What Kind Of Ruler Are You?

In the political world, President Barack Obama is catching heat from some of the left for trying to compromise with Republicans and pushing forward a stimulus package the left deems inferior. To make matters worse, despite all his efforts, Obama couldn't get a single Republican vote in the House for his package.

That got me to thinking. Which of course got me to writing.

Rick James once said that "cocaine is a helluva drug." Jay-Z once rapped that fame is the strongest drug known to man. I think they are both wrong.

Power is that good ish.

Most of y'all have heard about the corrupting influence of power. Any marginal student of history has seen this truth proven over and over by all sorts of men. Power is seductive, it's addictive and it's transformative. There is no comparable force on this planet, except maybe faith, and very few people chase faith the way they chase power.

America's political system is governed by one simple rule:"He who has the power makes the rules." Minority political parties, just like racial minorities, are often reduced to begging to be treated as equal partners by those groups in the majority. Rarely does this begging and pleading produce anything besides crumbs and jeers, but it's really the only recourse available to those without power.

The funny thing is, most of us have been powerless in our lives. We've experienced the frustration and anger that comes from having our fate decided by someone else. Maybe it was your super strict parents refusing to allow you to date that cute boy with the motorcycle and dimples. Or possibly it was your idiot boss and his brain dead management style. Whatever it was, nobody in this world has wielded power since birth, we've all been at mercy of others.

Yet, whenever the power dynamic shifts, whenever an oppressed group manages to wrest power away for their oppressors, we see the same sad morality play acted out again. The actors may change, but the roles and the plot typically stays the same. More people need to remember what it was like to be powerless, when they assume power. How a man or woman behaves when they have the power to inflict pain is the true measure of their humanity, not how they behave when they are powerless. When we have the ability to punish, but yet show our enemies kindness, then we can be proud of who we are and what we represent.

Otherwise, what's the point?





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The Current Is Strong

Self-hate is a fast-moving river, and it's easy to be swept away by the current if you lose focus.

Among the many benefits all of us expect to reap from an Obama administration, one of the most overlooked is the fact that with a brother in the White House, it will be much harder for self-hating black people to hide.

This brother in New York got exposed relatively early. Juan Williams, who most of us already suspected had a ShD, "self-hating degree," recently confirmed his self-hate by labeling Michelle Obama as a potential albatross around President OBama's neck. He said that once she taps into her inner Stokely Carmichael, it's all downhill for Obama.

That's right, Juan Williams believes that an intelligent, beautiful, loving, career-oriented black woman who can also raise children will eventually cause the downfall of the most powerful black man in America.

If that ain't self hate, then nothing qualifies.

What I've noticed since Obama's election is that media companies are trying to find more black faces to put in front of the camera and offer opinions. Because of that, certain black people who hold self-hating beliefs are now being given a larger platform to tell the entire country about those beliefs. Consequently, black people are learning a lot more about who the haters are among us.

I'm not saying that every black person has to serve as a cheerleader of Obama, or fall in line with whatever the conventional Negro wisdom is about the world. I appreciate diversity in thinking, and it makes for more interesting debates. It's better for the world if people learn that black people can represent the entire political spectrum.

What I'm saying is that some black people have been quietly making a living espousing doctrines that are teeming with self-hate, and Obama's presidency has the power to expose them and their lies to the light of day. Before Obama, Juan Williams' comments about a successful black woman might have been only heard by a few bigots on Fox News. Now, those feelings are being heard by many more people, and I think some folks will reevaluate their opinion of him as an intelligent, albeit contrary, black person. Now he's the one that seems bitter and angry.

People who say hateful, mean-spirited things that are clearly based on their negative feelings about black people in general, need to be noticed by the world and publicly shamed. Sometimes shame is the best agent of change.

It's been very disturbing to watch the cottage industry of black self-hate that has grown in this country as many white conservatives have learned that the best way to say the nasty things about black people is to get a black person to do it. Unfortunately, the traitorous bastards who have been willing to spout these lies have often operated somewhat in obscurity because few black people paid attention to the news organizations that employed them. With the coming of Obama, not only are more black people paying attention, but the ridiculous remarks of these commentators are being picked up by a wider range of stations.

