ABOUT THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX AND BLACK MANIPULATION

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

EXCELLENCE IS THE KEY TO BLACK EQUALITY

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ABOUT THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX AND BLACK MANIPULATION

That crime bill that so many are blaming on Biden started out as a bill to protect women. Then Clinton and his Republican cronies amended it into what it became. In addition, some of those people it affected belonged in jail. I had to move my son and daughter out of the Baldwin Hills "Jungle"area after seeing 13-year-old girls whorin' in broad daylight to get crack cocaine. Yeah, the prison industrial complex was a trap for many Black people, but the White man didn't force those very same Black people to rob, kill, and victimize their own people which led to their entrapment. So the best way to avoid being entrapped and staying out of the joint is to live a decent life and not get busted.
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There are literally MILLIONS of Black men who have never even seen the inside of a police station. So, what was the difference between them and the ones who got caught-up in the prison/industrial system? I know, because I was the son of a lifelong drug dealer - in fact, the Iceberg Slim of drug dealers in Los Angeles during the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Every drug dealer for miles around worked for him. And even I spent as much time in jail between the time I was 12-years-old and 19 as I did on the street.
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MY FATHER, MAC, AND BROTHER, VIRGIL 

IN 1966

When I got out of Oak Grove Juvenile Camp at age 14, my father had just gotten out of San Quentin the day before, and we hooked up and partied like there was no tomorrow. We became more like road dawgs than father and son. In fact, me and my older brother, Virgil, were kind of jealous of one another – he was jealous of me because our father treated me like a peer, and I was jealous of him because he was treated him like a valued son to be protected. Essentially, I became a part of my father’s crew. At 16 I was making enough money to rent an apartment in the same complex he lived in, and was the only one in high school with my own apartment. And on a couple of occasions, my father was going with a woman, and I was going with her daughter.
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But I was fortunate. When I got busted as an adult at 19 with a briefcase full of drugs (including heroin), the judge considered my father (who was in jail at the time), and my background. He felt sorry for me, so after I was convicted, he and Capt. Foster, the cop who first busted me at school when he worked the Juvenile Division, took me in the judge’s chambers and propositioned me. Capt. Foster told the judged that I wasn’t a hardened criminal, just stupid. Then when I started to protest over him calling me stupid, he told me to shut up, which I did. Then the judge gave me a choice between going to the joint or going into the Marine Corps. He told me if I came out of the marines with an Honorable Discharge he would expunge my entire record, Juvenile and all, and I could have a new chance at life. Naturally, I jumped at the opportunity, because I had already been in jail for over 90 days, and I didn't expect to see the street again for, at least, 5 years, and agreeing meant I could not only avoid the joint, but I could go home, chill-out, and get high.
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Ordinarily, the Marines wouldn't even think of letting anyone with my background in the Corps - I was a high school dropout with a long criminal record  - but the judge was a former Marine Corps officer with connections, and somehow he made it happen. He didn't want me to go into the army, that would take damn near anyone who could standup, he wanted the Marines to bite into my ass, and that's exactly what happen. Before the bus even came to a full stop at the recruit depot, the biggest, ugliest, drill instructor in the marine corps jumped on the bus screamin' my name, and when I didn't move fast enough, he grabbed me by the collar and dragged me of the bus, and told me, "When I say shit, you come-a-sliding. You got that, asshole!!!?" That was my introduction to the Marine Corps. and within two days of runnin', jumpin', and crawlin' through the mud (without sleep), only then was I assigned to a unit just to begin my training. But by then, I was fantasizing about how sweet life could have been in prison.
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The Marines showed me what a real gangster was. At first, they used me as a close combat dummy to show the other marines how to choke a person into unconsciousness, and then, how to attack the enemy to demobilize them. But then they tested me, because I had to have at a least a GED to stay in the corps, which I obtained. But then came the shock. After further abuse of boot camp, they suddenly started treating me differently and sent me to the Army/Navy Academy to further my education. Thereafter, the naval captain who was my mentor, got me assigned as an aide to the Commanding General - I wrote everything that came out of his office. And from that point on, I started living large.
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The general was a classical pianist and I knew jazz, so I introduced him to the music of Bird, Bud Powell, Phineas Newborn Jr, and Thelonious Monk. So we would sit around on the weekends, drink his scotch, and sometimes argue politics. He once told me, "If you weren't my aide, your ass would be in the brig". But we became like father and son. He would tell me about the battles he'd fought in WWII and the Korean War, and I would tell him about the battles I'd fought on the streets of L.A.
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On the subject of racism, he told me that "Most bigots were raised in the Ozzie and Harriet world of White America where they never even came into contact with African Americans on an eyeball-to-eyeball basis. So now, they think African Americans are intruding on their world, and people like you are taking the jobs of more deserving White people due to America's attempt to be politically correct. I felt that way myself once, until I met Chappie James (a fighter pilot and the first four star general in the American military). He was a Lt. Col. back then, and I was shocked when I recognized that he was the most brilliant man I'd ever met. Now Black officers are the secret of my success. I have more Black officers under my command than any general in the Marine Corps. I've found that Black people have more invested in their success. Black people are not just interested in success for it's own sake, they have point to make."
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So it was the excellence of Chappie James that served to rescue my life, and that's the way life works. It is through excellence that the Black community moves forward. Excellence is the key to Black progress, not screamin'. We can't out-scream the White establishment because they control the media, and we can't out-fight them because they control the military and police. So the only way for Black people to move forward is to out-think the White man, and we can do that, because what we so dismissively refer to as "soul" is nothing less than Black creative brilliance straining to be unleashed. So once we decide to start twerking our minds instead of our asses, we'll be unstoppable. 

