Senate leader: Merge historically black colleges | ajc.com
Legislators in Georgia want to merge some HBCU's in with the predominately white colleges. Surely, you are not surprised. Every since election night, the real agenda has become more and more evident. First, as President-elect Obama was about to win, Bill Bennett on CNN kept commenting that he guessed that blacks could stop making excuses about educational disparities and how whites are holding them back. After all, Barack had to get student loans, go to some of the most prestigious universities, graduate the top of his class and spend almost a billion dollars to do it. The next morning Meredith on the Today Show said that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream had finally been realized although I did not know he dreamed of becoming President. Recently in the state of Arkansas, the Governor stated that it is time to end payments ordered by the courts from a 1989 desegregation lawsuit, not assess if the payments have solved the problem, or to what extent was the real problem or if it could be addressed in other ways, the sentiment is that its time to end it.
In all of these instances the prevalent thought is, enough is enough, not have we solved any problems that we won't have to revisit years down the line. We need to make it equal for everybody and spread the wealth. Simply put, black folks, now that Barack has been elected any and all social services, issues and agendas are being re-evaluated and folks you thought were on your side are not. Many that supported social issues that affected blacks and minorities basically did it out of guilt. America, for the most part, had pity on blacks and never saw black as being equal or even the need to be. This has been a long standing attitude in American history. Many of the abolitionist were for the slaves being free from slavery, but not a part of society as equal members. Barack ups the ante; not only are you equal enough, but I am gettin' some of my stuff back in the process. Black folks are going to have to make a conscious decision to determine their destiny for their future like never before. Folks that you thought were your friends are no longer your friends.
What ticked me off the most was the question that the talking heads kept asking black folks, "Do you think that we will see a decrease in racial issues?" This is a question that can not be answered by black folks. You have to ask the folks that are doing the racial discrimination. We didn't sit at the back of the bus because it was cooler, nor was the march in Georgia a block party that got out of hand, and the hoses just cooled us off from the summer heat.
So tell Rev. Al to turn out the lights over at The National Action Network, vacate the NAACP, rename all the HBCU's as satellite campuses for the "mainstream" colleges, or just call them The College formerly know as... Hooray, we're equal! The clan is having a membership drive and has invited all available negroes. Call your state officials and see where you can get the voucher for your 40 and a mule!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
This game is serious.
BBC NEWS | Americas | Skinheads 'planned to kill Obama':
"US government agents say they have foiled a plot to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama."
"US government agents say they have foiled a plot to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama."
Friday, May 30, 2008
Traces of the Trade
Traces of the Trade:
"In this feature documentary, filmmaker Katrina Browne discovers that her New England ancestors were the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history. She and nine cousins retrace the Triangle Trade and gain a powerful new perspective on the black/white divide."
In light of Father Pfleger's new found fame in the political arena. I came across a very interesting documentary that will air on PBS on June 24th called Traces of the Trade. What does this have to do with Father Pfleger? Well, if you listen to his sermon. He talks about white entitlement and the receiving the benefits of something your ancestor's have done. Everyone should read "Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited from Slavery." The Dewolfs are mentioned in the text because tiny Rhode Island was the largest trafficker of African slaves. Rhode Island and much of the eastern seaboard amassed great wealth from the slave trade not only by selling them, but ships, shipping, the shipping of food to the slaves, textiles from the cotton, rum from the sugar cane, and much more. Many of our greatest financial institution got their seed money from slavery. It's ironic that most black are less likely to get capital to start a business, but these companies started because of free, cheap labor, and many have the nerve to complain about immigration.
"In this feature documentary, filmmaker Katrina Browne discovers that her New England ancestors were the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history. She and nine cousins retrace the Triangle Trade and gain a powerful new perspective on the black/white divide."
