Dr. Boyce: My Two Cents on Michael Eric Dyson
In the video below, Dr. Boyce Watkins discusses his interaction with Michael Eric Dyson during their debate on the state of hip hop at Brown University. The video is below and will begin after a brief advertisement.
I met him once at FAMU. I was to sing the Negro National Anthem before he spoke. I did. Only something in my spirit would not allow me to connect with the speaker. There was nothing to connect to, I would soon find. I will only say that there was nothing gained from his speech, he tried to leave early, and he wanted to sell his book, and we could tell and he knew we were not buying it. I suppose he is a brother, but I have not heard in even all these year were I felt he was sincere.
Especially given that I even rode with the student group that took him to his hotel. He knew I didn’t like him and even flirted with my little sister. I’m not a fan.
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MY TWO CENTS ON TAVIS SMILEY AND CORNEL WEST
It’s no secret by now that it is my personal opinion that both Tavis Smiley and Cornel West are two petty, self-serving egomaniacs who specialize in putting their own personal agendas ahead of what’s in the best interest of the Black community and the nation. So they deserve to be put on Front Street.
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The GOP used Iraq to ravage the U.S. Treasury in order to justify attacking the entitlement programs put in place by the New Deal. Abolishing the New Deal has been the GOP’s main reason for being for over 70 years now. But the programs that they’d like to abolish – such as Social security and medicare – are much too popular among the American people to attack head on. So they’ve purposely tried to bankrupt the nation as a pretext to preclude the funding of these programs. So that agenda, and regaining power gives them a vested interest in keeping America miserable, angry, and broke. Thus, if Tavis and West were really concerned about the poor and middle class, that’s what they’d be ranting about instead of helping the GOP bad- mouth Obama.
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They’re out there constantly criticizing Obama in spite of the fact that the GOP is clearly out to destroy the poor, minority, and middle class in this country. So the obvious question is, if Obama’s so bad, who do they suggest that we vote for, Romney – a man who enjoys firing people, and think of families being put out of their homes as simply collateral damage? Santorum – Who wants to abolish public education, and wants a government small enough to crawl up a woman’s uterus? Or maybe Gingrich, who wants to fire the heads of a family and put their kids to work for slave wages?
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But Tavis and West are going around telling any and everybody who’ll listen that we should be so disenchanted with Obama, who they portray as the Bogeyman, that we should elect the Devil. How does that help either the poor, middle class, or Black community?
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I don’t want to be confused with an Obama cheerleader, because I’m not. But I think that it is incumbent upon everyone with common sense to do everything we can to keep the GOP out of office. Entrusting our nation and economy to the Republican Party would be like entrusting our children to convicted child molesters.
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Both Rush Limbaugh and Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the senate, have publicly declared that they don’t want Obama to succeed, which means, they don’t want America to succeed – and obviously, neither do Tavis and West.
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I’m glad to see that you’re pulling out of this mess, Boyce. while I don’t always agree with you, I always thought of you as a sincere brother, so I was shocked to see you get involved in the first place.
Eric L. Wattree
You didn’t give me anything to sink my teeth in. I write to take black youth to times before Europe purchased our bodies, and rented out our soles. I want to tell the story of religion from an African Perspective as my mentors did. My undergraduate studies were behavior modification and social learning theory, so the likes of Little Wayne that you talked about, and the love of money that I see daily are explainable.
What is not talked about is how we got to where we are as expressed in my book “Religion vs. God”, about unenlightened Africans in the Diaspora, or the impact of the welfare/prision system that I write about in Black N Blue, an Ethnic Profile from U.S. Air Force Blue to San Francisco Police Department Blue and Beyond.
I am glad to see that Dr. B. has decided to NOT bash his Brothers and Sisters via this forum. It would only be another Black on Black assasination to please those of the School of ‘Willie Lynch’ This is one thing that we MUST stop doing. We Can Love each other and still dissagree. Can’t we?
