Top Ten things said about Iraq that you will never hear said about Ghettoes in the U.S. 10-6

This is a list compiled by Constance Rice for an interview she did on the Tavis Smiley show. I have taken her list and added my own comments to it being that this list is full of irony. This list chronicles statements spoken and written about Iraq that are juxtaposed with the condition and actions in America and mostly how they relate to Black men and women in America, This is 10-6.

10. “Isn’t it great that Iraqi’s are free to flood their streets with tens of thousands of protestors in open demonstrations.”

As the celebration of the ability of Iraqi’s to protest after being under the rule of Saddam for so long goes on, the right to demonstrate here in America is being thwarted by chain linked fences, zoning that stipulates that demonstrations and protest are limited to a particular area as seen at the recent political Conventions and any time the current President visits a city. Protestors are also being questioned by government agencies as to what are their plans when they are planning a demonstration.

9. “There is no physical security without economic security”

This was said by the Great Don of the Pentagon Rumsfield. Quoting sista Constance; “doesn’t this sound like no jobs, no peace”? This administration and white folk in general seem to understand that without economic security it is almost impossible to maintain physical security in Iraq but dismiss this idea here in America. How can there be a reasonable expectation of security when the majority of the people living in any one area are unemployed and need to feed themselves and their families. People in need will do whatever it takes to get by, i.e. rob, steal, sell drugs, steal cars etc. In America you will find that most of those in prison came from economic disadvantaged conditions that lead them to a life of crime and subsequently prison. The idea there is no physical security without economic security is rejected in America but embraced as a reality in Iraq.

8.”Iraqi’s can not recover from forty years of Hussein savage brutality overnight, it will take decades.”

This is one that always gets my attention. Here is yet another instance of white folk accepting a universal truth about Iraqi’s but dismiss this same truth as it relate to black men and women in America that survived four hundred years of white American savage brutality, only to be rewarded with Black codes, Jim crows, mis-education, lynching, rape, castration, being made to love other than ourselves, the list goes on but we are expected to recover overnight. If Iraqi’s will need decades to recover from forty years of savage brutality by Saddam how long would it take a people to recover from four hundred plus years of savage brutality unequaled to anything witnessed or experienced in all of Iraq?

7. “Political quotas will facilitate fairness and the political viability of the Future Iraq”

This aught to make everyone’s mouth drop! This administration not only admits but they articulate and help past legislation for there to be quotas as to facilitate fairness in Iraq. How is it that this administration is as understanding of the real world as it relates to Iraq but not here in America as it relates to Black men and women. The very mention of quotas here in America especially in politics gets white folks blood boiling but yet in Iraq they have created a quota system that guarantee the Kurds, Sunni, Shiite and women spots in politics and decision making positions. This again is indicative of the belief in white supremacy and the inferiority of everyone else. The only people capable of being fair are white folk thus quotas in a majority white system is not necessary.

6. “We are confiscating thousand of guns to reduce violence and killings.”

I thought guns didn’t kill people, people kill people? This is of course another example of this administration hypocrisy. Here we have this administration removing guns from the hands of Iraqi’s saying it will reduce violence but yet this same administration just allowed the ban on assault weapons to expire. If we follow the same logic that is accepted in Iraq the assault weapon ban should have not been allowed to expire. The late eighties and early nineties seems to be in the distant past but the truth is with the expiration of the assault weapons ban we will see the return of the UZI and AK47 to the hands of killers and criminals and you can guess who will be affected most by this ban not being renewed.