Campbell's Nickels: The Progeny of African American Representative Democracy

(Portions of Jesse Cabbage's Interview by: Dot Smith)

An elderly Jesse sat slumped in her padded iron gliding chair. The years have ravaged her once robust body, but Jesse's mind reminds crystal clear. In the middle of her discourse on the crucial role of the black church during the civil rights struggle, she stopped and looked out across her lawn to the sidewalk where her son, no longer young at forty-nine, vigorously polished his second hand, but newly acquired automobile. Jess shook her head. Taking a deep seemingly painful breath Jesse said, "They all wanted cars. I always thought my well educated children would set their sights on more than material riches and petty destructive pleasures, do something with their lives to further our struggle. You know, not one of my children understands the argument, let alone invest time in tackling the problem confronting African people in this country. All that work we did, all that struggling gone to waste in a single generation. My children are not conscious." A long tear overflowed spilling from her drenched eyes and slid slowly down her bronze cheek. Swatting it away, she broke eye contact, her tear blurred vision moved beyond me to her humble dwellings.

Situated in the heart of a decaying Empowerment Zone, Jesse' s house looked little better than those around it, but there was pride mixed with sadness reflected in her brown eyes. The house accrued little value over the years due to bank redlining in African American communities. Nonetheless the slum's telltale signs of rotting shingles and pealing paint were held at bay thanks to Jesse's vigilance. Clearing her throat, Jesse said, "I never wanted to be rich. I never imagined it, but my children all wanted to be rich. That's not what I wanted to give my children. Now, 'course they ain't rich, but they are educated, so I wonder what happened. I look around me, and I wonder why ain't it better? Lord, what's going to happen to my grandchildren and their children? They don't even understand what is happening to them; they are worse off today than we were coming up. All our struggling, fighting and dying in the streets have amounted to nothing. Dot, you know I stayed with my husband, not so much because of love , but for my children and keeping my family together. I know it was the right thing to do, but sometimes looking at my children, I wonder: What in the world is a poor mother to do?"

Jesse Cabbage is just one of the numerous unsung heroines of the civil rights struggles of the sixties and seventies She, in spirit if not physically, dodged nightsticks and marched behind Dr. King in support of striking sanitation workers in Memphis, TN. Jesse marched in the streets and sang the songs at the counter of Main Street diners. She remembers singing..."We shall not be moved...like a tree planted by the water...we shall not be moved..." And you know, for Mrs. Cabbage and the generation of African Americans before and after her, we have not moved.

As she assesses the progress of the last forty years, she, like President Clinton in commemorating Central High's historic milestone, has but to turn to face the crowd of curious onlookers, news cameras, reporters, spectators, and demonstrators to see the dilapidated neighborhood cosmetically treated for the presidential visit this week, and know her assessment is far too accurate. In revisiting Little Rock, Arkansas to examine and reflect on this forty years of progress, one cannot help but observe the dichotomy between what we see and the true meaning of progress. We fought for access, integration and supposedly won it. So, what is wrong with the unvarnished picture of the neighborhood surrounding Little Rock's Central High School? Whose progress are we really commemorating this week, and at what price its achievement? What really happened in the intervening years? What exactly has reduced Mrs. Cabbage to public tears? Why does she feel we won nothing that has not been corrupted by some political backroom deal?

The struggle of the sixties was for access, a right supposedly vested in the right to vote and be represented by those we elect, a right guaranteed all citizens under the Constitution. It's a national disgrace African Americans had to fight to receive it in the 1960's, not the 1860's. We secured the right to pay our fare and sit anywhere on the bus, use public restrooms, be educated in institutions financed by our tax dollars, drink from public fountains, and yes to vote. Yet, in the real scheme of things, what have we really gained beyond inferior inner city schools, decaying neighborhoods and an unending cycle of poverty and unemployment. In terms of being able to elect Black officials in record numbers, we have learned well the mechanics of casting ballots. Bill Campbell, the current mayor of Atlanta, is a prime example of the black voting success story. He epitomizes black officials elected to represent our interest. The oxymoron is: Black elected officials owe their allegiance, not to the voters, but those possessing economic wealth and power financing their campaigns. Bill Campbell is personification of the progeny of African American representative democracy. For such individuals, their election to public office represents an opportunity to emulate the wealthy in their traditional response to issues affecting African American socio-economic welfare.