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When I went into town I couldn't even buy myself a drink, because the officers would kiss my natural ass, thinking that I could help them get on the general's good side. The general also set me up in private quarters in a spacious room in the rear of the base library where I could work at night without being disturbed. So I would walk around in the darkened library at 2 a.m. in the morning with John Coltrane echoing in the background through the rows of books on any subject I decided to get into. I even setup a bar to hold the many bottles of alcohol that the officers would bring by when they came to suck-up, and I was living part-time with my commanding officer's beautiful daughter, Kathy. So life was sweet. I had to pinch myself. That was a long way from the joint, and I knew I'd never go back to my old way of life.
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Then one night the general came by the library with two documents. One was an announcement that the unit was being redeployed, and the other was an early-out education discharge for me. He said, "Go find a school dumb enough to accept you, and give 'em hell." And that's exactly what I did.  And I left him a thank you note on the back of the album, A Portrait of Thelonious by Bud Powell (he loved both "Ruby my Dear" and "Squatty" from that album), and I gave him some advice - "Work on accenting the second and fourth beats, and the up-beats of those 16th note runs. That was the key to Bud's success."
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But prior to my going into the military, everybody was so sure I was going to the joint that when I showed up at home after the judge let me out of jail, my grandmother thought I'd escaped. But that's what broke the cycle, and I pledged to myself at that moment to get my act together and never get busted again, and I haven't. In fact, after I came out of the Marine Corps, had my record expunged, and graduated from college, Capt. Foster approached me and offered to sponsor me in joining the LAPD. He said that they needed people like me, and he guaranteed me that I wouldn't be a street cop long. But Val, who was an Angela Davis-type, told me, “That sounds like a plan, but where the hell do you plan on sleeping when you get off from work?” So that plan went straight down the drain.
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ERIC JR.

But what was ironic about that was, Val and I had a daughter, Kai, and a son, Eric Jr, and my son went on to become a federal drug agent (DEA). And fortunately, after my son and daughter were born, my father saw the light and went on to become a longshoreman.
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After my father died, when I was in my thirties, my grandmother recognized the bond we had, and not being big on preachers, she wanted me to do his eulogy. I looked, sound, and acted so much like my father that at the funeral one of my uncles just looked at me and broke-out crying. And I was so passionate over the loss that after the funeral the preacher asked if he could keep a copy of the eulogy. In spite of everything, I was proud of my father, and Mac was his own man right up to the end. He didn't even have to die, but when he was in the hospital, for some reason, he wouldn't let the doctors touch him.
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My wife was also overcome with emotion. She and my father had formed a strong bond. Although Val was a militant sister (the President of the Black Student Union in college), she was the niece of "Big Joe" Langford, who Iceberg slim came to live with when he first moved to Los Angeles to take care of his mother. From the very beginning, my father and Big Joe nurtured me and Val's relationship when we were teenagers. On our first date, for example, they had a gigolo name Shelton, who escorted starlets for the Hollywood studios, escort us around town in his Bentley. Making women feel special was Shelton's stock and trade, and he made it a night that Val cherished, and talked about, for the rest of her life. It started with him retrieving her at her front door and holding her hand to escort her to the car, and then opening the back door for her where I was waiting in the backseat. My father had given me plenty of cash, but I didn't have to spend a penny. Shelton had everything covered. Val would later say, that Shelton is the prettiest man I've ever seen.

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KAI AT WINDSOR HILLS GRADUATION

But that was only the beginning. After Val and I were married, when Val was 19 and I was 21 and Kai and Eric Jr. were born, Mac and Big Joe made sure that we never wanted for a thing, and they got the kids into the best schools. Our kids went to elementary school with the children of doctors, lawyers, and politicians, and they kept the same teacher, Faye Armstrong, throughout. Faye was sharp, and she had a huge impact on Kai. At graduation, Kai was selected to give the graduation speech. When I looked at it, I said, "Aw, hell naw. This is too much. She's gonna trip trying to read all of this." Then, on graduation day, she came up on stage without the speech, and I panicked - "She forgot to bring the damn speech!" But then she look out at the audience and threw her head back, and it was on! She didn't even stutter - not once. And I've never underestimated her since.

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Kai also shocked me when she was able to help me with math when I was attending a university and she was only in the 6th grade - and she's still

MY GRANDDAUGHTER, TAYLOR

sharper than I am. And she passed that brilliance on to my granddaughter, Taylor, who's currently at Jackson State trying to decide if she's going to continue in medicine or switch to law. I told her, she can do 'em both. "Finish medical school, then go to law school. You've got time. You're still a baby." But she's been tinkering around with modeling, so I told her, don't let them talk you into modeling until you've completed your studies. That kind of celebrity lifestyle can become a distraction to what's important in life. Beauty fades, but knowledge only becomes more profound. I just had that discussion with her last week, and she promised me that she would stay focused. She said that after graduation, instead of modeling she was considering going into the Air Force to pay for the remainder of her education. I was delighted to here that, because the Black community needs more quality minds, not another superstar.
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I told my son the same thing when he was considering the possibility of following Tracy Murray into the NBA, but since he's a male I was a little more forthright with him - "Man, do you really want to dedicate your life to bouncing a goddamn ball?" He ended up going into the Air Force as well, and became the team leader of a group of "Ravens" that went all over the world with the President of the United States.
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But I'm digressing. Due to the watchful eye of my father and Big Joe, my children never knew struggle. But while Val and I had the street life in our DNA, we were both determined that our son and daughter would never know the street. In retrospect, that might have been a mistake, because I learned later in life that a knowledge of the street is an essential part of who we are as a people. Black street life is an education that can't be replicated on any university campus in the world. What I learned from Sweet Willie on the street has always given me an edge over so-called intellectuals.
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But there was a funny ending to this. One day I saw Val walking around the house with our weed box. When I asked her what she was doing, she said, “I’m looking for a place to stash it. The ‘pig’ just flew in and he’s on his way home.” Now, she knew Eric wasn’t gonna bust us for no weed. That weed box has been in the same place under our bed since he was a child, but she wanted to show respect for her son (“the pig”), so I just smiled as she took the box and hide it in the garage, recognizing that DNA never dies.
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But enough about my life. The point is, I know about this shit, and I knew many of the people involved – and a lot of their asses BELONGED in the joint - they’re

victimizing one another right now in the prison. So while people are right about the fact that the system victimized Black people, what we rarely hear about when we’re discussing this subject is how Black people victimized one another. We destroyed a lot of one another’s lives. I only have one friend who lived past the age of 30.

