I Speak For All Ya'll - Just So You Know

Oliver Willis points out that we don't see articles “Whites Conflicted On Bush Legacy,” and articles like "Blacks Conflicted About Supporting Appointee" have just as little space in journalism.

While it's true that these type of articles have no place. The same style of articles are written for ALL minorities. This would be resolved if more individuals spoke out against organizations or indivuals who speak for them. Sloppy, but understandable, journalism is what leads to these articles.

It's always been easier for minority groups to rely on organizations to do their politicking, ie. NAACP, HRC, La Raza. But by taking this tactic it's opened up individuals (for example, Bob Johnson and now Bobby Rush) to use the black community for their own gain.

Ta-Nehisi Coates has an excellent run down on "opportunistic pro-blackness:"

"This puts me in the mind of this article by Jonathan Chait on Bob Johnson. Johnson made a career out of agitating for greater representation of black people in the halls of big business--especially when he was the black person in question. Rush isn't Bob Johnson--not even close--but the technique of selective pro-blackness is the same:

As Johnson tells it, he asks only to be treated like any other entrepreneur, black or white. But he applies his disregard for race selectively. When he's asked to help the black community, he's just a businessman. On the other hand, when Johnson's own interests are at stake, he portrays himself as a stand-in for black America. Race is his catchall justification for all sorts of socially and economically noxious behavior. He has turned the racial mau-mau into a business plan.

As I said yesterday, it is amazing to me that just four years ago Rush wouldn't support either black candidate running for the Senate. But now in '08, it's a national embarrassment that we don't have a black person in the senate."

I think this pretty much covers it.
h/t: bjkeefe
----------------
Now playing: The Roots - It's Comin'