HUD Secretary Leaving Under A Cloud?

AAPP: As reported in major news outlets, including newspapers and blogs like Black Politics on the Web, Citizen Jane Politics, Jack and Jill Politics and by Johanna Neuman of the Chicago Tribune, HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson resigned Monday amid a criminal investigation into alleged favoritism in awarding HUD contracts that critics say was blunting the agency's effectiveness in dealing with the subprime mortgage crisis. "There comes a time when one must attend more diligently to personal and family matters," Jackson said in a statement. "Now is such a time for me." Declaring he had "improved housing opportunities for all Americans" while HUD secretary, Jackson said "he took great pride" in increased homeownership by minorities. President Bush said in a statement that Jackson was "a strong leader and a good man" and that he was accepting his resignation "with regret."

Johanna Neuman reports, The investigation into Jackson's stewardship began after he said in a speech in 2006 that he had revoked a contract because the vendor had told him he didn't like Bush. During an inquiry by the inspector general, Jackson told investigators that he had made up the anecdote. Since then, he has been fending off allegations of cronyism involving HUD contractors. The FBI is looking into ties between Jackson and a friend who was paid $392,000 by HUD for work as a construction manager in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. In addition, a lawsuit accused Jackson of trying to punish the Philadelphia Housing Authority for not transferring land to a Jackson friend, developer and music producer Kenny Gamble. A federal judge ruled Monday that HUD had acted legally in the Philadelphia matter. More HERE

AAPP: There will be no love lost between Jackson and Bloggers, as bloggers seem to be as unhappy as the nation with HUD regarding its response with Katrina and the defaulting of millions of homeowners. The Moderate Voice is covering the belegured Secretary's resignation
as is Booker Rising. Some bloggers believe he was the Architect of the Katrina housing disaster while others like KC blue Blog just seehim as another Bush Crony, as does the Texas Blue and thousands of other bloggers.

Jake Wagman at St. Louis Today.com notes the exiting HUD chief got his start at City Hall. Wagman said, Alphonso Jackson, the federal housing chief who announced today he’s quitting, has deep roots in St. Louis politics, so much so that he briefly eyed the mayor’s office. Jackson, 62, leaves the Department of Housing and Urban Development office amid mounting pressure from Congressional Democrats and an evolving ethics probe. According to the Associated Press, the FBI has been examining ties between Jackson and a friend who was paid over $392,000 by HUD for Hurricane Katrina recovery work.

Also being questioned is a lawsuit charing that Jackson sought to punish the Philadelphia housing authority for turning down a contract to another friend, a music producer.

In St. Louis, Jackson was deputy director of the Housing Authority and served as Public Safety Director under Mayor Jim Conway. In 1984, Jackson launched a campaign for mayor - running as a Democrat. More HERE

Kwame Kilpatrick. - Don’t Worry If He Writes Rhymes, He Writes Texts

A big h/t to dr. mike check. at Really Real Talk as you may remember, a few days ago I wrote a post on the Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

He has his own thoughts on this mess Kilpatrick got himself and his city in. Check out the post Don’t Worry If He Writes Rhymes, He Writes Texts.

They call Kwame Kilpatrick the “Hip Hop Mayor.”

If you asked me why a few months ago, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you why and truth be told, I can’t even tell you who “they” are. Not only is he the mayor of America’s most dangerous city, but he’s the son of Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick and was elected when he was 31 as the youngest mayor in the city’s history. But now he is caught up so deep in this case that by the end of this year, he might himself be history. And it’s no LOL matter.

But why is Kilpatrick considered hip hop? Is it ‘cause he’s black?

Ok. He did host Russell Simmons and rappers during Hip Hop Summit at Cobo Arena in 2003 and again at Wayne State University in 2006. But that’s played out. He does have a myspace. He's stylish. I suppose his wild stripper party at the Mayor’s mansion in 2002 and the lap dance he was getting from a stripper when his wife walked in might mirror some low-budget Rap City videos. (btw, the stripper, Tamara Greene, was killed the next year in a case that remains unresolved and in some crazy way is linked to all his current drama. More on that later.) But, as we all know, a real life BET video hardly makes anyone hip hop.

I didn’t get it at first, but with all that’s going on with dude nowadays, it’s starting to make some sense. Earlier this year, the Detroit Free Press found some 14,000 salacious text messages exchanged between Kilpatrick and his chief of staff, Christine Beatty, a chick he knew since high school. The text messages were from five years ago on city issued pagers, but when he wrote messages like "That's the first time I couldn't fully seduce you! My game is off. LOL!" he wasn’t talking about failure to push legislation. They were both married with children at the time of the affair. Beatty has since divorced and resigned. Carlita Kilpatrick is standing by her man.

