| The Way Missye Sees It |
| Nerves of Steele |
| by Missye K. Clarke |
| So Michael Steele's views make him "Black on the outside, white on the inside"? Come on Maryland. |
So, riddle me this - what did Nabisco ever do to hurt anybody? What atrocities have they committed - aside from creating and marketing great cookies, crackers and the annual yellow-papered box of Mallomars my husband adores so much?
Well, except recently, when they’d changed the recipe to Pecan Sandies and made the Chips Ahoy! cookies smaller, but I digress.
Michael Steele, The Lieutenant Governor of Maryland was at, a rally stumping for support for his Senatorial run to represent and replace the retiring Paul Soranas for the Old Line State in neighboring Washington D.C. The Senatorial candidate was pelted with embracing, inclusive names like “Token!”, “Uncle Tom”, “house nigger” while generous protestors heaved Oreo cookies at him - symbolizing that Steele is “black on the outside, white on the inside.”
What was his crime? Why such hate from a group of people usually touted as championing minorities and their under-representation in housing, jobs, politics, education, and workplace issues?
Answer - Steele is a God-fearing, GOP, Ronald Reagan conservative. And, he has the gall to denounce most Democratic, liberal boilerplate thinking and slogans they held so dear for forty plus years.
Thousands of Blacks hold varied elected offices all across this country, including a dozen or so Congressional seats. According to a new study by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, there are just 59 Black Republicans holding any office requiring a partisan election in the US. As lieutenant governor, Steele—in competition with Ohio’s lieu governor Jeanette Bradley--holds the ranking of highest Black political official. Bradley’s very liberal although, she’s GOP and is under one of the worst GOP governors, Bob Taft, descendent of 27th President William Howard Taft, so her place politically isn’t really a threat to the establishment mentality of the Black Democratic Party.
Steele is a threat. He’s a Black Republican and a staunch conservative. His case history’s solid on his stance on issues: his adopted mother forfeited welfare to work at low paying jobs to send her son to top schools. His influences were, as well as his mother, were Ronald Reagan, Malcolm X. Frederick Douglas, the late Pope John Paul and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Aside from being a staunch conservative, Steele’s a lifelong Catholic, which explains his stance on two key issues: abortion and the death penalty. Here, he differs with his boss on both concerns: Steele’s pro-life even in cases of rape and incest and the use of the death penalty is cause for concern, he believes. Steele has handled himself with poise, dignity, class and elegance, even when he was invited to call in a talk show to explain his platform and the caller lobbed the same attacks at him the protestors did at his rally recently.
The way I see it, Blacks are being used by the same group of people claiming they assist them at every turn. The same political people that gave the Blacks Oreos to pelt Steele with were white Democrats. Those like Steele who don’t subscribe to the boilerplate slogans and mentality of most Blacks are either white devils, Uncle Toms or house Negros. Martin Luther King said no one is to be judged based on the color of one’s skin, but to be judged based on the true content of his character. Many Blacks have forgotten this and will, like any other ethnic group, protect bad behavior and give lukewarm praise to good behavior or so-so cheer on a modicum of success. Since when, if you’re a minority, is “white Man bad, Black Man good, white Man bigot, Black Man victim” always the stance to take politically? Because it keeps people like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson well-fed, well-dressed and well-coiffed in the bigot huckstering business. Common sense doesn’t make money - causes do.
That kind of intellectual inbreeding and stunted growth will reap nothing. Steele’s, and the many Blacks before and with him who hold such views are starting to come around to this way of thinking.
How apropos for the late Frederick Douglas to close this out.
"What was possible for me is possible for you. Do not think because you are colored you cannot accomplish anything. Strive earnestly to add to your knowledge. So long as you remain in ignorance, so long will you fail to command the respect of your fellow men."
I don’t see many in the Democratic camp espousing this philosophy, Marylanders, do you?
If you choose incorrectly, citizens, the blame rests solely to you.
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