Posts Tagged ‘Hillary Clinton’

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The Mo’Kelly Report is an entertainment journal with a political slant; published at The Huffington Post and EURWEB.com. For the most recent posts of Mr. Mo’Kelly, visit http://mrmokelly.com.  Mr. Mo’Kelly can be reached at mrmokelly@gmail.com.

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It’s time to grow up Black people. It’s time to put away those childish things if we wish to sit at the grown folks table instead of the kiddie one. Let’s be honest, for a wide swath of Black America, the 2008 election season was the first that many of us watched for its full duration. 2008 unfortunately marked the first national political convention that many of us paid any attention, Democrat or otherwise.

Don’t get brand new on Mo’Kelly now. You know this is true and you know to whom out there I’m speaking.

Part of which had to do with the coming of age of the relationship between the internet and the political process. Part of it arguably had to do with the coming of age of the African-American electorate. We were fully vested…for the first time. Emphasis on “We” and “were.” Both words will be addressed.

Cutting to the chase, history was made, an African-American ascended to the Oval Office and an unwritten law was put into effect; “Thou shall not critique the policies of President Obama or criticize the legislative moves of said president.”

That is…not if you wish to avoid being called a “hater,” “sell-out” or “crab-in-a-barrel.” Break the law at your own peril.

Really?

Most of y’all just started voting (if at all) sometime this century. And now you want to dictate the political ethos of the whole of African-Americans? Really? Honestly?

Yes, the argument would be some emotional rant centered around the idea that dissent aligns you with the vast Right-Wing conspiracy which helped bring down President Clinton and now also seeks to bring down President Obama.

Paraphrased: “You’re either with us…or against us.”

Sometimes I feel as in I’m in Bizzaro World. Up is down and cats and dogs now shack up. Many of these 20-somethings espousing this foolishness either voted for the first time or didn’t even vote at all in 2008; yet have the temerity to lecture those like me who have voted and participated in all elections national and local since 1988.

Time to grow up Black people and the first step is listening to your elders.

At the heart of this discussion is whether one can philosophically disagree with President Obama on some issues yet honestly support the president. Most of the 97% of my fellow African-Americans who voted for President Obama have misguidedly suggested you can’t.

Oh really?

See, here’s where my decades of active participation in the political process serves to my benefit and others’ detriment. The aforementioned President Clinton was and still is tremendously popular within the African-American community. There’s nothing wrong with it…Bill is “cool people” as they say. Yet, let the record reflect his signature on the Welfare Bill of 1995 and the Crime Bill (100 to 1 crack to powder cocaine sentencing guidelines) did African-Americans no favors.

In other words, Mo’Kelly could support the president and disagree with the policies that disproportionately affect or afflict African-Americans. Bill Clinton was a better option than Bob Dole or George H.W. Bush but that did not absolve Clinton of legitimate critique across his two terms.

Last I checked…my disapproval neither stood in Clinton’s way of a 2^nd term nor led to him being impeached. Imagine that. In fact, Slick Willie is kicking it in Harlem in 2010, surrounded by many of the people and neighborhoods most adversely affected by the aforementioned bills. Going even further, Bill still wields considerable influence as there are ex-Clinton staffers aplenty in the Obama administration, from Hillary on down.

So be careful who you accuse of being a “Clinton supporter.” The Clintons have a hand deep in the pockets literally and figuratively of this administration. It is what it is and we can run the list.

That needs to be said a second time.  Be very careful who you accuse of being a “Clinton supporter.”

How about that for irony?

I love my people, but I know my people. Most African-Americans (including myself) would tell you they are against the war in Iraq, but also support the troops. Meaning, there is room to philosophically disagree with the reasons for our involvement yet wish nothing but success for our troops.

Somehow, some way, for some reason, the sound logic often used by my fellow African-Americans in discussion of the war goes out the window in discussion of the 44^th president. All bets are off it seems.

Time to grow up Black people. Put the pacifier down and back away from it once and for all.