In light of Father Pfleger's new found fame in the political arena. I came across a very interesting documentary that will air on PBS on June 24th called Traces of the Trade. What does this have to do with Father Pfleger? Well, if you listen to his sermon. He talks about white entitlement and the receiving the benefits of something your ancestor's have done. Everyone should read "Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited from Slavery." The Dewolfs are mentioned in the text because tiny Rhode Island was the largest trafficker of African slaves. Rhode Island and much of the eastern seaboard amassed great wealth from the slave trade not only by selling them, but ships, shipping, the shipping of food to the slaves, textiles from the cotton, rum from the sugar cane, and much more. Many of our greatest financial institution got their seed money from slavery. It's ironic that most black are less likely to get capital to start a business, but these companies started because of free, cheap labor, and many have the nerve to complain about immigration.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
FOXNews.com - Obama-Wright rift reveals divided loyalties in black church - Politics | Republican Party | Democratic Party | Political Spectrum
FOXNews.com - Obama-Wright rift reveals divided loyalties in black church - Politics | Republican Party | Democratic Party | Political Spectrum
One of the targets in the November election will be the black church. Religious conservatives are mounting up for an attack on the IRS's restriction on non-profits and political endorsements and campaigning. The recent issue of prosperity and Word of Faith ministries coming under attack about their spending has given them fuel and ammo for their campaign. They have already starting trying to link Black Liberation Theology with Marxism and other anti-American ideologies. They challenge the black church to take a side on either America and their version of righteousness and the systems that have affected black Americans because of these versions of American righteousness. Many in the black church do not even understand or know the history of BLT. This makes them very vulnerable to the conservative viewpoint. This is the abortion/gay issues evolved to a another level. BLT is not a threat to anyone except to the idea that all people are not equal. This is my initial warning. You will hear more later as this issue develops.
One of the targets in the November election will be the black church. Religious conservatives are mounting up for an attack on the IRS's restriction on non-profits and political endorsements and campaigning. The recent issue of prosperity and Word of Faith ministries coming under attack about their spending has given them fuel and ammo for their campaign. They have already starting trying to link Black Liberation Theology with Marxism and other anti-American ideologies. They challenge the black church to take a side on either America and their version of righteousness and the systems that have affected black Americans because of these versions of American righteousness. Many in the black church do not even understand or know the history of BLT. This makes them very vulnerable to the conservative viewpoint. This is the abortion/gay issues evolved to a another level. BLT is not a threat to anyone except to the idea that all people are not equal. This is my initial warning. You will hear more later as this issue develops.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Barack, JFK and the construct of race
Watching "The View" this morning with Sen. Obama, the question came up about Rev. Wright and JFK. Whoopi brought up the subject and made the statement that JFK said, "I am my own man. I will be making the decisions based upon what the country needs." Babs Walters disagreed. Somehow spiritual leader, mentor, pastor, head of the church is not the same thing. Why the differentiation? Especially, when it seems so obvious?
To understand it, we must understand that this construct, or the product of ideology based on race and class, if you would, is not merely about white restrooms and lynching, but an ideology the encompasses a system that uses these tactics and others whether economic, social, or political that determines the place of individuals on the map of human geography.* What has to be noted about this construct is that success and achievement are possible, but not to be used as tools of empowerment, but rather as propaganda to maintain the construct. If fact, Obama's achievements have been used to say that blacks have overcome racism by having attended Harvard. WEB Dubois was the first black to graduate from Harvard with a Ph.D. in 1896, but we didn't get a black going into the fall primary as a major presidential candidate until 2008.
The construct uses ignorance, fear and complacency channeled through the free market system and media to maintain its dominance and this construct is passed down from generation to generation. Since discrimination can be defined in multiple ways, it is then conceivable that one can not have participated in lynching or any of the Jim Crow era, and still subscribe to this construct because it is not about violence of or overt segregation, but a belief of another's place in society.
Here is a shining example. Pat Buchanan recent statements on why blacks should love America.
