A Retrospective: Hypocrisy, Self-Service, and Black-On-Black Hatred

BENEATH THE SPIN * ERIC L. WATTREE

Self-Hatred Running Rampant Among Black People

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A MISSISSIPPI STATE OF MIND

This is a reprise of an article that I did on August 8, 2008. I do retrospectives from time to time, because the 20/20 perspective of hindsight tends to place people and issues in perspective. Of particular interest in this article is the hubris and arrogance of Tavis Smiley and Cornel West when they were riding high in the Black community. Notice how they seemed to think that they held so much clout in the Black community that they felt that the, then, Sen. Obama, essentially had to get their approval to run for president.
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Also of note, is how Cornel West is scolding Sen. Obama for making the decision to declare his candidacy for President of the United States while standing in the shadow of Lincoln’s former statehouse in Springfield, Ill. instead of doing it on Tavis’ show. West says that Obama’s failure to come on Tavis’ show demonstrates that "this isn’t about us," as though Tavis’ show represented the Black community. And ironically, while West is declaring that Obama’s failure to appear demonstrates that Obama is "surrounded by people who can't be trusted," a Wells Fargo logo goes floating by behind him. The irony is, even as he spoke of trust, Tavis Smiley was engaged in roping poor and middle-class minorities into what later became known as the Wells Fargo "Ghetto Loan Scam," in which over 30 thousand poor and middle-class minorities were fleeced, many losing their homes and life savings. The Department of Justice declared it the second largest housing discrimination case in the nation’s history.

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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.
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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.
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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.
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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:
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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.
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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.
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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.

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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.

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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.

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GROSS HYPOCRISY:
WHEREVER I CAN GET MINE

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.
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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.
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HEY, AREN'T YOU THE ONE WHO SAID
I COULDN'T BE TRUSTED!!!?

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,

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"DOWN WITH BLACK PEOPLE. WE'RE TOO STUPID TO EMBRACE LIBERATION."
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Poverty Pimp, Inc.

http://wattree.blogspot.com/2013/01/poverty-pimp-inc.html

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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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Exploding the Myth: The Impact Of the Black Experience on This Black Man

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

A PUBLIC STATEMENT TO ALL THOSE WHO ASSUME I'VE BEEN WOUNDED AS A RESULT OF THE BLACK EXPERIENCE:

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Exploding the Myth: The Impact Of the Black Experience on This Black Man

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Ocean-Kat, you said,

"I think you experienced discrimination as a black child in school and as a result you project those feelings onto most everything you see. Its a terrible thing that so many black children were made to feel stupid in school and terrible that prejudice still continues to this day. But you're a grown man with many accomplishments. Isn't it time you moved beyond that childhood discrimination."
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Kat, you’re laboring under a grossly erroneous assumption here. Yes, I’ve felt anger and frustration over the stupidity of bigots. But I've NEVER felt any resentment or any other affects from the discriminatory traditions in this country other than a sense of profound superiority due to a lifelong recognition of the childishness and transparent insecurity from which bigotry stems. 
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You've speculated about the downside of the affects of the Black experience, but now let us look at the upside.  Consider how reinforcing it must have been to my young ego to recognize that I was intellectually superior to everyone I met who engaged in discrimination and/or bigotry. And consider the practical side. I've spent my entire life having to outwit bigots. There's got to be some intellectual benefit from that, don't you think?
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So I’m not the least bit bitter as a result of my background and experiences. On the contrary, I'm of the opinion that adversity has made me more, rather than less, so I wouldn't trade in my hood rat background to be the son of a billionaire, because it made me, me, and I'm convinced that most educated Black people of my generation feel that way - though, they might not let you know it.
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I view the Black experience in America from the perspective of a detached human being observing the social interactions of an ant farm. While I don't like seeing people hurt or injured, every since childhood I have ALWAYS found the insecurity of bigots both fascination, and very instructive. It gives me an insight into people that I doubt you have. For example, I often observe (with great amusement) the lingering vestiges of cultural hubris here, among White people of good will, who would never consciously engage in bigotry or discrimination. Your naively erroneous assumption of how I think, and why, is a perfect example of that, and it’s laughable. You’ve been watching far too much television and/or reading too much pop psychology, my man.
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There’s only one Wattree family in America. EVERYBODY with the last name Wattree is related to me. We immigrated to the United States from France, as an intact Black Family, during the time that the French abolitionists, Edouard Laboulaye, and sculptor, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, conceived and sculpted the Statue of Liberty (Did you know that Lady Liberty was a freed slave, and has broken shackles at her feet?).
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When my family arrived and settled in Minden, Louisiana (after the civil war), my great, great, uncle, Richard Wattree, established the Wattree School to educate free Black people, and he was responsible for educating many of the heads of what subsequently became some of the most prominent Black families in the state of Louisiana (and since we are a one-of-a-kind family, that can be easily researched on the net; simply go to Google and enter "Wattree School"), and since that time the professionals in my family have been dedicated to the education of Black people in one way or another. My daughter, Kaiumeka Wattree-Jackson, is currently a human relations specialist for her alma mater and the regional vice president of a college and university employees’ union, and many other Wattrees are scattered across this country teaching everything from kindergarten children through high school; others are working in positions of university administration. My son is a senior special agent with the Department of Justice, dedicated to eradicating drugs and street crime in America’s inner cities. So your inane assumption of the way I view the world and reality is just that - inane, presumptuous, and simplistic.
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My woman is a public person, so she used to hate it when I referred to myself in my writings as a hood rat. So I wrote her the poem attached to the end of this missive to explain exactly how I feel about my background. It may enlighten you just as it did her. Now, she not only understands, but she approves. You see, Barack Obama is not the aberration that many people think. People like myself, Barack Obama, and many others, are cultural hybrids, and as we continue to grow in numbers, character, and vision, we’re going to become something to be reckoned with in this country.

