 Not too long ago, President Barack Obama was being criticized for not having a very diverse presidential staff. Today, he is being criticized for having too many blacks in important positions. I am not one of those critics.
The way I see it, the president
has made a conscious decision to hire more and more people like him.
Several of his Ivy League buddies and friends are getting key
appointments. Now, if only the president would hire some of the
activists in the black community with whom he worked while community
“organizing,” we might be getting somewhere.
Most,
not all, blacks who attend Ivy League schools like Harvard, Princeton
and Cornell have more in common with their white classmates than they
have in common with black people who are exploited, oppressed,
suppressed, refused and abused in the ghettos and barrios of America.
Dark-skinned
The
president’s so-called black friends don’t look too black, they don’t
“talk” black and they don’t act black. They don’t go out of their way to
help black business persons or contract with black government vendors
and consultants.
The
president’s dark-skinned buddies don’t support Louis Farrakhan or
worship with Jeremiah Wright. And, don’t worry about what you read here.
The president’s employees, contractors, advisors and appointees would
never read an outspoken column like The Gantt Report.
Now, let’s say a word or two about Brown Rice and Cracker Jacks.
United
Nations Ambassador Susan Rice has been the target of criticism by
rightwing conservatives for comments she made after a U.S. consulate was
attacked in Libya that resulted in the deaths of four Americans,
including the ambassador.
It
has been suggested that after taking hit after hit and after being
“jacked” by conservative politicians and Fox News reporters and
talk-show hosts, Rice might have a tough time replacing Hillary Clinton
as America’s Secretary of State.
False statements
There
is no question about Rice’s qualifications for the job but the
qualified Rice (Condoleeza, that is) who came before Susan was burnt by
what the fresh Rice is accused of: making false statements to the
American people about military operations or the lack thereof.
I
hate for people to attack black women or any person of color but I
don’t care who gets the Secretary of State job because all the new hire
will do is rubber-stamp and parrot the positions of Wall Street, the
World Bank and the world’s military industrial complexes.
I
just find it interesting that everyday black citizens are always
ignored until it is time to run and support someone of color who will
rarely support African Americans or Africans. It is sort of like how
people who never support the SCLC or the NAACP run to those groups for
assistance crying crocodile tears the moment they get fired.
We should tell the world how much we love Brown Rice and how much we hate Cracker Jacks.
Rice-and-crabs
is a tasty dish but even if a crab rises to the top of the political
barrel the crab still would have to thank her lowly brothers and sisters
for letting her ascend. I wish Susan Rice well and I think that is more
than she wishes for people like me.
Lucius
Gantt, a political consultant based in Tallahassee, is author of the
book Beast Too: Dead Man Writing. He may be reached at
allworldconsultants.net
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