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Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2000 04:41:31 EDT
Subject: TEN-HUT! GEN. POWELL WANTS YOU TO JOIN THE GRAND OLE PARTY
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TEN-HUT! RIGHT TURN, FORWARD MARCH
Gen. Powell Invites You To Join The Grand Ole Party
by Elombe Brath
Before Black people get swept up in the duststorm left by Ret. Gen. Colin=20
Powell=92s speech to the Republican Convention which, under the guise of=20
speaking on education, glorified most of the most reactionary leadership of=20
the Grand Ole Party (GOP) which have held state power and executive=20
privilege for twelve years of the last two decades, we need to understand th=
e=20
man who spoke and who and what he was speaking for - and against.
If you think that Gen Powell, whose popularity is based on his reputation fo=
r=20
waging war on Third World nations from Vietnam to Iraq and Panama, was=20
speaking on behalf of the broad masses of Africans who are suffering all ove=
r=20
the world, you are dead wrong. Likewise, if you think that he was speaking u=
p=20
for the advancement of the majority of African-Americans in the United=20
States, wrong again. And if you thought that he was trying to see that our=20
people get a proper education to carry us through the 21st century, well,=20
sorry, wrong again.
Gen. Colin Powell was simply speaking up for the corporate interests
that have feathered his nest and have chosen a high profile role for him to=20
help consolidate their vested interests without stirring up the =93democrati=
c=20
distemper=94 in the U.S., particularly Black people and other peoples of col=
or.=20
This is why Powell, the U.S. champion of volunteerism, is reported to be pai=
d=20
$150,000, plus first class travel and accomodation, per speech. While being=20
hinted as a possible Secretary of State (or is it Education?) in his cabinet=
=20
by Gov. Bush, Powell also let it be known that he could just as well work fo=
r=20
Vice-President Al Gore if he is the one who is victorious in November.
The general=92s admission is another reason why so many people now believe t=
hat=20
there is no major difference between the Republican and Democratic Parties,=20
both which uphold monopoly capitalism and are sponsored by corporate=20
interests. And it=91s not just Powell that, when push comes to shove, shut u=
p=20
and either directly take the money or fall in line with those who are bribed=
=20
and hired to help manage an economy favored for ruling class elements - the=20
real minority special interest group that controls this country.=20
It was interesting that Powell, so trusted in regards to national security o=
f=20
the United States that he could be chosen to be the National Security Adviso=
r=20
for Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, as well as the chair of the Joint=20
Chiefs of Staff of the country=92s military apparatus, was not invited to sa=
y=20
anything on the second day of the ceremonies. This Star Spangled Banner=20
Extravaganza with Bombast Bursting All Through the Night tribute to America=
=92s=20
wars, featured Bob Dole, Stormin=92 Norman Schwarzkopf, McCain et al, heard=20=
not=20
a peep from the military man who was responsible for probably killing more=20
people of color throughout his career than all of them put together. =20
Powell=92s role at the convention seem to be saluting all of his former boss=
es=20
and praising the Texas governor whose five and half year tenure is marked=20
with his presiding over the executions of over 135 inmates, including Shaka=20
Sankofa (formerly known as Gary Graham.) It was Shaka Sankofa whose=20
presumption of innocence caused many people, both pro- and anti-death penalt=
y=20
advocates, to take pause and show enough concern that the case was seen as=20
one of the best illustrations to call for a new trial in history.=20
This fact did not dissuade Bush from allowing the execution of Shaka Sankofa=
=20
to go forward. What was particularly repugnant about Bush=92s modus operandi=
=20
was use of a host of Black intermediaries to cover up his criminal conspirac=
y=20
to engage in state sanctioned lynching. From the so-called =93one eye(d)=20
witness to a Mock attorney to a covert agent presiding over the Texas Board=20
of Pardons and Paroles to our so-called Black Supreme Court Justice to absor=
b=20
and deflect attention to themselves and away from him; it was a devious,=20
slick revision and twisted update of the senior Bush=92s playing of his Will=
ie=20
Horton electoral race card that destroyed his Democratic opponent,=20
Massachussetts Gov. Michael Dukakis. =20
In the case of John McCain=92s befriending of Gov. Bush in the most humbling=
=20
superlatives, his omission of any murmur of the influence of =93soft money=
=94=20
(i.e Big money financing=94 in the electoral process, was shameful. Being th=
at=20
campaign reform was his main political contradiction between him and his now=
=20
fearless leader upon which his former candidacy and rivalry with the Texan=20
governor was based, and he defeated Bush in seven primaries, was very, very=20
interesting.=20
And the of financial fat cats impact on the campaign was even more sharpened=
=20
when the New York Times revealed on Tuesday night, August 1st, that =93two=20
elite groups of 739 individuals and corporations have contributed at least=20
$94.8 million in so-called soft money to the Republican Party since the=20
beginning of 1999.=94=20
The two groups, the Republican Regents who gave $250,000 each to the party=20
every two years, headed up by Mel Sembler who is the finance chairman of the=
=20
Republican National Committee, and Team 100, which was formed in 1988, whose=
=20
members gave at least $100,000 to the RNC (and/or GOP) also every two years=
.=20
McCain, another military =93hero=94 but dissimilar to Powell=92s =93heroics=
=94, had=20
also signed on to perform in the carefully crafted script which seems to hav=
e=20
been a passport to get onstage in prime time during the show in Philadelphia=
,=20
gave their blessings to their newly beloved candidate in the most glowing=20
platitudes. Ret. Gen. Powell, sounding more like someone auditioning for=20
Education czar than a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff with his=20
eye on the Secretary of State slot - or maybe that of his former boss, Dick=20
Cheney, President George H.W. Bush=92s Secretary of Defense.
