Over the last eight years a new crop of so called “enlightened” Black people are starting to emerge, the “politically enlightened” that is. These people are the ones that got into politics when Barack Obama first ran for president, but really weren’t into politics, they we’re just into wanting to see Barack become the first Black POTUS. They’re mostly under 35 and are a part of the millennial generation that came of age after the internet became a household thing. They’re part of the microwave, short attention span, self entitled, Twitter generation that thinks things should happen specifically for them and immediately after they say something about it.
This generation of Black people has jumped into social media politics head first with little to no understanding of how politics actually work. They think that because they have an opinion and that there are other people that share that opinion, that they are right about what they think and that anyone that disagrees is wrong. This is the furthest thing from the truth, and it’s the epitome of confirmation bias! But never the less, it’s the lay of the social media landscape.
These social media politico’s have usurped true political debate and replaced it with a millennial mindset which is becoming a detriment to the Black political voice that we once shared. At one point we spoke with one voice politically, but over the past eight years, that voice is being chipped away little by little, election by election. And each election cycle we see more and more Republicans being voted into office who seek to destroy all the progress that our forefathers gained after the Civil Rights Movement. And each time we see more and more black people either no voting, or voting across party lines based off of a flawed but prevalent thought pattern among these voters.
The three things that are causing this is; no real understanding of politics, the “what have you done for me lately” philosophy has been condensed because of their short attention spans, and they don’t understand the lesser of two evils philosophy.
When these three things occur within a person we get what we see today and this group of people are getting larger and larger each election cycle.
1: No real understanding of politics means that you are looking at political parties through a black and white mentality, both racially and as opposites of the same paradigm. So what happens is race is applied to everything along with political party affiliations, which means that they are specifically searching for what each party has done for Black people.
2: Add the microwave mentality to that and these short attention span social media politico’s apply their minuscule understanding of politics, and racial biases with the what have you done for me lately mentality and deduce the Democrat party down to within the last election cycle, as a matter of fact, they break it down to the latest news cycle stories that are being ran day in and day out trying to convince you of this, or that.
I’ve seen so many Black people mention what have they done for me lately when talking about politics than I’ve ever seen in my entire life over the past few years and it shows that they have no actual working knowledge of politics before they became “activist” on different social media platforms. And whats really crazy is that the people responsible for starting this dialog and spreading it are none other than Fox news pundits and reporters. Ask yourself what their agenda is? For those that can’t figure it out, its to divide and conquer.
Republicans only win statewide elections when there is a low voter turnout, or Black voters either no-vote or cross party lines. Whats one of the best ways to achieve these results, convince Black voters that the other party hasn’t done anything for them lately, therefore why would you continue to show allegiance to the party.
3: Because they don’t truly understand the lesser of two evils philosophy, they either no-vote or cross party lines based off election promises, which are mostly pandering. Within the last 100 years, the Republican party has been against every social change that has helped Black people in America. They’ve stood in opposition of Civil Rights, Equal Employment Opportunity acts and Affirmative Action, voter registration, etc. So how can a political party trumpet what have they done for you lately, when they’ve never done anything at all for you period, yet a lot of y’all actual listen to this nonsense and show that you believe it by no-voting or crossing party lines! This is where a true understanding of the lesser of two evils philosophy would come in handy.
The lesser of two evils means that if you have to make a choice between two things, could be more than two things, you should choose the one that is the least bad for you!
So in the instance of a two party political system like the one set up now, you should pick the one that does the least harm to you. This doesn’t mean that you’re voting for evil people, evil is just a metaphor, you’re voting for the person or party that will do the least amount of harm to your position in this country.
Now with that said, which party has stood with Black people for over a century, and which has been in opposition to the progress of Black people, at every turn. Which party is actively trying to get rid of affirmative action? Which party has trampled on voting rights across the country? And the list can go on and on, but you get the picture right?
So all in all Democrats may not be actively trying to court the Black vote by making empty promises during the election cycle, but they have tried to beat back the Republican progress by regress machine that’s been in full effect over the past three decades and that has gotten worse since President Obama has taken office.
At the end of the day, if you’re one of these people that has no-voted or crossed party lines because the Democrats have done nothing for you lately, or they’re the lesser of the two evils, and you don’t vote like that, you are the reason that Republicans who have never done anything for you are able to win elections. So when they go on to dismantle the hard fought legislation that our forefathers died for, I’m going to need you to STFU and take what’s coming to you. All you gotta do is look at what Rauner is doing in Illinois!
You’re Already Rich, What About the Rest of Us!
I thought for sure that I had written something about Tavis Smiley’s and Cornel West’s ongoing crusade against The POTUS, Barack Obama. I searched through the blog and found nothing. Then realized that I had written so extensively on a FB friends post that I thought I had penned a 2000 word magnum opus to why Tavis and Cornel were on some bitter, spiteful BS, when it came down to their criticism of the Pres. So now that I know I’ve never really addressed this issue fully and after hearing what Mo Kelly said when talking to Roland Martin on blackamericaweb.com on Wed, 12/18/12 I decided to get to it.
