[News] The Black Congressional Caucus and Israel
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Wed Jan 14 12:28:33 EST 2009
http://www.counterpunch.org/ford01142009.html
January 14, 2009
The Black Congressional Caucus and Israel
Sullying Dr. King's Legacy
By GLEN FORD
Only two members of the Congressional Black Caucus mustered the
courage to oppose a House Resolution in support of Israel's savage
assault on Gaza, last week. An additional seven CBC members sought
cover by voting "present." The remaining 30 Black lawmakers (the
delegates from Washington, DC and the Virgin Islands cannot vote on
the House floor) gave their assent to a statement that could have
been written by the Israeli government - and probably was.
The Resolution, similar to one passed by the Senate on a voice vote,
is a blanket condemnation of Hamas, the political party that won
Palestinian Authority elections three years ago, and which Israeli
leaders vow to "destroy" before leaving Gaza. The destruction of a
mass political party requires massive civilian deaths. Destroying
Hamas in Gaza is like stamping out Democrats in The Bronx - with 1.4
million people, about the same size as the Palestinian enclave. The
document blames Hamas for "the breaking of the 'calm' and for
subsequent civilian casualties in Gaza." In other words, Israel is
absolved for all the men, women and children it has burned,
eviscerated, blasted into dust, sliced in pieces or melted like wax.
In addition to the usual nonsense about the U.S. maintaining an
"unwavering commitment to the...State of Israel as a Jewish and
democratic state (as if a settler state based on race-ethnicity can
be democratic) with secure borders (Israel is the only state in the
world that refuses to say where its borders are), the Resolution
invokes the United Nations and its Charter (Israel is the
unchallenged world champion violator of UN Resolutions, dating from
shortly after its declaration of independence, in 1948).
Could it be that Los Angeles Congresswoman Maxine Waters and
Milwaukee's Gwen Moore are the only Black Caucus members who remember
that Israel was racist South Africa's closest ally, the apartheid
regime's hi-tech weapons quartermaster and godfather to its nuclear
bomb project? Do the seven members that voted "present" - Donna
Edwards (MD), Keith Ellison (MN), Hank Johnson (GA), Carolyn
Kilpatrick (MI), Barbara Lee (CA), Donald Payne (NJ), Diane Watson
(CA) - believe that by refusing to take a position on Israeli crimes
against humanity in Gaza, they somehow salvage the Caucus's claim to
be the "conscience of the Congress?"
Where has John Conyers' conscience disappeared to? In July of 2006,
when the House passed an equally noxious Resolution in support of
Israel's systematic destruction of Lebanon's infrastructure, killing
over 1,000 people and displacing one million, Conyers and fellow
Detroiter Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick were the solitary CBC members to
vote "Nay." (Oakland's Barbara Lee and Maxine Waters voted
"present.") Then came the Democratic victory in the midterm
congressional elections and Conyers' chance to become chairman of the
Judiciary Committee - at Speaker Nancy Pelosi's pleasure. Conyers
picked a fight with Jimmy Carter over the former president's book,
Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Conyers objected to Carter's use of
the term "apartheid" in the book's title, saying it "does not serve
the cause of peace, and the use of it against the Jewish people in
particular, who have been victims of the worst kind of
discrimination, discrimination resulting in death, is offensive and
wrong." Translation: Not just Israel, but Jews are off limits to criticism.
It appears the old John Conyers has left the scene without those of
us who used to know him having had a chance to say goodbye. The
Israeli lobby has that kind of effect on erstwhile progressives and
anti-war folks. The Zionist ideology, and especially the chilling
effect of Zionist power, is probably the second-greatest impediment
to creation of a sustained American peace movement - the first
obstacle being the ideology of American Manifest Destiny, which is in
practice quite compatible with Zionism.
However, African Americans are least susceptible to the Manifest
Destiny/Zionist Mythology combo. Both ideologies wreak of racism, and
most Black people know it. The Congressional Black Caucus knows it,
too, but they are terrified of offending Israel's innumerable
political hit men.
Zionist power helped knock off two CBC members who refused to tow Tel
Aviv's line, in 2002. Georgia's Cynthia McKinney and Alabama's Earl
Hilliard found themselves heavily outspent and ultimately unseated by
otherwise puny challengers in Democratic primary contests. AIPAC
bragged of its ability to shut down independent-minded Black
politicians who fail to understand that U.S. foreign policy is shaped
by whatever is deemed good for Israel. Bullying works, especially
against the meek. Except for Maxine Waters and Gwen Moore, the
Congressional Black Caucus is out of the anti-war business.
That also goes for the Congressional Progressive Caucus which, with
71 members, claims to be the "single largest partisan caucus" in the
U.S. House, but whose members voted overwhelmingly in support of
Israeli barbarity. About two-thirds of the voting members of the
Black Caucus also belong to the Progressive Caucus - meaning, they
are members of two defunct organizations, and doubly useless to the
cause of peace.
Glen Ford is editor of Black Agenda Report, where this article
appears. He can be contacted at
<mailto:Glen.Ford at BlackAgendaReport.com>Glen.Ford at BlackAgendaReport.com
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