I think that Tavis and Cornell Love our Brother Barrak, but, want to hold him accountable. I see nothing wrong with that.If President Barrak Oboma appears to not concern himself with the plight of Black people, don’t blame Tavis, Cornell or anyone else who advocates for US. Remember, our President (who I love) still does the bidding for those who are REALLY in charge. Don’t be fooled. As we critique him, and we should, as long as WE are considered ‘Invisible’, we should. It’s the wheel that ‘squeeks’ that get’s the oil. I say, critisize whoever sits in the seat if you are being overlooked by them. BLACK PEOPLE, WE ARE BEING OVERLOOKED and DISSMISSED and DISSREGARDED ONCE AGAIN.
@Wattree
I’ll keep this short but sweet.
No matter how you feel about West and Smiley their point remains. Obama must be held accountable for everything that he does or doesn’t do. With all due respect, I don’t think for a minute they were asking for a vote for Romney or ANY candidate, just that the black community hold Obama accountable. That’s something that’s not happening.
And it hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Repubs. My prediction is that Obama will be re-elected and serve through 2016. Then the pendulum will swing back to the right and the black political lethargy that we are experiencing now will already be commonplace. Mission accomplished.
so called black leaders or black people who always preach black poverty, disparity, yet never create or develop concrete programs to empower black people. The condition of black people is not very different when Bush was in office, I just don’t recall Tavis and Cornel conducted bus tours, lectures, or having NPR talk shows stating Bush is not addressing black issues and poverty. By all means, we need to have people providing constructive criticism of our president regardless of the color of his skin. I just become suspect when these self appointed black public speakers are demonstrating so much outrage when a black man is in office. Show your b***s a white president is in the white house. Also I would have more respect for Dyson, Tavis, and Cornel if they were committed and linked to programs, do they have mentoring, gang intervention/prevention programs, are they in black communities operating life skills training for black man teaching them to stop buying rap music that disrespect women and children or helping black men clean their credit, learn to safe, and how to create jobs in a jobless economy. I need this men to lead by setting an example, tell black men that looking for a job is a job, how to dress, you can’t look for a job with your pants hanging off your a*s. You may have to work at two fast food places while at the same time looking for better jobs. Teach black men that they may have to start their own business, offer house cleaning services, home repairs, sell fruits and veggies. My daddy used to sell fruits and veggies from his car, later got his peddlers license, brought a truck to sell more food, and ended up buying an empty lot, build a shack on the lot, and starting selling fruits, veggies, he got a grill and sold chicken or rip sandwiches, and started supplying large amount of greens to local restaurants. My daddy did not have a formal education, but he new how to make a living. When I was in college, impeded to get free room and broad while taking summer classes, I became a maid for the college when they leased the dorms out for various cheerlesding groups or price water house so I always no that as long as people need house cleaners/maids, I will always get a job because if I have to humble myself for survival, I will do this before selling my body, before selling drugs, or before I will sell my soul. Black people start creating and developing programs/services to cure our social illness and poverty instead of going on bus rides or writing books talking about it or acting like a black president can now change or correct these social illness property hustlers or holy hustlers have been preaching or talking loud and saying nothing ever since the civil rights movements. When I get paid I am creating a care package for young age 19 girl who has mental health issues, very limited money, and limited family support. I periodically buy her lunch before her college class. This is a small thing, but it is my way of helping my people, plus I have a hinden agenda, I also provide free mentoring or counseling services because trust me, t am telling these young ladies to keep there legs closed, to only date black MFN who are in school or gave jobs and we discuss whatever they need to address. I do not need a media platform to do this, I do not get money to do this, I get rewarded when these young ladies tell me they are back in school, they are drinking more water, eating fruits/veggies, they are walking more, or they realized the young black so call nerd is more attractive than the black boy who sells drug, school drop out, and pants hanging off his a*s
boyce, saying you will no longer participate in the fighting is not enough. you said some hurtful things about mellisa…an apology to those you might have offended would be the place to start.
