This week readers discuss Democratic Party racism and the abuse of Martin Luther King’s legacy. We share your letters for “The Injustice of the Moment Is Not an Aberration” and “MLK and the Black Misleadership Class.”
In “The Injustice of the Moment Is Not an Aberration” Michelle Alexander challenges those who argue pushing Trump out of office will solve America’s racial problems by outlining the bipartisan push for racist policing and mass incarceration.
Val Barnes writes:
“I am glad Michelle Alexander saw some positives with Trump. Its as if everyone wants to be blame Trump for everything Race. If only we gave the Clinton's and Obama's as hard a of time. Democrat presidents haven't and won't eliminate our problems and Bernie is not a savior. Just another rich old white man playactin like all the other politicians.”
In “MLK and the Black Misleadership Class” Glen Ford argues that Dr. King’s birthday is the greatest annual spectacle of sheer hypocrisy and duplicity by the Black Misleaders.
Ann Richardson writes:
“Recently, you had a fascinating discussion with Francis Boyle, whom I have also been following for many years. And your recent article on that hypocritical 'MLK Day' spoke to my own feelings. For years, I have been deprecating these false historical constructs (Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, Black History Month, etc.) being glorified as holidays, but everyone seems to want to cling to their nostalgic associations. I do not recall exactly who said, ‘What about White History Month?’ Just so.
“Right now, I am wondering why no one is writing about the Obama's purchase of their new 12-million-dollar home on Martha's Vineyard. It seemed to me a massive slap in the face to every victim of his wars and illegal drone program~~lives shattered and homes destroyed. I now live in Greece, where children fleeing these conflicts die in the sea. Of course, the dead don't need any homes. All I could envision in my mind were the ones who had not only no homes, but no country anymore either: the people of Libya, Honduras, Ukraine, Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq~~and the ever-oppressed Haiti. And what can one possibly say out of an aching heart about the Palestinians.
“Thanks to your publication, I am aware that the living standards for black people went down during the great O's presidency, which would also reflect the informative piece you had on black mothers who cannot get good post-natal care. Then there is Leonard Peltier, who still languishes in a prison cell because Obama refused to pardon him in shockingly icy terminology. I imagine Mr. Peltier would like to go home, even if it were a shack on some misbegotten reservation. The same also for Chelsea Manning, whose initial arrest by Obama put her into horrifying prison conditions, and who is now serving a second jail sentence on the basis of her own honour. Snowden, with little hope of a home in somewhere he would like to be, and Assange, of course, who may be lucky to die in Belmarsh rather than be shipped to America. None of these three truth-tellers, punished by Obama with his appalling renewal of the Espionage Act, can go home to a house of their own.
“Why is it that most people I know continue to dance around the Golden Calf? Even people I meet in Europe think of Obama in praiseworthy terms. I wish someone could explain it to me.
“So, I guess I am the one writing about it. Perhaps you will have some comment to make in the near future. The only relieving and even humorous part of the whole egregious enterprise is that it is the most vulgar piece of real estate I have ever seen. And maybe the Obamas will turn it into an orphanage for children bereft of family killed in one of his 'seven wars,' and now you know I am joking!
“The whole thing is a disgrace. Where is shame? And the most important question of all: Where is EMPATHY?”
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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