It all came to an exploding head last week when Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced a 12-count criminal indictment against Kilpatrick and Beatty. Kilpatrick was charged with eight felonies including perjury, misconduct in office and obstruction of justice. Apparently, the text messages also revealed that he was also lying during a whistle-blower lawsuit about the firing of Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown, who before he was “fired” was investigating the aforementioned stripper party where the mayor’s wife may or may not have attacked Tamara Greene. Drama right? (Not to mention Beatty’s former husband and Kilpatrick supposedly were boys.) It does have some sort of Jay-Z/Nas beef ring to it and his shady under-the-table dealings do appear Wire-esque. But still, all this makes Kilpatrick seem more Bill Clinton than Beanie Sigel.

But by the end of last week, I became a convert. Kilpatrick is hip hop. I’m not talking the alive and kicking version that became a global phenomenon linking cultures and customs in one empowering and emancipating language of art. I’m talking about today’s hip hop. The dead one.

Kilpatrick is yet another version of what happens when keeping it real goes wrong, when you slack on your pimpin’. First off, why in the world would you broadcast your undercover escapades on city-issued anything? And to my knowledge, he was the who re-authorized the city directive that said all electronic communication sent on city equipment should be “used in an honest, ethical, and legal manner,” not for personal or private use. But that’s not why he’s hip hop.

His hip hop status comes not from his actions, but his swagger, as misguided as it might be. On Thursday, he told hundreds of people that authorities are trying to “lock me up forever” over the messages.

"I have the opportunity right now to go prison, not jail, for text messages," Kilpatrick said during a 40-minute speech. "There's been no evidence. No facts presented. Get out of office and go to prison."

"I will humbly serve you till the day I die," he said from the pulpit.

More HERE

Theology, Black Ministers, Black Preachers, Black Theology Under Attack

Leonard E. Colvin, Chief Reporter, New Journal & Guide has a great article on 40th King Anniversary, Black Theology Attacked. I will tell you I love the black press. I plan to link more to the black press in my post. People in the black press have some great observations. Check his observations on Black Theology under attack.

He writes: Next Friday, April 4th, the world will be observing the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King was shot to death while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was leading an effort to support improvements in the working conditions of black sanitation workers in that city. Dr. King was also making plans for his Poor People’s Campaign which called for thousands of poor—black and white—to converge on Washington, D.C., from all corners of the nation to highlight the plight of low-income Americans. Dr. King, until his death and especially four decades after his demise, is regarded as one of the most revered advocates of peace and racial harmony. His “I Have A Dream” speech in 1963 is used repeatedly to distinguish him as a man who called for defining each of us by our character and not by the skin tone. In his challenge to racism and injustice in the United States, Dr. King, the social activist, adopted the non-violence philosophy promoted in India by activist Mohandas Gandhi. Significantly, Gandhi, like King, died at the hands of an assassin. But Dr. King, an ordained Baptist minister, like many black preachers with a calling to social activism, was a skilled orator in what has come to be known as Black Liberation Theology. Recent declarations from the pulpit by a modern-day proponent of Black Liberation Theology, Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Chicago, have given rise to a discussion in America of this brand of religion and its intent. Read More

Buchanan and Hannity’s color arousal and racism

Here is a post from a great new website and blog politiclast.com that has a post/article addressing the issue of how the Media Neglects Buchanan and Hannity’s Racist Ways.

Posted on 29 March 2008 by McLovinthe article notes:

While the main stream media still questions the racial implications of the quote ” Jeremiah Wright Scandal”, two of the main stream medias’ pundits are spewing racist rants and showing complete hypocrisy. I have written in earlier posts the notion that America may not be grown up enough for a real president that will discuss this nation’s problems as adults. The Mainstream media’s inabilities to hold Hannity and Pat Buchanan accountable in the same manner that they hold a black preachers is deplorable.

Why don’t these statements raise the same level of outrage for intolerance that Wrights’ do?

Barack says we need to have a conversation about race in America. Fair enough. But this time, it has to be a two-way conversation. White America needs to be heard from, not just lectured to. This time, the Silent Majority needs to have its convictions, grievances and demands heard. And among them are these:

First, America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known. Wright ought to go down on his knees and thank God he is an American.

Second, no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the ’60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream.”

Are you kidding me? He acts like the African slaves were gathered in a Princess Cruz liner for new jobs in the new land. The frightening things is that there are people in the 21st century who will read these comments sad say to themselves, “Right on, Pat. You got that right.”

This man has the audacity to say that people in the black community should be on their knees thanking the white community for bringing our ancestors to America, subjecting them to slavery, denial of humanity, Jim Crow laws, segregation, denial of civil rights, and denial of opportunity. While the dominant community worked to keep black people within the strict confines of subjugation, the white community reaped the benefits of low cost black labor and the benefits of black people being artificially prevented from competing fairly in a capitalistic environment. The black American today should be thankful that although we live in the richest country in the world and earn wages that exceed many blacks elsewhere, we pay much more than many blacks around the world in order to exist without health care, equal wages, equal opportunities for education and employment, and the other social ills that run the gamut.

To the extent that he acknowledges real problems in the black community, Buchanan seems to dismiss the white community’s responsibility for those problems.

