NPR Tell Me More Analyzes The Alpha Donkey Fight Between Tom Joyner And Smiley-West

Note - the discussion about the fight between Progressives Tom Joyner vs Smiley-West starts at the 7:55 mark in the audio above.

I should have you note that I listened to this audio segment 5 times. The last few times to capture the key points in the argument. The final time I read the transcript for placement in the grid below. This was one of the most important discussions in the history of "Tell Me More".  I have added an "analysis of the analysis" column to expand the vision beyond what "Tell Me More" talked about.  I hope that this will allow them to speak about more of the racial issues in 2012 that were tucked under the table OR made into indictments against White people as the media assumed that the Black vote doesn't suffer from the same racially based provocations.

This is probably the best line up of Barbershop panelists collected together.  Instead of acting out like blatant ideologues (cough, cough Zirin ) they all did an excellent job in focusing on the issue at hand and cutting it down to the essentials.

Over all - I give most credit to Lester Spence and Ruben Navarrette. They "stuck it" with respect to their analysis of the agenda that is at play between these former friends. As I listened to their arguments I was satisfied that they hit all of the markers that I had in my mind for which a comprehensive analysis of this dust up between these heavy influencers in the Black "American Political Domain" and the Black "Community Consciousness Domain".


The first column contains clips of the "Tell Me More" transcript
The second column contains my interpretation of the comments
The third column contains an expanded view that goes beyond the framework to which they limited themselves to.


These two pictures provide the best summary of the debate at hand.
The Smiley-Joyner-West Black Messaging behemoth enjoyed unchallenged "authority" prior to Obama coming on the scene.   When Obama came around every Black "organization" had to decide:

• We are going to fold our efforts into our "Permanent Interests" of Defending Obama at all costs because an unsuccessful Black President is a negative for all Black people
• We are going to RETAIN our "Black Community Consciousness".  Though Obama is a favorable Progressive Democrat from the Black Community - his office is OUTSIDE OF the Black Community.  We must develop a transparent set of PROGRESSIVE measurements to hold him accountable to.

In the context of their way of thinking both of these strategies are correct.  In either case it is Progressivism that wins.  The Black community?   Nothing assured.

Tom Joyner's disposition has Black people as agents of Obama (like the "Obama Fist Bump Black Press" is presently doing).  The deliverable in this scheme is that "we" feel engaged.  Fighting against Republicans IS "Black Progress".  As long as we don't make any absolute judgments about what we have gained - the thrill of the fight should suffice.  Obama's reelection will be enough to make us happy and wipe away concern for th stubborn Black unemployment numbers and anemic education reforms.

The Smiley-West doctrine dared to set up some terms by which Black Progressives would assist Obama.  Beyond being Obama's press agents they had specific progressive public policy initiatives that they wanted delivered as a quid pro quo.  If Obama negotiated too rightward - they would let him have it.

The "Constructive Feedback" position is to ask - "When do we put PROGRESISVISM itself on trial, to confirm that it is the proper tool at this time WITHIN the Black Community?   With so much government oriented redistributive policies - which more organic scaffolding for uplift has been neglected?"    In short Obama is a vehicle for the Progressives.  He stands today at the pinnacle of the struggle which Bayard Rustin gave voice to.  It is myopic to judge Obama by his successes and failures alone (domestically).  We are at the point where reasonable people can ask - "After erecting a machine that built up power from the streets of the Black community - through city hall, the county complex, outward to the state house and now up to Capitol Hill and the White House - did this machine EFFECTIVELY transform the Black Community as was promised?  OR is our continued STRUGGLE mere proof that STRUGGLE and the tenuous UNITY that it brings to our people is the only benefit as we are given a quasi-mission?

