The Need for Regime
Change in Black America
by Kevin Martin
A New Visions Commentary
paper published May 2003 by The National Center for Public Policy
Research, 501 Capitol Ct., N.E., Washington, DC 20002, 202/543-4110,
Fax 202-543-5975, E-Mail Project21@nationalcenter.org,
Web http://www.nationalcenter.org.
Reprints permitted provided source is credited.
"Regime change" in Iraq is
now well underway. Because of the United States, Great Britain
and the rest of the "Coalition of the Willing," the
Iraqis are free of the dictatorial rule of Saddam Hussein and
able to construct a new representative government.
Earlier, dissidents of the Hussein leadership
were jailed, beaten or killed. I hate to admit it, but there
is a similar intolerance in black America, albeit the consequences
are less physically severe.
In our communities, black conservatives
who speak out against the leaders and policies pushed by liberals
who claim to speak for all black Americans are often bullied,
lambasted and even physically assaulted.
Like Iraq, we need regime change.
When I look at the blight in our urban
communities, I know who's at fault. It's not conservatism or
racism. Much like the Iraqi Baath Party, our so-called leaders
have enriched themselves off our backs for years while blaming
others for their failures.
When we look to Jesse Jackson, Julian
Bond and members of the Congressional Black Caucus, do they see
hope for our future? No! They are quick to complain about, but
are short on answers to our problems.
I see these black "leaders"
as modern-day Judases who have seemingly sold us out for the
equivalent of the 30 pieces of silver that white liberals offer
them in the form of donations and a little bit of power.
They try to play on our emotions. Much
like their former counterparts in Iraq, they preach that we should
hate America first. Take New Jersey poet laureate Amiri Baraka
and his anti-Semitic poem "Somebody Blew Up America."
In it, he blames the U.S. and Israel for the World Trade Center
attack. More recently, at Coppin State College in Baltimore,
Baraka had the nerve to call National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza
Rice a "skeeza" (a derogatory street term meaning "prostitute").
What crime did Dr. Rice commit to earn
Baraka's wrath? She is conservative and successful in her own
right. She is the most powerful woman in the federal government.
Baraka, on the other hand, plays to rooms of just over 100 people
yet gets lots of media coverage as a spokesman for black opinion.
Like his counterparts in Iraq, I don't doubt Baraka would love
to see Dr. Rice silenced and in a burka. I believe Baraka sees
Dr. Rice's success and her politics as a threat.
These black leaders bully and even physically
assault those who disagree with them or question their motives.
Several months ago, after Toyota announced that African-American
community groups could bid on multi-million dollar contracts
with the company (the outcome of a threatened boycott), Rainbow/PUSH
head Jesse Jackson saw himself as the one who would decide who
got them.
When Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson, the
black conservative founder and president of the Brotherhood Organization
of a New Destiny, openly challenged Jackson, he found himself
surrounded by and was roughed up by Jackson's associates. He
has filed a lawsuit out against Jackson for assault.
The only difference between the treatment
of Reverend Peterson and conditions in the former Iraq is that
Jackson's henchmen could not freely cut out his tongue.
How about education? In the African-American
community, black leaders would rather keep our children in failing
inner-city schools run by the government than give them a choice.
Much like Iraqi civilians trying to escape the besieged city
of Basra, black liberals take potshots at African-Americans who
ask for school vouchers or similar aid to take their children
out of failing schools. Meanwhile, Jesse Jackson and others send
their children to private schools.
The people of Iraq are liberated from
the oppressive rule of Saddam Hussein and his band of thugs.
But I caution the Iraqis not to take their liberation lightly.
Fight to keep it if you must.
And what about black conservatives infidels
here like me? I can only hope for a similar uprising, but I continue
to look for intellectual soldiers to help liberate us from the
dictatorial and elitist liberal rulers who hold our community
hostage.
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(Kevin Martin is a member of
Project 21 who owns an environmental contracting firm in the
Washington, DC area. He can be reached at kevlmar73@hotmail.com.)
Note: New Visions Commentaries reflect the views of their author,
and not necessarily those of Project 21.