By Selwyn Duke
I heard recently that America's reverend without a congregation, Jesse Jackson, gave a speech in which he characterized conservatives as being like Pharisees, and liberals as being like Jesus and his followers. As you may know, the Pharisees were Jewish leaders of Biblical times who advocated strict adherence to Judaic law. They were scored repeatedly by Jesus, who called them hypocrites because their religiosity was so superficial -- they abided strictly by the letter of the law but knew nothing of the spirit. Now, while I would never trivialize Christ by attaching a worldly label like "liberal" or "conservative" to Him, I certainly beg to differ on what group is characteristically pharisaic in its philosophy. Be that as it may however, one thing is for certain: the Pharisees were saints as compared to Jesse Jackson.
Jesse Jackson is the energizer bunny of the species known as the sanctimonious, effete, self-aggrandizing, opportunistic, religious-left hypocrite: no matter how many scandals he's involved in, no matter how often or how badly he falls from grace, no matter how many people he hurts, he just keeps on going and going and going and going. And boy, does he go -- a busier little bunny there has never been. When he's not playing the Barbary pirate and shaking down weak-willed corporations like Toyota and Nascar for a type of tribute he euphemistically calls "donations," he's involved in keeping himself on the radar screen by stoking the fires of racial unrest, or cooking the books so as to make a charitable organization of his that doesn't really administer charity look kosher. And what's amazing about this bunny is that he's as intimidating as a tiger and as slippery as a snake, for all the great white hunters are afraid to take him on, enabling him to slither out of every situation. They called Ronald Reagan "The Teflon President"; well, Jesse Jackson is the Teflon racial-hustler.
What's so ridiculous about Jackson is not just that he's ridiculous, it's that he is like a caricature of somebody who is ridiculous. With his poor enunciation and wanting command of the language, he's like Huey Long without the style. Unfortunately though, as comical as he is, his influence upon our country is no laughing matter. The truth is that Jesse Jackson is a profoundly evil man who has sold his soul. He is the bad.
Then you have Al Sharpton, the bull in the china shop of American race relations. While the man with a husky voice and a bovine stature to match is not the kind of big money operator Jackson is, he nevertheless possesses the same knack for injecting race into the most innocuous of situations. And although Fat Albert is not in the kind of fighting shape the Reverend Jackson is, he does share his resiliency as well. After all, think back to what happened back in 1987 during the Tawana Brawley incident. In case you don't remember, Brawley was a black girl living in upstate New York who accused six white law enforcement personnel of raping her. Smelling publicity, Sharpton cast his lot with her and dragged those men's reputations through the mud. But, when you play with fire you get burned -- the accusations were proven to be false and the whole sordid affair blew up in Sharpton's face -- it was a blast that should have extinguished his career in the race business. But, after a fairly brief hiatus from his calling, like a trick candle Sharpton flickered back to life, a little older and a bit more Machiavellian but no wiser. By the way, he never apologized for trying to destroy a group of innocent men and causing them and their families great heartache. He is the ugly.
All this is bad enough, but you cannot really understand how contemptible Jackson, Sharpton and their ilk are until you realize how many countless lives they've destroyed. These are men who use black people, those they would call "their people," as pawns in their own personal chess games of political and social power. The problems that ail black America have precious little to do with white racism and everything to do with the fact that black communities are rife with immorality. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that when there is a lot of crime in an area businesses will be reluctant to invest there, but you will never hear the Bad and the Ugly, who claim to be men of the cloth, rail against those who commit it and remind them that "Thou shalt not steal." Instead, they justify the actions of hooligans at every turn, like the Bad did when some black youths rioted at that football game in Decatur, Il., and instead try to put the onus on the police and white establishment. Of course though, I guess that when your livelihood depends partially on extorting money from businesses by using the threat of boycotts, theft may not seem so bad to you. The Bad and Ugly also never talk about the corrupting influence of rap music, which glories sex, materialism and violence and instills in kids a disrespect for women and authority. Nor do they ever emphasize the fact that the choice to do drugs is something that keeps blacks mired in poverty. And, call me crazy, but the fact that we have witnessed the dissolution of the black family and that 70% of black children are now born out of wedlock just might have a little something to do with the problems in question -- yes, I know it's a stretch. And you would think that ministers would be the first ones to rail against such behavior and encourage chastity -- but not these two. But hey, let's not ask too much. After all, the Bad himself fathered a child out of wedlock. Of course though, none of this should surprise anyone. Because although the Bad and Ugly hold the title of "Reverend," they seem to be under the impression that the Ten Commandments are the ten suggestions.
As I am fond of saying, if you want to prescribe the correct cure and heal the patient you first have to make the proper diagnosis, and this is why part of the blame for the current woes of black America can be laid squarely at the feet of the Bad and Ugly. They are the worst possible physicians because they are guilty of malpractice; they should know what the correct diagnosis is, but they will never disclose it to the patient and prescribe the correct cure. Instead, they instill blacks with a philosophy of defeatism; they inculcate them with bitterness and anger. They could tell them what every human being needs to hear, which is that we must take responsibility for our actions, live virtuous lives and that the best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your arm. Instead though, they perpetuate irresponsibility, vice and sin by excusing it and claiming it's the fault of others. Think about it: why would you try to improve your life if you believed you couldn't? And why should you believe that you could if you believed that your destiny is controlled by others? And, why would you feel that it's incumbent upon you to purge your life of destructive behaviors if you don't think it's your responsibility?
The Bad and Ugly could echo the sentiments of Shakespeare and tell those who listen to them that their problems lie not in their stars but in themselves -- but they won't. They could do what any man of the cloth should, namely, repeat the words of Jesus and say "Take the log out of your own eye before you worry about the speck in your brother's; when the log is gone from your eye you will more easily be able to see the speck in your brother's" -- but they won't. And why won't they? Well, what would happen if there were complete racial harmony from sea to shining sea, if everyone recognized the fact that institutionalized racism is gone and if blacks prospered to the degree that whites do? The answer is that the Bad and Ugly and their minions would lose their tremendous power and earning capacity and would have to look for different work. They prosper because and only because they have managed to keep black people on their plantation. They are doctors who not only don't wish for the patients to get better, but who actually prescribe the wrong medicine so as to ensure that the patients will need their services forever. Although, to be fair, it's not as if the Bad and Ugly never help black people -- not at all. Why, the Bad's two sons received Chicago's largest beer distributorship from Anheuser-Busch as one of the fruits of the Bad's wheeling and dealing -- and his sons are black. In fact, all the bunny's and bull's cronies in their small inner circles are served quite well by them, and as far as I know they're all black too. I give credit where credit is due.
Then there are the Good, but relatively few people know their names. They are people like former Ambassador Alan Keyes, journalist Thomas Sowell, economics professor and social commentator Walter Williams and the head of B.O.N.D. [the Brotherhood Organization for a New Destiny], the Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson. These are men who tell the truth and who really do want to administer the right medicine, but they haven't been anointed "black leaders" by the mainstream media. They are men who are called Uncle Toms and Oreos by the likes of the Bad and the Ugly, because they want to rob the Bad and the Ugly of their patients by curing them. Any one of them is ten times the man the Bad or Ugly will ever be, but they also will probably never have more than one tenth the fame. This is because sadly, some people allow demagogues like the Bad and the Ugly to manipulate their emotions and lead them around by the nose, and yet others share responsibility for this state of affairs because they allow it to happen. And if you want to indict white America for anything let it be that: the fact that it is complicit with black America in elevating demons masquerading as spiritual leaders to icon status.
of Black America
