Postmortem

So here's the postmortem feedback I'm getting from my real-world, and not just FB, interactions with voting blacks:

"DNC you done f@&$ up!"

Why?

The main reason for the GOP opposition to the President has been racism pure and simple.

Nothing else stands up to scrutiny.

There is absolutely NOTHING really different about this President on policy or rhetoric than any establishment Democrat and/or their administration, past or present.

Nothing.

Nothing except his ethnicity.

By 'accepting' that Obama is 'unpopular' in your purple and red districts, which made you run from him in your respective campaigns . . .

. . . You 'joined' the GOP in discriminating against this Black Man, your POTUS because of his race!

You basically smeared this president . . . this black man's legacy with a racist disdain for all the accomplishments he's made the entire 6 years he's been in office.

And in doing so you've made your 'great white hope' Hillary vulnerable as well.

She's ripe for another upturning of her 'inevitability' just like in 2008.

Just like you . . . Hillary too has distanced herself from the president . . . further offending millions of us in this country that have been stalwart supporters of yours for decades now.

The message:

You value the white, racist vote or support the most . . . indirectly.

I say indirectly because your rhetoric isn't overtly racial like the GOP but . . . your avoidance of him on sure fire public opinion winners in terms of policy . . . is also indefensible.

The result is that only the white, racist vote 'mattered' to you in the end.

And you ran with that.

And you got your clock cleaned.

And you pissed off one of your most ardent pillars of support with your cowardice.

I voiced that frustration and anger at you with my most recent piece about your political malfeasance

And I am being proven correct it seems.

You want to hear another thing about Hillary that makes her so vulnerable as well?

Barrack Obama's support also includes MANY whites, young people and other ethnicities of color.

A big issue you ran away from was immigration . . . which ALSO disappointed the now largest group of non-whites - Hispanics.

Also MANY hardcore liberal whites LOATHE her as well . . . and are just waiting for someone else to step in to deny her the 'prize' again. Many are actually vowing to vote against her irrespective of if another candidate comes up or not . . . which could be fatal to any presidential run on the left losing that significant sliver of support, due to the fact that the GOP are now victorious may be able to ride this popularity into 2016. 

How?

The Press will help them do so to preserve the ratings bonanza of an election year narrative of a close presidential race.

I've seen it happen over and over again. With all the money the GOP have to spend the Press will be eating out of their palms in 2016.

Also a little bit of history is surfacing to bite the Hillary Clan on their asses as well:

A wide multi-ethnic swath on the left hasn’t truly forgiven Hillary for her racist tactics against President Obama in 2008 and her prolonged pointless campaign against him as well.

And please spare me the PC line about it 'made his campaign better':

Hillary did that out of spite for his usurping what she thought was 'her entitlement' or 'her turn' . . . and it isn't lost on any astute politico out there.

I can guarantee that if Barrack Obama had lost to McCain in 2008 the Clintons would have wasted no time turning the Obama's 'Name' into 'mud' and a liability. The Clintons would have also punished politically all who supported the Obamas in their 'losing campaign'.

"You should have went with Us! You see now!?"

So yeah DNC we haven't forgot about that. And Hillary we see through you as well.

The Democratic Party has done some damage to a major pillar of their base by their cowardice and racism this fall.

We won't soon forget it.

Take this as an FYI to all ye ‘Good Old Boys’ in the DNC:

What you did on Election Day and the lead-up to the same has spelled the end of your party taking People of Color for granted.

You need to choose.

And choose with solid conviction . . . or we'll see the obliteration of the entire racist two party system within the next few years.

Surprised by my threat? It's not a threat it's a promise.

Didn't you get the memo? We'll be the numerical majority in this place in less than 40 years.

With the constituency you chose to back this fall dying out . . . blacks and others of color, along with forward thinking whites and young people will form a rainbow coalition, which will be America's New Majority.

Get wise and get in with us now . . . or get rolled over to extinction.

We are angry and sick of your empty racial platitudes where we're concerned.

Consider yourself warned Democratic Party . . . or you'll follow the GOP to sleep with the WHIG Party.

(C) BantuProgressiveRant 11/17/14

Political Malfeasance

I've got to vent . . . 

You in the DNC kinda deserved what you got Tuesday.

No seriously:

You folks really piss me off!

I've been a staunch defender of the party and our president for years through some of our biggest battles from the ACA to Bin Laden to the Consumer protection agency . . . and I feel like all my energy I put into fighting for you and defending you has been a waste!!

You guys are guilty . . .

Guilty of Political Malfeasance

And that's pretty grave crime considering what is at stake or what is now vulnerable . . .!

(From here on out for the rest of this rant: 

"They" = GOP)

The Democratic loss on Tuesday is the definition of political malfeasance.

Let's list a few out of a smorgasbord of tacts and facts that Democrats could have used to actually achieve victory:

THEY shut down the government costing the regular guy billions in pay and benefits

The ACA is working to the point they've BACKED AWAY from it.

THEY'RE infested with racists and blatantly court them as part of their base

THEY CRASHED the world economy

THEY started TWO wars on a credit card

THEY LIED about Iraq's WMD AND CONNECTION TO 911 resulting in more than 4000 servicemen losing their lives in a country that is now being overrun by ISIS!

THEY have consistently for DECADES shown that they don't care about the non-wealthy

THEY'RE against the minimum wage increase and actually want to do away with it.

THEY want to tell women what they can and cannot do with their own bodies

THEY disenfranchise millions of voters of color.

THEIR disrespect and intransigence is seething with racism toward the POTUS and people of color nationwide.

THEY'VE blocked every piece of legislation that would have created any sort of infrastructure work over the past six years . . . and each day these structures languish in disrepair and decay it puts millions of our lives in danger while using them.

