Posts with the tag African American

I tip my hat to the Prez.

Okela — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 08:52:55 EDT

Well today the Nobel Peace Prize goes to a man who has overcome American bias/bigotry to become the country's first African American President. A feat, which I believe in itself is a tremendous accomplishment, and is no less than that of Nelson Mandela becoming the first Black President of South Africa after the end of apartheid. I tip my hat to the Honorable President.

Obama's award reflects wonderfully on America and is indeed the world's approval of the new direction this country is moving.

I believe that Obama deserves this award, and the critics, as usual, is grasping at straws, and showing their terrible bias with almost screams for the Nobel Peace Prize committee to withdraw the award.

It is a very impressive thing to see a Black man accomplishing so much and not being on the wrong side of the law. The only people that he does not inspire are ardent bigots.

Michael Steele's criticism wreaks of jealousy and self hate, and it is not a good look to have them attacking the President for everything that happens to him.

If GOD came out of the sky and gave Obama an award his critics would most definitely argue with GOD about President Obama's deservedness; at which point GOD would probably snap his fingers and send them to hell. Guess my point is that no matter what good President Obama does it may never be good enough for some people.

The people who voted to give the award to the President did so after serious debates, and their decision should be respected and not second guessed just because the recipient is Obama. The President should feel nothing but pride and joy at this honor, and make no excuses for the nobel peace prize committee's choice.

Orwell's Conservative Republican Party

Polit from Overland Park, KS — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:18:12 EDT

This is the year 2009 right? And next year is 2010!
I just needed to know. I needed to know because if you listen to FOXNEWS or Rush Limbaugh or Shawn Hannity or any of the conservative / republican talk shows (and most republican politicians) you’d think it was 1984!

Not “the real” 1984, when the Celtics beat the Lakers for the NBA championship but George Orwell’s make believe “1984.”

In this “1984”, FOXNEWS is the FicDep or Fiction Department. Rush Limbaugh is Parsons:
“a fattish but active man of paralyzing stupidity, a mass of imbecile enthusiasms—one of those completely unquestioning, devoted drudges on whom…the stability of the Party depended…."

Republican Party elected officials make up the Ministry of Truth. While the voting members of the Republican Party play the role of the Proles.

Oh yeah, Ronald Regan is Big Brother—a fictional leader.

This is the only way one can explain the mindlessness of the Conservative / Republicans.

They speak in Orwellian BlackWhite: “ The ability to accept whatever "truth" the party puts out, no matter how absurd it may be."

Orwell described it as:
"...loyal willingness to say black is white when party discipline demands this. It also means the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know black is white, and forget that one has ever believed the contrary."

This so perfectly describes the current state of the Conservative / Republican party that if you didn’t know better it would be hard to believe that everything I just attributed to them came from a book written in the 1940’s.

How else do you account for the fact that they twist the truth and blame President Obama for EVERYTHING that THEY do. And by the way, just like in the book, the…” titular head (of the Conservative / Republican Party) is a person whose whereabouts nobody knows."

The latest rendition of “blackwhite” is this notion that somehow President Obama is responsible for a racist neo-nazi, white supremacist, shooting up the Holocaust Museum.

They say it’s because Obama is dividing the country.

Some are even suggesting that it was all a hoax created by—OBAMA?

A black Security Guard is killed in a Jewish Holocaust Museum and—OBAMA DID IT!

People… the Conservative / Republican Party has moved into a fictional and very dangerous world.

GOD please protect President Obama.

The Never Vanishing Dream

Mike from Chicago, IL — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 10:14:35 EST

Greetings,

The Bob Edwards Show included coverage of a politician who criticized President Obama by saying, “For the first time, the American dream could vanish.”

For the first time . . . the American dream could vanish ?

During the term of the first African American president, this gentleman is saying that the American dream even existed for African Americans when the first American dream was forged into the home that will always cradle the dream . . . Always cradle the dream.

I believe the gentleman who made this statement was a senator.

His statement rings untrue on two counts. The American Dream still does not even exist for some people . . . AND it will NEVER vanish. That is the foundation of the American Dream...you will never defeat the American Spirit.

No matter how much your words or actions try to make the false seem true, the American Dream will never vanish because it is the people’s dream the of all the people in the world who choose to abide by the main truth in our foundation...ALL people are created equal.

If you understand that simple truth . . . If you understand the will of the people and help them manifest a spirit of union, of cooperation, a spirit of collaboration you don’t have to fear the American dream will vanish.

Is it harder right now? Look at what we have created. Of course it is harder.

But anyone who fears the vanishing American Dream doesn't understand the diverse American Spirit . . . protected by law.

Politicians who talk about the ongoing job of building and protecting the American Dream are who I want to hear from. I want to hear constructive criticism, but please bring something that moves the ball forward.

Although this was such a shockingly unthoughtful statement that it is newsworthy. Unfortunately, there are enough of these mistaken comments we could have a show called, “What Century is This?”

Best regards,

Mike

Michael Bordenaro
Co-Founder
BIM Education Co-op™
Chicago, Illinois
(773) 252 5888
www.BIMeducation.com

Politeness Time Out

Denise — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:50:41 EST

Stimulus Bill negotiations reveals want Conservative are really troubled by. They say “to much wasteful spending” is the problem, here’s their idea of wasteful spending; education, infrastructure and not enough tax cuts. Really, education is wasteful?

No the problem with conservatives is the idea of educational reform. Given the fact that, for centuries myths have been maintained which say, African American children can’t learn as quickly as other ethnic groups, based on the idea of poverty. Providing funding to improve the ideological structure and system of education would finally dismantle this belief, which was created solely for the purpose of maintaining the idea of superiority.

Infrastructure would provide jobs for all Americans; there goes poverty levels. With this happening, myths that portray African Americans as “not wanting to work” lacking skills and all other ridicules notions created throughout the centuries would dismantle. Tax cuts as we all know, benefit those in the highest tax bracket, no need to explain further.

