Smiley and West on the 2012 Election

I am proud of any person regardless of color, but particularly any person of color, who achieves that which has been denied by the system. Most African Americans understand that the election of president Obama is far better than the alternative, without question. I will go on to say that I respect intelligence and possess black pride. I also know we are granted freedom of speech which means you have the right to your opinion.

I am concerned and wonder exactly what point brothers Smiley and West are trying to make or where they are coming from. Most of us know the history of our struggle and getting to this place in time is a monumental achievement. As black people, we know injustice more profoundly than any other culture.

Dr. King spoke and marched to divest poverty. President Johnson declared a War on Poverty nearly fifty years ago and yet there is more poverty than ever before. As intelligent as both men are - they should know it is the product of the mighty. I cannot recall these two expressing such a strong voice in opposition of the last administration, which by the way contributed more to poverty than any other administration in modern times.

So can someone explain why they blame President Obama? I would like to ask what you think of this diatribe. Please comment and give me a Thought Provoking Perspective!

http://johntwills.com

A Simple Message

If read and/or follow my THOUGHT PROVOKING PERSPECTIVES, you’d know that I have written many critiques concerning the “Ol’ Divide and Conquer” strategy that has been used so effectively to keep us fighting each other.

This week another prominent Brotha has weighed in with his commentary on the Chief and West/Tavis tiff. Right or wrong, he like all of us have the right to say what we wants and I don’t begrudge anyone of that. However, just maybe we should keep our divisiveness between us and not so public with some commentary concerning our issues.

These kind of thing always take me back to what my Granddaddy taught me a long time ago. He was a firm believer in the concept that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop and he would always remind me to never forget who you are. With that said, Granddaddy was and had a profound positive character influence upon my life through the many things he taught me. His approach was to always put his lessons in the form of a story and he used characters that I could identify with to make his point.

There was one story in particular that stood out more than any other. This tale had the most lasting impact of all of his life lessons. It was about his friend Bob. Mr. Bob was a man who I thought was a little strange or maybe crazy. Well, crazy is a bit strong. I’ll just stop short of calling him a fool. After all I was a kid and knew better than to refer to grown folks in this way, but it didn’t stop me from thinking it. I just could not say it out load. Regardless, the old guy sure was a funny man. I always enjoyed being around him because there was constant foolishness and laughter.

The way the story was told to me, Mr. Bob’s job was to offer a prayer every Sunday morning at church during the service prior to the preacher’s sermon, a job he had held for years. Sunday was a special day for the community, and for him to have a position where he would have the attention of everyone was a big deal. More accurately stated it was a platform for him to perform. He would have been a great entertainer. I had been a witness to this many times.

Mr. Bob would walk to church every Sunday morning, rain or shine, from his home. The trip was several miles up and down hills and around curves, and he would be dressed in his best suit for the morning service. During the walk he would practice his part for the service, the prayer, with the intention of making it a show complete with screams and tears. This show would sometimes last thirty minutes. There were many Sundays that I would wonder how one man could have so much to ask of the Lord. I would think, please, let somebody else get a blessing.

On his way to church this particular Sunday, Mr. Bob came across an injured snake. In what he perceived as divine intervention, God said to him, help this poor creature. He realized he did not have a prayer for that day’s service, so he thought, wow, if I help the snake I can pray for us to have the strength to help all of God’s creatures. Since the snake is the lowliest of all creatures, this would really inspire the congregation and hopefully give them the encouragement to do the same, at least until next Sunday’s message. So he picked up the badly injured snake and placed him in a safe place until he could return from church.

With great energy, and now inspired, Mr. Bob went on his way. He planned and practiced his prayer as he marched on to church. After he arrived and exchanged a few greetings, the service began with a joyful noise, as they say, meaning full of song. Then it was his turn to pray. He began to pray with a powerful tone, full of emotion. He asked God to give each person within the sound of his voice the strength to reach out and help all God’s creatures, from the loving dove to the lowly snake. His message had many in the tiny church standing with shouts of Amen. He felt he had done his job as he closed, asking God to bless the church and said Amen. In his usual style this took about a half hour.