The fact that the "Black Struggle Motion" today is 100% political - it is the Democratic Party and the Progressive body of though and public policy that are the clear winners.   At the sight of a eroded set of row homes on a street with Black people and an education conveyor belt that has rusted to a stand still the Progressive is given a new opportunity to struggle for a fix - rather than anyone thinking to inquire about the maintenance records on the infrastructure to see if lubricating oil, roofing tar and caulk had been applied over time to prevent this present state.  The main criticism that I have with the "Tell Me More" analysis is that they never rise up out of the rut of assumptions as to the pathway that the Black community needs to follow - with reference to the new Black Leaders who are ALL political creations now.

Before Obama - This Was The "Black Power" Movement.   It was shown on C-SPAN each year. The Black Progressive viewpoint was communicated without challenge.

When Obama assumed office in the "American Political Domain" he eclipsed the star that had cast light upon Black America. Most of the satellites chose to go with the celestial body that had the greatest gravitational pull

Statement	"Tell Me More" Analysis	"Constructive Feedback" Analysis of the Analysis
MARTIN: Did you hear what Tom Joyner said? And he was very tough. He wrote a very tough column on Black America Web saying that he feels that Tavis Smiley,........... that their continued criticism of President Obama has created a context that encourages others to be disrespectful of the president by make - and he says created an environment where those kinds of vulgar comments can be made.	Tom Joyner believes that the Black Press has a vested interest in maintaining and policing the commentary said about THIS president.  Continued criticism of THIS president serves as a green light for others to disrespect him. When Cornel West said Obama was a black face to the Corporate Oligarchy - Tom Joyner was more inclined to look at the "offense" in the characterization than he had any intention of pondering the underlying truth of the indictment.	I have said several times that the BEST TIME to show "Respect For The Stripes" is to compel your friends to show such respect when an ideological adversary is wearing them.    We need to see this for what it is.  Both Joyner and Roland "Thurgood" Martin only have interest in erecting a Protection Racket for Obama (I just violated Martin's rules where he is to be referred to as "President Barack Obama"). I am not naive to believe that EITHER side is going to maintain a "slight free zone" of the opposition president.  We must see this for what it really is.   Obama is a: Black Progressive Democrat We need to recall Tom Joyner asking Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore - "WHEN are we going to get a BLACK MAN on the Supreme Court"? I have no doubt that Al Gore was taken aback about this comment just as Snarling Fox Ed Schultz was surprised that West and Sharpton engaged in open debate when Schulz hosted "The Black Progressive Agenda" show on MSNBC - the "Un-Fox Biased Biased Network". Tom Joyner has no intention of defining a UNIVERSALS standard of respect - especially for people with a common race to his own but fail him because they are not Progressive-Fundamentalists. The primary DISRESPECTER knows DISRESPECT of a Protected Person of his own when he sees it.
NAVARRETTE: Well, first of all, as a light note, let me say it says something that you have a white guy like Mark Halperin out there say comment and then the guys who catch the blame are two black guys.	Navarrette pointed out the irony in which a White guy made an insult upon "the Black President" but the larger set of fireworks were seen in the intramural fight between Joyner and Smiley-West	There are two points here. Mark Halperin was treated as an INDIVIDUAL and thus suspected by MSNBC for his indiscretions BECAUSE he is not a White Conservative Man.   If Halperin was a noted Republican with Tea Party affiliation you had better believe that this would have been analyzed in the context of the underlying RACISM that motivates White Conservatives to spew hatred against President Obama - the Black guy.  As if it wasn't noted before - the RACIAL INDICTMENT today needs a POLITICAL "gotcha" before it is given legs.   This cheapens the claims that Black people can make when such selectivity is seen. In fact the "Larger Indictment" beyond the individual transaction made by Halperin is what Tom Joyner picked up on as he attacked Smiley-West.  Instead of going "outside" against a White Conservative, Joyner was seen going "Inside" among his circle of Progressives and attacking those who have parted ways with him over the issue of how to engage Obama.