The ultimate problem conservatives are having with the Stimulus Package is from Whom the Package comes. This reveals itself by the spins; “suit jackets should be worn in the Oval Office”, “his arrogance”, and so on…

Agreeing with this particular President is too painful for conservatives. Passing the Stimulus packet would be a form of agreement, if agreement is reached, realization would set in, this realization would force Conservatives to face society as it really is; changing.

I need your help

New Life — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 20:13:53 EST

I would like to know if anyone has identified discrimination of post convicted people as a major factor to high unemployment in your communities and what have your communites done to eliviate this problem.

My view is, if people are not able to get jobs because of their convictions they will be roaming the streets broke while we are at work, and they will still be in the community.

They will still be our neighbors even if we allow apartments to discriminate against giving them housing they will still live in the apartments with someone else.

I feel the solution is to make it against the law for them to be discriminated against by employers where there is no conflict of interst relating to their crime and the jobs and also make it illegal for any housing community that rents to the general public to discriminate based on ta prior conviction when the person is no threat to the community.

If someone else has a suggestion please give me some guidiance to help me find a solution for the heads of these families I serve.

How do I have a bill proposed for this at the federal level, if we are really talking about re entry these people cannot possibly re enter when they cannot find a place to live and assume their parental roles as adults. If we won't give them a chance to really be free after they have given everything that was required of their sentences, we should not continue to punish them life is hard enough and they never finish their sentence it becomes a life sentence to them.

A Need for Happiness by my 10 yr old sister

Tamara Calixte — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:33:51 EST

A Need for Happiness

By: Soukaina Tapenga Calixte

A life of slavery,

Wanting to be free

Laying down,

Being beaten

Or your sore knees

Thinking of the past,

All of the people,

Who fought to be free?

You’re thinking in your head,

Slavery got to be dead,

I got to fight,

Now, forever,

To get victory,

How could I get out!

What would the slave master say?

Would he send the guards?

Who will be searching my way?

Where would I go?

Who will I meet?

I got to stop doubting,

I need to believe,

Racism, hatred, al of those things,

I am thinking,

Where did that all begin,

Separate schools, separate fountains,

Why would people be so cruel?

Being teased,

For being,

Over weight, different color,

And for what they do

This is all wrong

I wish this could all be gone

So now let’s think of all

The people who tried to put

A stop to

Racism, hatred, rudeness,

Slavery, being mistreated,

Assassinated, and attacked

Abraham Lincoln,

George Washington,

Harriet Tubman,

Martin Luther King Jr.,

Oprah Winfrey,

Rosa Parks,

Ruby Bridges,

And last but definitely

Not least

Barack Obama

Who is our President.

Barack Obama - Yes We Can !

Peter from Portland, OR — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 03:40:36 EST

Since January 20th 2009 Barack Obama is the 44th president of the United States of America, a very historic inauguration day. Think back to 1963, when Martin Luther King held his famous speech, saying "I have a dream...", and see what a positive change has allready been made since then. With Barack Obama the first African American president in US history is in the White House, Martin Luther King`s dream is about to come true and that´s really great ! - Shop America supports Barack Obama and wishes him all the best for his future, hoping that he can really perform the "Change" for America and the world ! - Visit our Barack Obama section and check out "Yes We Can" and other political designs on t-shirts, buttons, stickers and more:

BARACK OBAMA DESIGNS - YES WE CAN

BARACK OBAMA DESIGNS - YES WE CAN

THE AUTO INDUSTRY, A FEW OF MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES (INDUSTRIAL GREED):

Alex Karoub — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:14:47 EST

Contact: Alex.Karoub@gmail.com

This post is a brief overview of the Automotive Industry which describes some of the fundamental problems that are rarely spoken of. In addition, you will learn of a few of my personal experiences growing up, an environment where I was surrounded by the industry; you will learn of a few perspectives that are shocking and that even only a few within the industry know of. At the end of the post, you will better understand what happened to American Manufacturing and where it stands.

The Auto Industry is at the heart of all of American Manufacturing. It is an industry that laid the groundwork for many other types of industries to follow, deemed at one point in history to be the highest of successes. But now, it sheds light on what can become warning signs for other businesses that mistakenly try to imitate it.

This months hot topic is whether to bailout/rescue the regressing American Auto Industry. The original owners and their successors abandoned that industry long ago. The auto industry was ravaged and plundered by the wealthiest Americans a half century ago and has been in decline ever since. Shortsighted greed from one generation to the next has been the culprit. Since autos were first mass-produced and America monopolized the world, it was only natural that the American percentage/share of the market would eventually be reduced. However, total growth was enormous and total size of the market continues to grow even through today. Therefore, American growth of exports should have continued to grow, but does not significantly due to pillage and poorly planted roots. In simpler terms, we originally owned the entire pie. The pie was split up. Since the entire pie has grown dramatically, our piece should have grown too. However, the Big 4, 3, 2, … have been loosing market dominance and lead since the end of World War Two. Here we are years later in crisis, and the real question remains whether or not to rescue the real victims of the auto industry, the workers. People were not retrained or re-educated; most were never afforded real education's to start. People are now in despair and hopelessness. From my vantage point now living in Colorado for the last two decades, I have seen the high tech industry follow the auto industry, but at a learned and accelerated rate. Other industries are also copying the auto industry and are laying similar foundations also headed for disaster. Going back to a brief history, the misguided roots show how the decay started and why it spread.

Although I did not grow-up during the inception of the Auto Industry, its roots surrounded me. I spoke with a few who were there in the earliest days, and spoke with many who were of the following generation. I absorbed its history by studying it while attending school in Motown (Motor Town), by natural osmosis, and in my earliest career dealing with the car makers.

