Al Sharpton's entrance into the 2004 Democratic presidential race is evidence of a decaying black political culture where ego trumps politics, the last gasp of a tradition that has been transformed over a generation from bold, results-oriented politics to symbolism and corruption, argues noveli...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben

1. Verfasser:	Kelley, Norman (VerfasserIn)
Format:	Buch
Sprache:	English
Veröffentlicht:	New York Nation Books 2004
Schlagworte:	Politik Schwarze. USA African American intellectuals African American leadership African Americans > Intellectual life African Americans > Politics and government Political culture > United States Schwarze Bürgerrechtsbewegung USA United States > Politics and government > 1945-1989 United States > Politics and government > 1989- United States > Race relations > Political aspects
Zusammenfassung:	Al Sharpton's entrance into the 2004 Democratic presidential race is evidence of a decaying black political culture where ego trumps politics, the last gasp of a tradition that has been transformed over a generation from bold, results-oriented politics to symbolism and corruption, argues novelist and social commentator Norman Kelley in this incisive and incendiary Molotov cocktail of polemical analysis. What Sharpton covets is the sobriquet The Head Negro in Charge (HNIC), a symbolic political mobilization that replaces effective politics and organizing. As Kelley writes, "The HNIC Syndrome has seen the rise of symbolic leaders -- Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, Al Sharpton, and now Russell Simmons -- who may be charismatic, but are politically unaccountable to the very people they claim to represent, namely African-Americans." Kelley identifies the HNIC Syndrome as a response to the failings of the civil rights and black power movements since the 1960s. It is also a symptom that black politics has reached a dead end with regard to ideas, policies, and programs. Yet HNIC Syndrome has its roots in black political culture, specifically the black church's charismatic tradition. But as Kelley reveals, by embedding themselves within the mechanisms of the Democratic Party and moving from "protest to politics," with no relative independent economic strategy, the black political and intellectual elite has failed the majority of African-Americans.
Beschreibung:	246 S.
ISBN:	1560255846