Spirit called Chavez, and now Fidel -- who will rise against the imperialism of the West now? Rest in power, Sir

Fidel Castro Ruz, Aug. 13, 1926 -- November 25, 2016:



No, I've never been to Cuba (but I do want to go).  However,  I've loved the spirit of Fidel Castro (and others like him) for as long as I've been woke.  I wonder -- would Miami Cubans have been happier if they'd lived under the Batista regime all these years instead of under Fidel?  Fidel said, "History will absolve me."  I agree with him.

I worry about the Changeling's supposed, opening-up toward Cuba (embargo totally done?  Nah!), because it seems to me, Cuba will go back to the mob-run, Sinatra days with capitalism running rampant under Orange-hair.  And then, there's Assata...

Related:
- Fidel Castro Ruz. His Legacy Will Live Forever
- Fidel Castro Defies US Imperialism Even in Death
- Fidel Castro: A Giant Has Passed
- Venceremos! The Legacy of Fidel Castro
- Cuba’s Fidel Castro, who defied U.S. for 50 years, has died
- Reaction to the death of Fidel Castro
- A Tyrant is Dead’ — Congress Reacts to the Death of Fidel Castro

Congressional Black Caucus got juice??? - Ah, No...

Lawd have mercy!  NOW the Congressional Black Caucus is tryin' to flex?

"But Waters says the CBC’s point was a larger one — a statement that the group would “use our strength and our influence to better represent our communities.” (emphasis mine).

What the hell??  Strength and influence??  Please.

I read Frustrated Congressional Black Caucus plays hardball with White House and  I'm sorry, it's just so chock full of what my play-sister-blogger-friend, Cinie has so entertainingly described in -"What, You Thought He Was Kidding?" - that I need to apologize right now for how much I'm getting ready to quote this Politico piece.

"The long-simmering family feud between the Congressional Black Caucus and the first African-American president...The 43-member caucus — which included Illinois Sen. Barack Obama from 2004 to 2008 — has chafed against President Obama and his top aides since the Inauguration, complaining that the White House takes it for granted and plays favorites with conservative Blue Dog Democrats." (emphasis mine)

What "family feud? "The Black family feud? Some white folk tickle me.

Anywa-y-y-y.  The CBC, in full, mask-wearing-mode, apparently thought their Undercover Brotha was going to reward them like he did all those high-dollar donors in exchange for them selling out Hillary throwing all their "strength and influence" behind him.  First of all, God don't like ugly.  Second of all, weren't they studying him while he was obviously studying them for four damn years?  I can see why he's taking them for granted - they made it too easy.

"The bill passed easily..." (emphasis mine)

Guess that shoots that "strength and influence" thing to hell.

"...but Waters suggested the CBC’s 43 members could vote with the GOP to scuttle a variety of Democratic bills if Obama and Emanuel don’t address what she thinks is a lack of understanding of the CBC’s wide-ranging goals of reducing urban unemployment, home foreclosures and bank failures." (emphasis mine)

Now, how much sense does this make?  What if some of those Democratic bills are worth voting for?  They're threatening to vote with the GOP to do what?  Prove a point?  Get revenge?  What about their constituents who might  possibly benefit (you never know!) from the passage of some of those bills?

Wide-ranging goals?  Maxine Waters has been in Congress for what - 18, 19 years?  Can any of you Compton people tell me how many of those "wide-ranging goals"  have been met?  The state's supposedly broke, the 'hood is still the hood, police officers are still, in 2009, shooting young, unarmed, belly-down Black men on train platforms. 

How about some of you Brooklyn or Bronx people, or Chicago people, or DC people, or some non-PG County Maryland people?  How 'bout some of you Philly people, or Overtown, FL people, or Dillon, SC people?  Anybody?  Anything?  Guess"wide-ranging" also means very long-ranging too.

And if I were Rep. Waters, I'd  try to tip-toe around mentioning anything to do with bank failures - at least until that pesky little investigation is completed anyway.

“I think that it is important for us to educate those people around [Obama],” Waters told reporters. “We’ve got to get his people educated and moving. We have not brought these issues to him personally — it is important first to educate those people around him so they understand.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.), who recently accused Obama of bowing down to the GOP on health care reform, was more pointed, shouting “Yes!” when asked if he was disappointed with Obama’s level of attentiveness to African-Americans’ needs.

