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

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