Thursday, October 02, 2008

Debating, Sexism, Racism, Politics @ ThaShow

Tonight is the Debate between the Vice Presidential Nominees, Gov. Sarah Palin vs. Senator Joe Biden.

Should be pretty interesting to watch; as one is dumb as a board, and the other is a loose cannon bound to say just about anything.

I wanted to share something, from a local newspaper here in Southern California, "The Wave", specifically from a Column called "Soulvine" where she speaks about Community Organizing, ... my comments follow.

The Soulvine

By BETTY PLEASANT, Contributing Editor
THIGPENN AND OBAMA — Anthony Thigpenn, the founder and executive director of Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE), is what Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama was — a community organizer. Anthony Thigpenn is what Republican vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin so publicly derided among her reactionary cohorts — a community organizer. She mocked Obama and belittled his work for having been what Anthony Thigpenn is — a community organizer. Palin’s performance was a civics textbook example of the difference between the Democratic Party, with its penchant for empowering the people to change their lives, and the Republican Party, with its patronizing philosophy toward the people and its insistence on maintaining the status quo.

Back when the Democrats ran Washington and passed the 1964 Economic Opportunity Act, we in Los Angeles had a whole lot of Obamas and Thigpenns operating throughout the region. Pressed by the urgency of the 1965 Watts Riot, the Neighborhood Adult Participation Project (NAPP) was created to implement the new attitude in the nation that individual residents must organize and actively participate in the political and institutional decisions that affect them. NAPP’s mission was to carry out the national mandate to achieve “maximum feasible participation” by residents in those decisions.

NAPP established 22 “outposts” in targeted poverty areas that spanned the Southland from Wilmington to Pacoima and from Venice to Los Nietos. These outposts were manned by hundreds of community organizers who canvassed and cajoled residents into forming groups and attending meetings and forums where they were shown, taught and convinced that, together, they had the power to improve their own lot by making their elected officials respond to their needs — needs as determined by them. NAPP community organizers exhorted residents to assume ownership of themselves.

The goals of NAPP’s community organizers were fourfold: “To provide social and psychological benefits to residents, to provide self-help and mutual aid to residents, to increase and make more effective the delivery of services to residents and to achieve institutional change for the permanent benefit of residents.” I remember NAPP community organizers well because I worked with them and monitored them and evaluated their efforts and wrote about their successes and their failures.

I knew more about what they were doing than they did. They were doing hard, groundbreaking work that resulted in significant changes in Los Angeles, including the founding of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine, the Martin Luther King Jr. General Hospital, the greatly expanded transportation system in the city, parental participation in the schools, more and better stocked neighborhood markets, routine municipal attention to neighborhood streets and housing standards, creation of pocket parks and much more.

Under the leadership of late Executive Director Opal C. Jones, NAPP’s South Los Angeles community organizers, such as the late Abie Robinson and Irene Anderson, and Nola Carter, Hazel Brown, Yvonne King and Lillian Mosley did unprecedented heavy lifting in the neighborhoods for years, as did Mary Henry at the Avalon Carver Community Center, Caffie Green on civic accountability issues in Watts and points south, and the late Marnesba Tackett, who effectively organized residents to desegregate housing throughout the city and throughout the entire public school system. These were community organizers whose passion was to instill power in the people and they did it.

The era of massive community organization ended when Republicans came to power and the emphasis shifted from what the residents needed back to what the politicians wanted, leaving us today with a mere handful of stalwart community organizers, such as Thigpenn and Marqueece Harris-Dawson of Community Coalition and Damien Goodmon, who is organizing community residents around rail safety issues in South L.A.

Councilman Bernard Parks, like Palin, is not a fan of community organizers and he has a mind to evict Thigpenn’s SCOPE from its city-owned building for a variety of specious right-wing reasons. He should not be allowed to do this.


There is So much I agree with right there.

Let me start out by saying I generally vote Democratic; although there are some platforms of Democrats that I do Not agree with; While I almost never agree with Republicans... and it seems so obvious to me, that one party is clearly more 'racist' than the other;

There is a saying that The Democrats cripple minorities with their welfare programs, that it's a different kind of oppression, that they are basically the same as the other party -- It's a great arguing point -- convincing for most who are not in the Minority.

But Mrs. Pleasant hits the nail on the head with her comments - While watching the RNC I was often sick to the stomach - I saw Nothing but white people - No asians, NO latin people, and hardly any blacks (I might have seen like 3 total) - What does that say? Does that say Diversity to you? Does that speak of a party that is really appealing to all races?

Odd thing is, I can remember when Bush was running for office in 2000 - many latin and hispanic people were voting for him, much of what I write about here at ThaShow, such as the divide between the black and latin community (which is sad, and should NOT exist) began to get real bad around this time.

Much of what I talk about here, such as coming together to put an end to things like racism, how it's up to the People to make changes, are some of my reasons for voting for Obama - His message, is my message - It's a hopeful message, that calls for action from The People.

His experience as a Community Organizer is Major - So why do the Republicans attack that, laugh at that, and mock it? I'll tell you why.

It's Racism... modern day, Closet, disguised Racism.