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So while I love my people, my heart refuses to bleed for people who were the victims of their own selfishness, greed, and stupidity. That’s the way life works. We have to account for the decisions we make in life. College was absolutely free back then – I went to college for $6.50 a term, and that included parking. So victims of the prison/industrial complex had every opportunity to choose a productive way of life. But instead, they let the White man treat them just like rats – he laid out some cheese and they walked right into the trap. Whose fault was that?
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If these “victims” had been thinking of the best interest of their people instead of their own selfishness and greed they never would have been entrapped. That’s why the predatory Hillary Clinton mocked them by calling them predators – if they hadn’t gone to prison many of them would have been on the street robbing, killing, and victimizing their own people. So in this case, the White man may have inadvertently performed a public service for the Black community, although, admittedly, his intentions were far from honorable.
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But that should serve as a lesson for the Black community. We must learn to think, instead of simply following our selfishness, greed and emotions, because if we don’t, the White man will use it against us every time. Look at how, as we speak, the bigoted Trump is releasing a handful of Black convicts from prison in order to try to delude the Black community into voting against their own interests and promoting his - and that's in spite of the fact that he’s the most vicious enemy of the Black community alive today – and, it’s working.
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POKING YOUR LIPS OUT 

ACCOMPLISHES NOTHING

A group of mindless so-called Black activists recently came together to close down the Leimert Park campaign office of Joe Biden, the totally loyal Vice President of the first Black President in American history. They based their actions on cherry-picked elements of Biden’s long political history. Now, Biden is the most feared opponent of Donald Trump, and Donald Trump is the most virulent racist in modern history, and these people demonstrated to shut Biden's office down. That was one of the dumbest acts I’ve seen in my entire life. That's like coming under attack and then throwing away your only means of defense.
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Donald Trump is so much in fear of Biden that he got himself impeached trying to smear him. So why would these so-called activists want to drive the biggest threat to the most virulent enemy of Black people out of the Black community? There can be only one of three possible answers to that question – either they’re incredibly dumb, there’s some Cointelpro-activity going on, or somebody’s being paid under the table. I won’t bother to speculate which is true, but suffice it to say, the Black community needs to get a handle on this kind of thing, and not just sit back and watch it play out. Actions just like the one described is what brought down the Civil Rights Movement. Regardless of what a person’s views are on Biden, who the hell are these people to take it upon themselves to dictate who the Black community should listen to? The fact is, they don't have that right - period. Their attitude was condescending toward Black people. They treated us like we were a bunch of children that they, in all their wisdom, had to guide. Who the hell do they think they are!!!?
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Now, let me make myself clear. I’m not saying that Joe Biden is a saint. Politics is a dirty game, but we must learn how to play that game and pimp the politicians instead of letting them pimp us. And in order to do that, there’s one thing that we must ALWAYS remember. There are no political Messiahs out there. ALL politicians are full of shit – they have to be to survive as politicians. So in order to play the game to our advantage, it’s our job to learn to pick the turd that draws the least number of flies, and not allow others to do that for us, regardless of who they are.  

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I BEAR WITNESS
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I sit, I watch,

and I grow ever more obsolete
as I bear witness.
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I bear witness 
to a once vibrant people greedily gulping down society’s hemlock. Even as they claim to be “keeping it real,“ they continue to maim, kill, and despise their own in hot pursuit of the prime directive with the passion of a sheetless klan.

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I bear witness
to Black fists in the air in false solidarity promoted by self-serving poverty pimps as the world looks on and giggle at crooked fingers pointed elsewhere.
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I bear witness
to the superficial attempt to ban the “N-word” while the new "un-niggas" stand around watching children killing children and fathers drugging sons, as they celebrate, lionize, and enrich those who denigrate the very womb of their culture with impunity.
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I bear witness
to a generation of lost knowledge, cut off from its roots by Ronnie’s “Just say no” generation of crack, greed, death, and political corruption; A generation where the new N-word is pronounced “Responsibility” and the keepers of the flame completely ignore the destructive power of bitch, slut, whore, and tramp.
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I bear witness
to the reckless disregard of the words uneducated, irresponsible, and classless. Should we not ban these words as well, or should we ban banning words altogether as we celebrate their meaning?
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Yes, I do bear witness.
I bear witness to a new world -
a world where gross ignorance comes disguised as enlightenment, and funky sneakers look down with disdain upon the sweet smell of Florsheim; a world where saggin’ pants and gaudy glitter enable country bumpkins to masquerade as elegant, and the exquisite surrender of eloquence is the very essence of what it means to be hip.
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Where's Langston? Where's Baldwin? Where's Oscar Brown, Jr?
We need you stormin' this beach, because . . .
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I now bear witness
to a world where motherhood stands alone, to be “dope” renders a smile, and posterity is forced to embrace the wind for paternal sustenance; A world where the walking dead strut about rapping the wisdom of idiocy, and we praise the illiteracy of vulgar nursery rhymes as profound; a world where the mother of salvation's final gasp is compared to the pigmentation of brown paper bags.
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Malcolm, Martin, where are you?
I once stood with a crowd.
Now seemingly alone, I'm forced to bear witness -
horrific witness . . .
to the imminent demise of our people,
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And my heart bleeds.
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Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
BLACK WRITERS, INTELLECTUALS, AND INDEPENDENT THINKERS
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Religion: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does. 

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CRITICISMS OF NAJEE ALI REMINISCENT OF THE SIXTIES

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

EXCELLENCE IS THE KEY TO BLACK EQUALITY

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CRITICISMS OF NAJEE ALI REMINISCENT OF THE SIXTIES

I recently wrote a piece urging Najee Ali to consider running for the City Council seat being vacated by Councilman Herb Wesson to run for County Supervisor, and no sooner than I hit “post” a hater popped up with criticisms of Najee Ali. That brought back to mind all the bad memories of White supremacist indoctrination and character flaws within the Black community that led to our sabotaging ourselves during the sixties.

