I recently ran across a stupid and slightly bigoted article by DeAnn Smith on the Prime Buzz blog (Did anybody ever pay for that tripe?) . . . Her point was basically that one offical from the local NAACP hasn't spoken out over Semler flap, therefore "it's up for debate" as to where the Black political leadership in Kansas City stands regarding the issue.
Let's forget the Smith contradicts herself in the very beginning of her
Among the exceptions are the Rev. Nelson Thompson of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Gwen Grant of the Urban League, who in particular continues to take a leadership role on this issue.She writes off Thompson and Grant as if they were lightweights and white people who don't know any better might not know that these two represent a HUGE CONTINGENT of KC's Black Leadership.
Even worse, Smith bases her assumption on an e-mail sent out by Anita Russell, head of the local chapter of the NAACP which was contradicted only minutes later by a statement released by NAACP chairman Julian Bond. Anyone who knows the least bit about how advocacy organizations work knows that Russell was simply protecting the integrity of her organization and following protocol while Smith STUPIDLY translates the e-mail in order to MANUFACTURE a political point. If Russell doesn't think Semler is so bad, COOL . . . Let her say so, but the tactic used by this Star reporter wreaks of a PR story.
In fact, the interpretation provided by Smith in her woefully un-researched post is indicative of the same divisive tactics used by the Funkhouser Administration time and time again so I'll give you three guesses as to where it came from . . .
I know, I know . . . I don't have much credibility when it comes to fact based assertions but I at least try to include real news links with my opinions whereas Smith failed to use the vast resources of the Star in order to get a quote and instead went with what is obviously a planted e-mail.
Still, in spite of herself, Smith raises a good (bigoted) question: Do Blacks and Latinos stand together against Semler?
The Answer: Of course not.
The question in and of itself is only put forth by tacit racists and/or talk radio show hosts . . . The truth is that not even all Latinos in KC feel the same way about the Semler debate. Like everyone else in this cowntown: If you ask 5 people the same question, you'll get 8 different answers. But this debate isn't about people, it's about politics.
Still, the Black leadership have a reason to take a stand against Semler when you consider the following:
Yeah, so I don't see an endorsement of Funkhouser or his Minuteman Lady coming any time soon from the local chapter of the NAACP.
But more importantly, this post by Smith highlights the SUPREMACIST ASSUMPTIONS THAT INFORM THE WRITING AT THE STAR.
There is no such thing as unanimity in any political debate. Ask the Republicans how they feel about the war and you'll get many different answers, the same goes for Democrats or any political contingent. Only in minority communities will hack reporters like Smith highlight any discord whereas white people inherently assume that there's no one voice that speaks for their entire community.
The truth is that there are a great many white, Black and Latino people who stand against the appointment of a vigilante group member by the Mayor and their Kansas City based organizations have spoken out and called for her removal. Whereas NOT ONE well established political group in Kansas City Proper has offered their support for Semler or Mayor Funkhouser on this subject.
No one has to fear "Fuzzy" Thompson, another supposed black "minister" who lives off the teet of taxpayer financing. $60K from the county for a Martin Luther King Day Celebration -- rah rah!. Uncounted thousands in City Largess for party time, oops I mean social services. The KC NAACP is a corrupt joke. So I am not worried about them hurting Mayor Funkhouser. The mayor is only the most recent battle in a long term war to take this city back for conservative values, which includes Democrat commitment to Social Security but privatized accounts. Look at it this way, we almost beat "Rev." Cleaver with Metzl but out of that campaign now rises Jason Kander who in a few terms in the state house will build a name and beat Cleaver. The mayor will not cave and conservative Dems will not give up. It does not matter if the Star editorial board is filled with blacks, browns and gheys.
ReplyDeleteWhat is 10:35 smoking? He says he is a Democrat but is for privatized Social Security? Metzl almost beat Cleaver? Anti-black-brown and "ghey"? I don't think so.
ReplyDeleteThis is an issue about racism and civil rights. Some on the right are using a built up hate sentiment (created by vigilante psychos) to win a few votes. But they are quickly losing ground.
I agree that not blacks and Latinos should rally together against Semler. I'm not sure who else Smith, whose reporting I generally like (because, well, there's not enough printed gossip in this town's sucky newspaper), wants in the black community to stand against Semler. I mean, two of the three black city councilpeople voted for her resignation. Only Sharon Sanders Brooks, who briefly sold her soul to the Funk in exchange for a parks board appointment for her friend and an appointment to the economic development policy formulation committee for her boyfriend, didn't vote to get rid of her. Nearly every black minister I've heard has sad something bad about Semler. Thompson is, to those in the know, a hustler and a joke (although the MLK celebration is excellenta and worthwhile) and Grant is a mean, mean lady who is nonetheless tenacious and deserving of some props. Everyone knows Anita Russell is weak and changes her mind by the day. But who else is prominent that she wants to speak out?