Growing up as a kid I lived less than a mile from Henry Ford's first moving assembly line factory, with GM’s World Headquarters’ just three miles away, and with Chryslers World Headquarters at the end of our street. The first Ford plant (in Highland Park, a city now surrounded by Detroit) and the first of GM's plants were built on the importation of the next generation of former black slaves and white share crop workers from the south (whites similar to former slaves whose white necks were red from working in the sunny fields, hence the mean spirited term 'Redneck'). The joke that Henry Ford must have laughed at and that went around town was "each worker would get paid enough to buy a Ford" (Of course using infamous 'Ford Credit' which was a primary direct withdrawal from their pay checks.) Henry manipulated a built-in guaranteed customer base and tapped double profits, being profits on the cars and the profitable bonded interest. Those were scams that he copied from sharecropping. The remains of their wages were so low that they had to live in shacks; but after all Henry felt, they came from shacks near the fields in the south. So much bigotry and repeated methods from sharecrop economic slavery. Instead of updating and rebuilding the original plants and without regard for the people who were the workers, the emerging auto giants left to go further to the suburbs.

So, as they moved and grew they imported shipload after shipload of immigrant economic slaves from Poland (to Hamtramck, MI) and more economic slaves from the Middle East (to Dearborn, MI). There were other minorities imported as well, also imported for economic servitude to supporting industries such as mining, iron works, steel fabrication, glass works, textile, …. Astonishing how easily the game of 'divide and conquer' worked upon the variety of minorities; a game of keeping the workers pitted against each other using race and ethnicity; all to hold back the power of the people from truly uniting. WW2 caused the Automakers not only to retool but also to reevaluate their future directions.

Soon, after the victory of WW2, came the Auto Giants grand visions for economically conquering the world via expansion outside the U.S. They quietly boasted that that would leave mainly world headquarters executives, designers, and engineers in the U.S. with the prestigious white-collar jobs. It was felt then (and these are not my bigoted opinions, not from me, yikes) that after all even 'the weaker sex' could do factory labor jobs as seen during WW2 (i.e. Rosie the Riveter). So why not have the 'stupid foreign workers' do the labor outside the U.S. What also gave way to the idea that manufacturing could succeed outside the U.S. was Mexico; since Mexican workers were also imported, but only temporarily during WW2. (By the way, the temporary Mexican workers were never fully paid back as promised during WW2.) A tremendous wave of pride about white-collar jobs became very popular in Detroit and in other automotive communities during the 50's. That vision sat poised on the back burner, but a pre-planted seed was already in place, which was Canada (Windsor) just across the Detroit River.

Canada was a much-desired orchestrated precedence for the automakers; it set the stage for grace given by the government as an easily set up protocol for off-shoring jobs. Soon after, the automakers made a migration south to other states, then further south to Mexico, and finally overseas and on to economic slavery in China.

Today we see the results of the destructive path the industry has taken. Layoffs, instead of being temporary situations reserved for pauses during new model changeovers, eventually became the mark of permanent labor plant closures. Obvious abandonment of people soon became the name of the automakers game. Along the swathed trail are - Highland Park, Detroit, Pontiac, Flint, Marquette, Gary Indiana, Pittsburgh, Toledo, Cleveland, …, which became known in the early 80’s as 'The Rust Bowl’. Sort of a rape, pillage, and burn mentality, which continues to today.

Amazing how well the reasoning of "that's the way it's always been" persists and grows from one generation to the next. Excuse after excuse gave temporary reasoning to incremental geographic movements for global conquer. Temporary excuses ranged from the need to originally amass large workforces, to the hindrance of union pressures, to American workers are lazy, to 'over' government regulation, to …, all straw obstacles as to why the auto industry needed to move as it did.

No! Greed is not good. We see how those at the top of the industry have each come in, grabbed with their greed, and left. Now today, we see how greed has caused "what once was, no longer is". So in short, now we see the results of greed, poorly planted roots, and disregard, taking its toll on America. Equally, is the toll on the myriad of unrelated businesses, old and new, that have adopted the auto industries infectious habits of having little to no regard for individual people that make up the American workforce. People.

While being raised in the center of Detroit, I experienced many situations involving the Auto Industry; the following although early was not my earliest, and is an actual example.

Around 1963, when I was 11 years old, I remember George Romney visiting our house to exchange political favors. Our 23-room house was a rundown relic of a past era, but it cleaned up well as a phony front for wealth and pretentious power. I remember we kids had to pretend that we were Christian Protestants for the visiting Governor (former Chairman of AMC) who was doing his Christian Mormon tradition of visiting the homes of his new legislators. How ostentatious they both were with fraudulent humility of how they rose from their humble beginnings. But more to the point, I remember Romney sitting at our dinning room table and saying "The Big Four Automakers don't have to worry about giving the Unions what they want, as long as the benefits will not be due for decades. By that time the labor plants will be outside the U.S." That shocked my brother Jimmy and I, as we listened playing in the sunroom just off the dinning room. Later we were once again physically punished (beaten-up), this time for listening to adult talk. Jimmy a year older than I, and intellectually gifted, soon became a Page at the State Capital. The accounts he returned with were shocking as well. Growing up as we did would make your head spin and open your eyes to disgust. We continued living in those surroundings until we grew out of our teens. Then we moved on to make our own adult lives, creating better environments much different from what we were born and raised in.

Recalling back to my teens, I realized back then the Detroit riots were not only about race, but was also about economic oppression. It was the minorities who were oppressed the worst, most especially African-Americans. Bad however you measure it is bad. (For a better understanding of the decline of Detroit and to better understand the riots, take a look at my other post: “DETROIT RIOTS OF 1967, A RECOLLECTION OF THE TRUTH.” You will also better understand how very close we came to seeing a nationwide repeat of the riots in the coming Spring of 2009.)