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As a product of the Civil Rights Movement of the sixties I remember all too well how Black idiots and turncoats teamed up with establishment bigots of the time to create “Cointelpro". Cointelpro was ‘a series of covert and, at times, illegal projects conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aimed at surveilling, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting domestic political organizations’.

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Many tend not to remember it today, but during that time, bigots used the Black community’s own self-hatred and internal jealousies to break the back of the civil rights movement.  They placed Black haters within the various civil rights organizations to stir up hatred, division, and confusion. They were talking about Malcolm like a dog, and calling Martin Luther King an Uncle Tom; Maulana Ron Karenga’s “US” organization was fighting the Black Panther Party, and the Nation of Islam was upset with everybody. And now, I’m sad to say, after all these years, it's obvious that we haven’t learned a thing.

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The fact is, while we often fail to recognize it, many Black people contracted a serious mental disorder during slavery, and it's been passed down through the generations over the years. It entails an innate distrust and disdain of our own people, a lack of focus, a seeming inability to prioritize, and the tendency to be disagreeable and hostile toward anyone who challenges the status quo. That attitude makes it next to impossible for Black people to come together and organize to improve our condition - and it also serves to insure the stability of this White supremacist system.
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So the White man has done his job well. He's convinced a sizeable number

THE HAPPY NEGROES

of mindless Black people to hate their own - not all, by any measure, but more than enough to sabotage Black progress. I call them the "Happy Negroes" - they're happy to be second-class citizens, fully accept that as their place in life, and is convinced that any Black person who doesn't accept it is being "uppity". Thus, such people will hate a person like Najee Ali for no other reason than he's well known and fighting back. From their point of view, that's not a Black man's place, unless he's been pre-approved by the White man. 

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It’s hard to believe today, but even Martin Luther King was initially criticized by the Black church for causing an unnecessary disturbance to the

status quo. They told him to stop rockin' the boat and simply pray on his concerns and eventually racism and bigotry would work itself out. The mindset of Black distrust was so pronounced within the Black community that Malcolm was killed by his own people. So when it came to brainwashing the Black man, the White man had done his job well, and we still see its impact on Black attitudes today.
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As Black people we’ve got to learn that we’re not a tribe where everybody is obligated to think alike. While our mission must be aligned, independent thinkers are an asset, not a liability. We all have different talents and experiences in life, so no one man, or philosophy, corners the market on either knowledge, wisdom. or intellect. So we must both learn from, and help to educate one another. While I might be a better writer than you are, you may be able to help me out in math.
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My late wife and I learned that lesson as a young married couple. Instead of defining our respective roles in the family according to gender, we based our roles on who was best at a given task, and that served us very well. When it came to having something done around the house, my wife would take control. She would hire the contractor and supervise his work. But if later he tried to run some sort of game on her, she would say, “Wait a minute. Let me let you speak to my husband.”
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That’s how we should address our tasks in the community – we should seek to cultivate ALL of our talents, and thereafter, who’s ever best at a given task should take the lead instead of getting into self-serving spitball fights over who’s going to be the “leader” of the community. We must ALL be leaders. I don't have the talent or personality to be a community organizer so I leave that to Najee Ali, and I use whatever talent I may have to support his efforts. That's the way to move forward, not badmouthing and trying to sabotage him because he's better known than I am. That's petty and immature - it's a form of Trumpism.
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Finally, I’d like to address Najee’s statement that he’s content doing what he’s doing because it allows him to address issues in the ENTIRE community, as oppose to limiting himself to only one councilmatic district.
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In response, I’d like to say to Najee, I think you’ve anticipated and chosen not to be bothered with all of the ignorance and negativity outlined above. But I’d like to point out that having to deal with that kind of nonsense is also a part of moving the community forward. And with respect to being able to serve the entire community, simply because you assume an official position on the City Council doesn’t mean that you have to give up your activism in the community as a whole. In fact, the two activities would compliment one another.
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So, Najee, I think you should give running for office serious consideration. Opportunities often present themselves for reasons far beyond our immediate understanding, and when they do – especially if they seem to pop up out of nowhere – it’s incumbent upon us to move on them, because it may be the first step in opening a door to more than your wildest dreams. .
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We should always keep the axiom “Nothing ventured, nothing gained” in mind, and also remember how fickled life can be. Suppose you had decided to stay home and watch a football game the day you met your wife. Just that one act, deciding to leave your house that day, served to changed your entire life. Likewise, deciding to run for the Los Angeles City Council could very well have the same kind of impact your life, and also the fortunes of the Black Community.
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It is certainly not my intent to try to compare you to Dr. Martin Luther King, but we mustn't forget that at one point Dr. King didn't want to follow his destiny either. But unbeknownst to the good doctor, his name had already been written in the stars. 

Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com

BLACK WRITERS, INTELLECTUALS, AND INDEPENDENT THINKERS
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Religion: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does. 

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BLACK LIVES MATTER - DON'T LET YOURSELVES BE PLAYED AND MISS THE BIG PICTURE

