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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