If your response to a critique or criticism of President Obama contains the word “hater,” “crab,” “sell-out” or some inventive combination of the three…you need to go to your room and not come out until you think about what you’ve done. It’s sophomoric, ill-informed and infantile. This is big-boy politics. Ghetto hi-fivers need not apply. He’s the President of the United States, critique and criticism are written into the job description. His legislative decisions will be critiqued, his results or lack thereof will be criticized.

(And rightfully so.)

My vote for a candidate is not a 4-year blank check of support. It is my investment in my future, meaning I’ve earned the right to check in on it from time to time. I’m even allowed to make suggestions and press for changes in direction along the way. No vote by Mo’Kelly is an uncritical pass for four or even eight years. If it is for you, shame on you. It wasn’t when I first voted in 1988 for Michael Dukakis and it wasn’t in 2008.  Voting isn’t a singular act, it’s a promise to remain engaged.

My folks inherently understand these truths and are completely clear on the role of critique in the public space; they just have relinquished all common sense in the past year. Mention the names of former Secs. of State Condi Rice, Colin Powell, RNC Chairman Michael Steele or Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and you’ll hear every eloquent argument available as to why it’s (supposedly) not about their color, but their politics which preclude them from gaining the support of the majority of African-Americans.

The point is this…

For all the emphasis and energy spent “defending” President Obama on all things significant and small, little if any attention has been paid by the African-American electorate to the approaching midterm elections. This is the “We” and the “Were.” “We” “were” engaged more than ever before, but have relinquished both our agency and urgency in the present political dialogue.

Democrats, the party which African-Americans have pledged their loyalty ever since the 1960s (arguably undeserved) have stood idly by as the gubernatorial seats in Virginia and New Jersey slipped away. The longtime Kennedy Senate seat fell by the wayside in Massachusetts, Senator Evan Bayh retired in Indiana. Roland Burris is not seeking re-election in Illinois and that’s not counting the numerous other House Democratic retirees prior to the November election.

The truth of the matter is that anyone genuinely in support of President Obama understands implicitly that a shrinking margin in the Senate or a switch in power in the House to the Republicans does President Obama zero favors the subsequent two years of his term.

How can anyone legitimately support President Obama and have NOTHING to say about the midterms? That is ignorance of cataclysmic proportions and the Republicans thank us for it. While “We” are out there compiling our list of “haters” and jealous “crabs-in-a-barrel” “sell-outs” we’ve taken our eye off the prize…the real prize.

For all the vociferous attacks on those individuals and Black leaders/pundits/intellectuals who have the “unmitigated gall” to petition or critique the agenda of President Obama, there’s not been a single peep as to this other reality. We as African-Americans seem to be preoccupied with the paint job on the car better known as the Democratic Party and have lost sight of the cinder blocks on which it rests.

Time to grow up Black people.

The Congressional Black Caucus has been working in many cases for 50 years longer than President Obama’s name ever traipsed from any of your lips. They were on the Washington front lines before our esteemed president emerged and will be after he’s gone. That is not a criticism of the President, it’s a statement of fact. Presidents have term limits, members of Congress do not.

Mess around and you’ll have some rogue members of Congress elected come November and he/she/they may not be voted out until 2040 or til death do they part.  All because “We” “were” asleep at the wheel.  Names like Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms come to mind.

Congressman John Lewis has seen many a president come and go. It’s ok to give him the correct amount of respect, he’s (and others) earned it. Only Congressman Lewis can say he had to endure the N-word in broad daylight for the past five decades while working for justice and equality.

Our president can’t say that. YOU can’t even say that.

Congressman Lewis

Time to grow up Black people…or go to your room with no dessert.

President Obama may be the metaphorical belle of the ball, but the CBC provided the transportation to the dance. Let’s not forget how we got to the dance in the first place. As they say, “dance with who brung ya’.”

The recent passage of the Healthcare Reform Bill was both landmark and historic. Kudos to President Obama. He’s accomplished in one year what his predecessors have failed to do for the past 75. His recent efforts to undergird HBCUs should also to be lauded.

But at no time can I praise any president if there isn’t also room for informed critique…and criticism if need be.

The Gay and Lesbian community will criticize President Obama if he fails to deliver on his promise to redress Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell…and well they should. The Latino community will criticize the president if he fails to deliver on comprehensive immigration reform…and well they should.

