Blacks fronted and supported the public shaming of Justice Thomas
during the nomination hearing.
They more than any other group made him public enemy
number one. And
they slapped on his face the image of Uncle Tom, thus wishing
to brand him as the most contemptible personality of our
generation.
They almost succeeded. Justice Thomas was different in a
manner that a white Justice wouldn't be though he would be a
flaming Democrat.
Justice Thomas was Black then and would be until his demise. More
important, if racism is as culturally significant a harm for
Blacks as we deemed it to be one would automatically expect
some sympathy for Justice Thomas from the Black community.
But he got scarcely little.
The perpetual solidarity for liberal white Democrats
was more necessary to many Blacks than a stance on the side of
a Black Republican conservative.
At least, some of us can honestly claim now that we crossed the
ideological barrier and voted for Obama. And with his
first term over, found that he had nothing for us;
ideologically speaking, and no matter how politically
incorrect this may seem to some.
The story is different on the other side, the overwhelming side
that wants to stay relevant by voting for the Democrat party.
This has become worrisome for some of us even if the
predilection has not become a wonder in American politics
itself.
For over 50 years, the tendency for Blacks to vote Democrat has
gone on, even though it is a known fact that Blacks are
culturally more conservative than Whites.
Something must be at odd with the Black political preference for
Democrat white liberal.
This tendency has no civic clarity.
Worse, the result for voting liberal has shown no
tangible sociopolitical rewards for Blacks over the years.
Black conservatives have no such mismatch when what they support is
compared with the result they get.
The preference for Clarence Thomas as a conservative
judge and his being selected for the Supreme Court has been a
reward.
Blacks, both liberals, and conservatives alike have common needs
and wants. The
fulfillment of these needs must be the sole pursuit of the
political vote and for which once elected, we must expect our
elected politicians to deliver.
In 2008, we heard Obama’s promises about change.
But were those promises fulfilled before 2012?
Black unemployment rate and food stamp usage rose higher under
Obama than they were in 2009 when Obama came into office.
Blacks, in relative terms during the same period, had their
prospects depressed, more so than whites and Hispanics.
Under Obama liberal ideals were promoted.
We heard the Dream Act for Hispanics.
But conditions did not improve for Blacks, not even
with the influx of the huge amounts of federal money spent on
stimulus projects. In short, Blacks went along with the Obama
promise and came out short - no tangible economic or status
gains.
The reality of the Black situation became stark under Obama.
But it didn't start with him.
This one ethnic all-in support for one party has been
going on for decades.
There is now the need to resort to real politics; to
question and re-examine our principles and priorities for
voting Democrat all the time.
This self-examination is what Obama’s era has made
possible.
In Africa, we vote massively for the strongman and the tribe. In
America, the Democrat party has become both the tribe and the
strong man in our communities.
But the shock in America is while the Democrat tribe builds and
gains on the backs of Blacks, the returns in prospects are
stale. Black civil rights prospects haven’t improved.
Rather, there have been roll backs.
We even lost our leadership role as the most populous and
influential minority group to Hispanics when a shift in
demographic growth happened in and around 2012.
Today, we remain as a minority underclass, with mostly white
Hispanics at the apex of minority political power.
Even so, Democrat presidential electoral victories will still be
determined by the one-sided Black vote because of the heavy
shift in percentage size to favor only Democrats.
Rather than advocating an effective political strategy for Blacks,
the likes of Jesse Jackson advocated for a “rainbow
coalition,” a non-white alliance that was thought to shift the
political advantage to Blacks.
Jesse is yet to consider openly that this wish hasn’t happened.
The advantage that was to be gained under the “rainbow
coalition” movement, or what he thought could be shoehorned
into the Black community, has not happened.
Looking back, only the delusional would have thought that Hispanics
wouldn’t keep for themselves the political power gained
through the “rainbow coalition” movement.
Also overlooked was a natural inclination. The possibility of
Hispanic whites to form a common cause with their European
white counterparts.
That possibility has happened, resulting in expansions in political
gains for the Hispanic group in a manner faster than those for
Blacks from the civil rights movement of the 60s.
