Beyond the Rhetoric
A Giant for Black Business Moves On
By Harry C. Alford
For the most part with Presidential Cabinet Secretaries, they come and they go. Most do little to further the progress of diversity in the procurement arenas. Some will actually think that it is their duty to resist it. Building minority business, in particular, Black business enhances employment and strengthens our communities.
All of the indicators move positively when this is done. Since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, there have been too few secretaries that have done much to address that need. Commerce Secretary Mosbacher, under the Reagan Administration, empowered the Minority Business Development Agency and ordered that the office work with “minority chambers of commerce.”
BLACK PERSPECTIVE
We Still Have a Ways to Go
By Charles E. Lewis, Jr., Ph.D.
The fact that Illinois Sen. Barack Obama is the odds-on favorite to make history by securing the Democratic Party’s nomination for president of the United States provides evidence that the United States has made significant strides in overcoming its history of slavery and racial discrimination.
Should Obama ascend to the White House, many will celebrate his presidency as the sign of a new post-racial era in America and reason to abandon laws and regulations that protect the interests of minorities. Some—like scholars Thomas Sowell and Shelby Steele and anti-affirmative action activist Ward Connerly—believe race-based policies are counterproductive and work to divide Americans along racial lines.
D.C.’s Only Official Public Holiday Open Letter to Mayor Adrian M. Fenty
Dear Mayor Fenty:
You have set a goal of making D.C. a “world-class city” and you have stated that a “world-class” public education is at the top of your list. We agree. D.C. residents deserve and need what is truly the best education the world has to offer. But there is no way that a people can achieve true “world-class” status without intense respect for their own local history. Our history is the foundation upon which D.C.’s identity and power rests. Yet, this year the D.C. government has not funded an official recognition of a unique part of its past – D.C. Emancipation Day.
Breaking Down Fences
By Bentley de Bardelaben
Approximately one month ago, I had a unique, uncomfortable and unforgettable experience while standing alongside the Pacific Ocean; a setting that generally provides me great pleasure and peace. For as long as I can remember, I have had a special connection with large bodies of water, i.e. lakes, seas, and oceans. At a minimum, the sight, sound and smell of them allow me to achieve a level of serenity, joy and admiration.
Papal Visit Inspired Reflections
By Angeline Bandon-Bibum
Sen. Barack Obama smiled as he walked into Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pa., last Friday afternoon, making the hot, overcrowded gymnasium, with its predominantly White crowd, just a little cooler than it was just moments before his arrival. The audience roared when he entered, responding to his presence by clapping, whistling and yelling for the man who believes in change. “Obama, Obama, Obama!!” was the chant from the crowd.
Askia At-Large
Hillary: Maybe Not ‘In it to Win it’
By Askia Muhammad
Thankfully, I missed the fabled Pennsylvania presidential debate. Instead, I attended the 64th Annual Radio & Television Correspondents’ Association Dinner. Vice President Dick Cheney told jokes. Like the one about his wife, who said that calling The Veep Darth Vader, “humanizes him.” After the dinner, I got a chance to chat with former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele. The prominent Black Republican’s observations about the Democratic nomination contest were instructive.
The Clinton campaign’s continuing attacks against Sen. Obama do “only one thing. Help Obama lose in November,” he said. Gov. Steele is now practicing law with a Washington firm specializing in Africa. Later, a store clerk made the very same observation. And then came the screams about all four of them—the two network interviewers, Republican Sen. John McCain, and Sen. Hillary Clinton, all piling on with hostile questions.
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Everything Matters
Making Space for the Old and the New
By Patrice Gaines
It’s been three years since I moved away from D.C. I see the passage of time in chic restaurants or expensive condos with rooftop terraces. Generally, these new buildings stand on property where a landmark of my youth has been leveled. This week during a visit, I sat in the popular Bus Boys & Poets Restaurant & Bar on 14th Street, one of the newer landmarks that I adore. I was talking to friends and eating too much when one of my friends, Sandra Butler-Truesdale, pointed out a concern she has for this new city.