NAVARRETTE: We had the privilege of sitting in and participating in the Howard debate, the Democratic candidates running for president. And at the end of that debate I remember seeing in a very natural moment that Barack Obama go over and giving Tavis Smiley a hug, you know, and it was just no big deal. They had a good relationship at that point.	Joyner, Smiley, West and Dyson had a "good relationship" because they were united in their purpose - "Get A Favorable Black Progressive elected as President Of The United States".	This is not the time for Mr Navarrette to make note of what we have in front of us.  None of these men could be called "journalists" - those who sit in front of the microphone and read the news as straight as possible. The fact that we see the king pins of "Black Commentary" - (add talkshow/ opinion writers Steve Harvey, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Warren Ballentine, Dr Boyce Watkins and Bev Smith to the mix) all converging upon the mission to elect this Democratic Progressive, SELLING to the Black Community the "Mission Accomplished State" that this will put us in - should provide a hint to everyone as to how well criticism of Obama will be taken by this cabal.  (EVEN IF it is ostensibly PROGRESSIVE criticism used against the past non-Progressive President) No one on the "Tell Me More" panel would think to look at O'Reilly, Hannity, Beck, Limbaugh, Boortz and see that as White Conservative Republicans in the media their slanted commentary against Bush and for McCain at the time was EQUAL TO that which the Black Obama operatives had conducted.  Instead they were called RACISTS
NAVARRETTE: ...............I think has a lot to do with what happens when you elect a black president. .................Because when you elect a black president you have a split develop between folks who think in the black intelligentsia that they should criticize the black president when appropriate, and those who say no, you ought not. And so we have seen these eruptions of Al Sharpton versus Tavis Smiley, Al Sharpton versus Cornel West, you know, back and forth and I think everybody means well.	Navarrette is bringing for the reality of racial loyalties.  The inclination to "protect your own".	Again two points that Navarrette fails to acknowledge. When it comes to "racial protectionism" what is seen as RACIST when done by the White majority - the news media joining in synch to nullify the effects by calling out those who traffic in this behavior is accept as standard fare when racial minorities (Protected Classes) engage in the same thing.  That which today is blow off as a rational necessary for minorities will some day soon need to be recalibrate as we become a nation without a majority people.  Wouldn't this be a good time for the Progressive press to enforce the rules that are going to be needed in our diversified future?  Instead they all know that the "Protected Classes" mostly vote for the Democrats so, in this case, bigotry has a benefit to their interests. Navarrette assumes that these operatives have the Black Community's best interests in mind.  I DO NOT!!   They are running a conjunctional reference.  They INTENT to produce quality outcomes within the Black community.  The gateway to achieve this is PROGRESSIVISM via the Democratic Party.  Thus all of their actions are set up on getting Progressive Democrats elected into power.  With all of the Black media voices fixated on this end - NONE OF THEM are inclined to do an accounting on the ultimate EFFECTIVENESS of the scheme.   In doing so a "New York Times Reporter" would have to investigate "The New York Times" for corruption and malfeasance.  Since this is unlikely - we cannot conclude that Joyner, Smiley and others are operating out of the "Best Interests of The Black Community".   This would be more evidently the case IF - upon seeing FAILURE in the strategy one of them chose to go against the entire strategy.  Instead what we see is a TACTICAL disagreement among fellow progressives.  Both of them are seeking Progressive, Redistributionist policies in which the Black community is hoped to be made whole one day when that last piece of legislation passed brings us "Social Justice".  We are not allowed to demand earnest money through intermediate check points on our progressive tour.
NAVARRETTE: as Tavis has put it, do we give this black president a pass on black issues and say okay, we're not happy with what you've done for the unemployment rate for black youths; the unemployment rate in the black community period; the distribution of funds, you're bailing out Wall Street but not, you know, Main Street neighborhoods? Do we just sort of keep quiet about all that and wait until his presidency is done and then bring those issues up again? Tavis' point is if we're going to have any kind of moral legitimacy? Is anybody going to listen to us the next time around when we go raise heck when there's a white president there? And I think it's a very valid point	Navarrette basically argues that Tavis Smiley is seeking to erect a more transparent reference for Obama to be held to - just like all other presidents before him.   Smiley realizes that to give Obama a pass today would undercut the credibility of future criticism of another president.	Again Navarrette fails to mention that Tavis Smiley's measurements of Obama are done with a PROGRESSIVE measuring stick.   