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In a message dated 7/1/2004 8:28:43 AM Central Standard Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Mr. Sowell is of course no one fool or "boy" . . . and most certainly not an Uncle Tom . . . a characterization that can mean virtually anything depending on usage. Comment - Follow up
There is a tendency to reframe from characterizing a leader
such as Thomas Sowell because no one wants to be accused of "color blindness" or
"insensitivity." I believe other more profound factors about American society
are involved that has generally escaped the logic of the radicals and liberals .
. . socialists and many communists.
Perhaps a year or maybe 18 months ago I wrote a couple
articles called the "Peculiar Phenomena called the Black Leader" or something to
that affect on Marxmail. If this articles was written today it would be
different in exposition but not its underlying internal components.
Mr. Sowell is not a black leader but a leader who happens to
be black. On the other had Reverend Al Sharpton is a black leader being
reinvented as a leader that happens to be black. Al Sharpton was literally won
over and recruited by a politically and economically important segment of the
African American intelligenica that persuaded him to take off his "jump suits"
and get a hair cut. The Minister Louis Farrakhan is a black leader, while Julian
Bond is a leader than happens to be black, although he began as a black leader
in the Civil Rights Movement.
The distinction is not an ideological category but the face of
the shifting economic and political relations in the American Union. The
"Peculiar Phenomena called the Black Leader" arose on the basis of the defeat of
Reconstruction and its political aftermath. The first set of political leaders
from the slave class after Emancipation were not black leaders but leaders who
were black. One must read and understand the demands of that time for reform of
the system.
The broad institution of Jim Crow and segregation is the
context for the emergence of the "Peculiar Phenomena called the Black
Leader." The destruction of Jim Crow and segregation is removing the social
framework of the "Peculiar Phenomena called the Black Leader." There will always
be leaders that are black.
My brother's story might illustrate why one needs a concrete
understanding of the evolution of American society to understand the modern
world of politics instead of ideological proclamations.
My brother Maurice is an International Representative of the
UAW - the autoworkers union. He is not a black leader but most certainly African
American. He is perhaps the most knowledgeable and militant leader the UAW
currently possesses and more than less "conservative," having taken part in
negotiating contracts since 1984.
Maurice began his union career at the Detroit Universal
Division of Chrysler in Dearborn Michigan - the home of Ford Rouge, and a city
where blacks could not pass through unless they had a factory badge indicating
what plant they worked at. Her won his first union position as Chief
Steward around 1976 and at that time much of our battle was liberally
against Ku Klux Klan type groups in the plant. He had been earlier
fired - discharged, for fighting a white co worker and the union returned the
other guy back to work but not Maurice. We had to go to the Civil Rights
Commission to get his job back.
Detroit Universal made drive shafts and when Chrysler failed
to meet its obligation in the bond market - 1979, and was threatening to go
belly up the plant was closed. I was tossed in the streets for four years -
1980-1984, and Maurice went to Sterling Stamping, the largest stamping facility
in North America with a little over 5,000 workers.
I was called back to work in January 1984, zoomed in from
Chicago and moved in with my brother. He decided to run for the office of
Committeeman in the upcoming May election and we analyzed the political forces
and determined he had a long shot and if we ran a well organized intense
campaign he could take the office two years later.
The district he was running in was composed of roughly 1700
people with a workforce 30% black. Two political caucuses controlled the Local
Union 1264 and the Shop floor, not unlike the Republican and Democratic Party.
Maurice worked the midnight shift and had a reputation for being knowledge about
contract matters, fiercely loyal to his coworkers, a lover of overtime work and
took crap from on one - black or white. As a young man he actually enjoyed
fisticuffs and considers himself a capitalist minded worker.
Working midnight's means one has an opportunity to mingle with
the workers on days and afternoons because shifts overlap so everyone knew him
and the black workers loved him deeply for his iron will and ability to get
things done. Real leaders get things done.
As preparation for his election, which involves lots of
leaflets and propaganda, he demanded that I read and reread "900 Days In
Leningrad" and dubbed his campaign "scorched earth" . . . Seriously.
"Brother we are going to starve for the next two months . . .
no sleep and when your ass get off of work be prepared to go to work."
Big brother that are the first born are unnerving while second
born - myself, tend to be manipulative, jockeying in the family
structure to avoid the heavy hand of dad and big brother. Dad was a skilled
worker - electrician at Ford Rouge, and the only "miss meal craps" we suffered
from was eating to fast.
To understand the complex of his thinking and attitude about
himself and the world around him, he has a fascination with National Socialism,
called Joseph Stalin a "sissy" for not killing more generals, believes that
Rommel - the desert fox, was a genius called General Zukov a brilliant tactician
and marvel at the Soviets issuing one million ice-picks for hand to hand combat
with the Germans.
