2005-10-16
Million (Straw) Man March (& Platitudes & Postures & Gibberish) Redux
Oh, brother. Embarrassing, counter-productive, rediculous, illogical... and all a buildup for a praising of the Right Reverned Honorable Brother Minister Louis Farrakan. Where to begin? How I wish for a transcript of Erica Baddou's interminal "brief" introduction of Farrakan (which succeeded 75 other introductions of Farrakan, and proceeded about 10 more; were all the non-Farrakan speaches introductions for his?). There's Farrakan's analogy between the federal gov't's 5 days Katrina response time to that of the mother who leaves her baby in a hot car: negligent homicide. I see. The black poor black people of New Orleans (the only people in NO that he cares about) are helpless, hapless children, and the federal government is their parent, responsible for their safety. Then there's his surmization that "if those people on the roofs had been blond and white, the response would have been sooner"...
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7 comments:
Why aren't you praising Farrakhan's recommendations that black folks develop our own "ministry of health" to provide healthcare coverage for poor people because we as a people can do it better than the government? Or his idea of a "ministry of trade and commerce" to initiate business dealings between African-Americans and the people of Africa and the Carribean? Or a "ministry of agriculture" that would support black farmers and develop distribution routes that could help their products reach the inner cities?
These recommendations show that blacks are talking more about taking responsibility for our own welfare versus relying on the government to provide it. This is something you have complained about for years. Why aren't you praising Farrakhan for his advocacy of a return to the doctrines of Marcus Garvey, Booker T. Washington, Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad?
Instead you offer insulting remarks like "Million Screaming Angry Black Folks Pep Rally"... Your racism isn't even veiled anymore, Paul.
I have read earlier emails where you denounced the war on drugs for arresting people like Robert Downey Jr. and Daryl Strawberry because they were "functioning" drug users who were derailed by a war on drugs that you admit is misguided. Why are you lambasting Marion Berry, who apparently has exorcised his demons, turned his life around and is once again a model citizen and public servant? Shouldn't you be praising Berry for his accomplishments and praising the black community for refusing to ostricize a former addict who has always been a productive member of society?
Your racially divisive attitudes are blurring your ideological vision. Your hypocrisy is getting in the way of your politics. You are an example of how racial attiudes cause ignorance.
1) So, Nadir, if I reject the Farrakan marches as rediculous, etc., that makes me a "racist"?
2) You speak of his proposals in terms of what "we" are doing. Are you a part of the developing and implimenting of those plans? Are there people who are who are acting on your behalf? By what mechanism are they working on your behalf? Are they working on behalf of Shelby Steele? Should he also talk about what "we" are doing vis a vis the Farrakan efforts?
3) When Darryl Strawberry and Robert Downing got busted for cocaine, they were performing their jobs well, and they were not helping to wage the anti-drug war. When Marion Berry got busted, he was mismanaging a desperate city, his police were arresting people for drugs, and he blamed his actions on the old standby, racism.
4) My attitudes are not racially devisive; yours are. I seek to eliminate race as a determining factor in such things as declaring people racists.
5) If Farrakan, etc., got around to advocating the construction of private corporations for ensuring poor people, starting businesses, etc., this did not occur in during the 2 hours that I wathced (I did not witness his entire speach). What I witnessed was an endless procession of straw men constructed and slain ("They don't want us to work together!"), platitudes ("We must work together!"), and nonsense ("We are the children!"). But yes, I fully support creating private enterprises to service the needs of people. These always seem to work better than government programs, though both types of efforts are susceptable to fraud, etc.
1) No. The language and attitudes you use to discuss the march are racist.
2) I didn't speak of his proposals as what "we" are doing. I spoke of them as something that he proposes that black folks (of which I am one) should do for themselves (which would include me).
3) What about now? He is a city councilman and was re-elected to the mayor's position, which means he has convinced people that he is doing a good enough job to re-elect him. Of course, that doesn't mean shit because you voted for Bush. I guess one crackhead is as good as another.
4) I don't use race as a factor in determining who is racist either. There are white racists and black racists. I'm just pointing out that your remarks are racially divisive for no reason whatsoever. The overwhelming theme of the day was in spite of all the racism that we have suffered, black folks (me included) have to do a better job of supporting ourselves and each other. No straw men there.
5) If you didn't see his whole speech, then you have no way of commenting about the private enterprises that Farrakhan opposed. You saw part of his speech and perhaps a couple of others and then took it upon yourself to criticize the whole march. You're spouting off at the mouth about something when you don't have all the facts.
And you criticize ME for being racially divisive. You went out of your way to lambast Farrakhan, and you don't even know everything he said! You don't even know that he AGREED with you on several points. Why did you do that, Paul?
And why do you even care that black people have pep rallies? Did the march interrupt your viewing of C-Span's riveting drama BookTV? Why do you bring race up so much?
Errors in the above comment:
"3) What about now? He is a city councilman and was re-elected to the mayor's position, which means he has convinced people that he is doing a good enough job to re-elect him. Of course, that doesn't mean shit because you voted for Bush. I guess one crackhead is as good as another."
I suppose Bush is a "better" crackhead to you than Marion Berry...
"5) If you didn't see his whole speech, then you have no way of commenting about the private enterprises that Farrakhan opposed."
Should be "proposed" not "opposed". Excuse my haste.
[Nadir: If you want to edit a post, all you have to do is copy it, delete it, then respost it.]
You make a good point about Bush also doing cocaine, though either not getting busted, or using is connections to get off the hook. Since Bush also unquestioningly enforces the drug laws, his conduct on these matters is just as bad as Marion Berry's getting busted and then blaming a setup. Thus I should not have used this point, since the only reason I oppose Berry is that I oppose his policies, which I think harmed DC. If Berry had ushered through tax cuts and school vouchers, I would have supported him even if he smoked crack.
I agree with you, Nadir, that I criticized Farrakan's speach without listening to its entirety. I did watch nearly two hours of the entire proceedings, and stand by my charactorization of it, which is assuradely not racist, since:
1. My comments do not seek to deny anybody any rights or priviledges based on race.
2. My comments do not make any claims about natural behaviors or other charactoristics that are genetically inherent to any particular "race."
The event use the racial catagorization "Black" in its title, which thus required me to discuss race in discussing it. The part that I saw included I believe over 20 speakers, and they all emphasized (1) how aweful things are today for blacks, and (2) this aweful state results from the actions of other peolpe. I disagree with both.
If Farrakan advocated private enterprise as a solution for black folks who are doing poorly today, I heartily endorse that, since the many blacks who are doing well these days have proven that free enterprise is the greatest antedote to poverty that humans have ever found.
"The Millions More Movement". Nowhere is "black" in the title. In fact, there was supposedly a concerted effort to attract Latinos, Native Americans and even whites to the march, though the results of that initiative were far from spectacular.
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