The Congressional “Blank” Caucus?

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Remember a few months back when Rep. Maxine Waters (D- Calif.) and some other members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) wouldn’t shut up about a statement made by President Obama to a crowd of CBC members in which he told the crowd to "stop complaining" and "put your marching shoes on”?  On the other hand, has anyone noticed the deafening silence from Maxine Waters and other CBC members on what many view as divisive and incendiary rhetoric and behavior coming from Newt Gingrich, other GOP presidential candidates, and other Republican elected officials?

As I’ve expressed throughout this blog, if the PTBPD phenomenon is real, it’s not limited to white people. In fact, it has no racial barriers. Therefore, it is my suspicion that Maxine Waters and other members of the CBC may be suffering from the disorder. How so? Barack Obama was not the establishment candidate. He also didn’t come up through the ranks of the Civil Rights Movement or sanctified by the “old heads” of the Movement.  Remember, many of these same CBC members jumped on Hillary Clinton’s bandwagon during the 2008 democratic presidential primaries when she was often referred to as the presumptuous nominee. However, when Candidate Obama won the Iowa Caucuses, many CBC members took notice and slowly began jumping on the Obama bandwagon.  

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Several people have long suspected that many members of the CBC were jealous of Obama’s political success. I’ve even heard them being referred to as “Uncle Toms” and “Aunt Jemimas”. Here’s my question- Are they even relevant? There’s no question that black people have been hit the hardest by the current economic crises in America. I’m always hearing about this caucus or that caucus- this gang of six or that gang of six. What about the CBC? Now, I’m not suggesting that the caucus had its place and is now irrelevant. What I am suggesting is that maybe it’s time to get rid of most of the members and replace them with fresh blood. Fresh blood that will be servants to their constituents and bring energy, purpose, and fearlessness and speak out against all forms of divisive and incendiary rhetoric whether it’s coming from the right, left, or center. Can you imagine what House and Senate Republicans would do or how they would react if President Obama made statements on the campaign trail (or anywhere else for that matter) alluding to taking money from black folks and giving it whites? Or, saying that he’s “not concerned about poor people” (or maybe that should say "rich" people)? Or, if Obama belonged to a religion often dubbed as a cult and recently viewed white people as cursed? Or, indicate that white people are lazy and don’t understand work ethics? Or, if the president published a racially insensitive newsletter that bore his name?

Well, I guess we don’t have to use too much of our imagination on what House and Senate Republicans would do or how they would react at all. Remember how they reacted when Candidate Obama made a statement in what was supposed to be a private dinner with campaign donors about “distribution of wealth”? Remember their reaction when it was discovered that Obama belonged to a Christian church founded on Black liberation theology? Do you recall how they pointed out how far to the left President Obama may be for being the President of the Harvard Law Review? A pattern may be starting to form here people.

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“A Time To Kill” & The GOP?

Remember the 1996 movie “A Time to Kill”? Even better, remember the defense’s closing argument? When I think about some of the inflammatory and suspect remarks, behaviors, and associations of the past and current field of GOP candidates for the 2012 presidential race, I’m reminded of the defense’s closing argument in the movie.

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Assuming that you remember the defense’s closing argument, or that you’ve clicked on the link above to refresh your memory- or see it for the first time, I’m going to ask you to close your eyes for a moment (not literally like in the movie though because this is a blog post and you have to have your eyes open to read the rest of this post, [smile]). When we examine some of the most offensive, incendiary, and dividing rhetoric, actions, and associations of the final four of the GOP candidates for the 2012 presidential election, we find what some may view as disturbing facts.

We have a candidate in Rick Santorum stating, “I don't want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money”.  We have another candidate in Ron Paul who published a racially insensitive newsletter that bore his name that he recently attempted to distance himself from. Next, we have a candidate in Mitt Romney who’s a member of a religion, commonly dubbed as a cult, which banned people of African descent from priesthood or participating in temple ceremonies and viewed black skin as a curse from God (see my blog titled, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr. vs. Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr. for more details on this). Last, we have a candidate in Newt Gingrich who has a thirty-plus year history of playing race and class warfare politics and refuses to address President Obama as “President” (see my blog titled, I Just Can't Put My "Finger" On It (Jan Brewer) for more on this). Mr. Gingrich also commonly refers to America’s first black president as the food stamp president.

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Please, continue to keep your eyes closed……can you see them?.......can you hear them?......now, imagine these candidates being black……hold on, continue to keep your eyes closed……can you see them?......can you hear them?......now, imagine yourself being black……now, open your eyes……I mean really open your eyes people! You can make all the arguments you want to about how you don’t agree with these candidates on the issues I pointed out but how you agree with their political philosophies and so on and so forth. However, I’m willing to bet everything I own that nearly all black voters (to include black Republicans) have eliminated these candidates simply because of the issues I described above- and maybe you should too. You see, racism is not just some “issue”; it indicates cowardice and skewed morality. It’s not okay to say that you’ll vote for David Duke because you agree with his fiscal conservative policies while ignoring that fact that he is/was a card-carrying KKK member.

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I understand that eliminating all these GOP candidates totally wipes out the current field. Maybe the powers-that-be in the Republican Party should introduce more options while there’s still time. I believe the GOP has better options within its ranks. Imagine Herman Cain saying what Santorum said (replacing the word “black” with “white”); imagine him publishing a newsletter riddled with racial epithets against white people; imagine him belonging to the Nation of Islam; imagine him saying the nation’s first white president was nothing but a slave owner who loved impregnating his black female slaves. Any one of these issues would have promptly ended Cain’s career as a politician.

Let’s not even attempt to argue a non-winnable argument that racism or prejudice can’t or won’t factor into how one governs. In fact, such ignorance and fear will overwhelm how one governs. Wth?...

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