Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Jesse, oh Jesse
Look, I appreciate Black leadership as much as the next man. I respect the difficulties of being the "representative" of a population of (approx.) 35 million with diverse interests and opinions. Now that I've gotten that disclaimer out of the way, it's time to get down to business. Jesse, please stop. Now. And no, I'm not joking. After the debacle with your secretary/mistress, your culturally insensitive comments about the Jewish community of New York (referring to the city as "hymie-town"), and this latest remark about your plans for Barack Obama's genitalia I think its time to wrap it up. The show's over, call it a day. Most Black Americans can't remember the last relevant activity you've been involved in. Reactionary protests that have completely overused the concept of civil disobedience don't count anymore. The irony is that you and Al Sharpton are still considered the most relevant names in Black community leadership (just to distinguish you from the Black political leadership). Al, for his part, is now being beat up on by rap artists (see Lil Wayne on Tha Carter 3 and Jay-Z's American Gangster). The Civil Rights Movement is over y'all. Racism, at this point, (though it undoubtedly exists) is not the biggest problem that Black Americans face. For example, last year you made a big stink about gun stores and reinstating the assault weapons ban in the US. Gangsters do not buy their guns from gun stores, Jesse. Most homicides in Black communities occur mostly through the use of smaller guns (that means handguns Jesse not AK-47's and AR-15's). This is exactly what I'm taking about: you're out of touch. Though anecdotes don't always amount to legitimate evidence, this is not a rare situation for you to be in because you are very regularly behind the curve or firing in the wrong direction. Don Imus is a racist old hillbilly. What he said about those women on the Rutgers basketball team was completely uncalled for and was more importantly untrue. With that said, there are still bigger issues on the table. I'm not sure about you but I'm a little more concerned with the fact that as a Black male at age 21 I am 15 times more likely to be the victim of a homicide than any other group (but maybe that's just me). There some themes here Jesse: whenever you're on TVyou are chasing the wrong problems. Al is just as bad but at least he hasn't been caught looking as absolutely idiotic as you have. We have a Black candidate in a presidential election and you're being a hater. Look, if you have legitimate policy issues with the man, thats fine, I can't begrudge you that. But the combination of your rapidly decreasing relevance as a voice for social justice and your inability to control your mouth and your libido make you an embarassment to the Black Community nationally. You are making us look like whiny, a-strategic, cliched dummies prone to silly infighting even in the face of larger issues. Take a bow and ride off into the sunset because your services are no longer required.
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3 comments:
cosigned. it's time for us as a people to not only demand better black leadership, but to change our paradigm for black leadership. people acknowledge al sharpton and jesse jackson as leadsers simply because they are the ones who make the most clamor when something happens. our concept of leadership must reach beyond the persistent whistle-blower to those who are making strides one community at a time. until we shift our paradigm, we'll always be disappointed with the jesse jacksons of the world when they let us down.
Even though Jesse may have been a bit out of pocket with his remark about Obama, the gist of what he was saying is true. Obama was talking down to Black people, namely Black men, call them out as "boys." Now, I don't like dead beat fathers as much as the next guy, but I sure don't see Obama walking into a predominantly white church and calling white men out as "boys" or into a Hispanic church and calling their men out as "boys." Basically, Obama wants to come into the Black community and "talk tough" to Black people when he's shed no blood nor even really been down with the cause like people like Jesse and Al.
Second point: the Black community needs activists like Jesse and Al to promote and, frankly, raise a fuss about Black issues. Even though it may be a nuisance to you young Harvard intellectuals, having vociferous advocates for the Black community often serves as paradigm shifter. Without the radicals pulling the debates at the fringes, the moderates would have a much tougher task getting what they need to get done. This effect is similar to the Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter effect for the Republican Party. Many conservatives are irritated by their ridiculous statements, but they serve to frame debate in favorable terms for all Republicans in general.
While some of that might be true (the part about Obama not calling white dudes boys) Im pretty sure his point is still salient. Dead beat dads are still the relevant issue, condescending language is at best a minor issue (i dont think we as a people can afford to trip about little stuff like that with the problems we have). Al and Jesse may raise a fuss but they very rarely get it right when choosing a fuss to raise. Aside from being embarrassing and silly (with public and private humiliating situations and debacles) they choose stuff that is at best superficial very frequently and dont even use it to address the larger issues. Jena 6 in and of itself is something that happens every day. Black kids get railroaded all the time and usually in ways worse than that due to federal regulations on drug use and sale. But while Jesse and Al manage to fail in making those issues known or starting a larger discourse, they succeed in seeming reactionary and "making a fuss" every time somebody misuses a term or is racially insensitive. We are dying in record numbers and stuff like Don Imus doesnt matter. Period. It sucks, he's a racist, let's get over it. Things like the N-Word debate, i mean come on man the N-Word cant possibly be the most relevant thing they can think of to talk about. They pick stupid stuff, get stuck on it, make a fuss that white people pretty much ignore at this point (laughing doesn't count as paying attention) while we suffer because their over-exposure takes away some of the weight from our issues. They aren't Bill O'Reilly or Ann Coulter because they write books, have tv shows and aren't representative of all white people, all conservatives or really anyone but their fan bases. Aside from the fact that people pay attention to O'Reilly and Coulter and their opinions (apparently) aren't really damaging to the overall progress of conservatives. Al and Jesse are all we have to a degree so they can't afford to mess up (even though last I checked Coulter hasnt managed to be caught in a coke deal and O'Reilly never talked about cutting people's nuts off). Al and Jesse are obselete. They aren't the bane of Harvard kids because they are going to get their money and escape into the upper middle class, thereby avoiding the majority of "black issues". They are the bane of ordinary folk whom they are misrepresenting and misleading by using situations that black people are passionate about to encourage reactionary logic and further their "careers". I was being generous in that blog post because there are other issues with those two that haven't even come to light about their personal lives (yeah reverends right?) that people are ignorant of or just ignore. They HAD responsibilities to the Black Community, they repeatedly and egregiously failed and now its time for them to go.
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