Voting for a Serious Black Leadership
Tuesday’s run-off election between Hank Johnson and Representative Cynthia McKinney will tell us alot of about Atlanta’s black community. The 4th district is a majority African American and transcends educational and class lines. What we will learn is whether the will is there to engage real leadership on behalf of the fourth of whether the leadership of victimhood will continue.
The question stems from Bill Cosby’s speech on the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education. In that speech, Cosby declared that the legacy of Brown had been squandered by large segments of the Black community that rejected the value of education, speaking proper English, and and the power of toil.
In a new series on African American Leadership, NPR’s Juan Williams declares large sections of African American leadership working to advocate victimhood for Black people rather than for their further success. “I think it’s a terrible signal to our young people about who black people are to have us constantly wrapped in the cloak of victimhood, and to have black leadership that in a knee-jerk fashion defends negative, dysfunctional behavior.”
“Negative Dysfunctional Behavior” you say? Representative McKinney has to be among the top 5 of all the folks in U.S. House in that category! This is not about ‘Telling truth to Power’, John Lewis does that just fine. This is about behaving in a dignified way and intelligently representing your district. All over Washington, Representative McKinney is a joke. If she is re-elected, her constituents will show that she represents the leadership they want, and that’s a sad joke indeed.
August 7th, 2006 at 4:45 pm
Wanna vote Cynthia out early? Here’s your chance:
http://truegritz.com/?p=21 Enjoy!
August 7th, 2006 at 5:08 pm
As a white male, um, man who lives in the 4th district all I have to say… Go Hank! Can’t wait to cast my vote tomorrow!
August 7th, 2006 at 6:33 pm
Count me among those in the 4th voting for Hank. All other things being more-or-less equal, I’ll generally vote for a female candidate, but in this case…all other things are definitely NOT equal.
August 8th, 2006 at 2:33 pm
Hank Johnson is the new Denise Majette. A bland candidate backed by Republican money and votes and conservative Republican-lite Democrats.
He has the support of corporate media and big money outlets, and the open primary element doesn’t help. Maybe he’ll pull it off. But a grassroots champion of peace and justice doesn’t stay down for long.
After 2 years of his jumbled “po’ black man” stuttering and slurs in the House, Cythia will be returned again to her place to ask questions most want to ask but are too scared to.
August 8th, 2006 at 11:17 pm
I may be, in you words, “Republican-lite Democrat”; but I have been a democrat for every one of the 16 years I have been eligable to vote. Every vote I have placed in those 16 years has been for a democratic candidate. The democratic party is a big tent. It iincludes “Republican-lite Democrats” such as myself, and it includes “ignorant of the fact that they are on the fringe-ite Democrats” such as the unwavering supporters of the Congresswoman. The problem is, we need each other to win the important elections in november or we both lose. So quit assuming that just because we have a difference of opinion about one of our party’s own, that I am the enemy. Quit resorting to the name-calling and demeaning prejudice that the real enemy from the right uses to castigate and devide us every day.
Finally, tell me why John Lewis has been asking those questions–the ones people are scared to ask–since Cynthis was in diapers, and he never has a challenger–even within his own party? You sure it isn’t just her?
August 9th, 2006 at 12:54 am
This shouldn’t be titled “Voting for a Serious Black Leadership,” it should be titled “Voting for Serious Leadership.” It IS possible to be a champion for peace and justice and do it in such a manner that you command the respect of others, and _that_ is serious leadership. Hank Johnson may not achieve it, but Cynthia McKinney hasn’t either, and probably never will.
August 9th, 2006 at 2:20 pm
Yay, Hank!