@Vandellish,
For either Tavis or West to claim that they’re trying to hold Obama accountable, it’s tantamount walking into a restaurant, dumping a plate of food, then condemning the restaurant for having a mess on the floor. They are both all but directly responsible for the situation that the Black community currently finds intself – Tavis for being the most prolific corporate shill in the Black community, and West for helping to get George Bush elected in the 2000 election.
http://wattree.blogspot.com/2012/02/dr-boyce-watkins-announces-his.html
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How did a forum open to discuss a debate about hip hop between Dr. Watkins and Dr. Dyson turn into another roast for Tavis Smiley and Dr. West? I understand the need for Obama apologist to get their rocks off by bashing everyone that doesn’t drop to their knees and praise the prez, but this c**p is getting old. All of you have such elementary analysis of them that it’s clear none of you ever listen to their show or even as much as followed their careers before Tom Joyner and Steve Harvey told you to hate them. One of you even wrote that they didn’t give lectures or host NPR shows before Barack Obama becomes president. Where have you been??? This is what happens when you have people whose only concern prior to President Obama’s rise in popularity was how to do the stanky leg or who would be eliminated the following week on the Flava of Love.
Enough already with the blaming TS and CW. I applaud them for at least paying attention and not falling for the oki doke. We are in worse shape now than we’ve been in a long, long time and we just accept it. Meanwhile, Obama is laughing at us because he knows all he has to do is invite these negroes sitting in front of a microphone to another fancy party and the black vote will fall right in place. And if any black folks dissent, just send Al Sharpton to attack them or Valerie Jarrett to pull some puttet strings before the masses wake up. President Obama could do a much better job in regard to black issues and issues concerning our relationship with Africa. WE MUST DEMAND BETTER FROM OUR POLITICIANS! If you think things are bad now, we’ll be in an even worse place 4 years from now and we’ll just be screwed because we didn’t demand better while we had the chance.
Uncle Cleofus,
What brought many of us into the conversation wasn’t just a scholarly critique of President Obama. We were enraged by the hypocrisy and blatant disrespect embedded in what amounted to Cornel West’s racist slander of the first Black President of the United States. Even though West has made a career of telling anyone who will listen how much he “loves his people” – in fact, he generally prefaces his virulent comments with the hypocritical endearment of “my good brother” – he then went on to say things that were so disrespectful of President Obama, and later, Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry, that they carried the obvious implication that it’s alright to disrespect these people because, after all, beneath their titles, they’re just two more insignificant Pickaninnies. I don’t recall West ever showing such blatant disrespect toward Bush or Cheney.
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Thus, it’s my personal opinion that both Tavis Smiley and Cornel West (I mention them both since they seem to be attached at the hip) are two petty, self-serving egomaniacs who specialize in putting their own personal agendas ahead of what’s in the best interest of both the Black community, and the nation.
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Clear evidence of that is the fact that they both know full well that the GOP used the Iraq War to ravage the U.S. Treasury in order to justify attacking the entitlement programs put in place by the New Deal. Abolishing the New Deal has been the GOP’s main reason for being for over 70 years now. But the programs that they’d like to abolish – such as Social security, Medicare, and the Fair Labor standards Act – are much too popular among the American people to attack head on. So they purposely tried to bankrupt the nation as a pretext to preclude the funding, and/or, support of these programs. That agenda, along with regaining power, gives the GOP a vested interest in keeping America miserable, angry, and poor. So if Tavis and West were really concerned about the poor, minorities, and middle class, that’s what they’d be ranting about instead of helping the GOP bad- mouth Obama.
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They’re out there constantly criticizing Obama in spite of the fact that the GOP is clearly out to destroy the poor, minorities, and middle class in this country. So the obvious question is, if Obama’s so bad, who do they suggest that we vote for, Romney – a man who enjoys firing people, and think of families being put out of their homes as simply collateral damage in the further enrichment of Wall Street? Santorum – Who wants to abolish public education, thinks higher education is snobbish, and wants a government small enough to crawl up a woman’s uterus? Or maybe West thinks we should vote for Gingrich, who wants to fire the heads of households and put their kids to work for slave wages.