First off let me say that I had the utmost respect for Tavis Smiley and Cornel West as two of the top African American intellectuals in the game today. The key word is had! Don’t get me wrong, I still have respect for them but nothing close to what I started off with. They both showed me over the past 4 years that they were willing to try to sabotage the first Black President (this statement is debatable if you do some research, well the first that they acknowledge), that this country has ever seen to advance their own careers and agendas.
Cornel started his crusade after he felt like he was slighted when Barack only gave him one inauguration ticket, which by the way was the same amount I got, and he wanted some more for his mother and a friend. After this he started spewing his critique venomously with the key word love attached to it to make it seem as if it was all about love. Then he went to a dinner or junket that the President was at and said that he felt like the President was treating him wrong by not sitting down with him after he had worked on his campaign tirelessly. At this junket he says that the POTUS kind of shoed him off by ostracizing him about the harsh words he had been saying about him, he said verbatim that he felt like Barack was talking down to him during that conversation. Continue reading
Is Being Blacker than Black Necessary Nowadays
For those who are wondering, blacker than black comes from the movie CB4 starring Chris Rock, from the scene where Dead Mike does his own thing. In the song he just kept repeating that he was Black and Blacker than Black because he was Black, while standing in front of a red, black and green African flag, dressed in an all black militant garb, and holding up black power fist! Funny scene in a funny movie, but just as most black comedies tend to do, there’s always a message behind the madness.
In this movie they attempted to cast a light on how fake these so called “real” rappers are. In this particular scene, the writer wanted to point out how Black men get over zealous in the whole Black struggle ideology and are way Blacker than need be. Thus he becomes Blacker than Black!
Over the past decade I’ve used the phrase Blacker than Black when describing Black people who are way too Afrocentric, as if being overly Afrocentric will solve all our modern day problems. These people tend to equate everything to reconnecting to our roots in Africa and everything will be alright after that. Most of the time they have no valid plan to move Black people forward, it’s always re-connect with Africa. Continue reading
Forward =’s
Ok, the election is over, Barack has won a hard fought second term and he will be our President for 4 more years. Hooray for me, Hooray for America, Hooray for Black people the world over. Once again a Black man has proven that we as a race are capable of reaching for the stars and actually landing on one. The glass ceiling has been shattered and there will be another Black President, the first woman or a Latino that will sit in that seat within the next 20 years because of President Obama’s grateful spirit and stoic demeanor.
He was the perfect man for the job, just as Jackie Robinson was when he became the first Black man to play in a segregated MLB back in 1947. The difference between the two lies with the fact that Barack Obama was absolutely the best Black man for the job and Jackie Robinson had players better than him but their attitudes sucked. So thank you for being able to weather the storm and still stand firm and resolute, I salute you Mr. President, for a job well done! You will go down in history, not just for being the first Black President, but for being one of the best Presidents this country has ever seen. Your record will speak for itself when I and historians decide to write about your Presidency in the near future.
Now that we’ve gotten through the pleasantries, Black people, what are you going to do?
Over the past two years I’ve been inundated by Black Liberals that claimed that they were holding the President accountable by spewing mostly negative information in all directions. Some were Black Activism political heavy weights like Tavis Smiley and Cornell West; others were up and coming political strategist, and some were just plain ole Black people who thought the President should have been talking about “Black” issues all the time as if he was the President of African America, and not the POTUS of all Americans.
Win – Win for Citizens ………… United
Grover Norquist, The 5 Conservative Supreme Court Justices, The Koch Brothers, Sheldon Adelson, and everyone over at Faux News that have campaigned tirelessly to get Citizens United on the books as a law are really loving what’s being done by Mitt Romney right now. It was recently reported that Mitt will more than likely be the first presidential candidate to out raise a sitting president in a presidential campaign since the beginning of this great republic.
With billionaire after billionaire helping to raise funds for Mitt, Barack is looking at some hard times down the stretch, when Romney might be able to outspend him in key battleground states and pull out a few miracles courtesy of his magic underwear.
I still think that Barack is going to beat him handily as long as Eric Holder and his team put an end to the voter suppression being done by the GOP. But a Barack victory, as beautiful as it may be, comes with some ugly consequences.
There are two scenarios that will play out during this election cycle and both are good for the GOP and the Citizens United ruling. It’s a win/win for Conservatives no matter what happens in November.
Scenario 1 – If Mitt Romney raises more money than Barack Obama and gets elected citizens United will never come close to being overturned because the Supreme Court Justices that retire during the next 4 years will be replaced by more conservatives and there is no way that they will overturn the ruling. There needs to be a left leaning court to get the decision reversed and the only way that will happen is if Barack wins again. So if Mitt wins, Citizens United wins.