“Is white America really responsible for the fact that the crime and incarceration rates for African-Americans are seven times those of white America? Is it really white America’s fault that illegitimacy in the African-American community has hit 70 percent and the black dropout rate from high schools in some cities has reached 50 percent? Is that the fault of white America or, first and foremost, a failure of the black community itself?”

But that’s not all.

Buchanan admits that racism is a problem in America, but he seems to suggest that whites are more likely to be victims than blacks.

“As for racism, its ugliest manifestation is in interracial crime, and especially interracial crimes of violence,” he writes. “Is Barack Obama aware that while white criminals choose black victims 3 percent of the time, black criminals choose white victims 45 percent of the time?”

Where is Chris Mathews spending four nights on this? Oh, yes… he is a regular pundit on his show? Where is CNN, or even PBS on these comments and coverage of the outrages and hurtful premise? Oh, yes… they are contributors at one time or another on their networks as well.

Sean Hannity may well be on one of the biggest scum bags in all of media. I have said in some form or another, that anyone whom listen to Hannity regularly as a loyal listener must have an IQ of about 60 and some significant personality/emotional defects. That aside, Hannity has been back at his racist ways once again. We could start by listing the long list of Hannity proclamations of racism from black leaders and politicians. For the sake of this post I want to focus on his hypocrisy and the reporting on the Hal Turner story.

Hannity is silent about the racist affiliations of favored guests like Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, Mississippi Republican Governor Haley Barbour and former Republican Congressman Bob Barr, all of whom have spoken before gatherings of America’s largest white supremacist group, the Council of Conservative Citizens.

A few days ago, Hannity brought Malik Shabazz of the New Black Panther Party on the show. Shabazz and his organization had previously chosen to endorse Barack Obama, who subsequently rejected the endorsement. It was up to Hannity to make some hay out of this, but the tables got turned very quickly:

Hannity added, “What I don’t think you’re understanding here, Malik, is that when you hear the minister of him for 20 years, when you hear the associations with Louis Farrakhan, one of the biggest racists and anti-Semites in the country, what you’re not understanding is, America hears extremism at its worst.”
Shabazz responded, “Let me ask you this. Are you to be judged by your promotion and association with Hal Turner?”

Hannity waved his arm around.

“I don’t know anybody named - this is nonsense. I don’t…” Then Hannity changed his tune. “Sir, sir… That was a man that was banned from my radio show ten years ago, that ran a Senate campaign in New Jersey.”

Then, as Shabazz refused to stop talking or back down, Hannity, in a tacit admission, said, “I’m not running for president.”

“A neo Nazi, you backed his career,” Shabazz said.

Hannity answered, “That is an absolute, positive, lie and you’ve been reading the wrong websites…, my friend. Good try.” Read More HERE

AAPP: Where is the outrage?

Hillary Clinton is prepared to destroy the Democratic Party

AAPP It's clear that Hillary Clinton (who wants to be fibber in chief) and her surrogates are prepared to destroy the Democratic Party in her quest to become the Democratic Presidential nominee. She is obviously hearing the black blogger drumbeats for her to Concede and avert a blood bath at the party convention, but that does not phase her. She is on a seek and destroy mission. The Destroy mission? Destroy Barack Obama's chances of winning the presidency because she cannot win. Blogger the Falling Panda is right. " Blacks will not come out to vote for Clinton in the general election and no Democrat can win the white house without the black vote." I guess she must be saying, Damn Ungrateful Negroes!



With that said, Maya Angelou is still standing by Hillary Clinton, even though black folks are ignoring her and Hillary. Now we learn Hillary Clintons campaign manager was director for failed subprime lender.

Black bloggers are in the thick of it in Texas as Democrats divvy up delegates many swinging for Barack Obama.

Perry Bacon Jr. and Anne E. Kornblut of The Washington Post are reporting "In her most definitive comments to date on the subject, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton sought Saturday to put to rest any notion that she will drop out of the presidential race, pledging in an interview to not only compete in all the remaining primaries but also continue until there is a resolution of the disqualified results in Florida and Michigan." A day after Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean urged the candidates to end the race by July 1, Clinton defied that call by declaring that she will take her campaign all the way to the Aug. 25-28 convention if necessary, potentially setting up the prolonged and divisive contest that party leaders are increasingly anxious to avoid.

"I know there are some people who want to shut this down and I think they are wrong," Clinton said in an interview during a campaign stop here Saturday. "I have no intention of stopping until we finish what we started and until we see what happens in the next 10 contests and until we resolve Florida and Michigan. And if we don't resolve it, we'll resolve it at the convention -- that's what credentials committees are for.

"We cannot go forward until Florida and Michigan are taken care of, otherwise the eventual nominee will not have the legitimacy that I think will haunt us," said the senator from New York. "I can imagine the ads the Republican Party and John McCain will run if we don't figure out how we can count the votes in Michigan and Florida."

Asked if there was a scenario in which she would drop out before the last primaries on June 3, Clinton said no. "I am committed to competing everywhere that there is an election," she said.

