When NOT to Vote Black (at least in Memphis)

[jaysunb]

The unfinished African American journey out of Jim Crow and its narrow political mindset has reached a critical juncture in Memphis, Tennessee. There, in the city's 60 percent Black Ninth Congressional District, a first-term white incumbent whose voting record would place him solidly in the political bosom of the Congressional Black Caucus, is challenged by a young Black female corporate operative - an acolyte of Harold Ford, Jr., the worst Black congressman in modern history.

Nikki Tinker is backed by the full flatulence and awesome gluttony of the Memphis Baptist Ministerial Association, greasy-fingered clergymen who have descended into homophobia so foul and raw it must embarrass the White Christian Right whose behavior they mimic. These politician-pastors oppose federal Hate Crime legislation because it includes protections based on sexual orientation, while claiming moral and racial authority over the secular lives of Memphis Blacks.

It is a perfect storm of corruption: Nikki Tinker, a physically attractive but intellectually vapid lawyer for regional boss-man Northwest Airlink/Pinnacle Airlines - whose principal duty is to keep unions in check - backed by a gang of gay-baiting preachers who never saw a Republican Faith-Based Initiative check they wouldn't cash. If elected, Tinker can be expected to act as a surrogate for her sponsor, Harold Ford, Jr., the Bush-loving former representative of the district, unsuccessful candidate for U.S. Senate, and now nominal chairman of the corporatist Democratic Leadership Council (DLC).

And for all those who overlooked the fact that Barack Obama has stood up to and challenged the homophobic black ministers within the community, the following should let you know how deeply ingrained these feeling are and the risks to a candidate who dare take a different stance, as he has.

Therefore, Tinker says very little, issue-wise, leaving it to the roaring, retrograde Black reactionaries in the pulpits to insinuate that Cohen is too friendly with folks who are supposedly even more alien to Black Memphis than his white self - gays.

Memphis is home to probably the largest concentration of backward clergy in Black America, and proved it in August when Black Baptists declared:

"The Memphis Baptist Ministerial Association stands in total opposition to any legislation that will silence churches on the matter of sin and abomination. It is our belief that the New Hate Crime bill is a subtle attempt on the part of the Gay Community to further legitimize itself as an acceptable lifestyle. We find nothing in Biblical Scripture to support the same.

"We also recognize the difference between homosexuals and homosexuality; God loves the homosexual but hates homosexuality. We further believe that all citizens of these United States of America are equally protected under the 14th Amendment of our Constitution.

lots more here:http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=460&Itemid=1