Decision ‘08

From The Dream To The Nightmare

We’ve come a long way from MLK’s epochal ‘I Have a Dream’; unfortunately, when it comes to black political leadership, it’s been in the wrong direction. Representative Major Owens, writing in the Democratic Gazette - sorry, the Huffington Post (who can tell the difference?) - tells of his nightmare - a nightmare consisting of Republicans ruling for 1,000 years because they helped the black community more than the Democrats did.

Is this what it’s come to? A black leader whose nightmare is that Republicans will serve the black community? Would Representative Owens prefer a hostile glare to a helping hand, if that hand comes from the wrong side of the aisle? Isn’t there something fundamentally wrong with an approach that puts partisanship above results? And, lastly, have we still not reached the day when we can put aside the simplistic formula ‘Black=Democrat’?

When I read the mighty, mighty words of MLK, I don’t see a man who was a tool of the Democratic party…I see a man who spoke out with clarity and conviction against an unjust situation, and appealed to the best in all of us. When I read this piece by Representative Owens, I just sadly shake my head…

8 Responses to “From The Dream To The Nightmare”

1 Andy Says:
July 29th, 2005 at 3:08 am
I join you in shaking my head.
2 louielouie Says:
July 29th, 2005 at 5:03 am
this difference is that the dems. are providing a handout.
the repubs. are offering a helping hand.
bill cosby told a member of a town meeting in st. louis that he was not going to do anything for st. louis. st. louis must look at/to st. louis for help.
also, from the comments regarding 1000 years, democraps rule, republicans govern.
my only lament would be i will only be around for 30 or so of those.
i hope others posting here will be luckier than i.
3 Knemon Says:
July 29th, 2005 at 5:10 am
Quoth Rep. Owens:
“no Democratic President has been willing to merely issue an apology for slavery.”

Um … didn’t Clinton do that repeatedly?
4 Greg Bullock Says:
July 29th, 2005 at 6:18 am
Knemon, I thought the same thing; as I recall, President Clinton did, in fact, apologize for the American slave trade and he did so during a visit to Africa. It was actually a bit controversial at the time it happened.

But maybe were collectively remembering that wrong.

Mark, you wrote, “Is this what it’s come to? A black leader whose nightmare is that Republicans will serve the black community?” Im not sure I quite agree with the degree of umbrage youve taken. Let me explain.

Rep. Owens sets his narrative in an unconscious state, a nightmare. He lets this give him license to say things he otherwise might feel inhibited in saying, as if hes talking in his sleep or under hypnosis. Its a pretty clever rhetorical device.

Upon waking, and by way of running down his gripes with his Party, he employs an anaphoric device, that is, connecting a series of sentences by using one word, in this case “apologize,” over and over: “Perhaps Democrats should apologize for ending welfare without providing work. Apologize for ignoring the high rates of African-American unemployment, and the rapid increase in incarceration rates for African-American males. Maybe Democrats should apologize for their sluggish concern about the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act.”

The anaphoric device has a long tradition in both the Baptist Church and the Democratic Party; JFK used it to great effect in several speeches I recall reading. (This is speechwriter wonk, I know.) By then segueing into his somewhat undignified “rap poem,” he connects those great rhetorical traditions to both the African tradition of the Griot and, obviously, todays youth/pop/black culture. (OK, this is horrifying, multi-kulti, liberal arts wonk; Im very sorry.)

So, as a piece of writing, Id say its a pretty sophisticated affair. Unfortunately for him and his constituents, its all flash and very little substance. What hes asking for is ridiculous.

He seems to be making the same point to his Party that President Bush made to the scowling NAACP before the election last year: “what have the Democrats done for you lately?” Its as if Rep. Owens is saying to his Party, “we dont want to leave and join *them* but we will unless you attend to our grievances and demands.” So its kind of a cleverly veiled threat delivered in a way only he could get away with delivering it. Though I must say Id love to hear Al Gore rap.

Just a little something for the record so he can go home and say, “see what I did for you.”

And by the way, according to which style guide, Rep. Owens, is the “b” in blacks capitalized?
5 Mark Coffey Says:
July 29th, 2005 at 12:51 pm
Knemon and Greg, I remember it that way, too…and Greg, thanks for the very interesting rhetorical explanation. Quite enlightening…
6 AJStrata Says:
July 29th, 2005 at 7:23 pm
His nightmare is our blessing. The canard that conservatives are anti-minority is the last vestige holding the democrats afloat. And Bush and others have put the lie to that myth.
7 Greg Bullock Says:
July 31st, 2005 at 6:25 am
After some research, I see that my comment above is incorrect. I wrote: “As I recall, President Clinton did, in fact, apologize for the American slave trade and he did so during a visit to Africa. It was actually a bit controversial at the time it happened.”

Not quite true. Though it was controversial. There have been a lot of powerful words, but some semantic chicanery around an outright apology. Interesting.

But in my defense, let me offer the following few items and web links for them. Apparently, President Clinton felt America had apologized for slavery via amendments to the Bill of Rights and a member of congress stated for the record that he also thought President Clinton had apologized for America’s involvement in slavery.

+++++

INTERVIEW [with President Clinton] BY EBONY, JET, AND AMERICAN URBAN RADIO NETWORK, Cape Grace Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa March 27, 1998 5:34 P.M. (L)

http://www.clintonfoundation.org/legacy/032798-president-interviewed-by-media.htm

Q Mr. President, you’ve made it emphatically clear that you will not apologize for slavery. Do you understand why there’s such controversy around the issue, and are you prepared for Goree Island?

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, yes. I think — it was interesting because after I spoke in Ghana, and then in Uganda, and when I spoke in Uganda about how wrong we were to be involved in the slave trade, some people in America said, well, why did you do this in Africa and why haven’t you done the same thing in America? But most of my African American friends and advisors don’t believe that we should get into what was essentially a press story about whether there should be an apology for slavery in America. They think that that’s what the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment was; they think that’s what the civil rights legislation was; and they think we need to be looking toward the future.

But when an American President comes to Africa for the first time and makes a serious trip and a serious commitment to the future, I think recognizing the fact that we did a bad thing in being part of the slave trade I think is important here. So I think we’ve drawn the right balance and I feel good about it.

+++++

Ohio lawmaker renews call for Congress to apologize for slavery. CNN, June 19, 2000
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/06/19/congress.slavery/

[Rep. Tony Hall (D-Ohio)] said the time for Congress to issue an apology has come. He noted that Clinton apologized during a trip to Africa

+++++

Bush should apologize for slavery by Zev Chafets, 7.2.03 NY Daily News
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/97259p-88084c.html

Five years ago, on a visit to Africa, then-President Bill Clinton declared, “Before we were even a nation, European-Americans received the fruits of the slave trade, and we were wrong in that.” But despite entreaties from African-American leaders, [Clinton] declined to issue a form
8 Mark Coffey Says:
July 31st, 2005 at 8:31 am
Thanks for the clarification, and a thorough one at that…though I confess I remembered it the way you did…