If anyone thinks that Colin Powell=92s tongue-lashing of the assembled=20
Republican Convention attendees on affirmative action and admonished them to=
=20
persuaded urban so-called =93minority=94 youth to go to college instead of b=
eing=20
shuttled off to prisons and death chambers that he is spearheading the=20
democratization of the GOP by de-emphasizing its racist character, think=20
again. His speech was tailor made-and approved by the RNC as a tactic to=20
confuse enough of the Black and Latino electorate to win over a fraction mor=
e=20
of both previously despised communities to increase their image of a new, al=
l=20
inclusive, Big Tent political formation with Abraham Lincoln as its standard=
=20
bearer.
About this Black fidelity to Abraham Lincoln. Doesn=92t anybody remember tha=
t=20
it was Ole Honest Abe, the 16th president of the so-called =93Great=20
Emancipator=94 who said, =93 will say, then, that I am not, nor ever have be=
en,=20
in favor of bringing about in any way the sociaI and political equality of=20
the white and Black races - that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of=20
making voters or jurors of negroes - nor of qualifying them to hold office,=20
nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that=
=20
there is a physical difference between the white and Black races which will=20
ever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political=20
equality. And in as much as they cannot so live, while they do remain=20
together, there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I, as muc=
h=20
as any other man, am in favor of having the superior position assigned to th=
e=20
white race.=94
Is Gen. Powell hip to this part of Abe Lincoln? Are you? Does the Black=20
community understand the fallacy that placing our people=92s destiny in the=20
hands of hypocritical white icons and the founding fathers of the=20
then-slavocracy which they protected in both their Declaration of=20
Independence and the U.S. Constitution that had to be amended time after tim=
e=20
to make it more reflect what they said it was in the first place? Do you=20
think that the Republican Party, and even in a certain sense, the Democrats=20
too, are seriously going to give you unfettered prominence in their=20
respective political formations? In education, as Carlos Cooks pointed out=20
over 45 years ago, =93Do you believe that the white man is going to educate=20=
the=20
Black child to compete with his?=94=20
Well then, what is George W. (recently written as Dubya by some in the media=
)=20
and his retrofitted Republican Party up to with its sudden overture to the=20
African-American community? Is there another reason for their reformulated=20
agenda? =20
With this in mind, R.W. Apple of the New York Times recently made a an=20
interesting observation. Apple pointed out that rather then soley attribute=20
this revised image of the Republicans as becoming a neoliberal formation=20
being aimed at reaching out to the so-called minority electorate, could it=20
very well be, as in the game of billiards, a =93three-cushion shot, a subtle=
=20
play for the votes of white surburbanites, a pivotal voting block that=20
includes many voters for whom civil rights remains a high priority?=94 =20
Apple points out that David Bositis, a member of the nonpartisan Joint Cente=
r=20
for Political and Economic Studies, believes that Bush =93has no chance of=20
getting any significant African-American vote=94, adding that the governor=
=92s=20
overtures are =93not even about that.=94 Instead, =93It=92s about the suburb=
s, and=20
about moderate swing voters all across the country. There=92s no better way=20=
to=20
distance himself from Tom DeLay and Dick Armey and the other hard-liners in=20
Congress than showing that he=92s friendly to blacks and Hispanics.=94=20
In the case of John McCain, an embittered Vietnam War POW who, incidently,=20
still uses the disparaging vile term =93Gook=94 which was coined during the=20
Korean War for use against those from North Korea (but supposedly not those=20
from South Korea!?), he=92s another piece of work. McCain claims that he can=
=20
neither forget nor forgive the Vietnamese who, after captured in the process=
=20
of killing their countrymen, held him prisoner to the end of the U.S.=20
Indochina war. Yet he and Powell are supposed to influence people who have=20
been brutally treated over 224 the years by the conservative Republicans - a=
s=20
well as the Democrats - to forgive and forget our experiences and give the=20
GOP a chance.=20
In support of wooing Black voters to cast their ballot for the Bush-Cheney=20
ticket the attention of African-Americans are directed towards the rising=20
bright Black star of foreign policy and national security affairs of the=20
administration of president Daddy Bush and his Son the Candidate=92s senior=20
foreign policy advisor, Candoleeza Rice.=20
Candoleeza Rice is the Republican Party=92s predecessorr to the Clinton=20
Administration=92s Susan Elizabeth Rice, Assistant Secretary for=20
African-Affairs within the Department of State. While Candoleeza and Susan=20
share the same last name, they are not related - except, perhaps, tracing=20
their family name back to the same slavemaster. They have different=20
