[img]583|left|||no_popup[/img]I was recently involved in a “discussion” regarding the prison industrial complex with Lydia, an intelligent young woman. I put discussion in quotes because when she used statistics on the black experience with the prison industrial complex relative to the rest of society, I talked over her.
Thanks to her cool head and grace under fire, I questioned my behavior afterward. Though she didn’t get to say much, she outclassed me. I have decided never to use the strategy again. It is rude and counterproductive. Since neither party is listening, no useful information can be exchanged.
I am sick of hearing the black community substituting complaints for solutions. Why constantly state the obvious? We should be discussing what we are going to do about it. Maybe that is where Lydia was headed. I didn’t give her a chance. I should have sat quietly and heard her out. I could have walked away from the discussion more informed.
Many of us have become impatient because the black community has been listening to Tavis Smiley, Cornel West and others of their ilk for so long they confuse whining, begging and finger-pointing with educating the community about taking effective action.
People like Malcolm and Martin Luther King – sincere activists these latter-day “saviors” are trying to impersonate – weren not complaining for the sake of complaining. During their era, pointing out the abuse of the black community was a part of the educational process. During their time, Blacks were so accustomed to being abused that Malcolm and Martin had to teach the community, and society as a whole, about the extent of injustice toward black people as a prelude to taking meaningful action. In those days, their efforts were a dangerous process, as their murders attest.
Today fraudulent imitators live off the legacy and words of these great men as though they, too, are heroic. The difference: They are not under personal risk. The forces that promoted the deaths of both Malcolm and Martin encourage the activities of these latter-day frauds because they are not saying anything new. Forces that led to the death of both Martin and Malcolm are delighted by their activities because they divide the black community, which helps maintain the status quo.
Look at the Bush Election
These people routinely ignore the greater good. For their own selfish interests, they purposely sabotage our agenda and causes they supposedly are passionate about.
This can be documented. We lived through a perfect example during the 2000 election when Cornel West teamed up with Ralph Nader to hand the Presidential election over to George W. Bush. They are all but directly responsible for the predicament in which we find ourselves, a problem West complains that President Obama is not fixing fast enough. As I pointed out last September, “Once Again Nader and West Team to Elect a Republican President“, these people don’t give a damn about either the nlack community, the poor or the middle class, just their own self-interest:
“If you confront members of the Nader/West coalition with these facts, they’ll obfuscate and engage in intellectual gymnastics to avoid responsibility for the horrific fate that they brought upon the country. They’ll say things like, “It’s not our fault Al Gore lost. He just didn’t fight hard enough for a recount.” Using such arguments, they are saying, ‘Gore just didn’t work hard enough to undo the damage that we’d done.’ The bottom line is this – Gore lost the 2000 election to Bush in Florida by 537 votes, and the Nader/West coalition peeled off 97,488 votes from Gore in Florida alone. Don’t take my word – do the math.”
The activities of these frauds divide our vote to the benefit of those who seek to keep us subjugated. When their job is done, our subjugation enhances the careers and bankbooks of the frauds themselves because much of their enrichment is based upon complaining about our misery. It would be an economic disaster for the Smileys and Wests of the world if we ever found true justice.
Tours Are for Their Benefits
It should be obvious Tavis and West are engaged in promoting themselves, their radio and television shows, their books, and Cornel’s reported $10,000 per speech speaker’s fees. Their last “Poverty Tour” happened to coincide with West’s Memoirs (published by Smiley). As we speak, they have started yet another tour to promote their newest book (published by Smiley), “The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto.” Last Sunday they started a 12-city tour. Detroit, where black unemployment is huge, is conspicuously absent from the itinerary. Boos and hostile demonstrations marred their last visit.
What do they mean by “us”? Thanks to us, they are rich. No longer are they part of us. Even the title of their new book is a gross deception.
If they were sincere instead of spending their time complaining and lining their pockets, they would talk of how we can resolve problems we gripe about. They need to teach young black men that knowledge is power:
•They can’t be cool and ignorant at the same time;
• They don’t have the right to demand respect while going around referring to the very womb of their culture as bitches and ‘hos;
• They can’t measure their manhood based on how many other black men they can kill, or how many black children they can poison with drugs and the ignorance of disinformation.
If the frauds cared, they would be preaching about those issues rather than dragging down the first black President.
Taking my own advice, I extend my sincere apology to a young woman who I disrespectfully dismissed while she was expressing her views. While my disdainful attitude was not directed toward her, what I did was stupid. I might have benefited by listening. I was fueled by my frustration with that the frauds in our community.
I fully understand that, considering the selfless, unappreciated role black women have played in sustaining our culture, a black man always should afford a sister respect. To reinforce this apology to Lydia, she has my solemn word I am going to use the disrespect she had to endure as a learning experience.
My good sister, due to your class, wisdom and grace, you taught me something I won’t forget.
Eric L. Wattree is a writer, poet and musician, born in Los Angeles. A columnist for the Los Angeles Sentinel, the Black Star News, a staff writer for Veterans Today, he is a contributing writer to Your Black World, the Huffington Post, ePluribus Media and other online sites and publications. He also is the author of “A Message From the Hood.”
Mr. Wattree may be contacted at wattree.blogspot.com or Ewattree@Gmail.com
