaviour is bad behaviour. I suspect nearly ALL of us have succumbed to it sometime during our lives. If you display it at a high-profile event or are a high-profile person yourself, extra attention and scrutiny will follow.
Paz,
I should have worded my second sentence differently. More along the lines of, "I see the situation differently..." Sorry.
Hey Deb!
Well I'm reading "Black Like Me" now and, well, I am pretty speechless at this point.
I also recall Griffin's account from the man at the YMCA that whites even incited racism within the black community over their preferences for light-skinned blacks over dark-skinned.
I look at that picture of Serena and I, too, think WOW! What a beautiful body and god what beautiful skin!
Then, I think of how so many white men have exploited the hell out of black women and I just hate the contradictions going off in my head!
I agree with you about "Black Like Me". It should be REQUIRED READING in every school in this country.
I feel so damned culturally cheated that I had never read it, until now.
Interestingly enough, many of Griffin's experiences are not ones that I have been ignorant of; I just couldn't grasp the reality of the human experience until the contrast of the black vs white experience is made so damned vivid in Griffin's experience of the two.
It has genuinely stirred my soul in a way that is both deeply painful and even more revealing of the fact that the wounds are far deeper and the mistrust more justified than our "divisions" can ever reveal.
My "essays" pale in comparison to his work. I will be recommending it to everyone I meet.
Ha, ha, ha. I'm laughing because the world, even in the blogosphere, is truly a small place. It just so happens that one of my first meager efforts as a blog owner/writer was about Obama/RFK/Griffin called "Black Like Me," I even posted a clip from the TV series starring James Whitmore.
As I write this, I'm watching a CNN story about Alicia Keys and her humanitarian efforts in Africa. Wow! What an impressive young woman! Wow! It's not often that a beautiful young woman can make your meager efforts in life seem insignificant in comparison, and make you feel proud to be so at the same time. Wow!
Kinda like how I feel in the company I find here.
Hey Ladies! Apologize for the lapse in responding. Just working through some shit in my head - not enough room up there to do both! :-)
Cin...Yeah, I know! :-) Look, we can agree, or agree to disagree - Either way, shit gets talked about and that's all that really matters to me because it helps me look at things in all possible lights before I dig my heels in (and believe me, sometimes I do!).
"That, "talk to your mama," etc., stuff is only in Crowley, the fine, upstanding officer's report, as far as I know, so I take it with a grain of salt. "
I hear you Cin, but that's all we got. Frankly, I believe Gates actually said it - after he didn't receive the respect he felt he deserved - as a "world-renowned, Harvard professor" (Just me, I could care less what title or position a person holds. Neither makes one more or less deserving of respect - as a human being). He was, IMO, disrespected because he was a Black man, but that didn't come to him until "after the fact" it seems. And why didn't his "NEIGHBOR" know who the hell he was??? Obviously, he's not been getting any real "renowned Harvard professor" respect.
Crowley & Co. are well-versed in ways to twist the law to their purposes regarding Black folk. This is Massachusetts! Blacks & Blues have a not-so-nonviolent history in this, one of the original 13! He didn't arrest him for breaking & entering, or disorderly conduct. IMHO, Crowley felt Gates wasn't deferential enough to his "authority," yelling at him and all (uppity nigger) - especially once Gates stepped outside raising hell (as attested to by people who'd gathered outside - for whatever that's worth).
No love for Gates here Cin, he's right up there with Oprah, Cosby, the Changeling and his wife far as I'm concerned. I just respect the body of Black history work he'd made available to the many - of any race, ours included - woefully ignorant of our past (his materials were quite useful during my dialogues from 200-2003). That, I can't take from him. And he's not the only one at the Root peddling Obie shit. There are quite a few writers there just like him (last year at Gtown, my ethics teacher suggested I apply for an iinternship at the Root. I declined for that very reason).
I won't even try to go head-to-head with you on Chi-town politics Cin! I bow to your analyses there! :-) But didn't the whole Alice Palmer thing help rile up those who handed him his head against Rush?
ea..¿Hola hermana cómo estás? No need for sorry, or rewording your sentence, ea. As I told Cinie, we can agree to disagree, though I don't think we really do disagree.