The Clinton campaign requested the interview Saturday to talk about how she could win and to emphasize her focus on Michigan and Florida. Her remarks come as Clinton faces a mounting drumbeat, driven by the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and his backers, for her to bow out and avert a party crisis. Obama's supporters argue that he is too far ahead in pledged delegates for Clinton to catch up; Clinton counters by saying that neither of them has secured the 2,024 delegates needed for the nomination. More HERE

So what do you think, is it time for Hillary to concede and Unify the Democratic Party?

Dunbar Village Justice, Old School Civil Rights vs New School Black Internet Activism

On March 11, 2008 Gina at the blog, What About Our Daughters wrote, Black Folks Get Ready to FIGHT! AL Sharpton to Speak Out in Defense of Dunbar Village Gang Rapist. She went on to write, you know how all these months we couldn't get anyone in the Black Elite Establishment or the Civil Rights Industrial Complex to speak out about the Dunbar Village gang rape? How we pointed out the sick mental illness of Black leaders who will speak out on behalf of criminals, but never on behalf of the victims of Black on Black crime? Well it has happened again! Now Al Sharpton couldn't be bothered to speak out about the RAPE, but apparently he has no problem speaking out on behalf of the alleged gang rapists! Read More HERE.

Check out these flyer's passed out from NAACP/Al Sharpton press conference. H/T Dunbar Village blog

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Villager, from the blog, Electronic Village recently posted on the situation urging members of his blogging community at Electronic Village and others to Stop NAACP Support of Rapists. He wrote, in the past week, a rapidly-moving viral email campaign was launched, and thousands of concerned Black citizens spread the word about crimes against nature committed in the Dunbar Village complex against a Black woman and her 12 year old son.

“Stop Al Sharpton and the NAACP from endangering Black Women,” described a stunning betrayal in which the NAACP and Al Sharpton held a press conference and demanded bail consideration for three suspects in custody for the crime.

Concerned Black citizens all around the country were outraged by the actions of the NAACP and Al Sharpton, and many vowed to withdraw volunteering and financial support from these agencies “until they make the safety of Black women and children a priority.”

On March 24, 2008 an NAACP memo that attempted to defend this betrayal was sent to Beverly Neal, who is the Director of the NAACP’s Florida State Conference. The memo claims that the NAACP was brought into this fray by Rev. Al Sharpton. Moreover, the memo was written by Maude Ford Lee, who is President of the West Palm Beach Branch of the NAACP Read More HERE

Well the battle lines have been drawn, black bloggers are outraged. Check out these blogs who have posted on the issue (H/T Electronic Village for the link).

Dunbar Village Blog

A Different Story

Anonymiss Blog

A Political Season

Aunt Jemima's Revenge

Black Fire, White Fire

Black Sapience

Black Women Vote

Character Corner

Electronic Village

Episcopalienne

Essential Presence

Focused Purpose

H-Essays

Never Say Never to Your Traveling Self

Privy Concepts

Ravenelven Lady

Roslyn Holcomb's Blog

The Sowing Circle

Tribute to Black Women

What About Our Daughters

What Tami Said

Yanmommasaid

Something Within

Now Howard Witt of the Chicago tribune is following the case and calls it, a case that puts civil rights blocs at odds. Howard Witt reports on how Web-based activists and old-guard leadership not Seeing Eye to eye on Florida assaults. Read More below:

Case puts civil rights blocs at odds

By Howard Witt

A 35-year-old Haitian immigrant and her 12-year-old son were forced into their home at gunpoint in the bleak Dunbar Village housing project in West Palm Beach, Fla. The woman was beaten, raped and sodomized for hours, allegedly by a gang of African-American teenagers, then forced to abuse her son. Finally the attackers doused the victims with household chemicals—pouring them directly into the boy's eyes—and attempted to set the two on fire before fleeing.

Yet outside South Florida, the attack last June largely escaped notice, and it scarcely registered on the radar of national civil rights leaders because it involved the awkward topic of black-on-black crime.

Three weeks ago, however, Al Sharpton and local representatives of the NAACPBoca Raton were freed on bail. held a news conference in West Palm Beach where they declared that four black teenagers arrested for the Dunbar Village attack are being treated unfairly because they remain incarcerated without bond, while five white teenagers recently accused of sexually assaulting two white girls in nearby

Triggering dual outrage

"You cannot have one set of rules for acts that are wrong and horrific in Boca and another set in Dunbar Village," Sharpton said, as parents of some of the Dunbar defendants nodded behind him. "You must have equal protection under the law."

It was, for Sharpton and the NAACP, a familiar situation and a routine news conference: Contrasting the treatment of blacks and whites in the criminal justice system and calling for fairness.

