Splitting hairs on torture …

Last night’s episode of SUNDAY NITE TALK raised the issue of torture and whether or not our national conversation appears to split hair on the issue.  Since the nomination/comfirmation of AG Mukasey, the discourse on the topic seems a bit ridiculous – after all, torture is torture.  Anything causing pain inflicted by another human being is abuse.  Is not abuse a form of torture?  If we can’t get our lines straight on what torture is exactly, then how do we define child abuse?  domestic violence?  inhumane treatment of animals?  The lines get blurred. 

Beyond the usual conversation on the U.S. losing its moral high ground (since we didn’t have much of a moral high ground in the first place once you throw slavery, Jim Crow, Japanese internment, Waco, Black Wall Street and other misdeeds into the mix) there’s another angle to this. It’s rather contradictory for the Administration and its partisan cheerleaders impose the constant mantra of “support the troops” yet choose deliberate ignorance through the outright dismissal of military expert views on what they have accurately defined as “drowning torture.”  We didn’t know ”supporting the troops” meant conveniently disrespecting them when their expert analysis doesn’t align with your perspective.  

Thoughts on National Black Out Day …

Let’s be on the real about National Black Out Day, scheduled for Friday, November 2nd.  And being real about it may stray a bit from conventional wisdom on the subject.  Some cats, for sure, may not like it. National Black Out Day, we guess, is an o.k. thing. But, only if it drives the main point that we have accumultated wealth that is comparable to South Korea’s economy. Most of us don’t know that. So, yeah, it’s about time for a segment of the population that expends over $700 billion annually to finally promote collective reflection on those issues which present a constant challenge.  

However, on the flip, we need a Financial Literacy/Asset Growth/Save Your Dollars Day more than we need a National Black Out Day.  Not shopping for a day, in the grand scheme of things, may not really do that much considering we have to go back to the same retail venues the next day. 

In our analysis, we need to teach our communities (especially our kids) the financial basics before we start dictating certain days they can’t buy the latest pair of Jordans, or the latest version of Halo, or the McDonald’s combo.  After that day, what did we learn?  A vast number of Black folks don’t know how to write checks or open up a bank account or what an interest rate is. So, suddenly, we think telling this uneducated segment to simply not spend for a day is going to reverse their fortunes?   

The true impact comes from our collective ability to accumulate economic empowerment through asset growth.  Economic empowerment leads to greater political empowerment which leads to better policy which leads to reduced injustice and improved quality of life.  Black Out Day should be Black Empowerment Day.  And, let’s be smart about this, we are inextricably linked and locked into a consumer-driven economy.  Not spending drives economic indicators down and financial stressors up – when peeps lose jobs due to decreased spending, who do you think is the first to go? 

In the final analysis, the powers that be don’t respect you for how much money you spend in their places of business.  They respect you for how much money you make and how you use it. Respect is based on how much power and political/economic dominance you wield. Why not a National Black Buy Stocks Day? Or a National Open Up a Savings Count Day? Or National College Admissions Day?  Yeah – we know.  It’s not “sexy” enough.  O.K. - let sexy go ahead and find us holding the short end of the stick. The CEO of Merril Lynch (who, after 5 years there, is about to bounce on a negotiated $140 million severance package) is the grandson of slaves. They put him there because of his ability to wield financial clout.  As is the case with Bob Johnson, who can still get mainstream banks to back his ventures or the CEO of American Express, Kenneth Chenault. We wonder what there take is on Black Out Day.

We will say this: there is still a place for targeted economic boycotts in places like Jena, LA where injustice is identified and it is found that the entire town/city/state is participating in said racism.  In cases like that, economic boycotts can make a difference.  The Jena 6 would have been out of jail much earlier if folks had simply put their money where their mouth was, pulled together and sent the town and county government a message: screw with us and we’ll screw you.