THEY'RE funded by the most treasonous, racist people and lineages in this country's history.

THEY want to tell you who you can and cannot love

THEY blocked and killed immigration reform!

THEY have gutted public schools and stolen the funds to give to for-profit charter schools for decades now leaving these institutions a shell of their former selves literally in terms of buildings and in terms of efficacy.

THEY did NOT get Bin Laden despite almost a decade of supposedly trying and THEN publicly admitting they aren't focused on him anymore . . . which meant that 3000 NY's that died on 9/11 took a back burner to all sorts of other crap . . . AND THEY have the BALLS to actually 'campaign on' 9/11 for the Presidency in 2008??

THEY . . . THEY . . . THEY . . . Etc . . .!

Let me be clear:

The above, far from exhaustive list is COMMON to and/or can be blamed on the GOP AT EVERY LEVEL - School Board to Presidential candidate.

They have been pushing this national agenda with their sycophantic records and actions for decades now at every level and at every instance they've gotten power.

Their 'bad' is a national exhibit

So you need a national approach when fighting them at all levels.

It's so damned obvious.

So DNC . . .

. . . Ahhm WHERE was this 'national branding' in all the local and state elections in the lead up to Tuesday??

So much low-hanging political fruit applicable to ALL state and district races that you folks basically ABANDONED!!

Republicans have been running a 'national branding campaign' and applied it to local and state elections in 2010 and now 2014 . . . and democrats can't seem to do anything similar.

Why!??

And all you chicken crap assholes that went to embrace Hillary instead of your president, running FROM the ONLY accomplishments you have . . . how's the packing going!???

EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU THAT RAN FROM THE PRESIDENT AND THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS MADE . . . LOST!!

Hillary is not viable in 2016.

Yes I said it.

And your cowardice and yes racism has made sure she won't be too.

The way you pave the way for any progressive presidential candidate is to fight like hell for the progressive accomplishments that were actually achieved.

You don't run from them!

Hillary will be trumped again like she was in 2008 for a candidate that will vigorously OWN all the democratic accomplishments of the most recent administration and run with it.

Only if such a candidate fails to show themselves will she get the 'grudging nod' because as a liberal I'll never let a conservative win if I have anything to do with it.

But she'll never have the fire and devotion from the base and even from the center AND some folks on the right that Barrack Obama had.

So keep running from him Alison Grimes and others . . . you paid on Tuesday for it and if the party doesn't wise up you'll KEEP paying.

And we'll have that bastard from NJ as POTUS in 2016.

Mark my words Democrats.

And for crying out loud:

Trying to be above the fray is no longer respected by the electorate anymore!

The GOP have been branding your party carte blanche as an inept, pacifist entity for decades . . . 

Listen:

It's 'ok' the call them COLLECTIVELY everything from hood wearing racists . . . to courting the same . . . to accusing them of wanting folks to die in lieu of health care!

Alan Grayson had it right.

Stop being so damned 'respectful'!

In the age of reality TV this prim and proper, cotillion bullshit is NOT respected by the public anymore.

You look like a loser and you look weak.

Can't you see that?

Get with it damn it!

You screwed America Democrats with your malfeasance, racism and cowardice . . . thank you.

Sick of your limp-wristed antics!

Go for the damned political jugular already.

And don't go blaming POTUS like some of you have:

He HAS to sound conciliatory. He is the ceremonial head of the country and its his duty to be all cumbayah with his rhetoric.

YOU are supposed to be the political operatives and elected officials! You have no such strictures placed on you! Is Barrack Obama your rhetorical 'mule' that you need to ride to electoral or political victory??

Must he do ALL your speaking for you??

Must he 'carry all your weight'?

The more things change eh?

Funny you were more independent and took more initiative when Bubba was in . . . you didn't need to be told to verbally and fiercely smack down any sort of slight against Bill by the GOP or the fickle media.

Why have you been holding your hands behind your back with this POTUS?

I said it before you folks have a race issue within too it seems:

This black man has to 'do it all without any help' when none before ever had to try so hard.

Yes I went there because I can't see ANY other viable reason for the 'hand off' attitude you folks have had towards the man!

Damn you democrats . . . I support you . . . but your double standard with respect to this president is really trying my patience!

And I'm not the only one that feels that way.

Do your jobs damn you!

I'm getting really tired of your decades-old Political Malfeasance.

When is enough enough!??

(C) BantuProgressiveRant 11/6/14

Political Masturbation

"What's the use!? They're all bad! Ain't nobody got time fo dat!"

The above meme (and all it's other myriad of forms) is an ingenious, insidious, bipartisanly-applied, Republican creation that paradoxically keeps folks from participating AND keeps sending THEM (GOP) into office(to fix the terrible, 'bad' government).

As it is NOW it's either 'one side or the other' can win.

To effect change or the result you want you have to work the system that is in place now.

So you need to choose.

The thing is that this 'deception' I spoke about at the outset almost guarantees that mentally you won't have the appetite to truly and fully asses and make the only choice you always and will EVER have:

Picking the Lesser of Two Evils.

Picking the 'One that Stinks Less'.

Everyone in this country has been 'infected' by this 'intellectual virus' that ALWAYS rears in our minds, as a point of view and course of action, as a 'fever' so to speak; its 'symptom':

The mentally-lethargic indictment of both major players, accompanied by a violent 'shiver' shrugging off any sort of informed nuance or perspective and sapping away any 'energy' for basic fact checking of records, trends and history of the entities vying for your vote.

Democrats seem to have no answer for that hegemonic piece of genius either . . . despite witnessing it up close and personal for decades

(At times that deficit within the Left's ranks has left me cynical and suspicious . . . but even that sentiment by lefties like myself could end up propagating what I swear I'm so against. I'll explain later.)