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Evolution is a wondrous thing, and adversity is nature's primary tool of effecting evolution. When man first appeared on Earth he as a necked ape. He wasn't as ferocious as the lion, as strong as the elephant, nor could he soar above danger like the eagle. He was completely vulnerable, much like the Black man has been in this country. But nature provided man with one weapon to address the adversity within his environment, the human mind. Now, as a result of the effective use of that weapon, man has developed the resources to slaughter the most ferocious lion, machines that can crush the strongest elephant, and vehicles that can easily soar far beyond the most determined eagle's domain. In fact, he's even left his home planet to explore other worlds. Well, I'm convinced that adversity is having the very same impact on many Black people.

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Blacks have become bi-cultural. Educated Black people have not only attained the educational knowledge that governs their environment, but they also have a specialized knowledge that was necessary to develop in order to survive the adversity of a hostile environment.  Even as I write we can see it at work in Washington, D.C. If we look toward Washington, what we see appears to be one adult, Barack Obama, patiently dealing with a government filled with ranting, rave children, the GOP, engaged in a world-class tantrum. 

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The American people intuitively had the good sense to keep Obama in place in the last election. Somehow they knew that he was exactly the right man, doing exactly the right job, at exactly the right time. And they were right, because President Obama is not governing this country based on the knowledge that he gained at Harvard. He's holding America together by utilizing the knowledge and insight that became necessary for him to attain and develop in order to survive the adversity of the Black experience in America, and that's extremely ironic.

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So Ocean-Kat, you can spare me your condescending and paternalistic hubris regarding my history of being born Black in America, because I've benefitted greatly from every second of it. In fact, I wish you were here. 
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The Hood Rat
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I’m sure you know that I love you;
You’re everything that I need.
You fit the bill of all my desires,
a perfect match for all of my dreams.
You’re everything I’ve always craved,
that luscious vision from across the tracks;
that delicate flower,
just beyond my grasp, and
now here you are at last.
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But what you ask is foreign to me;
You need something that I'm not.
You said, if I'd tweak my nature, just a bit,
you’ll give everything you’ve got.
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But that "tweak" you need is who I am;
It's my essence, can't you see?
You want to abolish the hood rat from my life,
the very thing that makes me, me.
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While a hood rat may seem trite to you,
a hood rat’s what you see;
So forget about what the other’s say -
here’s what it means to me:
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I’ve been brutally dragged through the pits of Hell,
yet, managed to survive,
well educated and fully functional,
when I came out the other side.
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I scrounged the lessons taught at Harvard,
because knowledge, I found, was free;
But Harvard can't teach the lessons I've learn -
that knowledge is unique to me.
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While they've heard the sounds of a mournful Trane,
and Miles moaning in the night,
not against the backdrop of hunger and pain,
or injustice, hatred, and blight.
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Yet, these are the things you want me to purge,
and spurn the life I’ve led.
Well, I’m sorry sweet thing, as much as I love you,
the soul of a hood rat is my edge.

