Dr Boyce Watkin's New Book: What If Barack Obama Was A White Republican?

I hear through the grapevine that economist and political commentator Dr Boyce Watkins plans to pen a follow up book entitled:

What If Barack Obama Were A White Republican? 
Subtitle: With Black Unemployment At 16.3% Yet His Support From Us At 88% We Can't Afford To Cover For Our Permanent Friends Without Obtaining Our Permanent Interests



OK.  I admit.  I am lying.
I made all of this up.

For this to happen there would need to be a bit more transparency in existence within Black political discourse.  There would have to be a firewall in our community consciousness that blocks the forces of ideology and politics from infecting the core controls.  The people who remind us about the need for our "racial consciousness" would also have to tell us that since we are in the process of 'cultural repair' there must be a construction of key processes for management of our resources and that these processes are greater than American politics.  Our goal is to develop a system for the entire diaspora, regardless of their location.

Of course - this is not the agenda.  The consciousness is far more provincial and self-serving than what they lead you to believe.

Ironically that "Post Racial Society" that the Black Progressive-Fundamentalists taunt America about falling short of as they look at the Tea Parties should also trigger a bit of introspection within their own crew.

For me - I do not look toward any president of the United States as the primary agent for job growth.   We are a nation of "local economies".  While there is no question about it that we have national fiscal policies that bear upon our local economic environment - most jobs in America are far more impacted by the local forces:   access to transportation & seaports, climate, access to natural resources, local and state tax & regulatory polices.  Most of all - the prevailing level of EDUCATION of the prospective work force.

Instead of focusing upon the national government as a means of "outsourcing" the fate of your local community and your desired standard of living - it is far more instructive to go back to the local area and inspect the array of forces that project upward through to the community, city, county, the state and the federal government.  When all of these forces are combined the end result is the unemployment rate and economic conditions that are seen.

You see even when we point to "mission accomplished" cities such a Detroit, Chicago, Newark for evidence that shows that in these favorable environments there is a substantial improvement in:

• Unemployment Rates
• Incarceration Rates
• Academic Attainment Rates

YOU WON'T FIND THEM.

There are two choices to conclude from:

1. AMERICA as an entity is able to SUPPRESS Black people, the favorability of the government is irrelevant
2. The present arrangement of forces that purport to be erecting and protecting the "Black Permanent Interests" has no VALUE ADD to speak of as it relates to the material statistics

It should come as no surprise that #1 is the far more popular choice.  Just the other day a long time Black US Representative blunted all expectations that we should look to the growth in Black political representation and expect more favorable results.  That "legacy of slavery" trumps all else.

The truth is that while these two points are not mutually exclusive - I as a critic of the antics that goes on in the name of "Black Advocacy" can point you to the balance of focus of these operatives that lay claim to such a notion key in upon in as the reason for this lack of "value add" that results.   They are far more interested in their ideological and partisan gamesmanship and jousting than they have any particular interest in leveraging the machine that they have constructed to delver the results they aspire toward.

In summary "Activism is not Management".   One focuses upon getting others to change for your benefit.  The other focuses upon applying forces to the resources that you control so that favorable outcomes can be produced.

The Two Book Covers Of Dr Watkins

I can summarize the two "books" - one written about Bush, the other written TO Obama very succinctly.

In the first book Watkins used the tactic frequently seen in the occasional series on  "TheRoot.com" which asks "Would a Black Person Get Away With This"?   These are directed at Black people to show how the selective judgement of White America allow individuals that have "White privilege" to get over.  With this "indictment" the Black consumers are further pacified by the notion that the deck is stacked against them.

In his second, yet to be penned book that I mention above - Dr Watson would be forced to write ABOUT Black America, making note of the cover that Barack Obama and other Democratic/Progressives that control every institutional seat in our community benefit from and then tell us what many a player has heard from a female seeking a change after understanding that she has greater ambitions that what he can offer her:  "We can't do this any more".

Simply put there is no way that a non-Progressive, non-Democrat machine would enjoy continued support from the Black community if they:

• Presided over the failing schools of Washington DC
• Allowed violent streets of Chicago that have Black people terrorized as if they were in Mississippi prior to the great migration
• Had a rally in Detroit and despite all of the economic carnage proclaimed that they saw "economic opportunity" 

Dr Boyce Watkins didn't write a book attacking President Barack Obama.  Instead he penned a "friend of the court" brief, reminding the president that he voted for to think about the rising unemployment rate for Black people in this country.  Ironically if Watkins DID attack Obama over the increasing unemployment rate for Black people it would be WATKINS who would be subjected to attack by the forces of "Ideological Unity Enforcement" for Black America.

Welcome To The World Of Compromised Permanent Interests
I won't bother to repeat the analogy of the "unlimited universe having wrapped around itself and now you are chasing your own tail".  It merely shows that those who put on a front of being most dogged in pursuit of "Black Community Advancement" have now been stripped bear as we all see that upon their success in putting in "favorable people" into the seats of power that they used to protest against - they no longer protest AGAINST these forces in support of their PERMANENT INTERESTS.  Now they give loving nudges, respectfully asking these friends to "remember who put you there" so that we can have some legitimate talking points as to why we are going to vote for you again.

