It sounds like a joke. A bad joke, but nonetheless you would expect that it was not serious. Yet it is.
I can only presume that there wasn't a single African American that was outstanding in entertainment and literature last year. A fallicy of logic, but that would explain not picking an enertainer or writer. In addition there must have been a dearth of African Americans that promoted social justice in 2009. Which again is beyond comprehension.
Therefore I am at a loss why the NAACP would want to pick Van Jones. According to Benjamin Todd Jealous, NAACP President,
"He resigned from the White House last year after some sought to discredit him for missteps, such as political statements made years ago. However, we can never afford to forget that a defining trait of our country is our collective capacity to practice forgiveness and celebrate redemption. This is a nation built on second chances.
In America, we ultimately judge people on what they are doing today for tomorrow, not for what they did yesterday. When former Alabama Governor George Wallace embraced integration, we forgave him for having championed segregation. When West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd embraced civil rights legislation, we forgave him for having defended racist organizations."
Ok, wait a minute.
Van Jones left the White House, in the middle of the night, in the middle of a holiday weekend, because of what he said. Not comments from decades ago, but in many cases just a year or less before President Obama was elected (some even after the election). Jones was a self-avowed communist. He made multiple statements that are at the least racially provocative if not insensitive or worse. And he politically attacked any view that diverged from his own.
Add to that, he did not ever refute, or disavow any of the charges that caused him to lose his position as the green jobs czar (the 9/11-truther document was not what did it). In fact the White House still has yet to refute, explain, or even acknowledge the issues surrounding Van Jones. But this is a man the NAACP calls a "treasure"?
Yes America is a land of second chances. Yes the nation has embraced former racists, AFTER they refuted their past actions and took steps to ammend the damage they had done. But America has little patience for those that are not repentant.
Van Jones is not some great hero of modern Black culture. He is not a figure I would want my nephews to emulate. Given he achieved great success, but he is equally damaged goods with a highly questionable purpose. We all want the futures of the next generation to be proud and successful, not shourded in debate and a warped reflection of America that our ancestors never once envisioned as they bled for our future.
So I was at a loss for what motivated the NAACP. Then I read what the real motivation was, from Jealous himself.
"The [green] jobs are union jobs with health benefits and living wages. At a time of record unemployment, when 2.7 million Americans are getting ready to lose unemployment benefits, green jobs can provide a way up for some families in dire need of good options."
It's political.
The NAACP isn't picking Jones because of what he has done, they are using him to help promote Democrats and the political agenda of President Obama. It's a con game, a bit of the old bait-n-switch. Isn't that wonderful.
Right now President Obama is losing approval with every sector of America, except Liberals and African Americans - so far. But his loss of power is so great that Democrats are abandoning his gameplan and praying they can pull out re-elections later this year. The Health Care Reform is a way to keep the liberal base with him, and now Van Jones is for African Americans.
That's not what I call a "treasure". It's more akin to a sleight of hand or a carrot in front of a horse. It's the equivalent of kissing babies and shaking hands, via the NAACP, at the expense of African Americans.
Black History Month is about the celebration of those Blacks that achieved great strides forward for all of us. It's about the empowerment of our race, and our lives in America. It isn't about how we can be used for a political agenda that is more than debatable on being a detriment to us than a boon.
The Image Awards is likewise a symbol of improvement and respect. Of the continuing struggle to move forward and those that empower us to do so. To acknowledge the achievements that Hollywood and the media often choose to overlook. Van Jones does not qualify to either ideal.
Some would say I am wrong. That Van Jones is deserving since he created the green jobs programs employing thousands since 2007. Which I dispute. How many green jobs have been created in Detroit, or New York City, or any major city? How many African Americans do you know that have one? Yet there are millions of African Americans that are out of work right now and have been since 2008 at least.
How about we compare Van Jones, and every percieved accomplishment, to past Awardees. Soledad O'Brien, Mohammad Ali, Tavis Smiley, Condoleezza Rice, Ruby Dee all are far more and have done more than Van Jones. His name just doesn't make the grade, if we are honest.
I understand that the NAACP is heavily vested in the politics of the Democrat Party and obviously the political welfare of President Obama. But there is no reason that these outside forces should sully what should be a time to go beyond the petty politics of the day.
Of course I pay too much attention to the politics that are evident. Maybe I should just vegetate and wonder if Michael Jackson's This Is It can be beaten by Precious, or if anything might beat The Inauguration of Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States from BET (like there really is a question on that).
But sometimes you need to see the abuse, and way the politics are using us. Or you can just be used, watch the show, and blindly vote Democrat without a clue as to what is really going on.
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