Couch Potatoes and the Black Struggle
“You must be in it to win it.” I am not referring to the New York Lottery. I am referring to the distinction between winners and losers. Behavior determines who is at the top of the totem pole and who is at its bottom.
Despite our enslavement more than four hundred years ago, our ancestors never gave up. They had faith that the cream would once again rise to the top. A sense of hopelessness seems to have invaded our spirits.
During my lifetime, I saw this belief, of the cream rising to the top exhibited in the lives of Queen Mother Moore, Kwame Ture, Dr. Amos Wilson, Khallid Muhammad, Louis Clayton Jones and Dr. John Henrik Clarke et. al. I miss them.
During the 1960’s, I remember the Hon. Elijah Muhammad constantly saying that Negroes are “deaf, dumb and blind.” This was being said amid the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement. At that time, his diagnosis seemed far-fetched for many sectors of our community.
Now, I know that Mr. Muhammad was a prophet and a visionary leader. He was referring to 2008. The Silver Rights Movement has replaced the Civil Rights Movement today. Blacks are sitting passively while former Mayor Andrew Young is publicly asserting in the white media that Bill Clinton is blacker than Sen. Barack Obama because Clinton has bedded down more Black women.
There has been no reaction from any activist nor Black selected official in New York City nor elsewhere. This further explains why I have been ostracized in the Black community for supporting Tawana Brawley. This is not surprising.
In the 1950’s, I actually witnessed white men make Black men flee their homes while these white men took sexual liberties with the wives of these Black men. I vowed then that I would not behave in this manner. This behavior was foreign to my family. No Black activist nor Black selected official has made a similar pledge.
James Mtume of KISS-FM publicly stated that I was banned from radio for defending Tawana. WLIB-AM had already given me the same message. “It is not personal.” “It is business.” “He who pays the piper calls the tune.”
This ostracism is evident at UAM meetings and fund-raising activities for the Freedom Retreat for Boys and Girls. Since the Giuliani administration attacked UAM, all activists, except Dr. Leonard Jeffries, ran for the tall grass.
There is less fear in Newnan, GA. Blacks should be picketing Andrew Young’s house. He is the one who should be ostracized. Instead, he is still warmly welcomed in all slave quarters in Atlanta.
We are headed back to the plantation and who occupies the White House should be of no moment to us. Psychologically, we are already back on the plantation. Millions of Black men are already behind bars. It is only a matter of time before the posse catches up with all of us.
Despite our enslavement more than four hundred years ago, our ancestors never gave up. They had faith that the cream would once again rise to the top. A sense of hopelessness seems to have invaded our spirits.
During my lifetime, I saw this belief, of the cream rising to the top exhibited in the lives of Queen Mother Moore, Kwame Ture, Dr. Amos Wilson, Khallid Muhammad, Louis Clayton Jones and Dr. John Henrik Clarke et. al. I miss them.
During the 1960’s, I remember the Hon. Elijah Muhammad constantly saying that Negroes are “deaf, dumb and blind.” This was being said amid the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement. At that time, his diagnosis seemed far-fetched for many sectors of our community.
Now, I know that Mr. Muhammad was a prophet and a visionary leader. He was referring to 2008. The Silver Rights Movement has replaced the Civil Rights Movement today. Blacks are sitting passively while former Mayor Andrew Young is publicly asserting in the white media that Bill Clinton is blacker than Sen. Barack Obama because Clinton has bedded down more Black women.
There has been no reaction from any activist nor Black selected official in New York City nor elsewhere. This further explains why I have been ostracized in the Black community for supporting Tawana Brawley. This is not surprising.
In the 1950’s, I actually witnessed white men make Black men flee their homes while these white men took sexual liberties with the wives of these Black men. I vowed then that I would not behave in this manner. This behavior was foreign to my family. No Black activist nor Black selected official has made a similar pledge.
James Mtume of KISS-FM publicly stated that I was banned from radio for defending Tawana. WLIB-AM had already given me the same message. “It is not personal.” “It is business.” “He who pays the piper calls the tune.”
This ostracism is evident at UAM meetings and fund-raising activities for the Freedom Retreat for Boys and Girls. Since the Giuliani administration attacked UAM, all activists, except Dr. Leonard Jeffries, ran for the tall grass.
There is less fear in Newnan, GA. Blacks should be picketing Andrew Young’s house. He is the one who should be ostracized. Instead, he is still warmly welcomed in all slave quarters in Atlanta.
We are headed back to the plantation and who occupies the White House should be of no moment to us. Psychologically, we are already back on the plantation. Millions of Black men are already behind bars. It is only a matter of time before the posse catches up with all of us.
posted by Attorney Alton Maddox at 12:19 PM
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