The Best of "The Way I See It" and Other Political Writings (1989-2010). Jamala Rogers
Louis said it best at We Can’s recent town hall meeting: “To call a ban on affirmative action a “civil rights initiative” is a lie. It deprives people of color of the right to have the sufferings and effects of centuries of slavery and segregation overcome. It deprives whites of the ability to support policies that will move us to a more equal society. It deprives women of the right to have the impact of centuries of discriminatory laws undone. It deprives men of the ability to champion programs [that] will lead to us a more equal society.”
Postscript: Progressives forces successfully beat back the slimy efforts of Ward CONnerly in Missouri before it could even get on the ballot. Out of the five states he targeted, CONnerly was successful only in Nebraska. Arizona, Oklahoma and Colorado also stopped him in his cold, conservative tracks before the initiative could be put on the ballot.
The Fraud Against ACORN
October 19, 2008
Congresswoman Michele Bachman suggested that it was poor, black folks who brought Wall Street down. The Minnesota Republican blamed African Americans for the housing crises caused by subprime loans. That is the first lie.
In the last presidential debate, John McCain pronounced that the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) was “on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy.” This is the second lie.
These two lies come together at the brink of an historical presidential election. To find out why and how, allow me to be your guide to Lie-Lie Land. Most economic analysts will agree that subprime loans were not the cause of Wall Street’s collapse. A big part of the collapse occurred when these loans were bundled and resold again and again to investment companies throughout the world. A study by First American Loan Performance, a San Francisco research firm, reported that by the end of 2006, 61% of the borrowers offered subprime loans had credit good enough for market rate loans. And since black folks were a big percentage of these loans, I think it is clear who the victims are.
You are a black, prospective homeowner sitting across the desk of a loan officer at a reputable institution. Why would you automatically think you’re about to be catapulted into bankruptcy or homelessness? Ted Janusz, a former senior loan officer and author of Kickback: Confessions of a Mortgage Salesman, confessed that it was pressure “to get a signature on the bottom line, at any cost.” Last September, ACORN released a report confirming that minorities were steered to risky loans and were therefore disproportionately affected by the unscrupulous lending practice. ACORN reported that upper-income blacks were 3.3 times, and Latinos 3 times more likely than upper-income whites to have a high-cost loan when purchasing a home in 2006. ACORN has fought against redlining by financial institutions and has exposed predatory lending practices in poor communities. The group has put a lot of energy and resources into the passage of the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act, which encourages loans to neighborhoods historically redlined and suffering deterioration, as a way to increase home ownership and stabilize communities. Bachman and others erroneously point to this act as the single factor behind the current housing meltdown.
The group has fought for affordable housing, livable wages and conducted voter registration drives. They have been hauled into court over the years to defend themselves against a number of charges. ACORN has been in Republican crosshairs for awhile. It is now ACORN’s voter registration campaign that is under fire. In Nevada, scores of suspicious registrations have been uncovered, prompting Republicans to demand an investigation by the Justice Department. The real reason may have more to do with the fact that over one million voters have been signed up. Although ACORN is a non partisan group, it is doubtful that these new voters will be future GOP supporters.
Let’s use some common sense here. When Mickey Mouse shows up as a new voter on an ACORN voter registration list, it is actually defrauding that group since ACORN pays workers to do registration. Plus, even if Mickey gets past the approval of the election registrar, would a poll worker really allow Mickey to cast a ballot? And if Mickey does cast a ballot, can you legitimately accuse ACORN of voter fraud? This is an attempt to bring ACORN down and at the same time project a reason as to why the McCain-Palin ticket went down in defeat on November 5th. A sinking campaign is trying to take a community-based organization with them. Critically thinking citizens must demand that Republicans and Wall Street take responsibility for their own downfalls and let ACORN handle its business.
Postscript: Instead of celebrating its 40th Anniversary in 2010, ACORN was filing for bankruptcy, the result of an orchestrated scheme by right-winger, Andrew Breitbart, along with con artists, James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles. Giles pretended to be a prostitute and O’Keefe her pimp. They went undercover to various ACORN offices to videotape responses to very specific questions. The problem with the tape that was released to the national media is that it had been edited to make the organization look as if they were engaged in illegal and unethical practices. By the time their trickery was exposed, the damage was effective and complete. Defunding was swift and the Right claimed a victory for ACORN’s demise.
Arizona: We Can’t Afford to Lose the Battle or the War
BlackCommentator, July, 2010
The backdrop for July 29th has certainly been set with the premature firing of Shirley Sherrod from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. An ambush initiated by blogger Andrew Breitbart, who aired a doctored video tape of Sherrod, was fueled by the rest of the right-wing media. These are the same people who have been ratcheting up anti-immigration sentiments across the nation and who celebrated the passage of SB 1070 in Arizona. July 29, 2010 - that is when the legislation to profile suspected undocumented immigrants will go into effect. It is also the day when thousands of activists and concerned citizens from all over the country will converge on Phoenix to protest the law as racist and unconstitutional. The protests will be held regardless of whether or not the law takes effect.
There are already seven suits pending in U.S. District Court challenging the law as unconstitutional. There will be a showdown for sure on that day. The long-range question to be answered is, how will we address an issue that is largely about brown people by a government that is mainly white? Will there be a rush to a remedy such as what happened in the Sherrod case, in which head man, Tom Vilsack, forced a hasty resignation by a valued employee from the side of a dusty road? Can we ever have a sane but passionate discussion about race relations in this country?
Some will say the Arizona law is not about race; it is about the law. Or they will say it is about economics and those who are sucking dollars from the U.S. economy. I submit both of these are bogus arguments. I always look to how these same people have left corporate America to their lawlessness with minimal opposition. The Wall Street capitalists took the country to the brink of economic destruction with all props from the Bush Administration and there was barely a squeak from the now fist-throwin’, spit- blowin’ gallery. Their racist venom toward Obama is the same venom that had Sherrod paying the price for the historic racism in the Department of Agriculture that has left black farmers in a lurch.
It is a deliberate redirection of where our attention needs to be. SB1070 may have gotten a lot of attention but it will not solve the problem of undocumented immigration. The public discourse is lopsided because mainstream media has not offered a balanced discussion on this complex issue. The first contradiction is that there is rarely an informed Latina or Chicana that is part of the debate. White experts know best how to resolve the issues of brown people, an attitude African Americans know all too well.
We will be talking about Arizona in the coming days, maybe weeks. Meanwhile, there will be countless jabs by racists who have been activated by the current climate of hate that has been building since the election of President Obama. If we aren’t vigilant, a series of racist policies, procedures and laws will follow the attitudes of a growing legion of whites who feel they are losing control, losing ground, losing privileges, losing rights, losing jobs or just plain losing. Progressives, whether they are in the media or organizing in the streets, must begin framing the race issue in a way that builds toward a genuine race analysis in this country.
There will be many