Michael “Cobb” Bowen, fellow Conservative Brotherhood member, is a much more temperate writer than I am. He deftly addresses criticism of Bill Cosby’s latest remarks and explains his position well without the edge I utilize in my writing. I invite you to read his excellent post, “The Problem with Civil Rights Politics.”:
The Civil Rights Movement is over. It was, despite continuing rhetoric to the contrary, a complete success. All that is required from this point on is a modicum of vigilance. We should act as if it’s done because it is done. Nobody is going to roll back the clock. Nobody is going to steal the money that Robert Johnson made from BET. Nobody is going to firebomb any churches, sic dogs or use firehoses on blacks who want to vote or otherwise use the American system. Nobody is going to keep blacks out of the stock market, public universities, hospitals, the officer’s ranks of the armed services, government employment.
The first step to a solution comes from loosening the grip of the politics of Civil Rights on your attention and then redirecting your attention to the politics of Social Power. Part of the problem is that too many African Americans don’t feel as though there are any politics appropriate for them aside from those of Civil Rights. That is the problem we in The Conservative Brotherhood are trying to address. Even by being boldly if sometimes even foolishly contrarian, many outspoken blacks are trying to say that there is another way for African American political interests. It’s damned hard to get that message out there when most of the media engages in a(n unconscious) conspiracy against independent black political voices.
Independent black political voices. I like the sound of it.
(Hat tip: Booker Rising)
