The Kennedys

The Kennedys…

By Brother Tracy Gibson....

I know because I’ve heard it all before: The Kennedys’ base of economic power was founded on illegal liquor during prohibition; they didn’t ``really’’ care about Black people because the Great Civil Rights Legislation of the Johnson era would have never been passed were it not for the momentum of the strong wind at Johnson’s back due to the Kennedy Assassination; Robert Kennedy actually worked as a legislative aid to Joseph McCarthy, the Anti-Communists Senator from Wisconsin—how could he ever actually be considered a ``true’’ liberal?; John Kennedy was an unethical womanizer who really didn’t even deserve to be in office—why should we as Black people revere him? These are some of the reasons my Black Nationalist friends give for not respecting and looking up to this family that literally gave the lives of two of their most beloved members (John Kennedy and his younger Brother Robert) to the basic causes of liberalism and progress during the 1960’s. I say HOGWASH!! I love the Kennedy's and their liberal legacy. Do you have any idea what the positive impact would have been on the Black community if Ted Kennedy's full employment bill had been passed 20 years ago?  It would have been very big and very positive.  We let the media and the Republicans sway us into thinking we don't even deserve a damned job!! That is group stupidity on our part and especially among our liberals, progressive and even our Black nationalists.  We are so busy running around still hollering about how we are and were raped and beaten and burned by White police and White mobs [which is true, but have you ever thought of how small the actual amount of us are actually killed literally at the hands of Whites? OK, the institutional racism is VERY real, but much of the Kennedy's work and legacy was fighting AGAINST such intolerance.]

To those criticisms I say no man or woman is perfect in our own eyes [How GOD perceives us, we really don't know.]. There have been similar womanizing allegations against the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and he is still revered and respected widely in the Black community and especially among Black Muslims; There were charges of moral ineptitude, drug use and corruption against former Mayor Marion Berry of Washington, D.C. , [the FBI arested Him is D.C. on Drug Charges after He ws video taped smoking crack cocaine in Jan. of 1990.] but most Blacks who live in D.C. and some Black Nationalists will point to the fact that he created many jobs for Blacks in the Capital City and stood up for ``our basic principals’’ as Black people, and forget about what he did wrong. D.C. residents went on to elect Berry to a third term in office [1995 to 1999] after the ethical charges and drug charges were dealt with openly in the media and the courts and after Berry had actually served time [six months]. Berry was also, according to Wikipedia, mayor from 1979 to 1991 and now serves as City Council representative for the City's 8th Ward. I saw a film on Berry and was really informed about how the People of D.C. really loved Him for the jobs progrms that literally helped thoudands of D.C. residents keep food on the table. No other Mayor of D.C. has stood UP for the People of D.C. like Berry has and it is appropriate that He was forgiven the Way He has been. But WE need to spread that forgiveness around to some other people of prominence who have tried to help us as Well.  

I prefer to look at the positive things the Kennedy's have done and the Great Society they envisioned instead of harping on some of their more negative aspects. For example, I believe that Robert Kennedy, after a little-known trip to South Africa during the height of the Anti-Black, pro racist and pro-White Apartheid system in that lush, beautiful country came away with more respect and love for Black people than most Whites even today can muster. I also believe that most of the Kennedy's had a true and great love for the Under Dog, the left out, the disenfranchised, the hungry and the down trodden. Robert Kennedy’s famous trip to Appalachia and other points Down South before the 1968 election helped him deeply understand the issues and concerns of poor people. Since when in Hell did President Obama EVER say a damned thing about helping poor people? The term poor or poverty was never even uttered during the 2008 or 2012 elections.  If there is sin [and generally speaking I don't believe in the concept of sin because it is used to oppress us, divide us and keep us at each other's throats as Black and oppressed people]. He [Robert Kennedy] was not afraid to say the word ``POOR’’ like some liberal presidential candidates are today and he really seemed to aim much of the work he was proposing for his first term in office as President at alleviating poverty and the many disruptions it causes for North American society and the rest of the world.

I sent a movie idea to film director Oliver Stone (``JFK’’-1991), in which I advocated for a film to be made that would mythic ally examine the first two years of a Robert F. Kennedy Administration. I think and deeply believe that our nation and our world was robbed—and I mean to an incredible Zenith degree—when Sir Han Sir Han ?? pulled the trigger and killed RFK after the California primary in June of 1968 ?? I also think that a fictionalized film examination of Robert’s first two years in office would be incredibly healing to the country—a country which, I feel, never fully recovered from the assassinations of Robert and John Kennedy. [And Black people have never healed from the assassinations of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr, Med gar Eve rs, and the blatant murders o so many others. We think we have healed, but we haven't and that lack of taking the time to heal, I believe, can be traced to our illegal drug use, the hopelessness in our communities, our sometimes lack of fortitude, dedication, hard work and determination as we face school, classes, work, and even church and our positive interactive relations with each other. Those loses were just too great to just move on from… many of our hearts are still beating for the Kennedy’s and much of our innocence as a country is still left on the ground with whatever faint, minuscule traces of blood that are still left on the ground in Dallas and in Los Angeles.

As We reach the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John Kennedy on November 22, 1063, we must finally begin a healing process.  Maybe we need to have seminars, workshops and teach-ins for a year or two to talk openly about how we feel, not only so much about the technical aspects of the killings or if the government, the MOB and / or the CIA was involved, but just how we feel.  How we, if we are liberal or progressive, how we felt robbed in a way that can never be replaced by a phony liberal like President Obama who has taken the liberal legacy of the Kennedy's and others and confounded it with way too many White faces and too many Republicans surrounding him in the Oval Office.  My sister said it best, President Obama thinks like a White man.  He is said by Oprah Winfrey to be perhaps The Savior, I cringe every time I play that comment back in my mind. The present President of the United States is basically using the cover of liberalism to continue the Bush doctrine and do the same old things to Black people that most conservatives have done--tax cuts for the rich; cut backs in already Nil vital social programs; strong financial support for the Pentagon and its' WAR  programs; a routing of lack men into the nation's ever increasing prison/industrial system; lack of proper support for inner city schools; and a lack of support, concern and assistance generally for the poor and disadvantaged.
Put you pointy-toed shoes on and keep your foot in the right place where President Obama is concerned.  And don't let them [the White-run, Goliath media and our own community critics] tread too harshly on the legacy of the Kennedy's.

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