August 07, 2002
Alex Cockburn, Arbiter of Black Authenticity
Nation columnist Alex Cockburn, in a piece titled “First David (sic) Hilliard, now Cynthia McKinney,” swoons over some remarks made by outgoing Alabama congressman Earl Hilliard (D) in a tough interview by the Black Commentator:
There is class warfare in the Black community. In Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, in the areas of Birmingham where what we call the New Blacks live, those that work for corporate Alabama, those that live in subdivisions that are predominantly Black, Davis won just like he did in the white areas.Hello, Alex? Yes, hi, this is Greg Greene. Yeah — yeah, I’m another one of those black-in-skin-tone people. Hey, look, I just wanted to call to say mea maxima culpa about all that flinty attititude and independent thinking. You gotta admit that thinking for yourself gets really addictive, but I know how much it throws you off.BC: You refer to a ‘natural progression’ in Black politics that has been interrupted?
Hilliard: “That’s because it was natural—Blacks building on what the previous generation had added to the foundation. So when you look at the natural progression from Martin Luther King, you would think that you would get to [NAACP President and former Md. congressman Kweisi] Mfume, but we’ve been sidestepped. We’ve had a Clarence Thomas. We have a Colin Powell. We have [Atlanta Journal-Constitution opinion editor] Cynthia Tucker. We have all these other people whose ideals and views don’t sit on the foundation. It’s not building for the masses or building for the race. It’s building for self.
They are black in skin tone but, philosophically, they are not. So, whites understand them better than we do . . .
I understand how hard it can be to figure us out, especially when we keep, you know, thinking and raising ruckuses and disagreeing so bloody much. I mean, you and Ann Coulter basically agree, so why can’t black folks?
Well, there’ll be no more disputation from me — noooo, sirree. Alex, I’m gonna ease your mind — I’m gonna let you think for me. I’ll get myself out of “the Man’s pocket” and get into your pocket. You can show me the ropes — you can teach me the natural progression from Martin Luther King to Cynthia McKinney, how to shoot hoops and love Jesse Jackson, how to say “the man” and keep a straight face. Plus, you get to spell out what my fellow Alabamans — Condolezza Rice and Cynthia Tucker — and I have in common save skin tone, good looks and a firm conviction that Dreamland cooks the best barbecue around.
And maybe then you can help me figure out why you and Pat Buchanan don’t seem to think much alike. How am I supposed to know which one of you is philosophically white?
Anyhow, I’ll get started tonight on that book you sent me, The Collected Thoughts of Ear— sorry, I meant David Hilliard. The copy I got out of the mailbox didn’t have a single page inside, though. You sure that’s how it’s supposed to be . . . Alex? Alex? Are you there?
[Link courtesy of Mac Thomason.]
Posted by Greg Greene at August 7, 2002 12:29 PM | TrackBack