Unions, workers, man-hours, laborers, …, are not people, they are burdens to be minimized and eliminated. While watching Lee Iacocca being interviewed on Charley Rose last year, I noticed Iacocca admit that he new all the way back during negotiations with the unions, in the early 80’s, that Chrysler would never have to pay off in full on long term commitments to the unions. As Iacocca danced around the issue he said "now the unions will have to face reality". And, as Rose went on to discuss it more, Iacocca was getting more uncomfortable, and eventually managed to change the subject away from discussing past union negotiations. Iacocca was a bit slicker than George Romney was, since Iacocca was on national TV. It made me ashamed that Chrysler World Headquarters was at the end of our street when I was a kid. And, that as a young adult I had so proudly in my early career returned while working for a couple of electronics companies to Chrysler's World Headquarters R&D operations. I thought it an honor to have paid Iacocca's in-house barbershop to cut my hair, even his same barber. Some honor.

Following Chrysler, I moved up to deal with GM, and was puzzled. I listened to upper executives at GM complain that they constantly had to bribe Mexican government officials and border guards for GM plants. I guess they also assumed I already new and accepted that the plants in the late 70's had already begun their exodus to Mexico and other countries. I have always looked at bribery as disgusting and wrong, it was not for me or those who I dealt with, that's among the many good things that a mentor named Jack Bazzy taught me as a young kid. By becoming acquainted with other mentors as an adult, I learned to seek out highly reputable employers and quality knowledgeable friends. I learned how to educate myself, and moved up very high in the scientific and technical industries, all of which I enjoyed.

Although I grew up in Highland Park / Detroit, that was not anywhere near my top focus in choosing Obama. But, it is a simple history for me to recall, amazing how many more details I can give, but the main points have been brought forward. In addition, from being a mutt of sorts myself, to being a self made man, be that what it may, I have no illusions of being great. What I do mean here is that I quickly recognize many of Obama's unique insights, although mine are different but a bit similar in nature. Like many Obama supporters, I have personal experiences on most issues Obama has raised. So, above is just one of many examples that I can personally give.

To better understand manufacturing in America, you can read my other blog:
WHAT SCREWED UP MANUFACTURING FOR AMERICA

Blog members can reply here, anyone is welcome to email me at: Alex.Karoub@gmail.com

Michelle Obama's Dress

Matilda — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 02:00:33 EST

Hi all, someone asked me the other day what type of dress would I like to see Michelle Obama wear at the inauguration. I thought about it for a moment and then said, you know, she will represent us well. She will choose the right dress and she will make us proud. I really would like for her to wear one of my HatWigs. Hat and Hair,all in one. Go by http://www.hatwigs.com to see some of our selections.

Hope and Healing: Part 2 -- From Enslaved to Entitled

Writer@40 — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 10:02:35 EST

President-Elect Barack Obama said he intends to go through the budget “line by line” and look at every expenditure and program. I would hope that our 44th President takes on this task with an eye toward fixing some fundamentals: equal access to quality education; employment that pays a living wage; and affordable housing. Addressing these fundamental issues is critical to making opportunity in America truly equal for all. Most people would not choose poverty; but absent quality education, marketable skills and employment, what’s the alternative?

But, before we go there, indulge me for a minute as I take a step back to give a bit more context on psychological healing….

What is it like to be born with the scarlet letter “N” branded onto your psyche? To be born with the historical constitutional stigma of being three-fifths of a person? What is it like to bear that legacy for over 200 years, in a country that preaches “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”, but largely practices “separate but not equal”?

And what is it like to finally rise up from beneath the weight of that legacy, to defy and discard it, and have one of you become President of the United States of America? What happens to the psyche of that 60% person, that citizen-of-sorts? What are the possibilities of affording yourself equal opportunities because, finally, you believe Yes, You Can?

Black Voters, Gay Voters - The Bait and Switch

Jarrett in Florida — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:44:53 EST

Yet Another Glass Ceiling With Many Cracks...

I write this blog post in a moment of bittersweet victory. Having campaigned my heart out for Barack Obama over the last 3 months, I am overjoyed at our victory and feel that real change is finally coming to Washington and Main Street.

On election night, I partied in the street on the West side of Fort Lauderdale - a gay white boy surrounded by black people, most of whom were probably heterosexual. It could not have made a difference at the time, because we were all so optimistic and excited. The following morning was a different experience entirely... My friends and I were informed that Amendment 2 had passed and that not only would gay marriage now be outlawed but also civil unions and commonlaw marriages would be denied legal status.

So drops the other shoe.

The most disappointing part of the experience was the media coverage. Every news station was telling us that Black People were to blame... That all of the blacks who came out in droves to vote for Barack Obama had not listened to his supportive speeches and had voted specifically and willfully against my rights... The media maintained that Black people had not returned the "favor" of equality.

I'm not buying it. Here's something that the media is not telling us:

According to the same exit polls from CNN which indicate that Blacks voted for Prop 8 & Amendment 2 at higher percentages than whites, there is a key bit of information that needs to be explored - The total number of black voters for the anti-gay amendments is still not even 1/3 the total number of white, Evangelical voters who voted for the Amendments in the rural areas of the state... In fact, most black voters did not vote on Amendment 2 at all...

It is unfair, unreasonable and devisive for the mainstream media to pit blacks and gays against eachother at a time when we should all be celebrating eachother's diversity... As a white, gay male who supported and voted for Barack Obama with all my energy, I can honestly say that I have not experienced the slightest amount of homophobia from anyone in the Campaign For Change. I have never really felt any exceptional homophobia from the Black community at large, either...

Furthermore, it was not black people who put this Amendment on the ballot in the first place. Once again, this hateful bit of legislation has been brought to you by those "true Americans" who live in the remote grassy knolls that you drive by on your way to better places.

