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Carol Moseley Braun's Presidential
Campaign
By Amin Sharif
[Rudy, you] are
right, when you say that the fundamental problems facing poor
people in America of every hue will not be solved by the
election of a Democrat as President. And, I find it astonishing
that African-Americans have not found a way to put pressure on
the status quo to make the changes necessary for their continued
advancement. We have recently celebrated the birthday of Dr.
Martin Luther King. And, although I have never been an advocate
of non-violence, I do believe in campaigns of "direct
action."
It was Martin Luther King's tactics of direct
action that brought the Civil Rights Movement to the forefront
of the American political agenda. You have posted so many
articles on the Civil Rights Movement, the anti-lynching
Movement, the anti-war movement so that it should be apparent
that poor and Black people should have learned by now that it is
by ACTING IN OUR OWN SELF INTEREST that advances are made.
You spoke of Carol
Mosley Braun—a black, female presidential candidate.
While, Ms. Braun was way to conservative for my taste, I was
simply astonished by the lack of traction that her campaign
received from middle class black women. As you remember, there
was a lot of discussion in the '60's about how Black male
leadership dominated the Civil Rights and the Black Power
movements.
And, one would have thought that with decades
of raging feminism (black and white), Carol
Mosley Braun would have at least stayed in the hunt well
beyond Iowa. Yet, there was not great ground swell for a black
woman candidate. There was no Oprah going out on a limb to help
her fellow sister. NOW did not hold massive rallies for Carol
. I can only conclude from the campaign of Sister Braun that
Black men and women have totally forgotten how to place
political pressure on the political system from with inside or
outside.
Much of the problem with Braun's
campaign, of course, lies with her. Unlike what Sharpton has
sought to do with issues of economic, social and racial justice,
Braun never made her campaign a referendum on "poor and
working women's rights. She should have stormed the debates with
a thousand welfare mothers, black, white and Hispanic. She
should have organized a woman's march on Washington and dared
Now to refuse to support her.
Carol
should have taken out ads against Conny Rice branding her a
modern day Thomasina. She could have ROCKED the whole campaign
and put all the white male candidates under the gun. But, she
didn't. Why? Because, she did not see the power that lies
dormant in every poor black, white, and Hispanic woman!!!!
The fact is that conservative middle-class
blacks need black radicalism to be evident if they are to broker
any deals with the American political system. It was the threat
of MLK's direct action. Malcolm X, SNCC, and the Panthers
revolutionary organizing made White America want to sit down
with moderate blacks. But it seems that we have forgotten the
basic laws that lead oppressed people forward: 1. Power only
concedes to Power! 2. There can be no progress without struggle!
We must remember that only the hungriest of men is ready to act
to save himself from starvation by ANY MEANS NECESSARY!
We can not look to white politicians or
middle class blacks to help us anymore. We can no longer
consider Black people whose bellies are full to make an effort
to feed us, or heal us from the scars of indignity. It is time
that we wake the Black Middle Class up and ask them: ARE YOU FOR
US OR AGAINST US! If they are the former, we should embrace them
as our brothers and sisters. But, if they are against us, then
we should consider them the enemy!
The Struggle Continues,
amin sharif * *
* * *
update 2 July 2008 |