I don't follow tennis regularly, but I do know that she's not the first, nor only tennis player whose berated a judge. That's what my McEnroe question was about - the difference in the response to each player doing the same thing - and why. I agree with you that bad behavior is bad behavior (I give no quarter to either high-profile events or people). But I also think if we compare Serena's outburst (one of how many?) to the many outbursts that have occurred, I think far more negative attention is being paid.
As for the the "threatened physicial violence toward another woman significantly smaller than she," I just have to say, Come on now, ea. They're SURROUNDED by a huge live audience, not to mention TV cameras! I just really doubt that the "fear" was solely due to Serena being significantly larger.
I'm neither defending her actions nor her words. It was in poor taste, IMO. However, is she not as human as everyone else, subject to losing her temper and cussin' someone's ass out for whatever reason? Does not the fact that she rarely, if ever, acts that way not mitigate the act? If not, why not? The rules are different for different folks is all I'm saying.
Like you, I knew what would be made of her outburst however, I felt no shame because that's hers to bear. I did feel sadness though, but I'm sure it wasn't the same kind you were feeling. I was sad because Serena, like so many minorities who've "made it," really seem to think their celebrity status trumps their minority status in this country - it doesn't, unlike their fellow alabaster-skinned players.
I feel you on it being personal for you, ea. But should we - you, I or anyone - be forever held accountable or forever bear another's shame as a result of their actions? I used to do that, ea, but I try my best not to be ashamed for anybody else but myself these days.
I don't know if it was a proud moment for her, but she's an adult. "Willow-switch-to-the-back-of-the-legs" is a consequence for children's actions, IMHO. Hers was a fine, which I'm sure she had no problem paying and the wrath of the blogosphere/MSM, which then turned around and feted her nude beauty on ESPN magazine! So, what was the consequence really?
Mel...As I said on the other post, I'm glad you decided to go ahead and delve into "Black Like Me." I thought you could relate in some way because both of you did some "laying bare" of sorts about the same issues.
"I also recall Griffin's account from the man at the YMCA that whites even incited racism within the black community over their preferences for light-skinned blacks over dark-skinned."
Since slavery Mel. House nigger, field nigger? And it works - still. All you need do is look around to see that being ANY kind of Black, or dark-skinned, over most of the world has been/is no walk in the park! You mentioned the Aborigines before - you know what I mean.
"Then, I think of how so many white men have exploited the hell out of black women and I just hate the contradictions going off in my head!"
You're not the only one with contradictions. A young Black man (a fellow student last year in grad school) implied that I am not an "authentic Negro" because I married outside my race. Stupid me?!? I dare to think that marrying outside my race doesn't change who I am, where I come from or what my people have, and continue to go through in this country! What was I thinking???
"I agree with you about "Black Like Me". It should be REQUIRED READING in every school in this country...I feel so damned culturally cheated that I had never read it, until now."
It was - in my then predominantly Black, public, high school; by my Black English teacher. (We did move on up, but divorce, and Black mobility ushered in by white flight have a funny way of changing a child's life over time). And hasn't it always been that way Mel? You've never had to know about us, but we've always had to know about you folks. To not know, was to our peril back then - now too, come to think of it.
Well, you've read it now, Mel - maybe when you're better able to receive it? Do you really think it would have mattered to the "you" that you wrote about in the intro chapter?
I'm glad it moved you to another point of "knowing," Mel. That it was painful at least means it matters to you, no? It's going to take a while, no doubt about it. But it has to start somewhere.
"My "essays" pale in comparison to his work.
No rating going on here, Mel. They're the same, but different in that they shed a bright light on what has, and continues to go on in this country that keeps this country one of "fronts" and "false faces" about who we are, both nationally and globally, IMHO.
Yep, the world is truly a small place - if people'd just get out of the damn way and let it be that!
I saw the movie when I was very young and I didn't like the way they made Whitmore up because it looked more like "Black-face," (I guess it was black-face, huh?). But I just love, love this book!
"It just so happens that one of my first meager efforts as a blog owner/writer was about Obama/RFK/Griffin called "Black Like Me," I even posted a clip from the TV series starring James Whitmore.
Think I'll go look that up (you know you could've just given me the damn link Cin!)! :-)
I co-sign on Alicia Keys (sometimes, I'm almost afraid to like her so much, if that makes any sense)! She is quite an impressive young woman!