Current debate on campaign financing sheds some light on the socio-political and economic dilemma confronting African Americans in this country. An historic examination of campaign financing glaringly highlights the absurdity in asserting African Americans will ever overcome the ravages of slavery on our socio-political and economic development. Given the 1600's as a reference, while others were amassing wealth in the American frontier, we were the slave labor that bloated profit margins and greased the way for the accumulation of wealth. Financing political campaigns, the wealthy assured access to policy-makers and favorable legislation to further their accumulation. Consequently, by the time emancipation made slavery a no-no, achieving physical freedom brought relatively little change in the lives of former slaves. Their emancipation without reparations led to the establishment of a system which permanently devalued ex-slave human capital; African American cheap labor greased the wheels of the industrial revolution. This dictated an entire generation would be condemned to providing cheap labor for the wealthy who could and did finance more political campaigns to gain even greater access. And, so it has gone for as long as this country has existed as a political democracy. Thus, Congress and campaign reform is a contemporary oxymoron, like black elected officials and representative democracy. More importantly, it explains why the systemic problem of slavery was not impacted by the cosmetic changes which occurred during the 1970's. It was the same for African Americans emerging from slavery, only physical symbols were removed. So what if they no longer spit on young African American children and call them nigger in public while they try to go to school? African Americans were given political freedom not economic freedom. Therefore, for all practical purposes, African Americans are in the same relative position as they were coming out of slavery. In fact, an empirical examination of historical median family income and unemployment data provides the hard evidence validating Mrs. Cabbage's astute assessment of African American life.

As rapid technological change alter and further complicate the socio-political and economic landscape, the growth of the military-industrial complex and well funded multi-national corporations in the current information revolution make it necessary to view the African American condition in the limelight of geo-political economic considerations. From a global perspective, labor experienced serious setbacks in the advancement of its cause against the interest of huge multi-nationals and the military industrial complex. Consequently, African American human capital has undergone serious devaluation. The present global surplus of cheap labor places African Americans at risk of being viewed as expendable human capital. Historically, war has been used as an economic tool to reduce undesirable surpluses. War to reduce the teeming mass of discontent is no longer a viable option for America, thanks to our national experience with Vietnam. But, a more subtly insidious weapon of surplus labor control is being utilized instead. Its far reaching manifestations find expression in police brutality, crime and enforcement legislation, a proliferation of dangerous recreational drugs and huge privatized prisons housing victims of unfairly enforced drug and criminal laws. Coupled with the human cost of disease, unemployment, poverty, malnutrition and the countless other traditional human attrition weapons sick societies use in maintaining the status quo and protecting its global profit margins; genocide is a genuine scenario for the African American. Check its principal target, young African American males overcrowding America's prisons. Hence, the African American dilemma for the new millennium is surviving America's active termination policies.

Sadly, African American genocide is being blindly aided and abetted by those we elect to represent us. Voting for the current crop of political hacks, like Bill Campbell, is an exercise in futility. Long before he came along, campaign financing destroyed the whole concept of representative democracy. A vote no longer, if ever, carries with it the guarantee of equal access to those making the decisions that ultimately influence economic access and hence the accumulation of wealth. This and their personal quest for material riches are the reasons hordes of black elected officials all across the country have done nothing to change the persistent economic problems of poverty and unemployment in African American communities. Certainly, having had several of them, a black mayor at its helm has done nothing to change the relative economic condition of African Americans in Atlanta. Is Atlanta a Black mecca? Yes! It draws African Americans, given its outward facade as " a city too busy to hate," from all across the country. Many can testify to the difficulty of climbing its economic ladder. Native Atlantans provide the most cogent testimony to the lack of real progress our struggle for freedom and equality has wrought in the wake of morally and ethically corrupt black elected officials.

