This week Black voters and the Democrats, the passing of John Conyers, and the alleged demise of Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi were on your minds. We share your letters for “Black Voters Won’t Save the Democrats,” “Farewell to John Conyers Jr. - and to his Era,” and “Freedom Rider: The Baghdadi Scam.”
In the radio segment “Black Voters Won’t Save the Democrats” public interest attorney Malaika Jabali argues that if Democrats continue ignoring the concerns of working class Black voters the party will not be able to rely on the community’s turnout.
James Pitts writes:
“Why should so called Blacks vote at all. Black people are only touted as a support factor, after white people have decided among themselves who will be on the ballot. Historically Blacks have voted Democrat religiously, giving their counted upon solid voting block, and receiving absolutely nothing whatsoever in return. That is other than a so-called Black president who helped the gay community make more strides during his presidency than they have made with all of the presidents in American history combined. Why you may ask? Because they held his feet to the fire. Blacks were more than pleased with Obama, and felt that they had received more than they could have ever imagined in their lifetime, by just being able to see a Black man and his family in the White House. Now the older Blacks are jumping on Biden's band wagon. The only thing that Biden ever did for Blacks was support the three strikes law, and bring some of the Blue Dog Democrats over to help Obama win. It is strange how they are coming down hard on Kamala Harris for her law enforcement background but seem to somehow forget Joe Biden's good old boy background. Whether Blacks vote or not, the odds say that they will get nothing at all, as it has always been in past elections. So called Black people are much too politically immature and passive to expect anything out of such a blood sport as American politics.”
In “Farewell to John Conyers Jr. - and to his Era” Glen Ford argues that the late congressman’s career is a window into the long decline of Black politics since the decline of the mass Black movement.
Wallace Nixon writes:
“Your piece on John Conyers was fair and informative and he does deserve credit for his early positions on relevant issues. However, as a perennial job hunter scratching the earth like a chicken looking for something to sustain myself there is a criticism which must be expressed. This criticism also applies to all Blacks in the congress. Even Maxine Waters whom I really respect for going to get kidnapped president Aristide back from the Central African Republic, hasn’t been able to bring jobs to her constituents.
“White politicians can’t stay in congress for decades and not bring home any bacon for the voters. Strom Thurmond and Newt Gengrich for example did bring jobs to their areas and many people benefited from these. On the other hand Blacks in congress bring home nothing! Other than their personal staff they do not generate work for their voters even though most of them support pentagon budgets and even give the military more than they ask for. Congress is a very rarefied environment which seems to intoxicate its members and causes them to never want to leave.”
In “Freedom Rider: The Baghdadi Scam” Margaret Kimberley examines the politics behind the dubious narrative about the ISIS leader’s killing.
David Gray writes:
“The truth is he is/was no longer a major figure!! His founding of ISIS is more of a ‘well somebody has to get the credit’ type of phenomenon than anything else. He has maybe ONE speech on a website that was/is NOT his to begin with. Nothing really incendiary in the least. He was built up my OUR own MSM because, rather than focus on the big picture, which our media never does, they invent a target-of-the-week/month. Remember Ahmadinejad? Chavez? Kim il-Joong?
“This is all camouflage to keep us distracted while the 1% try to continue feeding off a bloodless host, parasitization, that is a manifestation of last-stage capitalism that is eating itself alive. Since the numbers of the world population that are realizing that their dreams of prosperity at the hands of the panacea called ‘capitalism’ is just a well-manufactured inculcated mirage they are angry. The anger is spreading to white strongholds heretofore able to look ‘down’ at the Other as justification of the superior/inferior paradigm that has enabled the 1% to include them as just an Other with another color.”
The anger spreading among the masses can be powerful if channeled the right way. The ideological work we do here will be crucial for that.
Jahan Choudhry is Comments Editor for Black Agenda Report. He is an organizer with the Saturday Free School based in Philadelphia, PA.
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