When George Curry's Emerge Magazine published its famous 1993 cover depicting US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as "Lawn Jockey for the Far Right", he used ridicule to ignite a potent WMD --- a weapon of mass discussion among African Americans that clarified black opinion on the uses to which an earlier Bush administration put its prominent black faces. In that spirit, Black Agenda Report and CBC Monitor will be at the annual Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Conference in DC this September 26 to establish a new tradition --- the awarding of the "Lawn Jockey" to the three or four African American members of Congress who score lowest on the semi-annual CBC Monitor report cards. The Honorable George Curry will present the awards. It's time to reclaim, to restart and to redeem the African American political conversation, the dialog among and about us that neither black nor white corporate media is willing to air.

2007 Lawn Jockey Award Comes to the Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Weekend, September 26 by BAR Managing Editor Bruce Dixon

On Wednesday, September 26, the opening day of the Congressional Black Caucus's Annual Legislative Conference, Black Agenda Report and CBC Monitor will be in Washington DC to issue the fall 2007 report card for members of the Black Caucus, and to hand out the first annual Lawn Jockey Awards. It's time to restart, to reclaim and to redeem the African American political conversation.

The Lawn Jockey Award commemorates the 1993 Emerge magazine cover in which Emerge Publisher and Editor George Curry depicted US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as “Uncle Thomas: Lawn Jockey for the Far Right”, touching off a true WMD, a wave of mass discussion, clarifying black opinion on the uses to which an earlier Bush administration had put its prominent black faces.  In that same spirit, the annual Lawn Jockey Awards establishes a tradition in which the three or four worst performing members of the Congressional Black Caucus will be singled out for the attention they richly deserve.  We are honored by the fact that George Curry himself will be on hand September 26 to present the awards.

Reviving and reclaiming the African American political conversation, our collective dialog about and among us is vitally important work.  We can expect no help from white corporate media beyond their standard practices of denying the existence and the legitimacy of the black political dialog at the same time they depict it as the self-serving creation of Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and a few of their chosen targets.  Black owned or black oriented corporate media like BET, Radio One and the rest of commercial black radio won't be of much use either.  This is because black commercial radio and entities like TV One view black communities purely as marketing contraptions.  To them we are only audiences to be targeted and delivered to sponsors, rather than a people with collective aspirations and a political will arising from our common history of struggle.

"The Lawn Jockey Award commemorates the 1993 Emerge magazine cover in which Emerge Publisher and Editor George Curry depicted US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as “Uncle Thomas: Lawn Jockey for the Far Right” 

There will certainly be those who will accuse us of a lack of respect for African American political figures.  They will be correct.  Too much respect for authority has always been the enemy of democracy, and ridicule will always be a potent tool at the disposal of the people.  The CBC Monitor team does have a great respect for facts, and the CBC Monitor report cards are based upon analyses of the legislative records of African American members of congress through the lens of the historic Black Consensus, the range of political views prevalent in African American communities.

Too much of what has passed for black journalism in recent years has been uncritical celebration of lifestyles and celebrities.  In our estimation, this is not journalism at all.  Ida B. Wells was a journalist.  Frederick Douglass was a journalist.  The job of journalists is to equip ordinary citizens with the necessary information to understand what is being done with their money and in their names.  The job of journalism as we understand it, is to speak truth to power without fear or favor, especially when the powerful would rather not hear it.  We at Black Agenda Report and CBC Monitor intend to uphold that proud tradition, to have some fun at the expense of the powerful, and to unleash the weapon of mass discussion among our people as we evaluate the performance of African American members of Congress.

We invite you to join us in person on the evening of September 26, or at other events during the CBC's Legislative Conference, or virtually in this space and others via the internet during and after the event as we begin to reclaim and revive the the African American political conversation and the public space in which it must be conducted. 

Bruce Dixon can be reached via email at bruce.dixon(at)blackagendareport.com