David Ike, in one of his talks that you can find online, speaks about a time when there was Overt Racism; He likes to discuss conspiracy theories, and talk of the elite, the methods they used to gain power, and how they maintain it -- He speaks specifically of South Africa, but the example he uses fits for America as well -- Going from overt, to covert; gives the illusion that the problem is fixed - when in reality, it's not.

I liken racism in 2008, to a Cold War. People feel the exact same way they did 40 years ago. White people, for the most part, do not like or respect blacks, and black people for the most part, do not like white people for That reason.

It's not openly expressed anymore, and when it is, it comes via a covert comment, such as the GOP Congressman, Lynn Westmoreland, who referred to Obama as "uppity" then denied that he meant it as a racial slur, although the phrase "Uppity Negro" is indeed racial, and that is precisely where he was leaning.

I remember being in school, most students hated History class. I dont think that we're able to truly appreciate certain subjects while we're so young - such as History, Math... when we're 11, 12, and 13 years old we have no real idea of how relevant History is - We should be teaching kids other subjects at that age, preparing them to handle topics like history and math better; helping them to understand their importance, for a few years, before teaching the class to them.

Here is why; Due to the lack of education about racism, most white people do not realize it when it's on display. What they would view as not racist, often is racist, and the lack of understanding helps keep this 'cold war' ongoing.

Covert Racism, allows Rudy cross-dressing Juliani, to bash Community Organizing - it allows Palin to use the same talking point, to put down people that are trying to Organize the people most effected by Racism, and Legalized Segregation.

Most white people fail to understand the True impact this had on blacks - and frankly, Most black people fail to understand the True impact as well - We forget, that the black community was purposely Disorganized; that Organization went against the plans of segregationalist, who did not want to see black people succeed, ever. Hence the term Uppity Negro, which was used by whites to mock blacks that wanted to progress - and was then filtered into the black community, as a way of dividing blacks - where cynical blacks would mock their own, feeling that blacks could never progress, without 'trying to be white'.

This historical context is lacking in Most people, black or white, because we as a society do not properly prepare people to understand the importance Of history.

I know one of the original Crips personally, and he Told me and a few of my friends about the very beginnings of this gang; originally, they were like the Black Panthers, a Political Group seeking to improve the conditions of black people in America, seeking to uplift black people and.... Organize the Community.

Once again the lack of Historical Context leaves both blacks, and whites, totally unaware that All programs like this were targeted by 'the powers that be' and dismantled, discredited, and destroyed. This includes the Crips, and the formation of the Bloods.

This is not a simple subject, like many white people view it to be, there are many Variables that go into Segregation, Oppression based on Racism -- it's dynamics include the usage of poverty and refusing to provide Adequate Education to blacks. What it creates are Desperate people, who are willing to do Desperate things.

Such as, selling out black people.

There have always been black people willing to sell out other blacks, for a better life, for "the American Dream" ... a car, a house, peace of mind, the pursuit of happiness.

Enter, informants, and spies, paid off by 'the powers that be' to accomplish one goal; To dismantle the groups seeking to uplift the Black Community. So, Members of the Black Panther Party begin spreading rumors, lies, in an attempt to discredit leadership, to cause in-fighting, even to go out and commit a few crimes, in the Name of the Black Panthers - giving cause to the gov't, to go after it's leaders, arrest them and bring them down.

In the case of the Crips, what happened was the same, only different. Two members got thrown out for attempting to discredit the organization - and instead, formed their own group, which would continue to discredit and throw jabs at the other ... war of words breaks out ... escalating eventually to acts of violence ... This other group, is today known as The Bloods - they killed a crip, so a crip killed a blood, and now, 30 years later, Many black people have gone to jail, have died, or have been wounded severely over this nonsense -- and the Community is in total disarray.

The Crips and Bloods, in my opinion have the Most Power in the Black Community to help change and improve things For the black community. However, right now, they're misguided, misdirected, and simply taking the Black Community in the wrong direction.

Sometime in the Late 90's, being a "thug" became cool - more and more blacks began to delve into 'criminal activities' as a status merit, a way to receive props, as the 'most thuggish ruggish' ... and the Republicans want to Mock Community Organizing?

How else will the black Community rebound from all the horrible situations that have put them where they are? If you ask me, Community Organizing is what black people need most! And while we're at it, White people too.

At some point in time, Someone, or a group of someone's, need to come together to re-educate white people about the True effects of racism, and the role they need to play to help clean up America, to make it better, and stronger for us all.

Why? Together we stand... divided we fall.

Like our Economy is doing - we don't have a voice right now because we're too divided as Americans. You don't like me because I'm black; so you reject my ideas, no matter how solid they are. In the end, You lose Your job, your house, and eventually Your country, all because you refused to do the right thing, regardless of what your grand-daddy believed in.

You see, an America where everyone knows how to prosper is an America that doesn't have the kind of poverty that it is -- which means fewer desperate people willing to do desperate things -- which means better and more improved workers, employers, and employees -- better products, better service, a Happier more united society... Utopia is not as far fetched as we've been "Led"ucated to believe.

1 comment:

undsy said...

thank you alvin.. :)

i watched the presidential debate a couple nights ago. obama kicked butt, didnt he? it was great to watch. :D