Back to the Democratic Establishment . . .

The DNC doesn't seem to be interested in or are unbelievably able to counteracting the growth and/or excising that 'lump' of a national, political 'cancer' that the GOP have caused to spread malignantly across all ideologies, religious faiths(even atheists!), cultures, economic classes, and ages!

It's breathtaking how interwoven this 'egalitarian condemnation' of 'all government' is in our society!

What I said in parenthesis earlier comes into play below:

Liberals prize that 'thought' on some level in that we are 'always distrustful' and simply don't 'believe' . . . so in our 'brilliance' we may make a principled vote for a third party candidate or a write-in, thinking we're standing up to the so-called 'GOP-anarchy' . . . when in fact we have just taken ourselves OUT of the overall arsenal for 'good'.

Why?

Because a vote like that doesn't really 'count'.

It's an exercise in political masturbation:

You 'help' no one but yourself 'feel good' . . . your 'spunk' gets wasted in the 'exclusive, private towels' of your own mind . . . and no one else is privy to this.

Your 'act of bravado' 'moves' no one else . . . there is no 'cooperation' . . . there is no 'alliance' that is in sync with you and your little 'rebellion'.

And republicans are just masochistic drones . . . they 'savage' and 'de-limb' themselves 24/7 going along with the GOP and spouting that garbage about government being a problem.

They can't see that the way they vote KEEPS government dysfunctional and that THE SAME ONES who they send there and keep sending . . . mucked it up in the first place!

It's a perfect, self-replicating, highly-defensively-adept mechanism for societal 'sepuki' of a caliber that we haven't seen in centuries!

The thing is that only a minuscule few stand to benefit as we gash our arteries open and bleed our future away . . .

Political Participation is a must.

You need to garner a 'political, environmentally-significant' 'win' EVERY TIME you 'play' if you are truly interested in making change.

Every 'move' you make MUST 'count' towards the 'direction' you say you want things to go. You also must learn to defend like a rabid animal ANY gains towards that end, no matter how small and seemingly insignificant they may be.

What might be small today may be a huge asset later.

The way forward is messy and not as satisfying . . . in fact it's depressing at times . . . but nothing truly necessary and good EVER happens quickly.

Fast Food is bad for you . . . but so are Fad Politics . . . and indignant, idealistic, stubborn and reactionary political choices.

America:

Wake up and Grow Up!

The old folks used to say masturbation would make one blind . . . I'd say they're right when it comes to political habits and choices.

You have such a tight grip/focus on 'your shit' . . . you don't see what the collective sum of your actions could and will do to the larger society's social and political 'health' so to speak . . . 

If we all go 'blind' . . . then the country is truly doomed.

(C) BantuProgressiveRant 8/16/14

The Cynic Inside (Edited and Extended) ***Strong Language***

The Cynic Inside me is restless and troubled lately . . . 

The cynic in me wonders why the Democrats never do anything to preempt Republicans at any level whatsoever.

Because . . . 

. . . Republicans have been doing the same things for decades once they gain power . . . it doesn't matter how they sound during the campaign they always 'come home'.

The cynic in me wonders if that 'lethargy' is deliberate so the Democrats can whip up some electoral outrage energy, which catapults them back into office. The Democrats then, in short order, 'let' the GOP wreck shop . . . then they bawl yet again(just in time for next election season):

"Look at what they did! Unconscionable!"

Its a never ending emotional circle we're being led around in . . . without the Democrats EVER actually trying to 'insulate' against the overarching, boringly-predictable goals and machinations of the GOP . . .

. . . My cynic thinks that the destruction of the GOP would possibly mean the end of their rhetorical and existential raison d'être.

. . . because as the cynic in me fears we will then see just how bought you too are . . .

Yes I said 'bought'.

For instance the GOP have blocked jobs bill after jobs bill after jobs bill in the MIDDLE of a recession . . . you should have been drumming them into the ground about it 24/7 until 'anti-work' and 'treasonous' becomes synonymous with the GOP in the public's mind!

Why did you let them off the hook with this?

Do you really want the economy to improve? If you do call them the craven, racist, treasonous obstructionists that they are without any apologies and without backing down . . . call them that because that what they are!

My Cynic wonders about this glaring political, albeit patriotic, malfeasance by the Democrats on this score.

Are you trying to somehow placate Big Business, who flagrantly backed the GOP in their obstruction, so that they may 'look kindly' upon you 'when we aren't looking'?

ARE you saying:

"Hey . . . that was some election rhetoric, ok? Don't be so peeved! We were never going to 'hurt' you, ok? So . . . um . . . how about that deal we spoke about before . . .?'

Is My Cynic right about your 'secret handshake' of a 'narrative'?

I hope He's wrong . . .

The cynic in me is tired of flat footed outrage.

The cynic in me wants some fucking OFFENSE!

The cynic in me wants some seamless solidarity in political and nationally altruistic purpose . . . and benching of the damned idealism occasionally. Then exhibit disciplined collusion between all parts of the party 'when it matters' or 'when there is an opportunity' towards the greater good.

The cynic in me doesn't want the Democrats to be respectful or 'nice'.

The cynic in me feels that the GOP see our being nice and refusal to 'kill' as a weakness, a lifeline . . . and have been exploiting it for years . . . while slaughtering our 'base' and our 'sacred policy cows':

Labor, Environmental Protections, Social Services, Anti-discrimination Laws, Entitlements, etc.

The cynic in me feels the GOP dine too well on these 'carcasses' irrespective of common sense and an obvious, glaring, ever-present, widespread fever of deliberate/proud factual deficiency . . . and our side always seems to let them get away with it in some way that you can see coming a mile off at times . . .