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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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Ode to Conservatism

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

Ode To Conservatism

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The mighty King of Beasts
has met his prey,
and this tender morsel’s
on the menu today;
But his fearsome roar
hits unhearing ears, and
his deadly fangs
bite flesh that will not tear,
so the pending demographic
of this exchange,
alerts the king
that his role has changed.
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The mighty King wishes
he’d passed on this prey,
but now he’s forced to continue;
for he’s awakened the sleeping
boa constrictor,
and the monarch
is now on the menu.
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As he squirmed and wiggled
and struggled for air,
and pleaded with a boa
who didn’t have ears,
his last thought on Earth
went something like this -
It was my arrogant hubris
that led to this fix.
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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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A Clear and Simple Reason Why Black People Shun the Republican Party

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

A Clear and Simple Reason Why Blacks Shun the Republican Party

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BISHOP E.W. JACKSON REPUBLICAN CANIDATE FOR

LT. GOVERNOR OF VIRGINA

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Paleo-conservatives - both Black and White - repeatedly make the racist and erroneous claim that the Black community is only loyal to the Democratic Party because they want a free ride. Ironically, that’s the very mind-set that makes the Black community look upon most conservatives - and especially Black conservatives - with such disdain. I mean, what kind of idiot does it take to make such a slanderous statement about his or her own people? But there’s another reason why the Black community shuns the GOP that trumps even that blatant slander - conservatives in general.
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The problem among many White conservatives is that they tend not to recognize their condescending attitude of superior entitlement towards Black people, and the problem with Black conservatives is they tend to be oblivious to that flaw in conservative character . That’s what makes them such an embarrassment to the Black community. Thus, contrary to popular belief, the Black community’s disdain for Black conservatives have nothing to do with the issues of Black entitlement, self-sufficiency, or any other political concept other than the dignity and self-respect of Black people.
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The people in the Black community vary in their political attitudes and views just like in any other group - especially the more religious Black people - but in spite of that fact, very few Black people identify themselves as conservative. The reason for that is, most Blacks who do identify themselves as conservatives seem to also embrace the White conservative attitude that Black people should go out of their way to skin-and-grin and show their gratitude to White people for ALLOWING Black people to be free.
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As a result, instead of assuming equality, most Black conservatives tend to act more like teachers’ pets with an overwhelming need to be accepted by their white superiors. As I’ve pointed out previously, a good example of that was reflected in Herman Cain’s statement that, "I’m a brother from another mother" - or in other words, "I ain’t like the rest of them Black heathens, boss. I loves you." That’s what Black people find so distasteful when the GOP trot out people like Herman Cain and Dr. Ben Carson. The only thing that seems to be missing is their leash and the pooper scooper.
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Yet, White conservatives are so filled with misguided hubris that they’re completely oblivious to the fact that when they trot these people out with such fanfare, and take such obvious pride in what they think is proof positive that they’re willing to accept Black people as almost human, that they’re actually demonstrating the exact opposite. And then, what makes it even worse, is the Black people that they find who are willing to take part in such a ridiculous spectacle are so happy to be in the limelight that they come out all but wagging their tails, and invariably, they're so appreciative of being presented as part of the fold that they feel an obligation to run out on stage and start immediately attacking their own people - "See if you weren’t so dumb you’d be up here with me."
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That's what's being reflected in the attached photo. If you’ll notice, in the photo Bush looks like a master rewarding his favorite pet. No? Well ask yourself, how often do you think Bush had occasion to pat Dick Cheney on the head like that? It's a clear sign of condescension, and what's worse is how the Black conservative is lapping it up. Again, if he had a tail, it would certainly be wagging furiously.
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So, for this and many other reasons, the GOP will never get through to the Black community. Because the bottom line is, White conservatives tend to have a matter-of-fact sense of arrogant superiority and hubris that flows so deep that they’re oblivious to it - and it’s killing their brand.

A Non-Debatable Reality

LIBERAL: Lib-er-al, noun
A political or social philosophy advocating the freedom of the individual, parliamentary systems of government, nonviolent modification of political, social, or economic institutions to assure unrestricted development in all spheres of human endeavor, and governmental guarantees of individual rights and civil liberties. = CHANGE - GOOD NEWS FOR BLACK PEOPLE.
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CONSERVATIVE: Con-ser-va-tive, noun
Disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change. = MORE OF THE SAME - BAD NEWS FOR BLACK PEOPLE.
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ASSET: As-set, noun
A useful and desirable thing or quality. = INTELLIGENCE.
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LIABILITY: Li-a-bil-i-ty, noun
Something disadvantageous. = BLACK CONSERVATIVES.
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So why do Black people actually shun the Republican Party? Because we’re not stupid - at least, most of us aren't.

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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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