Back to Barack. The reason that Babs sees a difference between Barack and JFK is that JFK being a white male has the mental capacity to differentiate between the needs of the country and the wants of the Church. Barack can't. According to the construct, black men do not have the mental capacity for such work because the black man must me guided and controlled by some higher earthly authority. When it is not massa' then it falls to the role of the priest, pastor of the black church, and that scares the keepers of the construct because all churches can not be controlled and Rev. Wright has been become Nat Turner incarnate. The construct's worse nightmare.
*-2007 Digital Equity Summit, NECC Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, Sylvia Rousseau
Professor of Clinical Education; Rossier School of Education
Ed.D., Pepperdine University, California
To understand it, we must understand that this construct, or the product of ideology based on race and class, if you would, is not merely about white restrooms and lynching, but an ideology the encompasses a system that uses these tactics and others whether economic, social, or political that determines the place of individuals on the map of human geography.* What has to be noted about this construct is that success and achievement are possible, but not to be used as tools of empowerment, but rather as propaganda to maintain the construct. If fact, Obama's achievements have been used to say that blacks have overcome racism by having attended Harvard. WEB Dubois was the first black to graduate from Harvard with a Ph.D. in 1896, but we didn't get a black going into the fall primary as a major presidential candidate until 2008.
The construct uses ignorance, fear and complacency channeled through the free market system and media to maintain its dominance and this construct is passed down from generation to generation. Since discrimination can be defined in multiple ways, it is then conceivable that one can not have participated in lynching or any of the Jim Crow era, and still subscribe to this construct because it is not about violence of or overt segregation, but a belief of another's place in society.
Here is a shining example. Pat Buchanan recent statements on why blacks should love America.
"This time, the Silent Majority needs to have its convictions, grievances and demands heard. And among them are these:
This is the old "you Negroes should be grateful" speech. I wonder if this will the mainstream media put this in heavy rotation. Again, Jim Crow, lynching and other forms of racial terrorism were tools used at a particular time to maintain the construct for that era. In this hour, the covert action has a far more sinister and far reaching effect. The architects of this construct have managed to make the system more efficient so that it runs on automation. We are co-participants in the keeping of the construct, we reinforce it , and maintain it which is the reason for this blog. Pharaoh doesn't have us, we have pharaoh, and we won't let go.First, America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known.
Wright ought to go down on his knees and thank God he is an American.
Second, no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the ’60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream."
Back to Barack. The reason that Babs sees a difference between Barack and JFK is that JFK being a white male has the mental capacity to differentiate between the needs of the country and the wants of the Church. Barack can't. According to the construct, black men do not have the mental capacity for such work because the black man must me guided and controlled by some higher earthly authority. When it is not massa' then it falls to the role of the priest, pastor of the black church, and that scares the keepers of the construct because all churches can not be controlled and Rev. Wright has been become Nat Turner incarnate. The construct's worse nightmare.
*-2007 Digital Equity Summit, NECC Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, Sylvia Rousseau
Professor of Clinical Education; Rossier School of Education
Ed.D., Pepperdine University, California
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Where was Jeremiah Wright Coming From?
Bill Moyers Journal . Watch & Listen | PBS
This past week, we have seen a barrage of video clips and audio clips from Sen. Obama's pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright. In commentary, the press referred to his message as black separatism or some form of hate speech coming from "an angry black man". Fox news and most of the press did a very good job of scaring white folks, but to understand his message, you must understand the foundation of the message. Black Liberation Theology, as it is called, is not new to Amercia, especially the black church. James Cone the progenitor of this theology explains it and why it such a unpopular message to mainstream America and some Black churches. Rev. Wright was not some cook on a racist rage, but rather delivering a message based on a theology that is very poignant for the times. Check out this clip from PBS and Cone's speech at Harvard Divinity on "The Cross and The Lynching Tree." It's a shame that with all of this access to knowledge, we are as ignorant as we are.