To his surprise, the pastor also chose a sermon nearly identical to his message which took about another hour and a half, talking about helping all of God’s creatures. What a great day it was, Mr. Bob thought. Normally after the service ended everyone hung around and fellowshipped as it was one of the few chances they had to socialize. Mr. Bob would not hang around on this day. He was on a mission and left church in a hurry. He rushed back to the spot where his injured snake was placed hoping it would still be there. He was very excited when he arrived to find it was where he left it. He put his snake in a burlap bag he had gotten from the church and took the snake home.

Over the next several weeks Mr. Bob cared for this creature, desperately trying to save the snake and nursing it back to health. About three weeks later he thought it was time to take his snake back to where he found it, thinking it was well enough to be set free. The following Sunday, he put on his best suit and started his journey to church with snake in hand. As he arrived at the spot where he had found it, he thought, what a wonderful thing he had done. He was sure to receive God’s blessing for this act of kindness.

He rubbed the snake gently and said goodbye. However, as he reached into the bag to grab it, suddenly the snake raised his head and bit him. Then bit him again and again. Mr. Bob cried out, why would you bite me after all I’ve done for you? My God why? I guess he was expecting an answer from God, but none came. He repeated his cry once more. Then the snake stuck his head out of the bag and said, “I am a snake and that’s what we do.”

I would later learn that my Granddaddy would tell me these stories to which I would have to figure out their meaning or find the moral of the story. After hearing this story over and over again, I finally figured out what it meant. It was a lesson that would prove to be invaluable. Be careful in your dealings with people because people, just like the snake, will hurt you - that’s what they do.

I think advocating for the African American community and its despair should be more important than shooting missiles of hate toward those with whom you disagree, which just further divides. This is a critical period in black political history. We have a right to our own version of blackness but I say we have a responsibility to that blackness because so many died for us to not be in chains or hanging at the end of a rope. Therefore, let’s face the real problem, deal with it, and make a better America for our children, as was done for us.

And that’s my THOUGHT PROVOKING PERPECTIVE!

Steve Harvey talks about Tavis Smiley & Cornel West



Dr. Boyce and Wilmer Leon: Tom Joyner's Tirade on Tavis Smiley and Cornel West

Dr. West - The Old Divide and Conquer

Is anyone else as disgusted as I am with Dr. West for joining the “Hater Nation”. I am sure by now everyone has heard about the very public rift between the Chief (Obama) and the scholarly Dr. Cornel West; albeit coming from one side. This thing has brought out some heavy hitters from across the African American spectrum taking sides with respect to Dr. West’s scathing critique of President Obama’s in a series of recent interviews. This furious debate among African American bloggers and commentators could well be explained as the ol’ divide and conquer routine or is it something more sinister; say a tinge of Willie Lynch.

Of course we all know and respect Brotha West but I was surprised by many of his public remarks: “black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black puppet of corporate plutocrats.” And there are others, “I think my dear brother Barack Obama has a certain fear of free black men. . . . It’s understandable. As a young brother who grows up in a white context, brilliant African father, he’s always had to fear being a white man with black skin. All he has known culturally is white. He is just as human as I am, but that is his cultural formation.” West went on to say that Obama’s politics are more centrist than progressive and do not uplift the poor, calling the president a “newcomer .  .  . who wanted to reassure the establishment” and “someone who was using intermittent progressive populist language in order to justify a centrist, neoliberalist policy.” Hmmm!!!

Law and Order theme…

Some of the best and brightest African American has chimed in on this very public foray. While not placing myself in this group, I can say that I am concerned, or dare I say dismayed with respect to West’s take on Obama and race. Dr. West must remember the situation with his partner Brother Tavis during the election; he was ostracised by most for his actions that were not relevant and for not being on “the right side of history”. I don’t think anyone objects to him having an opinion but these remarks seem to be more about personal issues.

