01 May 2003 The Need for Regime Change in Black America, by Kevin Martin

“Regime change” in Iraq is now well underway. Because of the United States, Great Britain and the rest of the “Coalition of the Willing,” the Iraqis are free of the dictatorial rule of Saddam Hussein and able to construct a new representative government.

Earlier, dissidents of the Hussein leadership were jailed, beaten or killed. I hate to admit it, but there is a similar intolerance in black America, albeit the consequences are less physically severe.

In our communities, black conservatives who speak out against the leaders and policies pushed by liberals who claim to speak for all black Americans are often bullied, lambasted and even physically assaulted.

Like Iraq, we need regime change.

When I look at the blight in our urban communities, I know who’s at fault. It’s not conservatism or racism. Much like the Iraqi Baath Party, our so-called leaders have enriched themselves off our backs for years while blaming others for their failures.

When we look to Jesse Jackson, Julian Bond and members of the Congressional Black Caucus, do they see hope for our future? No! They are quick to complain about, but are short on answers to our problems.

I see these black “leaders” as modern-day Judases who have seemingly sold us out for the equivalent of the 30 pieces of silver that white liberals offer them in the form of donations and a little bit of power.

They try to play on our emotions. Much like their former counterparts in Iraq, they preach that we should hate America first. Take New Jersey poet laureate Amiri Baraka and his anti-Semitic poem “Somebody Blew Up America.” In it, he blames the U.S. and Israel for the World Trade Center attack. More recently, at Coppin State College in Baltimore, Baraka had the nerve to call National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice a “skeeza” (a derogatory street term meaning “prostitute”).

What crime did Dr. Rice commit to earn Baraka’s wrath? She is conservative and successful in her own right. She is the most powerful woman in the federal government. Baraka, on the other hand, plays to rooms of just over 100 people yet gets lots of media coverage as a spokesman for black opinion. Like his counterparts in Iraq, I don’t doubt Baraka would love to see Dr. Rice silenced and in a burka. I believe Baraka sees Dr. Rice’s success and her politics as a threat.

These black leaders bully and even physically assault those who disagree with them or question their motives. Several months ago, after Toyota announced that African-American community groups could bid on multi-million dollar contracts with the company (the outcome of a threatened boycott), Rainbow/PUSH head Jesse Jackson saw himself as the one who would decide who got them.

When Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson, the black conservative founder and president of the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny, openly challenged Jackson, he found himself surrounded by and was roughed up by Jackson’s associates. He has filed a lawsuit out against Jackson for assault.

The only difference between the treatment of Reverend Peterson and conditions in the former Iraq is that Jackson’s henchmen could not freely cut out his tongue.

How about education? In the African-American community, black leaders would rather keep our children in failing inner-city schools run by the government than give them a choice. Much like Iraqi civilians trying to escape the besieged city of Basra, black liberals take potshots at African-Americans who ask for school vouchers or similar aid to take their children out of failing schools. Meanwhile, Jesse Jackson and others send their children to private schools.

The people of Iraq are liberated from the oppressive rule of Saddam Hussein and his band of thugs. But I caution the Iraqis not to take their liberation lightly. Fight to keep it if you must.

And what about black conservatives infidels here like me? I can only hope for a similar uprising, but I continue to look for intellectual soldiers to help liberate us from the dictatorial and elitist liberal rulers who hold our community hostage.

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