The irony of the entire debate is that Prof West used PROGRESSIVISM to judge Obama and the "Obama Fist Bump Black Press" operatives chose to look at the indignant nature of his deliver rather than the fidelity of his criticism with the PROGRESSIVE orthodoxy. My take is quite the reverse of Navarrette's.  When it came time to hold Obama up to Progressive Standards - we all saw that the "Progressive INDICTMENTS" are best used against an ENEMY President.  I thus conclude that Progressivism is indeed more interested in INDICTMENTS as a means of obtaining political leverage than they are in calling out Obama over the bombing of Libya, for example, and thus weakening his standing. The progressive talking point that "Obama has not yet stood up to Non-Progressives INTERESTS in the government" must be taken apart as well.  They assume that he was a squeeky clean vessel, going into the White House to clean it up.  In truth he said what he needed to say to his Progressive-Fundamentalist base to get ELECTED.   Since they don't sit in the chair of the President - he is forced to deal with reality more than they are. During the first year of the Obama Presidency he was able to garner cheers from his base of Progressive-Fundamentalists by undoing Bush Policies, triggering them to thumb their noses at Republicans.  When the core matters came about and there was no more undoing of Bush to counter the criticism - his Progressive-Fundamentalist base grew distraught.   Is it possible that Obama didn't go for total Universal Health Care BECAUSE he knew that there was some fiscal improbabilities associated with it?  Now that European nations are needing to cut their systems AND some of Obama's new health care spending appears to be on the negotiating table for our "Debt Ceiling" debate - maybe it was his progressive-fundamentalist base that is not in tune with the realities, more than it was Obama who has "sold out"?
SPENCE: And he controls a large segment of that black morning media audience. What we have is an instance of kind of a black media mogul stifling black speech, right. The black unemployment rate for youths like 16 to 19, I think it's around 40 percent. The black unemployment rate in general is probably around 18 to 20 percent. So there's aspects of Tavis' and Dr. West's criticisms that are personal. But we should be erring on the side of giving more speech rather than erring on the side of stifling,	Spence notes that Black people are rightfully concerned that the present 16.2% Black unemployment rate has not been sufficiently addressed by Obama.  He suggested that beyond the personal nature of Prof West's criticisms - they were substantively correct.	Once again - my push back is in regards to the amazing lack of time horizon that those who analyze the present situation are willing to place on the table. The "genocidal" rates of Black Male unemployment rates in some cities comes decades after the political take over of all of the key institutions in these places.  Certain economic, tax, industrial, academic, and social POLICIES were adopted and enforced in these places - all with the INTENTION of lifting Black people up to a higher level.  We dutifully exchanged our "Equal Black Ballots" and fused our"Community Consciousness" in with this political struggle to build the machine that is presently in place. The 16.2% Black unemployment rate - if we were honest - would be used as a means of appraising - NOT ONLY Obama's effectiveness but the general effectiveness of the machine that has been erected over the past 50 years.  They compelled Black people to vote for them so that this day would one day come.  The direct method was the election of favorable people.  The benefit was more economic power for Black people. When you hear Black Progressive-Fundamentalist assess Obama's efforts to deliver on jobs you will always hear: Where are the job bills from the House Republicans? Here are the blocked legislation for jobs creation put forth by Obama The stimulus package was too small and had too many tax cuts (Note - as I listened to President Clinton last night on C-SPAN he bragged about the fact that the stimulus tax cuts gave money to mostly WORKING PEOPLE.  I notice that when some people want to make an indictment against tax cuts - they leave off the details about the recipients so that the unwitting think that the rich got the money) The notion that government spending creates jobs for the long run is specious.  As they look for something to grab on to that explains away the lack of traction - the first thing that the Progressive-Fundamentalist does is to do what MSNBC's Rachel Maddow does so well - "Look at the underwear of the Conservative enemy". For me as an analyst of "What Makes The Black Community Tick Politically" the most obvious sign of the non-serious order of the ring leaders is that they lack any real intention of producing CORRECTIVE POLICIES in which they do analysis of why they fell short and the Black community suffered.  Instead - having been sold on the notion that the progressive glue and duct tape is the cure for everything - they look for the evidence where PROGRESSIVISM has been up-ended and thus never allowed to work. I fear that this is an ideology of intolerance and world domination.  When there is no one left to disagree with their dogma then their victory is had because its was only a matter of maximizing complicity where people are made to be silent about their aggrieved state. We can not have a discussion about Black Unemployment under Obama at 16.2% without also discussing the erosion of economics in Detroit, Philly, Chicago, Newark, etc. The two go hand in hand.   "We WON at what the Black Racial Services Machine had put us up to but we LOST where it counts"