Brother West’s comments continued Tuesday night during an MSNBC interview intensifying the criticism of Obama that began shortly after the election. During the 2008 campaign, West said he traveled to 65 campaign events for the presidential candidate. Later, West complained that he was not given inauguration tickets for his brother and mother, and that Obama did not return his phone calls. In 2009, West told the New Yorker magazine that he was displeased with Obama’s well-received speech on race, which, in part, compared racial anger in the black community to that in the white community.

Melissa Harris-Perry, a Princeton professor of African American studies and politics, wrote a column for the Nation calling West’s comment “utter hilarity coming from Cornel West who has spent the bulk of his adulthood living in those deeply rooted, culturally rich, historically important black communities of Cambridge, MA and Princeton, NJ. . . . Harvard and Princeton are not places that are particularly noted for their liberating history for black men.”

Eddie Glaude, a professor of religion and African American studies at Princeton, said African Americans in academia had been discussing West’s comments for days, particularly looking at how he had deployed race in his critique of Obama. “West came out swinging,” said Glaude, who engaged in the debate on Twitter, saying he found West’s political critique much more substantive than his “racial reasoning.”

The Rev. Al Sharpton, a close Obama ally who has sparred with West over the president, said Tuesday that the issue comes down to a misunderstanding of Obama’s role. “This is the first time in this country that we have an African American president. He is not the president of African Americans,” Sharpton said. “The problem we’re seeing with too many older-minded people is you don’t want the next generation. You want clones. And people don’t have to be your clone to validate your sacrifice.”

My thoughts on these comments are this: Brotha West’s comments are extremely patronizing and arrogant, and just what is expected of us, i.e., Willie Lynch. It gives the appearance that Brotha West thinks he is sitting on high and is worthy to judge who is and who is not an authentic African American. There’s nothing West has done or written that merits this self-regard or authority. In fact, this nonsense could be akin to the “birthers” claims. These comments also indicate the degree to which Dr. West believe liberal social policies are synonymous with caring for the poor, despite the evidence that the opposite may be often true.

Brotha West must also know these comments are damaging. It would be fair for West to offer a harsh critique of Obama’s policies, if he believes it’s warranted. But to make the claim that the president’s deviations from left-wing orthodoxy are a manifestation of a “certain fear of free black men” is preposterous. Why would this Brotha inject race into this discussion? It seems as if he is saying, when it comes to politics and political philosophy there is a single “black” position or maybe “HIS” and those who don’t embrace it are racially suspect. In the case of Obama, he is said to be a “white man with black skin.” To suggest the president is a mascot and a puppet is a shamefully ugly. He need to chill!!!

Thankfully, White House declined to respond to this nonsense leaving it to others to come to the president’s defense. It’s not like the Chief, the most powerful man in the world, does not have enough to do. West sent out this message via Twitter in response to the criticism: “This discussion is in no way about me, it has to do with poor and working people having low priority in US governmental policy including the Obama Administration. My personal words had to do with being disrespected by the President. People are disrespected every day, and they can raise their voices in response to it.”

After four hundred years, its time to show unity. The Chief has been president of all people for the first term; serving all people and us too. Yes, it is true that he is only half black and identifies with both cultures. But trust and believe when he looks at himself in the mirror he knows what he sees and its black, as others do. His wife is black and his children are black. Therefore, I believe this man who is thoughtful and calculating will produce effectively that which will benefit our community.

Lets just say he appoints two more liberal Supreme Court Justices, that alone would change the course of our lives for fifty years. Then, given the benefit of doubt that once re-elected he will be able to do things that at this moment he cannot. He has performed admirably under the circumstances. When you look at what he was handed from day one. With the right wing nuts coming after him for everything that he does. If he is for it they are against it.

Then factor in the Tea Baggers – Brotha West you are behaving no different. I would suggest that we remember the last bunch that was in office and ask yourself – which would you prefer. Brotha you are not helping the cause – you are support the age old Euro tradition - Divide and Conquer. And that's my Thought Provoking Perspective...