Manning Marable - Beyond Black & White - My Preview

I have no problem expressing my bias and low expectations that I have after having purchased the book "Beyond Black & White" by Prof Manning Marable.

The strategy as stated on the back cover tells me all that I need to know. This viewpoint shows that Prof Marable has not changed from my previous observations of his work.

Many in the US, including Barack Obama have called for a "post racial" politics yet race still divides the country politically, economically and socially.

In this expanded new edition of a highly acclaimed work, Manning Marable rejects both liberal inclusionist strategies and the separatist politics of the likes of Louis Farrakhan, arguing powerfull for a new "transformationist" strategy, which retains a distinctive black cultural identity but draws together all the poor and exploited in the united struggle against oppression. In a substantial new introduction, Marable looks back at the last ten years of African-American politics and the fight against racism, outlining a trenchant analysis of the "new Radical Domain" that must be uprooted.

After reading this paragraph I don't even need to read the book. The contents contained within are a non-starter with me for the following reasons:

1. Manning Marable, like most other defenders of the "Black Establishment"/ "Progressive Establishment" / "Democratic Establishment will never arrive at the point where these forces have enough power over enough institutions and places where they can be held accountable for the present results or at least the failure to make measurable advancement.  
2. The most notable quote for me from Marable says "Black people are the most intelligent voters in America.  They know who has their best interests in mind and will support them".   I get the feeling that "stupidity" will come to Black America if we ever stop deciding to support the Progressives/Democrats to the 85%+ tune that we presently do.  
3. The above notation in #2 shows that Marable is more interested in a "struggle" and "good intentions" than he has any particular interest in demanding "earnest money" along the way where the forces that are leading us along are made to ante up, proving to us that we are making progress in regards to OUR OWN PERMANENT INTERESTS and not merely in the interests of Democrats and Progressives.  (Or are Black people inherently Progressives and Democrats and thus their victory is our victory?)

The point that frustrates me above all else about the long list of "Humanities Professors" and self-described "Public Intellectuals" that tend to chaff my skin is that they haven't yet developed the language that defines the point in time when:

• Black People (or at least favorable people ideologically) are "Da Man"
• Black People are the oppressors or terrorists (ie: Street Pirates intimidating our communities)

Add to this, from an economic standpoint - continued poverty in some Black communities is seen as a function of the failure to put forth an economic/academic/behavioral control order that produces wealth instead of the racial/class gap being a function of racism or oppression.

In fact as I study the Progressive-Fundamentalist I note that denial of the acceptance of their establishment presence (the transaction of their "inferiority) is a fundamental portion of their mindset.   In as much as "The Struggle" IS their struggle - that which unifies them - it would be a move toward intellectual self-extinction for them to ever proclaim that the struggle is offer - "We run things now.  You can hold us accountable for all outcomes from here on out".   Simply put - this is not going to happen.

The updated book by Marable, published in 2009, surely contains an update that includes the Obama Presidency.   As the paragraph hints at, however, the new fight is against the "New Racial Domain" denotes the new mission.  It is comical to see people promote the mistaken assumption that "the presidency of Barack Obama meant the end of racism".   Their antics used throughout the campaign and beyond in which they defended candidate Obama from any racial slight - real or manufactured said it all.   The White voter in America was asked "can you put aside your racism and vote for the best candidate?"  Never did I hear a single news outlet make note to the Black voter:  "The machine that Barack Obama sits atop of ALREADY controls all of the key institutions in your communities.  In as much as you still have massive grievances about these critical components - 'Why are you inclined to give this machine a promotion?' ".    If this is not racial politics in line with calling out White folks - what is it then?

I accuse Progressive-Fundamentalists such as Manning Marable and other "Humanities Professors" of leading Black people along for IDEOLOGICAL purposes while not establishing the transparent (non-partisan, non-ideological) infrastructure to vet the veracity of the entire machine and its outcomes.

In his call to unite all "oppressed people" into a movement I can read between the lines and see that Marable is yet another "Least Of These" caretakers.  I challenge Marable and other self-proclaimed "Public Intellectuals" to define a process by which we can one day become the "UN-least of these" using our organic resources and NOT through the expansive government theories and enforced national regulatory regime that is no doubt a part of his grand scheme.