What about somebody who's interested in being on the Tom Joyner show, right? What about somebody who is interested in being on a host of other shows in which comments like that have been made, either in public or in private? Just the message itself is wrong. IZRAEL: You know what this is? Tom Joyner wants to control the narrative, period. He imagines himself as kind of the king of all blacks, you know, and...	I have to give Brother Spence credit for this "big picture" view. Indeed it stands to reason that an outward political bigot like Tom Joyner who doggedly attacks his PROGRESSIVE friends as they fall out over refusing to carry Obama's water (and ultimately the Democratic Party's water) would be any more tolerant in hosting someone who was not a Democrat or a Progressive.	I believe that my previous attempts to separate the Black Interests into: The American Political Domain The Community Cultural Consciousness & Competency Development Domain .....gets to the root of the threat that Tom Joyner poses to our interests. Joyner operates like a gatekeeper - a filter on that which is "Authentically Black". Mind you this is NOT necessarily based on its EFFECTIVENESS at addressing our problems.  It is only ultimately based on POPULARITY. With Tom Joyner and the "Obama Fist Bump Black Press" at the helm - Obama cannot FAIL the Black community.  It is only possible that his SUCCESS has not yet been allowed to transpire, past the Republican opposition to all that he hopes to do. It is the BLACK COMMUNITY INTERESTS that get squandered - regardless of the CONGREGATIONAL COMPLICITY that accepts the continued leadership of those who have misappropriated our ballots and our hopes.  Is it not hard to see that "This is STILL a RACIST NATION" is the next phrase said in the attempts at consolation? For operative groups like "The Color Of Change" i is more important to turn off the lights of Glenn Beck for his supposed "racism" than they have any intention what so ever to being to inspect the "Black Quasi-Socialist Progressive-Fundamentalist Racism Chaser" forces in the media that have far, far, far more power and influence over Black people and thus are a key element in the suppressive force of USURPATION of the Black Conscious Attention Span that keeps us in our present condition. But then too one one have to accept the premise that Color Of Change is working to advance the Black Community interests.  They are working to promote "Progressive Interests In Black Face".
IZRAEL: I mean Michel, you and I both sat on the panel with him and it was clear that he really imagines himself as the conscience of all black people everywhere. And it's like it's like man, guess what? It's like look, you know, you're out their airing your personal beef and it's one thing. You know, because there is a fine tradition of beef between black intellectuals. You had the boys of Washington, you had Malcolm X. and MLK.	Izrael makes the case that this is but another example of Black public voices doing battle with each other.  They have more tactical disagreements than they did with the fundamental end game of lifting up Black people.	The model that Izrael has pointed out is correct.  However - I don't believe that he understands that these past greatest did not exist in a world where the BLACK STRUGGLE MOTION was FUSED WITH THE POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF AMERICA.  It as an EXTERNAL FORCE, seeking to have the elephant and the donkey to stop trampling over Black people. Today Commander In Chief Obama stands in the control room.  Today's "Negroes" are fighting over if they should "Speak Truth To Power" or if this type of speech will cause too much harm to the POWER through which they seek to advance their progressive agenda? IF one of the panelists had brought up LIBYA this would have proved my point. Where is Progressive Political Preacher Rev Al Sharpton and Tom Joyner on this act of American imperialism against a sovereign nation - in AFRICA to top it off? The side battle between Minister Louis Farrakhan and "Obama Fist Bump Black Press" operative Dr Earl Ofari Hutchinson merely shows another front on the battle to defend Commander In Chief Obama when he does the "indefensible" FOR NO OTHER REASON than each of these operatives has some greater purpose in having Obama walk unscathed.  