Objectives gained for Blacks under the Civil Rights movement, like
Affirmative Action, are being upended.
More benefits for others than Blacks happen within this
political culture, all done under the camouflage term of
diversity.
Under this term of diversity, you can list white women, Hispanics,
and others.
The word Hispanic is not even racial. It is cultural.
There are two distinct races within this group.
Blacks in the Hispanic grouping, especially those from
Central and South America, are just as disadvantaged in their
new home as they were back in their countries of origin.
In this sense, in the larger society of America, Black Hispanics
are still overwhelmed by white Hispanics’ presence in their
new home country. Black political power has thus become
defused and unlike what was assumed under the "Rainbow
Coalition" movement.
But all things considered, the total Hispanic vote does not go
overwhelmingly in one direction to favor Democrats.
Unlike Blacks, the Hispanic vote does have a tangible
presence in both political camps and with it comes power and
influence.
George P. Bush and Senator Marco Rubio, both Republicans and
comfortably described as white Hispanics are future stars for
the Hispanic “Rainbow Coalition” movement.
So are Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and San Antonio Mayor
Julian Castro on the Democrat side.
There are no top political operatives, equally balanced on both
sides of the ideological line for Blacks.
And after Obama, it would be difficult to see a
prominent Black, with any bipartisan weight on either side of
the political aisle because the community does not allow it.
But be sure when a top
Republican Black comes up, he or she will promptly be
denounced and labeled as Uncle Tom.
Poor Uncle Tom, one would have thought that he would be promoted as
an original Black patriot by now. For, it was through
his silence that many slaves got the chance for freedom.
And he suffered for his loyalty. It is this suffering as
a slave and the experiences from the Jim Crow laws, that
Blacks drew the justification for calling into question
America's humanity, resulting in Civil Rights activism.
Uncle Tom should have been promoted as a hero and role model for
his self-sacrifice, not mocked as a lackey for the white
master. The huge benefit we call the Civil Rights Laws that
have spread to all minority groups today came as a result of
actions by men like him.
In a humanistic sense, it is proper to share the benefits with all
minorities. But it is also stupid to stay quiet when the
broadening definition of “minority groups” goes on unchecked,
and the shares from the Civil Rights struggle go
disproportionately to others and disadvantage Blacks.
Like Santiago in Hemmingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, who
got the big fish and struggled to land it but only got to see
sharks gobble off the flesh off his catch, Blacks similar have
seen the gains from the Civil Rights marches dwindle in the
name of diversity.
But this spectacle of loss in gains is yet to spark a political
revolt against the Democrat party among Blacks.
Hispanics, on the other hand, have managed and maneuvered their
political objectives very well.
They started low, with the demand for bilingual status,
which once achieved has bought exclusive socio-economic power
for them.
The next act for Hispanics after 2012, is the promise of The Dream
Act promoted by our Obama.
This act will allow mostly Hispanics, who illegally walked across
the Southern border, to gain citizenship and consequently grow
their population and political power. But the source
from which the Dream Act came was illegal migration - a walk
across the Southern border.
On the other hand, Blacks from Africa cannot walk across the
Atlantic. And
there is no active policy promoted to reinforce Blacks from
populations in Africa, as Hispanics would soon do should the
Dream Act come through.
Worse, the Black population growth in America is under attack as
Black babies are aborted at a historic rate through liberal
policies and carried through with the help of the pro abortion
group, Planned Parenthood.
No other race aborts more in inner cities of America than Blacks.
The fewer births will assure that Black political power is
limited just at a time when the Hispanic population is
growing.
Sadly, it is Obama’s promise of the Dream Act that is working now.
The Hispanics heard him and loved the policy.
So, they voted massively for Obama and the Democrats in
2012. But what
exactly was the promise made to Blacks or what did we hear in
2008?
E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Publisher www.ghanadot.com, Washington,
DC, November 11, 2012.
Permission to publish: Please feel
free to publish or reproduce, with credits, unedited. If
posted on a website, email a copy of the web page to
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