who we are

[Two Americas]

Who are we - by "we" I mean the intellectuals of the left; the readers, writers, speakers, activists, political observers and students - and what is being asked of us?

There is "something in the air" one poster said about the warm fuzzies we are all supposed to be feeling after the debate, and another wants us to "believe in magic" and now we are all supposed to find "einheit" ("unity," in the original German) and go skipping off hand in hand into the fantasy land of hope - "snails and puppy dog tails" one poster yesterday said in describing politics. There is "something in the air" all right - is stinks to high heaven.

What is being asked of us? What are we being pressured to do? What role are we supposed to play politically?

The best analysis I ever heard of this issue was in a speech by Malcolm X back in the 60's. We are being asked to be the equivalent of what Malclom called the "house Negroes." Here are some excerpts from that great speech.

To understand this, you have to go back to what young brother here referred to as the house Negro and the field Negro -- back during slavery. There was two kinds of slaves. There was the house Negro and the field Negro. The house Negroes - they lived in the house with master, they dressed pretty good, they ate good 'cause they ate his food -- what he left. They lived in the attic or the basement, but still they lived near the master; and they loved their master more than the master loved himself. They would give their life to save the master's house quicker than the master would. The house Negro, if the master said, "We got a good house here," the house Negro would say, "Yeah, we got a good house here." Whenever the master said "we," he said "we." That's how you can tell a house Negro.

If the master's house caught on fire, the house Negro would fight harder to put the blaze out than the master would. If the master got sick, the house Negro would say, "What's the matter, boss, we sick?" We sick! He identified himself with his master more than his master identified with himself. And if you came to the house Negro and said, "Let's run away, let's escape, let's separate," the house Negro would look at you and say, "Man, you crazy. What you mean, separate? Where is there a better house than this? Where can I wear better clothes than this? Where can I eat better food than this?" That was that house Negro. In those days he was called a "house nigger." And that's what we call him today, because we've still got some house niggers running around here.

This modern house Negro loves his master. He wants to live near him. He'll pay three times as much as the house is worth just to live near his master, and then brag about "I'm the only Negro out here." "I'm the only one on my job." "I'm the only one in this school." You're nothing but a house Negro. And if someone comes to you right now and says, "Let's separate," you say the same thing that the house Negro said on the plantation. "What you mean, separate? From America? This good white man? Where you going to get a better job than you get here?" I mean, this is what you say. "I ain't left nothing in Africa," that's what you say. Why, you left your mind in Africa.

On that same plantation, there was the field Negro. The field Negro -- those were the masses. There were always more Negroes in the field than there was Negroes in the house. The Negro in the field caught hell. He ate leftovers. In the house they ate high up on the hog. The Negro in the field didn't get nothing but what was left of the insides of the hog. They call 'em "chitt'lin'" nowadays. In those days they called them what they were: guts. That's what you were -- a gut-eater. And some of you all still gut-eaters.

The field Negro was beaten from morning to night. He lived in a shack, in a hut; He wore old, castoff clothes. He hated his master. I say he hated his master. He was intelligent. That house Negro loved his master. But that field Negro -- remember, they were in the majority, and they hated the master. When the house caught on fire, he didn't try and put it out; that field Negro prayed for a wind, for a breeze. When the master got sick, the field Negro prayed that he'd die. If someone come to the field Negro and said, "Let's separate, let's run," he didn't say "Where we going?" He'd say, "Any place is better than here." You've got field Negroes in America today. I'm a field Negro.

The masses are the field Negroes. When they see this man's house on fire, you don't hear these little Negroes talking about "our government is in trouble." They say, "The government is in trouble." Imagine a Negro: "Our government"! I even heard one say "our astronauts." They won't even let him near the plant -- and "our astronauts"! "Our Navy" -- that's a Negro that's out of his mind. That's a Negro that's out of his mind.


Message To The Grass Roots
Malcolm X
November 10th, 1963
Detroit, Michigan
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/malcolmxgrassroots.htm

[ClericJohnPreston]

1. No one is ever going to turn me

I'm way past being manipulated. I have studied at the feet of masters of the game in learning my craft as a Trial Attorney.

The laughable suggestions by people of the Obama and Hillary persuasion fall on deaf ears, where I'm concerned. I am impervious to pleas and entreaties, predicated on fallacious reasoning and half-baked platitudes.

The worst of the bunch, as reflected in your OP, emanate from the Obama Camp. Here, political neophytes wax poetic, full of empty repetitive "dreamy talk", my name for the empty whipped frothing they leak from chattering mouths.

Oh, the fall from grace will be hard on this bunch. Whether it is the Rezko matter or the ghost of Clinton, this rabid group who never met hyperbole they didn't like, will fall the hardest. They will forget their former zeal and find every excuse OUTSIDE of their short-sightedness, as this is the generation of NO ACCOUNTABILITY! Our chance to excoriate them will be brief, as their blame mode will be on full tilt, shortly after their marshmallow cloud collapses.

Hillary will lose to the Republicans. Enough said there.

When times grow desperate, the class wars will finally begin. That won't be pretty either.

I say, skip all the heartbreak and go directly to building a third party, as the New Democrats are anything but. Being an anti-corporate revolutionary seems a noble enough profession. :)

[Two Americas]

2. great post

You are rock solid dependable on this issue of not compromising and it is very valuable. Thanks.

[ClericJohnPreston]

3. No problem Two Americas

you sing my song.

I just enjoyed slamming the effusive and egocentric William Rivers Pitt, self-promoter extraordinare.

Everyone was bending over backwards to praise him. The air was so thick with false praise you could vomit. I was the ONLY negative voice.