In their grand CONFIDENCE GAME - the Black Community is asked to be silent - looking at the big picture. What is amazing to me is that P.P.P. Rev Al Sharpton is allowed to operate under the mantle of Dr King, incarnate, yet he gets King so wrong - without anyone calling him on it. When King saw then President Johnson waging unjust war - his priorities said that this was a greater moral imperative than was "The Great Society".   King was put on the outs as a result. When Sharpton, the boy King was faced with severing his access to the White House linen which does not chafe his skin OR "Speaking Truth To Power" he made a rather insightful observation: THOUGH BLACK PEOPLE HOLD UP KING AS AN ICON.......THE MAJORITY DID NOT AGREE WITH HIS STANCE AT THE END......and thus Sharpton "Played The Dozens" and today he drops all pretense of Moral Outrage Over The US Military Actions With 3 African Colonizers for it might also cost him his guest hosting assignment on MSNBC's "The Ed Show".
IFTIKHAR: From the 30,000 foot altitude, you know, I just think that Joyner missed the mark. You know, I think what he was saying that, you know, Tavis and Cornel have somehow enabled people like Mark Halperin and others to make these disparaging comments about President Obama. I would actually say that that happened long before. I mean, you know, you had the whispers of him being a crypto Muslim Manchurian candidate, the whole terrorist fist jab thing, you know, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, you know, they didn't...	Iftikhar merely acknowledges that there were people saying disparaging remarks against Obama long before Halperin did.	Iftikhar is the most intransigent liberal on the panel.  This is the case each week he appears. His ultimate goal is to find the "Conservative Sinner" who has done the same thing that the present liberal who is under indictment has done.  After notifying the others of this violation - he believes that he has substantiated his argument. Rarely does Iftikhar express evidence of his ability to justify his positions on their own merit - with regard to a larger absolute truth that he is compelled by. If the seat of the US President flips back into enemy hands in 2012 or 2016 - the phrase "Mr President Shut The Hell Up" will be retired as a non-issue on Mr Iftikhar's radar screen of skulduggery worthy of attention.
NAVARRETTE: ...and make it seem like somehow that these guys empowered Halperin. But Arsalan's right. These people don't need empowerment and they certainly don't need empowerment from these two gentlemen over here.	Navarrette dismisses Tom Joyner's claim about the connection	Despite the dismissal Navarrette fails to make note of the irony posed by Tom Joyner. The twin sister of political slander is the PROTECTION RACKET that Tom Joyner and the rest of the "Obama Fist Bum Black Press" is executing.  The references made by the Black Rank & File to Joyner's interpretation of Obama as they seek understanding of the world around them is impacted to a larger extent than anything that Halperin could ever say.  Just as the operatives in the Black Press consume the RSS feeds from  Media Matters for shows that few Black people tune into (Limbaugh, Beck) THEY ARE all made up of the same DNA as Tom Joyner in presenting the prevailing messages that Black people consume but which Media Matters does not find offensive. For the panel to fail to see that ALL OF THIS is merely an instantiation of the "Malcolm X Political Football Game" and that now, through the advances from Integration - Black people are now starters on the field - this is a great miss by the panel.
NAVARRETTE: He says in this letter that Tavis is out there selling books. Nobody is buying Tom Joyner's books.	A battle over who has the widest reach.	Mr Navarrette attempts to make a DISTINCTION where THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE. Both Tavis Smiley and Tom Joyner are firmly entrenched on the Democratic-Left.  Their's is but a high order debate in Black America at a time when we no longer fear when the next lynching will take place.  In truth this is evidence that they have too much time on their hands. The battle on how to engage the Black President is certainly different than the engagement that DuBois and Trotter pondered as they made the strategic but fateful decision to support Wilson for President with the HOPES that such an outreach would cause him to be less of a White Supremacist, thinking that they could tap into his Progressive spirit.  Oh how wrong they were. I believe similarly that history will one day appraise the grand strategic mistakes of the Black Racial Services Machine.    Instead of folding our entire "community development struggle" into the American Political domain - they would have been more wise to understand which of these elements can be solved through politics but then fight doggedly to ensure that that which we must do on our own is never hijacked for inclusion in the American Political domain by the embedded confidence men with access to microphones, pens and HTLM5.

