I am going to hold off on judgement on this one until there is more pervasive proof beyond the accusations. The entirety of the interview with US Rep Cummings says all that is needed to be said with regard to his ability at transference of indictments.
Please note the report from "Tell Me More" in which left of center host was forced to ask the person who represents the Black Farmers of LA making the claim of racism in the Gulf work assignments and damage claims processing twice to substantiate his claims of racism.
1 comments:
CF,
Thanks for posting this. Here's my take, particularly from listening to the NPR report.
The major issue here seems to be BP compensation plan to those who lost assets (i.e. the boat owners) versus those who lost jobs (i.e. the deck hands). From what I'm hearing, BP has a plan to compensate those who lost business (again the owners), but has no specific plan to address those who lost jobs other than providing work that is not desirable--at least according to Cummings. The NPR interviewer specifically asked the Black Farmer representative repeatedly his proof that the situation was racially motivated and he offered nothing. The same applies to Representative Cummings.
As you know, I think BP owes whatever it takes to remediate that area, but this accusation is not supported by the facts presented here. I think we often make strategic missteps by couching everything in terms of race or discrimination particularly in situations like this where there's no clear cut pattern of racism. If these guys feel that there's a problem with those who don't own getting "remediated", they'd be better off arguing from the standpoint of all workers, rather then just African-American workers. If our folks comprise the bulk of the deck hands, they'd get taken care of anyway.
But beyond that is the question of position. Why is it that more of us weren't owners? Again, I know nothing about the shrimping or fishing business or what the capital requirements might be, but I do know that there's frequently a difference in the power one can assert in this society based on whether you're "owning" or being "owned". The issue is our individual and collective economic development and that can only come if more of us are "owning" generally. In the immediate situation, more of us owning would create a different dynamic.
Even with the disaster down there, there's business opportunity. What these guys ought to be doing is looking at contracting opportunites with BP. It's very likely that the "owners" down there are flocking to contracting opportunities with BP, while we've got our noses pressed up against the window looking in.
What we as black folks need to learn is to see problems as an opportunity. Anywhere there are a lot of problems, there's a lot of opportunity to solve them and make money. Business is based on problem solving. The key is your "position" vis a vis the problem--are you trying to solve it or are you part of the problem?
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