I think it's time to stop blaming races and sexual orientations for problems which are largely brought to us by Republicans. That's the other missing statistic here... Those who voted for John McCain also voted 91% in favor of Amendment 2.

It's time for Black people and Gay people alike to stand up for ourselves and refuse to let Republicans and the mainstream media continue to assail us in the name of "divide and conquer"...

God Bless all of you who helped on this campaign and remember to keep your cool and love your neighbors... even the bigoted ones. We shall overcome.

Atlanta Barack Obama Parties...

Patrick 2Tall Jones — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:09:59 EDT

POWERFUL ATLANTA MUSIC INDUSTRY SUPPORTS BARACK OBAMA FOR PRESIDENTJoin us for a "once in a lifetime" party to support Barack Obama and encourage others to vote. Lets make history together. Please forward to family and friends. Savoy Lounge has open it's doors to celebrate 2 important events: Barack Obama Party on Saturday night November 1st @ 9:00 pm and a live election result Viewing Party on Tuesday November 4th @ 8:00 pm. Lets laugh, cry, and make history!!Lets Complete Dr. Martin Luther King's Dream"Where people are judged by the content of there character and not the color of their skin."PLEASE FORWARD, VERY IMPORTANT TO SHOW UNITY ON THESE LAST DAYS BEFORE VOTINGSAVOY LOUNGE 2997 Campbelton Road, Atlanta, GA Directions From Downtown Atlanta:
Travel 75/85 south, take exit 243, Merge 166 West, travel 5 miles. Exit Campbelton Rd, merge right. Savoy is 2997 Campbelton Rd on the right.

Barack Obama Party on Saturday night November 1st @ 9:00 pm Official Viewing Party on Election Night Tuesday November 4th @ 8:00 pmIf your going to attend 1 or both, please RSVP by email as a courtesy.I hope to meet you and your Obama Friends. Lets Make History. Lets share it together!!!Sincerely, Patrick 2Tall Jones

Atlanta Barack Obama Parties...

Patrick 2Tall Jones — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:09:26 EDT

Directions From Downtown Atlanta:
Travel 75/85 south, take exit 243, Merge 166 West, travel 5 miles. Exit Campbelton Rd, merge right. Savoy is 2997 Campbelton Rd on the right.

Barack Obama Party on Saturday night November 1st @ 9:00 pm

Official Viewing Party on Election Night Tuesday November 4th @ 8:00 pmIf your going to attend 1 or both, please RSVP by email as a courtesy.I hope to meet you and your Obama Friends. Lets Make History. Lets share it together!!!Sincerely, Patrick 2Tall Jones

Atlanta Barack Obama Parties...

Patrick 2Tall Jones — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:08:47 EDT

Atlanta Barack Obama Parties...

Patrick 2Tall Jones — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:08:15 EDT

Voting Against One's Self

Albert from Indianapolis, IN — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 09:19:30 EDT

It amazes me to view the various poll results around the nation and see that John McCain registers even 1% of the electorate's consideration. Okay, maybe I could understand about 5% (the wealthy and those whose agendas he will promote) declaring that they will vote for McCain. Anyone else, dismays me. The reason is simple. As one may note from the news, the newspapers, the Internet, word-of-mouth, personal experiences, etc., most Americans are facing epic crisises in their lives. People--Black, White, or of other races--are losing homes, losing savings, struggling to eat, working multiple jobs to make ends meet, and finding alternatives to driving their cars due to high gas prices. Oh, and one shouldn't forget the loss of lives, loss of credibility with the rest of the world, loss of international respect, and loss of purpose in the war in Iraq that seemingly has become an inescapable situation for the nation. All of these challenges faced by Americans are the result of 8 years of George W. Bush's administration. There is no denying it. People are unhappy. They want better lives. They want changes in the government and in the government's policies. How, then, can one justify voting for John McCain? Is it his eloquent statements of his planned policies for the country that people wish for but have not yet received? Is it his decision to choose a running-mate based on gender, but not substance, in order to gain "on-the-fence" voters? Is it his illogical commercials attacking Barack Obama on every level--personal and otherwise? Is it fear-mongering? Or, is it a hesitancy by some to vote for an African American? My gut instincts tell me that it's the latter. Despite the turmoil being experienced in most American households, there are those who would rather vote for a continuation (and perhaps a further degradation) of their current situation instead of voting for a Black man. This is the epitome of illogical sentiments to me. If one is poor, struggling to feed and raise a family, and has a bleak future outlook, what do the Republicans offer that will give one hope for the future? Nothing. More George Bush policies would be on the way. That is not good news. Some people would rather vote to continue living a sub-par life than to elect a Black man to the White House. How insane. Race should not matter in this election. What should matter is one's prospect for a better life. Can Barack Obama offer a better life for a person over the next four years? At the very least, he has ideas and policy proposals that he advances every chance he gets. John McCain's plan for the middle class--question Barack Obama's patriotism and make veiled racist remarks. Think about it America. Are you so afraid of a Black man in power that you would settle for more of the same--the worst 8 year tenure in the history of the American presidency? Is it logical to vote against one's own interests? An analogy, not designed to equate John McCain with a vile historical figure but intended to drive home a point, begs parallel logic. Show me a holocaust survivor who would prefer Hitler to a Chinese emperor leading Germany, and I'll show you a poor, impoverished American who is eagerly, and rightfully so, in support of John McCain.

It's A New Day

Patrice from Williamsburg, VA — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 01:22:03 EDT

The dawning of a new day is here, both for America as a whole and for those who call ourselves "compassionate conservatives," a code name for politically active Christians.

It's a time when our nation has the opportunity to break from the tradition of the past--from racial and class division, from partisan politics, from us against them--and to ride into a bright, new future of unified effort for the good of all Americans, truly non-partisan policy making and cooperation in Washington.

