An Open Letter to Condoleeza Rice
Dr. Condoleeza Rice
Secretary
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Secretary Rice:
In keeping with my customary greeting, I hope this letter finds you in good spirits and at a time when all is well in your life. I normally write this line in correspondence without a second thought. Today I had misgivings. However, despite my feelings towards you and the Bush administration you serve; I shall speak honestly, but with the courtesy and respect due an elder. You are still my Sister. Therefore, my intent is not to denounce you, but to encourage you to search your soul for its vestiges of truth, justice and human decency. May what remains inspire you to find your way out of the abyss and become a force for good in our world.
From my observations, you are a fascinating and complex individual. I have read a great deal about your background in order to understand the person you have become. As expected, my research has left me with more questions than answers. I learned that you spent your childhood in Bull Connor’s Birmingham and that you were classmates with one of the girls killed in the infamous bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church. Normally, I can draw insights into the character of an African-American who has been a witness to such inhumanity. Yours is not as easily defined. While I can never know what is truly in your heart; by way of analogy, a tree is better judged by the fruit it bears as opposed to its tangled web of roots remaining hidden beneath the surface.
Dr. Rice, you have long been criticized for your lack of identification with African-Americans. Some of the criticisms throughout your career have been valid and some have not. I have even defended you on occasion. However, you must offer an explanation and an apology for your actions in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. As over 80,000 people (mostly African-Americans) endured the unendurable; you went to a Monty Python musical on Broadway (why not Dreamgirls?), played tennis with Monica Seles (why not the Williams sisters?) and went shoe shopping at Salvatore Ferragamo. It is unfortunate that the desperate pleas of your people could not pry you away from a few days of Manhattan merriment.
Clearly, someone of your exceeding intellect and political experience had to understand the gravity of this disaster and the symbolic role you would be expected to play. Dr. Rice, you are the highest ranking African–American in the United States government and the most powerful black woman in the world. Where were you when your people needed you . . . not the Israelis, not the British or even Evangelical Republicans, but black people wading in the water? There may never be a time when your voice could have had greater resonance. Yet, your silence was deafening . . . and still is.
Every black person I know, without exception, was riveted by the tragic drama that unfolded on their television screens. They sent money, supplies and even opened their doors to displaced families. In many ways, it was our finest hour. You see, the blood of a people carries the soul of the race – so we are all connected on the deepest levels. In truth, what separates us is insubstantial, but what binds us is unbreakable. This is the African conception of nationhood. Katrina reminded us all of that timeless wisdom. That is why your indifference to the plight of your brothers and sisters was as baffling as it was hurtful.
In your role as Secretary of State, you are charged with the responsibility of leadership in the area of United States foreign policy. I have paid close attention to what you have done under that mandate. Sadly, this administration’s conduct towards the disadvantaged in New Orleans is not an aberration. In fact, I see eerily similar scenes coming from Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Sudan and the Palestinian territories. The little man is being trampled underfoot, everywhere.
A very disturbing pattern is emerging and you are a central figure in its continued development. The charade is getting old. We are tiring of the whole “making the world free from the evildoers” motif. That is a fraudulent pretense being used to distract attention from the real agenda of hegemony, petroleum supremacy and the tyranny of fear. It is time to face what is really going on. So, I ask, as a black woman, how does it feel to be the spokesperson for an imperialist power? In a world where the majority of people are of color, you use your eloquence to make their suffering palatable to the elites you truly represent. What an unfortunate legacy for a child of the Jim Crow era.
Dr. Rice, use your power and position to get our world off this perilous course. You are in daily communication with those leaders hell-bent on destruction. No other person of color shares your authority and unprecedented access. Take a stand. As I said, the blood of a people carries the soul of the race. So, I know that in your private moments the ancestors call upon your noblest intentions. Heed their call. When you are given the next set of directives and talking points on African, Iranian, North Korean or Middle East policy, fully consider their implications. Do they serve the interests of a coterie bent on global conquest, or do they serve the interests of a human race desiring to live in peace? Search your heart for the truth. Let it lead your way.
Despite your busy schedule, I am confident that you will receive this letter. While I have only scratched the surface of what I hoped to share with you, I thank you for your consideration of my words. I look forward to your response.
Always know; you are a brilliant black woman, created out of all that is great in the Universe. Inherent in your DNA is the imprint of truth, justice, righteousness and harmony. In times of trial, feel these sacred forces come to your aid. May you always act in accordance, not with the dictates of man, but out of respect for the promptings of your own soul. Such is a leadership philosophy in line with the Will of our Creator.
Sincerely,
Darius Jones
Creator
9Ether News
Secretary
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Secretary Rice:
In keeping with my customary greeting, I hope this letter finds you in good spirits and at a time when all is well in your life. I normally write this line in correspondence without a second thought. Today I had misgivings. However, despite my feelings towards you and the Bush administration you serve; I shall speak honestly, but with the courtesy and respect due an elder. You are still my Sister. Therefore, my intent is not to denounce you, but to encourage you to search your soul for its vestiges of truth, justice and human decency. May what remains inspire you to find your way out of the abyss and become a force for good in our world.
From my observations, you are a fascinating and complex individual. I have read a great deal about your background in order to understand the person you have become. As expected, my research has left me with more questions than answers. I learned that you spent your childhood in Bull Connor’s Birmingham and that you were classmates with one of the girls killed in the infamous bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church. Normally, I can draw insights into the character of an African-American who has been a witness to such inhumanity. Yours is not as easily defined. While I can never know what is truly in your heart; by way of analogy, a tree is better judged by the fruit it bears as opposed to its tangled web of roots remaining hidden beneath the surface.
