James Clingman Jr.
Plaudits are going out to Kanye West for his spontaneous indictment of Bush, and I also applaud him for speaking out. He did what other overgrown men and women were afraid to do. Giving him a little slack because of his youth, I would still like to know why West did not speak out about the mistreatment of Black folks in Cincinnati, Ohio. He performed here, after having been informed of the situation here vis-à-vis police brutality and economic apartheid, but failed to make similar comments.
(By the way, Kanye, after your concert, Black folks were herded out of the city by the police, cordoned off and channeled to the nearest expressway in an effort to get them out as quickly as possible, which was similar to the year they closed most of the downtown restaurants during the annual music festival.)
So now that we really know what George Bush thinks about us, let’s look internally to see what we think of ourselves. Frankly, I am more concerned about what we think - and do - than I am about Bush. He is doing quite well and will continue to do well, as far as wealth and resources – economic empowerment – are concerned. But what about our people? Are we doing what we must do to protect, assist, and strengthen one another with the resources we have?
Kanye West makes an obvious statement and it’s the talk of the country. He gets invited to appear on television shows, at more concerts, and on magazine covers. Let someone make a statement that addresses the lack of consciousness and unwillingness among Black folks to sacrifice for our on survival, and all the talk show hosts, magazine editors, and concert promoters run and hide.
Do we really care about one another? Do we care enough to stop looking for George Bush to do something that is completely contrary to his character? Do we care enough for ourselves to start preparing for more hurricanes, more layoffs, more displacements, more mistreatment, and more abandonment? Do we care for Black people enough to stop the creation of a new Diaspora, right here in the United States? Babies taken to one place and mothers sent somewhere else. Fathers emasculated right before their children’s eyes because they cannot provide their children with food, water, or safe haven. Sound familiar?
While we rant about Bush not caring, and while we call on his administration to exercise some of that compassion he talked about, Bush put Karl Rove in charge of the multi-billion rebuilding effort in New Orleans, allowed his “vice” President, Tricky Dick Cheney, to cut more no-bid deals for Halliburton, he waived the Davis-Bacon Act in New Orleans so his contractors can pay less than prevailing wage, and he is panning to cut more benefits to poor people, the elderly, and even to veterans. “Bush doesn’t care about Black people”? Bush doesn’t care about most people!
Does it really matter though? Does it make one bit of difference if he doesn’t care about us? I say, “No” it does not, because others before Bush have shown the same thing for hundreds of years. And we think, any minute now, things will change. If they do, it will be a blessing, but if things don’t change, where does that leave us? It leaves us on that proverbial rooftop, waiting for the likes of George Bush to rescue us.
I can forgive Kanye West for his ignorance and his naiveté. But, it’s very difficult to brush over the fact that a lot of “old-heads” know what is going on and have known it for years, but refuse to do anything of substance about it. It’s one thing to talk about Bush and racism and mistreatment and inequity and disparity, and being left behind; it’s another thing to do something about it.
It’s time for us to stop being surprised at how we are treated in this country – read your recent history. It’s passé for us to sensationalize the lack of response from a man whose grandfather was connected to Hitler, whose father gave us Clarence Thomas, whose mother is afraid Black people will overrun her hometown and thinks the astrodome is an upgrade in living conditions for Blacks and poor people, whose brothers committed crimes and fixed elections, and the man himself, who throws “Condi” Rice at us to show his commitment to affirmative action.
It is way beyond the time for us to take charge of our own lives, collectively, and stop lamenting over things and people we cannot control. We have nearly $800,000,000.000 per year that we could be controlling a whole lot better than we do now; instead of sending all of our assistance to the Red Cross, we could be pooling some of it and sending directly to folks like Mama Dee, who stayed behind to help her people in New Orleans, and Derrick Evans, in Mississippi, who came back to personally save his hometown near Gulfport. That’s just two things we could do, were we not so busy gasping at what a rap artist said.
No, Kanye, and all of you other surprised Black folks, Bush doesn’t care about Black people, but as a friend of mine once said, “So what, and now what?”
- James Clingman Jr. - He is an Adjunct Professor, Univ. of Cincinnati, Dept. of African American Studies on "Black Entrepreneurship". He is the founder of the Greater Cincinnati African American Chamber of Commerce, served as its first Executive Director and President. Jim also writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column, Blackonomics, circulated via the National Newspaper Publishers Association. Watch for his column in your local newspaper. He is an Adjunct Professor, Univ. of Cincinnati, Dept. of African American Studies on "Black Entrepreneurship". He is the author of numerous books including the new book, Black O Knowledge. Contact him at P.O. Box 62642, Sharonville, OH 45262, (513) 489-4132.
- www.blackonomics.com
BLOG COMMENTS POWERED BY DISQUS