The undeclared but clearly evident leader of this new effort is Barack Obama, an American of mixed racial background (half white, and half black), and of mixed socio-economic background, a recent graduate from the struggling middle class to the echelons of upper class America. He is the leader we need right now not just because of superior intellect, highly effective communication skills, and his high level of educational attainment, but also because of the character and the temperament with which he has been divinely blessed. Character he has demonstrated in this election in quite distinct contrast to his Republican contender, John McCain.

It is for this reason that I, a social activist at heart for the poor and for the good of all men, and a Christian conservative as it relates to the two most pivotal moral issues of our time--abortion and homosexuality--have decided to vote for Senator Barack Obama to become the next president of the United States.

Though the Republican party may attempt to portray it--God is not the God of one political party. He is not more concerned about small government than he is about helping those in need. He did not only send His Son to die for upper class and upper middle class whites. He does not want us to lock-up first time, young non-violent offenders for most of their young adult lives and throw away the keys. He does not want us to ignore the social causes of crime. He does want his people involved with both parties so that both parties ultimately represent His interests, which are the best interests of us all.

This is our opportunity. In this election, we have the ability to show the rest of America that "conservative Christians" can make a balanced, intellectual, and still spiritual choice for President. We can choose to vote for Barack Obama, not because we agree with him on every issue, but because we agree with him on many. And we can make our voices heard during his administration to affect the way he governs on issues with which we do disagree.

Make the change. Take the leap. Make a new choice, and encourage other like minded people to make this choice as well--praying all the way for Christ to grant Sen. Obama the wisdom to make the right decisions at the right time, not swayed by what's popular, but based on the right foundation--God's Word--at "such a time as this" in our nation's and the world's history.

--Pat Perry

Day 1 Thirteen to Go

Robin Caldwell — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:22:52 EDT

I woke up this morning committed to writing this blog about the next two weeks. I woke up feeling the electricity and energy of a new day dawning. I felt change in the air.

The thought of waking up on November 5 to Barack Obama as president of the United States of America is an amazing and awesome one. I'm young enough to have hoped to see the first African American president in my lifetime but I hadn't given much thought to the probability until I was in the airport last night watching the faces of people listening to commentary about Colin Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama. On some faces were grimaces and maybe some looks of hostility and disbelief. On other faces I saw joy and the hope I felt in my soul.

For the past twenty years or so, I've voted almost consistently Republican in presidential elections. I voted what I thought was my conscious based on moral beliefs. But it wasn't until Iraq that I began to see something I probably saw all along but didn't want to face or acknowledge -- I saw hypocrisy and no respect for my race within those circles. And race matters.

I also saw no regard for people in Republican politics, at least not a regard for the quality of life of people who struggle everyday to make ends meet. That's troubling and so not in line with my moral values. I believe we should care for the least of these.

At the same airport, I had to thank a young serviceman for his duty to this country and for his duty to me. He said, "That's okay, ma'am." And I said no it's not, you have no business over there.

I don't mind him being in the military. I come from a family where the men served in every branch of the service. I remember clearly hearing my great-grandmother say that her sons had to serve if called to serve or get out of her house. And guess what? Grandma James was a Democrat; a liberal to her core but she had a patriotism this country doesn't seem to get or understand.

It was in that same house where I learned that if I wanted to criticize the country or government, I had to register to vote and vote. I did and still do.

You know, I wonder how Grandma and my grandparents would feel about the days to come. About Barack Obama. About the first black president.

They'd probably feel like me: a little scared and hesitant and yet extremely proud.

First thought of the two weeks: I'm not voting Democrat, I'm voting Barack Obama.

~ Robin

McCain ignores Obama at debate

Tom — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 23:46:36 EDT

i was deeply offended by McCain's intentionality in never looking at Obama throughout the debate. It struck me as a strategy that was intended to convey a lack of respect for Obama, as if to say, "I shouldn't have had to lower myself to be on the same stage with this man. And I couldn't help but wonder if he would have treated any white person with that kind of disdain. It came across as demeaning and even racist.

Even before the debate began I heard Obama greet McCain. I heard no greeting from McCain in return.

Small Business

Amy from Rocky Mount, NC — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:30:28 EDT

Barack states: “I believe that America's free market has been the engine of America's great progress. It's created a prosperity that is the envy of the world. It's led to a standard of living unmatched in history. And it has provided great rewards to the innovators and risk-takers who have made America a beacon for science, and technology, and discovery…We are all in this together. From CEOs to shareholders, from financiers to factory workers, we all have a stake in each other's success because the more Americans prosper, the more America prospers.”

I concur with his statements but beg to ask the question: from whence comes our help? As an African American I find it increasingly difficult in comparisson to my counterparts to obtain financing for a start up business, find investors, or obtain grants. If governement has funding for a mirad of wasteful programs, why not the means to assist citizens to become more independent and pay forward the hand up to another?

No Angry Black Man

Rick from Washington, DC — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 10:10:09 EDT

There are alot of posts that say the Barack should respond to the attacks of the McCain/Bush Campaign.

I don't agree. At least he must be very careful. America still has plenty of people who are afraid of African Americans especially if they are male.

AN ANGRY IMAGE IS VERY RISKY!

Barack needs to stay positive.

Others need to vigorously attack the campaign of lies and smears that come from the Bush/McCain campaign.

Where is Biden? Hillary we need you! Kerry stay out of site please!