This past week, we have seen a barrage of video clips and audio clips from Sen. Obama's pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright. In commentary, the press referred to his message as black separatism or some form of hate speech coming from "an angry black man". Fox news and most of the press did a very good job of scaring white folks, but to understand his message, you must understand the foundation of the message. Black Liberation Theology, as it is called, is not new to Amercia, especially the black church. James Cone the progenitor of this theology explains it and why it such a unpopular message to mainstream America and some Black churches. Rev. Wright was not some cook on a racist rage, but rather delivering a message based on a theology that is very poignant for the times. Check out this clip from PBS and Cone's speech at Harvard Divinity on "The Cross and The Lynching Tree." It's a shame that with all of this access to knowledge, we are as ignorant as we are.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Trinity United Church of Christ
Trinity United Church of Christ
What bothers me most about this is that sermon you keep hearing on tv has been preached all over the US at other churches some black, some white. There is nothing wrong with having an Afrocentric message in the Gospel. The good Christian folks preached freedom from sin while the beat and mamed us, raped our women and decimated our sense of community, and we have the audacity to preach an Afrocentric gospel? Maybe ya'll forgot, but those pages were left out of the slave Sunday School Manual. Blacks were the original victims of identity theft. Stolen and replaced with a form of Godliness denying the power thereof, so why exactly is it wrong to teach a Afrocentric gospel, again?
Oh, yeah, for all you "knee grows" that believe the same thing, but won't stand up. This won't stop with Rev. Wright.
Put this in you spirit...
"We are a congregation which is Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian... Our roots in the Black religious experience and tradition are deep, lasting and permanent. We are an African people, and remain "true to our native land," the mother continent, the cradle of civilization. God has superintended our pilgrimage through the days of slavery, the days of segregation, and the long night of racism. It is God who gives us the strength and courage to continuously address injustice as a people, and as a congregation. We constantly affirm our trust in God through cultural expression of a Black worship service and ministries which address the Black Community."
What bothers me most about this is that sermon you keep hearing on tv has been preached all over the US at other churches some black, some white. There is nothing wrong with having an Afrocentric message in the Gospel. The good Christian folks preached freedom from sin while the beat and mamed us, raped our women and decimated our sense of community, and we have the audacity to preach an Afrocentric gospel? Maybe ya'll forgot, but those pages were left out of the slave Sunday School Manual. Blacks were the original victims of identity theft. Stolen and replaced with a form of Godliness denying the power thereof, so why exactly is it wrong to teach a Afrocentric gospel, again?
Oh, yeah, for all you "knee grows" that believe the same thing, but won't stand up. This won't stop with Rev. Wright.
Put this in you spirit...
W.E.B Dubois co-wrote “The Negro In The South” along with Booker T. Washington which was published in 1907 . In the chapter entitled, “Religion In The South” he states,
” If my own city of Atlanta had offered it to-day the choice between 500 Negro college graduates–forceful, busy, ambitious men of property and self-respect, and 500 black cringing vagrants and criminals, the popular vote in favor of the criminals would be simply overwhelming. Why? because they want Negro crime? No, not that they fear Negro crime less, but that they fear Negro ambition and success more. They can deal with crime by chain-gang and lynch law, or at least they think they can, but the South can conceive neither machinery nor place for the educated, self-reliant, self-assertive black man.”
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Proverbs 22:22
Obama is on the move and the intellectuals don't have a clue why. The Christian Right will be back against Obama. I can already see it. I saw a video clip today of John McCain getting off of his campaign bus and right behind him was a very prominent preacher. I have Christian brothers siding on the right for freedom from the terrorist and are God given right to be free, but the question I have to ask my Christian brothers is, what about the right to be free from financial predators. According to conservatives, a whole bunch of poor, low income and lazy folks forced mortgage companies to given them bad loans against the mortgage companies will. It was down right shameful. The mortgage companies have always, always had the people's best interest at hand, but when you have this low income family or a single women breathing over your neck. You tell them in no uncertain terms that their interest rate will double, but they demand that you give them the loan anyway.