He had a picture of Obama and Hillary in GDP,titled "Y'all go on fighting", captioned, "America The Beautiful".

My response: YEAH.....

" Two Corporate-friendly candidates from the new and historic modern Democratic Party, which only is missing one thing.......REAL DEMOCRATIC CORE VALUES.

Isn't it just peachy to have our own Democrats sound like moderate Republicans and to use the word poverty as a prop?

I'll take the lesser story of "John", the one with the REAL idea of what a Democrat should sound like.

"America The Beautiful"? Yeah, if you're sitting in a Corporate board room!"

[bpeale]

8. i think it is way past time for a viable third party ... the progressive party

John should run under that

[Two Americas]

4. decapitation of the working class

Among those of us who have to trade our time for a paycheck, with all of the sacrifices and compromises that entails, there are people with many different skills who make many different contributions. I admire the men and women who are skilled at pruning and training the fruit trees on the farms I work with, for example. I admire all of the craftspeople I have met over the years. There are millions of people who get the real work done that keeps us all fed and warmed and housed, keep our cars running, the streets in repair, keep the plumbing and sewers functioning - thousands of essential jobs that we take for granted. And I admire the essential and vital work - unsung, unpaid and unappreciated - that bobbolink does speaking for those without a voice. That may be the most important job of any in the long run and in the greater picture, more important than sitting in the White House. Without a conscience a society will fall and the people will perish, and if no one speaks to our conscience, we are lost, are we not?

So there are many who contribute in many ways to the greater good.

There is one subgroup among the working people with a set of verbal and analytical and language skills - the intellectuals; writers, readers, thinkers, speakers, organizers, activists. That is us. We have our talents, but they don't make us any better than anyone else. What are we using those talents for? “To whom much is given, much is expected.”

By giving us degrees and credentials and positions, giving us more status, giving us a few more trinkets and baubles and a little more comfort, we come to think that we are something special. We are very dangerous. We could be the voice for millions of others. That is why we need to be bought off, that is why we need to be thoroughly indoctrinated against the working class, and in how to defend and promote the interests of the super-wealthy and powerful few. And that is what we do.

That is why the average blue collar person is far to the left of the average DUer or the average Democratic party or liberal activists. Oh sure, we dress things up with a veneer of enlightened liberal causes and beliefs, but those are all predicated on maintaining our privileged position and status.

Here among the Edwards supporters, there are a few who can see through the ruse, who recognize their chains, who want to give back to society, who want to advocate for those who need a voice, not for those who already have everything. It only takes a few, because it will spread. This is the start of a serious political movement. The people are ready - the cashiers, the factory workers, the farmers, the plumbers, the carpenters, the electricians, the day workers, the people in the warehouse and on the loading dock, the people mopping the floors and cleaning the toilets, the person at the counter at the convenience store in the middle of the night, the eldercare workers and the nurses, the housecleaners and the landscapers, those driving truck and those driving cab, and on and on. Do we fully realize that all of those people - not to mention the homeless and truly desperate - are completely invisible, erased from the happy suburban picture, left out of our political calculations?

They are all ready to go. But the working class has been decapitated - we, the head, have been neutered and crippled, and we are not speaking for our suffering brothers and sisters. We shill for the rulers in many, many ways; some obvious, some not so obvious.

There are people ready to pick up a hammer and with great skill build the platform, but there is no one who is ready to stand on it and speak. There are people ready to march, but no one to organize and lead them. There are people ready to learn, but no one trying to inform them. We are serving two masters, and that inevitably leads to us ultimately serving only one—the man with the money rather than the people with the needs.

We are missing in action. THAT is the one thing that we can do something about.

[ClericJohnPreston]

5. I agree

but based on your assessment, why did our esteemed leader leave his minions in the lurch? What would sway his mindset, so as to tear him away from his convictions? With John out, who is poised to take his place? I'm willing to stand and fight, as are all the stalwarts we know by name here.

Who is with us? A movement needs a credible leader........

[Two Americas]

6. pressure

I am sure he was pressured to leave the race. The same pressure is being applied to us - "we can't let the Republicans win, we have to have unity, we can't take any chances, you are hurting the party, any Democrat is better than a Republican" and all of the rest.

He puts his pants on one leg at a time, just as the rest of us do, right? (Sorry for the antiquated expression ;) )

Why wouldn't he be subject to the same pressures from the same bullying people for the same reasons using the same bogus justifications - even more so than we can imagine being under?

I believe that high muckety mucks in the party told him they would mess him up if he didn't cooperate. We are talking human beings here, and there is immense power and money at stake. The president of the US Chamber of Commerce calls Senator Kennedy and says "you want our help with that immigration reform bill, or do you want us to mobilize and destroy it? You know we can. We are willing to cooperate, but we need your help to get rid of that Edwards character." That is but one of many possible and very plausible scenarios.

We aren't babes in the woods, ClericJohnPreston. We know how the world works, and it ain't "snails and puppy dog tails" nor is it a matter of "believing in magic." That stuff is for children and true blue party loyalists.

[bpeale]

7. wow! i am simply awed by this thread

you say what i am thinking. i cannot support those other two candidates. i hate to not vote, but it might be necessary this time.

[Plucketeer]

9. Had to chuckle

I was reading all this and this one word (certainly appropriate for the conversation) just reached out and slapped me!

Two America's wrote: "I believe that high muckety mucks in the party told him they would mess him up if he didn't cooperate."

It was that last word that assaulted my funny-bone. Maybe (if it hasn't already been) we could coin a new version of that word. It would be Co-orporate. It sure seems to define what JE refused to do.;)