Ta-Nehisi Coates

There is so much fair and right about Kelefah Sanneh's piece on Jeremiah Wright that I think I'd be wrong to even try and quote from it. Just read it. It's fairest and most complicated rendering of Rev. Wright thus far.

Few posts up now including contributions from, respectively, Glenn, myself, John, Joseph and Carmen. For me, the biggest questions which linger in my head are Carmen's thinking on how we redefine racism, and John's point about policy stricltly aimed at blacks. I'm not completely sure what I think yet, and I want everyone to get to chime in once before I pop off.

Heh, with friends like these, eh?

In an unusually frank interview on Canadian public radio, CBC, Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver of Kansas City -- a Hillary supporter and superdelegate -- gives a sense of how tenuous Clinton's hold on many black superdelegates is.

"If I had to make a prediction right now, I'd say Barack Obama is going to be the next president," he said just after 18:00. "I will be stunned if he's not the next president of the United States."

Seriously though. Brother just spoke the truth. Hopefully folks won't come down on him. Cleaver is one of the cats who was feeling some heat from black folks once Obama went on a roll. Peace out to TPM for the heads up.

Because defending black men who rape black women is apparently now the province of the movement's leaders. Witness, the one and only, Al Sharpton--backed by local NAACP officials, no less--weighing in on the fantastically gruesome Dunbar Village rape case. Instead of standing for some decency and conceding that, yes, some people do deserve to go to jail, Sharpton has decided to argue that this group of black gang rapists are being treated harsher than a white group of gang rapists.

The Rev. Al Sharpton and NAACP activists stood outside the State Attorney's Office Tuesday morning, protesting what they say is disparate handling of black teens accused in the rape of a Dunbar Village woman and her son and white teens from suburban Boca Raton accused in the rape of their drunk friends.

Sharpton said the black teens remain jailed and the white teens are free on bond, despite them committing the "same act."

"To have different reactions to the same set of circumstances is a crime in itself,"  Sharpton said.

Umm, no:

In the Dunbar Village case, four teens are charged with armed sexual battery for the June crime where they allegedly forced the woman at gunpoint to have sex multiple times, including with her son. Police say the teens then used cleaning agents on the victims afterwards in an attempt to cover their crimes, including stuffing a bar of soap inside the woman. They face possible life in prison.

In the Boca case, five teens are charged with sexual battery on a helpless person because the then 13- and 14-year-old female victims had downed repeated shots of vodka.

Both heinous, no doubt, but come on dude. In 2008, this is really what it's come to?

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Interesting story on the Defense Department's attempts to keep a gay Congresswoman from bringing her partner on a fact-finding trip. The problem isn't blatant homophobia, but the end-result of a policy of blatant homophobia. Turns out the military brass were worried about what message they'd be sending in the era of Don't Ask, Don't Tell:

The Pentagon appears to be self-conscious about transporting gay domestic partners at a time when it continues to enforce a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in its own ranks. The speaker is sensitive to the gay rights issue but doesn’t want to be drawn into a situation where it appears she is dictating policy for the use of military planes.

I'm not sure what we need more--a national convo on race, or a national convo on sexual prudes.

E.J. Dionne argues that the Clintons have damaged their brand in the fight for the nomination:

Bill Clinton's approach to the South Carolina primary, the Clinton campaign's effort to ignore everything it once said about the irrelevance of the Florida and Michigan primaries, Hillary Clinton's willingness to say (or imply) that John McCain is more prepared to be president than Obama--all this and more have created a ferocious backlash against the Clintons. The result is that when the word "Clinton" crosses their lips, many Democrats sound like Ken Starr, Bob Barr and the late Henry Hyde.

