Hakeem Jeffries climbs the political ladder because he engages in dirty deeds with the world’s worst people. Being called a monkey gives him an easy out. The presence of a Black face in a high place is still rarely worth celebrating or defending.
“He [Hakeem Jeffries] is a bought and paid AIPAC monkey. With all due respect, I don’t mean it in a racist way. He is basically just an errand boy.” - Rula Jebreal
Should a racial slur be viewed differently if the target is a lackey for the oligarchs and therefore an enemy of Black people and indeed all of humanity? That is the question in the wake of Palestinian journalist Rula Jebreal’s unfortunate use of the word “monkey” to describe House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries while appearing on the Wahajat Ali podcast. Jebreal immediately realized that she had put her foot in her mouth and added the disclaimer at the end of her statement but the slur could not be unheard. Her description of Jeffries and nearly every other member of congress as a zionist tool was factually correct, but the ensuing controversy is instructive and illustrates the lingering power of the Black face in a high place. That dynamic creates a great deal of confusion that must be examined as a means of ending the retrograde politics that control this country.
As readers know, this columnist stands firmly in the Black Agenda Report tradition of giving no quarter to Jeffries and other members of the group known as the Black misleadership class. They were described by Glen Ford thusly.
“ ‘Black Misleadership class’ is not a ‘scientific’ term. It is weaponized political terminology, with specific meaning based on Black historical and current political realities. Most often, in our usage at BAR, the term refers to those Black political forces that emerged at the end of the Sixties, eager to join the corporate and duopoly political (mostly Democrat) ranks, and to sell out the interests of the overwhelmingly working class Black masses in the process. It is both an actual and aspirational class, which ultimately sees its interests as tied to those of U.S. imperialism and its ruling circles. It seeks representation in the halls of corporate power, and dreads social transformation, which would upset the class’s carefully cultivated relationships with Power.”
As the leader of the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives who may be the next Speaker of the House, Jeffries is surely in the category that Ford described. In my recent column, “Hakeem Jeffries and Jared Kushner Meeting Reveals Ugly Truths About U.S. Politics” I explained how much, or rather how little this position would mean for the betterment of Black people.
“He would be the first Black Speaker, but to what end? Black people will be no better off with a scoundrel who happens to look like us. We have seen this movie, and we know how it ends, with nothing to show for the feeling of pride at seeing a Black face in a high place but one which has been vetted to ensure that Black people would benefit very little from their presence.”
Jeffries’ meeting with Donald Trump’s son-in-law revealed what astute observers already know. The political system in this country is controlled by the ruling class for their benefit. Democrats may refer to Trump and his family as fascists engaged in corruption at the expense of the public and they are just that. Yet the leader of an alleged opposition party has back door meetings with those very same corrupt individuals because that is what the political system demands.
Jeffries’ position is therefore inherently corrupt as well. He bows to zionists like Kushner and to big pharma and insurance companies when he announces he does not support Medicare for All. Yet Jeffries was the recipient of adamant support and defense from millions of people because a slur was used against him. Black people being referred to as monkeys is deeply offensive, quite literally dehumanizing, and cannot be excused or explained away. Jebreal said as much and later offered an unqualified apology but the lure of protecting a prominent Black person and acknowledging the deeply felt emotions when Black people are in any way disparaged created a firestorm, and also revealed the complexities of Black political interactions with other groups.
Many of the Jeffries defenders were most angry that a Palestinian called him a monkey. “Arabs are racists.” “Palestinians put Trump in the white house.” “That’s why I don’t care about Gaza.” These and other missives could be seen and heard widely across all social media. The afropessimists felt vindicated as they pointed to what they claimed was a universally held racist view among people who aren’t Black and the Foundational Black Americans (FBA) were pleased at having been proven correct about a subject they usually boast about having no position on or any interest in at all. No one in these groups is ever mobilized against genocide or imperialism nor do they have much to say about domestic issues such as mass incarceration, police violence, or gentrification and other methods of capitalist exploitation. Yet they emerged from self-imposed silence to denounce and condemn on a subject they happily ignored in the past.
Many of Jebreal’s defenders were no better. Instead of making their case against Jeffries and the rest of the political class in their support of AIPAC and the zionist state, they chose to delve into Black politics which they knew nothing about. It is somewhat interesting that Jeffries condemned Black conservatives like Clarence Thomas in 1992 when he was a university student, but a Black person making a political critique against another Black person and referring to them as a “house slave” is in no way comparable to the use of a racial slur by someone who isn’t Black. Jebreal’s supporters made a serious error when they chose that and other lines of defense.
The mistake is not really surprising, given that the Democratic Party misleaders jumped on the chance to make themselves relevant with the Black people they usually ignore while also making their zionist bosses happy. Like afropessimists and those who call themselves FBA, the misleaders wasted no time in trying to score points.The Congressional Black Caucus, willing accomplices to AIPAC control, felt compelled to join in the attack on Jebreal. “We have to stop platforming and trafficking in anti-Black racism, whether it’s on the political right or the left.” Operatives like Symone Sanders-Townsend were also, as they say, up in their feelings. “Also…If Democrats win the House in November, I am very sure Hakeem Jeffries will become the Speaker. He will be 3rd in line to the presidency. Respect will also be due then. Respect does not mean you agree with strategy or the decisions, but it does mean you should (at the very least) watch your tone.”
The Speaker of the House is a public servant accountable to the public and not a member of royalty. No one needs to watch their tone if Jeffries wields the gavel in congress. Also, the Speaker is in fact second in line to the presidency, but I digress from more important points.
Ironically, Hakeem Jeffries himself is probably relieved about Jebreal’s statement. The Kushner meeting is now treated as some sort of ancient history, now forgotten in the heat of unscrupulous people feeling the need to jump into the fray and promote themselves to the gullible.
As for the term “errand boy,” this columnist has done so many times in describing not only Jeffries, but the entire U.S. political class, such as in the Kushner meeting column. “Voters in this country rarely get what they want because the Kushners of the world call the shots with the help of their errand boys and girls, who are otherwise known as party leaders.” They are all errand boys and errand girls, and no one should hesitate to describe them as such.
We live in a society that promotes empty suits like Jeffries, an ambitious but vacuous man who will support war crimes and apartheid in Palestine and deaths caused by a profit motivated health care system in the U.S. I will not call Jeffries a monkey.The word snake may be more appropriate for Jeffries and all of his ilk if we’re sticking with an animal analogy. After all, Washington is a nest of vipers.
Margaret Kimberley is the author of Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents. You can support her work on Patreon and also find it on Twitter, Bluesky, and Telegram platforms. She can be reached via email at margaret.kimberley@blackagendareport.com.
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