He added that he had an extensive list of issues with the president — a list he said was too long to disgorge in a hallway conversation with a reporter." (emphasis mine)

What the hell - again?!  We'll talk about our issues and our problems with him - TO SOMEBODY ELSE - NOT DIRECTLY TO HIM?  Jeezus H. Christ!  What is this kindergarten?  Yeah I know, that's not "how it's done" in Washington.  Main reason I'd never be a politician.

“There are those who choose not to speak about African-Americans or the working class,” Waters said. (emphasis mine)

Guess that one was meant for HIM.

"And many felt Obama waited too long — nearly two months into his term — to invite them to their first White House meeting." (emphasis mine)

This is too funny!  Their feelings are hurt?  Why should he buy the cow, when he got the milk for free??

"CBC members have long said they would rather deal with Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, who is black, but have been forced to negotiate with Emanuel, Obama’s point man in the House." (emphasis mine)

Jesus please take the wheel! Forced?  Do they really believe Valerie Jarrett wants to deal with them??  She's the Changeling's second (first?) brain!  And I'm not even going to go into the whole Blue Vein Society thing that is still very much alive in this country today.

According to Obama spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki, “We have not been informed of the reasoning behind their decision not to vote on the bill, but we continue to think it is important to move financial reform forward to prevent future crises from damaging our economy and disrupting the lives of millions of Americans, including African-Americans.” (emphasis mine)

More of that "rising tide lifts all boats" bullshit.

Back in April, I read this on dcexaminer.com - "Useful Idiots Of The Congressional Black Caucus" - about six members of the CBC visiting Cuba.  My immediate response to the headline was visceral (and maybe a tad schizophrenic given the content of the piece), but all I could say was:

"Damn, that's crass!"

I saved the link among my many drafts though, mentally filing it away under, "Get back to this shit when that "Mississippi Burning" feeling's under better control."  I'm a link hoarder, what can I say.

The link no longer exists at the site (maybe all those announced cutbacks this week has something to do with it) however, the Examiner's piece originally  linked to Mona Charen's, April 9th National Review piece entitled,  "Useful Idiots Caucus - Genuinely Castrophilic.  More a "Mississippi Simmering" title.

But since most of what I know about Cuba, I first learned under the auspices of the military - AND, because I get so tired of white folk always being one minority or other's mouthpieces, I went digging for a Cuban perspective.  I found this interesting post by Anatasio Blanco at Babalú Blog:  The Bigotry of the Congressional Black Caucus.

And this is where the schizophrenia comes in for me.

On the one hand, I've always felt that - after having gone through all the horrors of Jim Crow, culminating in a real change movement which finally made it possible to get more of our "kinfolk" (not "skinfolk" like the Changeling) elected to Congress - said elected Congress persons deserved the same public respect as their white counterparts.  So the "idiots" thing offended me.

That being said however, a lot of us, upon becoming "successful," (as defined by the White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy), are so busy doing what the WSCP says is required to keep on being successful, any semblance of critical thinking just flies straight out the window.  I can't lie, in my formerly, totally colonialized state of mind - that was me too.  But after awhile, I began to feel more stupid than successful,  because that "rising tide wasn't lifting all boats" - even with more of our "kinfolk" in office. 

And over the more than 20 years of working on de-colonializing this mind, I've realized it was never designed to lift everybody's boat - we have to make it.  Now, I've still got plenty of work to do, but at least I'm working on it.  Maybe the CBC should consider at least embarking on such a journey if they want to be taken seriously - by anyone.

I'm sure Reps. Rush and Cleaver - having been a part of that "real movement" in their early days - saw praising Castro on that visit as some kind of show of  "brotherhood in resistance" or something.  Apparently they didn't realize that was then, and this is now - for the three of them.  And then-n-n, after they went and made all those school-girl crush sounding proclamations, they come back home and now say something altogether different, bringing the wrath of the Cuban government down on their heads just this week - Cuba blasts US black leaders for charges of racism.  Seems the CBC is "useful" to everybody but Black folk.

Last year around this time, brotherkomrade, a former commenter here, suggested I do some reading on Assata Shakur.  I did, and soon after, started another draft that I didn't finish.  So, I thought I'd just move a little of it here since we're talking about Cuba. 

In this open letter written in 2005 - “My name is Assata Shakur, and I am a 20th-century escaped slave" - she tells her side of what happened that landed her in Cuba as a political exile.  If you've not read it, please do.  If you don't feel like it, watch the two videos below.  And once you have, tell me if you think she met with any of those CBC members when they met with Fidel.  Like I said, I'm still "working on it" - but I have to believe she did not.

In her own words...