Hmm, maybe. But wasn't there always a large contingent of Clinton-haters in the party? The Clinton Camp was in power during my high school and college years, and they always came across to me as extraordinary hedgers. I mean these are the folks who invented the Sista Souljah moment, I don't know how you get more unprincipled than that. Furthermore, I always smelled the stench of political ambition wafting off of Sen. Clinton's war vote. In the words of Denny Green--They are who we thought they were, no? Here's Peggy Noonan, last February, pointing out how tenuous the Clintons' position was in their own party:

Hollywood titan David Geffen, who now supports Barack Obama, this week famously retagged the Clintons as an Ivy League Bonnie and Clyde. Bill is "reckless," Hillary relentless--"God knows, is there anybody more ambitious than Hillary?" In an interview that seemed like an audience, with the New York Times's Maureen Dowd, Mr. Geffen said, "Everybody in politics lies, but they do it with such ease, it's troubling." In this he was, knowingly or unknowingly, echoing Bob Kerrey, the former Nebraska senator, who said in 1996 of the then-president, "Clinton's an unusually good liar. Unusually good. Do you realize that?"

I think it is true that President Clinton has done serious damage to that bipartisan aura that surrounds all ex-presidents, as well as his reputation as a politician. But I don't see how any of this is going to hurt the Dems.

This is a good point, and I'd forgotten about it:

Just a quick history note for those who are shocked by Condoleeza Rice publicly stating that America has a "birth defect" when it comes to race: Rice grew up in Birmingham, Alabama in the late 50s and 60s. One of her childhood playmates was among those four little girls who were murdered by a Klansman's bomb in the basement of their own church. Stop and think about that: four beautiful little black girls, attending church on a Sunday morning, blown up with dynamite by a white racial terrorist. This was not an event that Condoleeza Rice heard about on t.v., or saw in the paper. It was her personal friend torn apart by racial hatred. Rice has every right in the world to have the opinions that she does when it comes to race. To suggest that she does not, that somehow she is out of line to voice those opinions (as Dobbs did below), is simply obscene. It is an insult to the history that Rice has lived through firsthand, and a devaluation of the price that she has had to pay for America's racial sins.

That puts the profound stupidity of Lou Dobbs in greater perspective, no?

Yet more evidence for why any national conversation on race should ban all squawkers from the Cable news blabberfests. Witness the buffoonery that is Lou Dobbs. I don't much care that he almost said "Cotton Pickin black leaders." What I want to know is, who are all these black leaders telling Lou he can't talk about race? Names please, screw the weak, lazy generalities. Then I want to know why he listens to them. Oh right--he doesn't. Roll tape please.

From my good buddy Brendan Koerner, whose book will be hitting in May;

Interesting post re: McCain claiming to be a descendant ofCharlemagne. This is actually very common practice among American genealogical fanatics. Funny how no one wants to admit that they're descended from some dude who spent the 11th century whacking the soil with a stick, praying that a passing knight wouldn't chop off his arms for sport.

Also, note the importance of lineage claims to Arab politics--the head of virtually every Arab regime claims to be descended from the Prophet Muhammad. That includes our friend Saddam, as well as his Hashemite cousin in Jordan.

Here it is. The Essence:

We err when we talk about racism as this force that ultimately helps whites, but hurts blacks. The truth is that white people have paid terribly for America's original sin. Consider that while other countries were able to relatively peaceably excise themselves from slavery, America had to sacrifice some 700,000 of its young in order to move forward. That is a horrible toll. Look at the Civil Rights movement and compare, say, the fates of Atlanta and Birmingham, and then look at how the two cities handle the impending epoch of integration. I confess no hard evidence here, but is it a mistake that some of the least prosperous states in the country are also some of the most historically anti-black? Beyond history, from the perspective of cold capitalism, we are in a dog fight for dominance with rising powers. Isn't every black child we lose to a broken educational system a soldier lost before we could even enlist her for the coming battle?

At some point, this has to move beyond a "do the right thing white people" discussion and become a "this is for the good of America" discussion. We have to start convincing people that closing the racial gap helps everyone. The good news is we're starting to see some action that moves down that path. Glenn rightly alluded to the continuing crisis of the large portion of black men residing behind bars. One of the more promising developments is that states are starting to own up to some of the foolishness of their criminal justice policies. But they're not doing it out of any love for black folks, they're doing it because it's in their economic interest—they simply can't afford to keep warehousing black men. I think there's a light in that reasoning. We have to begin to show people how this discussion benefits them.

