LEGAL ACTIVISTS OF COLOR
News, Events, Actions and Commentary on law and social justice. Welcome to the official blog of the United People of Color Caucus (TUPOCC) of the National Lawyers Guild.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Zionism, Manifest Destiny, and the stake of Black House Reps

Speaking of the woven projects of American Manifest Destiny and Israeli Zionism, the Black Agenda Report's Glen Ford takes note of where African Americans are situated in such obviously racist politics. Ford scrutinizes the roles played by Black Congressional Caucus members in the passing of a House resolution supporting Israeli's war in Gaza.
Glen Ford: Sullying Dr. King's Legacy
Could it be that Los Angeles Congresswoman Maxine Waters and Milwaukee's Gwen Moore are the only Black Caucus members who remember that Israel was racist South Africa's closest ally, the apartheid regime's hi-tech weapons quartermaster and godfather to its nuclear bomb project? Do the seven members that voted "present" - Donna Edwards (MD), Keith Ellison (MN), Hank Johnson (GA), Carolyn Kilpatrick (MI), Barbara Lee (CA), Donald Payne (NJ), Diane Watson (CA) - believe that by refusing to take a position on Israeli crimes against humanity in Gaza, they somehow salvage the Caucus's claim to be the "conscience of the Congress?"

Where has John Conyers' conscience disappeared to?

**** The Zionist ideology, and especially the chilling effect of Zionist power, is probably the second-greatest impediment to creation of a sustained American peace movement - the first obstacle being the ideology of American Manifest Destiny, which is in practice quite compatible with Zionism.

However, African Americans are least susceptible to the Manifest Destiny/Zionist Mythology combo. Both ideologies wreak of racism, and most Black people know it. The Congressional Black Caucus knows it, too, but they are terrified of offending Israel's innumerable political hit men.

Zionist power helped knock off two CBC members who refused to tow Tel Aviv's line, in 2002. Georgia's Cynthia McKinney and Alabama's Earl Hilliard found themselves heavily outspent and ultimately unseated by otherwise puny challengers in Democratic primary contests. AIPAC bragged of its ability to shut down independent-minded Black politicians who fail to understand that U.S. foreign policy is shaped by whatever is deemed good for Israel. Bullying works, especially against the meek. Except for Maxine Waters and Gwen Moore, the Congressional Black Caucus is out of the anti-war business.

That also goes for the Congressional Progressive Caucus which, with 71 members, claims to be the "single largest partisan caucus" in the U.S. House, but whose members voted overwhelmingly in support of Israeli barbarity. About two-thirds of the voting members of the Black Caucus also belong to the Progressive Caucus - meaning, they are members of two defunct organizations, and doubly useless to the cause of peace.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You're lawyers? Your an embarrassment. Lawyers are supposed to be fact-, statute-, and data driven. You sound like the worst form of right-wing rednecks. For shame.

A dispassionate look at the Palestinian-Israeli situation could lead to a nuanced advocacy that leans toward one side or the other, but an anti-intellectual, ad hominem article like this that descends to unsupported name calling of the worst kind: "racist" is an embarrassment to us all.

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