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So instead of fighting these domestic enemies of the American way of life, and educating the public to their agenda, Tavis and West are going around telling any and everybody who’ll listen that we should be so disenchanted with Obama, who they portray as the Bogeyman, that we should elect the Devil. West did the very same thing when he teamed up with Ralph Nader in the 2000 election and helped get George Bush elected. How did that help either the poor, middle class, or Black community? It didn’t. In fact, it’s the very reason that we’re in the situation that we’re in today, and West that is now trying to blame Barack Obama for not correcting fast enough.
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But if you bring up that point to the Nader/West supporters, they’ll immediately begin to obfuscate and engage in intellectual gymnastics in an attempt to avoid responsibility for the horrific fate that they brought upon this country. They’ll say things like, “It’s not our fault that Gore lost. He just didn’t fight hard enough for a recount.” But by using such arguments what they’re actually saying is, “Gore just didn’t fight hard enough to undo the damage that we’d done.” Because the bottom line is this – Gore lost the 2000 election to Bush in Florida by 537 votes, and the Nader/West coalition peeled off 97,488 votes from Gore in Florida alone. So don’t take my word for it – you do the math. And the unbelievable thing is, West is currently trying to team up with Nader again, to undermine the people in the this election!
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Finally, and before West supporters try to characterize me as an Obama cheerleader, I’d like to point out that just a cursory Google search will show that I’ve written several articles critical of Obama. But when I’m critical of the president, I make it issue-specific, I’m always respectful, and I never lodge a blanket attack against the president’s overall character. Thus, I only have one agenda, and that’s to promote truth, common sense, and logical, independent thinking. And in that regard, I think that it is incumbent upon everyone with common sense to do everything they can to keep the GOP out of office. Because, entrusting our nation and economy to the Republican Party would be like entrusting our children to convicted child molesters.
Oh, @Uncle Cleofus,
With respect to your first question. Some of us think that the above situation is just a little more important than Lil Wayne.
@Wattree – you should stop kissing President Obama’s a*s without thinking about your political decisions. He hasn’t done anything for you, but you talk about him like you work for him.
@James,
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That’s a foolish and unsubstantiated comment. You’re simply parroting Cornel West’s a*s-kisser’s only defense for his gross and unprofessional stupidity. Any Black person who doesn’t recognize the importance of, at the very least, respecting the first Black President of the United States is an idiot. While that doesn’t preclude you from criticizing policies just like you would any other president, West criticized him as a Black man, which is an exercise in self-hatred. In addition, West didn’t just make himself look stupid, he made us look stupid as well.
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To this day, there are many racists who claim that Black professionals are professionals in name only. They contend that due to Affirmative Action, Black professionals didn’t have to pay the dues to obtain their credentials that their White counterparts had to pay, therefore, they’re less qualified. As a direct result of that attitude, many highly qualified Black professionals are being passed over for upward mobility in their chosen professions.
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But Black professionals have been slowly proving that contention a lie. People like Johnnie Cochran and Colin Powell have stepped up to demonstrate that they were not only as good as their White counterparts, but better. That accounts for why so many White folks hated O.J. Simpson. They din’t hate his simply because he killed a White woman; many Black men have killed White women. The reason that many hated O.J. so intensely was because he brought Johnnie Cochran to the world’s stage, and Johnnie proved beyond a doubt that the racist contention that Black professionals were inferior was, and is, a lie. Johnnie walked into the courtroom from out of nowhere, told the very best that the White man could provide to scoot over, and then proceeded to play their legal system like a fiddle. And now, the very same is true of President Obama, regardless to what you think of his politics.
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So we were well on our way to proving our point regarding the competence and intellect of Black professionals, then you get a jealous, self-serving idiot like Cornel West come along saying, “Naw, naw, White folks, y’all right about this dude. He ain’t nothing but another Black pickaninny. He’s just “a black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black puppet of corporate plutocrats.” And further, “I think my dear brother Barack Obama has a certain fear of free black men”.