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

BLACK LIVES MATTER - DON'T LET YOURSELVES BE PLAYED AND MISS THE BIG PICTURE

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RM,
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I know you're a big supporter of the "Black Lives Matter" movement, and as a Black man myself, it's easy to understand why. They reflect our frustration at repeatedly seeing Black people shot down, beaten, choked to death, and possibly even lynched while in police custody. And then if that's not bad enough, we're being forced to endure juries and agencies across this country treating these heinous crimes as though the alleged perpetrators are performing a public service. It's unconscionable and almost more than one can stand. So I'm definitely in full support of BLM's "professed" agenda.
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But I'm also quite concerned about how BLM is going about trying to achieve their objectives, and whether or not they've been infiltrated by right-wing operatives who are instigating a level of stupidity that's not only sabotaging BLM's professed agenda, but is allowing the organization to be used to undermine other progressive activists - So far, Bernie Sanders, Al Sharpton, and Mike Malloy - activists who should be considered allies. They settled for a quiet little chat, behind the scenes, with Hillary Clinton. Hmmmmm . . .
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Writer and political commentator, Brian K. Pinaire, Ph.D. , describes the the BLM takerover of Bernie Sanders' Seattle event as follows:
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"We'd been waiting for nearly two hours by the time he finally took the stage. We'd been approached by a few dozen petition-circulators, button-sellers, pamphlet-distributors and sign-holders. We'd heard a few songs by a group called the "Raging Grannies." And we'd listened to the usual array of warm-up speakers, local candidates and activists gathered for this event at Westlake Center in Seattle. Now, it was finally time for the man of the hour--or the two hours, actually. Until all of a sudden it wasn't.
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"Just as Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was beginning his speech, protestors representing "Black Lives Matter" took the stage, screamed at Sanders and commandeered the podium at what was supposed to be a celebration of the birthdays of Social Security and Medicare. I watched all this occur in real-time, but I was also capturing it on video. And I am glad I did, because not enough has been said of the insulting manner by which these individuals addressed everyone within earshot.
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"Demanding to speak, and to do so before Senator Sanders, Marissa Janae Johnson, a self-described co-founder of the Seattle group, began by telling us all "You guys are full of bullshit with your black lives matter!" Even though the crowd had cheered earlier speakers who'd mentioned the movement, Ms. Johnson seemed distraught that some people were chanting "Bernie!, Bernie!" after she'd taken over the stage.
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"Why was the crowd chanting "Bernie! Bernie!"? you might ask. Because they came to see Bernie Sanders speak about Social Security and Medicare.
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"This was when Ms. Johnson reprimanded the crowd even more--a crowd whose average age was easily more than twice that of her own--by announcing "You're never going to hear Bernie speak unless I get silence here now." Yes, she was scolding people of her parents' and grandparents' generations who had come to hear about how we might make lives better for the poor and elderly. And now she was also holding Senator Bernie Sanders for ransom." (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-k-pinaire-phd/feel-the-bern_b_7963688.html)
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So again, RM, while I share your frustration, I'm greatly concerned over BLM's behavior, because nobody can be as stupid as they've been by accident, and  as a child of the sixties, I learned very early in life to never allow myself to be blinded by circumstances. No matter how frustrating and unconscionable the situation, we must always remain vigilant for hyper-ideologues engaged in reckless and unnecessary stupidity.  CointelPro 101.
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The minute I witnessed what BLM did to Al Sharpton and Bernie Sanders I cringed, because it was like "deja vu all over again." It was immediately clear to me that behavior such as that is the primary reason we're still fighting the very same battle 50 years later.
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Both Sharpton and Sanders were on the right page and using the perfect tactic - educating the people and gaining their empathy and support. Then hot-heads professing to be from BLM jumped on stage using exactly the wrong tactic - snatching the mic and shaking their fist at the very people who they should be trying to recruit as allies. They weren't scaring nobody; they just pissed people off - including me, and I'm an old-school revolutionary.
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People are tired of publicity-seeking fist-shakers creating public distractions and wasting our time. Fist-shakers are generally just looking for applause, so they should go somewhere and learn to tap dance and get it legitimately. We're looking for thinkers who can seriously, and effectively, address our problems, not overbearing and obnoxious, "look-at-what-I'm-doing" type entertainers. This situation is much too serious for such self-serving and childish behavior. All they've done is become a distraction. Instead of talking about how Black lives truly do matter, all we're discussing is BLM's childishly disgusting behavior; and instead of promoting the perfect declaration - again, that Black lives matter - whenever thousands of people hear the phrase, the first thing they'll experience is their anger over BLM's silly antics. Our enemies are dead serious, so this is no time to jump on stage auditioning for fame.
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In response you said, "Since the NYPD is using COINTELPRO against BLM, doesn't that make BLM legit? If BLM is COINTELPRO,  did Obama authorize the operation?"
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You're missing the point. When CointelPro is mentioned, that doesn't necessarily mean that it is the exact same government-initiated program that it was during the Civil Rights Movement; what I'm suggesting is BLM's attack on Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rev. Sharpton (both allies) struck me as CointelPro-LIKE.  During the sixties Howard Hughes was world famous for being considered one of the riches men on Earth as a result of his $2.5 billion fortune. But today's billionaires could leave that kind of chump-change as a tip. So today the Koch Bros., ALEC, and their billionaire friends can finance programs that not only rival CointelPro, but much more - and they often do.
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In today's world there is no such thing as a group being "legit" or "illegit".  I'm sure that the 99% of the people involved in BLM are perfectly legitimate and their primary concern is protecting Black lives, but how can we prevent the Corporate/GOP Alliance, with all of their vast wealth and resources, from sprinkling illegitimate infiltrators among BLM's ranks to instigate ill-advised - in fact, stupid - behavior that not only sabotages BLM's agenda, but also undermines other progressive activists and/or candidates?  The fact is, we can't. So again, all we can do is remain vigilant for inappropriate behavior and be discrete, but thorough, in monitoring and looking into the background of people who are over-the-top and who suggest such behavior. People like that are either Judas goats, or not level-headed enough to be in positions of responsibility.
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That's why it's so important for the the working class to come together and pool our political resources instead of going our separate ways as single-issue, fanatic-prone, factions. We cannot win this CLASS WAR by trying to fight it as single-issue factions. Black people, at 13% of the population, are going to be crushed trying to fight injustice by themselves. The same is true of union workers, women, gays, or undocumented immigrants, because the Corporate/GOP Alliance is going to use their vast wealth to manipulate us and turn us against one another. They're going to turn Blacks against immigrants, union workers against non-union workers, and Christians against anybody who doesn't look, think, and act like their particular denomination.  In short, we're going to continue to see repeat performances of the way BLM turn on Bernie Sanders while he was TRYING to tell us what we were up against: "Aw man, Get off the stage! We don't want to hear all of that. We want to know what you're going to do about Black injustice!!!" The fact was, he was trying to tell 'em, but the hot-heads among them weren't listening - or thinking. They didn't understand what any mildly competent chess player knows - sometimes you have to address an issue through a circuitous route.
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You see, many people tend to be so blinded by anger over their single issue that they fail to see the big picture. So the Corporate/GOP Alliance will stirrup anger among Black people, and then do the same thing with other factions - women, gays, workers, immigrants, etc - to keep us so focused on, and fighting over, whose single issue is going to be given priority that we're completely oblivious to the fact that they're hard at work cutting ALL of our throats.
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Factional injustice is merely a distraction to keep us angry, frustrated, and divided. The end-game is actually about abolishing Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Unemployment Insurance, The Fair Labor Standards Act, etc.  In short, they're trying to lower the standard of living of the American middle class to a level that coincides with third world countries of the new global economy, where many workers make less a week than many middle-class Americans spend on lunch per day.
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Thus, it is absolutely essential that we wake up and stop being so blind and single-issue oriented. Yes, absolutely, we should continue to be aggressive in addressing issues of injustice, but we must organize and address all  matters of  injustice AS A CLASS, and not as a multitude of fractious and undisciplined factions. Currently we're trying to fight a class war against the most insidious domestic enemy in the history of the United States as a multitude of clueless platoons, each headed up by a corporal, and without sufficient resources. The Corporate/GOP Alliance, on the other hand, is a well funded and organized army headed by a four star general - and he has a bird's eye-view of the entire field of battle. That's unacceptable, and it's political suicide.
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Eric L. Wattree
http://wattree.blogspot.com/
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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Poverty Pimp, Inc.