So it should go without saying Mo’Kelly reserves the right to heap both praise and criticism if President Obama falls short. In this fantasy voyage to a “post-racial” society, where color supposedly does not matter, it only makes sense to apply critical analysis of the presidency of Barack Obama in the same way Mo’Kelly critiqued that of Presidents Bush (H.W. and W.) and Clinton.

And for those of my fellow African-Americans who are of the opinion that critique and/or criticism of the 44^th president has no place in the public discourse, may I show you to your room. This discussion is for grown folks…act like it or tuck your own self in for the night.

[Stay tuned...the new mrmokelly.com website is coming to you in 2010.  Set your browsers now.]

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Los Angeles – December 3, 2009 – Tavis Smiley and PBS will expand their relationship in 2010 with the January premiere of THE TAVIS SMILEY REPORT, a series of four hour-long primetime specials that will air throughout 2010. Smiley will leave his studio chair in Los Angeles and go on the road to examine some of the country’s defining moments through those who have helped to shape history — from going behind the scenes with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the streets of New Orleans with director Jonathan Demme to mark Hurricane Katrina’s 5^th anniversary.

“The REPORT(s) will take a look at the country’s most important people and recent events, from perspectives that are rarely portrayed,” says host Tavis Smiley. “I will be talking to the people and traveling to the places that have transformed us as a nation, often in ways we don’t even realize.”

“For years, Tavis Smiley has explored topics by engaging his guests in thought-provoking discussions, and we’re eager to see him take his award-winning approach outside of the studio,” says John F. Wilson, PBS Senior Vice President and Chief TV Programming Executive. “These primetime specials allow Tavis to seek out the stories and individuals that are a driving force in today’s world.”

The first episode of THE TAVIS SMILEY REPORT, premiering Wednesday, January 27, 2010, at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on PBS, focuses on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as she completes her first year as America’s chief diplomat and looks ahead to the challenges of the next three years. Smiley has been granted exceptional access to Secretary Clinton and will accompany her on diplomatic missions abroad, to meetings on Capitol Hill and within the State Department itself to give the American public a candid and incisive view of the inner workings of U.S. diplomacy and international relations.

The second REPORT, premiering Wednesday, March 31, 2010, at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on PBS, will delve into one of Martin Luther King Jr.’s greatest speeches, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence, which Dr. King delivered on April 4, 1967, at Riverside Church in New York City. The speech, delivered exactly one-year prior to the date of his assassination, is considered pivotal but often under-appreciated. King challenged the morality of the Vietnam conflict and urged a national discussion about the role of America in the world. Smiley will examine the context of Dr. King’s words on liberty, responsibility and freedom against the backdrop of the fight for civil rights and an increasingly unpopular war, and examine the implications of his words today, particularly in light of President Obama’s decision to increase U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

For the third THE TAVIS SMILEY REPORT, Smiley will team with Academy Award®-winning director Jonathan Demme to revisit New Orleans on the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The REPORT will offer a uniquely personal look at the resilience of the citizens of the Ninth Ward through their efforts to rebuild their lives. Smiley will present a portrait of a city still reeling from the aftermath of the natural disaster and the political neglect that followed, and explore the lessons to be learned from post-Katrina New Orleans.

The topic of the fourth REPORT will be announced later in 2010.

THE TAVIS SMILEY REPORT is produced for PBS by The Smiley Group, Inc. /TS Media, Inc. and KCET Los Angeles. Executive producer is Jacoba Atlas. Funding provided by Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS and Public Television Viewers.

The Divine Nine BGLOs

UPDATE 7.30.09: NEW Discussion Piece – Freedom of Speech in the BGLOs, but with Omega Psi Phi in the center of the discussion.  Click HERE

_________________

Let Mo’Kelly say right off the top…this is NOT going to be a popular piece.  But Mo’Kelly never writes according to what might be “popular” only what needs to be said.  Let the hate-mail flow, but this needs to be said.

By now you’ve heard the news that historically Black fraternity Phi Beta Sigma has had a slew of high-profile honorary members inducted into the fraternity.