So the folks over at Talking Point Memo are holding  a discussion around race and Obama's speech. I'm one of the guest asked to comment. But truthfully dog, I'm just gonna try to keep with Glenn Loury, knowahmsayin? Naw, seriously though, it should be a good panel. In addition to me and Prof. Loury we have Prof. Joseph Lowndes,  Prof. John Skrentny and Carmen Van Kerkhove. I've some of what will being going up throughout the week. Definitely some good stuff going down. Stay up, folks.

Heh, people kill me when they attack black folks for the whacky isht we believe and for transforming Africa into this glorious continent, pre-whitey. Over the years I've been one of the people doing the attacking. But I never act like white folks--indeed all folks--don't do the same damn thing.

Witness John McCain who claims that he is not just a descendant of the 13th century Scottish King Robert The Bruce, but also of the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of modern Europe, the 9th century monarch Charlemagne. Understand with that means. John McCain would have had to have traced his lineage through literally millions of relatives, and over a millenea. Haha. Bridge in Brooklyn anyone?

...the ancestral link appears to originate from a 1999 family memoir, Faith of My Fathers. In it the senator said his great-grandparents "gave life to two renowned fighters, my great-uncle Wild Bill and my grandfather Sid McCain."

Wild Bill, he wrote, "joined the McCain name to an even more distinguished warrior family. His wife, Mary Louise Earle, was descended from royalty. She claimed as ancestors Scottish kings back to Robert the Bruce." The passage goes on to say that Mary Louise Earle was also "in direct descent" from Emperor Charlemagne.

Not so, according to Dr Katie Stevenson, a lecturer in medieval studies at the University of St Andrews. "What wonderful fiction," she said. "Mary Louise Earle's claims to descent from Robert the Bruce are likely to be fantasy. Earle is not a Scottish name. I think it is incredibly unlikely that name would be related to Robert the Bruce. Charlemagne and Robert the Bruce were not connected - that's ludicrous."

Gotta love this, at least as someone who wants Obama to win. Who does James Carville think he's helping with his foolish fulminations? Does he think people are gonna see his full-throated defense of that stupid Judas remark and say, "I had it all wrong. I think I'll vote for Clintons." These guys are a hamfisted bunch I tell you.

I know enough to know that comparing a former Cabinet secretary and sitting governor to Judas is inflammatory and provocative.

Ahh but you don't know enough to see how it just stains the candidate you claim to endorse. Oh, the humanity.

This bears reading. It's interesting in that it cuts against the stereotype of the black conservative as shill who will say anything to get over. I don't know if the world is more open to comments like these, or what. But as I've said before I think a viable cadre of black conservatives is a good thing. Black folks shouldn't have to reject Republicans because of the whiff of latent racism. They should be free to reject them because they are wrong--at least in the opinion of this flamin' lefty.

Sorry guys, blogging will be an off and on affair until Monday. I'm running around doing promotional stuff for the book. I'll be back at it by mid-Sunday, early Monday. Have a good weekend all.

So there's this game that media plays--find a few black people who've got a beef with something and then tar all black people with it. Typical is this Lebron/Gisele foolishness. The story in question is headlined, "Vogue Cover with Lebron stirs up controversy." The Essence:

...the image is stirring up controversy, with some commentators decrying the photo as perpetuating racial stereotypes. James strikes what some see as a gorilla-like pose, baring his teeth, with one hand dribbling a ball and the other around Bundchen’s tiny waist.

It’s an image some have likened to “King Kong” and Fay Wray.

Well yeah, if you define "some" as a writer at ESPN's website, some guy who analyzes magazines, and a woman on the street. This is the sort of thing editors publish because they know if you even whisper "racism" a bunch of white people--preconditioned to believe that blacks are always complaining--will come running. DIg the poll at the end of the story. Of course Jason Whitlock ways in with his usual illogic. Whatever. White people out there. Are you listening? Most black people could give two flying monkeys about who Vogue puts on the cover.

UPDATE: The Today Show featured this "controversy" apparently. I think this ultimately about white people's need to turn racism into a dumb debate about magazine covers, and thus quickly dismiss it. When will you Negroes get it? There is. No. Racism.