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

Poverty Pimp, Inc.

What Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, and Boyce Watkins Won’t Tell the Black Community

Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, and Boyce Watkins are going out of their way NOT to tell the Black community that the United States Constitution gives sole control of spending to the United States House of Representatives, which is controlled by the Republicans.  So the only way that President Obama can spend any money to assist the Black community is to get the Republican House to go along with him.
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That’s why it’s so important for the president to hold together a coalition of Blacks, women, gays, Hispanics, and every other segment of the American population.  He needs ALL of us to place pressure on the Republicans to loosen the purse strings in order for him to get anything done. So anytime you hear Tavis, West, or Watkins pointing their finger at what President Obama is doing for any other segment of the population, they’re doing you a disservice.
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Here’s how politics works - you support me when I need you, and I’ll support you when you need me. So whenever President Obama does anything for other segments of the population, he’s building up political capital so he can help you. But, he doesn’t discuss what he’s doing for the Black community for a very good reason - as Cornel says himself (when it’s convenient), “Race Matters.”
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These gentlemen know full well that if President Obama runs around bragging about what he’s doing  for the Black community, the Republicans are going to use that as leverage to tear his coalition apart. They would tell women, gays, Hispanics, and everyone else in America that Obama doesn’t care about them, all he wants to do is help his own people, and that message hurts the Black community. Don’t these so-called intellectuals recognize that? If they don’t, they’re dumb. If they do, that means that they’re purposely trying to mislead you. The question then, is why?

So the fact is, when people like Tavis, West, and Watkins run around telling you that the proof that President Obama is not working for you is that he refuses to throw his fist in the air, these people are working against you, not for you - and they know it.  President Obama is trying to help ALL of the people - and that includes you.
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But the primary agenda of the people mentioned above is NOT about helping the Black community, or anyone else, for that matter. Their primary interest is to service their own hatred, envy, and greed.
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You see, they've never been able to get past President Obama's rapid rise to prominence in our society.  So instead of taking pride in what Obama has achieved like the vast majority of the Black community, they see his accomplishment as diminishing their stature among Black people, and it's killing them. So their primary agenda is not about helping you, it's about helping Obama's enemies tear him down, and getting rich in the process.
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What makes this so sickening is, while these “brothers” are telling the people how much they love them, at the very same time they’re depending on the people’s blind ignorance in order to promote their own agenda.  But some of us have been around long enough to have seen this before. This is the exact same tactic used by the “brothers” who were planted inside the Black community by the FBI to sabotage the civil rights movement of the sixties.
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It was called  “operation Cointelpro.”  The operation involved sending so-called brothers into the community to divide the various civil rights organizations - both, against one another, and within the organizations themselves. In order to accomplish this, the FBI plants would go into the community and convince the people that certain individuals weren’t militant enough. As a direct result of this ploy, Dr. King was the victim of the exact same kind of character assassination as Tavis and West are now trying to use on Obama. The Smiley and Wests of that era used to call Dr. King, “Martin Luther Coon.” So it is indeed ironic that these two individuals are now trying to use Dr. King’s own Bible in a tactic used against him, to now defame Barack Obama. It’s disgusting.
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They’re playing the same old game of dividing the people that kept Black people from rebelling against slavery, and that has held Black people down for over 400 years. The only difference is, during slavery the turncoats would do it for a pat on the back and a new pair of shoes. But today, it involves millions of dollars.
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Just ask yourself, how many millions of dollars would Tavis’ cronies at Walmart, Exxon/Mobile, and the other members of ALEC be willing to pay to bring down President Obama?  Let me give you a little insight into that, right out of the mouth of an irate Black Republican operative. In his article, "My Republican Party has Abandoned Me," (http://www.freedomsjournal.net/2012/10/31/my-republican-party-has-abandoned-me/) Black Republican activist, Raynard Jackson, says the following:
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"For many years, I have approached the party and its supporters about underwriting programs to bring together Blacks who are Republican or lean Republican so we can weave them into every facet of the party structure. The answer is always, no! But, twice this year some of these same people have approached me about funding for some election year tricks that they (White Republicans) have conjured up and simply need a Black face to execute the plan. On these two separate occasions, these funders were willing to spend upwards of $20 million to have me organize a national campaign to identify Blacks who would be critical of President Obama." 
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So there you are, and with that kind of money up for grabs, we would be ridiculously imprudent not to minutely scrutinize the rationale behind every syllable that slips from Tavis and West’s mouth. Because Tavis may be opposed to many things, but he’s certainly not one who’s opposed to making money.
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After Tavis miscalculated his clout in the Black community by trying to punish candidate Obama for failing to come on his show, Tavis Smiley is quoted in “Black Enterprise Magazine” as saying the following:
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“I went from making about $1 million a year in speaking fees to barely $100,000 because people stopped inviting me to speak in certain places,” he recalls. “Personalities like me have a Q rating, and mine dropped lower than Michael Vick’s after the dog fighting conviction. I couldn’t engage new sponsors or get the ones who have been with me to raise their spending levels.”
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The article goes on to say, “So what did Smiley do? He rallied his troops to “stay focused on the work” as he conjured up new ideas and led his team to launch a new radio program, publish a slate of books that became top sellers, and create a traveling museum backed by Walmart, a long-time sponsor, among other ventures to fortify the company. “He kept going full steam ahead.”
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What the article didn’t say was his radio show was financed from the proceeds that he made off the misery of poor and minority borrowers who lost their money and homes after Smiley herded them into the Wells Fargo “Ghetto Loans” scam.
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The article goes on to point out the holdings of Tavis Smiley, Inc.:
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“His numerous holdings include:
• TS Media Inc., which produces the Tavis Smiley talk show that airs weeknights on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), viewed in 96% of U.S. households with approximately 400,000 viewers nightly.