But Sharpton's remarks—and his apparent call for the Dunbar Village suspects to be released on bail—triggered outrage on dozens of blogs devoted to civil rights, feminism and the interests of African-American crime victims. Now the Dunbar Village case is deepening a growing schism between traditional civil rights organizations and a new, Internet-driven generation of younger activists who take a more nuanced view of many issues. More HERE

AAPP: Go ahead, please read the rest of the links and articles share your opinions on the blogs and articles. Stop back by here too. Give us you thoughts. Get involved write the NAACP and Al Sharpton let them know what you’re thinking.

Barack Obama Vindicated Again

An interesting piece in Politico.com regarding Barack Obama. It appears Team Hillary is still trying to find something to stick on Barack Obama. Don't they understand that this brother has clean hands? Why are the folks at Team Hillary trying all of this underhanded garbage? Why don't they just concede? Now they want to bring up some garbage about his status as a University professor to be questioned. In an article titled Obama vindicated on law-school title Politico's Ben Smith writes:

As the first in a bill of particulars titled "Just Embellished Words: Senator Obama’s Record of Exaggerations & Misstatements," the Clinton campaign charged earlier this week: "Sen. Obama consistently and falsely claims that he was a law professor. The Sun-Times reported that, 'Several direct-mail pieces issued for Obama's primary [Senate] campaign said he was a law professor at the University of Chicago. He is not. He is a senior lecturer (now on leave) at the school. In academia, there is a vast difference between the two titles. Details matter.' In academia, there's a significant difference: professors have tenure while lecturers do not. [Hotline Blog, 4/9/07; Chicago Sun-Times, 8/8/04]."

But the University of Chicago Law School has now posted a statement declaring his claims semantically sound: "The Law School has received many media requests about Barack Obama, especially about his status as 'Senior Lecturer.' From 1992 until his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004, Barack Obama served as a professor in the Law School. He was a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996. He was a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004, during which time he taught three courses per year. Senior Lecturers are considered to be members of the Law School faculty and are regarded as professors, although not full-time or tenure-track. Read More HERE

Here is a big shout out to Jack Turner :-) at jack and Jill Politics for a link to a great Slam Poet artist.

Of course a big shout out to brotha Darian Dauchan for the political comic relief and ThatPoshGirl for the link as well. Brotha Dauchan says many of the things I would like to say, but don't know how to say about Obama. I guess as an artist he says it better. So check this brotha out. Thanks Jack!

Condi Rice Leaving With A Bang, Talks about Race in America

AAPP: Damn, is Condi Rice turning a couple more shades of Black, before she leaves office? Has she been going to the Church of Rev. Wright ? Check out what she (Condi) had to say about race (color arousal) in America:

"What I would like understood as a black American is that black Americans loved and had faith in this country even when this country didn't love and have faith in them — and that's our legacy."

AAPP: Will the right wingers use this against Obama too?

The Washington Times' (H/T Rikyrah for the link) Nicholas Kralev reports Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that the United States still has trouble dealing with race because of a national "birth defect" that denied black Americans the opportunities given to whites at the country's very founding. "Black Americans were a founding population," she said. "Africans and Europeans came here and founded this country together — Europeans by choice and Africans in chains. That's not a very pretty reality of our founding." As a result, Miss Rice told editors and reporters at The Washington Times, "descendants of slaves did not get much of a head start, and I think you continue to see some of the effects of that." "That particular birth defect makes it hard for us to confront it, hard for us to talk about it, and hard for us to realize that it has continuing relevance for who we are today," she said. More HERE

McCain's Iraq War 10,000 Years

Al Wynn to PG Voters: You Can Kiss My Assets

AAPP: "This should be called News From The political Weird" or Damn he his a self centered you know what!



Rep. Albert R. Wynn (D-Md.)

Rep. Albert R. Wynn (D-Md.) WaPo's Rosalind S. Helderman and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum are reporting eight-term U.S. Rep. Albert R. Wynn (D-Md.), who was defeated last month in the Democratic primary, said yesterday he will resign from Congress in June to take a job at a prominent Washington law firm with an active lobbying practice. They report his decision to leave before his term ends in January prompted some residents of his district to worry that they will be left without representation for months unless Maryland holds a potentially costly special election to replace him. Several congressional ethics experts also called it highly unusual to announce a resignation months before it takes effect, a situation that might force Wynn to recuse himself from upcoming votes. Wynn, who for 15 years has represented the 4th Congressional District, which includes most of Prince George's County and part of Montgomery County, said in a statement that it is "time to move into another phase of my life." He indicated he will become a partner in the law firm Dickstein Shapiro. He lost in the primary by more than 20 percentage points to Donna F. Edwards, a Prince George's nonprofit executive. More HERE

Beyond Obama: The Need For Power And A Permanent Agenda

AAPP: Check out this opinion by Mark P. Fancher. This is the type of conversations we need to have in black communities across America. What are your thoughts?