President Bill Clinton, Rev. Al Sharpton, Stevie Wonder, Martin Lawrence and other notables have been ushered into the ranks of the Phi Beta Sigma brotherhood.  All obvious jokes aside, the continuing discussion surrounding the complex and arguably controversial nature of honorary/celebrity “members” is part in parcel of the larger debate about the contemporary relevance of historically Black Greek-Letter Organizations (BGLOs).

There is a common blood line which runs through all of the “Divine Nine” BGLOs. All of their respective roots, traceable back to a time and place in which African-Americans could neither attend the same schools nor join the same collegiate organizations as Whites.  Their “need” and relevance were inarguable at the turn of the 20^th century and their direct impact on American history is unparalleled.  Most of the civil rights leaders and Black historical figures we know and celebrate today are/were members of these organizations.

In many ways, America “is,” because BGLOs “are.”

BGLO members are/were our teachers, our pastors, our soldiers, our mothers, our caregivers our doctors, lawyers et. al.  You likely can not meet anyone who hasn’t been positively influenced by a member of a BGLO.  It’s just not possible.

Yet somehow, some way, somewhere…the world of BGLOs was turned upside down on its way to the 21^st century.  There used to be a time in which the organizations developed future leaders and way-makers, their future success and achievements serving as a perpetual advertisement of their importance and influence.  In 2009, it is standard operating procedure for many of the organizations to simply seek out the already successful, already famous and of course considerably wealthy in the hopes of pinning their respective letters on them.

In lay vernacular, it’s become ass backwards.

There used to be a time in which the bond of brotherhood and sisterhood would have bound all members together, irrespective of era.  The rivalries between the organizations were intense but invariably respectful.  Yet ever since 1990 when most of the organizations first abolished officially sanctioned pledge programs, the strength of brotherhood and sisterhood largely devolved into “pledged vs. intake,” “real/made vs. paper,” “undergrad vs. graduate (initiated)”  The inter-organization rivalries were then supplanted by the intra-organizational elitism.  If there was one seminal moment in which we can point to the organizations having begun losing their collective way…it was in 1989 with the death of Morehouse student and Sphinxman (Alpha Phi Alpha pledge) Joel Harris.  The National Pan-Hellenic Council (the collective governing body for the BGLOs) abolished pledging across the board in response in 1990.

Of course, something needed to be done to address the spiraling costs of lawsuits and the financial havoc they wrought.  To some, the complete eradication of sanctioned pledging was an overreaction and knee-jerk response.  Unfortunately though, it signaled a separation and segregation arguably little different than the Jim Crow segregation which the most prominent members of the civil rights era fought against.  It’s doubtful that there was any more compelling example of the BGLOs earning the “elitist” criticism.  The same classism they collectively fought against; had in effect become the norm and status quo.  “Separate but equal” moved out of the deep south and into the Black supposed aristocracy.

In lay vernacular, it became ass backwards.

In the 21^st century, honorary members have become both the norm and for many the notoriously ridiculous for BGLOs.  If you are a famous singer, actor, politician or just a regular business person with ungodly amounts of money…it is quite likely that your name has been submitted for induction into one or more of the Divine Nine.  Gone were the days of the individual first seeking this fraternity or that sorority.  Gone were the days of the fledgling youth hitching his/her wagon to the star of the sorority or fraternity, hoping one day to become one of the “greats” listed in the annals of its history.  The 21^st century is the age in which the organizations have “sold out,” trading in their legacies to ride the coattails of the rich and famous.

The organizations want big names, big checks and instant status upgrades, calling into question where our collective priorities lie.

Yes, “our” collective priorities.…even my fraternity, Omega Psi Phi.

This isn’t a critique of any particular organization, but the recent high-profile inductions by Phi Beta Sigma fraternity offer the

"Blu Phi" Terrence Howard

perfect entry point into the discussion of the direction of the nine members of the National Pan-Hellenic Council.  All of our organizations are intertwined, and the future of one invariably affects all, as history has shown us.