Obama is outing them like a Senator in an airport bathroom.

Obviously, I find this to be satisfying. I think these people need to bear the full brunt of their opinions, and they need to be shunned completely by intelligent, conscious black people. You cannot take every opportunity to denigrate and devalue black folks, and still expect to be treated with a modicum of respect.

Sadly, I doubt that this move towards public shaming will be enough to deter certain black folks from continuing on their chosen path. Many of them are so deluded, they actually believe they are doing the Lord's work when the parrot back accepted stereotypes and trite truths about black people for conservative white audiences. In fact, some of them view their ostracization as a badge of honor. Yet, I can't help but believe that is always better to shine the light of truth on those operating in the darkness of deceit.

If only to watch the roaches scurry.



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Point of Reflection

I was thinking about Barack Obama's presidential campaign recently.

Well, scratch that. What I really was thinking about was the similarities between Obama's campaign and the Civil Rights movement. I would never compare the two events, but they are definitely linked in some interesting ways.

Recently, I 've been binging on non-fiction books, and I'm currently immersed in David Halberstam's The Children a massive tome discussing the work of the early organizers of SNCC. It's a topic I'm somewhat versed in having read two of Taylor Branch's three books on Dr. King and the Civil Rights movement.

What I've found extremely interesting about the book, well besides once again reading about a distant cousin of mine who was a minor celebrity in the Civil Rights movement, are the portraits it contains of some of the current movers and shakers in the black community back when they were young. James Bevel, John Lewis, Diane Nash, Marion Barry, Julian Bond and countless others are discussed in great detail.

Where Branch used his books to provide a step-by-step accounting of everything that happened during the movement and told his tales in a bland style, Halberstam provides detailed profiles of these leaders complete with enthralling family histories. It also doesn't hurt that Halberstam's prose is his strength, while Branch's strength was obviously his skill as a researcher. It's amazing to have these scions of the Civil Rights movement come to life, and it's incredibly enlightening to compare their college-aged personas to the people they are today.

One of the most consistently fascinating figures is John Lewis, the current United States Congressman. I'd heard about the amazing abuse Lewis endured to advance the Civil Rights cause, but this book not only recounted those ordeals, but also painted a poignant portrait of the inner spirit that drove Lewis. It is humbling to see his commitment to the movement.

Many of you may remember that during the Democratic primary campaign, Lewis was initially a supporter of Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama. It was only after intense criticism from the black community that he changed allegiances. I don't know Mr. Lewis, so I won't speculate on his motivations for supporting Clinton, but the way he dealt with the controversy, and way many people dealt with him, bore some resemblance to the power battles in the Civil Rights movement.

Lewis initially presented his support of Clinton as a point of individual loyalty. In contrast, his critics presented it as an example of unacceptable Uncle Tommin'. At the time when these charges were being leveled against him, I found myself agreeing with Lewis' critics. How could this black man not be appalled at the racism that Clinton and her supporters harnessed to attack Obama? How could he be so comfortable on the wrong side of such a crucial issue?

Hindsight is so very illuminating.

As I consider the book, I am reminded of how life slowly, but surely, changes us. Our priorities shift and our thoughts on what actions are right, wrong, prudent and foolish change as we gain more experience and more fear. It's much easier to judge someone, to label and denigrate them, when you have failed to grasp the totality of their journey.

As I read about the early lives of these Civil Rights veterans, I get a fuller picture of why some of them have succeeded and why some of them have failed over the years. With that picture, I get an appreciation for how difficult live is, how hard it is to hold on to youthful visions of who you will become and what values you will hold.