Beyond Obama: The Need For Power And A Permanent Agenda

By: Mark P. Fancher

It's a safe bet that each week, across the U.S., millions of wonder-filled little eyes stare out from millions of little black faces at the television images of the man who may well become the first person of African descent to hold the office of President of the United States. In those same households, parents look on with indescribable pride. Some even hope that a savior has arrived. But Barack Obama himself will be the first to insist that he is not a messiah who will single-handedly liberate America’s African population. He repeatedly reminds his supporters that they must assume their share of responsibility for the "change" that his mantra demands.

For Africans in America, what precisely is that responsibility? Is it prudent to expect that Senator Obama, who strives to be the standard bearer for "young and old, rich and poor, black and white," will focus on our community alone, and to the exclusion of all others, explain in precise and detailed terms what America’s African population must do to win its freedom? When all is said and done, Obama says he will strive to be the President of all of America’s people. This probably means that we Africans will have to come up with our own program.

If we are going to chart a successful course, the first thing we have to do is get ourselves some leverage. History shows that through the years, everyone who has made real change has had it. If a group seeking change is a powerless domestic minority population like Africans in America, they can’t really have leverage unless they transform themselves from a powerless population into a community that has power. Furthermore, a community does not have power simply because one of its own is the President. By its very design, the U.S. government structure, and the realities of its capitalist economy, allow any number of forces to tell any President "no." If then power means that a community is able to not only make demands, but to also know that those demands will be met, then as harsh as it may sound, Africans in America won’t really have power until we hav e the capacity to destabilize this country’s government and economy if we don’t get our way.

There are concrete examples of how other groups have benefited from the establishment’s fear of their capacity to cause chaos. The Japanese community in the U.S. is one such group. An economic boom in Japan during the 1980s caused U.S.-based corporations to panic at the prospect of increased competition for the U.S. consumer market. Notably, in 1988 the U.S. Congress approved well-deserved reparations for victims of a World War II policy that led to the internment of innocent U.S. residents of Japanese ancestry. While some may insist that it was mere coincidence that these reparations were paid when the U.S. was trying to cope with the Japanese economic threat , it is a fact that the struggle for reparations for descendants of enslaved Africans had a history that was much longer than the campaign for reparations for the Japanese, and Africans got nothing. It is likely that unlike the Japanese, nobody believed that Africans were capable of bringing about any meaningful economic or other consequences if they were ignored.

What type of power will Africans need in order to be taken seriously? There are many notions of what constitutes real power, but certainly the U.S. reacts fastest to the type of power wielded either by large corporations or those who control territory that is either resource rich, or strategically located. To cite but one example, the intense and protracted struggle for Palestine reflects this reality. While controlling territory has not been a popular focus of the political culture of Africans in America, over the years there have been efforts by different groups to gain sovereign control of territory in the southeastern United States. The All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (of which the writer is a member) regards the southeast and all Ame rican territory as the collective patrimony of the hemisphere’s indigenous people. The organization therefore looks beyond U.S. borders and struggles to transform Africa into a continent-wide socialist super state with the diplomatic, economic, and military capacity to protect not only Africa’s residents, but the people of the continent’s diaspora as well. Nevertheless, in the era of Obama, when hope springs eternal and the reins of government are within reach, organizations that are fighting for the independence and self-determination of Africans in America are regarded with increasing frequency as irrelevant and out of step with political developments that are concrete, immediate and yes – exciting.

It is important to examine the reasons for the marginalization of progressive and revolutionary voices. For some of us for whom the limits of the capitalist dominated electoral process are "Politics 101," there has been, and continues to be a tendency to offer poignant criticism of Obama for failing to present a program that reflects realities that are all too plain to us. These criticisms, that in any other context would be carefully considered by our people, and in many cases accepted, have instead served only to alienate and antagonize many members of the African community whose support is indispensable for meaningful struggles for permanent collective power. This is because in the eyes of many, Barack Obama is not just another politician. He is a phenomenon. He is an icon. He touches the very souls of elders who were witnesses to the grinding racial oppression of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, as well as the bloody struggles for civil rights in intervening decades. For them, O bama is the glorious culmination of those struggles. We also ignore, at our peril, the perceptions of many of our youth, who honestly and sincerely see in the Obama campaign, a vehicle for meeting the challenge laid down by Fanon when he warned each generation not to betray its unique mission to contribute to the advancement of humanity.

There is a way to constructively communicate our alternative vision with sensitivity. We can engage our people in a dialogue and gently ask that they consider the nagging questions that involuntarily return us to the issue of whether we need something more than a President who looks like us; and whether we need real power that will give us real leverage. Specifically, we can ask our people what will happen to us if (assuming the very best) President Obama develops the very best plans and policies for America’s African population, but because his program runs headlong into conflict with the agenda of the corporate world, members of Congress, whose campaigns were financed by the big business establishment scuttle those plans before they become a reality? What happens if President Obama takes bold, creative steps to address continuing racial discrimination in education and in the workplace, but he is blocked at every turn by a white population that still largely resents and dispute s the assertion that racial discrimination is a continuing problem in 21^st Century America? For them, President Obama is Exhibit A.