I'm being sarcastic because in 2004, we had church folks marching and protesting in front of abortion clinics and have family values rallies, but I have yet to see church folks surrounding mortgage companies like Joshua demanding accountability for their actions. Could it be the new building fund project is financed by the same mortgage company? Odds are, that many of our church's members are victims of shameful game, but where is the outrage? Why aren't the preachers on tv pounding their fist on the Bible demanding that the principles of God's word are not being enforced. Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people!!! The Bible is right and somebody's wrong!
Who's on the Lord's side? I'm a soulja in the army of the Lord! Here is what I think. Many of the prophets of the Lord are eating from Jezebel's table. Their principle's have been compromised! They have been bitten by position and status, justified by the Divine Right of Freedom. It is our God given right to go to war.
Where are the prophet Nathans? The men and women of God who can go and tell the King, "Thou art the man." In fact, Nathan would have been arrested and chastised for being "unpatriotic". Let's not forget. Nathan went to David during a time of war, and told the king that his use of the military for means other that those for the protection of Israel was wrong. David used his authority and God given right to Freedom for a cover up. Does this scenario sound familiar? Remember David had it all, but he didn't have Bathesheba. He robbed someone who had less than him and tried to cover it up.
"Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate- Prov. 22:22
I'm being sarcastic because in 2004, we had church folks marching and protesting in front of abortion clinics and have family values rallies, but I have yet to see church folks surrounding mortgage companies like Joshua demanding accountability for their actions. Could it be the new building fund project is financed by the same mortgage company? Odds are, that many of our church's members are victims of shameful game, but where is the outrage? Why aren't the preachers on tv pounding their fist on the Bible demanding that the principles of God's word are not being enforced. Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people!!! The Bible is right and somebody's wrong!
Who's on the Lord's side? I'm a soulja in the army of the Lord! Here is what I think. Many of the prophets of the Lord are eating from Jezebel's table. Their principle's have been compromised! They have been bitten by position and status, justified by the Divine Right of Freedom. It is our God given right to go to war.
Where are the prophet Nathans? The men and women of God who can go and tell the King, "Thou art the man." In fact, Nathan would have been arrested and chastised for being "unpatriotic". Let's not forget. Nathan went to David during a time of war, and told the king that his use of the military for means other that those for the protection of Israel was wrong. David used his authority and God given right to Freedom for a cover up. Does this scenario sound familiar? Remember David had it all, but he didn't have Bathesheba. He robbed someone who had less than him and tried to cover it up.
"Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate- Prov. 22:22
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Hold Up, Wait A Minute..
As I was driving to work this morning, I was changing stations on the radio to see what was happening over at Tom Joyner's place. I was surprised to hear the comments of a disappointed caller complaining about statements made by commentator Tavis Smiley. For the life of me, I could not conceive what was said to make callers call in and air their disagreements, so I went to MoKelly's blog and found out what was really going on. I listened to the audio clip, and I too, found my self gettin' a little warm with my brotha's statements. After c0llecting my thoughts, calling a friend and venting, I sat down to write this blog entry. Now, I do not pretend to have all of the answers for the black community, but to start my rebut, it seems that brother Smiley does. Now, I believe that bro. Smiley is a spiritual man, but that is some anointing to see into the hearts and minds of thousands of black folk and determine the intent of their hearts.
Now his statements, in my opinion, border on intellectual elitism. First, by what he described of the actions of the populace fall under the description of infatuation, not love. Infatuation means to be deprived of sound judgment. In his commentary, he goes on at length about the need to look closely and keep things in perspective, but again this is not love. True love does not need to be told what to watch out for, how to think or react. True love involves a deep commitment to one's own consciousness as well as the commitment to the object of one's affection. Basically, you must love yourself before you can love anyone else. According to Mr. Smiley, black folks don't love themselves because they have become deeply infatuated not only with Obama, but the idea of Obama. Again, I say, it borders on elitism to pretend to know the hearts and mind of everyone. It's like the woman who says, "All men are dogs", but you have not met all men.
