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<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/ford01142009.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.counterpunch.org/ford01142009.html<br><br>
</a></font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000">January 14,
2009<br><br>
</font><h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4><b>The Black
Congressional Caucus and Israel <br><br>
<br>
</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5 color="#990000">
Sullying Dr. King's Legacy
</b></font></h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>By GLEN FORD
<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=6 color="#990000">O</font>
<font face="Verdana" size=2>nly 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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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).<br><br>
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?"<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
<b>Glen Ford</b> is editor of Black Agenda Report, where this article
appears. He can be contacted at
<a href="mailto:Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com">
Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com</a><br><br>
<br><br>
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