Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Saboteur, Provocateur

T. West applies a surgeon's scalpel to Dr. Wright.



Tuesday, April 29, 2008

For Reverend Wright and Black Power Devotees



You know sometimes it's just that simple.

For My Brother, Barack

Take courage. I know it has not been easy. But your people remain by your side.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Economic Populism 101



Political pundits wonder why Senator Obama has difficulty connecting with less educated, less affluent white voters.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Right Turn Ahead



I think Michael Fisher is right. While an Obama defeat does not necessarily correlate with the ascendancy of Louis Farrakhan it would signal an irremediable turn by the electorate toward nativism. A rise in Black nationalist sentiment would be a logical outgrowth.

America has a debt mountain to climb which is so high as to be impassable. The considerable problems citizens face are even worse than conventionally described. The manipulation of inflation and unemployment numbers is scurrilous beyond belief.

Since the economic downturn of the 1970s, white ethnonationalism has moved from being a mostly regional and marginal influence to mainstream legitimacy. The main reason for the dominance of cable news over network news has been the former's relentless embrace of white nationalist sentiment. This accounts for right-wing radio's popularity as well. And last week American Broadcasting Company became the first network channel to vigorously express this language. Obama's careful avoidance of Fox News was undone in the ambush set by ABC.

The United States currently faces the same challenge that Germany had in the Thirties. How does a state create an economy to support a military superpower yet meet fundamental human needs beyond physical security? The answer, of course, is that it can't and the ensuing scarcity management requires a Darwinian approach.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Culture Wars



So far, Barack Obama has not accepted the invitation to retreat from his recent statement about economically distressed whites voting against their economic interests in favor of contentious cultural issues.

The shortcomings of black conservative calls for moral rectitude have been rudely exposed. Barack Obama has followed their playbook to the letter. Yet he now finds himself being called an elitist.

Racism is alive and well. It doesn't care if your name is Ronald and speak good English. It doesn't care if you graduate from an Ivy League school and condemn rap music. Glorified attributes such as diligence and skill are condemned when used by blacks without prior authorization.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Tavis Under Fire

Prometheus 6 reports that Tavis Smiley has quit the Tom Joyner Show. I think the following video is an appropriately framed discussion on what my friend E.C. Hopkins calls Black Preachapundilectuals. The interviews featured in Who Speaks for the Negro? can be found here.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Does America Need a Truth and Reconciliation Commission?



The Slave Ship is a good and important book. I enthusiastically recommend it.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Are You Kidding Me?



This comes from Cornel West by way of Huffington Post.

I want to say that I'm deeply disappointed that my dear brother Barack Obama decided not to go pay tribute and lay his wreath for the great Martin Luther King, Jr. That brother Martin's profound love and deep sacrifice for black people, America and humanity is in no way reducible to political calculations, even for the campaign for presidency. That Martin Luther King Jr.'s deep commitment to unarmed truth and unconditional love can in no way be subject to strategies for access to political power. Hence, I have a very deep disagreement with my dear brother, Barack Obama -- in this case, commitment to truth is in tension with the quest for power.



And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. A virtuoso performance by a leading black intellectual which confirms bankruptcy of useful ideas. Laying a wreath and paying tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. has become a marker for "commitment to truth." These old heads just crack me up.