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The latter statement alone is enough for racists to point to as confirmation of their contention that Black “intellectuals” are inferior thinkers. As a scholar, West should know better than
anyone else that you should never make an assertion that you can’t substantiate in the very next sentence, or no later than the following paragraph. Yet, he states, among other things, that due to Barack Obama’s background, he has “a certain fear of free Black men.” What evidence does he have of that? Absolutely none. So he’s guilty of reckless, unscholarly, and frankly, ridiculous thinking.
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I mean, I could say that because Cornel West, this so-called passionate lover of Black people, married a White woman, and never taught at a school that more than a luck few Black people could get into, that he’s afraid of free Black women and he has no respect for Black scholarship. But unlike West, I wouldn’t dare make such an assertion. Why? Because I can’t crawl into his head to substantiate my facts, I wouldn’t want to embarrass the Black community with my stupidity, and finally, because I understand the importance of disciplined thought.
@ Wattree
Frankly, I’m not sure that the democrats are less prone to being molesters than the republicans. I wouldn’t trust either group with my pet goldfish, much less my child.
But here we go again. More hyped up rhetoric about Dr. West’s opinion of the prez. You would think Dr. West said Obama’s mom slept with a dog. You would think he said he was praying for Obama’s death. Nothing he said was that outrageous. I can even agree that President Obama is a puppet for plutocrats. He has governed in favor of big business. And you can send your little $250 check to support his campaign, but he’ll laugh at that. He knows his real money will come from Wall Street. And we all know there’s no such thing as a NSA relationship with Wall Street.
If you want to spend your remaining days on earth hating Dr. West and Tavis Smiley, that’s fine. You have that right. It just seems silly to give them your set of rules for how they may disagree with the president without offending your personal sensibilities. They already bend over backwards to at least sound respectful of the man. And remember, both of them said they plan to vote for Obama because he’s the best choice.
My concern is that your assessment is only a survival technique. You’re really saying the republicans have a 6 inch knife they’re going to plung in your back but the democrats knife is only 3 inches. You’re only feeding the status quo. I can’t see myself supporting either party because they are both puppets to Wall Street, they both are war mongers, they both are beholden to the Jewish lobby and a plan to make black America, poor America, and the disenfranchised people of America better is not on either party’s agenda.
Uncle Cleofus,
If you’re not politically astute enough to see the difference between the Democratic and Republican parties there’s no sense in even pursuing this discussion. It’s like trying to discuss calculus with a person who doesn’t understand addition and subtraction. It can’t be done. But hopfully, a few people have read this thread who can do the math.
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For Uncle Cleofus,
In Defense of My Stance Against Cornel West
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In response to my last column, Dr. Boyce Watkins Announces His Withdrawal from Cornel West Controversy , one reader said the following:
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“Wattree – you should stop kissing President Obama’s a*s without thinking about your political decisions. He hasn’t done anything for you, but you talk about him like you work for him.”
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Such comments are so typical of Cornel West supporters that they’ve become a mantra. They invariably accuse anyone who dares to point out that West’s blatant public slander of the President of the United States was counterproductive, unsubstantiated, and frankly, stupid, as only being interested in defending President Obama. They try to avoid the issue of West’s grossly unprofessional behavior by accusing his critics of being Obama cheerleaders. So let me dispose of that allegation at the outset.
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As I’ve mentioned many times before, I’ve written several articles that are highly critical of President Obama – one, long before Obama was even sworn into office. In the article, A Journalist’s First Responsibility, written on July 8, 2008, I point out unequivocally that it’s not a journalist’s responsibility to try to protect a favored candidate:
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“On June 20th Senator Barack Obama announced that he was supporting the current FISA bill before the senate. That bill gives retroactive immunity to all telecommunications companies against all private law suits for cooperating with the Bush administration’s program of spying on the American people without a court order, as currently required by current law . . .
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“I’ve been roundly criticized by fellow Obama supporters for bringing this issue out. They say that ‘I’m hurting our candidate’, and ‘I’m not seeing the big picture.’ But in response I suggest, when truth becomes a hindrance to a candidate’s viability, it’s not truth that’s the problem–it’s the candidate. And when the “greater good” involves journalists keeping the people in the dark, it becomes the nation’s problem. Thus, it’s not up to journalists to keep Obama’s candidacy viable–it’s up to Obama.”
