Cobb

Cobb,

Armstrong doesn't think there's a debt that's still owed. Seem's to me that he thinks that debt was paid when whites let us stay in this country after slavery, instead of shipping us off with our brothers to Liberia. And we know how well that turned out.

"one of these days the umptee ump billion dollar war on terrorism will be over and downtown Bagdad will look better than downtown Compton, CA."

Don't hold your breath. White Americans are tired of Black people asking for stuff. Shit, most times I am sick of it myself, and wondering why we aren't creating instread of asking. There will always be another war, or some other crisis, or some other fat cat cronies to give that money to.

"In a more subtle controversy, one of the city councilmen of Boston is promising boycotts, marches and sit-ins if black contractors don't get their fair share of the work building the physical stage for the Democratic Convention coming up. The irony of such a position is astoundingly thick. "

I worked for a certain well-known black L.A. congresswoman during the 2000 DNC Convention here in L.A., and we had to do the same thing. Ironic or not, it worked. Contrary to the widely held beliefs, but in line my experiences in Boston, it might not there. At least the Dems. have some Black people who are willing to do this. I'm not so sure the same could be said of the Republicans.

"I wonder what is stopping the browns and the blacks from creating their own union."

Probably the law.

i'm not particularly impressed with armstrong williams or billy dee williams. as far as i'm concerned they are equals. the current crop of black neocon mouthpieces remind me so much of bingo long's traveling all stars & motor kings
it's not that armstrong and billy dee aren't talented stars, it's that they are not producers. so they can only be taken seriously up to a limit. so i really don't want to get bogged down with williams or his position on reparations.

american taxpayers will, in fact, pay for damn near anything, so long as they can be convinced that the right people are asking for it. lots of industries and special intersts get bailed out. what gwbush did for american steel was protectionism 101. 99 out of 100 americans know we bailed out the airlines after nine-eleven, but only the one knows how many billions or feels it in his pocket. the reparations issue could be solved with 50 billion dollars any day. enough about that.

i hear you about who asks for what and what whitefolks get sick of hearing. but often whitefolks only hear what they want to hear and the ethics of racial resentment is a major factor in american politics. everyone knows some repair is the right thing to do, but listen to the reasons why not sometime. such arguments are very weak excuses not to do the right thing. but the bottom line is that neither blacks nor browns nor yellows have figured out how to make whitefolks pay politically. boycotts and sit-ins and marches only appeal to white guilt and elevated sensibilities. jesse jackson has figured out how to make it hurt in the pockets, but well, he's jesse jackson.

maxine waters knows the difference between asking and creating, and she deserves credit for her work on enterprise zones. we can talk about the capitalization of black businesses for ever, but i'm not sure that black capitalism isn't a dead end. it's a subject i try to discuss but don't get much traction. blackfolks don't like to admit that they don't actually prefer black banks and insurance companies. black banks and insurance companies don't like to admit that they can't finance the dreams of black businessmen.

i expect nothing special from that direction. what i expect is more of the same vis a vis corporate integration. the future is more like richard parsons at aol time-warner than it is herman russell of russell construction. look at a guy like bernard kinsey. it's what his crowd are going to do that's going to make the difference. as his network spreads, that's when the big changes come.