slavemasters now but both, although highly paid, are enslaved to a political=
=20
socioeconomic system that has enriched itself by plundering the majority of=20
the world=92s people. =20
While Candoleeza is a former Soviet, now Russian specialist (i.e. an=20
anti-communist/pro-capitalist scholar) and Susan is a highly touted Africa=20
specialist (i,e. a pro-capitalist/anti-revolutionary nationalist academic),=20
they have as much in common as do their two respective political parties.=20
Their party affiliations notwithstanding, the Rice sisters both have their=20
intellectual capabilities diminished in regards to the liberation of African=
s=20
and other oppressed people throughout the world who find themselves in a=20
desparate struggle trying to resist the domination and stranglehold of debt=
=20
trap monopoly capital and its transnational corporations. =20
A listener to WLIB called in to Mark Riley and Wayne Gilman and said that=20
rightwing television host Robert Novak claimed that Candoleeza Rice=92s spee=
ch=20
was =93dumbed down.=94 I don=92t know whether if it was dumbed down or not,=20=
but I=20
do that for her to assert that she was =93an individual=94 rather than =93pa=
rt of a=20
group=94 was pretty damn dumb for a Black woman with a Ph.D, who entered the=
=20
University of Denver at age 15 and graduated at 19 with a BA in political=20
science (cum laude), to make. =20
But then again, when you look at the illustrious corporate boards that she=20
is a director, including Chevron, Transamerica, University of Notre Dame,=20
International Advisory Council of J.P. Morgan, San Francisco Symphony Board=20
of Governors and the William and Flora Hewlet Foundation, as well as being a=
=20
Hoover Senior fellow and a professor and provost at Stanford, you understand=
=20
where this young 45 year old professor - who as Time magazine pointed out,=20
was mentored in foreign policy by Prof. Josef Korbel, the father of the=20
current U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright - is coming from.=20
Born in the infamous Jim Crow Birmingham, Alabama in 1954, the same year whe=
n=20
the historic Supreme Court ordered that public schools should be desegregate=
d=20
=93with all deliberate speed=94, when we see Dr. Rice is now and where she=20
intends to go. While her meteoritic rise to fame and fortune came about out=20
of the struggle of Black people, it has nothing to do with Black people now.=
=20
Contrary to what the Republican Party represents culturally, e.g. the music=20
of Kate Smith (whose presence and music was indeed invoked), this convention=
=20
seemingly presented more Black people entertaining onstage than Showtime at=20
the Apollo. When one looked at the television screen periodically, because o=
f=20
dextrous camera work, it seems that every one of the 4 percent of Black=20
Republicans who were said to be among the 4132 delegates assembled at the=20
First Union Center were showcased for their at least 15 seconds of fame.=20
[Incidently, it was reported that 45,000 people were in attendance, includin=
g=20
2,066 delegates, 2066 alternates and 15,000 media personnel; the other nearl=
y=20
20,000 people were not accounted for in regards to which sector they=20
represented or how many demonstrators were outside - or if there is any=20
relation to this question. Additionally, if Black people represented 4=20
percent of delegates attending and their total number was only 85 (according=
=20
to Riley on =91LIB), did the percentage calculated also include alternative=20
delegates with the party regulars, which - if done -would lessen the=20
percentage nearly by half. A trivia question, yes, but I believe a very=20
telling one. Moreso, is the observation, that Texas, the second largest stat=
e=20
in the Union, had only one Black delegate.]=20
With all of this said, prepare yourself for the most deceptive appeal to the=
=20
African community as the Republican National Committee goes through the=20
coronation ceremony of supposedly the most qualified person to lead us=20
through the first five years of the new century: Bush-Cheney, the real choic=
e=20
of the dynastic ruling class and their oiligarchy.=20
As of now, you can try to figure out how are you going to be able to convinc=
e=20
the majority of white people in the U.S. that since King George of Britain t=
o=20
George Washington - the first George W. - through George Bush the 1st and=20
possibly George Bush the 2nd (or as he hinted, the second George W.), alon=
g=20
with the all the others who historically have chosen to =93let George do it.=
=94=20
Whether we discuss Republicans or Democrats - or in between, the fact remain=
s=20
that American politics, as well as politicians, are as trustworthy as=20
Three-Card Monte. Brace yourself for a real rumble if we are ever going to b=
e=20
respected or gain our self-determination to realize our liberation from this=
=20
224 year old nightmare that we still find ourselves wistfully in search of=20
today.
Therefore, when Gen. Powell gives the order to fall in line, =93We want you!=
=94,=20
take it from me; It=92s best you take a deferment. When the general says,=20=
=93At=20
ease, men=94 (and women), it=92s best instead for you to snap to attention!