When Bush Says Democracy, I Often Wonder

What This Country Needs Is More Unemployed Politicians.

We Have Inherited A Fear Of Memories Of Slavery. It Is As If To Remember And Acknowledge Slavery Would Amount To Our Being Consumed By It. As A Matter Of Fact, In The Popular Black Imagination, It Is Easier For Us To Construct Ourselves As Children Of Africa, As The Sons And Daughters Of Kings And Queens, And Thereby Ignore The Middle Passage And Centuries Of Enforced Servitude In The Americas. Although Some Of Us Might Indeed Be The Descendants Of African Royalty, Most Of Us Are Probably Descendants Of Their Subjects, The Daughters And Sons Of African Peasants Or Workers.

Now, If We Look At The Way In Which The Labor Movement Itself Has Evolved Over The Last Couple Of Decades, We See Increasing Numbers Of Black People Who Are In The Leadership Of The Labor Movement And This Is True Today.

Walls Turned Sideways Are Bridges.

The Work Of The Political Activist Inevitably Involves A Certain Tension Between The Requirement That Position Be Taken On Current Issues As They Arise And The Desire That One's Contributions Will Somehow Survive The Ravages Of Time.