I saw No End In Sight a couple nights ago on Netflix streaming service. What an incredible documentary, and it really reminded me of what was at stake in this election. I urge everyone to check it out, as well as the Frontline documentary  Bush's War, which you can watch on PBS's website. It's important that we don't get bogged down in the Clinton-Obama tit for tat and remember what's really at stake here. Below is the trailer

Sullivan posts an interesting note he got from a reader:

I worked four years as a teacher in the Black community in Oakland in the early 90's and these ideas from Wright's sermons were endemic. To me the remarkable thing about Obama is that he has positioned himself, and set as a goal for himself, to lead Black culture towards one of participation and non-victimization. You can't do that if you're not participating as a member of the Black community, whatever state you find it in.

How do we go forward? 3 percent of all Black men are in prison, and it's 11 percent of black men aged 25-29. Mostly on drug charges. The community has been in crisis for decades. And here come many conservatives with a message to marginalize the Black community further. 

What is more helpful here? That, or putting into a position of leadership someone who has really heard and understood all these arguments in the Black community, disagrees with
them and says so and yet is still respected there, and asks young Black men to take responsibility and shows how it's possible to live a decent life in America?  It seems pretty obvious.

The reader makes a huge mistake by conflating his experiences in the black community with the entirety of black America. Also, to put it bluntly, he thinks too much of "mainstream" white people. A healthy percentage of black folks may believe that the government concocted HIV to kill us, but the conspiracy theories of white America are legion--and  much much deadlier. A sample:

In a February CNN-Time poll, 76 percent of those surveyed felt Saddam provides assistance to al Qaeda. Another poll released in February asked, "Was Saddam Hussein personally involved in the September 11 attacks?" Although it is a claim the Bush administration has never made and for which there is no evidence, 72 percent said it was either very or somewhat likely.

That was in 2003. It is also an incredible number, and it led to arguably the largest military blunder in the history of this country. Black people do not need to be lectured about conspiracy theories when fully THREE QUARTERS of this country believed Saddam was behind 9/11. This is to say nothing of the religious fictions of the wing-nuts, which Chris Hayes outlined, last week.

Evangelical Christians believe that anyone who has not accepted Jesus as his personal lord and saviour will be sadistically tortured for the rest of eternity, which means that each of the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust now spends each instant from here to end of time suffering torture far worse than what they faced in Dachau or Treblinka.

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So I used the term "Oppressed-A-Thon" in another post and I thought I should define it. I got the idea from this brilliant entry.

Oppressed-A-Thon--An unintentionally amusing pastime, in which flummoxed pundits unable to make heads or tails out of actual human beings, engage in a dubious contest to prove that said human beings' respective group is more doomed, victimized, and otherwise shat-upon than all other doomed, victimized and presumably shat-upon groups.

"Misoginy is the last acceptable prejudice"--Katha Pollit

"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is."--Geraldine Ferraro

"Hillary ain't never been called a nigger."--Rev. Jeremiah Wright

Because George McGovern says so. And he's an expert on race and racism.

"I have a feeling that in this country where we're at today in our thinking, it's going to be harder to elect a woman than to elect a black man...I wish that weren't true ... I'd love to see Hillary as president."

For the record, I have no idea whether it's easier to elect a black man or woman, and frankly I could care less. I refuse to become embroiled in an Oppressed-A-Thon, during which we try deduce whether playing the back for most of human history is worse than enduring colonialism, slavery and Vanilla Ice. But after listening to this line repeatedly bellow out from Hillary supporters, I'm starting to understand why the Democratic party has been such a zero in presidential politics. These cats deserve great credit for being so forward thinking on integration. But that same vision has seemingly forced them into a dumb, crude, hamfisted politics in which your gender/race/sexual orientation can be separated out from who you are as an individual.

The "Who's it easier to elect?" query is uniquely suited for white Democrats. There is no agency in that question, no individualism, no sense that Barack Obama isn't Alan Keyes, and Hillary Clinton ain't Libby Dole. (Notice how black women never even show up in this equation.) Basically if you have a chance to win you become your respective grievance group. It's disgusting, simple-minded, stupid, reductive and condescending way of seeing the world. And it's likely no mistake that it comes from one of the men that led liberals into the winter that we're now so desperately trying to find our way out of. Rid us of these fools please. I beg you voters out there. Rid us of them. Their stupidity is a plague on all our houses, and the future of my son.