People in trouble can count on tween and twenty-something black bloggers for action and results, I suppose, if talking out of their young arses will get them some personal “enrichment”, aggrandizement, or a minute to do a johnathan capehole kneegro dance on CNN or IPR.

BPM

That is the question. Is the cost of a guy like Sharpton going away mean that Mychael Bell keeps that 20 year sentence and Jena is only reported in the blogosphere? Or that Shaquanda Cotton possibly remains locked up? or that many of the NYC police reforms as a result of the Amadou diallo protests don’t take place (yes, many more reforms are necessary). These are very serious questions that need to be grappled with if one wishes for Al to fade away into the sunset…

Then the second Sharpton and Jackson announce that they will be marching on Sept. 20, then all the cameras and mainstream media decides to show up 5 minutes later. Now of course it shouldn’t come down to that. In a perfect world the mainstream covers it right away. But in an imperfect world, guys like Sharpton and Jackson are still needed. What % is a hustle and what % is civic altruism? I have absolutely no idea. Of course they bring lots of baggage, but when someone is drowning there is no time to be evaluating the motivations of the life guard. I’m cheering on whoever dives the fuck in.

Now, i’m aware that the mainstream media goes to Sharpton and Jackson to often discredit legitimate issues, so it is incumbent on getting others who can draw the media attention without the baggage. How that strategy happens, I’m not sure. but it is great blogs like this one that are working toward that goal.

I would also add that Shaquanda Cotton was released the day before Sharpton’s planned march. Coincidence? Maybe. Or maybe not.

If some of us could get over this need for a “spokesperson” and instead invest in our own ability to speak truth to power, then we wouldn’t need the Al Sharptons or Jesse Jacksons. Until that day comes, these people will continue to profit from our need to have a savior.

As far as Barack Obama talking about absentee fathers; he was correct, but he was also playing the politician talking to white folks who were nodding their heads in agreement. Once again, he USED the Black community to score political points. During his speech which I have not seen the full transcript, did he also praise those Black fathers who get up every day and take care of their families?

Why is it every time he comes before a predominantly Black audience, he is often scolding, preachy and arrogant, yet when was the last time he spoke to white folks about their need to hold onto to their whiteness when they don’t have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out? When?

By the same token, corporations time and again have proven themselves to be indifferent, yet entitled to the Black consumer.

While there’s nothing illegal going on, it does prove to be a convenient little dance that both Sharpton and the corporations are doing. The corporations continue with poor diversity practices and non-urban dictates, while Sharpton remains fat and happy with his hush money.

“Shakedown bloggers”?

I’ve never known him to claim he speaks for all African-Americans, and I think it’s shortsighted when people gratuitously diminish his — and Jackson’s — role in changing the face of commercial media and fortune 500 corps.

These guys may be inartful sometimes, and gruff, but one, it works, and two, why should we be pleasant with people who’re insistent on locking African-Americans out?

I’d guess that people are really gonna miss these two when they’re gone because then it’ll be obvious that no one does what these men do as effectively.

That was my point exactly but don’t expect shakedown bloggers and internet hustlers to care. These kind of hit job posts are solely designed to earn good kneegro bonafides.

BPM

Also, there is a fine line between a “shakedown” and activism against corporations. If Sharpton helps a company with a terrible record of diversity implement successful changes, then I don’t have a major problem with him being hired as a consultant. Now I am not dismissing the shakedown possibility, but according to this criteria then every politician in America is a “shakedown artist”.

I’ve said it clearly and if you still don’t get it you never will. Hopefully, this is not special ed.

BPM

You obviously have something very important to say about Senator Obama, “pimping” out the black community. Can you do me the honor of enlightening me to when he did or how he is doing this “pimping”?
Please. Help me to see the light.

It is no different to me than black bloggers/blogs springing up in 2007 and 2008 to “enrich” themselves on the back of the Obama run or the T-shirt peddlers doing the same, except that one organization actually tries to promote the welfare of the general minority community while the others are hussling kneegros truly out for themselves. I guess I would agree with you more but I don’t see Rev. Al as any worse than new black blogs/bloggers or blatantly gratitous as Obama is with his pimping out of the Black community for political gain. I’m just not one to try to establish good kneegro bonafides on the backs of black America but I know others do what they have to do to get that hustle on.

BPM

Enriching isn’t necessarily money in his personal bank account. It could also be the survival of his organization/franchise.

If he’s acting as a consultant, supposedly speaking as an expert on the black community, then that’s personally enriching.

To my mind, it’s no different than how Tavis markets himself to sponsors as a voice of the black community. These men become celebrities in and of themselves. They don’t act solely and anonymously as agents of any organization.

This I can agree with. I am also in the process of calling Obama out for his pimping of the black community but most okie doke kneegros don’t want to acknowledge that. Obama doesn’t speak exclusively for the blk community but he is giving off that impression with every pandering speech pimping out the black community to get votes from other communities.

BPM