Saturday, April 18, 2009
Glenn Beck Discovers How to Mine Poorer Black Folk as Fodder for His Populist Project or Welcome to the Glenn Beck Negro of the Moment Telethon
I won't judge the parents in this video--I will leave that up to you.
Compassionate conservatism in action? Is Glenn Beck a friend of working class and lower middle class black folk? Is this exploitive? Is this the mirror of liberal guilt? Am I wrong for this setting off so many levels on my B.S. detector? What is next, a Glenn Beck meets Jerry Lewis help poor folk of color marathon? ("Real Americans, you too can sponsor a poor American colored child!") Will Glenn Beck start his own version of Jesse Jackson's, Operation Push? Wait a second, that would actually be priceless...
And how long will it take until this Right-Wing populism descends into a let's eliminate the Department of Education screed...oops, I guess it already has if you watch the entire episode on Fox.
One thought: notice how Beck rails against money being the solution to poor schooling, but he interviews children who are actually victims of a disadvantageous funding scheme, one that is based upon an inherently unequal cut of property taxes as the basis for how public schools get their monies. As one of my White teachers in college said, if suburbanites really don't think that money matters in education ask them to send their kids to an underfunded, inner city school--then see what said parents response to that proposition is.
When I see Beck in this mode, he reminds me of Maury Povich: someone who feigns empathy all the while he holds a deep disdain, and an utter lack of empathy, for his guests:
Am I being unfair?
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14 comments:
No offense but this is what many Black folks are railing against: the mindset that priortizes a fixation on attacking white conservatives OVER working class black folks who are trying escape the crumbling and dangerous infrastructure of their own neighborhoods.
What I see here is the mindset that is typical of contemporary Civil Rights ideology: a fixation on White folks resulting from a Quixotic search for racism at the expense of a Black working class that is in survival mode. Here is another oft repeating theme - the hostility of the Civil Rights establishment to the saftey and general welfare of Black Women and Black children, especially young Black girls. Nowhere do you mention anything about what led these Black parents (single mothers) to select private schooling over the DC public schools. Have you ever been to an inner city school? Many parents choose private schooling because they are safer.
Your angle of attack and its underlying ideology is the partisanship that is killing Black folks. Of course I have railed against Beck's partisanship even though I support quite a few of his positions but his exploitation of these Black folks is no different from the exploitation that you engage in. Please remember, these Black folks are in survival mode. Please note that they have gone to a White conservative for survival, not Reverend Al, Reverend Jackson, Michael Eric Dyson, nor the NAACP. By the way, the aforementioned walk lockstep with the Dems in their opposition to vouchers. I wonder if Dyson sends his kids to public school?
If the Civil Rights establishment and the Democratic party continue on this path, they will see an erosion of their Black support. Already there are Black people engaging in talk about an "Ark" and "divesting". And that's all I'm gonna say about that.
By the way, check out "Waiting for the Day" by MJ Cole, its on You Tube. Its an old UK House music track. I found it and it is quite swinging.
No, you're being fair.
No doubt this sistah is tryin do the best for her children, but she is clearly also a mark that was set up to attempt give Beck some legitimacy in the black community. Why should he care if stimulus funds did not go towards vouchers? Privatization is supposed to take care of everything. Right!?
I don't think you're being unfair. Great Socratic line of questioning. As I watched the piece and saw the beer can laying in the grass in the "hood". I was fearful that the next shit we were going to see Negro children with flies on their faces with their stomachs poking out.
In another America - sorry, this is a new post racial America - Beck and the rest of his ilk would be discussing this woman as the "Welfare Queen" of the month. I think what was particularly insulting was to play the sympathy card for this woman while ignoring the bigger issue of what's wrong with the government ran public school system. What about the thousands who are behind due to a failing policy which in my opinion needs reform?
This just shows that the right wing extremists, oops, I mean good Americans are running out of issues to rally around. I hate to say this, but we're one terrorist attack (and not necessarily from foreign combatants)away from them even giving a damn about this woman and her family.
Oh and as for Maury?
Check this out:
Maury Hates Black Babies
I saw that live.
I hung my head in shame with sistah girl on the Glenn Beck show.
But honestly, I don't hold blacks who go on FoxNews network for anything in much high esteem. And I personally like Al Sharpton, but I'm always like "WHY DO YOU GO ON THESE SHOWS?!?!?"
And the same goes for Marc Lamont Hill? WTF?!?!
And homegirl went on the Glenn Beck show...wtf?!?!
Okay, notice how each comment other than mine makes mention as to WHY these Black folks went on Fox? Contemporary Civil Rights ideology is predisposed towards two practices: (1) Ignoring the plight of responsibile Black folks who struggle to protect themselves from Black on Black tyranny and (2) Ignoring the victimization of Black women and Black children.
