I was still in shock when I first posted on the National Association of Black Journalists’ pull out of Unity and the 2012 convention in favor of doing their own thing.

Now we learn from the Maynard Institute’s Richard Prince that the discussion which began last December included some significant concessions to NABJ, including giving the organization veto power on the Unity board.

Not good enough it seems.

NABJ wanted more. But how can you have a real coaltion if one partner wants to be more equal than the other?

This sort of thing happens all the time. Frankly, it’s ‘s a damn shame that Delaware has the same two votes in the Senate as my residence state, California. But that’s fair. You don’t have California pulling out and starting its own country. The balance,of course, is the House. 

It is somewhat comforting to know that there was some attempt at Unity to recognize NABJ’s size among the other participants, and give it more power.  Veto power is one hell of a compromise.

But it wasn’t enought to keep the black journalists from deciding to go off and do their own thing.

Just business? Sure, but  the bigger effort is about the  fight for racial equity  here. That’s never been about dollars and cents. Unity was America’s role model.

Maybe this is recession-era diversity taking over, where it’s every group for itself. The greater good be damned.

If that’s the case, it’s a sad day for minorities in America. 

And a good day for the status quo oppressors wherever they exist.  NABJ’s actions are exactly what those oppressors want to see, and the minority journalists are doing the work for them.  

It’s self-inflicted divide and conquer.

And the minorities lose, again.