The college sophomore with a 2.5 GPA with his heart set on Phi Beta Sigma and dreams of changing the world dancing in his head may not be selected for induction into the fraternity, but the actor Terrence Howard who attended the Pratt Institute (an art school), zero notable contributions to society and a questionable disposition towards women is freely given membership?  Martin Lawrence who has never seen the inside of a college classroom as a student is the

"Skee Wee" Alicia Keys

educational example Phi Beta Sigma fraternity wants young African-American men to emulate?  Alpha Kappa Alpha is somehow elevated by inducting Alicia Keys who dropped out of Columbia to pursue to her music career?

Really?  Honestly?

That’s ass backwards and it sends a troubling message, one that’s loud and clear.  Young people hear very well and recognize hypocrisy in all of its forms.

Beyond the manner in which members are chosen, selected or “pledged;” there has been a sliding scale in terms of the leadership.  It is illogical to think a person, the likes of vulgar comedienne Sheryl Underwood would have ever

Sheryl Underwood

become the face and voice of Zeta Phi Beta sorority twenty or more years ago.  It would have been simply unacceptable and surely the organization wouldn’t have sent out a press release “celebrating” her election.  Zeta would have had the good sense and home training to be too embarrassed to do so.  “Finer womanhood” and “Sheryl Underwood” simply could not and would not co-exist in the public space in previous generations.

If the 80s were the age of the hazing lawsuit, then the first decade of the 21^st century will undoubtedly be remembered as the age of embezzlement.  Although Zeta Phi Beta and Alpha Kappa Alpha sororities have most recently publicly battled its own leadership with lawsuits alleging all types of financial malfeasance and mismanagement, the same types of issues are bubbling under with most if not all of the other seven.

All…yes, all.  YOUR BLGO too.  Mine, yours, errrbody’s.

The argument can be made that as we collectively move further and further away from the principles of brotherhood and sisterhood and closer to big business, these are the inevitabilities.  The deficiencies in our brotherhood and sisterhood quotients have borne themselves out from the top down.

On the undergraduate level you hear more and more how it becomes harder for the lay person to distinguish the fraternities from the gangs, for often times the behavior is just that, indistinguishable.  Having nothing to do with our “hand signs,” the stepshow altercations between organizations have increasingly become the rule, not the exception.  Maybe the caliber of membership has decreased relative to the sheer numbers of African-Americans in college, which have also dropped.  Maybe the talent pool is just too shallow or maybe…just maybe, our organizations have become too shallow in and of themselves.  I will say without a doubt that there is a measurable and despicable criminal element within my very own Omega Psi Phi; an element in direct contradiction

Founders of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity

to everything my founders Oscar James Cooper, Frank Coleman, Edgar Amos Love and Dr. Ernest Everett Just championed.

Yup, I said it and I meant it.

It’s not the popular thing to say, but it needed to be said.

To be clear, there are many chapters of many BGLOs which are doing wonderful work in the community and around the country.  To allege otherwise would be simply untrue.  At the same time, there seems to be a growing trend of community inactivity.  This may be a function of the multi-cultural evolution of this country and the changing landscape of universities.

The all/majority Black Greek-letter organization doesn’t necessarily hold the same appeal to a college freshman in 2009 that it did in 1989 or even 1969.  Kids can “step” in high school (which aggravates Mo’Kelly to no end).  They don’t need to go to college and definitely don’t need to join an organization to reach the dangling carrot of stepping anymore.  Membership used to have its privileges, now people can get the privileges without the “inconvenience” of membership.  For instance…

http://www.highschoolstepshow.com/

Not only that, the big business of college athletics has also short-circuited the recruitment of members on the undergraduate level as many prized college athletes are forbidden from joining BGLOs.

President Clinton

It’s not lost on Mo’Kelly the need for our organizations to evolve as business entities.  But the foundations in which we all are built have noticeable cracks.  The solution is though NOT found in President Bill or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, First Lady Michelle Obama or whoever is the next unaffiliated star comedian or actress.  The solution is simply going back to the original intentions of our respective founders and highlighting educational and community service achievement, not fame and celebrity.

What does it say when in the latest round of Phi Beta Sigma honorary inductees, only the White man above has a degree from an accredited 4-year college or university?  Just ‘what’ does it say is being ‘honored’ with these ‘honorary’ inductions?

It says, it won’t be long before all of us are irrelevant and then extinct.