| " It's not merely a struggle against extremist behavior toward Negroes. And I'm convinced that many of the very people who supported us in the struggle in the South are not willing to go all the way now. I came to see this in a very difficult and painful way in Chicago. And I came to see that so many people who supported morally and even financially what we were doing in Birmingham and Selma, were really outraged against the extremist behavior of Bull Connor and Jim Clarke toward Negroes, rather than believing in genuine equality for Negroes. And I think this is what we've gotta see now, and this is what makes the struggle much more difficult." -- "The Other America," Martin L. King, Jr. April 14, 1967 For many Black Americans, the idea of a Cynthia McKinney running for president in 2008 is refreshing. McKinney operates on the 'edge.' In the tradition of struggle, for Black activists to operate on this edge is risky but it also acknowledges recognition that Black Americans have always lived on this edge and thus solidifies the connection between those who are leaders and activists and the people they represent. So there are many in the Black community from community leaders and activists to the poor and working class who would love to see McKinney run for president. McKinney's engagement with the Reconstruction Party of New Orleans (RPNO) could be a significant step toward the realization of a McKinney presidential ticket. According to Kali Akuno of RPNO, she is scheduled to speak with them at the end of the month regarding the "structuring" and "political" agenda of both the new grassroots Party and McKinney's campaign. RPNO includes an equal number of white and Black Green Party members, according to Akuno, "working to offer working class Blacks, working class people in general, and the poor an alternative to the two capitalist parties. There are many of us, as Akuno told me, who want to see McKinney run her campaign through the people -- with the Black, poor, and working-class, once again, at the core of this Movement. On the other hand, Malik Rahm, founder of the Commonground organization in New Orleans, told me he would support Cynthia McKinney if she ran for president with the Green Party, the Party he supports. Racism is everywhere, he said, but the Green Party is "global" and could allow "collaboration with Green Parties in Nigeria, for example." It is up to Blacks, Rahm said, "to make the Green Party what it could be." McKinney has a difficult decision to make. The Reconstruction Party and the Greens, particularly those Green Parties outside of New Orleans, also have to make some decisions, and hopefully not based on fear of "believing in genuine equality" for Black Americans. As Roland Sheppard writes in the "Assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X," King concluded in this speech ["The Other America"] that to deal with this problem of the Two Americas was much more difficult than to get rid of legal segregation." By the time he delivers this speech, Sheppard argues, King is talking about "the nightmare of the economic condition of Blacks" rather than the dream of integration. King, Dr. Cornel West explained, was an exemplary figure because "he consolidated the most progressive potential available in the Black churches, the skills of engaged Black preachers, trade-unionists and professionals, and the spirit of rebellion and resistance of the Black working poor and underclass ("The Paradox of the Afro-American Rebellion"). King, West concludes, was a "highly educated and informed thinker with organic links to ordinary folk." Many of us have witnessed, too, the courageous efforts of an educated, informer thinker with organic links to ordinary folks in McKinney. We want to support McKinney who spoke of being on the side of "the poor and the marginalized," and with those who are "sick and tired of greed being more important than human needs" ("Goodbye to All of That"). On the other hand, there are many Blacks sick and tired of seeing their efforts, their struggle co-opted by those who profit from the misery of Blacks and working class poor. It is acceptable for grassroots organizations in Latin America and Africa to become the darlings of liberal idealism. Yet, here in America, in the last 40 years, where racism is still alive and well, grassroots organizing and leadership by Black, poor and working class against inequality and injustice, against exploitation and commodification, and against war and war profiting is greatly feared. Collectively, we would like to say goodbye to all of that has transpired in the last forty years but for the scratching and clawing of others bucking for positions at "the top," settling for managing the Collapse. And the Earth is heating up, snow caps are melting and the waters are rising still. /For the many of us still struggling, Larry Pinkney writes, "we must remain steadfast, absolutely refusing to allow our hopes and yearnings for justice and real social, economic, and political equality and freedom to be forever kept from us ("We Beg Your Pardon America"). |
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| Voices/Dr. Jean Daniels McKinney and the Other America |