Last week there was some discussion in the Jamaicans.com forums on Colin Powell endorsing Bloomberg and not any of the other black candidates. I saw some posts on other website basically saying he should have endorsed a black candidate and demonizing him. Like I said in the forums last weeek I think some in the black community have made a big mistake demonizing Colin Powell especially when he was in office. I totally lost all respect for Harry Belanfonte when he call him an Uncle Tom. He was the voice of reason in an administration bent on war. He was literally forced out because of this.
Any back to this issue of supporting a non-Black candidate. When he supported Obama he heard it from the “right” that he was only supporting him because he was black. Now that he is supporting Bloomberg he is not “black” enough. I think Colin Powell should endorse who he thinks is the best candidate black or white for the job. Based on what I have seen I think he is fair.
I think one of the biggest missed opportunity Jamaicans had was when Mr Powell was in the Bush administration. I don’t care if you are Republican or Democrat if you can help Jamaica I am for it. We pushed up our chest because he was of Jamaican decent however many of us stood by and said nothing when he was demonized. I remember arguing with many of my friends on how it important it was to have Colin Powell in the White House. The things he could have done for Jamaica and Jamaicans if he was embraced and defended by the community. The Caribbean was ignored by the Bush administration as they focused on terror. Africa was not as the Bush administration now holds the record for giving aid to Africa. Imagine a little voice that could whisper in the President’s ear about the Caribbean. We lost out 😥