The idea alone lends itself to the notion that nobody can think for themselves except the intellectual elite. Basically, what you are saying is that black folks are not intelligent enough to have an honest, informed decision about this candidate without help from the black intellectual establishment because where else would we get the information needed to make such decisions.
I know that we are not on the inside in D.C., L.A. and New York with the movers and shakers, ballers and shot-callers, but neither were the pioneers of the civil rights movement. If they didn't know anything else, they knew that something had to change. They didn't have blogs, networks, internet radio streams and such, but they believed that if they spoke loud enough and demonstrate as one, something would change. As I have said before and I will say it again, the black establishment must stop trying to speak as black folks, but instead help them find their voice. He went on to say, "The least among us must be allowed to speak, and we do that for them by valuing our vote." The poor do not need anyone to speak for or as them, and that is the problem They have a voice of their own. The problem is that they are drowned out by the establishment. Remember the blind men in the Bible, they had a voice, but the establishment presumed to speak for them and minimize their importance.
"And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more... "
Many are speaking loudly, their spirits are crying, change. A spirit of hope is emanating from Sen. Obama, and that is what is drawing people. I know that this is too simple for intellectuals to understand, but it's meant to confound the wise. The policies over the past 7 years has suppressed the hope in people. When hope is suppressed, faith has no framework to be established in.
"We are saved by hope..." Saved in this sentence is from the Greek work "Sozo". It means to rescue from danger. Hope is Elpis. It means expectation of good, so we are rescued from danger by the expectation of good.
People are reaching for hope, and I believe they sense it in him. It's not going to add up on paper. The polls data is not going to make sense. In all honesty, I believe this is the same message preached by Jesse Jackson as he ran for president years ago. It's just on a different level of consciousness. You don't have to remind people they are hurting all the time. They see it when they wake up in the morning, and when they go to bed at night and when they look into the eyes of their children. The problem is to sit in mess and not know that it stinks! Why sit ye here until you die? People are like the lepers. We can go into this, and we may die, but we might get what we need. We got to at least try. When you realize that it stinks, then you either move or your move, it. If I question a love, I question the motive of those who to sit at certain tables to eat the fatted calf in hopes of getting cabinet positions. These same people who are questioning the validity of Sen. Obama. It's one thing to support, but when you seemingly have a vested interest in certain people's success, I doubt that you are doing it for the "the people". "Yeah, you know how we do. We do it for the people."- Common, "The People"
As for Iowa housing more blacks with blacks being smaller in population, let's remember who was president.
"While everyone is affected by the nation's quadrupling of the prison population, the African American community has borne the brunt of the nation's incarceration boom. From 1980 to 1992, the African American incarceration rate increased by an average of 138.4 per 100,000 per year. Still, despite a more than doubling of the African American incarceration rate in the 12 years prior to President Clinton's term in office, the African American incarceration rate continued to increase by an average rate of 100.4 per 100,000 per year. In total, between 1980 and 1999, the incarceration rate for African Americans more than tripled from 1156 per 100,000, to 3,620 per 100,000."
Too Little Too Late: President Clinton's Prison Legacy Daniel Macallair, Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice
Keep Hope Alive!!! LFG
Now his statements, in my opinion, border on intellectual elitism. First, by what he described of the actions of the populace fall under the description of infatuation, not love. Infatuation means to be deprived of sound judgment. In his commentary, he goes on at length about the need to look closely and keep things in perspective, but again this is not love. True love does not need to be told what to watch out for, how to think or react. True love involves a deep commitment to one's own consciousness as well as the commitment to the object of one's affection. Basically, you must love yourself before you can love anyone else. According to Mr. Smiley, black folks don't love themselves because they have become deeply infatuated not only with Obama, but the idea of Obama. Again, I say, it borders on elitism to pretend to know the hearts and mind of everyone. It's like the woman who says, "All men are dogs", but you have not met all men.
