Whenever someone white speaks from a position of ignorance on race matters it's to be expected. You know that whole white privilege thing does that; and, it's understandable. But when a person of color, or more specifically, a Black m*thafucka who's supposed to be "conscious" speaks ignorantly on race matters and assumes the stance as if they themselves exude the very inescapable privilege of non-minorities? Yeah, it's a damn shame and it's enough to make a dead slave cry. Actually, it's a form of projecting what's known as internalized oppression/racism. It's the reason we see the Jesse Lee Peterson's of the world. Of course I understand the pathology associated with this mindset. But yet and still, I can't help but to shake my head in disgust at such people.
The last thing I wanted to do today was to even follow up on the latest goings on concerning Van Jones and his resignation as Obama's White House Energy advisor. But there are two misguided Negroes who have forced my hand [you can read them here and here]. Ironically, they're both Black women. One of them is an ultra conservative/republican, and from her, given that fact, I can see her relish in the moment of this being a small victory for the conservative/republican movement. The other, I don't even know what she is - she says she hates socialism which is welfare and Section 8 - but she's supposed to be "conscious" and has all the answers which explains the social ills of Black people. Somehow for the most part, the predication for these problems are not racial ones, but instead the failures of Black men; yeah, there's no correlation between racism and the exclusive "problems" seen in the Black community.
I guess then it's no surprise that she doesn't see the racial component as it relates to highly successful Black people in the political arena [read about Lani Guinier back in trhe 90s]. Nah, it's never about race; not hardly ever in her eyes. Instead, she questions Van Jones' commitment to the Black community and change because he's married to a white woman:
Then there is the little issue of Van Jones' personal life. For those of you who don't know Mr. Jones married a white woman. I don't understand how anyone can be a black nationalist one minute and marry an individual who is white the next. I'm willing to bet anything that Mr. Jones is one of these individuals (like Eldridge Cleaver) who blames the white man for all or most his troubles while desiring to sex white women. His stand against whites is (or was) more than likely one sided. He doesn't see white women as a problem in terms of white supremacy or the oppression of black people. No...he simply views the white man as the only member of white America prompting oppression.
I've said it before and I will say it again...I don't think it's possible for a black person who marries white to totally be down with the cause. There is a conflict of interest there. I don't think someone claiming to have the best interest of black people at heart can rightfully say so while married to someone who is white (in this country). Naturally these individuals are sympathetic to the needs of their spouse and those who look like them. This in my opinion conflicts with their interest of being a black nationalist.
How the hell can you be a black nationalist and not be down for creating more black people??? How the hell can you be a black nationalist and accept a member of the "oppressor's" family into your bed??? It makes no sense to me. If he was so sick of being oppressed and so down for the people he wouldn't lay up with a white woman. Perhaps this is why he moved his attention away from civil rights and on to environmental issues.
Sounds like words from a person who is completely "down" for the cause that is the advancement of the interests of people of color right? You know, those people who claim to be Blacker than thou because, well, their shit is so correct? You know, that whole "throw your Black fist in the air, power to the people" and all that other "I'm so down," bullshit? Yeah, that's the impression you get from this Black woman, right?
What about the "green" jobs Van Jones planned to create in the ghetto? Why in the hell do we as black people look to the national government to help us do what we're suppose to do? What's stopping black folks from creating their own "green" jobs? I will never understand why we can't do for ourselves as a people. You want jobs in the hood get off your ass and create them yourselves. Start a business. Help someone else start a business. Stop looking to others to lead you and start leading yourselves. Don't put your hopes in the hands of others. It only leads to failure.Isn't that the most ignorant thing you've read today? For the life of me I can't understand the idea that Black people automatically defend other Black people because they share the same skin color. To be honest, I never knew there were Black people who took to this practice. But beyond that, in a country where environmental racism intentionally persists, you're expecting Green Jobs to trickle down to urban communities on it's own? Hello, are we forgetting that the national unemployment rate is at a 26yr high? Or maybe in her hubris she doesn't realize that the unemployment rate for Blacks is currently the highest of any ethnic/racial group in this country? Yeah, be that as it may, I guess the idea of creating Green Jobs "in the hood," as the says is sacrosanct. But yet she's so down for "HER" people? Get the fuck outta here. I'm sorry, this isn't "Black Conscious Thought" as is the name of her blog. This is utter foolishness, and dare I say Slave Catcher behavior. It's a good thing there are people in Nashville TN. right up the road from me who are down for their people unlike her. These are people currently working towards making Nashville the Greenest city in the southwest as they create jobs, with the help of the organization Green For All -- an organization started by Van Jones in 2007 [read it here].
Understand me when I say this....I'm not going to jump to the defense of someone simply because he or she shares my skin color. If their ideologies conflict with my own then we have a problem. It should NOT be expected of me to jump to the defense of those I don't agree with. There is no way in hell I would agree with Mr. Jones given his shady past. He is far too radical for my taste.
Just the idea alone that Jones is a sellout because he's married to a white woman is pathetic me. Yes, lets not look at his body of work which by the way, has a lot to do with disenfranchised, poor people than anything else. Does that make him a "Black Nationalists"? I'm just saying, did Jones ever label himself a "Black Nationalist" or was it Glenn Beck who did as a means of scaring the tin-foil hat wearing following he has? You know all one has to do is appeal to the ignorance of some by contending that a Black man is a supremacist and he wants to take away America from white folks, right? Yeah, Black supremacy bad, white supremacy not so much. Like I said, it's one thing to hear this drivel coming from non-minorities, but when it's coming from fellow people of color it's disheartening.
But I guess there were never white people who were "down for the cause," that is the social and economic advancement of people of color. Yeah, history lied to us when they told us that the first president of the NAACP was a Jew, or that the abolitionist movement was largely comprised of white people. Where would we be as a country if it were not for the non-minorities who were brave enough to step up and do what was right? Yeah, where would we be if those non-minorities who share the same skin color as Van Jones' wife never sold out? It's just as sad that there are Black people here in the year 2009 who are just as blissfully ignorant, and bigoted as the white folks who have bought and sold the idea of white supremacy. But hey, they called Martin Luther King Jr. a communist just like they did Van Jones, and like him he had a dream so go figure. I don't expect the majority of white folks to "get it" like my fellow Tennessee native Tim Wise does in this piece. But it's a damn shame when supposedly "conscious" Black people are now doing the work of the devil.