The cynic in me doesn't want to hear that:

". . . 'playing' like 'that' makes us no better than them . . .!" 

Sorry but my cynic wants to yell in response:

"I don't give a shit. Fuck that! 'Kill' them! Enough!"

(Kill means take them out politically unrelentingly and ruthlessly for those thinking I'm advocating for physical violence)

The cynic in me will still vote for you . . . but only because you don't smell as much like a defrosting cadaver in the hot sun . . . like the other side does . . . 

My cynic will vote for you ultimately . . . but fuck the uplifting, empty rhetoric because He's not trying to hear it until He starts to see some 'bloody' hands holding ripped out elephant tusks and you start making trophies of the 'skinheads' scalps, you start using the tattered and bloody Klan hoods as flags, and you start turning the fat sows that are the GOP oligarchs into bacon . . . so to speak!

The cynic in me wants you to quarantine the corporate apologists on our side in a facsimile of the Gitmo they blocked the President from closing and rendition that knack for performing fellatio on any potential millionaire donor at the expense of the party platform, the FUCK OUT OF THEM!

And then release them but confine them to their 'homes' with an almost lethal 'anklet' wired to go off if they stray too far, for the next 10 - 12 election cycles . . . with the threat of reconditioning in Gitmo if they backslide to their whoring ways!

The cynic in me goes back to the decimation of the unions in the 1980's and wonders . . . where the FUCK were you Democrats?

The Cynic in me wonders after Reagan's first salvo against unions . . . WHERE was your federal and state cooperation to make sure the GOP can't destroy anymore of organized labor?

The cynic in me wonders with all this talk about taking back the house . . . how come you seemed not to know when these members of your caucus continuously and seemingly exponentially would 'announce their retirements'? How could you be so disconnected that you had no inside knowledge of these departures and had no plan or any candidate waiting in the wings to hold on to the seat BEFORE the public announcement!??

The cynic in me wonders . . . if you'll use these 'untimely' vacancies as an excuse to sit back, watch the GOP gain the senate, and watch as they systematically dismantle this president's legacy, as well as, the entire progressive history of this nation . . . while riding the 'horror wave' yet again to benefit yourselves individually by retaining your office again, on the pipe dream of 'this time we'll get them!' . . . just like so many times before over the decades!

The Cynic in me wonders why you're so chicken shit, it seems, to confront and fight the GOP on the so-called rhetorical home turf!

It's no mystery that these days the GOP utter nothing but lies about everything:

From the economy to religion to energy . . . nothing but lies, obfuscation and misdirection, which may 'go down easy' for those who may not know better.

Where is your rabid fight to stop the 'innocently ignorant' from falling prey to this?

When a Pat Robertson gets up on TV and says something really crazy, please enthusiastically and unrelentingly 'tar and feather' the entire GOP establishment with this 'intellectual piss' . . . I beg of you :

Do it.

If you won't can you please tell America why?

My Cynic again asks If you're 'nursing' their insanity for your political benefit?

Why?

Because you're supposed to be about stamping such insanity out, not letting it 'breathe' by this egalitarian mantra that everyone should have a voice.

No. Not everyone.

Some things should not be said and should not be allowed air to respire, as they are toxic to the very idea of this country and her best traditions.

My inner Cynic wonders what the fuck are you waiting for.

The Cynic in me wonders why you won't call the GOP out on the avaricious, evil Randian philosophy they practice.

The Cynic in me is wondering why you can't seem to realize that society and her politics no longer resemble the polite 'cotillion' of 'Old Europe'.

It's a gladiators' arena.

Like it or not why can't you see that is what it is? You may not 'like' it but please suck it up and be like Maximus here . . .

Again like Max:

Please slaughter the Other Side!??

You have everything at your disposal to do this . . . and the country NEEDS this from you.

Oblige already . . . or is My Cynic right about you . . .?

This is just some of what the cynic in me is saying and thinking

And He's pissed.

Yeah I still keep him in check . . . but the lack of conviction or the stupidly naive and impractical excess of 'conviction' on the other end of that political pendulum is riling him up.

Democrats please take note:

I don't know how much longer I can hold him . . .

Because trust me:

There's more

(C) BantuProgressiveRant 2/25/14

Going IN on it! More Race Talk . . .

Learn What Racism Is

I have seen on FB, comment sections under magazine articles and blogs, folks talking about 'reverse racism'. This is a term that I have seen mostly Caucasians use when they are relating their experiences when they were subjected to antagonism by Non-whites, just because they are ‘White’.

'Reverse Racism’ is a misnomer.

They really experienced racial PREJUDICE . . . Not RACISM

Reverse racism in itself indicts the original 'perpetrators' - White on Black - as the Real Deal. 

Think about it.

Was that the real ‘intent’ of using that term folks? You used it to equivocate what ‘They’ were doing to you as no different to what ‘You’ have been known to historically do to ‘Them’, right? That says that Racism and all the nasty behaviors associated with it, originated with ‘You’ per se. This rather ‘awkward’ affixing of this ill chosen, possibly, again, misnomer of an adjective in ‘reverse’, is an obfuscator to ‘spread around’ the ‘heavy filth’ of a practice that is commonly attributed to ‘You’.

Were you trying to admit historically that ‘your people’ were the progenitors of such disgusting tendencies and occurrences?If you weren’t please refrain from using this rather ‘sloppy’, guilt-ridden ‘comeback’ or retort for an asshole of another ethnicity, who chooses to act like the ‘brown stuff’ to you for something you can’t control – Your Ethnicity. They were idiots and disgusting fools; label them as such.

