Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Enter the New Haven 20--The Newest Freedom Fighters in the Struggle to Overthrow Jim Crow 2.0




The Little Rock Nine have been surpassed. Enter: The New Haven Twenty.

Once more, I am moved by the bravery and heroism displayed by these freedom fighters. Against impossible odds, violence, and a long history of discrimination, these great men are showing that regular folk can indeed stand against power and make real the promise of the American creed. Clearly, the New Haven Twenty have eclipsed the Little Rock Nine as they work to create a nation under their feet and carry forth the light of freedom.

It seems that the well of democracy springs eternal as in this newest freedom struggle, Fox News is Radio Dixie, and Sean Hannity is Robert Williams:



Together, they will shatter the walls of the second Jim Crow and end what Hannity so sharply describes as institutional discrimination against these good White men.

While the choice is not yet one between the ballot or the bullet, together we shall overcome. Why? Because the New Haven Twenty are armed with truth and justice...weapons that no racist regime has ever been able to resist. I implore you to join me as I echo Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a man who I know would have marched lockstep with the New Haven Twenty:

Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream as the New Haven Twenty march into glory and history!

Hallelujah! Are you with me?

5 comments:

MilesEllison said...

The Scottsboro boys have nothing on this. Only in America can privileged white people be the victims of such heinous discrimination. We are through the looking glass, people. White is black and black is white.

Al From Bay Shore said...

Okay, sarcasm noted but those firefighters are right. You can't hold their promotions hostage simply because there aren't enough minorities to be promoted. If you pass the test then you are supposed to advance to the next rank. The town of New Haven agreed to that contract when these 20 men became firefighters.

Another thing is the ideological "stew" of ideas that makes up mainstream Black political identity. So far, I have seen Malcolm X, Mao Tse Tung, Martin Luther King, The NAACP, the Willaims "dude" advocating the right to self defense via gun ownership bundled together in a way to suggest ideological consistency. I know that the nature of humanity is replete with contradictions but there needs to be some attempt made at sorting out the things that go and the things that don't. This, to me, is one of the greatest problems in the world of Black political identity. Let's take a look at a few of the things that don't go:

1. Malcom X bundled with everything else: Which Malcolm X are you talking about? Minister Malcolm X or El Hajj? Minister Malcom was a spokesperson for a capitalist self help organization that constantly criticized Civil Rights strategy as being too dependent on white institutions. Evan as El Hajj, he renounced the idea of Civil Rights in favor of human rights. Also, if I recall, he was drifting towards socialism and away from Black nationalism. There needs to be more clarification here.

2. What's with the Williams "dude" meeting with Chairman Mao? Chairman Mao wasn't exactly a Civil Rights/human rights kinda guy. And I don't think he was all that big on a person's right to own firearms. Given the Cold War context in which all this takes place, it appears that Chairman Mao was getting another iron into the fire just in case a Black insurrection takes place in America. While highly unlikely, the notion of Williams as a "Che Guevara" is quite troubling when you consider the way Cuba treats its dissidents. Furthermore, the suggestion of Marxism goes against anything that is Black since our identities are uniquely American. You can't have a Civil Rights movement in a Marxist state. Also, there are no checks and balances and division of powers in a Marxist state. Although I disagree with the tactic that gave rise to the Brown v. Topeka Bd. Ed legal challenge, that ain't happening in a Marxist state. When you say Mao, I think cultural revolution. When you suggest Marxism, I think Stalin's excesses and his purges. Already, as a Black person who thinks outside the norm of popular Black ideology, it is troubling to see this tacking towards Marxism. In such a society, will people like me be dissidents and dicommendation be replaced with exile, prison camps, and genodical purges? You have to admit that Black folks on the right are often subject to unfair attacks by Black folks on the left.

3. Here is something you ain't gonna like: what is Black student culture like at Little Rock today? If you wanna exalt the underlying strategy of integration THEN you must also look at it in relation to the state of Black America today, especially in the area of Black academic achievement. You'd have to conclude that things didn't go so well. The mere presence of white folks is not a pre-requisite for empowerment. This is why I am constantly saying that the Civil Rights movement was a complete failure. Unlike self help ideology (see Booker T., Marcus Garvey, and Elijah Muhammad), it did not deal with personal transformation. Its for this reason we have activist institutions that ignore Black on Black victimization BUT they often rally around the very people who victimize us when there is the perception of racist victimization. The priorities of the Civil Rights Industrial Complex are screwed up.

4. Lastly, I am on a mission of retrace the steps that led to House Music. I am like an archaeologist sifting through ancient ruins. Check out the newest artifact that I've found:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVtrONRvYTw

Poet Man said...

Thank You so much for posting this...it is so very informative, and enlightening.

Lady Zora, Chauncey DeVega, and Gordon Gartrelle said...

@Miles--You ain't seen nothing yet!

@the Poet Man--The parallels are only going to continue.

@Al--Brother Al! You always come correct. But, a few points. One, this is just a loose mirroring of the narrative the Right is constructing. The whole point is that it doesn't fit, even as they want to construct some fantasy of their oppression. On the exam, Gordon posted on that one a week back and I agree--all parties are pathetic on this one.

On Malcolm, the Right Fox News types are already playing up a narrative where they argue that their citizenship is being imperiled thus a need to force the State, i.e. Obama to acknowledge their full rights. See Beck's September 12th militia nonsense. Three, I use Williams because I find it funny and his Radio Free Dixie was a beacon against the Southern Jim Crow/Slaveocracy, just as Hannity and Fox imagine themselves as a beacon of truth in these "dark" times.

Chauncey DeVega

Diana Barry Blythe said...

These work-a-day guys' quest is getting hijacked by opportunist political hounds.

Anger directed at the GOP will be shoveled off on these average Joes, which is sad.