Where's the Music

by Morning Sunday-Hettleman Since January, 8th, 2009, millions of words have been written about the political ascent of one black man, but there has been virtually nothing about the descent of black leadership into well-nigh total ineffectiveness. Rev Al Sharpton was photographed at his birthday party with a pair of 36DD’s resting on his arm, belonging to Wendy William’s, of radio and television "How you doing girl" fame. ( Her you tube video "boob trick " is a must see ! ) While Jesse Jackson isn't letting anything like a secret out-of-wedlock daughter and growing questions about his personal and organization funding get him down.Then, there's Kweisi Mfume, former congressman, who just a couple years ago had an illegitimate baby with a mistress about the same time as Jesse Jackson. In 1963, civil rights leaders, John Lewis Whitney Young, Jr., A. Philip Randolph, Martin Luther King, Jr., James Farmer, and Roy Wilkins met at the Hotel Commodore in New York City for a strategy session. A Philip Randolph, was a prominent twentieth-century African-American civil rights leader and the founder of both the March on Washington Movement and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. John Lewis , was chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and played a key role in the struggle to end segregation. Whitney Young, Jr., appointed executive director of the National Urban League in 1961, Young won an impressive reputation as a national black activist who helped bridge the gap between white political and business leaders and poor blacks and militants. James Farmer, a principal founder of the Congress of Racial Equality, Roy Wilkins, was an influential member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). They were young, effective and harbingers of change, working to wipe away some of the lunacy of our lives.( No, they were not perfect, they were human, there are stories, some really juicy ones too.) Providing the beat, the sound, the rhythm of the movement was James Brown, whose involvement with the civil rights movement also began in the mid-'60s. From 1965 onward, Brown often canceled his shows to perform benefit concerts for black political organizations like the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Since the 60"s, some Blacks have made giant economic, and social strides. But racial segregation remains and means that racial inequalities in employment, education, income, and wealth are inscribed in space. We have additional problems, the Black on Black crime rates are stratospheric. Unwed Black mothers , irresponsible fathers, severe parent to child violence. Blacks, 11% of the US population have the highest percentage of the population on welfare. Only 50 percent of black students graduate, young, male Blacks, make up half of the population imprisoned in America’s federal/state and city jails. People, these are self inflected wounds. What should we do ? March? We have had hundreds, thousands, millions marching in one day. Boycott ? Martin Luther Kings , bus boycott was successful, since then the only thing we have successfully boycotted are grapes and bananas. Is another political strategy session needed ? Must we plan strategic national boycotts ? Are Alex Jealous, Henry Louis Gates, Jermaine Wyrick, Dr. Howard Fuller, Dr James Jones, to name a few, the people we need to call to a strategy session ? Peter Bramble, Episcopal Priest, Brooklyn, NY ,and a conservative , advances the idea that blacks, in spite of history and society, need to take responsibility for their conditions. He argues for the need to install success concepts permitting blacks to talk and behave in a successful mood. In keeping with this idea of personal and collective accountability, Bill Cosby has for years been exhorting the black community to take personal responsibility, to stop blaming others, and to drop the negative influences from their lives while embracing the positive. Both Rev. Bramble and Bill Crosby would tell us, there is no need for new Black leaders, the ground work has been laid for the change we need, personally and as a community. " Its time we went from victims to victors" Says Bill Crosby, "responsibility for ourselves, our families, take that into our own hands " Have we "Overcome" as Peter Bramble suggests ? If so, where is the music, if we have " Overcome" can we still sing "We Shall Overcome" or do we need to sing a new song ? Morning Sunday Hettleman 410 946 9958 Monumental Greens

MD: Invent, Invest and Include

Morning Sunday Hettleman
Monumental Green Party

Green Party Black Caucus
hettlemansunday@gmail.com

410 946 9958

Labor Day was designed to honor labor and celebrate by relaxing, but some people were very busy. President Barack Obama , accepted the resignation ( he was fired) of Anthony Van Jones a special adviser for Green jobs at the White House Council for Environmental Quality.

Invent , Invest Include, that was Anthony Van Jones, mantra. Invent new ways of doing things, Invest in it and Include those underprivileged African-Americans and other disadvantaged communities that have been shut out of the job market.

Its been accepted practice, that Government big money contracts are awarded based on cronyism. The administrators of the programs get paid top dollar, the workers get minimum wage, little if any training , and a certificate on recycled paper at the end of the program. Van signaled his intention of insuring that would not happen. That Negro had to go.

You don’t believe me ? Look around at some urban neighborhoods and see if there are traces of the billions of dollars that have poured in and then right back up the expressway. No, Van Jones had to go.

Mr. Jones was in charge of 80 Billion dollars, the creation of 6.8 million jobs according to the Council for Economic Advisors, he had signaled his intention of making sure that money was spent on training and jobs for under privileged people, teaching them to retrofit buildings all across America with solar panels, insulation and other weatherizing materials. Is he gone yet ?

Van Jones resignation, was a big loss to the White House, President Obama, had personally picked him. It is a much bigger lost to the hopes of under/unemployed people. Feel sorry for those people.

Don’t feel sorry for Mr. Anthony Van Jones, he is a made-man in the Democrat Party. The lost of his job, wont get him evicted either, he , his wife and daughter will not be at the local shelter for lunch. He isn’t hurting for money, his salary with the Ella Baker Ctr in 2005 was $60K; over $82K in 2007, jumping to more to than $100,000 as the Environmental Czar and add sales of his book "The Green Collar Economy," number 12 to be exact on the New York Times best sellers list in the book's first week.

Yes, Mr. Jones will be just fine.I know there are some good white folk out there who will help Mr. Jones land on his feet.

Van Jones said things in a group of Black people, things Black people talk about amongst ourselves, things he thought he was saying in a safe ( read Black) environment.

He said " Black kids dont do Columbine type killings. " He’s right, so far, when our kids murder, its personal, the numbers are in the single digits.

Yet another time he said " President Bush was a crack head" While , President Bush was arrested in 1972 for cocaine possession and Bush has essentially admitted that he used cocaine. Van had his terms wrong, Blacks do crack, White people cocaine and for that Van should apologize.

We haven’t seen the last of Mr. Jones. But you can wave bye bye to 80 billion dollars of hope, creation of jobs. The trickle down theory will be trotted out once again.

Van in his own words.

"If the road to social transformation can be paved only by saints who never make mistakes, the road will NEVER be built." -Van Jones