Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire
  • omnibus

The Democratic Party's Theatrical Performances: Fooling Black Voters for Decades
Solomon Comissiong
12 Feb 2020
The Democratic Party's Theatrical Performances: Fooling Black Voters for Decades
The Democratic Party's Theatrical Performances: Fooling Black Voters for Decades

The Democrats are terrible at passing legislation that helps Black and poor people but fantastically talented at political theater.

 “The difference is that Republicans don’t pretend to be anything but white supremacists.”

It is the time of the year in which the white-dominated, and historically white-biased, United States' film industry doles out awards. The Democratic Party should win an Academy Award each year for the outstanding job they do in convincing Black voters that they care about their plight. 

The Democratic establishment is riddled with fraudulent "snake-oil" politicians hellbent on extending their careers. It is a political party that unapologetically champions imperialist war after war. The Party is no more a peacemaker than their Republican Party counterparts. 

The Democrats have never initiated or supported any kind of real plan to eliminate the vice grip of institutional racism and white supremacy. They are an organization that has never curtailed its support of the apartheid state of Isreal and that nation's continued brutal oppression of Palestinians.  In essence, the Party is run like a Fortune 500 company. But, despite these facts, the Democratic Party has successfully branded itself as a champion of human rights and social justice, that cares about the structural plight of masses of people of color. Nothing could be further from the actual truth. 

“It is a political party that unapologetically champions imperialist war after war.”

Unfortunately, the Democrats’ Black sales ploy has worked time and time, again. They are once again packaging Joe Biden as a friend of Black folk, hoping we will forget he was the architect of the 1994 "Crime Bill" that had a devastating impact on Black America. How could Biden be an ally of Blacks and also a friend to the late segregationist senator Strom Thurmond?  But Biden is not an anomaly in the Democratic Party, which is full of bigots, warmongers and champions of racist "tough on crime" policies. 

Of course, the Republican Party is den of racism. The difference is that Republicans don’t pretend to be anything but white supremacists. They’re proud of it. It is logical that most Black people see the GOP as the enemy.

The Democrats, however, are treated as Hollywood super-heroes by the bulk of Black folks – many of whom think they own the Party, rather than the Party owning them.  Blacks have been politically domesticated into believing every story line mouthed by the Democratic thespians, who are terrible at passing legislation that helps Black and poor people but fantastically talented at political theater.

There are lots of Black actors in the Democratic caste of characters, all of them auditioning to prove how well they serve the rich white folks that control the Party.  Rather than applaud their fraudulent performances, we need to shut this too-long-playing show down, and get busy with the politics of liberation, social justice and peace.

Solomon Comissiong (www.solomoncomissiong.com) is an educator, community activist, author, and Founder of the Your World News Media Collective (www.yourworldnews.org). Solomon is the author of Unapologetically Outspoken: Hip Hop, Social Justice  & Liberation. Solomon is also the writer and producer of the documentary, Hip Hop, White Supremacy & Capitalism: Why Corporations Infiltrated RAP Music. He can be reached at: [email protected]

COMMENTS?Please join the conversation on Black Agenda Report's Facebook page at http://facebook.com/blackagendareportOr, you can comment by emailing us at [email protected]

2020 Election

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles. Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Joe Biden is a White Supremacist War Hawk, Too
Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
Joe Biden is a White Supremacist War Hawk, Too
03 February 2021
No one in the Biden camp has spoken out against the past, present, and future war crimes which will undoubtedly shape the administration.
Biden’s Proposed Cabinet – A Kinder and Gentler Imperialism
Dr.Wilmer J. Leon, III
Biden’s Proposed Cabinet – A Kinder and Gentler Imperialism
02 December 2020
Biden, et al are planning to take us back to a romanticized Clinton and Obama eras.
Freedom Rider: The Real Trump Coup
Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
Freedom Rider: The Real Trump Coup
18 November 2020
Trump puts whiteness first and that means he will always have support and Republican leaders know it.
Biden-Harris and the Diverse Faces of U.S. Imperialism
Tye Salandy
Biden-Harris and the Diverse Faces of U.S. Imperialism
18 November 2020
From Obama v McCain to Biden v Trump, the good cop/bad cop drama of US imperial politics, continues.
Don’t [Mourn] Celebrate, Organize!
Riva Enteen
Don’t [Mourn] Celebrate, Organize!
18 November 2020
The same “injustice” system that unlawfully locked up the Central Park Five will continue unabated with Biden and his “top cop” sidekick.
Black Voters: “Contrarian” Men and “Communal” Women
Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
Black Voters: “Contrarian” Men and “Communal” Women
12 November 2020
A significant portion of Black males are “contrarians” that take positions at odds with the general Black political consensus – while Black women t
Freedom Rider: The Real Resistance Begins
Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
Freedom Rider: The Real Resistance Begins
11 November 2020
“Kamala Auntie” and Joe from Scranton will do as little as possible so that “nothing will fundamentally change” that would halt endless wars and th
Joe Biden’s Victory is Still a Loss for Humanity
Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
Joe Biden’s Victory is Still a Loss for Humanity
11 November 2020
The Biden-Harris administration is good news for corporations, cops, war profiteers and banks too big to fail, but offers nothing to save the peopl
The Elusive Quest for Justice in Black America
Bashir Muhammad Akinyele
The Elusive Quest for Justice in Black America
11 November 2020
We as Black people must keep pushing, organizing, and demanding a Black agenda centered on reparations.
Now that Trump Has Been Defeated...
Popular Resistance
Now that Trump Has Been Defeated...
11 November 2020
We need to continue building power from the bottom up through organizing, political education and community assemblies.

More Stories


  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio May 30, 2025
    30 May 2025
    In this week’s segment we talk about jails and prisons in New York City and State and the end of city control of the infamous Rikers Island jail. But first a Washington DC activist analyzes how the…
  • Democratic party where are you
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Afeni on Fighting the Bipartisan Fascist Consensus
    30 May 2025
    Afeni is an activist and lead organizer with Herb and Temple in Washington, DC. She joins us from Oakland to discuss politics in the U.S. and how the people can fight the fascism produced by the…
  • Rikers protest
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Eric Adams Loses Control of Rikers Island to Federal Receivership
    30 May 2025
    Our guest is Melanie Dominguez, Organizing Director, New York with the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice. She joins us from New York City to discuss the federal takeover of Rikers Island…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Charles Rangel and the End of Black Politics
    28 May 2025
    The late Charles Rangel served as a member of the Congressional Black Caucus for more than 40 years. But the goals of Black politics and electoral politics are not necessarily the same.
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: The Intellectual Origins of Imperialism and Zionism, Edward Said, 1977
    28 May 2025
    “In theory and in practice, then, Zionism is a degraded repetition of European imperialism.”
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us