Campbell's one upmanship on his closest competitor, another hack, Marvin Arrington, revealed to the press his impressive campaign organization was close to attaining its anticipated goal of raising an unprecedented $2 million to finance his re-election effort. The sheer obscenity of publicly flaunting how compromised he intends his tenure to be should be enough in itself to turn black voters off. Yet, we do the opposite by applauding his expertise in aiding the continued rape of the African American community. Even he would have to agree; he owes his allegiance to the powers that be. The $2 million re-election war chest his corporate supporters have provided is ample testament even without his glaring absence of any record of African American economic empowerment. With a generous margin for error, if re-elected, the mayor's salary of $100,000 per year with perks and amenities included will provide access to approximately $1 million dollars. How does the mayor intend to re-pay those contributing to his campaign coffers to the tune of $2 million? Of course, Jesse would say the answer is as plain as the nose on your face: It's business as usual. Bill hires a chauffeur to shine his new car.

Like Jesse looking at her son absorbed in polishing his car, African Americans need to do more than amass individual material things, drown their misery in drugs, alcohol, other petty pleasures, and ignorance. Campbell and his predatory predecessors's propensity to stack nickels and parade as public spokesperson for Nike and/or other multi-national corporations making obscene profits exploiting the natural resources and labor in developing countries symbolizes how morally corrupt some African Americans have become in their quest for the almighty dollar and the things it affords. You can be certain, like Andrew Young, Campbell will sanction all kinds of inhumane labor conditions in his benefactor's sweat shops to the global embarrassment of African Americans. More importantly, condoning such gross international labor exploitation exacerbates efforts to reduce unemployment among Americans, resulting in a greater labor surplus in the African American community. A poignant example of a people trapped in the unfortunate position of being cheap labor in their own nation is the Palestinians. Israel's use of war to devastate the Palestinian economy assures a ready pool of cheap labor to further its economic development and regional expansion. In an environment characterized by a total disregard for the human condition, the question that remains is how long will we allow Campbell and others of his ilk to bilk nickels at the expense of African American survival?

All around the US there are appalling examples of white flight from the inner city aided by urban development and other federal, state and local funding. In plain sight of black elected officials across the United States, billions, if not trillions, have been usurped or otherwise redirected from urban economic development to manifest suburban sprawl. Objectively examine the unvarnished truth of Little Rock, Arkansas and its Central High School community. It is but a microcosm of what has occurred and continues in cities like Memphis, Atlanta and New Orleans, just to name a few. The use of federal Empowerment Zone funding directed toward development in impoverished communities is another charade to steal more funds from outlay mandated to ease the pervasive unemployment and poverty existing in African American communities. Given the evidence, we must repudiate the Campbells, Browns, Arringtons, Canadas and Youngs. They are blinded by the wall of nickels they erect separating them and the need to take responsibility for the conditions exiting in the African American community. As Reverend Hosea Williams would publicly agree, these Toms and Thomasinas must be turned out, dismissed from out midst and censured beyond rehabilitation. To survive the difficult days ahead, we must remove the fences around churches and revive their traditional role as an educational and motivational force for positive change within our community. Alas, to survive beyond the dawn of the new millennium, we must put an end to the political antics and behavior of elected officials which suck all hope from Jesse's vision for her great grand children. We must give Jesse more than just the black hole she envisions consuming her progeny's fragile future. As forecasted by her generation whose shadow falls long at the dawn of the 21st century, Jesse's bleak prognosis is a devastating indictment against the lack of progress the ballot or education as equalizers in American representative democracy. Given the historic and current state of affairs, America will never willingly afford African Americans real economic freedom, we must take it to survive the new millennium. Our hope resides in becoming unified. We are a strong people, so despite the overwhelming oppression we have withstood, as a group, we possess vast economic power in the dollars we spend consuming goods, donating to church collection plates and the jobs we perform daily. Our dollars spent, charitable contributions and the jobs we perform should be viewed as our ballots for securing our future. This is a much more powerful instrument than the ballot for realizing the socio-political and economic changes necessary to make a positive impact on conditions in the African American community. The third (3) anniversary of the Million Man March is a nationwide call for African Americans to demonstrate that power. All African Americans can participate by simply doing nothing October 16, 1997. Before Jesse looks across her small lawn one more time and lament her self-absorbed son, let us not go to work or buy anything on that day to make an economic statement, and in the process demand the access our vote has failed to secure in American representative democracy.