You know Black folk in the Wilderness of North America are entirely too squeamish about playing hard. In spite of the fact that we are literally stolen people, regularly terrorized, and the suffering of our close ancestors' coined the term "sold down the river," the minute a white crook "discovers" that we took back some of our money or property, many of our people become "ashamed." Now I am not advocating that we steal from each other, I'm just saying that NO devil will ever convince me that our elected officials have stolen one penny.
(A Roll Call of Misrepresented Afrikans. Representative Roll Call. By: Terrell, Kenneth, U.S. News & World Report, 00415537, 2/19/2007, Vol. 142, Issue 6) "the most prominent black representative in the years before the civil rights movement was the dynamic Adam Clayton Powell Jr. from New York's Harlem, who served from 1945 through 1971. Powell was an expert politician and a champion of black rights, but his career ended in scandal as he was accused of misappropriating funds from the House committee he chaired."
(TSC Daily; Speaker Pelosi's Impending Intelligence Failure) With majority status in the "people's house" comes a share in responsibility for the security of the Republic. This is why we are so concerned about a shadow which darkens presumptive Speaker Pelosi's triumphant morning, a shadow which will only grow longer if she allows it to begin appearing prominently in the media coverage of the global war on terrorism, metastasizing into her first "intelligence failure" even before she takes the gavel from outgoing Speaker Hastert. That is the shadow of Alcee Lamar Hastings, the reelected Democratic Representative from Florida's 23rd District... "Be assured that I'm going to be a judge for life," Mr. Hastings told reporters in 1983 after his acquittal. But the arguments that swayed a Miami jury did not sway the Congress. The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives impeached Hastings for bribery and perjury by a lopsided vote of 413 to 3. Then the Democrat-controlled Senate convicted him on eight articles of impeachment by well over the required two-thirds majority in 1989. Thus Mr. Hastings became only the sixth judge in the history of our Republic (and only the third in the 20th Century) to be removed by Congress. He was, and is, an utter disgrace to the nation and to the legal profession. Among those voting to impeach him were Ms. Pelosi herself, Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, the Democratic whip who is likely to become the new House majority leader, and Mr. Hastings' fellow African-American Congressman, Michigan's John Conyers, who took pains to deny that race had anything to do with the removal of the bribe-taking jurist. (source)
(Jefferson Overcomes Scandal, Wins Reelection By Cain Burdeau Associated Press Sunday, December 10, 2006; Page A10:) Jefferson, Louisiana's first black congressman since Reconstruction, has been the target of a wide-ranging investigation into allegations that he took bribes -- including $90,000 allegedly found in his freezer during an FBI raid -- from a company seeking lucrative contracts in the Nigerian telecommunications market. He has not been charged with any crime and denies any wrongdoing.
(Is Carol Moseley-Braun a Crook? By Brendan I. Koerner Posted Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2003, at 6:35 PM ET:) Former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun yesterday entered the Democratic presidential fray. Her one-term Senate tenure was plagued by scandals, highlighted by a fracas over whether she misspent $249,000 in campaign donations. What, exactly, was Moseley-Braun accused of? Though she was never indicted or punished, Moseley-Braun had some close calls with the law. The first occurred during her 1992 Senate campaign, when it came to light that three years earlier, she had deposited a check for $28,750 into a personal money-market account. The check in question actually belonged to Moseley-Braun's mother, who owned a property in Alabama on which she'd sold the timber-harvesting rights; the $28,750 was a royalty payment.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
When the toilet calls the pot white.
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3 comments:
nah, i don't think a black politician is justified in any way stealing money. wrong is wrong. what i do think is that this is just what happens the more one allows one self to adopt and internalize this american capitalist ethic as a means for survival... (let alone improvement and growth)
if u push Outkast for better lyrics, u can't then defend these politician's crimes, even if there is someone tugging some strings. ALTHOUGH depending on how much you know the politician's intentions you might be able to to defend the PERSON and their intentions but i don't know about defending the crime. when i was younger my city counsel man got caught doing dirty work. and when i learned more about the community politics and how he was doing a "favor for a good intentioned favor" (he needed to build consensus with business owners to renovate a real bad neighborhood...
and bring farmers markets and stuff to our hood but had to scratch their back in order to get their support)... i was able to defend his intentions, but i still can't defend the crime. instead i condemn the whole damn system that drives someone with such good intentions to do such crime. and focus on saying, if we really want to help improve this community we gotta do it together or not do it at all.
yes the person with the good intentions is victim, but also criminal. and somewhat arrogant in that he was so stubborn about thinking he could save our community single-handedly that even when he hit a dead end, he wasn't willing to admit his approach was wrong so he went a head and compromised himself just so he could continue trying to implement his plan, good intentioned as it was...
and this applies to the brothers on the block too if you ask me... there is a justification and a victimization but there is also criminality, arrogance, stubbornness that i cannot defend...
anyway the counselman served his little year or two in a resort jail and is now back working in the city.
As-salaam alaykum achali,
Interesting. What exactly was the councilman's crime? How do we define crime in those countries founded and run upon genocide, land steaing, rape, and murder? And which continue the same policies through neglect and gentrifiction?
I don't believe that any of the Black politicians I listed admitted guilt.
peace maryam,
i mean crime is crime to me. but like i said intention can be understood and empathized with, which might affect the human reaction (punishment/forgiveness) to the crime, but a crime's a crime.
my counselman was taking money from business owners and passing their restaurants health inspection grades even though they were shitty and dirty places to eat at. in return the supported his development plans.
he never admitted guilt either.
assuming we don't know for sure if these folks u listed committed crimes or not, say these folks did, would they be justified in your view?
my counselman was not justifed in my view but i empathize with him being stuck between a rock and a hard place.
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