"Hitler made the same mistake as Napoleon . . . he should
never have divided his troops . . . no one escapes the Russian winters . . . the
freaking oil froze in the tanks . . . the Soviet tanks were superior . . . and
so on!"
Due to the nature of two party politics and the resulting
political division of the workforce Maurice won enough votes to make the run off
election. The election was highly charged and I would campaign at the plant gate
and union offices with several friends. Our opponents issued a letter stating we
were in violation of union procedure because it is illegal for a member of one
local union to campaign in another Local Union election and threatened to
physically eject me from the grounds. I would show up with guys from my local
union who also loved Maurice - big guys.
There us a complex of very subtle relations involved in a
union election that makes them more complex than Presidential Campaigns. People
must know you and have a feel of your personality or human qualities. It was not
simply showing up with force that allowed me access to the plant, but rather the
poker games held in the local union hall and the dances. Going into the run-off
election I caught an open end straight against the Chief Stewart on days that
was opposing my brother after he raided the pot about eight bucks.
The word spread quickly in a plant . . . Maurice brother is
not as rude as Maurice and gambles with everyone and kicked the Chief Stewart
ass. Then of course the guys I would show up with at the plants would always
dance with the women during after work gathering at the local union hall. Most
of the men will never dance with the women and prefer drinking and talking about
sports. Carols and myself would dance with all the women or at any rate ask
every women for a dance . . . and get the drinks.
When the polls closed all of us sat around sweating bullets,
thanking everyone for voting, while the incumbent set up in a motel room with
his inner circle. "When the Company is riding Tony Terry is Hiding" had been my
lead slogan in front of the polling booth during the voting . . . and sure
enough no one could find Tony Terry.
Maurice paced the side walk and our election challengers were
challenging anything suspect. All day Maurice screamed in our faces - "Zukov . .
. stand fast . . . anyone that retreats shoot them . . . If I retreat shoot
me" . . . and then laughed. Everyone was on edge and a
couple times fistfights almost broke out.
When the votes was tallied it was the greatest upset in UAW
history. The independent won by a healthy margin. Maurice had won half the white workers votes and carried the pressroom
99%. Maurice is a leader within the industrial working class that happens to be
black.
Mr. Sowell is a leader that happens to be black, but these
leaders that are black are subject to a different set of political and social
factors they cannot escape.
Tony Terry and his inner circle . . . composed of primarily
white men and black women . . . were not going to dance with anyone or conform
to how people think out things and the subtle real life activity of people.
Maurice inner circle was composed primarily of black men and white men with more
white women than black women publicly campaigning for him.
One of the black women supporters of Tony Terry slapped my
face for looking at her with disdain in front of the voting booth and everyone
in line looked at me. I tossed my leaflets in the air and shouted "I like that .
. . come close to me baby and do that again."
About seventy-five people in line broke out laughing.
I know better than to try and politically slap Mr. Sowell's
face. He proceeds from a logic that is very bourgeois and does not take into
account subtle changes in American society. In my opinion he profoundly
misunderstanding the evolution of the African American people in real American
society. We are not an ethnic group.
My particular political point of view is not that of my
brother's and I have absolutely no ideological barrier to compromising with the
people you profess to lead and speak for.
Mr. Sowell is not a modern day abolitionist advocate on
the side of the proletariat. He advocates for those whose social position is
more secure and by doing such reveals profound ethical and moral dimensions of
his personality. My brother . . . Despite his professed ideology . . . advocates
first for those who have elected him and then for those less fortunate.
American society will always be compared with other countries
and this is no crime. However, we have to unravel our own peculiar history based
on its peculiarity. Here . . . not simply Mr. Sowell, but most Marxists fall
short.
When it comes to how the American peoples and distinct
economic units think things out, and collide upon themselves, the Marxists
generally miss the mark more than Mr. Sowell. My brother would probably like Mr.
Sowell and much of what he writes but divide sharply on every major political
and social question. He is in an income category that has varied from $90,000 -
$150,000 for the past twenty years and lost more in the market than I have
accumulated and lost in life.
The difference between these two leaders who happen to be
black is profound. Maurice understand the immediate consequence of his politics
and utterances and Mr. Sowell does not care about the consequence of his
pronouncements upon the lowest stratum of society.
If in fact the poor are going to always be amongst us then it
is always best to feed and house them at the expense of government. This
approach will not bankrupt the country.
If Mr. Sowell was a black leader and not a leader that happens
to be black, he would be subject to yet another political dynamic.
Melvin P.
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