The "Lawn Jockey Awards": Tell the Congressional Black
Caucus Where They Really Stand
by BAR
executive editor Glen Ford
"The time
for celebration is over."
When the Congressional Black Caucus begins its extravagant
five days of celebration of "being there," in Washington, the CBC Monitor and
Black Agenda Report will kick off the occasion with the first annual "Lawn
Jockey Awards," starring the four worst members of the CBC. The time for
celebration is over. In the last two years, the Black Caucus has degenerated
into an impotent body - so much so, that the progressive elements of the CBC no
longer work within the Caucus to champion issues of peace and social justice.
They form alternative caucuses and mechanisms, such as the Out of Iraq Caucus,
led by California Representatives Maxine Waters and Barbara Lee, or try to do
the peoples' work in the Congressional Progressive Caucus, to which about half
of the CBC belong.
The CBC has been rendered a wasteland, in which nothing of
substance can occur. Corporate penetration of the Black congressional
ranks has rendered the CBC incapable of fulfilling its avowed mission of being
the "conscience of the Congress" - a dream that was smothered by an avalanche
of corporate cash. A cabal of rightwing, corporate-bought members vetoes
any progressive initiatives that emanate from the 42-member Black House
delegation, negating progressive politics and leaving no room for anything but
vapid celebration of Black faces in high places. That's what the annual CBC
Legislative party-time has become: a promenade of strivers and wannabes with no
mission beyond their own private ambitions.
For the last two and a half years, the CBC Monitor has
been tracking the voting records of the Congressional Black Caucus. It's been a
frightening experience to witness the devolution of a once-great Black
institution, that in very recent times stood up for the fundamental tenets of
the historical Black Political Consensus, but has in the last few years
degenerated into flaccid nothingness. Two-thirds of the CBC voted with the
telecom industry, in 2006, to roll back Black victories of the late Seventies
and Eighties on equal access to cable communications - a total debacle that
proved conclusively that the fix was in, and the CBC was no longer a to be
trusted.
"Corporate penetration of the Black congressional ranks
has rendered the CBC incapable of fulfilling its avowed mission."
The CBC's attempt to ally itself, through its foundation,
with FOX News, in arranging presidential candidate debates, debased all of us.
Getting nude in full view of the Black public, the CBC Foundation attempted to
sleep with the enemy. The FOX/CBC debates will not occur, by popular demand,
but that is only an example of coitus enemy interruptus. The same
impulses will impel the opportunists and money-chasers in the Caucus to try to
broker other deals - unless we unseat them.
The process of eliminating the bad actors must be
methodical, based on the actual voting records of the Black members of
Congress. That's where the CBC Monitor comes in. By twice-yearly charting the
votes of every Black member of Congress, we get an objective view of their
loyalties. And if they are not loyal to us, they must be expelled.
"Shame and ridicule are great tools, and will be employed
to the maximum at the first annual ‘Lawn Jockey Awards' in Washington, DC."
Many members of the Congressional Black Caucus are
extraordinary human beings - real fighters. The CBC Monitor Report Cards
document their fealty to the cause of human liberation. Others, however, are
venal tricksters who must be exposed as tools of forces outside our
communities. It is the obligation of Black progressives - and the vast majority
of African Americans are progressive - to "out" the malefactors in our midst;
to expose them for the poseurs and hustlers that they are. Shame and ridicule
are great tools, and will be employed to the maximum at the first annual "Lawn
Jockey Awards" in Washington, DC, to bring in the Congressional Black Caucus's
yearly celebration in righteous style.
Accountability is the watchword. The CBC Monitor and Black
Agenda Report will document in full detail the betrayals of the four worst
members of the CBC - as a warning to the rest, and a vindication of those who
have not succumbed to corporate blandishments. The event will be held at Duke's
restaurant (as in Duke Ellington), at 1208 "U" Street, NW, Washington, DC., on
Wednesday, September 26. We will have a
great time roasting these turkeys who have turned against their own people to
vote for their corporate benefactors.
BAR executive editor Glen
Ford can be reached at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.
This week’s featured author is Miguel Valerio. Valerio is Assistant Professor of Spanish at Washington University in St. Louis. His book is Sovereign Joy: Afro-Mexican Kings and Queens, 1539-1640.
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