Think About It?!

It seems that some Black Congressional members committed to Senator Clinton are having second thoughts. There are indications that some are starting to feel the pressure to reconsider their Clinton endorsements. According to MSNBC.com:

One Black supporter of Clinton, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri, said he remains committed to her. "There's nothing going on right now that would cause me to" change, he said.

He said any suggestion that elected leaders should follow their voters "raises the age old political question. Are we elected to monitor where our constituents are ... or are we to use our best judgment to do what's in the best interests of our constituents."

He said Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois had recently asked him "if it comes down to the last day and you're the only superdelegate? ... Do you want to go down in history as the one to prevent a black from winning the White House?

"I told him I'd think about it," Cleaver

“Think about it?!?" Black folks have lost their minds!!!

Brotherdoc will be praying for Bro. Cleaver.

(image: Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri)

Thank You for Your Non-Support

Brotherdoc is in a quandary when it comes to the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. The question I am grappling with is—why aren’t Black “leaders” supporting Barack Obama? Instead, many are endorsing Hillary Clinton, or they are silent on Obama. Interestingly enough, Obama seems to be doing just fine without them.

The conclusion that Brotherdoc has come to is that these Black leaders are out of touch with their constituents. Their constituents don’t seem to like the race-baiting tactics of “Miss Hillary,” as John Lewis affectionately calls Clinton. Their constituents no longer want to defer their dreams. They are saying that the time is now, as Shirley Franklin reminded us, a Black president is not a “fairytale.”

Most interesting to Brotherdoc is the fact that these Black leaders’ endorsements of Clinton has ironically made Obama a more desirable candidate among a wide variety of Americans .

I understand that “Black leader” is a nebulous term, and that Black people are not a monolithic group. But, the lack of support from elected officials is curious. Those expressing their opposition to Obama include: Black Caucus members Maxine Waters (CA), Corrine Brown (FL), Gregory Meeks (NY), Edolphus Towns (NY), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX), Emanuel Cleaver (MO, Stephanie Tubbs Jones (OH), Alcee Hastings (FL), Kendrick Meek (FL), Dianne Watson (CA), Laura Richardson (CA), David Scott (GA), John Lewis(GA), Donna Christian-Christensen (VI), Yvette Clark (NY), Charles Rangel (NY), and Julia Carson (IN).

We should take note that in Alabama, none of the four elected Black State representatives supported Obama, but he won the state with a rousing victory. The same thing happened in South Carolina. Eleven of the thirteen Black elected officials in South Carolina supported a candidate other than Obama, and he kicked butt there too. Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin was the ONLY one, out of eight Black elected officials, in Georgia to support Obama. He won Georgia handily as well.

These elected officials have a lot of explaining to when it is time for them to seek re-election. It is time for these officials to get on the same page as the people that they elected to represent. They should lead or get out of the way of progress.

Civil Rights pioneer Andrew Young has questioned Obama’s blackness, and went as far as to imply that former president Bill Clinton was more Black because, in Young’s opinion, Clinton has “gone with more Black women”. Julian Bond, current NAACP Chairman, has written a letter on NAACP letterhead to Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean urging him to seat the delegates from Michigan and Florida. As you may or may not know, all of the Democratic candidates agreed not to campaign in either Michigan or Florida because the Democratic Party decided to punish those two states for changing the dates of their respective primaries. In fact, neither Barack Obama nor John Edwards were even on the ballot in Michigan and 37% voted “uncommitted” rather than support Hillary Clinton. I do not think that it is a coincidence that Mr. Bond is making this recommendation because these two uncontested states went to Hillary Clinton and not Barack Obama.

The list of prominent Black people endorsing Hillary Clinton also includes: record producer Quincy Jones, Robert Johnson, founder of BET, Rep. William Gray former president of the United Negro College Fund, Douglas Palmer Mayor of Newark, NJ, former Mayor of Philadelphia, John Street, Bishop T. Lane Grant, and Florida Attorney Willie Gary.

We are still waiting to see which candidate Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson will choose to endorse. The Jackson household appears to be split at the moment with Jesse Jackson, Jr. firmly in the Barack Obama corner and Jacqueline Jackson, Jesse Jackson’s wife, doing commercials for Senator Clinton.

I don't know what these folks are thinking about, but as Chris Rock said when introducing Barack Obama at a recent campaign event, “I would sure hate to be on the wrong side of history.”

I second that!!

China and the Genocide in Darfur

Brotherdoc would like to take a moment to applaud the recent decision made by film director Stephen Spielberg to withdraw from his position as artistic advisor for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Mr. Spielberg’s decision was in response to the Chinese government’s complicity in the continued genocide being carried by the government in Sudan. China purchases 2/3 of the oil produced in Sudan and in exchange China sells weapons to the Sudanese government. The Darfur region of Sudan has already witnessed the murder of over 200,000 and the displacement of 2.5 million people. In a BBC news report, Spielberg "accused China of not doing enough to pressure Sudan to end the ‘continuing human suffering’ in the troubled western Darfur region.”

The Chinese government has yet to respond to Mr. Spielberg’s withdrawal, but I doubt that the Chinese government will be pleased with the direct connection being made concerning their involvement with the Sudanese government and the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of innocent people. I believe that it is imperative that others join Mr. Spielberg in pressuring China to reconsider its support of the government in Sudan, especially now that the world will be turning its attention to Beijing this summer.

It is time that we all joined Stephen Spielberg, along with Don Cheadle and George Clooney, and raise our voices to stop the terrible tragedy happening right before our eyes.

Can We Apologize for Slavery?

“For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind we say sorry...we apologise for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.”

Brotherdoc wants you to note that not only has Australia apologized to its Black/Aboriginal citizens for its racism, but the country has also confessed to the subsequent discriminatory laws and policies that have worked to continue to harm Blacks.

Brotherdoc wants people to know that a few states apologizing for slavery in the U.S. is not enough. Perhaps the U.S. needs to follow Australia's lead. First, the federal government needs to issue an apology on behalf of the country. Second, the U.S. needs to also acknowledge that every decade since slavery discriminatory laws and policies have been legalized that have worked to harm Blacks. Legal discrimination did not die with the Emancipation Proclamation. Remember:

Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1856) "So far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect."

Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896)--"Separate But Equal"

Jim Crow-Racial caste system from 1870-1960 which relegated Blacks to second-class citizens