In addition, Racism has an element of real-world power to it:

If the racial prejudice, or what has been born out of it (Institutional Racism), gives a definite, tangible benefit to the perpetrator, and as such, gives them 'power' over others or the target(s) of their prejudice, then that is Racism.

All other racial biases and race-based antagonistic behaviors and practices against different ethnic groups who aren't in 'power', or even against those in 'power' is prejudice, which is as old as man and is too common.

For example, Institutional Racism in this country has ALWAYS been a ‘White vs Other’ 'breakdown' because for centuries arguably ONLY WHITES were legally and socially allowed to fully 'take advantage' of the unique experiment that is our Democratic Republic. Whether it be even simple physical liberty, education, political participation (voting and running for office), property rights, and various machinery and operational licenses, Whites have had an relatively ‘unhindered’ opportunity to pursue and enjoy the benefits of acquiring such. This culminates into a very ethnically specific, empirically observable, accumulation of wealth, status and power of all sorts in this society and economy. Those who did NOT fit into the 'preferred' ethnicity, were barred from ‘consuming’ ANY such 'fruits', and for centuries this exclusivity was maintained by force as well as legally.

Racism is a system for imparting exclusive benefit on members of a specific ethnicity.

 

Accept Your Present, Know The History . . . and What It Means, It’s Legacy

At this time in our human history, Whites ARE and have been that 'preferred' ethnicity. 

It was not always so though:

Africans and people of African descent were once the top dogs of the planet. Where they interacted with any other ethnicity, as the Moors did over most of Europe, any prejudice THEY might have had towards Europeans at THAT TIME, would be Racism as well!

They were the ethnicity 'in power' and in charge of all ‘spigots’ of 'opportunity' back then in that world.

Now it is the Caucasian.

That is a fact. There is no need to feel uncomfortable acknowledging such. It's just true.

It is the reason why, collectively, they are 'ahead' in this country and worldwide, in terms of wealth, power and deferential, authoritative influence on countries they once dominated or colonized. Many of the countries we now refer to as the Third World, fit that bill. Although there is resentment from the locals/indigenous people (racial prejudice against whites is on the rise in Hawaii according to some recent reports), the governments, for the most part, aspire to be on good terms with majority white nations, because they are almost always the wealthiest and most powerful.

Again, they have arrived at that point due to the subjugation and domination of people NOT of their ethnicity.

Sorry but it’s all true. Ask Walter Rodney and others for that ‘breakdown’.

Let me step 'forward' to today to make my point clear:

Our everyday life is filled with examples of how 'ahead' whites are.

For instance, I've never taken a flight where the majority of the first class or business class travelers aren't white. That's a simple empirical observation that you can extrapolate to other arenas but let’s stay here. Everyone knows that a first class ticket is more expensive than coach is.Anyone who is in first class is there because they can afford it. If there are less people of color seen consistently, as is the case, it can be assumed it is because they can't afford it. I'm saying it’s no secret that you get more comfort in first class; those that can do.

Now . . . Please don't make the common retort I've gotten when I've tried to make this point of . . .

"So should they feel guilty that they can do that, and others can't!?"

No, they shouldn't. 

We all do what we can; use whatever we have at our disposals to enjoy life. You've got it? Use it.The truth is that collectively our societal systems, for centuries, has left You and Your Forebears largely unhindered and without inter-ethnic 'competition' for the fabled 'American Dream'.You've had a head start to be able to 'fly first class well-represented'. This isn't 'envy' as some who are shallow would accuse me of being captive to. It's a plain, unemotional assessment of an easily-observed and verified fact and/or statistic.

First Class, like so many other 'pleasures' in this country and, in fact, the world over, that require more than average sums of money or resources to experience, seem to have, as a vast majority of the 'patrons', who can be called White or Caucasian.

Is this just luck why so many members of a particular ethnic group dominate a certain economic and class strata?

Many would love that to be the case for the sake of their consciences. Again, you do what you want with your resources . . . but reality doesn't 'owe you' a blissful, pervasive, indignant ignorance of the true cost of your advantages.

True that no white alive today can really be held responsible for the damage wrought by their forebears and shouldn't be held responsible for it either. However, you do need to recognize how fully it has circumscribed your existence, your worldview, your philosophy to life. As part of that recognition acknowledge the hardships still being impugned on others not like you. It is when you refuse to face what might make you feel uncomfortable, falsely believing everyone's generational and personal histories are the same as yourself and ‘insist’ on it . . . you become an unwitting agent of continued discrimination, and thus, pain against and inflicted on those not like you.

Another thing:

This ethnically subjective system built by your forebears is actually DESIGNED to 'support' and make seamless such deliberate obliviousness. It is so insipid that many don't even realize that they're doing that mental dance. You provide fuel for this engine of prejudice to keep going; passively, where you are concerned, but even fatally, where others are concerned. 

Open. Your.Eyes. The evidence is stark and is almost omnipresent. 

“The Racial Stockholm Syndrome” or Colorism

Racial prejudice today and its cousin colorism between other non-white ethnic groups also is a spin-off of White vs Other racism. It comes from dominated, colonized, enslaved and/or conquered non-white people's the world over 'accepting', at the subconscious level collectively, the inherent racial, inferiority 'assertions' about themselves, intimated socially, legally, by force etc by the dominant group. Along with that is the simultaneous imbibing of the dominant group's 'assumed' superiority as well. This is a carte blanche ‘swallowing’, in every way, from physical appearance to language, religion . . . almost all the cultural markers, that they are 'inferior' to their ‘conquerors’ vision of beauty or other standards. These people after a few generations clamber over themselves to see if they can 'identify' with the dominant culture and standards ‘in any way possible’.

Because 'They', The Dominant, have it all.