Rick

Jim Crawford Rethuglicans

Nia "Hussein" J. — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 04:23:33 EDT

‘Jim Crawford’ Republicans

Jonathan AlterNewsweek Web ExclusiveUpdated: 2:37 PM ET Sep 11, 2008

The GOP is working to keep eligible African-Americans from voting in several states. Jonathan Alter Newsweek Web Exclusive Updated: 2:37 PM ET Sep 11, 2008 It was a mainstay of Jim Crow segregation: for 100 years after the Civil War, Southern white Democrats kept eligible blacks from voting with poll taxes, literacy tests and property requirements. Starting in the 1960s, the U.S. Supreme Court declared these assaults on the heart of American democracy unconstitutional. Now, with the help of a 2008 Supreme Court decision, Crawford vs. Marion County (Indiana) Election Board, white Republicans in some areas will keep eligible blacks from voting by requiring driver's licenses. Not only is this new-fangled discrimination constitutional, it's spreading. GOP proponents of the move say they are merely trying to reduce voter fraud. But while occasional efforts to stuff ballot boxes through phony absentee voting still surface, the incidence of individual vote fraud—voting when you aren't eligible—is virtually non-existent, as "The Truth About Vote Fraud," a study by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, clearly shows. In other words, the problem Republicans claim they want to combat with increased ID requirements doesn't exist. Meanwhile, those ID hurdles facing individuals do nothing to stop the organized insiders who still try to game the system. The motive here is political, not racial. Republicans aren't bigots like the Jim Crow segregationists. But they know that increased turnout in poor, black neighborhoods is good for Democrats. In that sense, the effort to suppress voting still amounts to the practical equivalent of racism. In Crawford, the court upheld an Indiana law essentially requiring a passport or driver's license in order to vote. But more than two thirds of Indiana adults have no passports and nearly 15 percent have no driver's licenses. These eligible voters, disproportionately African-American, will need to take a bus or catch a ride from a friend down to the motor vehicles bureau to make sure they obtain a nondriver photo ID. Otherwise, they cannot vote in Indiana this year. To get an idea of how many African-Americans nationwide lack driver's licenses, recall Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when thousands were stranded without transportation. "Crawford Republicans" could make the old "Jim Crow Democrats" look like pikers when it comes to voter suppression. Consider Wisconsin, a swing state. Republicans officials there are suing to enforce a "no match, no vote" provision in state regulations, where voters must not only show a photo ID, but establish that it matches the name and number in the Department of Motor Vehicles or Social Security Administration database. (Democrats are resisting the suit.) These lists are riddled with errors in every state, as the Brennan Center has proven in its report, "Restoring the Right to Vote." How error prone? Florida wrongly purged tens of thousands of law-abiding, mostly Democratic, voters from the rolls in 2000, claiming they were felons. (This, among other things, cost Al Gore the presidency). Even after the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and worldwide attention, the Florida software is still flawed. It requires only an 80 percent match to the name of a convicted felon. "So if there's a murderous John Peterson, the software disenfranchises everyone named John Peters," Andrew Hacker writes in a recent New York Review of Books. Voters caught in these snafus can have their rights restored but not if they fail to straighten things out before Election Day. Otherwise they are granted "provisional ballots" that are sometimes counted and sometimes not. Even obtaining a provisional ballot can require an appearance in front of a judge in some states. Faced with the hassle, most voters just give up. The ability of actual felons to get their right to vote back varies by state. It's especially hard for felons to vote in Virginia; a bit easier in Pennsylvania and Michigan. (Other countries are far more generous to ex-convicts, figuring that having paid their debt to society they should be allowed to vote again.) All of this would seem to favor John McCain over Barack Obama this year, but some voting-rights trends are pointing in the opposite direction. In Ohio, where the governor and secretary of state changed in 2006 from Republican to Democrat, a new law allows voters to register to vote and fill out an absentee ballot at the same time between Sept. 30 and Oct. 6. This will mean a week of furious campaigning and early voting in a key state. Advantage Obama. With 470,000 students enrolled in Ohio's public colleges and universities (and nine out of 10 are Ohio residents), expect a bumper crop of young voters. The combination of voter suppression and early voting make turnout predictions perilous. And without knowing turnout, most polling is deeply flawed. So about the only thing we know for sure this year is that with the Crawford decision we are seeing a return to the days when one political party saw a huge advantage in preventing as many poor people as possible from voting. That's understandable politically, but also un-American.

URL: http://www.newsweek.com/id/158392

Please join us

Jill and Andrew — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 20:50:24 EDT

The Scottsdale for Obama Group will be hosting a meet and greet Wednesday, 9/17/2008 at Coffee Plantation Scottsdale Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85260. We will discuss everything from canvassing, to recruiting and everything in between. If you are unavailable to meet us please feel free to post any ideas you may have to promote events and get voters support.
-Jill
"We are the change we've been waiting for"

Can John McCain look Americans in the eyes and tell then he REALLY cares about America's future?

Ange — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 23:28:39 EDT

John McCain says he wants to secure American borders. But John McCain doesn't care about border security. He fought AGAINST border security when he voted against DELAYING opening the border to Mexican trucks for security reasons. John McCain says he cares about the FUTURE of the American people and globalization will get us a secure future. John McCain is engaging in wishful thinking.

Regarding globalization, John McCain said, he "understands that globalization will not automatically benefit every American. We must prepare the next generation of workers by making American education worthy of the promise we make to our children and ourselves. We must be a nation committed to competitiveness and opportunity." --"Bold Solutions for Economic Prosperity" Feb 3, 2008

John McCain just doesn't care about what you are going through NOW. He doesn't even have a plan or know how to develope a plan to improve the present in order for American families to have a successful future. That's why John McCain will leave the presidency to Barack Obama. John McCain knows Obama is able to protect Americans now, and in the future. John McCain's plan is to expose Americans to more job loss today so they can "compete" tomorrow.

Day of Blogging for Justice: Community Organizers

Zhana Books — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 09:47:46 EDT

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities. - Sarah Palin, 2008

Wiith those caustic words, Gov Sarah Palin ignited a firestorm in the African American community.

Many members of the AfroSpear and the afrosphere are blogging today to challenge Sarah Palin’s disrespectful remarks about community organisers. Please join us.

