I believe that, like many Blacks, the Black Caucus, our Black congressional lawmakers, are being targeted by conservatives, even though monitors like the House Ethics Committee are “supposed” to be bipartisan.
Former powerful Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) is being charged with 13 violations by the house ethics committee and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) is facing three charges related to her allegedly helping a minority owned bank, OneUnited Bank, who contacted her for help to get government bailout funds to survive.
However, some are questioning why out of over 30 cases being considered by the Office of Congressional Ethics, the only active investigations involve two Black congressional members, Maxine Walters (D-Calif) and Charlie Rangel (D-NY), but several seemingly serious charges against White members have been thrown out?
It has been reported that there are two Democrats on the sub committee voting to bring charges against Maxine Waters; one voted for charges being brought and the other against it. The rest of the committee is made up of Republicans, which says everything.
But as is often the case, most of those interviewed among the Black Caucus have avoided saying that race is an issue. This is the problem with these bourgeoisie Negroes — they’re always so afraid of being accused of playing the Race Card by conservatives that they can rarely fight back effectively. When you’re in a fight, anything goes. Just ask the conservatives.
Cheating, lying, and stealing is the only way conservatives even remain relevant in politics, when considering how often they dupe average Americans into voting for them despite their selling their souls to big business. But the Democrats aren’t far behind in this department.
When looking at the Rangel and Water’s situation, Rangel, an 80-year-old, 20-term congressmen has the most serious battle ahead, particularly since President Obama has gone public encouraging Rangel to retire.
I’m amazed how President Obama is always flexing his political muscles when it comes to bullying his own people, being condescending and telling CBS news that Rangel should leave with “dignity,” and that the charges are “troubling.” Not to mention that President Obama even played the Age Card on Rangel, as if he’s too old and it’s time to go. But he’s really just still mad that Rangel supported Hilary Clinton against him. He’s also, basically, told the Black Caucus — no special treatment, belittling them with euphemisms like “a rising tide lifts all boats.”
So Rangel and the Black Caucus can join the rest of the Black folks Obama has “thrown under the bus”: Van Jones, Shirley Sherrod, Reverend Wright, and other others.
The Congressional Ethics Committee has charged Waters with three counts related to OneUnited Bank receiving $12 million in government bailout funds. The charges are that she didn’t behave in an ethical manner; that she used improper influence that resulted in a personal benefit; and, thirdly, that she did special favors for OneUnited Bank. The charges are vague and Waters is ready to annihilate them.
A 79-page Office of Congressional Ethics report reveals that Barney Frank (D-MA) warned Waters of a conflict of interest regarding her involvement with OneUnited Bank after the bank contacted her. Waters was cautious because her husband, Sydney Williams, was a OneUnited Bank stockholder and served on their board for four years until 2008. But this was before she became involved with the bank. Her intention was to help a struggling minority institution by making a couple connections that were not illegal. This is what Waters does – help her people, but if what she did is considered illegal, then they need to lock up 90 percent of the congress.
Before the charges were brought forth, Waters had been denying she committed any wrong-doing and was demanding that the charges be made public until they finally were. “Democracy demands fairness,” she said, adding that she deserves to be heard. She also tweeted: “Accusations against me unfounded. No benefit, no improper action, no failure 2 disclose, no one influenced, no case.”
But when will Black folks and Black politicians learn that, like the Republican Party, the Democratic Party doesn’t mean us much good, either? Barney Frank, a Democrat, has mentioned that he felt “vindicated” after warning Waters, as if he had something to do with the committee going after her. With friends like this, who needs enemies? Maybe he was mad because the bank is in his district and he wanted to help (supposedly legal) and get credit.
Besides getting beat up consistently by conservatives, the Democratic Party continues to use Black folks for their votes, hustling in athletes and entertainers like Russell Simmons and Puffy, as well as pastors, to try and guilt us into voting for them. And be aware that the Prison Industrial Complex that incarcerates high numbers of our Black men and women thrived under the supposedly “Black President” Bill Clinton and the Democratic Party.
If Rangel and Waters are wrong, then they should get what’s coming to them, but so should everybody else. However, we all know that it will be a “cold day in h*#” before that happens.
The problem for Rangel and Waters is that they’ve dedicated themselves to a party, a system, the Democratic Party, that isn’t much different than the Republican Party when it comes to race. They’re committed to the “lesser of two evils.” The Democratic Party is composed of Black and White folks who are simply an extension of a society of people divided by race, and so when Black political hides are on the line, as is the case with the larger society, the same rules apply: “If you’re Black stay back; if you’re Brown, stick around; and if you’re White, you’re alright.”
At Rangel’s 81st birthday party on August 11th, 2010, a heckler yelling Rangel was a crook received the middle finger from former NY Mayor David Dinkins, right before Dinkins went inside. Later that night, at the party, Rangel said that he supported Dinkins gesture to the heckler.
This is the kind of fight that all Black politicians need to have. Otherwise, the intellectually challenged, race-baiting supporters of Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly will run over them, kill their reputations, and then back up over ‘em again, just for good measure.