The idea alone lends itself to the notion that nobody can think for themselves except the intellectual elite. Basically, what you are saying is that black folks are not intelligent enough to have an honest, informed decision about this candidate without help from the black intellectual establishment because where else would we get the information needed to make such decisions.
I know that we are not on the inside in D.C., L.A. and New York with the movers and shakers, ballers and shot-callers, but neither were the pioneers of the civil rights movement. If they didn't know anything else, they knew that something had to change. They didn't have blogs, networks, internet radio streams and such, but they believed that if they spoke loud enough and demonstrate as one, something would change. As I have said before and I will say it again, the black establishment must stop trying to speak as black folks, but instead help them find their voice. He went on to say, "The least among us must be allowed to speak, and we do that for them by valuing our vote." The poor do not need anyone to speak for or as them, and that is the problem They have a voice of their own. The problem is that they are drowned out by the establishment. Remember the blind men in the Bible, they had a voice, but the establishment presumed to speak for them and minimize their importance.
"And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more... "
Many are speaking loudly, their spirits are crying, change. A spirit of hope is emanating from Sen. Obama, and that is what is drawing people. I know that this is too simple for intellectuals to understand, but it's meant to confound the wise. The policies over the past 7 years has suppressed the hope in people. When hope is suppressed, faith has no framework to be established in.
"We are saved by hope..." Saved in this sentence is from the Greek work "Sozo". It means to rescue from danger. Hope is Elpis. It means expectation of good, so we are rescued from danger by the expectation of good.
People are reaching for hope, and I believe they sense it in him. It's not going to add up on paper. The polls data is not going to make sense. In all honesty, I believe this is the same message preached by Jesse Jackson as he ran for president years ago. It's just on a different level of consciousness. You don't have to remind people they are hurting all the time. They see it when they wake up in the morning, and when they go to bed at night and when they look into the eyes of their children. The problem is to sit in mess and not know that it stinks! Why sit ye here until you die? People are like the lepers. We can go into this, and we may die, but we might get what we need. We got to at least try. When you realize that it stinks, then you either move or your move, it. If I question a love, I question the motive of those who to sit at certain tables to eat the fatted calf in hopes of getting cabinet positions. These same people who are questioning the validity of Sen. Obama. It's one thing to support, but when you seemingly have a vested interest in certain people's success, I doubt that you are doing it for the "the people". "Yeah, you know how we do. We do it for the people."- Common, "The People"
As for Iowa housing more blacks with blacks being smaller in population, let's remember who was president.
"While everyone is affected by the nation's quadrupling of the prison population, the African American community has borne the brunt of the nation's incarceration boom. From 1980 to 1992, the African American incarceration rate increased by an average of 138.4 per 100,000 per year. Still, despite a more than doubling of the African American incarceration rate in the 12 years prior to President Clinton's term in office, the African American incarceration rate continued to increase by an average rate of 100.4 per 100,000 per year. In total, between 1980 and 1999, the incarceration rate for African Americans more than tripled from 1156 per 100,000, to 3,620 per 100,000."
Too Little Too Late: President Clinton's Prison Legacy Daniel Macallair, Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice
Keep Hope Alive!!! LFG
Friday, January 4, 2008
Ready or not black folks, Obama is going without you.
With the recent wins in Iowa for Sen. Obama, some people are taking a second look at the brother, but many blacks are still skeptical. I think we are waiting for a sign. How about the first black presidential candidate to win the Iowa Caucus? I know this sound simplistic, but the point I am trying to make is that we still are not engaging in the process as we should. We are sitting back waiting for him to show us something. Pull a rabbit out of hat or something. He is progressive and moving. The train has left the station. Many of us are standing at station with our tickets in our hand trying to decide if we are going to ride or not, knowing that we have to go somewhere. The children of Israel walked to the promise land only because there was no mass transit. What is our excuse? There are plenty of seats, and yes, you will have to sit next to someone who may not like you, but they didn't like Rosa either, and she still got on the bus. LFG
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