• Smiley Radio Properties, producer of his radio programs, The Tavis Smiley Show and Smiley & West, which he co-hosts with Cornel West, a close friend and one of the nation’s leading black intellectuals, for Public Radio International (PRI). Together, the programs reach more than 500,000 listeners daily.

• High Quality Speakers Bureau, which, in addition to Smiley and West, offers lecture representation for approximately 17 social commentators and motivational speakers such as Henry Louis Gates Jr., Iyanla Vanzant, and Dr. Robin Smith. (Denise Pines, Smiley’s partner and marketing guru for 15 years, holds a minority stake in the company.)

• SmileyBooks, a co-publishing venture with Hay House Inc. that has published 22 books to date including several best sellers.

• Tavis Smiley Presents…, a unit that has managed and produced company-sponsored public events.

• SIVAT Productions, a company that develops documentary films.

• America I AM: The African American Imprint, a four-year traveling museum that has developed a number of spin-off publications and products.

The Tavis Smiley Foundation, the philanthropic arm that has raised $322,000 to teach youth leadership skills as well as Smiley’s investments in residential and commercial properties in California and his home state of Indiana are also under the TSG umbrella. He also owns a number of Marco’s Pizza franchises throughout Indianapolis.”[It doesn’t mention how much goes to the kids, and how much goes to his “investments” - and notice that they say “raised” for the kids, not donated].
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But Tavis’ various holdings are very enlightening. That seems to explain Smiley and West’s over-the-top rhetoric. It seems that they’re generating their own news, and then they’re turning around and profiting off of the controversy that they themselves are creating. By creating controversy, that enhances their speaking fees (West, $30,000 a speech), book sales, and also enhances their television and radio audience. Then, Tavis will go back with his production company and produce a documentary on the screaming people that he’s managed to convince that they’re being ignored by the president.
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Even the latest book that they went around the country hawking was disingenuous. The title of the book is “The Rich And The Rest of Us.” Who is the “US” that they’re talking about? With all of the money that they’re pulling down, they certainly couldn’t be talking about themselves. They’re not one of “US,” they’re part of “THEM.” You’d be wise to never forget that.
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Tavis’ holdings also explain why in the aftermath of the Newtown, Connecticut tragedy, where 26 people were killed, including 20 children, West seemed to be more interested in making headlines than mourning over the senseless death of these innocent people. West said, “We can’t just shed tears for those on the vanilla side of town with the Middle Class.”
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West knew full well that the president's response had absolutely nothing to do with what "side of town" this tragedy took place. President Obama was responding as a father - as a human being - to the horrible tragedy of 20 innocent children being murdered while sitting in school. It didn't matter whether those children were Black or White; the tragedy was uniquely significant due to the horrific circumstances surrounding their deaths. Yet, even in the face of such a horrible tragedy, West couldn't resist his irresponsible urge to score a twofer for he and Tavis' team. He immediately saw an opportunity to both, criticize the president, and to garner headlines, which could later be converted to even more publicity, and cash.
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For an individual who’s supposed to be a man of God, that was a horrible thing to say - in fact, it would have been a horrible and dumb thing for anyone to say, regardless to what their beliefs. But this seems to be Cornel West’s pattern. Instead of putting his agenda aside just long enough to support initiatives that are in everyone’s best interest, he insists on being divisive, incendiary, and self-promoting. By doing so, he not only detracts from the effort to get guns out of our communities - including the Black community, which he claims to be so much in love - but in the process, he also manages to desecrate the memory of 20 innocent children.
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The man is shameless, and quite frankly, I'm beginning to wonder if his intense envy, and the resulting hatred, of President Obama might have pushed him over the edge. Because, other than Tavis Smiley himself, I've never seen another man of relative stature who seems to be so completely oblivious to his own destruction. And watching this drama play out on the public stage is absolutely surreal.
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Is West's reckless behavior that in which one would expect of a true intellectual? I don’t think so. He's engaged in the kind of irrational behavior of a man who can’t be trusted - and he's been headed in this direction for quite some time. It was this very same kind of thoughtless, ego-driven, and self-serving behavior that caused Cornel West to be so instrumental in getting the entire country in the disastrous situation that we currently find ourselves.
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In the 2000 election George W. Bush won the presidency by winning Florida by 537 votes. The Nader/West coalition peeled way 97,488 votes in Florida alone. So even for those who say that Bush stole the election, if it hadn’t been for the efforts of Nader and West, the election wouldn’t have been close enough for Bush to steal. Thus, all of West’s ranting about what Obama’s not doing is tantamount to a man who’s dug a ditch, and who’s now complaining that Obama’s not filling it in fast enough.
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The Black community has had its share of poverty pimps, but we’ve never been pimped like this before. The poverty pimps of the past tended to just have little disorganized hustles, but Tavis Smiley seems to have created “Poverty Pimp, Inc.” He’s gaining the people’s confidence by staying in the public eye, and he stays in the public eye by financing his own shows with the money he derives from the people’s misery. So it seems that Tavis Smiley and Cornel West are the Iceberg Slim and Trick Baby of public pimpdom.
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Thus, the Smiley/West coalition is well worth watching, because it’s a coalition forged between the Bogeyman and the Devil.