“There’s a story to be told about the aging population and gentrification,” she said. “There are not enough assisted living facilities in the District.”
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From the Desk of Ron Walters
Obama Campaign Trips Up On Debate
By Ron Walters
The understandable outrage – which I share – has been vented by many people at ABC News’ handling of the recent debate between presidential candidates Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. But there is another side to this.
George Stephanopoulos could have been depended upon to raise racial questions because in an off-camera comment when Obama was on his show, he said: “You have a very cool style when you're doing those town meetings where you're out on the campaign trail, and I wonder, how much of that is tied to your race?” Obama responded, “That's interesting.”
From Press Row
Losing Isiah
by Carla Peay
Isiah Thomas is without a doubt one of the greatest point guards to ever play in the NBA. Recognized as one the league’s 50 greatest players, Thomas’ 13-year career with the Detroit Pistons was highlighted by 12 all-star selections and two NBA Championships.
But his post-playing career has no highlights, only lowlights. In a decision that has basketball fans nationwide saying “finally” and “what took them so long,” Thomas has been fired from the New York Knicks. Well, sort of.
Editorials
Where is the Student Voice?
Due to low test scores, some schools in D.C. will be taken over by the city. In a recent article printed in The Washington Post, the Parent Teacher’s Association at Eastern High School suggested that the teachers be replaced. In their opinion, too many teachers have the wrong attitude, and are only interested in picking up a paycheck.
One teacher quoted in the article said parents need to be more involved in their child’s academic life. For her, the PTA represents less than 10 percent of all the parents in the school.
Both sides bring up good, valid points. But when do the students get the chance to speak their peace?
Though both parents and teachers have a vested interest in what happens to these schools, the students themselves have a right to weigh in, too. After all, the wrong decision could prove to be detrimental to their future.
Replacing teachers might satisfy parents, but for the students, they may be losing a teacher they trust and confide in. Any adult figure knows that establishing trust with a younger person, especially a teenager, is no easy feat. Ridding any school of its teachers could cause some emotional damage in the life of that student that depended on that relationship to get them through adolescence.
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The Real Robert “BET” Johnson
By Dennis Moore
Some say we live in a time of revelations. All of the assumptions and perceptions of reality are being revealed by the truth. Why should it be any different in the case of Black cable television billionaire Robert Johnson?
Johnson’s strident and clumsy comments against presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama have raised the old ghosts of the so-called “House Negro” versus the “Field Negro” syndrome. Known today as the “plantation mentality,” Johnson takes on the role of the privileged plantation mansion slave criticizing the struggling field slave.
His recent comments insinuating that Sen. Obama’s campaign is succeeding only because he is Black and has the smell of self-hate and jealous envy. Ironically, Mr. Johnson is probably the best example of how being Black has contributed to one’s individual success. The creation and development of his Black Entertainment Television network would not have been possible without the financial and political benefits of White mainstream media and government officials, and a personal loan from his ex-wife.
Though BET descended into being the abbreviation and definition of brain-empty television, or “Blaxploitation” entertainment, the initial idea was of a cable TV network promoting the best in Black culture. Johnson succeeded, and greatly profited, in televising some of the worst examples of Black oriented television programming owned and controlled by a Black entrepreneur.
Clearly, Obama has flipped the script on what it means to succeed in a field uncommon and unwelcoming to your best qualifications and efforts. Being a Black child growing up in a broken multiracial home, raised by struggling White grandparents in the middle of America is challenge in itself. Earning a Harvard education and succeeding against Chicago's toughest political machine as a state senator wasn’t easy either.
Months ago, many Blacks were questioning the senator’s blackness, until he proved he was a viable presidential choice to whites nearly everywhere in America. Now, the “kitchen sink” tactics of Hillary Clinton supporter Robert Johnson choose to employ a 21st century version of plantation politics.
It is beyond sad that some of Barack Obama's worst enemies and challenges come from Black and White people who disguise their own ethnocentric racism and self-hate with socially retarded comments.
Dennis Moore is a representative of the District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control Party and can be reached at dennis@DCIndependents.org.