Closing Analysis


This entire fiasco that is transpiring at a time when the Black community was supposed to be basking in the sweet fruits in the orchard of "Mission Accomplished" can be whittled down to one simple conscept:

The Incompetence Of The Black Racial Services Machine To Develop And Execute A Comprehensive And Enduring Plan That Effectively Works To Propel Our People Forward WITHIN Having Us Become "OF" The American Institutions Which We Proclaim Are Fundamentally Racist And Not Created For Black Uplift In The First Place.

The very same people who can be heard stating the last portion of the above phrase on a CBS Radio owned broadcast outlet for all to hear are the same people who's guilt is identified in the forward part of the phrase. 

With Obama having been used as a symbol for the purposes of advancing the cause of the Democratic Party and Progressivism - when it came time for the progressive Black Racial Services Machine to actually collect upon its promised benefits - the American Political Domain (including Obama) was found to have used THEM just as much as they had used his imagery. 

The one thing that I want to place in the ear of the content producers of "Tell Me More" is that which I noted in 2008 as I walked my dog and struggled to listen to their radio broadcasts via streaming audio as it was in its infancy on mobile devices.  I recall the day that I heard Michelle Martin asking out lot if "WHITE PEOPLE were ready to put aside their racial provincialism and simply vote for the 'best person for the job'?".

As I pondered this question I also realized that the proper "anti-matter" response as it relates to Black people is not as simple at doing a "find and replace" of the question in a word processor. 

For Black people in our present condition the equal question to that which was asked above by Mrs Martin and a bevy of other players in the media is:

"When will BLACK PEOPLE, make an assessment of the forces that are bearing down upon our communities - providing upward thrust, drag, crosswinds and a fatal stall, and begin to make a more accurate measure of the wind sheer force known as RACISM so that the other forces of uplift and course control can be fortified to negate this force which is now of a known quantity?  It seems to me that as so much of the "American Political Domain" is fused with the "Black Community Consciousness Domain" - those who are intent on aggregating power and shifting culpability for the failures off to some other party which will be predictably accepted by the Black Rank & File - are the primary operatives who seek to bring the entire Black Community Development Struggle into the "American Political Domain.   So the REAL QUESTION IS - Who among the Black Press will stand up in 2012 and prevent the usurpation of the "Black Community Competency Development Agenda" into the "American Political Domain" where the HOPE for an Obama victory over the popular adversary of Black Progressives will be allowed to paper over the benign neglect that has been transpiring for far too long WITHIN the Black Community?    WHO is that visionary voice to maintain this separation of the Black Consciousness, as they respect our people so?"

Equality is not afforded by the system from which it is pursued. 
Equality is granted when a cluster of people have a good or service that is EQUALLY DESIRED by some other party and they are willing to make an equal trade for it.

For today's Black America - the "Equal Black Ballot" is that universal token of value.  Some want to receive it, others wish to suppress it.    The problem is that few people understand that since its VALUE comes from the government that enforces it - this cannot be considered an ORGANIC store of value from the Black Community.  Only our "Community Consciousness" and its ability to produce wealth meets this test.