Why not try to be like Them to curry favor and opportunity, to not feel like they’re at the bottom of all things?

The process of assimilation, when we speak about immigration, has elements of this supplication to it, if you think about it.

Here are some others:

Asians and the operations they endure to give them the 'western look'.

Asians and East Indians anglicizing their names for 'easy consumption' within the existing system.

Blacks use weaves and/or straightening their hair.

People of color the world over using skin bleaching creams to lighten their complexion.

. . . and so much more.

From this clamoring to gain acceptance and favor, a certain class structure or perceptions of class developed between the different non-white groups. Blacks ended up on the 'bottom' because of how ‘far away’ from 'the ideal' they were.Also, they were THE identity most ‘campaigned’ against when one consumes popular culture from societies held captive to this sort of foundation of White on Black Racism. There have been demonstrated tendencies and incidences of Asians, East Indians, and Hispanics exhibiting prejudice against Blacks and their darker-skinned kin because according to well-entombed racial ‘dictates’ such a ‘tint’ is indicative of  the social and societal bottom rung on pretty much everything.

Meanwhile they are victims of very similar and some of the most vile racist actions by the majority just like the Black . . . but hold on to some 'belief' that they MUST BE BETTER than 'them' for a whole host of reasons:

Lighter skin complexion

Long, straight hair and/or hair texture and color.

Similar Body Type even . . .

Here's the sad thing:

Even within their own groups (blacks are also guilty of this) they discriminate against each for being too close to the ‘reviled visage’ of 'Black' in any way it can be 'defined', for any and/or  combination of the aforementioned reasons. The ‘victims’ have come to accept their ‘tormentors’ ‘reasoning for the torment’. 

A Racial Stockholm Syndrome is now pervasive in many non-white and black communities worldwide.

Now behold the ingenious, automated ‘sentience’ of this built-in, racial infrastructure: 

It 'imparts/denies' a 'gradient' of benefit and opportunity based on how close or how removed you are from 'the standard'.

These groups take this 'standard' and apply it among themselves against each other and yes Blacks did/do it too. The resultant self-hating mess is called colorism and it has done unimaginable damage to communities of color all across the world.

Conclusion

There has been this sort of explosion of race-based discussion across all media as of late, in a way I don't think has happened since the 1960's at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. We've seen activists and scholars rise to somewhat national prominence due the highly charged atmosphere where race is concerned, which was undeniably precipitated with Barrack Obama's ascension to the White House. By itself, that achievement for blacks is one that, personally, I never thought I'd see in my lifetime. From Melissa Harris-Perry, Tim Wise to Cornell West, Al Sharpton and even Tavis Smiley have 'suddenly' found avenues to express their passions in a legitimate and serious way. These luminaries have been at this for, in some cases, decades. Suddenly, with Barrack Obama's rise, the opportunity to really discuss this great stain on this country has presented itself . . . and they've risen to the occasion.

When we see Barrack Obama stride out from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, to make a speech or do a press conference or his weekly address . . . it makes Blacks, the world over, feel very proud, vindicated. 

I feel PROUD!

Why?

That cheering many of you heard from many Black neighborhoods when he was elected was expressions of vindication. You may or may not be able to empathize with that feeling for yourself, but that is what it is. Some will say:

“. . . well he just happened to be the best man for the job out of who was left . . .!”

True.

But for us in the African Diaspora that acknowledgement for a position with as much power, visibility and prestige that the POTUS carries . . . is HUGE!

Our History has seen us constantly being denied the opportunity and advancement, even when it was clear we were the best person for the job. Whether it was because we were barred from legally doing so, or the more subtle institutional prejudice took its toll . . . we for too long were crushed under a glass ceiling.

And now the ultimate of these barriers have been shattered.

We feel vindicated.

For all the brutal, physical control and destruction, for all the psy-ops waged on the African Diaspora to wipe away, the fundamental question of ‘Who Am I’ and the Future that inevitably will be carved out with the Answer . . . we feel vindicated because it has all failed!

It has failed because one of US is now There.

I close with 'yell' of a 'verse' to explain:

Vindication

For the all of the Weight of the Ghastly Loss . . .

For all the suffering of the Middle Passage Lost

For the last few Centuries of suffering . . .

For enduring the malicious scarring . . .

Mutilation . . .

Evisceration . . .

Violation . . .

Castration . . .

Subjugation . . .

. . . of My Many, Inter-echelon Traveling Bodies . . .

For all of the Targeted, Constant Mind Rapes

To . . . Wipe Away My Sense of Self, 

At cutting out My Mental Tongue

So I can no longer ask freely:

“Who Am I Really?”

Using the Bloody Sponge to . . .

Sop-up the very essence My Humanity . . .

My Dignity . . .

My Integrity . . .

I now play MY Trump Card Forcefully:

Barrack Obama, THE Leader of this Country!

For Those who liked the Deal of 3/5^th’s

For Those who liked to use whips . . .

For Those cry about ‘taking Back!’ . . .

While for Centuries They rode to prosperity

On My Back . . .!

For Those who Experimented on me at Tuskegee . . .

And practiced Torture on Me . . . in preparation

For the Infamous Holocaust in Germany . . .

For Those responsible for My Countless, Stolen, Progeny

Lost down the bellies . . . of Swamp Beasts

So you could temporarily

Profit from Reptilian Leathery . . .

For Those that spat on Me . . .

Set Dogs on Me . . .

Turned Hoses on Me . . .

For Those that High-Hung Me . . .

While Burning and Carving Me . . .

Making Still-Live, fractious Souvenirs From Me . . .

You really thought you could contain Me . . .?

Terrorize me . . .?

Rape Me . . .?