"Kinda like how I feel in the company I find here."
Right back atcha Cin!!
Deb, I know exactly how you feel about Alicia Keys, it's like we're scared she's going to turn out to be too good to be true. But, my fingers are crossed that she's just as awesome as she appears to be.
As for "the damned link," it was nothing to write home about. If not for the coincidence and novelty of it being one of my earliest posts, I wouldn't have even mentioned it.
I tried to submit another comment about Gates/Crowley/Rush/Obama/Palmer, but it probably has too many links in it to post.
That's exactly it Cin!!! (You scare me gir-r-rl!). Fingers crossed - toes too!
"I tried to submit another comment about Gates/Crowley/Rush/Obama/Palmer, but it probably has too many links in it to post."
Break 'em up! ;-)
Okay, let me try this again. It seems it was length, not links that was the problem, so, here we go again with Parts 1 and 2.
What I wanted to say was, you know I love you dearly, and I don't mind a spirited debate every once in a while, myself, but, I just don't buy that Gates said the things Crowley claimed he did, the way Crowley says he said them. Put another way, "I'll talk to your mama outside" sounds so "Fred Sanford," that it feels inauthentic. The police reports are similarly dramatic, especially the second officer's, whose account, though brief, smacks of overkill on the alleged racial pronouncements from Gates. After all, claiming racism is a "get out of jail free" card for Crowley, too. If Gates can be portrayed as being racially unreasonable, for lack of a better term, all of Crowley's overreactions are justifiable. Anyway, be that as it may, he knew pretty early on that Gates was the legal occupant, but he still told the dispatcher to "keep the cars coming." Why? His demeanor on the dispatch tapes doesn't seem to indicate that there's a raving lunatic playing the dozens at the top of his voice in the background, either.
As for Gates and The Root, as founder and editor-in-chief, he's pretty directly responsible for the tone and tenor of the magazine, unlike other writers and contributors. The fact that it was launched in January, 08, as part of the Slate/WaPo/MSN family, just in time to prop Obie up in da 'hood, just seems a little too convenient for my money.
And, to your question re: Obie and Alice Palmer, I don't really have first hand info since I've been away from home (Chicago) since the seventies. After my mother got sick in the late eighties and moved out to be with me, I haven't had much occasion to go back as often as I used to. That being said, I'm not sure Obie was "beloved" on the South Side until sometime last year, if you get my drift. If he was more than a passing blip on the radar at all, it was probably as a kind of "seditty Hyde Park" fellow, more "them" than "us," so to speak, unlike Bobby Rush, a former Panther homey. From all accounts, Obie never had a chance against him, especially after Rush lost a son to street violence, and Obie missed a gun vote in the legislature because he was on Christmas holiday in Hawaii, claiming one of his kids was sick. The "not black enough" consideration was not born of whole cloth during the primaries, know what I mean?
Here's Part 2:
If I remember correctly, the neighbors who corroborated Crowley's account of Gates yelling disappeared from sight pretty soon after the story broke, never to be heard from again. What's up with that? I remember one guy who said Gates was "upset," but then, who wouldn't be if they were arrested, handcuffed, and lead to an awaiting caravan of squad cars for the crime of not being happy about being accused of breaking and entering their own house?
Bottom line, if I was tired and cranky and the damned door wouldn't open and then some cop wanted to traipse through my house and continue to hassle me once I showed him my i.d. and he knew I belonged there, I wouldn't be too keen on stepping back out on the porch to face the phalanx of police cars he had called in the meantime, either. He and his buddy had already followed Gates inside, after all, and everything was so cool and hunky-dory that the buddy cop left and went back outside to talk to the "witness," leaving Crowley inside alone. If Gates was any sort of threat, menace, or even annoyance, or they weren't both convinced that Gates was in residence alone, would a cop actually do that? I'm pretty sure that whatever the stubborn cop's problem was, racial, schmacial, or otherwise, by that point, if it was me, the jerk cop coulda been striped, checked, plaid, or polka-dotted, I would have thrown a few hundred choice "KMA's" around, too.
