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A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
Black Agenda Radio Commentaries
26 January 2011
“We vow not to support President Barack Obama for renomination for another term in office, and to actively seek to impede his war policies unless and until he reverses them,” says a petition signed by hundreds of social activists. But the baton of progressive political and moral leadership may be passing from Black America, dominated by a venal misleadership class that refuses to actively oppose President Obama’s wars.
Why Black MisLeadership Won’t Sign the Anti-War Petition
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
“These African American misleaders are the political heirs to those Blacks that derided Dr. King for taking his stand against Lyndon Johnson’s war.”
A Petition is making the rounds, in which hundreds of signatories have vowed to oppose President Obama “as long as he supports war.” It’s the kind of message that Dr. Martin Luther King would have signed onto. We know that, because that’s precisely what Dr. King told President Lyndon Johnson, in April of 1967: that he would oppose his president and onetime ally as long as Johnson continued to wage war in Vietnam. Many believe that’s the reason Dr. King was assassinated exactly one year later.
There are very few Black names on the current anti-war petition, but not because Black notables fear assassination if they oppose Obama’s wars. It is because the narrow and selfish class that has come to dominate the political life of Black America thinks it can do better for itself by collaborating with the war makers than by opposing them. Believing themselves to be somehow wired into power through the Democratic Party and their corporate connections, these African American misleaders are the political heirs to those Blacks that derided Dr. King for taking his stand against Lyndon Johnson’s war. They are the same opportunists that berated Dr. King for sacrificing what had been a close, working political relationship with the most powerful man in the world, on the issue of war. Dr. King’s answer to them was that the war must be opposed, not only on moral grounds, but because it condemned the poor of the United States to remain in that condition, by draining the government and society of all available resources “like some demonic destructive suction tube.”
“Obama’s multiple and expanding wars are no less antithetical to the interests of African Americans, today.”
Dr. King was saying to the Black leadership class of his day: it may serve your personal interests to collaborate with President Johnson and pro-war Democrats and thus remain in good standing with power, but you are harming the interests of the poor, of Black people as a whole, and of all humanity. To be on the wrong side on the war, or to engage in endless dithering and delay in order to avoid confrontation with power on the issue of war, is to work against the fundamental interests of one’s own people. Dr. King was forced by urgent necessity to break with President Johnson because war was against the interests of the Black America.
Obama’s multiple and expanding wars are no less antithetical to the interests of African Americans, today. The “demonic destructive suction tube” that feeds a trillion dollars a year into Obama’s wars strips Black America of all hope of emerging from permanent Depression. As long as such fantastic sums are expended on war, there is no escape from an economic race to the bottom that will mangle Black society beyond recognition.
The Black misleadership class, fearful to protect their own, tenuous political and corporate connections, give lip service to peace but refuse to confront the President that makes war. In thrall of power in a Black face, and hoping some of the benefits will accrue to themselves, they allow the baton of progressivism to pass from the hands of Black America, or fall to the ground. History will look on them with revulsion.
For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. Sign the anti-war petition at WarIsACrime.org.
BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.
Copyright © 2011 Black Agenda Report.
Black Agenda Radio commentaries are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike U.S. License
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Dandelion Salad 
The ranks of journalism needs more people like Glen Ford. People who see and think clearly, unblinded by hyperbole and the herd mentality that mass media seems to generate. Virginia Simpson’s response is also appropriate. Thank you Mister Ford.
“These are harsh words. I really wondered what this able leader had to say before I read it.
I can’t say it is delightful to see come out; but I think it will make a few people stop and think about what stands in the way of a rainbow coalition. It isn’t about ideology; it’s about opportunISM and people may be terrified to face the truth.
Some people are just terrified of being honest about their selfish motives. Perhaps the petition/statement is a good indication of who we can actually depend upon to be real, effective leaders.
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