Over the years, the Civil Rights movement has received the same white-washing as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the result has been that many of us have an unhealthy idea of what the movement really entailed. It was not a magical moment when black people graciously put aside their many differences and were consistently united under one purpose. No, the movement was just as full of jealousy, anger, hubris and mistakes as our lives today. The black people of that time were gifted and strong, but so are modern black people. Our problem is not a lack of ability, but rather a lack of faith and vision in ourselves.

Obama's campaign was an example of what younger black people, along with other concerned citizens, could do to effect a change that few thought possible or prudent. Just like the Civil Rights movement, young and old had to work together to achieve a common goal, but was it most assuredly young people whose initial belief spurred action.

When you combine the faith and energy of young people with the experience and resources of older people, it's possible to do amazing things. In fact, the disparate qualities of the young and old reside within each of us as individuals, and when we combine them internally their is no limit to what we can accomplish.

Quite an interesting idea, don't you think?

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What's In A Name?

Buddy, Ramsey and Smiley

Those were the names of the White House ushers that the Bush twins mentioned in their letter to Sasha and Malia Obama. I'm sure most of you have heard about this letter since it made the rounds on all the cable news stations and was written about by most newspapers. If you missed it, you can check it out here.

The letter was an unprecedented attempt by the Bush twins to offer the Obama girls some advice on life in the White House. It featured practical advice on how to live in America's brightest spotlight and also some heartfelt words on how the Obama girls should deal with criticism of their father.

I'll admit that when I first heard about it, it seemed like a fairly nice gesture.

Then, my pops brought the names of the ushers to my attention. Anybody whose paid attention to the ins and outs of the White House knows that most of the lower level support staff is black. The cooks, the ushers, the maids, these are all black men and women who often have had these jobs in the White House for decades. Obama isn't the first black man in the oval office, he's just the first one to sit in the big chair.

My father was miffed by the names of White House ushers. Actually, what he was upset by, was something that was missing from the names of the White House ushers.

The word "mister."

Black folks know what's up. It's almost unheard of for us to call older black people by only their first names, let alone nicknames, unless they're related to us. It's just not done. There is a certain respect level that is assumed with our elders, no matter how menial their jobs may be.

Some folks may think I'm reaching for something to complain about, and I'll admit that I can see their point. Honestly, when my father mentioned this issue to me, my initial reaction was to blow him off and tell to stop being so sensitive. After all, we have a black man in the White House, it's time to stop sweating the small stuff. Plus, I'm sure those three men encouraged the twins to call them by those nicknames.

But, then I thought about it some more. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I began to question the casual manner the Bush daughters assumed with the ushers. It seemed particularly egregious when I considered the fact that the girls came into the White House fairly young. They weren't adults when they crossed that historic threshold, they were just teenagers. For teenagers to blithely call grown men by nicknames like Buddy, Ramsey and Smiley just felt wrong.

I don't know about y'all, but it's pretty much a reflex for me to call older men and women, "mister" or "missus." When I was kid, my parents, particularly my father, constantly reminded my brother and I to say "yes, sir" or "no, ma'am." I'm pretty sure I could get comfortable enough to call the ushers "Mr. Buddy" or "Mr. Smiley," but dropping the honorific completely seems unlikely. It would feel disrespectful.

My father definitely saw it as a sign of disrespect. He thought it was proof that Bush could never truly see a black person as his equal, and that the former president had passed that mentality along to his children. I'm not sure if I'd make it a racial issue, although I'm not ruling it out either. I think it's just another example of the casual way Bush viewed life in general.

The White House, and by extension America, was just a place for the Bush family to have fun and feel comfortable. President Bush never saw his position as a sacred trust. Instead, he saw it as a way to pad his resume, burnish his father's legacy and enrich a few cronies. The tragedy of September 11th was the only thing that pushed him from his projected path of footnote in American political history, to arguably the most infamous president ever.

I'm sure Bush didn't see anything unusual in his daughters calling grown men by nicknames, hell, how else do you address the help? Just as I'm certain that Bush left all of those folks fairly nice parting gifts upon his departure, I'm also sure he never once saw them as fully formed individuals. And clearly, neither did his daughters.

It's all in the names.