Chains in the Brains…
Posted By admin on January 16, 2012
While reflecting on the struggles and epic journey that has resulted in the Government of the United States enacting an official Federal holiday in recognition of the work and contribution of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. there remains many ironies, paradoxes and insidious resistance. From this writer’s local perspective as a recent resident of St. Croix in the Virgin Islands I took note that this territory of the United States was among the first in the nation to endorse and recognize the MLK Jr. Federal holiday.
Interestingly enough on the occasion of the 2012 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on the island of St. Croix there is no mention of the occasion in the Virgin Islands Daily News, a major VI newspaper. This glaring omission most likely did not result by accident or oversight, accordingly the silence, vis-à-vis, omission, speaks bold and vociferously as to the state of “race” relations in the VI going forward. The volume and intensity generated by the MLK Jr. omission, was expressed on some Virgin Islands radio talk shows. Moreover, there is virtually nothing to report on the official agenda of the predominantly black legislature and executive branches of government.
On the mainland of the United States, activities commemorating the occasion are manifold and include federal, state, and municipal government, in conjunction with a broad range of community based activities in churches, community organizations, schools and other sectors of society. For those of us that were of age, or who were a part of that tumultuous period in America during the 1960’s, lament the fact that the great and noble Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was being vilified by most of his colleagues in the clergy and civil rights movement during the time that he was assassinated.
The level of vituperation from the community at large without question acquiesced to the odious adverse political energies that conspired to eliminate the “most dangerous man in America.” In the context of celebrating the MLK Jr. Holiday occasion, the most popular feature that is promoted for the general public appreciation is his “I have a dream” speech. In addition, his “we shall overcome” social and political mantra has crystallized into the international political consciousness.
Unfortunately, notwithstanding the fact that we have a black American as the President of the United States, and the historical
victories of the civil rights movement during the 1960s and 1970s; black Americans are a political weakling in terms of percentages as compared to other ethnic minority communities. The black American community has enjoyed an historical numerical advantage as compared to other political “minority” communities, such as women, and gays for example but they enjoy proportionally more political leverage than the black community.
The quality of black American political leadership at the clerical and community based levels has seriously declined, since the passing of America’s “prince of peace.” The “responsible” black civil rights leadership in the clergy and some of the few elected black officials in the early 1960s also distanced themselves from MLK Jr. particularly following is controversial public position against the Viet Nam war. Currently black American political leadership, elected and unelected, leaves much more to be desired. According some in the community are suggesting that the “slavery chains are now in the brains.”
As the significance and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. continues to be exploited, misrepresented and parodied, we are among those who pray that the soul of this great human being rests in eternal peace, and that his spirit energy inspires others going forward.
In the wake of diminishing political support in recent polls, Rick Perry’s presidential nomination campaign speaks of the 800 pound gorilla in the room. While it has remained under the political radar until now, Mitt Romney’s faith has always represented an albatross around his neck in some conservative Christian political quarters. However, the unspoken of, evangelical Christian political inertia, injected into the GOP nomination contest by the reactionary Perry campaign may put Romney’s Mormon faith on center stage.
hard pressed to give the final nomination nod to a black America. Interestingly enough, the final decision associated with the GOP candidate in 2012, may boil down to the so-called “lesser of two evil,” by way of racial discrimination vs. religious discrimination.
Here’s his bio:
With the advent of Rick Perry, the Governor of Texas, into the Grand Old Party (GOP) presidential sweepstakes, the nomination process is apparently boiling down into a two man race. Interestingly enough, Perry, an evangelical conservative Republican and darling of the “Tea Party, was a member of the Democratic Party two decades ago.
respectively, in the mid 1960’s, many Democrats particularly in the southern states, who objected to the new role of black Americans in electoral politics and civil society, migrated to the Republican Party. To paraphrase President Johnson, the success of the civil rights movement lost the Democratic south to the Republican Party.
I don’t have any problem answering that shrouded question! First of all let me offer a context for the twenty-five (25) plus years that separates the question of the 1984 re-election of President Reagan versus the 2012 presidential election and who knows who will ultimately be the Republican Party designee.