Desecrate Me . . .?

Murder Me . . .?

To Stop my True Potential from Bursting Free!?

You’ve failed . . . miserably . . .!

LOOK at the returns from Ohio and see ‘Me’:

Barrack Obama, the 44^th in the Presidency

Ain’t that Ironic to see . . .

That my forebears built That Residency . . .

It probably wasn’t intended for the likes of Me . . .

But now one of US holds the sacred Presidency . . .

So next time you pull me over due to my color . . .

So next time you follow me around the store . . .

So next time I pass and you click-shut your door . . .

So next time I ride with you and you clutch your purse

Tighter just a bit more . . .

These ignorant slights hurt just a bit less than before . . .

I’ll look you right in your . . . eyes

Maybe then you’ll realize . . .

That I now glisten . . .

My Soul twinkles with the joy of my forefathers in Our Heaven

My Aura lights up along with hundreds of millions worldwide

With a solemn, unshakeable, overwhelming Pride . . .

You’ve failed . . . miserably,

To squelch Me . . .

Now watch the pep in my stride,

Watch me in a quandary as I glide . . .

Everywhere . . . What is it that possesses me?

Vindication!!

You couldn’t have EVER stopped Me!

Barrack Obama, My President Be!

© BantuProgressiveRant 8/8/13

Waiting for Murrow . . .

I can't believe this.

ANY Republican will do for the folks of South Carolina?? After his shenanigans . . . you people want Mark Sanford!? WHY ARE PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY SO DAMNED STUPID!? My overt quandary is rhetorical I'm sure but it bears repeating:

Press has been hollowed out to chase ratings only. So there is no longer a public 'barrier' to 'bat shittery' . . .

In addition, we have the first black president and the old-white guard goes ape shit about what it means: 

The country is irrevocably getting browner and browner, and it is such that they bring with that 'growth' economic and political power, and these tea-bagging sons of bitches can't stand it. They're so scared and mad they can't see straight.

So, with the tacit approval of the Press, they start to accept the most outlandish, immoral and downright crazy folks to represent them.

Enter exhibit umpteen: the Mark Sanford victory.

I'm really angry . . . 

I'm waiting and hoping for SOMEONE who still has national name recognition to go on CNN and the other news stations and declare, exorcising the ghost of McCarthy that has infected all government nowadays, creating malfunctions in the supposedly publicly-altruistic 'machinery', and possibly irrevocably causing a caustic 'rust' that may forever damage the 'gears' if not dealt with now:

"All of you media organizations: Have you NO integrity left?? Have you no sense of decency?

No more being polite when a member of the tea party or a Republican who is kissing that ass comes on a show or anywhere!

Can't you folks see it?

The Flat Earth Society is about to prevail when they shouldn't have . . . 'Da Vinci' in this age is about to LOSE the argument for Reality to these folks!

They are CRAZY.

For the love of God and Country will SOMEBODY of note CALL THEM THAT!?

What is the matter with the lot of you so-called journalists? David Gregory BE IMPOLITE! You folks on WPIX, ABC, CBS, ETC, BE IMPOLITE WITH THESE FOLKS! Do your JOBS, for Christ's sake!

Their 'straight jackets' have somehow gotten 'cloaked' . . .

By the power invested in your feckless, money-grubbing, shallow-as-fuck corporations by our sacred Constitution . . . REVEAL THEIR 'ROBES'! For crying out loud EARN THE MANTLE OF THE 4TH ESTATE FOR ONCE IN A FEW DECADES!!

Send Bachman and Palin, etc BACK to the survivalist, arch-conservative, pseudo-incestuous, Skin-head-fucking-the-KKK 2.0-whore of a bunker in the mountains of our societal intellectual and political 'landscape' from 'whence they came'!

This poor, poor country . . .

These little Furhers, Napoleons, Mussolini's, Pinochet's et al . . . are running about the place NAKED . . . shitting and 'nutting' ALL over the place, to the point where there is no place you can 'put your hand' or 'sit' without getting the goo all over you . . . 

The House and the Senate has too many Right Wing Gremlins in suits and power suits, that are busy splashing 'water' all over themselves with impunity . . . and it's after Midnight! 

And we're too 'buzzed' with reality tv, or too scared, or just too dumb and ignorant to simply say or do anything! The country is paralyzed now.

'Shoot' that fucking pit bull wearing the lipstick . . . and turn all the rest of the Pigs with the Wigs, Hair Pieces, Make-up and yes Lipstick . . . into cured pork and bacon.

Where is the decency in the modern media business model!?"

Some wish I've got there right?

I guess this is Democracy right? You get as much as you 'put in' . . . Right?

It appears the 1% have been 'priming' that pump for some time but have found different mules to carry water this time . . . while we've slept our rights and lives away with social and mental trinkets and all manner of catnip for the masses, obfuscating, fogging up things so we don't see the heist that is going on.

So we put the miscreant(s) back in office . . .

Unbelievable!

So we continue to legitimize the masochistic, insane self-mutilation that is at the heart of this country's decline and hollow, faux-recovery. This is absolutely frightening . . . we Americans need to be saved from ourselves . . .! We elect a decent President but go the fuck to sleep and let in, not only our voted-on agenda's 'anti-matter' . . . but this Doomsday of a Political Force that is hell-bent on erasing all the 'decencies' of the twentieth century, impervious to all Fact like some of the darkest and breathtaking movements we've seen in human history, and totally and completely disconnected from reality in all sense of the concept!

We seem unable to save ourselves!

So who will do it? Who?

Doesn't ANYONE think this country is worth saving??

(Sigh)

I do. 

We have so much potential that would be criminal to let be trampled on like pearls before swine. So, until then, I'll keep looking . . . waiting for the next Kronkite . . . or the next Murrow.

