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>>"I think it is a shame that the major liberal activist groups have not called for national action campaign (marches, protests, etc.) demanding an independent Katrina Commission. I am just musing outloud here but could there be a racial divide even within the liberal activist community? Why isn't this issue number one? I think Katrina, Iraq and the Republican scandals can be easily presented as all pieces of the same puzzle."<<
It amazes me that the "liberal establishment" doesn't see the golden opportunity that Bushcorp's hoseup has presented. Real Americans, abandoned, betrayed, and screwed by the government that is supposed to guard their well-being, ON PRIME TIME TV!!
And we're not making this our #1 issue?
I think some "party establishment" types ::looks sideways at DNC:: think that the issue doesn't have the right 'profile' for the Party because it might be perceived as an issue of race. That may be true, now that we've dropped the ball for that very reason.
But while it was happening and in the immediate aftermath, it was made abundantly clear by everyone involved, including the African American citizens of Louisiana who got the slimy side of the lollipop on this one, that rather than being an issue of race, per se, it was an issue of CLASS... the people who were forgotton, written off, and blamed for their own misery were, first and foremost, have-nots. Invisible ones. Po' folks. Ordinary Americans who, like MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of other ordinary Americans, were barely scraping by and had no resources, no safety cushion, no way to avoid or soften the blow.
Had we jumped on it THEN, presenting it just that way, it would have been the issue of a generation for us.
Now, because the issue might have been perceived as "too narrow" or "race based," it has BECOME an issue of race. We're too damn' shit-scared to touch anything that might "bog the Party down in racial issues." We'd rather play it safe with certified "race-free" goodies like the Plame betrayal, cronygate, etc. Don't get me wrong, those are great issues. But they don't have the gut impact, the sheer visceral BITE, that the "this government doesn't care about people who 'don't matter'" would have had.
So where WAS the rest of the liberal activist community today? What a powerful statement it might have been to have support rallies, coverage by liberal media, followup and analysis in the liberal blogosphere, etc., discussing how the issues the Millions More organizers were highlighting affect ALL of us.
But no... let the black people do "their thing" over there, and we'll make a few carefully approving and/or respectful comments and get back to doing "our thing" over here.
Until "their thing" becomes "our thing," we'll never have the strength to truly move this country in a progressive direction. The progress that was made in the 1960s and 70s was made in the wake of the Civil Rights movement, at a time when a new unity and common purpose had been formed among all liberal and progressive activists. That momentum stopped, and the backward slide began, when the liberal establishment decided that we'd done the black thing, you know... it was so ten minutes ago and everything, time to move on, you black people go and take advantage of all those nice affirmative action and anti-discrimination laws and get back to us in thirty or forty years or so and let us know how it worked out for you...
I'm still grieving and rageous that we let this one slip away.
frustratedly, Bright
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