A couple of stories (one of which I got from Earl) coincided with a bit of a chapter I’m working on for my hip-hop book. Reading the stories is in some ways like being in a time warp. Going back to 1989 more specifically:
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=jxyYP_bS_6s[/youtube]
For those of us around the same age as the MCs in this video it’s now much easier to see how young they were. But given the stories about violence in Newark and Oakland, what also strikes me is how mundane their prescriptions are. And how swiftly these “solutions” are replicated through space and time.
1. The murder of Chauncey Bailey a black journalist by a group of (nutjobs) Black Muslims is the top story in this week of carnage in Oakland.
2. As Chip Johnson article points out leftist mayor Ron Dellums is nowhere to found despite the ongoing violence in Oakland– 8 murders in 4 days.
3. If you were to canvas the poor and working class flatlands of Oakland, crime and violence is overwheliming would be the top issue. The liberal-left, like Dellums who they got elected, is pretty much AWOL on the issue.
I’d modify your comments slightly…the poor and working class of Oakland and Newark ARE the “liberal left” you refer to. They aren’t going anywhere. And Newark represents an interesting comparison. Booker is neo-liberal if ANYTHING…but while he at least stays around (an important though symbolic gesture) there are a group of people tied to his predecessor that want to see him gone.
“the poor and working class of Oakland and Newark ARE the “liberal left”.”
Let me modify a little– the flatlanders –of those that did vote –probably did support Dellums. However the backbone coalition that got Dellums election were black business people like Geoffery Peete, some union people and professional activists around institutions like KPFA. They are the ones really calling the shots. Some of the same people got Jerry Brown elected as well.
Hitchens (as well the different piece by Chip Johnson) has picked up on some of the brewing controversy in Oakland though he overestimates the religious angle at the expense of the racial dynamics of the recent Chauncey Bailey murder IMO.
http://www.slate.com/id/2171745/
could you provide a link to the chip johnson article?
I meant the Chip Johnson piece you linked to, not another article.
doh!