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As we get close to the anniversary of Katrina and to Election Day, we have our eyes focused on a lot of things. Most of the important things are well covered on DU. Senate and House races, breaking news and intelligent discussion about the ills afflicting our nation is well represented DU. But one thing I would like to talk about is the tragic specter of the Black Conservative. As we head into these important elections, we need not forget their contributions.
When this current administration was (elected\selected), you could almost feel the excitement rise within the so-called "Black Conservative" movement. You could feel the sensation that, after all these years of supporting almost every single position that Black America found offensive, their time had come. Bush appointed a Black man to be Secretary of State, a Black Woman to head up the National Security Agency.
And things went well for awhile. Mr. Powell went to the UN with his charts and PowerPoint presentation and he did us folks from the Bronx very “proud”. Dr. Rice took it to another level: It was a new ball game in town. We will protect our citizens in a manner that has never been done. We are going to kick ass and take names and a sista is running the show. And all was well for awhile.....
Then the wheels began to fall off.
It's a funny thing how the ugly curtains you hang in your front windows may come back to haunt you. Mr. Powell's PowerPoint’s weren’t as accurate they should have been. And Dr. Rice couldn't have been expected to believe that an extremist would fly a jet into the WTC. (Even after she was shown the memo). But they were "Black Conservatives". They represented a new face to Black folks and a new opportunity. We didn't have to worship at the alter of Democrats or Liberals anymore.
Within every ethnic group that has made this country their home, there has always been an unspoken creed: You always want your own to do well. So while Condoleezza represented the Black face of an administration that Black Americans hated, we were muted in our criticism of Ms. Rice. We may have slammed the Bush administration but Condi, for better or worse, was one of ours.
Even when thousands of our people were stranded and left to die in NOLA while Condi shopped for shows and took in Broadway plays, she was still given a pass. We saved our vitriol for Bush. And when she couldn’t leave well enough alone and actually had the nerve to say that Bush “really did like Black people”. A lot of us still bit our collective tongues. She was held out to us an example of the new Black politician: an example of what we should all strive for.
And now we come to the Middle East. Chaos all around. Innocents on both sides of the conflict being cut down with barely an afterthought. And Condi is sent to fix it up. And what does she do: She fucks up!. She is seen as weak and ineffectual. Sometimes even scared. And the best part is that many of the same White conservatives who hailed her as brilliant are now lambasting her as “incompetent” and “unqualified”. We don’t hear any more “Condi for President” talk, do we?
And now, in the moment that should have been her defining performance on the world stage, she has the aura of a poor girl who got wooed by the rich guy from across the tracks only to find out that he only wanted a piece of ass. And all of the people from her side of the tracks, upon who she looked down with disdain can only shake their heads and say “Condi, we told you so”. She got used. She got played.
Ken Blackwell, who had absolutely no problem stealing the very votes that many of our people died for, has just hired LeBron James’s ex-publicist to help him get his message out to the Black Community. So Blackwell hires someone to extol his virtues to demographic from who he steals votes from on Election Day. My question is will he have enough working voting machines in those districts on Election Day? If not, how’s he going to know that his money was well spent? Oh, the webs we weave.
Herman Cain has now decided that Wal-Mart needs to be protected against the evil liberals. A company where many of the employees are poor and many are Black and are not paid a wage worth speaking about, is worthy of his sympathy. When was the last time Herman Cain visited a ghetto or a rural area with no hope, no prospects and no future.
And is Lynn Swann still running for office??? As a republican??? How’s that going
We are a forgiving people, you can always come home.
In mythology, there is a figure named Sisyphus. He did something to piss off the gods and as punishment he was banished to push a long rock up a mountain all day. Just before he reached the summit, the rock would roll back down. So he would spend the next day pushing it back up the hill again. And he did this for eternity.
Black conservatives: tragic figures rolling rocks uphill.
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