Black elites ignore Mugabe's mugging of Zimbabwe

Cynthia Tucker:

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... the tyranny of Zimbabwe's black president, Robert Mugabe, has met with little reaction from America's black elite. Black politicians, Hollywood celebrities and ordinary Americans loudly protested apartheid — staging demonstrations outside the South African embassy in Washington — but Mugabe's despotism has produced only muted criticism. What gives?

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His followers maim and murder their opponents and starve children, but few black Americans notice. Why? Why do we ignore the transgressions of black African tyrants while assailing those of white tyrants?

Former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young is among those who still manage to see more morality than malice in Mugabe's rule. "Americans cannot be rational about Mugabe," Young said. "We've always miscast Mugabe. He's a fundamentalist Roman Catholic. ... He doesn't steal."

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Similarly, Nicole Lee, head of TransAfrica Forum, a Washington-based human rights group founded by black Americans, points to "a larger context" that includes the failure of Western nations to fund programs to grant farmland to poor black Zimbabweans. She, too, says that Americans shouldn't "demonize" Mugabe.

There's just one problem with that. Mugabe has become a demon.

Here and there, a courageous human rights activist sees the problem clearly and has the guts to say so. Last week, Desmond Tutu called for Mugabe's resignation. "Mugabe began so well more than 30 years ago. We all had such high hopes," said the former Anglican archibishop. "... But his regime has turned into a horrendous nightmare. He should stand down."

Georgia Congressman John Lewis said he supports a more forceful response to Mugabe's tyranny. "Just because he's a black leader of an African nation doesn't mean that we can afford to be silent," he said.

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"Mugabe doesn't steal"? How about stealing an election through brutal suppression of voters who oppose him. Young should be ashamed of that statement. None of the black leaders has spoken forcefully against this despot. Blaming his butchery on a lack of funding of land reform is laughable.

Not mentioned in Tucker's article is the black leader with some of the closest ties to Africa who also happens to be the Democrat nominee. He seems to have more compassion for terrorist at Gitmo than to the victims of Mugabe's genocidal rule.