Organization (NWRO), in New York City. NWRO was among several of the well known professional civil rights organizations. You may recall that the primary political objective of the civil rights movement during the early days was to infiltrate the Democratic Party particularly in the southern states and beat back Jim Crow and segregation from the inside. During that time the Democratic Party in the south in particular was synonymous with racism, and the KKK. The political strategy of the movement was to change the party from within, by way of voter registration and voter application in order to infiltrate the local Democratic Party. The strategic infiltration was successful and that process essentially broke the back of segregation and Jim Crow in the context of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts respectively.
I worked with a few Democratic and Republican district leaders during their petitioning process in the late 1960’s and mid 70’s. But it was in the 1980 presidential election when my organization Voters Anonymous organized a presidential debate scheduled for Fordham University in the Bronx, New York, between Vice President Walter Mondale and Gov. Ronald Reagan. The debate ultimately did not happen, but the Reagan campaign liked the idea and our political narrative therefore they kept the event scheduled until the eleventh hour, and it was mentioned in the local press. In addition, there were some political machinations against us in the form of some downfield political interference, engaged in by a few “official” black Republican district leaders in New York City that we handled very well. Our comportment displayed dignity, grace and political skill. Hence we were able to generate some political capital in the Reagan White House in 1980.
on my assessment of the current state of affairs and political trajectory of the party, I don’t believe that a classic political victory is in the cards in 2012. I believe that the 2012 presidential election will begin a rude awakening for the national as well as the local Republican Party in some communities. 
Thank you for that question. That is a very good question… I personally will not commit to voting for the ultimate Republican Party presidential nominee, as a practical political matter. It is possible that I may vote for the party nominee at the end of the day. However, if I were to answer that question today I would say no…
that he will be a one term president?
The ongoing black political saga in America was animated to greater heights in this 2012 election season by a controversy that was ignited on cable TV with the glib tongues and quick political wits of Professor Cornel West and Rev. Al Sharpton, on a recent MSNBC Show hosted by Ed Schultz. The clash of these popular political Titans is the latest rendition and spectacle of the internal debate that has been percolating beneath the political correct surface, since the election of President Barack Obama.
all levels but unfortunately when it is discussed in the public by members of the celebrity leadership and anointed leaders in media forums the black agenda is ill defined, and synonymous with the civil rights agenda, and civil rights leadership. There is a political dichotomy between the “black agenda” and the “civil rights agenda” that has roots in contemporary political history and has an application in 21st century black American politics. Unfortunately, the designated black American political leadership has not articulated the texture that is black internal politics and thereby, may be unwittingly promoting political disinformation along with MSNBC.
“As I expected,” Boyce continued, “the argument came to a predictable boiling point. Consistent with the views of his close colleague, Tavis Smiley, Cornel West fought hard to short-circuit the partnership between President Obama and Rev. Al Sharpton. Al Sharpton, a man not known to back down from anyone, defended his position well and also challenged those who sit in their ivory tower and talk without taking action.”
Obama is a relevant and significant subject in need of a broad based public political discourse, we consumers of popular TV media are only exposed to black celebrity political leadership with a myopic or circular political discourse…
The unfolding political and social upheavals occurring in the “Middle East” and North Africa are classic examples of how fraught, dynamic and interdependent the state of the world is today. The popular insurrections animating the Arab world began in Tunisia following the self-mutilation of a young man who was a street vendor that became fed up with being harassed and having his property confiscated by local police. The “straw that broke the camel’s back” occurred when a female officer ticketed him for not having a permit. She then confiscated his property, as he protested. Finally, the man left the scene after being slapped in the face by the female officer while he was still protesting.
dominos began to fall in other Arab countries of the region. Popular upheavals began to erupt and the people clamored for democratic reforms in, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, and Libya, among other countries. Without question, there is a political revolution underway in the Arab world, the end of which is not yet in sight. Concomitantly, the United States and “western” powers in particular began scrambling to get from behind the political curve. Impacted countries are currently modulating their internal situation and readjusting political power relationships with the people. However, the situation is fluid as global capital markets are responding to the unknown and western powers are pondering their immediate future, relative to the oil imperative.