These people who appear on Glenn Beck's show are in survival mode. They are decrying the the revokation of the opportunity to save themselves from their dysfunctional and dangerous zoned public schools. They did not go to Al Sharpton, the NAACP, or any of those other narcissistic Civil Rights ideolgues and institutions because they have rendered themselves irrelevant in refusing to address the plight of the Black working and middle classes. Instead, they perpetuate the narrative of the racist victimization of Black people even though Black on Black victimization occurs at a substantially higher degree.
They went to Glenn Beck because the Civil Rights Industry doesn't find profit in addressing Black on Black victimization.
What is black on black tyranny? Do you mean the reign of terror that the ign'ts have over respectable black folk or something else? And can you give me some examples of black on black victimization?
And on this latter point, does this victimization include how light skinned black men haven't been in style since Al B Sure was popular in the late 1980s? Because as a light skinned black man I feel mighty victimized by the current popularity of the darker skinned brothers with the ladies!
Just kidding Al.
chauncey devega
you guys are killing me BUT I am willing to take a few fouls for a few points from the foul line. I don't care. I am going to sacrifice myself for the Black working class.
I disagree with your left of center point of views BUT we are still the Black family and I refuse to let politics break us apart!!!!
DYSON MUST MAKE PEACE WITH COSBY!!!!
This is for the Black family...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChHskOyTulk
Freakin' tornado watch in my county... wish me luck y'all. I got twenty five minutes of stress in front of me.
I like this blog. You guys are cool in spite of our political differences.
Peace.
you know we love you al. the respectable negro community doesn't have an ideological litmus test!
be safe...and we added you to our blog roll, so I hope folk will check out your project on the black folk civil war.
chauncey d
Al,
we have a long track record of putting the commercial Black Civil Rights Establishment (BCRE) on blast, but your assertion that they ignore black sources of black problems isn't accurate.
For instance, the BCRE talking heads make frequent appearances at the unfortunately ubiquitous "stop the violence" marches and rallies. These strategies are utterly ineffective, but still.
And I defy you to find one member of the BCRE who doesn't trumpet the destructive effect of black on black crime and the disrespect for black women. Aside from womanists, who do you think are the main ones coming with the "hip hop is ruining our communities" bullshit?
Your assessment of how much time and energy the BCRE folks devote to black dysfunction and violence is only true if your gauge is how often you see them on the news or the pundit shows talking about black shortcomings.
It's true that there exists a dirty laundry effect, and the BCRE often gets more traction from cases of white racism than they do from cases of destructive black behavior (and the masses are just as blameworthy as elites); however, the dirty laundry effect can't explain the BCRE's lack of national visibility on black on black issues.
Here's what does explain it--the fact that the national mainstream media don't find the BCRE's criticisms of black criminals and misogynists interesting (read: profitable). You'd think given the dog bites man appeal of these so-called "blame whitey" grievance mongers pointing the finger at black folks would get a rise out of news editors, but no dice. The one exception is when a "safe" black person, especially one associated with the left, mentions black responsibility/dysfunction in earshot of white people (see Cosby, Obama).
Now, you might argue that, given the mainstream media's lack of interest in anything but "black vs white" racial fireworks, the BCRE should be even more vocal about everyday matters of black personal responsibility and destruction, and that's a fair point.
But to summarize:
1.) The BCRE (like proponents of black uplift since the 19th Century) targets white racism as well as black behavior/personal responsibility as necessary areas of reform. The either/or is a false dichotomy.
2.) What black people say among black people and what they say before a broader audience are 2 different things. We need to be mindful of this and resist the temptation to take the mainstream media's narrow view of black political discourse as THE scope of black political discourse.
As much as I dislike the stale tactics and opportunistic bent of the BCRE, I can't allow you to misrepresent how they get down.
The mainstream media knows what it is doing. It is ignoring the full spectrum of "black leaders"/"black issues". Sure, every now and then they will dedicate a special fluff piece on us and our plight or achievements (e.g. Negro Day on The Corny Collins Show or an in honor of Black History Month special that we should be grateful for) but I think they learned their lesson on focusing on us and our issues from The Civil Rights Era. A certain degree of change happened in that time due to the media's focus on us. A knowledgeable black person's opinion is never asked on any subject unless it involves the N word spoken by a white celebrity or in a case of police brutality. A number of "black leaders" do speak on such issues in great detail, however, it is not deemed newsworthy by the mainstream media.
Although we gained Civil Rights, we lost our voice in the weakening of Black journalism.
@ Al: Thanks for the YouTube inspirations. Lost my mind listening to Mahogany's Ride On The Rhythm
Its funny to hear black libs rail against conservatives while thier BLACK bros and sisters (esp Sisters) try to survive in the democratic strongholds called the GHETTO. why do these mothers have to send there kids to other schools BECAUSE the current schools are failing them and all you write about is Glenn beck using them? The educational syatem called prisons in inner city were failing lonnnngg before beck came along.
BTW, Al from bay shore is absolutely correct no one has responded to the ISSUE. Why our kids are being used by the Teachers UNION.
Shelley Wynter-the right side
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