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Wednesday, January 23. 2008The End of the Rainbow?Malanga in City Journal discusses the political rivalry, if not hostility, between blacks and new Hispanic immigrants: The Rainbow Coalition Evaporates. h/t, Powerline. A quote:
another:
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I always thought Jesse Jacksons adoption of a rainbow to describe his coalition was typical of the ignorant sing song racist he is. Rainbows are distinctly different bands of refracted light, and black is not among them. So much for the "Reverend" Jackson's scientific knowledge.
Is anyone surprised by the blacks claims that all the affirmative action goodies belong to them alone? Now that they are losing ground in numbers, and thus in political power I would fully expect their angst to increase dramatically. There is always Liberia and the entire mother country to return to. Open up a Subway and become the sandwich artist king of Burkina Faso. I think we already have enough auto detailers and window tinters for the next score years. Yeah, big wheel keeps on turn'n. A great analysis of what the Clinton's have done to Obama.
Real Clear Politics Ghettoizing Barack "I guess this is how the West was won," Hillary Clinton exulted at her victory rally in Las Vegas after the Democratic caucuses. Well, not exactly, ma'am. Yet how the Clintons, by deftly playing the race and gender cards, turned back the greatest single challenge to a Clinton Restoration will be studied for a long time to come. It began in Iowa, where Barack Obama, the first African-American crossover candidate with broad appeal to all racial and ethnic groups, was on fire in a state that was overwhelmingly white. Came then Billy Shaheen, the Clinton New Hampshire co-chair, to suggest that, were Barack to be nominated, Republicans would ask when he had stopped using drugs and whether he ever bought or sold drugs. Mark Penn of the Clinton campaign denied on MSNBC's "Hardball" that his team was raising the "cocaine issue." Mission accomplished, Shaheen dutifully resigned. Bill Clinton drove the point home, telling an interviewer that to nominate Obama would be a "roll of the dice." http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/01/ghettoizing_barack.html The real Clear Politics article continues...a master bit of political infighting where the Clintons proved you don't show up to a political campaign with just a boom box and some Marvin Gaye moves.
Bill may not be able to do the Watusi, or Little Eva's Locomotion, but he can handle an epee and foil with the all time greats. Black is the absence of light.
Hussein shows his rascist hand when he demands to see Billy Jeff dance while he sits in judgement before he could call him a brother. Billy Jeff replys, that he'd dance with the boy, anytime. He likes watching the towel head dancing with his wife better, me thinks. Dance off! http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/dance-off/ Black is the absence of light.
Precisely the irony of the Rainbow Coalition. Racial politics can only have a bad end. The only open question is who gets screwed out of the freebies.
There are few if any win-win situations in politics.
For that matter the business guru propaganda that win-win situations are attainable are simply all about who will compromise first and how much, and then made to feel good about being flanked and taken. Maybe it's a fight over freebies to some extent, but I suspect also that some blacks feel displaced as a favored victim class. By the numbers, both parties would prefer the Hispanic voting bloc (if there is one), over the black.
The whole race issue is a stupid, pandering mess. And since when is Hispanic a race anyway? “Hispanic” is a tribe, as in “tribalistic” - like Catholic vs. Protestant in Northern Ireland. “Undocumented hispanic” is an easily exploitable phenomenon - for berry farmers and drug traffickers alike. Sometimes the rest of us come out ahead and sometimes we don't. But I think the root of that evil is the ruthless elites in power succeeding at pitting tribes (of any flavor) against each other in order to camouflage, protect, or solidify their own situation.
From all I have read it is very much a situation of the blacks knowing they are losing political clout to the Hispanics and are now ratcheting up the race issues in an attempt to retard the erosion. Of course it won't work and they continue to eschew the motherland they hyphenate in such reverence but think of the opportunities that await them in the garden spots of Africa.
The Ivory Coast, Angola, Zimbabwe,Burkina Faso all cry out for leadership that their cousins, sistas, and brotheras could bring. ......home Tribalism happens everywhere. At its most well-behaved it’s Cowboys fans accepting a Patriots dynasty. At its least you had the Liberian genocide.
I knew a self-proclaimed “super vato” whose apache grandfather crossed the Rio Grande decades ago. But today, now that super vato is officially a Texan he tells Mexican locals he’s Venezuelan whenever he visits to avoid trouble. Apparently they don’t like American super vatos down there. NO COMMENT, QUESTION. I GUESS I DON'T GET AROUND ENOUGH, WOULD YOU HELP ME OUT WITH "SUPER VATO" ?
Some dudes (vatos) are cholos (homeboys/gangstas), but only a few cholos get to be super vatos (a hard core hispanic dude). More of an LA term - which is where I knew this dude - not meant to be taken seriously.
During my youth in 1956-59 Orange County CA it was the Pachucos mess'n with the gringos. I engaged in many a rock fight with pachucos, eventually it escalated to knives...guns weren't ever around us little kids.
In honor of the Rainbow's end, my favorite Pachuco anthem:
Romeo Is Bleeding - Tom Waits (album = Blue Valentine) Romeo is bleeding but not so as you'd notice He's over on 18th Street as usual Looking so hard against the hood of his car puttin' out a cigarette in his hand And for all the Pachucos at the pumps at Romero's Paint and Body they all seein' how far they can spit Well it was just another night and now they're huddled in the brake lights of a '58 Bel Air and listenin' how Romeo killed a sheriff with his knife And they all jump when they hear the sirens but Romeo just laughs all the racket in the world ain't never gonna save that copper's ass He ain't never gonna see another summertime for gunnin' down my brother and leavin' him like a dog beneath a car without his knife Romeo says: hey man gimme a cigarette and they all reach for their pack and Frankie lights it for him and pats him on the back And throws a bottle at a milk truck and as it breaks he grabs his nuts They all know they could be just like Romeo if they only had the guts Romeo is bleeding but nobody can tell sings along with the radio with a bullet in his chest And he combs back his fenders and they all agree it's clear and that everything is cool now that Romeo's here Romeo is bleeding He winces now and then He leans against the car door Feels the blood in his shoes And someone's cryin' at the 5 Points in the phone booth by the store Romeo starts his engines wipes the blood of the door And he brodys through the signal with the radio full blast Leavin' the boys there hikin' up their chinos And then they all try to stand like Romeo beneath the moon cut like a sickle And they're talkin' now in Spanish all about their hero Romeo is bleeding as he gives the man his ticket He climbs the balcony at the movies And he'll die without a whimper like every hero's dream Like an angel with a bullet and Cagney on the screen And Romeo is bleeding Romeo is bleeding, hey man Romeo is bleeding, hey man Romeo is bleeding, hey man Romeo is bleeding Andele pues! Hey Pachuco! Hey Pachuco! Hago la lucha! Dáme esa pistola, hombre! Hijo de la chingada madre! Ay, que pinche pancho! Hey man! Hago la lucha! Hago la lucha! Vamos a dormir, hombre Hey man! Seriously, I knew a missionary family who had to defend themselves against a Chinese gang when they lived in old Hong Kong. Huge family, big enough to be their own gang - 15 or 16 kids – rocks, bats, martial arts... I learned that story the hard way after play wrestling around with one of the girls.
During the Vietnam war when I was in Thailand several of us CIA types would play golf. Included in the bag was always an M-16, several grenades, and smoke to cover our retreat. One guy carrried an M-79 and we all had 1911 45's.
You just never could tell when things would go to hell, even in Thailand. Once inside Vietnam we had our heads on a swivel the entire time and Injun country it was take no prisoners. If they didn't want to talk right then and there, well ...... |