There's no way in hell I can live 45 minutes away from the Million More Movement and not attend.
No. Change that.
I could easily skip it, but I imagine my kids won't see anything like this, and they should be able to experience it.
But I'll be damned if this isn't just another example of how bankrupt our national politics are.
First off, and I think I've said it before--every organized and identifiable constituency on the face of the planet comes to dc for one reason. To ask the US government to provide services. The Saudis hire PR firms to lobby on their behalf. The white evangelicals lobby to get conservative judges on the bench. Businesses lobby for subsidies to increase their profit margin. Loggers lobby to get environmental regulations removed.
Why do black people go?
"To be responsible."
You've got to be kidding me.
Over 40 years ago, Malcolm X and other nationalists argued that the March on Washington was nothing more than a watered down version of a far more radical enterprise. Michael Thelwell argued that it had the effect of severely neutering local organizing efforts--people stopped registering Mississippi voters because all the resources were poured into getting people to Washington. Both argued that the march was nothing more than a symbol that would do nothing but make people believe progress was being made.
And where are we now?
The stated plan is to use this march to build a top down national level organization that can then be used to organize and mobilize citizens.
Just those two concepts--"top down" and "national level"--damn this event to nothing more than a PR joint, particularly when combined with the conservative "reponsibility" trope.
"But isn't it a good idea to bring all those people together to show people we can do it?"
If you believe that our citizenship rights should be based on how people perceive us rather than our status as guaranteed by the Constitution....if you think so little of black people that you don't believe they we can get together for anything but conflict except when the good minister comes a callin....then you need to get in line with the other white supremacists. We don't need you. I don't need to go to damn Washington D.C. to reaffirm what I've known about black people since birth.
But again, I'm only 45 minutes away.
Posted by at May 30, 2005 06:59 PM | TrackBack