Roland Martin - Black Media Minority Whip For Obama & The Democrats

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Take my previous commentary about Roland Martin failing to call Education Secretary Arnie Duncan out for saying that Hurricane Katrina was the best thing that ever happened to the public school system in New Orleans. This is not even the most relevant criticism that should be levied upon Mr Martin.

After watching the interview in its entirety I would like to submit a more precise piece of analysis upon the role that Roland Martin plays:

• With Respect to President Barack Obama
• With Respect to the National Democratic Machine 
• With Respect to the Black Establishment
• With Respect to Politically Involved Black People

My revised conclusion with regard to Roland Martin and his interview with Educational Secretary Arnie Duncan and the Public Education plan for the Obama Administration in general is:

Roland Martin failed to key in upon the CORPORATE LIABILITY & TRACK RECORD of the "machine" that now sits in the White House as it relates to its present credibility on the subject of educational reform and excellence by pointing to the history of this machine where their theories have been applied.

President Barack Obama hand picked former Chicago Public Schools head Arnie Duncan to lead the US Department of Education.  There is no doubt that the Obama Administration transition team was fully aware of the track record of Mr Duncan AND the success metrics of the CPS system from which he came.  

In the interview the disposition of Mr Martin was one of "connection" to the rather hopeless situation in public education in Chicago and beyond.  After all he had a close relative who had a personal situation that was attached to the system in Chicago.  

At best Mr Martin should have recused himself from the interview.  With the present crisis of education for Black people in Chicago and so many other places around the United States where this "machine" has dominate power - our people cannot afford to allow the "Permanent Friends" to tell us all what they are GOING TO DO when so much of where they are already in power over these key institutions have not lived up to past promises.

As a quick diversion - A good friend of mine who is a Progressive and a loyal Democrat told me the secret of the disposition between the Black Political Establishment and the Republican Party.  By constantly claiming that the GOP is "racist" the Black Establishment hope that as they prove that they are not racists - that it can prompt them to do more in line with what Black people popularly desire out of them than they would normally be inclined to do if there was sullen silence.

I maintain that this interview with Arnie Duncan, the educational spokesperson for the Obama Administration felt far too comfortable in relation to the massive crisis that is brewing regarding the effectiveness of public education for our people.  Mr Duncan comes from a school system that was 87% Black and Hispanic yet only managed to graduate a paltry 52.9% of its high school students.    At no point in time during the interview did Mr Martin seek to hold Duncan or any other element of the present educational establishment accountable for their past results.  He merely allowed Duncan to speak.

Mr Martin brought up the situation at the Congressional Black Caucus Weekend in which some teacher's unions operatives made note their opposition to school choice and charter schools.   It is not enough that Roland Martin told these individuals about the need for multiple channels of educational attainment - there are several individuals inside of the Congressional Black Caucus that he needs to call out.  He has said nothing about Kendrick Meek thus far and his staunch opposition to school choice. 

The Irony Of New Orleans

It is quite ironic that the school system of New Orleans was used as a reference model for academic reform by Arnie Duncan.   At no point during the conversation did anyone mention the entrenched machine that controlled the system prior to the storm.  At no point did they identify the attackers of these charter schools after the storm.

There seems to be abundant examples that pile up which could be labeled as "We were right and they embedded machine was wrong".  You are not going to hear Roland Martin and other Black Press operatives call out "Black Commentator", "The Black Agenda Report" and other Progressive-Fundamentalist organizations who so frequently 'get it wrong'.

The key question for Roland Martin and the "Black Establishment Press" is "Where were you when these policies were under assault from your ideological soul mates?" and "Why aren't you now asking them to justify their continued attacks as they seek to defend the status quo that has not worked for the interests of Black students"?

Previous Articles Attacking The Bush Administration For School Choice In New Orleans That Went Undefended By The "Black Press"

• World Socialist Web:  Bush Administration Uses Hurricane To Dismantle Public Education In New Orleans
• Leaving Vouchers Behind In New Orleans
• How Vouchers Came To Washington DC
• (Oh No) Focus On The Family - School choice is a nationwide movement that empowers parents by enabling them to make the best possible choice for their children's education

The latter is a chief bone of contention
among some critics. In the words
of Eleanor Holmes Norton (D),Washington’s
elected, nonvoting delegate to
the House of Representatives,“[Republicans]
used our denial of representation
in the Senate, where vouchers
would have been disposed of as a matter
of senatorial courtesy, to force vouchers
on the city.”

It is quite ironic that Roland Martin and others proclaim that EDUCATION is the most important resource to Black people as we attempt to achieve equal outcomes. The irony comes in the fact that they can't seem to mount a strategy by which the machine that has the most abundant control over these institutions where Black people live seem to escape any sustain criticism - for the same of adjustment by the Black Press and Black Activists. It goes to prove, at least in my estimation that more important to them than is education is the unwillingness to check their "permanent friends" regarding our "Permanent Interests".

I believe instead that Roland Martin and other Black Media Operatives act as "Minority Whips" for Barack Obama and Progressive-Fundamentalism in general. They have already decided that their ideology provides the pathway for our community's success. This causes them to look past the gross examples that prove otherwise as they allow those with a compatible ideology to tell about their plans in the FUTURE, once we scale beyond this present plateau that they already control, achieving the victory of climbing atop this next plateau before gearing us all for ascent to the very next level after that.

There has never been a more critical time for an "Anti-Establishment Black Press". Their "oppositional stance" is to the establishment that has gotten into power today by being anti-establishment" themselves.