The Other Side of Black-Episode Two-Blacks and the GOP

I have seen a trend but until recently never really thought about it until now. I would wonder, sometimes, how Blacks could be a part of something that refused to respect their history, a business or organization that looked upon all that they have endured as nothing more than a fluke or irrelevant in many ways.  A business or organization that never considered their struggles or sacrifices but was only useful to have around for no other reason than “window dressing”.    Then it occurred to me, maybe it was for the same reason that women were paraded around in front of the cameras.  Something to use and show that some was not as exclusive as their rhetoric describes them.  I speak about the current GOP and its leaders.

During the reign of Herman Cain, I did not see too many Blacks paraded in front of the camera in the GOP to comment on his policies and ideas about what was wrong with this country and his vision of where we should be headed.  There are a few who are asked their opinion on this president however and often times they speak as if nothing good could ever come from this administration.  Blacks in prominent position within the GOP hearing rhetoric like that spoken by Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich and refusing to step up and speak out on behalf of their communities, reminds me of a story that I would like to share with you.

Back in the day, in a small southern farming town during the time when one man owned another.  A group of this new-found living breathing possession was gathered.  They were split up into two groups, the smallest of the group was deemed “house servants” and the larger other group was deemed “field servants”.  The house servants was often afraid that they would receive the same type of punishment that they saw being doled out to those in the field but was constantly assured that what they saw would never befall them.  After quite some time they began to honestly believe this and soon grew to see themselves as less than those whom they worked for but more than those who toiled in the fields.  This division began to grow larger between them because even though they were warned that the same thing could happen to them, they refused to believe and their arrogance grew.  The belief of their exception was very strong and when asked if those in the field deserved such violent punishment began to agree with those handing out this punishment.  They became unemotional about the new and strange fruit that decorated the woods near the farm and made sure to educate their children on exactly how to avoid becoming the newest ornament on those trees.

One moon-lite night a group of “good ole boys” had a few too many and decided to have some fun.  They decided against harming any of the farm animals because they were worth something but had heard about this new group of “dirty animals” being housed at the farm just down the way.  They gathered together, stinking of alcohol and itching to see how one large oak tree would look with a few ornaments added to their branches.  They approached that farm down the road and began to choose the ornaments they figured would look the best on the tree.  During this the owners of these servants sat quiet while they made their choices, never lifting a finger to object.  The house servants who truly thought that nothing like what they had seen would ever befall them were sure that they would be spared.  They were seriously mistaken and some ended up adorning that same tree side by side with those they had once felt was beneath them.

The morale of this story is if you are in a position of authority or influence and refuse to stand up for what you know is wrong at any time, then please do not complain when you end up being caught up in the same predicament as those you refused to speak up for.   I see the same thing happening right now in the GOP.  If you sit around and do not voice your opposition to assumption you know is wrong then you shall be held just as accountable as those who actually commit that wrong.  If the rhetoric of Gingrich and Santorum, along with the writing in Ron Paul’s newsletter as well as the over-whelming approval of those who occupy the rallies is not dialed back and corrected by those Blacks in a position to influence, eventually it will grow until a group of “good ole boys” want to have some fun only then it may be too late to stop them from grabbing the wrong servants.