The unfinished business of the Black Freedom Movement, the larger goal of which was empowerment and self-determination for the masses of African Americans, is in open conflict with the Jim Crow-era political current that embraced the personal, professional, business and political advancement of every Black individual as a collective victory for "The Race" as a whole. In today's social-political environment, with hostile, outside forces actively recruiting Black "spokespersons" and financing Black "role models," the Jim Crow-era Black worldview is not just obsolete - it is a formula for disaster.

The contradiction between the two opposing currents - the Black progressive struggle to transform society vs. celebration of individual Black advancement within the existing framework - became dramatically apparent with the advent of Barack Obama's stealth corporate presidential candidacy. The tragedy also unfolds in the ranks of the Congressional Black Caucus, which in less than a decade has been neutered as an institution for social change by relentless corporate penetration.

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