ReplyDeleteAnd while I agree with Tony's point that assuming unanimity in minority communities is both racist and asinine, its no more so than automatically assuming that Latinos and blacks have common interests and have the same political behavior. There are some points of common interest, and a more enlightened political discourse would see even more partnership between the two, but as a matter of fact, blacks and Latinos often differ considerably on both ideological points and more narrow electoral or patronage issues. Blacks vote 85-90% for Democrats, Latinos in the low 60%s. Blacks supported Brooks, Latinos supported Funkhouser. The same story happens all over the country (look at the Hahn-Villaraigosa races in LA or the Green-Ferrer runoff in NYC as examples). Just as whites, blacks, and Latinos differ amongst themselves, there is no real reason to assume that all minorities have to agree and stand in solidarity with other minorities, too. In this case, and many others, maybe they should. But it doesn't always happen and shouldn't always happen.
First sentence should not have the word "not" in it. Sorry!
ReplyDeleteWhat everyone should look at before talking about illegals, is the history books. If you look at them the truth will come out. How can we call them ILLEGALS just based on not having the proper paperwork. America is made up of ILLEGALS that arrived here and then stole the land from the original people.Before the (White man) arrived here, the land was inhabited by Latinos and those that have been termed Native Americans. Now the Government, if you want to call it that, is doing the opposite of what it was created to do. To stop the companies from employing (illegals) AMERICANS need to look at why the companies are hiring people like they are.
ReplyDelete11:36 I am both Latino and African American. I am going to call bs on that one. The same issues that affect the African American Community are those that affect the Latino-American Community. Both communities share the same values, morals and objectives. Many of our traditions come from the same places. The Latino community had leaders who were marching for civil rights and workers rights when Martin Luther King Jr. was marching for civil rights and workers rights. They even marched together in many cases. The latino community has faced and still faces segregation just as the african american community has faced it and does face it. The same glass ceiling that African Americans are seeing in workplaces, Latino Americans are seeing in workplaces.
ReplyDeleteThe sooner that both communities realize that the same issues affect both communities the quicker these politics of hate, prejudice and racism will go away. They are starting to realize this, as members of the Black Chamber of Commerce, NAACP and community, neighborhood leaders all across this state and country are standing side by side with those of the Latino community.
I ask you to join us.
As a black man I have to agree with Mexicans on every issue? I didn't see any of you standing up for Michael Vick.
ReplyDeleteWe are here legally. Most of you snuck across the border ILLEGALLY. Big difference.
5:34
ReplyDeleteMichael Vick got in trouble for dog fighting. Had it been over cockfights, every sinaloan cowboy wannabe, including Tony, would be backing him up.
The illegal alien agenda is not a civil rights agenda. The illegal alien agenda attempts to equate evading our border patrols to deserving a civil rights badge of martyrdom. Now 12 to 20 million illegal aliens who for 25 years have simply walked across, swam across, or were driven under cover of darkness across our nation's border feel they have endured the same comparable experience to the countless harrowing "Underground Railroad" trips made by Harriett Tubman or Sojourner Truth through slave states.
Why would any African American who have been often deprived of their right want to see their child placed behind 12 million illegal aliens in the line to a decent education or decent housing?
Would any of these pulpit hacks, who have been living off the public dole far too long, find 10,000 Kansas City African-Americans willing to sign a pledge to allow illegal alien children or parents the right to take away their job, their housing, their education, their father's life struggle in order to be politically correct? I really doubt it.
In the last 25 years, while illegal aliens have been stealing across the border, black Americans have to be wondering over that same span of time just where are the entry level jobs for them? Black Kansascitians have to be wondering, with thousands of students leaving the public school system each year, should precious educational resources be spent on illegal alien students who by law should not be here, but because some political and black leaders' fear of breaking a political correctness infraction, black and white American children may and will lose out on educational resources to help level the playing field of their own constituent's achievement?
I would venture to say that in the darwinian world of zero-sum economics, If there isn't discord between Latinos (let's be honest, Illegal Aliens) and the African Americans wh are being shunted aside by their arrival, it is just a matter of time before we see school riots like the ones that often crop up in California between "immigrant" and African-American students.