Prometheus 6

The phrasing, if I remember correctly, was, 'I publicly call on [all] [responsible] black leaders to repudiate the vicious whatever spread by the Black Enemy of the Month." It was all the rage for a while there. Black folks stopped responding when Abe Foxman started scheduling weekly "public call" press conferences.

The concept was refreshed this week in the Ohio Democratic debate. Marjorie Valbrun decided to nip it in the bud.

We could let it go at that (really...it's one of those "we yield the floor" joints) except I want to add that it's really silly in this case. It may be they felt compelled to give it one more shot because the Brother Minister is dying and the N.O.I. will go with him.

Sorry folks...it's been on momentum for a while now as far as I see. And given that, historically and actually, they've done some good for Black folks and no real harm to anyone else (sticks and stones, boys and girls...what's he hit you with but words?), I'm still working out whether the whole thing nets to a positive or negative. I gotta take white folks' crazy reactions into account...

Anyway, when Minister Farrakhan passes and the N.O.I. fades away, there will be no one else to demonize. No more litmus tests for Black folks...the Reverends are establishment, like them or not. No one's going to blacklist your variety show for interviewing the president of the Urban League. So maybe they couldn't resist this last opportunity.