The efforts of the mainstream print media and other press organs to present Eric Motley and others as "independent thinkers" should be called for what it is: a public relations campaign that is designed to foster the view that black conservatives represent some vigorous core of integrity and critical thinking that is largely absent from the black community. None of these flack pieces, for example, would describe the politically radical Jarvis Tyner, the brother of the great jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, as an independent thinker although he is a Marxist-Leninst and a member of the current iteration of the American Communist Party.

There are far, far fewer black Americans who would describe themselves as being Marxist-Leninist and card carrying members of a far left wing political party than there are blacks who would describe themselves as being black conservative Republicans. Jarvis Tyner and other blacks who share his views are in great disagreement with the Democratic Party on scores of issues but they would not be considered or referred to as "independent thinkers."

What is going on here is a concerted and orchestrated effort to identify an alleged anomaly within the community, i.e., conservative black Republicans. and to use this so-called example as the basis for drawing unwarranted, i.e., not supported by the evidence, conclusions about the life-style choices and cultural tastes of blacks in general. Inductive reasoning is being used to promote a hypothesis that cannot be proved or disproved but simply accepted on its face as true.

Stories about Eric Motley et al. are simply part of a propaganda campaign that is designed to discredit and consequently greatly minimize questions, concerns, issues and problems about race in America. To be more exact, it is an effort to remove the spotlight from black Americans and to shift it to groups who have a less contentious history with the white majority and a less cantankerous response to the record of that history.

African Americans who have historically displayed an independence of thought and action in the United States have generally been vilified and condemned. Since the rise of Clarence Thomas and others too numerous to mention here, however, we have seen how he and his fellow rightist travelers and their political views are described as being "independent" but the entire range of black political thinking that runs counter to their philosophy is painted as being nothing more than a part of the prevailing consensus of the Democratic Party.

Elsewhere I have written that the true test of the views of black conservative Republicans comes in the voting booth, not on the op-ed pages of various newspapers and journals or on Sunday morning talk shows or Internet blog sites. If black conservatives have something of value to offer the black electorate then they should make their pitch directly to these voters. The mainstream media and what remains of the black press are not blocking the doorway. The establishment press, including NPR and TNR, would do whatever it takes to usher them through the doors.

NPR, for example, actually gave John McWhorter air time to rave against black Americans who, on their own time and dime, were initiating DNA research in Africa to discover their origins. NPR would not have granted a minute of time to me if I had offered to present the misguided opinion that Jews, for example, should desist from their research about the Nazi's genocidal campaign against their ancestors. Among other insults McWhorter delivered in his customary perfervid style was that blacks should be content with knowing their history on American soil.

We are in the midst of a propaganda war that is designed not only to remove the infrastructure of social programs and services that are needed by many African Americans but to discredit the very racial consciousness and history of African Americans in this country. When Clarence Thomas, for example, attacks the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. The Board of Education on the specious grounds that black children were as capable of learning in all black schools as they would have been in a school with white students he ignores the fact that these all-black schools were absolutely never given the same level of resources as the all-white schools. In other words, there never were any separate but equal public schools in the United States for black children. (Thomas also fails to address the mass and multi-generational expropriation of the value of the tax dollars that African Americans paid that was used primarily for the benefit of whites and their communities.)

If blacks can be convinced that their understanding of American history is mistaken and that the wrongs they have suffered are either undeserving of redress or have been redressed through the 1964 Civil Rights Act etc. then there will be no need to ameliorate blacks' problems through government intervention. The state can then devote its resources and energies to more productive uses such as enabling the rich to get richer or engaging in acts of global piracy by using the American military to invade and conquer other nations that have valuable natural resources. Sooner or later, the next stop will be Africa. And if McWhorter and folks like him can convince us that we have no real ties to that continent and its people then we will not raise our voices in protest when that time comes.

"NPR, for example, actually gave John McWhorter air time to rave against black Americans, who on their own time and dime, were initiating DNA research in Africa to discover their origins."

So, Johnny Mac has found a new axe to grind? Black folks should be content with tracing their ancestral lineages to plantations and cotton fields? Unlike Euro-Americans who love to research their ties to the "old country," black folks should never aspire to cross some imaginary genealogical line in the sand if it means going outside America's borders? What a sick little shit he is. He and others of his ilk probably stay up late every night brainstorming new ways to pander and coon for lucre (when they're not out bootlicking, buttsniffing and houseniggering at the GOP club). The competition among them must be fierce. It seems like damn near every other week they're in the corporate media vying with one another for pissboy-of-the-month. 

Great post and analysis, PT.

Hypocrisy knows no bounds with the handkerchief head crew. They rant about black folks receiving government assistance while gorging themselves on the welfare rolls of various conservative think tanks. McWhorter is a linguist, a well-respected one according to others in his field, but he didn't become the darling of the right wing because he knows the difference between an allomorph and an allophone. He's getting opportunities to publish and a steady stream of PR because of his willingness to carry water for the white nationalist agenda. As long as he continues to trash black folks, he will enjoy a steady rise through the ranks of the Pissboy Bucket Brigade.

NPR's administration has been taken over by Republican zealots. Nothing that comes from them surprises me anymore.

NPR's administration has been taken over by Republican zealots. Nothing that comes from them surprises me anymore.

The program decisions etc. at NPR are still being made by typical garden variety accommodationist liberals who believe that as long as NPR's ratings continue to climb upwards they must be doing something right. I have no objections at all to NPR giving time to McWhorter and others who share his views. I think, however, that his op-ed rant about black folks researching their genealogical history through the use of DNA should not have been aired because this research entails no expenditure of public dollars and has no effect on public policy in the United States.

McWhorter's alleged area of expertise is the intersection where race, politics and policy converge, not personal genealogy research. The efforts of black people to trace their African heritage and roots at their own volition and expense is no more a public policy issue than Hungarian immigrants trying to determine if they are related to the Hapsburgs. McWhorter's comments are tantamount to his pointing his finger at black people and ridiculing them for doing something that he has no personal interest in pursuing. It is street corner trash talking of the most vulgar sort because it singles black people out for engaging in behavior that non-blacks engage in with probably greater frequency and expense.

NPR's editors aired the segment because like most white liberals they believe that anything involving black folks is fair game for white folks to discuss and offer opinions on especially if the gate has been opened by a black person. In other words, if black folks suddenly began vacationing in Ghana and McWhorter felt they should visit Yellowstone Park he would be given air time to create the false impression that where black folks spend their leisure time is a matter of public concern and policy.

Excellent comments regarding McW's dribble. For me, the actions of folks like McW, and previous works of a similar nature, conjures up a type of "cognitive dissonance on demand" if you will, for white folks, be they liberal or otherwise. That is, any notion of American Blacks having the audacity to seek some measure of authenicity of their heritage or bio-roots, subsequently reveals the truly viscious nature of our cultural/physical narrative in the 'west.'  This then, indicts the perpertrators of these tragic circumstances and deeds, unmercifully, as being just BAD folks. So. Who wants to hear this? Not the perpertrators, as one would expect. So one is challenged to do any and everything possible to mitigate or obfuscate any effort to open these ugly doors. It's an expected reaction, and as such, has been with us since our arrival here whether they be Black or white. That is, the more that is revealed, the more we are to be intimidated from revealing such deeds. This is where "scholarly work" of the Horowitzs', the Murrays, and the McWhorters' come in. Or Micheal Myers' even. I mean the list goes on and on. It's our counterbalance, so to speak. Any way, in a perverse sort of way, for me, it's a good sign.