Do We Need Another Black President?

As the Republicans and Libertarians search for someone to replace the current president the Democrats continue to convince the people that Barack Obama is what the people need. Negro pundits seem pleased having a talented tenth type negro in public housing. I don’t care how many days President Obama has served. It is obvious that little has changed. He has it made, while negroes around the country simultaneously salute him and struggle.
President Obama is an exception to the presidency. He got swagger! Dude plays ball, talks tough, speaks well, got a cool walk and a fine woman. C’mon – admit it. However, the ‘hood ain’t Hollywood. African-Americans have issues that a weed, a saxophone, suspended predatory lending and a few houses from a humanitarian group won’t solve. And parading Michelle before us is not sufficient. The proof is in the put in not the pudding.
True, he has inspired some individuals to dream and achieve. But truth be told, said persons had vacated blackness prior to Obama’s ascent and utilized his dream to justify stepping on the backs of Blacks that bowed in awe. We can grade the brotha. Bill Cosby has proven that Black folks watch television and he periodically makes his complaints known. However, it is time that some of the negroes desiring the preserve the negro identity realize that thangs don’ changed! It ain’t all good. Amerika needs to know that those most in need are not pleased with anyone who looks like them who can’t seem to recognize the need to improve the conditions of a downtrodden, disenfranchised, marginalized people. Slavery did some irreparable damage to the psyche of Black folks. One can claim to be indigenous, but the damages are still evident. One could consider themselves Native and compare their conditions to those enduring life on the reservations.
It is obvious that Obama doesn’t make all the decisions. It is clear that if he fails, we fail. Sadly, the we he speaks of is not Amerika, but Black folks and highfalutin negroes who could not die without having a Black representative be held responsible for the crisis of Amerika. C’mon… you eventually gotta come black. As for the future candidates and wannabes – don’t say you will do what you have no intentions of doing.

Buying Black, Giving Back!

If we began to list the things that Black people don’t like or don’t do, the list would be long and exhaustive. Hell! Blacks don’t tip. They don’t skydive. They shy away from rock climbing. Of course, they aren’t particular about Country music. They don’t like their meat raw and bloody. They aren’t Nascar fans. Blacks avoid the extreme heat. They aren’t crazy about cold weather, either. We could go on and on and we’d find a Black or Brown face doing or liking what we have been led to believe they wouldn’t. But what bothers me is the idea that Black folks don’t like supporting Black businesses. The numbers are small or else we’d pull resources to create jobs and at minimum, employ our women.
It is common knowledge that a high percentage of mom and pops stores, owned by Blacks, are expensive and under stocked. Perhaps, this fact coupled with post-slavery trauma syndrome and the Willie Lynch theory makes buying black a difficult task. We have seemingly been conditioned to accept abuse, disrespect and poor service from community invaders who know that the Black dollar is a spent dollar. And of course, we gladly spend with outsiders despite their intentions to only suck money from our communities. Well, efforts are being made to educate Blacks about spending within our communities. I recall Warren Ballentine rallying his listeners to participate in a National BlackOut in 2007. And of course, the Andersons have committed to spending an entire year buying black. At a glance I would not have imagined it. I now understand what my jegna meant by not being quick to judge.
Somehow, we must learn to love, trust and appreciate ourselves and just maybe – we can love those who look like us. Please, take a page from the Andersons.

baz moreno

Indifferent

Black Amerikans cried, prayed and voted for Obama after Amerika approved of him. Previously, they hadn’t believed a Black man could contend with white candidates and much less, win despite their short run of success. The majority of Amerikans wanted to believe that a man could come and save them from tyranny, high fuel prices, escalated unemployment, and the dwindling dollar. Once the idea of a Black man in the WhiteHouse circulated the people immediately began to upgrade the image of Obama to that of a Black Messiah. Cool! Perhaps, he was more of a black Superman. Yeah! That’s it. The Black community relieved him of any responsibility to the people who looked like him, walked like him, enjoyed the same tastes in food, praised the lord like him or felt the weight of negro expectations like him.
The negro leaders wanted the world to know that Black folks were not monolithic and that a few negroes had arrived. Such negroes were not interested in Obama addressing “black issues” because Obama was running for president of the United States and not of Black Amerika. Obama had an easy ride by avoiding the “white man’s burden”. And few realized that he would not have to tackle “black issues” at a later date. Once elected, he could be indifferent. Of course, this is baffling for any Black man born to a Black woman and having endured the stuff that black skin attracts; who sleeps with an intelligent, beautiful, shapely Black woman and who admits to being an Afrikan-Amerikan. It is known that Obama’s mother was caucasian, but the melanin is there. He is an Amerikan and proudly, an Afrikan (Kenyan). However, his blackness has attracted experiences that warrant his attention to the plight of Black folks in Amerika. It is utterly wrong for anyone to advise the president or any other Black person in a position of prominence or elected capacity to ignore the disenfranchised, marginalized, downtrodden people who get inspiration from the success of someone who looks like them and assumingly, thinks like them. It should be impossible for anyone of color to be indifferent when anyone is suffering. After all, Black folk - the world over - have a record of compassion that cannot be matched.
Last word – the president is a brotha. He can’t deny it despite the race of his mother, but Amerika forgets this fact, daily. Some things aren’t as obvious as others. If he is truly indifferent, it may not be due to his anglo roots, but more to the tests of time he has survived and the influences of negroes who wish to deny their blackness.

Skip the Gate - Go to Negro

Lots of talk about the Harvard professor of the human race. Why is there so much focus on the professor’s inconvenience, when communities have been devastated by police brutality and racial profiling since the Black man presented a threat by simply breathing? Look, white males do go to jail and as Skip proved – they don’t stay long. What is he complaining about? His reputation is still in tact; he still has a job; and I am sure that the relationship with his wife has not diminished. C’mon! This is common Amerikan stuff! It would be nice if his status and inconvenience could bring attention to the fact that Black and Brown males are handled differently than others, but the focus seems to be on the notion that a 56% white male, who teaches at Harvard and lives in a safe neighborhood, was arrested on his own property after verbally badgering the officer who’d allegedly warned him after answering a call that someone had broken into this home. Great neighbors!
Why is Skippy even considered Black when it is obvious that he prefers to be identified as anything other than Black? Evidently, the officer did not notice that Skip wasn’t a Black man. He certainly didn’t think that he was disrespecting one of his elders. I would like to think that Mr. Gates was smart enough to identify himself, but this is rather difficult when one assumes that the arresting officer is just as intelligent (despite education or background) just because he is white.
It sad that people are surprised that an educated man, who appears to be Black but prefers to not be recognized as such, would be arrested and booked for breaking into a home in a predominantly non-Black neighborhood. Sure, the police need policing, but it was needed long before some snooty professor was awakened. ‘Hello!’ This is what we need to holla ‘bout! Tell me what you think.

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