A Challenge For The Left
Is it possible that we could figure out a way to criticize Condoleeza Rice's tenure as NSA without effectively calling her a race traitor?
Apropos of Rice, my roommate informs me that in the Fox News coverage of her Senate confirmation hearing, the (slightly delayed) feed was cut off just before Paul Sarbanes asked a question about Rice's involvement in the disastrous pre-war intelligence regarding Iraq---he caught the question on MSNBC---so that the good folks at Fox could deliver "breaking news" about the decline in value of Yahoo shares. That's your news, fair and balanced, as always.
Apropos of misguided (that's putting it charitably) racialism on the left, we've finally topped the disgusting/amusing column YDN column on the pertinent question of whether or not Condoleeza Rice is "really black." (Her skin may be, but as Dayo Olopade thoughtfully reminds us, "actions speak louder than...skin.") Topped it how? With Paa Kwesi Imbeah's letter to the editor complaining of Jamie Kirchick's column from last Thursday, which was mostly about the various forms of idiocy (moral, political, scientific, cultural, etc.) involved in Thabo Mbeki's AIDS policy.
I'm not even sure where to begin to excerpt. Hell, just read through it:
Firstly, to denigrate Thabo Mbeki for holding a different point of view (albeit at the cost of other humans) misses the mark. Especially so from the almost morally bankrupt point of view of a culture that thinks itself to be responsible for undertaking a global civilizing mission that has self-interest as the basis. You should clear the log out of your field of vision before attempting to move a speck out of a friend's eye.Got all that? The layers of pietistic cliche at work here would be hilarious if they weren't indicative of an obtuseness that is literally lethal. Better to let millions die, it seems, than confront legitimate external criticism.
I have advice for commentators on African issues: Be constructive or keep quiet. We (I purport to speak for Africans) have had too many distracting opinions. I hardly think this advice will be heeded, but when it comes to Africa, many of us Africans at Yale will not tolerate any self-righteous attempts to malign mainly responsible adults who happen to have points of view others do not agree with. That we have mainly been quiet does not imply consent.
On Africa, there are many competent Africans thinking about progressive ways to do things. This sort of article does nothing to promote progressiveness and only serve to offend minds which would rather be bent on more important matters.
posted by Finnegan @ 8:17 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
While I believe there are numerous means of criticizing Rice in ways that do not play off such uncomfortable racial allusions, and therefore such allusions should be avoided, the manner in which the administration has attempted to innoculate themselves from criticism by enlisting a number of under-qualified and needy minority lieutenants to catch flak is disturbing. That countless conservative commentators accuse democrats of racism when they criticize Clarence Thomas or Condi Rice is a major problem. That such commentators can keep a straight face when they do so is indicative of how much the fix is in. The race issue SHOULD be an open issue. While Americans might do better to avoid pictures of Rice and small black dogs trailing behind the President, the race issue is an issuse because the Administration has made it one. They have deployed race in a way that most liberal identity-politicking radicals have never been able to. When you have an administration whose policy outlook is devestating to large numbers of African-Americans, an administration which draws political strength from a plethora of radically right wing, racist, and white supremacist organizations, then yes -- you do get to question the motivations and the integrity of an African American who is not just working for them, but who has consistently allowed herself to be dominated by white cabinet and extra-cabinet members who do not have Constitutional leverage to dominate her (at least not now in her new role). Chris Matthews has been comendably pounding this angle all week -- how Cheney as VP has the facility to determine policy over and above Rice's head. Race like class has been all but taken off the national table. Arguments over affirmative action have become an alibi for ignoring basic, historical racial inequities that are too hot to discuss. These issues are going to have become authentically discussed again before Democrats can start exerting real power. Right now, in a time when no one wants to engage in "class warfare" or "play the race card", rich white, predominantly anti-gay, anti-poor, anti-minority men are able to maintain a stranglehold on the government because those who have the power to protest have become too polite.
I hardly think your criticism of Imbeah's article worthwhile. Rather than demonstrating his obtuseness, you demonstrate yours through a lack of understanding of the historical and cultural influences that determine an African's response to a intellectually backward article by Kirchik.
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