Dr. Rice, you have long been criticized for your lack of identification with African-Americans. Some of the criticisms throughout your career have been valid and some have not. I have even defended you on occasion. However, you must offer an explanation and an apology for your actions in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. As over 80,000 people (mostly African-Americans) endured the unendurable; you went to a Monty Python musical on Broadway (why not Dreamgirls?), played tennis with Monica Seles (why not the Williams sisters?) and went shoe shopping at Salvatore Ferragamo. It is unfortunate that the desperate pleas of your people could not pry you away from a few days of Manhattan merriment.
Clearly, someone of your exceeding intellect and political experience had to understand the gravity of this disaster and the symbolic role you would be expected to play. Dr. Rice, you are the highest ranking African–American in the United States government and the most powerful black woman in the world. Where were you when your people needed you . . . not the Israelis, not the British or even Evangelical Republicans, but black people wading in the water? There may never be a time when your voice could have had greater resonance. Yet, your silence was deafening . . . and still is.
Every black person I know, without exception, was riveted by the tragic drama that unfolded on their television screens. They sent money, supplies and even opened their doors to displaced families. In many ways, it was our finest hour. You see, the blood of a people carries the soul of the race – so we are all connected on the deepest levels. In truth, what separates us is insubstantial, but what binds us is unbreakable. This is the African conception of nationhood. Katrina reminded us all of that timeless wisdom. That is why your indifference to the plight of your brothers and sisters was as baffling as it was hurtful.
In your role as Secretary of State, you are charged with the responsibility of leadership in the area of United States foreign policy. I have paid close attention to what you have done under that mandate. Sadly, this administration’s conduct towards the disadvantaged in New Orleans is not an aberration. In fact, I see eerily similar scenes coming from Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Sudan and the Palestinian territories. The little man is being trampled underfoot, everywhere.
A very disturbing pattern is emerging and you are a central figure in its continued development. The charade is getting old. We are tiring of the whole “making the world free from the evildoers” motif. That is a fraudulent pretense being used to distract attention from the real agenda of hegemony, petroleum supremacy and the tyranny of fear. It is time to face what is really going on. So, I ask, as a black woman, how does it feel to be the spokesperson for an imperialist power? In a world where the majority of people are of color, you use your eloquence to make their suffering palatable to the elites you truly represent. What an unfortunate legacy for a child of the Jim Crow era.
Dr. Rice, use your power and position to get our world off this perilous course. You are in daily communication with those leaders hell-bent on destruction. No other person of color shares your authority and unprecedented access. Take a stand. As I said, the blood of a people carries the soul of the race. So, I know that in your private moments the ancestors call upon your noblest intentions. Heed their call. When you are given the next set of directives and talking points on African, Iranian, North Korean or Middle East policy, fully consider their implications. Do they serve the interests of a coterie bent on global conquest, or do they serve the interests of a human race desiring to live in peace? Search your heart for the truth. Let it lead your way.
Despite your busy schedule, I am confident that you will receive this letter. While I have only scratched the surface of what I hoped to share with you, I thank you for your consideration of my words. I look forward to your response.
Always know; you are a brilliant black woman, created out of all that is great in the Universe. Inherent in your DNA is the imprint of truth, justice, righteousness and harmony. In times of trial, feel these sacred forces come to your aid. May you always act in accordance, not with the dictates of man, but out of respect for the promptings of your own soul. Such is a leadership philosophy in line with the Will of our Creator.
Sincerely,
Darius Jones
Creator
9Ether News
posted by Darius Jones at 12:00 AM
7 Comments:
Second! Reading this was like picking up where we left off in our 'power lunches' years ago...how refreshing. A genius expression of thoughts my brother.
Dr. Rice is just doing her job. Does that make her a sell-out? Her leadership is making the world safer. Your criticisms are so unfair.
Blanche H...Is Dr. Rice leadership really making the world safer?
Maybe that explains why she was shopping for Ferragamo shoes while people in New Orleans were in the middle of disaster. Where was she? oh, maybe she was just doing her job!
Blanch h. Dr. Rice is just doing her job. Does that make her a sell-out? Her leadership is making the world safer. Your criticisms are so unfair.
7:27 PM
If you can tell us three ways the world has been made safer by Dr. Rice and can reveal to you three deceptions you were sold. Not only can I point them out to you I can give you facts to the contrary. The world is being made safer for a select, very small group of people whose only means of insuring their safety is world domination. Dr. Rice, though a brilliant African Woman (whether she knows it or not), serves the interests of this group which are not aligned with the interests of the people she looks like and comes from. I don’t think any thinking person, or rather any person who takes his/her intellect seriously enough to engage in political discourse, could in their right mind deny her gifts; however, her misdeeds are in equal if not greater proportion to those gifts. Therein lies the lynchpin of the unsavory critique of Dr. Rice...
Brother Darius well done, a very eloquent, sagacious yet appropriately scathing letter to a person we hold both admiration and disdain for. The Tragic Mulatto indeed. Peace 621
YO
She REALLY, REALLY, REALLY needs to read this letter as does every
other african american republican. I wonder if my feeling of the THREE
degrees of separation theory as it applies to us; will assist in this
letter making it into the hands of those that need it most.
Keep up the good work.
Petey
The letter is off the chain! Good job!
Darius, I am so happy to see that you have started your blog. I was wondering where you were these days. I have never responded to a blog before but this is brilliant! You are a talented and insightful writer. I agree with all you have written and my hope is that Dr. Rice will take a soul searching journey within her life and acknowledge the truth that you have so eloquently presented to her. I look forward to many more Dariusims.
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