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
People Kill People!
First I’d like to say that my heart goes out to the families that lost loved ones in the senseless massacre that occurred in Newtown on Friday Dec 14th. May The Most High bless the remainder of your days and comfort you when those days become dark and you don’t feel like being here anymore. Know that there will be brighter days!
Now with that out of the way! Guns don’t kill people, people kill people is the going right wingnut statement of attrition when acts like what happened in Newtown occur. They always say it’s really not the guns, it’s the people. The truth of the matter is they are right to some degree, because I’ve never seen a gun walk up to someone and kill them, but I have seen a person with a gun walk up to someone and kill them. Maybe we need to tweak that statement just a little bit to; Guns don’t kill people, people with Guns kill people! That would be a lot more accurate!
We can stop the BS talking point in its tracks right there and move on to more pressing issues. The problem in America is twofold, well actually threefold, but one of them has to do with gangs. The other two are what we need to debate. We already know gangs are a menace to society and what causes gang violence, but it’s the other two things that need to be focused on here.
1) Over abundance and the ease of acquirement of weapons with only one purpose, death. And 2) The rampant mental illness that is way too common in the US. These two factors are the reason so many gun deaths occur in our nation outside of gang related shootings. 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
The Divided States of America! Part II
Immediately after the election pundits on all news networks started screaming about how our nation was so divided and pointed to the red state, blue state map that has become ubiquitous in US politics. This map seeks to show how conservative or liberal each state is and claims that this is an indicator of the great divide.
It seeks to say that red states are conservative and blue states are liberal but when you look at the actual breakdown of each state what you see is that states are both liberal and conservative at the same time. The average state was won by a few hundred thousand votes and some just by a few thousand, so on a state-by-state breakdown we see a division but not the way the map actually seems to portray it.
The map wants to make the south and northwest, besides the west coast, look completely conservative but in reality Republicans only won red states by a few million votes combined with Texas being the biggest win percentage.
I’d believe what they say if red or blue states were won by 80 or 90% type numbers, but when the average state is won 53 to 47% it shows that each state is about 50/50 when it comes down to politics. This is why even in red or blue states you’ll see democrats or republicans win congressional seats and governorships no matter what color the state swings for presidential elections.
This pattern has been true forever within US politics. If we go back to Ronald Reagan in 1980, even though he won 489 electoral votes and 44 states out of 50, he still only beat Carter by 8.5 million votes. He got 43.9 to 35.4 million respectably, with 7.1 million going to independent candidates.
If this has been the case in American politics, then why are pundits playing up the deep division in the US? This same divide has been present since at least the 80’s. So what’s different now, that wasn’t different back then?
One thing, a Black man is in the seat of the POTUS, and that’s it, see an article that I wrote in January 2012 for more!
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.