We need you . . . like Yesterday.

A Square IS a Circle . . . because . . . Well "Because . . ."!!

Some are wondering what in the hell is wrong with Congress these days, in particular the Tea Baggers in the GOP: 

We lurch from Crisis to crisis to crisis, bug-eyed rhetoric about the debt, unfounded, manic opposition to the POTUS, like if he’s the Anti-Christ . . . and so many other ‘collective’, Right Wing, neurosis, that end up with a rejection of Fact, Reciprocal Human Decency, Empathy and What Works. 

I used to pride myself on being able to understand people and I still do understand These Folks, but this time it is a simple, vexing diagnosis:

They're fucking ignorant and are PROUD of that ‘deficit’!

For the first time in my LIFE I'm seeing people who REFUSE, although many of them WILL ADMIT they don't know how things go or work, to even entertain being told the simple truth or facts about ANYTHING WHATSOEVER! If it isn’t what they want to believe or even ‘like’ then it will not see the light of day, if they have anything to do with it. What's more, OUR PRESS is openly exploiting their colorful, bombastic, asses, LEGITIMIZING their INSANE, NON-RELEVANT POSITIONS FOR PROFIT!

For the sake of illuminating the scope and the tenacity of the insanity, we will use the fact that a Square is a Polygon as a ‘what-if’ ‘example-du-jour’:

These Tea Party fuckers will scream, for instance, that a Square isn't really a ‘Polygon’ . . .

"IT'S A CIRCLE!!!!!"

The media AND THE ESTABLISHMENT GOP will simply collectively say . . .

GOP: "This is a free country and everyone is entitled to their beliefs . . . we can have a debate on what a square really is . . .! They're both shapes . . . The President is touting Socialism again when he says that the Square is that ‘P-Word’. They believe that crap in Europe! This is America . . .!"

(wipe the spittle from your glasses or face after that one . . .!)

Media/Press: ". . .On one side The Democrats are calling it a Polygon, on the other the GOP are insisting its a circle. It's the biggest political question of the day:' Just what IS a Square?' The latest polls show that America is divided too. What do you think? Tune in tonight for a spirited discussion . . ."

I could fucking SCREAM!

WHERE IS THE VOICE OF SANITY THAT WILL DECLARE STRONGLY AND UNASSAILABLE WHAT THE FACTS ARE!? IS THERE IS NO VOICE, NO MEDIA OUTLET THAT WOULD DARE SAY THE OBVIOUS STARK TRUTH WITH THE IMPOLITENESS, BELLICOSITY, TONE OF INCREDULITY, AND GUARANTEED OPPOSITION WHEREVER THE 'BACKWARD' REAR THEIR MEDIA HEADS:

"NO! ENOUGH! A SQUARE IS A POLYGON. OPEN AND SHUT!

ANY ATTEMPT TO SAY DIFFERENT IS A LIE, IT IS FICTION AND YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO PASS THAT MESSAGE ON TO THE PUBLIC! YOUR OPINION IS NOT AN OPINION. IT IS RANK UNTRUTH AND SHOULD FROM NOW ON BE BANNED FROM REACHING THE EARS OF THOSE WHO MAY NOT KNOW BETTER AND BE SUSCEPTIBLE TO THE EMOTING LIES THEREIN!"

The GOP with a heavy assist from the Press/Media have the effect on sanity and the World of Fact like Vinegar has on Sodium Bicarbonate. They are like Anti-Matter obliterating Matter. They are the white-hot poker evaporating butter. They are the flat earth society from Galileo's time, transported unchanged from then, but have access to the centuries of info after that time, but still INSIST the earth is flat . . . ! They stand there bellowing with their fingers jammed in their ears so hard even their ears start to bleed, which they don’t notice due to how wound up they are about their beliefs.

THAT is how I feel about this situation in this country right now! From Health Care to Economics to Gun Control, there are totally fallacious positions on the issues being fused into the debate as a legitimate ‘variable’. At times, these intellectual, shit-dusted farts are even used as the platform, the foundation for discussion, rendering any resultant exchange worthless and ready to join King Turd in the toilet as his newest bitch! I'm cursing because I don't know what else to do! I feel like I'm not awake, like an alternate reality has taken over the present one I am in, but I never went to sleep or got knocked out or was the victim of any such transitional mechanism when it happened . . .! For crying out loud, how the fuck did 'reality' become a 'debate'!? Are they going to challenge that Oxygen keeps us alive, that water is in fact poisonous for fish!? Or will they say man killed and ate dinosaurs back in the day?! Oh shit . . .:They've actually GONE THERE ALREADY!! Damn it to all to Hell . . .! My head hurts!

Fucking HELP!

(sigh)

I'm now resigned to watch a fictional news show on cable, crying as I achieve an 'intellectual orgasm' hearing the main character decimate the Real Tea Party and the GOP in a way that would make Kronkite and Murrow smile. The catharsis of the 'experience' was so exhilarating I got goosebumps . . . and I twitched like a crack addict going through withdrawal! I shed some serious tears (I didn't even know I was crying until my wife chided and teased "Wuss!") watching this show because I know I'll NEVER see a major news network do anything close to this . . . even though it is probably the ONE THING, if done, stridently and repetitively, might just wake the largely, ignorant and apathetic American Public up! 

Again my rant will not make its way to the Press(even though I may post it to their walls) to have any sort of effect on how these publicly traded multi-million dollar organizations do business or on the 'product' they produce for our 'consumption' . . . but I'm going to keep saying so. One day maybe folks will wake up . . . I just hope I'm not too hoarse by then.

(C) BantuProgressiveRant 4/1/13