By Raynard Jackson
Columnist
When acclaimed director, actor, producer, Spike Lee broke onto the Hollywood scene in the 1980s; he truly had to fight the power. Hollywood was not ready for a young, brash, provocative filmmaker like Lee.
He burst on the scene with provocative movies like She’s Gotta Have It, School Daze and Do The Right Thing. These movies created spirited debates in the Black and White communities centered on the hot social issues of the day; feminism among Black women; racism within the Black community; and race relations between Black and White.
Back then, you may not always agree with Lee’s movies, but you could count on him to stimulate heated conversations throughout America.
Lee has never tried to hide or shy away from his liberal beliefs and his public support for Democrats and Obama; thus his latest movie, Chi-Raq.
The movie is a profanity laced, liberally biased, finger pointing diatribe that blames Republicans and Whites for all the murders taking place in Chicago.
Of course, as usual for Lee’s movies, there is the perfunctory swipes and ridicule of Black Republicans; in this case Ben Carson.
This is why it is extremely imperative that Republicans have an active surrogates program. Black Republicans are constantly ridiculed in movies, TV sit-coms, and in pop culture.
I have constantly expressed to party leaders the necessity of having a vibrant surrogates program where Black Republicans are seen on TV, heard on the radio, and interviewed in newspapers.
In marketing, if you product or message is not seen, heard, or read about in the media, then you and your product does not exist. Politics, after all is nothing but the art of marketing.
So, as is common for liberals like Lee, they never miss an opportunity to blame the murder rate in cities like Baltimore, New York, or Chicago on the National Rifle Association (NRA); though he never mentions that these cities are all run by liberal Democrats. He never mentions that each of these cities all have some of the most restrictive gun control laws in the country
Spike couldn’t bring himself to lay the blame where it belongs—at the feet of liberal policies being propagated by Democratic politicians.
Spike couldn’t bring himself to blame Obama for the dismal unemployment rate in the Black community; the lack of job training in cities like Chicago; or the lack of access to capital for Black owned businesses who are the job creators.
He couldn’t bring himself to blame Rahm Emmanuel, the sitting Democratic mayor of Chicago for having absolutely no answer to the crime wave taking place in his city. William Hale Thompson was the last Republican mayor of Chicago. He left office in 1931, so you are talking about 84 years ago.
Since Republicans refuse to create a surrogates program for Black Republicans, we continue to be caricatured as “sell-outs” to our community and those who want to run from our Blackness.
Republicans constantly allow liberals to spew all sorts of lies about them and allow them to go unchallenged; and as we know, a lie that goes unchallenged becomes the truth.
Name me the last big city Democratic mayor that made lives of the Black community better. It wasn’t until Republicans Dick Riordan took over from Democratic Mayor Tom Bradley in Los Angeles or Giuliani took over from Democratic Mayor David Dinkins in New York City that Blacks began to flourish.
Why Republicans continue to allow liberals to blame them for the woes of liberalism simply baffles me. The murder rate in Chicago has nothing to do with the NRA; but have everything to do with liberalism.
Liberalism says that the breakdown of the Black community has to do with the legacy of slavery; or because of Reagan and Bush; or racism. Of course, none of this is true.
Liberal policies like welfare are to blame for the breakdown of the Black community. Liberal policies like open borders for illegals are responsible for the high unemployment rate for Blacks in cities like Chicago.
So, if you are a liberal and like to blame others for the plight of the Black community, then you will love Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq; but I think a better title for the movie would me Chi-rade because the movie is exactly that, a charade.
Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC is an internationally recognized political consulting, government affairs, and PR firm based in Washington, DC. Jackson is an internationally recognized radio talk show host and TV commentator. He has coined the phrase “straticist.” As a straticist, he has merged strategic planning with public relations. Visit his website at: www.raynardjackson.com.
Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC is an internationally recognized political consulting, government affairs, and PR firm based in Washington, DC. Jackson is an internationally recognized radio talk show host and TV commentator. He has coined the phrase “straticist.” As a straticist, he has merged strategic planning with public relations. Call RJA to discuss how they can get you to the next level of your career.
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