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WEEKLY COLUMN:
JDM vs the WORLD

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FINE PRINT

So, it turns out that Secretary of State Colin Powell—the highest-ranking African-American in the history of the United States government—has sold out on the sum total of his people. Or so says actor and singer Harry Belafonte.

“In the days of slavery, there were those slaves who lived on the plantation and [there] were those slaves that lived in the house,” the activist-cum-entertainer said in a recent radio interview, suggesting that George W. Bush’s White House is a bona fide plantation. “Colin Powell’s permitted to come into the house of the master. When Colin Powell dares to suggest something other than what the master wants to hear, he will be turned back out to pasture.”

Belafonte’s rhetoric is wrong, of course, and frighteningly wrong at that. But his comments warrant consideration nevertheless, for they seem to reveal an important, if not intentional, lesson on racism as it persists in America today.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t necessarily care whether my leaders are this color or that, just as long as they do their jobs and do them well. To that end, Colin Powell’s high rank and decorated past are all I need to have respect for the man. However, the fact that Powell—of all people—is the first African-American Secretary of State is something that sits very well with me. Knowing this distinction will forever belong to a man of such vision and integrity is something from which I take great patriotic pride.

Mind you, there have been times when I’ve disagreed with Colin Powell from my little perch here on the sidelines. On occasion, his dovish voice sounds strange amongst the flock of hawks with which he flies. Yet there’s a reason why his voice never goes unheard, and that’s because he provides a counterpoint not for the sake of providing a counterpoint but rather to ensure the means always fit the end. In other words, his want for peace and belief in war as a last resort comes without an agenda. He is devoted to diplomacy but neither defiance nor dissent.

What this means, in short, is that Colin Powell has transcended his status as one of the most widely respected African-Americans. Instead, he is one of the most widely respected Americans, period. Rightfully so. He represents what America’s supposed to stand for. He’s blind to what’s black and white, and dedicated to the red, white and blue.

This is why Harry Belafonte’s remarks are so alarming.

Obviously, the old man’s disdain is for an establishment that’s done his family wrong, an establishment built upon slavery and the rules of Jim Crow. His hostility towards this establishment is legitimate, make no mistake. As a man who’s done well for himself in America, however, he should know as well as anyone that he’s wary of an establishment that’s no longer in power.

Today, an African-American doesn’t have to sellout, to coin an unfortunate phrase. Former mentalities may have hijacked the humanity of an entire ethnic population, but many prejudices have long since crumbled, and many paths have been cleared. Hard work and an education are the only prerequisites for success now. An African-American is as likely to succeed in modern America as anyone else, and, whether Mr. Belafonte cares to admit it or not, Colin Powell is proof.

The same goes for Condoleezza Rice, Bush’s National Security Adviser. Ms. Rice is the first woman ever to hold her position, and, behind none other than Colin Powell, she’s just the second African-American. She is someone who transcended the obstacles in her life, including the Alabaman segregation into which she was born. (If it counts for anything, I’m rooting for her to take on Hillary Rodham Clinton in the presidential election of 2008).

If fine, upstanding and accomplished people like Mr. Powell and Ms. Rice could somehow draw the contempt of their African-American brethren, especially from noted civil rights activists like Mr. Belafonte, then something is apparently wrong. It forces one to wonder where racial parity fits into the modern civil rights movement, and furthermore, it begs the question: Is there a modern civil rights movement?

Well, there is a modern civil rights movement, but it’s masked itself as something else entirely: Success.

The Declaration of Independence affords all Americans the inalienable rights of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Was there a time when African-Americans were denied these rights nonetheless? Absolutely, and it was wrong, and lots of blood was shed to prove it in the 1860s. But nowadays, more than ever, these rights are there for the taking. While I don’t doubt there are areas of the country in which racism still runs rampant or operates as an institution, there are plenty of places where racism has long since passed, and the government—as evidenced by Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice—is one of these places.

And it goes beyond that.

Take a guy like Michael Jordan, for example. Few would argue his legacy as one of the greatest athletes of all time, but a half dozen NBA championships scarcely define him as a man. Had he not been able to jump so high, this fellow would’ve found an alternate avenue for success, anyway—you can take that to the proverbial bank. He’s as natural an entrepreneur as they come, after all, with a bright mind for business and marketing, and a prowess for self-promotion that may well supercede his athletic ability. Michael Jordan’s a role model in more ways than one, and, in case no one’s noticed, the man doesn’t spend a whole lot of time playing the persecution card.

Growing up, I had two heroes, and they were Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King. The latter happens to be an African-American icon, the former happens to be the figurehead who freed African-Americans from slavery once and for all. And it was Dr. King who envisioned an America where the truths we hold to be self-evident—Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness—would be bestowed upon every man, woman and child, regardless of race, regardless of creed. As much as I believe Dr. King’s dream would’ve made President Lincoln proud, so, too, do I believe Colin Powell’s personal triumphs would’ve made Dr. King smile.

Colin Powell is Dr. King’s dream—the American dream.

Look, I don’t doubt Mr. Belafonte’s sincerity here. Not in the least. But I think his sentiments are misguided by an ideology that’s now more counterproductive than anything else, and by that I mean the ideology of the Left. I’m unconvinced that the Left has anything left for African-Americans and other minorities in this country.

The Left would gladly throw billions upon billions of dollars at inner-city public schools that haven’t got the slightest clue what to do with the money they already have. Yet the Left balks at vouchers and denies African-American parents the chance for financially viable private school educations for their kids. Is the Left so beholden to the votes of the teachers’ unions that they’re unwilling to champion the little guy and at least give vouchers for city kids a try?

The Left will also cry racism when a guy like Rudy Giuliani puts more cops on the streets. Yet criminality is an equal opportunity fiend. Drugs, rape and murder are awful, unacceptable crimes, no matter a neighborhood’s dominant color, and yet many African-American communities are held hostage by these things. But if you’ve been to Times Square in the last several years and felt like you were walking through Disneyland sans the singing puppets, then you’ve seen for yourself that deterrence works. Just imagine how many African-American children can be spared the illegal activity occurring on their street corners. Just imagine how many of these children can break their families’ cycle of poverty forever when given free reign to do so.

The fact is, the Left long ago staked claim to issues of civil rights, and it hasn’t let go. Now that it appears the Left’s run out of ideas, people like Mr. Belafonte have resorted to attacking non-liberals who want to make constructive change. If you disagree with the Left’s civil rights policies and you’re not an African-American, then you’re simply a racist. If you disagree and you are an African-American, then worse, you’re an Uncle Tom. I’m not entirely sure what this fellow’s got to gain by clinging so tightly to the Left, but it’s time for a change either way.

I’d never suggest that the sins of slavery should be forgotten. I wouldn’t necessarily disagree with slave reparations, either—though only if paid for by corporations that benefited from slave labor, not by United States citizens who had nothing to do with it. And I think African-Americans should continue to fight the good fight. They should cherish their culture, dedicate themselves to the full realization of their potential, and rise above the obstacles placed before their people.

They should praise Colin Powell for affecting the Bush administration’s policies, for giving them a voice in the high ranks of government. But spoiling his success because he’s undaunted by the color of his skin? Now that is racism, and it adversely affects both sides.

In a sad twist of fate, when a man like Harry Belafonte calls Colin Powell a houseboy, it only suggests Harry Belafonte is the one who’s not quite free.

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