We are living in interesting times – this, reputed, Chinese curse is supposed to be the rough equivalent of giving someone the Evil Eye.
Don’t get me wrong. For a radical social critic, “interesting times” make for ripe pickings. In fact, today’s superheated political climate provides a veritable “embarrassment of riches”:
And the list goes on…
The election of Barack Obama was supposed to usher in a new era of “change we could believe in.” But the promises Candidate Obama are barely recognizable in the policies of the Obama administration: his neoliberal-inspired economic stimulus funded a bank-bailout and jobless recovery, while his health care reform has delivered millions to private insurers, his plans for education include privatization and punishing teachers, and his lukewarm efforts on behalf of the undocumented have angered Latinos. Yet, faced with the cavernous shortfall between Obama’s espoused values and the values-enacted thus far in his presidency, many progressives are reasonably upset about the latest liberal betrayal.
Demands for progressive social and economic justice must navigate a steady – and well-funded – barrage of exaggeration, distortion, misdirection, and fabrication. Indeed, the forces of reaction have become quite adept at clothing their agenda as benign – even beneficial – while painting all opposition as “naïve,” “misguided,” “disingenuous,” and “un-American.” And just as the US invasion of Iraq was founded on a barefaced lie, the TEAbagger’s over-the-top opposition to healthcare reform was fueled by outrageous claims about government death panels and socialism, and the fact of persistent racial disparities eagerly pounced upon as proofs of Black inferiority – a justification for a public policy of not-so-benign neglect.
Adding insult to injury, our current crop of Black Public Intellectuals is so obviously addicted to ink and face-time, they'll say almost anything for that next fix. In a recent NYT op-ed by Harvard’s Henry Louis Gates – a protagonist in the notorious White House “beer summit,” has suggested that any debate over Black Reparations first must consider the culpability of long-dead African kingdoms – lands and peoples subsequently colonized/exploited by their former business partners, lands and peoples that remain largely trapped in their own colonial histories and subject to hostile post-colonial, global realities. Inexplicably, Gates has assigned the task of securing apologies – and a payment plan – from a number of singularly unstable West African regimes.
That said, Gates’ spin on “blame” misses the point: the reparations movement is not primarily concerned with Pay-Back, the real issue is Pay-Up. “Reparations” encompasses an array of policies, programs, and actions that will remove all remaining barriers to the full inclusion of AfrAms in America's common wealth – however long it takes, and at whatever cost. And, contrary to popular wisdom on that whitewashed icon celebrated each January, this demand rooted in Dr. M.L. King's bold and uncompromising frontal assault on racism-war-poverty (his Evil Triplets). One need only reread the text of MLK's “Dream” speech – which might just as readily been titled “America’s Promissory Note, Long Past Due” – to understand today's demand that America finally make good on its promises.
These are exciting, confusing, and dangerous times. And our response to this vexing confusion, this blogger is reminded of another Chinese proverb: “the beginning of wisdom is calling things by their correct names.” Ω
