http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/art...001mckinney.htm

By Kimberley Jane Wilson
posted October 22, 2001

First comes the tragedy, then comes the farce.

I was reminded of this saying when I heard about Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-4th GA) and her recent letter to His Royal Highness Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, of Saudi Arabia.

The massacre that took place on September 11 is of course, the tragedy. This terrible event caused enormous physical and emotional pain for thousands of survivors as well as friends and family members of the victims. An untold number of people have lost or will soon loose their jobs because of the economic impact of the attacks. These folks are suffering as well.

Congresswoman McKinney's efforts to wheedle money out of Prince Alwaleed, is the farce. If these weren't such serious times her letter would be almost funny.

Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed bin Talal (right) is seen during an October 11 tour of the Trade Center site handing Rudy Giuliani the donation which was later rejected Prince Alwaleed offered a donation of $10 million dollars to the disaster relief fund for New York City victims and was promptly turned down by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. It turns out that the donation came with strings attached. The prince was looking to score publicity points against Israel and gave his unasked for opinion on US foreign policy.

Mayor Giuliani told the Saudi prince to take his check and go away. That should have been the end of the story but instead Rep. McKinney who is from Georgia and not New York jumped in. She wrote a pitiful, groveling letter to Prince Alwaleed that first, praises him lavishly then attacks Israel, and finally asks that in light of the poor conditions of black Americans could he please send that $10 million to some black charities that she'd be happy to recommend.

Now, I have been among the first to point out that Black America has some serious problems. Rep. McKinney did not entirely exaggerate in her letter. As she wrote, "A black baby boy born in Harlem today has less chance of reaching age 65 than a baby born in Bangladesh." I have no argument with that statement. However, a mere $10 million hand out to a few selected charities will not change a thing.

The challenges facing many a black baby born today can be daunting. Too many of our kids have to play catch up due to substandard public school education, low to non-existent expectations from teachers and a poisoned popular culture that certainly is not helping. Hip Hop and to a lesser extent R&B frequently glorifies a lifestyle of violence, misogyny and mindless sex without acknowledging that this is a dead-end way to actually live. The drug epidemic did serious harm to inner city black communities. Too many of our young people feel hopeless and are acting accordingly. Despite all this I can't help but feel repelled by Rep. McKinney's begging letter to a foreign prince.

I would've hoped that a member of the United States Congress would've had more pride than to write such a letter. By both Saudi and rich American standards $10 million isn't a such a huge sum. If Rep. McKinney is really serious about collecting cash for her pet charities then she would do better going to one or two Hollywood celebrities. All you have to do is pick up the latest copy of Ebony Magazine and you can read about some actor or singer who merrily threw away more than the amount the prince offered on houses and cars.

You don't? Why not? Because some crazy racist bitch says so? (Edit: comment directed at author, not at pdh1)


CDC Stats: Life expectency for US black males in 2000 was 68.3


And in Bangladesh in 2000 the figure was 58.4

Where's the "in Harlem" discussion in those links?

I thought of the same thing.

By the same token, you'd also have to do an apples to apples comparison of Harlem life expectancy to the lowest economic quintile in Bangladesh.

I think that's roughly the same quintile as the other four...

Actually Harlem is becoming gentrified and trendy, "may" (much doubt) have been true 10 years ago, not today. Queens is in worse shape.

And now, she's ducking.