We can then suggest that if countries in Africa and elsewhere in the southern hemisphere that provide significant percentages of the imported petroleum, gold, manganese, chromium and other natural resources that are essential to America’s industries and economy were truly independent and concretely allied with us, then the domestic opposition to the hypothetical progressive Obama initiatives, or any other genuine progressive programs, would evaporate because of fears that offending Africans in America would jeopardize access to vital resources. It would also make conditions ripe for successful struggles for genuine economic and political democracy in this country. If our people understand this and they ask how to make the hypothetical a reality, we should be prepared to offer concrete steps that can be taken to make it manifest.

First, as a community, Africans in America must come to see themselves as part of the larger, global population of struggling humanity that has historically been exploited and devastated by U.S. imperialism. W.E.B. Du Bois, Malcolm X and others knew that casting one’s lot with the oppressor instead of identifying with those outside of the U.S. who have experienced comparable or worse suffering is a prescription for failure. By extension, hitching our wagons to Democratic donkeys and Republican elephants that feed at the capitalist trough ensures that our journey will be confined to the capitalist plantation.

Next, in an organized and systematic way there must be open and aggressive efforts to establish active, working relationships with progressive foreign governments like Cuba and Venezuela that have a different view of the world that is beneficial to us over the long term. Cuba’s ongoing program of providing free medical training to our youth so that they can return to their U.S. neighborhoods and provide much needed services is a good example of what is possible on a broader and larger scale – particularly if our own organizations are engaged in a big way in providing active support for the people of Cuba.

Finally, when it comes to Africa, a very useful step toward liberating and uniting it into a socialist superpower that will have the capacity to support people’s struggles here and everywhere will be to defend and protect the moral and legal principles that underlie the land rights of all indigenous peoples. We will need to maintain a strong and consistent defense of the principle that imperialism and settler colonialism are unacceptable whether they occur in Ireland, Palestine, the Americas or anyplace else. This is important not just because it is the morally correct thing to do, but also because the reaffirmation of international law principles that are the foundation of indigenous peoples’ land rights is crucial to successful resolution of what will certainly be contested claims for territory in Africa.

If, as a community, we begin to focus our political activism in this way, it will mean a major sea change. Rather than having a myopic focus on "Black America," we will on a mass level begin to be heard routinely on global issues, and as a consequence expand our community to include diverse populations that live in every corner of the planet.

Long after the politicians’ current squabbles over universal health care, Iraq, and tax cuts have ended, Africans will need a permanent power base that ensures our long-term security and prosperity. Nobody – not even a President – can do that for us. We must do that for ourselves by becoming more organized on a mass level, better connected internationally, and more clear about our collective agenda than we ever have been before.

Mark P. Fancher is a human rights lawyer, writer and activist.

Big Stomach's Linked To Alzheimer's.

This post has nothing to do with politics. It has everything to do with health. As reported in The Washington Post, Big Bellies Linked to Alzheimer's.

The Study finds that a sizable stomach in your 40s increases the chances of dementia as you age.

I was going to say, OK all you fat bastards, get going and lose some damn weight. But then I looked in the mirror and said, Oh hell, I guess a better lose this stomach quick!

AAPP

Tasered While Black in South Carolina, Black People Being Tased Excessively in the Carolinas'

Tasered While Black, Publisher says: Where is the outrage? It is a damn shame that black folks young and old are getting tasered to death in high numbers. Yes, black folks are holding folks accountable. Check this out, the SC Public Safety, Highway Patrol chiefs resigned amid racism claims. Now we learn that some State Police/Trooper organizations use Tasers more often on African-Americans. Surprise, surprise! Is there any doubt that Taser use is excessive in black communities?

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• VIDEO | Trooper uses taser on uncooperative woman
• South Carolina troopers get less training than in other states
• Taser guidelines
• Taser incidents

There is more. As reported by Gina Smith and Wayne Washington, "A December 2004 video sank two of South Carolina’s highest-ranking law enforcement officials because black lawmakers and the state NAACP kept pushing for the most convincing evidence to prove black motorists were being mistreated. Department of Public Safety Director Jim Schweitzer and Highway Patrol Col. Russell Roark, under pressure from Gov. Mark Sanford, resigned their posts Friday after release of the video. The video shows a trooper threatening to kill a suspect and using a racial slur during a 2004 traffic stop in Greenwood.

About 2½ years ago, Lonnie Randolph, president of the state NAACP, began hearing rumors that on several occasions, Highway Patrol troopers used racial slurs during traffic stops involving black motorists. “But we didn’t know the details. We didn’t know when the incidents had taken place,” Randolph said.

That’s when Randolph and others went to work, trying to track down details.

They eventually found someone who could corroborate rumors they had heard about the Greenwood incident. In that case, the trooper found a handgun and illegal drugs in a vehicle during a traffic stop. When one of the passengers fled, the trooper used the slur and made the threat. That officer was ordered to anger management and sensitivity training, but kept his job.

