Hypocritical 101: Coz Gets Pass, Fox Gets Put on Blast

By Tyran Kai Steward

There are times when silence is golden, other times when it is just plain yellow.

For supposed black leaders in America, vacillating between canny calm and cowardly convenience–between the wisdom of guarding the tongue when necessary as well as the indisposition to rebutting and retaliating against those vicious attacks that call for appropriate responses–has become somewhat of a knack that drives their overwhelming inconsistency.

Consider, first, the reactions to the tactless and clumsily-proffered remarks by Mexican President Vicente Fox. Fox, speaking to a group of Texas businessmen convening in Mexico, stated that “immigrants (Hispanic) are taking jobs that not even blacks want to do.”

The backlash that Fox received from black leaders all across the country was immediate and intense. Everyone from Jesse Jackson to Al Sharpton to Tavis Smiley chimed in on the issue, offering their unwavering critiques and harsh condemnations for the observations articulated by Fox.

Jackson, for emphasis, called the statements by Fox “a spurious comparison” with “ominous racial overtones.” Sharpton indicated that Fox needed to apologize. “If in fact what he expressed to me on the phone was so, he needs to demonstrate that his statements, one, do not reflect how he feels; and two, he needs to formally apologize.”

Tavis Smiley, commenting on the Tom Joyner Morning Show, suggested that Fox lacked context for the statements he delivered and that he was threatening a serious divide between the black and Latino community. He went on to intimate that Fox showed a lack of awareness for and disrespect to black America who has been responsible for building this country and, rightfully, has become disgusted with accepting menial jobs that only generate meager earnings.

On the surface, Jackson, Sharpton and Smiley as well as others who have offered similar convictions are absolutely right. Fox comments were both specious and injurious if only because they failed to account for one culture’s humanity and protracted struggle for justice in the midst of elevating another culture’s suffering and toil for the same. In other words, Fox was recklessly and sightlessly ‘putting down’ blacks in order to ‘build up’ the case for Mexican immigrants.

In addition, Fox’s insipid assertions aborted the regard for the manner in which both black and brown citizens have been and continue to be exploited through low and, at times, under-waged, laboriously-tasked, thankless and unrewarding jobs that only procure economic privation. That Fox would cite as a contribution the fact that immigrants are working the jobs that essentially “nobody wants” is disheartening and speaks to the minority-class prostitution that is being underwritten by this country.

With certainty, Fox’s observations deserved the rejoinders from black leaders it received if only to bring clarity and prevent another right-wing conspiracy regarding the stereotypical conclusion that black Americans are lazy and ungrateful for the opportunities that are afforded them. But what is disturbing about these rebuttals to Fox’s flawed premise is that they seem to be a little hypocritical and, perhaps, just as artificial as the comparison that Jackson claimed that Fox had fashioned.

Bear in mind that when Bill Cosby delivered his infamous and objectionable harangue, there was a deafening silence from the same black leaders, intellectuals and social commentators–sans a few brave and honest soldiers–who chose to respond to Fox’s statements. In fact, some of these same individuals chose to go as far as to cosign Cosby’s rant and surmise that it was a brutally honest articulation of the way in which the lack of personal responsibility by blacks causes the ill-fated problems that is witnessed in black communities.

Never mind the fact that Cosby assaulted poor, black Americans, charging them with the blame for the reason why black America continues to be walled up by socioeconomic death. Never mind that Cosby derailed poor blacks for the way in which they named their children, forgetting his unique preoccupation with starting all of his kids name with the letter “E” (i.e. Ennis, a hardly conventional name).

Forget the fact that Cosby hinted at the licentiousness of poor, black Americans as if they somehow have an exclusive patent on sexual debauchery and wantonness. When Cosby was insinuating that “God was tired of [poor] black people” and that “these people” were ostensibly responsible for the anti-intellectualism that permeates America, there was a profound hush from black leadership. Instead of scrutiny of or calls for formal apologies from Cosby, there was no one willing to challenge Cosby’s claims.

What makes Cosby any different from Fox? Perchance, it was the fact that Cosby’s vituperation–rife with acrimony and bitter convictions–contained enough validity that it caused these black leaders to overlook his surliness. Or maybe not since Fox’s reflections, despite overflowing with rhetorical deception and a betrayal to the similar drudge faced by black Americans that immigrants contend with, also had fragments of validity.

After all, it is true that Hispanics are willing to work the pointless jobs that earn little to nothing that black Americans are not even willing to work (perhaps because blacks are tired of working them). That is just part of the complexity that Fox failed to take account for and understand. But this is also the same complexity that Cosby neglected in his scurrilous disclosures against poor, black Americans.

Yet Cosby got a pass from black leaders for his diatribe while Fox was verbally persecuted by the same group for his lone declaration. Something is definitely wrong with that sociology. And until black leaders are able to reconcile the seemingly-yellowbelly ignoring of derisive remarks authored by other black dignitaries–remarks that if made by members outside the race would draw obvious contempt–something will continue to be wrong with the sociology of black America.

Be the change that you want to see!

Tyran Kai Steward is an Atlanta-based writer, scholar, activist and cultural critic. Should you have any questions or comments about this editorial, he can be reached via email, TyranSteward@aol.com