Soooooo, here are the problem links, some supplemental to yours, but I think they're pertinent:
Here's an article about Rush/Obama:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/us/politics/09obama.html
...and the Wiki entry on Alice Palmer is pretty interesting, too, with the whole Mel Reynolds resignation and Emil Jones and Jesse Jackson's machinations...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Palmer_%28politician%29
...and here're the dispatch tapes of the Gates police incident from the initial call on...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/audio/2009/07/27/AU2009072701389.html?sid=ST2009072703057
...and finally, both police reports.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0723092gates1.html
So, wanna have a beer, or 2, and talk about it, since it seems we agree on more than we disagree on, and, what we don't see eye-to-eye about is pretty trivial in the Grand Scheme of Things, no?
"Put another way, "I'll talk to your mama outside" sounds so "Fred Sanford," that it feels inauthentic."
Dunno Cin, have you ever heard him on some of "his" tapes? I agree that Crowley engineered the arrest out of some convoluted sense of privilege/racism/whatever. We can agree to disagree on Gates - I'm not convinced.
As for the Root, he's been very effective in "setting the tone/tenor" as you say. Most of the writers have certainly fallen in line, though I've read a couple who have not. DC is cut-throat for journlists seeking "fame and fortune" rather than truth and justice. I've found the Root to be no different. Now that you mention it though - and in hindsight, timing is everything!
(OT, but Cin, great you could be with your Mom when she was sick.)
I do get your drift. I would think there'd have been plenty pissed off peeps after his "strategy" got Alice left out in the cold! I don't think he expected him to do her like that.
And I understand that "not Black enough" consideration that the media took and ran with - totally. So did plenty of Black folks - but they hedged their bets hoping to get something out of it (publicity pimp extaordinaire, Rev. Al for one).
Thanks for the links! I've reaad some stuff on Emil Jones. Hewas/is something ("I'm going to make me a Senator!)! Guess he's pretty damn proud of himself right now.
Our very own Beer Summit. Two Stellas okay? :-)
Deb, Revs. Al and Jesse, Gates, Cornel West, etc., all got bought off last January, or so. Until then, Jesse was pretty much in Clinton camp, Al was talking about holding Obie's feet to the fire, Cornel West was making "not black enough" noise, and the beat goes on. That was even after M.O.'s "wake up and get it," and Roland Martin's incessant cheerleading on CNN. Rollie's homegirl, Donna Brazile, really started going off Obie-style, while pretending to be "undeclared," and Eugene Robinson and the rest of the "Hardball Brothers" started working overtime to peddle the "pervasive black support" myth as media fact, even though he was trailing Hillary in the polls with black voters. Obie's folks really went into overdrive about after MLK day and South Carolina primary time, with all the Clinton racist stuff being pushed by Brazile and Co., and the rest of Axie's Army. They threw everything they had into taking everything they suffered and learned from in 2000 at Bobby Rush's hand and lunching a well coordinated campaign-within-a-campaign to get in front of it and use it to their advantage.
They were still pushing the same uppity, wussy, seditty Hyde Park "brother" he always was though, Axelrove just figured out how to deploy his AstroTurfers, and who to pay to appeal to "the community" for him. Like Tom Joyner and a few other urban radio icons, all the online Obots who suddenly found a voice on Oprah's, TJ's, and Gates' Root websites, and the more mainstream outlets, and the Obot foot soldier troops they sent to barber and beauty shops around the country talking him up. It took folks like Earl Ofari Hutchinson a little longer to jump aboard the "O" train with both feet. I don't think Adolph Reed ever did.
I concur with all you said Cin. I only mentioned the al alone because his involvement and machinations are particularly sinister IMO. My people believe in him so.
He came down to Jena and took shit over, parlaying he and Baisden's hijacking of the Jena 6 incident (which wasn't even his thing to begin with! He stepped on some white, Baptist toes there) into $$$ and publicity for him and NAN and then played possum about which candidate he would endorse (until the day he had MO on the air, I wasn't sure, but after that - I knew). Then he came to FL crowing and stirring shit up about don't let them disenfranchise you by letting the votes count(you, who didn't bother to get up off your lazy asses to vote during the damn primary in the first place - yeah I'm still warm about that shit!).
Back in June, I read this and saved it for some post down the road: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23256.html#ixzz0US5InRlC
"People want solutions, and it isn’t about the old tribal issues anymore. You deal with the person on the field." Tribal when he benefits though. Damn hypocrite.
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