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RELATED ARTICLE

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THE REAL HISTORY OF THE POVERTY TOURS
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A QUESTION FOR BOTH TAVIS SMILEY AND CORNEL WEST

http://wattree.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-question-for-both-tavis-smiley-and.html

Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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Self-Hatred Running Rampant Among Black People

BENEATH THE SPIN * ERIC L. WATTREE Self-Hatred Running Rampant Among Black People . As a Black man who is old enough to remember the courageously focused and determined lives of both Malcolm and Martin Luther King and their gruesome and untimely deaths, and educated enough to be cognizant of the painful sacrifices that generations of Black people have endured to make this, Barack Obama's moment - our moment - in history possible, I simply cannot find the words to adequately express my feelings of deep frustration and disgust towards the young brothers who heckled Sen. Obama during his St. Petersburg speech. For the very first time in my life, words completely fail me, but I now have a much better understanding of why the penalty for treason is so severe. . Perhaps this example of mindless idiocy will give other Black people pause, however. Perhaps it will help those who tend to nitpick Sen. Obama to death to recognize that they, just like the hecklers in St. Petersburg, are mounting a meaningless assault on all of the hopes, dreams, and prayers whispered by millions of Black people from the day we first set foot on American soil. . It is for precisely that reason that the hecklers have undoubtedly earned themselves a footnote in history. Considering the Black experience in America, their thoughtless irresponsibility will certainly stand out as one of the most stupid acts of self-mutilation in the history of mankind. But unfortunately, in the process they've managed to also taint the more thoughtful Black people in our community as well, since posterity will undoubtedly point to their ignorance as a prime example of why Black people, as a whole, have found it such an arduous struggle to rise above what has unfortunately become our station - at the very bottom of this society. . It's easy to indulge in hyperbole, however. One should always substantiate one's assertions, so allow me to take a moment to build a simple scenario as proof of the St. Petersburg stupidity: . If you're about to be lynched and a brother comes to your rescue, what kind of fool would stop his rescuer just as he's taking the rope away from around your neck, to say, "Wait a minute. I want to ask you a question before you touch this rope - why haven't you spoken out with more vigor in support of Affirmative Action?" Needless to say, such an act would represent the height of stupidity, but that's exactly what the St. Petersburg hecklers, and to a lesser extent, many other Black self-haters are doing during this election - and unnecessarily, since there was going to be a question and answer period after the speech anyway. . I simply can't believe how stupid and shortsighted some of our people are proving themselves to be. It goes beyond stupid - it's a national embarrassment to every Black person with a brain. And in many cases, these are highly educated Black people. I began to suspect that we had a problem when Dr. Cornel West acted a fool on Tavis Smiley's "State of Black America" broadcast, on the very day that Sen. Obama declared his intent to seek the presidency. . GROSS HYPOCRISY: WHEREVER I CAN GET MINE I'll never forget it. Just hours after this young Black man declared his candidacy for President of the United States in the shadow of the statehouse that was once occupied by Lincoln, and being wildly cheered by Blacks, Whites, young, old, rich, poor, Jew and gentile, I turned to Tavis' broadcast, hailed as "The State of Black America." Then with my eyes still damp with emotion, the very first thing I see is Dr. Cornel West ranting about Obama, and pointing out that he wasn't impressed. . He suggested that Black people should be asking Obama, "How deep is your love for your people" and Where is your money coming from?" Then he went on to suggest that people associated with Sen. Obama didn't warrant our trust. But what was most instructive about his comments was what he didn't say. He, nor Jesse Jackson on FOX news, nor the St. Petersburg hecklers, had one critical word to say about McCain, or any of the hordes of Republican politicians that's been cutting our throats for the past seven years - and I've never even heard it rumored that Jesse thought Bush should be castrated. . So at this point it has become abundantly clear that we have a serious problem in the Black community, and we need to confront it in a head-on and brutally forthright manner. The problem is glaringly clear, and now, undeniable. Many of us suffer from a severe case of self-hatred that we tend to cloak in petty grievances that have absolutely nothing to do with reality. . Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that Black people become unquestioning zombies in support of everything that Obama does - after all, he is a politician, and ALL politicians need to be kept on a short rein. In fact, I am still, highly critical, and highly disturbed by Obama's weak-kneed support of the recent FISA legislation. But in that case we're talking about his support for modifying the United States Constitution and diminishing our right to privacy. Everyone should speak out in protest on such issues. I cut off my monthly financial contribution to his campaign in response to that act. So I'm not an adherent of blind devotion, but I do believe in adhering to common sense - and common sense dictates that you don't cut off your nose to spite your face. . But in the case of the St. Petersburg hecklers, and many other Black nitpickers, some are trying to hold Obama hostage to their narrow, self-centered agenda, and others are flat-out trying to sabotage his effort because they seem to believe that Obama's national influence and celebrity tends to diminish their accomplishments and standing in the community. That's not only sick, selfish, and self-defeating, but it's Naderian in its stupidity. What sense does it make to say, if you don't give me everything I want, I'm going to help the efforts of your opponent, who will assuredly give me nothing? The only possible way of defining such a stance is self-hatred, and gross stupidity. . The St Petersburg hecklers provided McCain with the best moment he's had during this election. McCain couldn't have paid for better publicity if he had hired those brothers - and anyone old enough to remember "Cointelpro" will recognize that's not beyond the scope of possibility. Thus, the behavior of those brothers, and the banner they held up before the world might as well have said, . "DOWN WITH BLACK PEOPLE. WE'RE TOO STUPID TO EMBRACE LIBERATION." Eric L. Wattree wattree@blogspot.com

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