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Thus, my strident criticism of Cornel West has nothing to do with trying to protect Obama. I’m speaking out against West’s unmitigated stupidity. Period.
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Any Black person who doesn’t recognize the importance of, at the very least, respecting the first Black President of the United States is an idiot. While that doesn’t preclude one from criticizing Obama’s policies, just like with any other president, West criticized him as a Black man, which is an exercise in self-hatred, and betrays his true attitude toward Black people in general. So West didn’t merely make himself look stupid, he made the Black community look stupid as well. First, by clearly demonstrating that many of us don’t have any self-respect. And secondly – since his high profile sends the false impression that he’s one of the best and brightest among Black people – his reckless and unprofessional assertions and behavior reinforces the racist belief that Black professionals are something less than their White counterparts.
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To this day, there are many racists who claim that Black professionals are professionals in name only. They contend that due to Affirmative Action, Black professionals didn’t have to pay the dues to obtain their credentials that their White counterparts had to pay. Therefore, they’re less qualified. As a direct result of that attitude, many highly qualified Black professionals are being passed over for upward mobility in their chosen professions.
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But Black professionals have been slowly proving that contention is a lie. People like Johnnie Cochran and Colin Powell have stepped up to the plate to demonstrate that they were not only as good as their White counterparts, but in many cases, much better. That accounts for why so many White folks hated O.J. Simpson. While many simply wanted to see justice prevail, there were others who hated O.J. for much more than the fact that they thought he was a murderer. The primary reason they hated O.J. so intensely was because he brought Johnnie Cochran to the world’s stage, and Johnnie proved beyond a doubt that the racist contention that Black professionals were inferior was, and is, a lie.
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Think about it. At the very height of the affirmative action controversy Johnnie Cochran walked into the courtroom from, essentially, out of nowhere. He then told some of the most celebrated attorneys in the world to scoot over, and then proceeded to play the legal system like a fiddle. Thereafter, for the very first time, instead of racists saying that a Black man was inferior, they claimed that O.J. got away with murder because he could afford to hire the very best – Johnnie Cochran, a Black man. And now, the very same is true of President Obama with respect to our political system, regardless to what you think of his politics. And it’s no accident, that Cornel West, Tavis smiley, and many rabid conservatives also hate him – and, ironically, for the very same reason.
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Thus, we were well on our way to proving our point regarding the competence and intellect of Black professionals. Then you get a jealous, self-serving idiot like Cornel West come along whose words and behavior essentially says, Naw, naw, White folks, y’all right about this dude. He ain’t nothing but another Black pickaninny. I’m the genius! I’m the one you should be listening to! I was at Harvard long before he was. He butted in line. It’s suppose to be my turn now! “He’s just ‘a black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black puppet of corporate plutocrats.” And further, “I think my dear brother Barack Obama has a certain fear of free black men” (The latter statement seems to have been designed to trigger a knee-jerk response from the few reactionary Black people in the community).
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But that latter statement was also just enough for racists to point to as confirmation of their contention that Black “intellectuals” are inferior thinkers. As a scholar, West should have known better than anyone else that you should never make an assertion that you can’t substantiate in the very next sentence, or no later than the following paragraph. Yet, he states, among other things, that due to Barack Obama’s background, he has “a certain fear of free Black men.” What evidence does he have of that? Absolutely none. So he’s guilty of reckless, unscholarly, and frankly, ridiculous thinking.
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I mean, I could say that because Cornel West – this so-called passionate lover of Black people – married a White woman and never taught at a school that more than a lucky few Black people can even get into, that he’s afraid of free Black women and has no respect for Black scholarship. But unlike West, I wouldn’t dare make such an idiotic assertion. Why? Because I can’t crawl into his head to substantiate my facts. In addition, I wouldn’t want to embarrass the Black community with such stupidity. And finally, because I – this unrepentant hood rat – understand the importance of disciplined thought.
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Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
Religious bigotry: It’s not that I hate everyone who doesn’t look, think, and act like me – it’s just that God does.
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