All of this shows that beyond the claim of "helping the Black community" their real agenda is to build a machine of political power, populated by progressives so that this will produce a byproduct of Black prosperity.    The problem is that this is an "activist movement" and thus activism against those who they are ideologically opposed to is the ONLY glue that acts as a cohesive agent in the "enforced unity" that is most critical to their efforts.

We clearly see that when they have POWER and yet are "all by themselves" - their INorganic movement fails to produce the desired results.  As a result they begin to obfuscate outward, looking for their adversaries to wage war upon as a means of retaining their ideological unity as they pursue the permanent struggle milieu.


Dr Boyce Watkin's Letter To President Barack Obama

Dear Mr. President,

I write this letter with all due respect to yourself, as well as the office of the presidency. Your historic rise up the political ladder has been nothing short of inspirational, and your extraordinary vision has positioned you as one of the most celebrated leaders in the history of the United States. As a fellow scholar and African American male, I applaud your achievements. I am especially excited about how you, Michelle and your beautiful daughters present such a magnificent image of the African American family.

While the black community remains inspired by your achievements and overwhelmingly sympathetic to your challenges from conservatives, there are concerns that the economic plight of black Americans has not been a priority for the Obama Administration. To be sure, opinions on this matter are far from unanimous. But the numbers tell a story that needs to be heard.

As of last month, black unemployment rose to an astonishing 16.3 percent. This was .7 percent higher than the previous month, with the increase being 700 percent higher than the rise in unemployment for white Americans. Additionally, black teen unemployment is now over 45 percent, compared to just 23 percent for white teens. In addition to massive unemployment, wealth inequality in America remains a persistent problem, causing African Americans to bear the brunt of this economic crisis in ways that are unimaginable to other Americans. Our homes are facing foreclosure more often and we are less able to rely on a source of background wealth to help us get through the toughest times. Yet, while we are the least prepared for the recession, we are being hit with a downturn that is twice as forceful as that being experienced by the rest of America. In fact, even after the recession is over, our unemployment rate will probably be as high or higher than the rate that white Americans are agonizing over right now. The United Nations has investigated this issue as a human rights violation, because it appears that we live in a nation that accepts a black underclass as a default way of life.

To this point, your administration has remained disturbingly silent on the issue of black unemployment. The silence is deafening, but the economic hardship is loud and clear. I am concerned that many of your key economic advisors are unable or unwilling to process and empathize with the depths of black economic misery in America. Many of them are not trained in issues that relate to economic inequality and seem to have little or no desire to make this issue a priority for the administration. In fact, I have yet to hear the words "black man" or "black woman" come out of your mouth in the year 2010.

Most of us are appreciative of the difficulties of being the first black president. We know that America is not ready to put race on the table for discussion, unless it is a case of the Right Wing attacking you for being too black. But there must be some way to show loyalty to the political interests of those who enthusiastically supported you during the 2008 presidential campaign. Many members of this base have either become too disillusioned to vote in the mid-term elections, or are quietly struggling to ensure that they do not undermine your political power by asking your administration to address matters of race. Many black Americans feel abandoned in their suffering and are only comforted by the symbolism of having a black president in the Oval Office.


I, for one, am glad that I supported you for president. While some members of your cabinet might believe that black political support can be taken for granted, I am not sure if that's the case. Energizing your base is an important part of generating political participation, so while many black Americans may not jump ship to the Republican party, there are many millions who may not be inspired to vote. Most of us supported the Obama Presidency on the promise of hope and change. Right now, hope has nearly diminished and not very much has changed in our households. We know you can't do it all on your own, but I'd love to at least see you try a little bit harder.

If we do not find a way to directly confront economic inequality in America, our nation will remain divided. I am hopeful that in the near future, we will see the creation of White House initiatives which provide a much-needed national conversation on race. I also ask that there be targeted economic policies created to deal with the consistent problem of chronic unemployment among black teens and the rest of the African American community. The passage of stronger urban jobs bills, along with opening the door for additional government contracts for African American companies can go a long way toward helping to alleviate the pressure being felt right now. The disease of black unemployment is one that must be treated and cannot be ignored, for it undermines community safety and deteriorates the core of the African American family. By failing to administer the proper institutional medicine, we risk allowing that disease to fester and eventually kill a segment of our society. The election of our first black president should be a step forward for our community, but at this point, it appears to be a political trade off. I am hopeful we can do better than that.

A second post is MANDATED from me because of the content of this letter.
It is awesomely clear that Dr Boyce Watkins and others have played their hands for far too long and now that they have what on paper appears to be a favorable deck - they are besides themselves on figuring out what to do. STILL he finds a way to attack his ideological enemies.

There is no accounting for popularity in the notion of a SELLOUT.
When there is a large quantity of people performing "sellout" behavior you don't have JUSTIFICATION. You merely have a lot of people who have sold out their interests. The key benefit of the quantity is that those who usually are calling the names are standing right beside them doing the same thing.