Randolph shared his information with friend Rep. Leon Howard, a Richland County Democrat and chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus. It was fodder for the case members of the caucus gradually have been building against the Department of Public Safety for about two years.

They had heard rumors of racial profiling during traffic stops. The caucus also had received complaints from black troopers and from white troopers about disparities in the way they were promoted and disciplined. Concerns brought to officials at the Department of Public Safety had gone nowhere, Howard said. “At no point in time could we get any cooperation from Schweitzer or Roark,” Howard said. “So we had no choice but to wait for the right moment.” That right moment came last month when Schweitzer, Roark’s boss, was up for a second term to head the Department of Public Safety. The caucus held up the legislative approval needed. Then they obtained a copy of the video. When it arrived, they knew they had something explosive.

Howard showed Sanford that video along with two others. One showed a black woman handcuffed to the bumper of a patrol car, and the other showed a state trooper using a Taser on a black motorist." Read More HERE

That is not all, Channel 7 News reports more video is out from Highway Patrol and black lawmakers say it's evidence of abuse of power. Video obtained by News Channel 7 shows a 24 year old African American woman tased by a white Highway Patrol Officer. The agency tased 17 drivers since last fall and 11 of them were African American.News Channel 7 spoke with Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter who says the numbers do show a trend of abuse of African Americans. But a USC law enforcement expert says the number of taser incidents is too small to provide context.

More Carolina tasing, this was deadly. A Black Teenager Was Tased to Death For Wearing Gold Teeth and Earrings at Work?

If Obama were denied the nomination by Democratic insiders, “There would be hell to pay in the party for a long time to come"

AAPP: No I did not say those words. Those are the words of Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen to Democratic Leaders. Yes, they deserve repeating:

If Obama were denied the nomination by Democratic insiders after winning the party’s popular vote, Bredesen said, “There would be hell to pay in the party for a long time to come.”



Bredesen is doing something about his concerns reports Politico.com

He was in Washington this week to promote his idea for holding a “superdelegate primary” in June, in which the 795 party bigwigs would gather to hear one last time from Clinton and Obama before casting a final vote.

According to Politico.com Southern Dem are warning party officials they need to take action to avert disaster. Politico writers Jonathan Martin & Mike Allen report "Democrats are increasingly nervous about their party’s protracted nomination fight, and some prominent figures are publicly warning that the party needs to act fast to avoid disaster. Chief among these voices is Phil Bredesen, the two-term governor of Tennessee who is uncommitted to either Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) or Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). In an interview this week with Politico, Bredesen said flatly that if the contentious slog continues until the Democrats’ late-August convention in Denver, the party would have a vastly diminished chance of recapturing the White House. “They have a much steeper, rockier hill to climb if it goes to the convention,” the governor said over a dinner of rockfish and red wine. “You’re going to spend this whole summer — and lots of money and time and effort — trying to convince people that whoever isn’t eventually nominated, isn’t electable. Read More HERE

AAPP: So what do you think Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen is right? There are a whole lot of black bloggers who think its time for Hillary to concede. There a grassroots effort to get Hillary to Concede Now!

Get This Widget

Sign The Petition

Here are things you can do:

1. First, sign the petition

2. Make contact with the DNC, and even Hillary Clinton’s office to let them know your stance. It can be as simple as sending an email with a link to the petition, saying that this is your stance; or whatever you want it to be.

3. Contact superdelegates that represent you with the same message. Superdelegates include democratic congressmen and governors.

The Democratic National Committee:

Mailing Address:
Democratic National Committee
430 S. Capitol St. SE
Washington, DC 20003

Main Phone Number: 202-863-8000

For their email form, go here

For Hillary Clinton’s contact information, go here

Did Obama throw his pastor under the bus?

AAPP: I don't agree with all that Ted Rall wrote in his recent post, Obama/Dukakis 2008, but there are some things that I do agree with. I do agree that Obama acted like a wimp throwing his truth-telling pastor under the bus. I agree with him when he wrote: "Republican candidates win elections in years when national security is a top concern. In 2004, it didn't matter that John Kerry volunteered for, fought in, and returned with medals from Vietnam. What mattered was that he turned the other cheek to the Swift Boat ads. He held his fire in the debates. If Kerry wasn't willing to stand up for himself, voters reasoned, how would he protect them? Bush may have been a coward during Vietnam, but his "dead or alive" cowboy movie bravado, not to mention starting a couple of wars from scratch, conveyed a comforting, if imbecilic bellicosity. The monosyllabic tough-guy act soothed a savage, terrorized electorate." Hillary Clinton has figured this out. Her policy actions--voting for war twice, the Patriot Act, keeping silent about torture and Guantánamo--have been engineered to project Republicanesque hawkishness. She dresses butch and talks like a female prick--i.e., bitch. You don't like her. She doesn't want you to. She wants you to think that she's macho enough to deal with Them the next time They pick a fight at three in the morning. Barack Obama, on the other hand, has already given away a store he doesn't yet own. He's the new century's version of Dukakis. Read more of Ted Rall's commentary HERE