While some point to unpredictable weather, wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, floods, pestilence, and other global phenomenon as signs of the imminent doom of the world, still others point to the same profound conjunctions and posit a glorious beginning of a new world. Nevertheless, since the demise of the former Soviet Union over two (2) decades ago, people’s revolutions in Europe, Africa and Asia, for example, have confounded the conventional political wisdom and has repositioned many countries and peoples to the present political status quo. The proliferation of democratic revolution that is engulfing the Arab world, and the Middle East is but, the latest political surprise that will ultimately impact and disrupt the geo-political power relationships currently in place. Where the lineal march of the people to secure their democratic and citizen rights will come to an end is obviously an open question.
democracy 101, the political vanguard black American community is reviewing and evaluating the previous forty odd years, of politics in the black American community. An anecdotal assessment and consensus among a diverse black American demographic suggests that a critical mass of black Americans are disillusioned and apathetic relative to the nature and application of politics by way the conventional civil rights leadership.
Veteran community organizer in the civil rights as well as black power movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s, Gary James said, “Obama’s community politics reminds me of the political dichotomy between the civil rights leadership agenda and the black power leadership agenda, from back in the day. The Obama political leadership paradigm advances black community politics beyond the civil rights strategies and tactics, which are based on race and “minority” juxtapositions.” James continued, “Obama’s campaign demonstrated a twenty-first century black politics which is essentially race neutral.”
implications that the civil rights, race based political paradigm as a strategy and tactic is shifting. In addition, the emerging black demographic in America represents an eclectic and diverse amalgam of black folk from South America, the Caribbean as well as continental Africa. Hence the African American contingent represents the smallest component of the expanding black American community. As a consequence of demographic growth patterns, the traditional civil rights political narratives, strategies and tactics are generating diminishing returns.
Since the political demise of the black power movement in the early 1970’s, the civil rights movement and its agenda, in conjunction with the “powers that be” was able to eclipse the organic, community based black political agenda. While advocates of a unique black political power agenda within the framework of the electoral system had to demure without recourse, the black political agenda was crushed, as a practical political matter. Black power political advocates for the most part were branded and politically maligned as militants, radicals, revolutionaries, nationalists, socialists, etc. Eventually many black power advocates were ostracized or trapped-off in covert political machination scenarios. Only a small contingent of political guru’s who have survived and navigated their way beyond the tumultuous days of the black power neophyte movement remain.
speak for the masses of black people. In addition to negotiating their way out of political position, vis-à-vis, the advent of political correctness, they have suffered substantial leadership and follow-ship loses due to attrition and the growing lack of political relevance. Rev. Al Sharpton may represent the last generation of the civil rights leadership orthodoxy. Although the conventional civil rights organizations and politicians will continue to have a life of their own, aspirants for elective office, locally and nationally, need not genuflect to the civil rights leadership orthodoxy or seek a political high sign,” in the pursuit of their electoral ambition.”
Some maintain that there is a political synergy between the politics of black America and the masses in the third world seeking democracy and civil rights. In the wake of the political advances of the successful civil rights movement in the 1960’s the so-called “third” world countries, particularly in Africa and Asia, experienced their respective democratic political revolutions. The forty-odd year process has now caught up with the Arab world in the Middle East and North Africa is currently being transformed politically by way of civil rights movement strategies and tactics, tailored to their respective organic political futures. The end of politically monolithic and strongman rule is beginning to be eclipsed by the free flow of information, liberty, political education and activism.
The Christmas “Yule tide” season is upon us and all Christians in particular celebrate the birth of Lord Jesus Christ in Bethlehem, more than two (2) thousand years ago. The epic birth of this extraordinary and controversial figure explicitly sets forth the foundation and ethics that embody Christianity. Christmas has become a unique world-wide celebration that has endured for millennia promoting the life and values of the Master, by way of the Christian faith. In the western world the Christmas tradition of this blessed event is celebrated on December 25. The occasion is expressed by the exchange of gifts among family and friends, and an expression of good tidings to all humanity. The Christmas tree and old St. Nicholas are among the most popular images associated with this annual holiday event.
profoundly controversial ecclesiastical divergences between the eastern and western branches of Christianity that resulted in a monumental bifurcation recorded in popular history as the great “east verse west schism.” One of the most enduring elements of this sixteen hundred year old controversy is the “Apostles’ Creed” known by heart among all members of the Roman Catholic faith. However, perhaps the most noteworthy outcome of the great historical council was the infallibility of the Pop…
Gary James, author, writer, artist, thinker, entrepreneur, theologian and neo-blogger engages the social networking community. After uploading general content to his FaceBook and MySpace accounts, James launched his Twitter account on Friday, December 3, 2010. He posted five (5) individual tweets advancing the respective themes of five blogs that indulge pertinent ideas respectively. The Twitter account can be accessed at: 