Click here to read my blog.

Don't know if anyone has seen this-Just more proof Palin is WRONG.

Bobbi Miller-Moro — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 20:08:19 EDT

(This is from a Bryn Mawr college grad to her fellow alums)
Dear classmates -
As an Alaskan, I am writing to give all of you some information on Sarah Palin, Senator McCain's choice for VP. As an Alaska voter, I know more than most of you about her and, frankly, I am horrified that he picked her.

NEED YOUR COMMENTS! I wrote a story to Sarah Palin on my blog on Yahoo Shine,

Bobbi Miller-Moro — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:43:51 EDT

I have been trying to keep up with the Republican comments. The Democrats are standing up, but perception is everything. This was one of the last comments I made on my own blog. Please go there and comment!

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/money/mother-of-five-fights-back-wake-up-sarah-palin-250800/

Sarah Palin: Hypocrisy or Bigotry?

Black Issachar — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:12:52 EDT

The day after Sarah Palin basked in the accolades that labeled her McCain’s Barracuda, a notable GOP representative said that she is Presidential material because he saw her eating ice cream with her children and that’s the kind of thing hockey moms like, because it prooves that she likes children and are good with them. The not-so-subtle inference is that all the hockey moms, soccer moms and football moms will vote Republican because Sarah Palin is their Christian role model. Is she? Or would other words like “hypocrisy” and “bigotry” invite a deeper scrutiny to this hockey mom's Christianity?

For example, what gives Sarah Palin the right to attack Barack Obama as though he has never done or said anything of value? Christians don’t do that. Also, it seems that the Christian Sarah Palin does not care that 600,000 people lost their jobs already this year according to today’s figures; but, you know what, Obama cares. It is also evident that Sarah Palin does not care that 290 million Americans make far less than a quarter of a million ($250,000) per year; but, you know what, Obama cares. It seems that Sarah Palin does not care that hundreds of thousands of American children go to bed hungry each night, but Obama cares. Sarah Palin does not care anything about giving billions more to her oil cronies and gouging poor hard working Americans in order to do it, but Obama cares. Apparently, Sarah Palin has a different Bible from the one the rest of us use, because the Word from God’s Son named Jesus was that “inasmuch as you didn’t do it unto the least of these ye did it not to me.” What will Sarah Palin tell Jesus when He judges the world (John 5:22)? Will this Christian mom who admits to being a member of Christ's family say “John McCain made me do it?”

I ask that all true Christians, who know the Son and are filled with His Holy Spirit, to pray earnestly that God would bless Sarah Palin and grant her repentance so that if she makes the White House she would frustrate the conspiracy of those who have planned to make us slaves to a Machiavellian oligarchy. Pray for Sarah, the Christian, to be more gracious and show the kind of class only statesmen and stateswomen have. The kind of class that allows Barack Obama to ignore the pernicious attacks, talk about the issues Americans face, and still refrain from uttering one negative word against McCain’s character.

McCain and the Republicans want power, and everyone knows that Lord Acton’s thought about absolute power and corruption was correct. Sarah Palin and John McCain want the people to forget about the Abrahamoff scandal and his Republican conspirators. They want the people to forget that Halliburton charged us more than $600 for a screw and paid some 6 million dollars to avoid court trials. They want us to forget that the Republicans blatantly lied to keep thousands of Blacks from voting in Florida with a fake felony list, but they settled out of court for a million dollars 2 years later. So it is clear that our Christian mom, Sarah Palin, is Dick Chaney’s replacement, since she was tagged as the best one to control the flow of information in the McCain White House. It will be breathtaking and painfully sad to see Sarah Palin on TV pontificating to the women who were duped to vote for her and MCCain while the soccer moms beat their heads trying to figure out what to cook for starving children.

But have no fear, the intelligent Sarah Palin, who has cornered the market on all that is good and nice, is set to follow McCain and break a few dishes in Washington. But what hypocrisy? Out of his own mouth this so-called maverick acknowledged voting with Bush and for Bush’s policies 90% of the time. Does this mean that the 10% earned him the title of “maverick?” And does this mean that he and Sarah Palin will reform Washington enough so that 290 million of us working people will get a fair share of America’s pie? If not, is it bigotry? Or is it hypocrisy? Or is it both?

Only Sarah Palin can answer that question because she is the new kid on the block with all the answers, especially since she has never been this way before. Even so, come Lord Jesus and bring the light which needs to shine in this dark place; or better yet, will all Christians who like TRUTH please stand up?

For What it’s Worth . . .

Black Issachar

Mother of five fights back: Wake Up Sarah Palin

Bobbi Miller-Moro — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:21:49 EDT

Not only is this a strait forward open letter to Sarah Palin, but included at the end is the facts on WHERE THE CANDIDATES STAND ON THE ISSUES. No one can claim ignorance. This is about facts, truth and lies.

I am a 35 year old working, middle class mother of five living in So. California. I have been a Republican since my great ancestor Richard Stockton, signed the Declaration of Independence. I am an ex-police officer, and now I own my own business. This is the first time I changed my party.

Sarah " SarahCuda" Palin Humor-Pass it on

Bobbi Miller-Moro — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:53:20 EDT

Sarah Palin told Mother Nature to calm down and stop spoiling her party: Gustav immediately dropped to Cat 2

When Sarah Palin smiles, Chuck Norris hides.

Black Bloggers Report from the Democratic National Convention

Zhana Books — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 07:46:22 EDT

Last night, on my "Success Strategies" radio show, two Black bloggers, African American Political Pundit and Adrianne George of Black Women in Europe reported back from last week's Democratic National Convention in Denver.

A Season of Change

Chocklit — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:37:34 EDT

School has started. The leaves on the trees here in NC are beginning to change into their party duds of Autumn. The General Election draws near.

I started 2008 with a simple prayer--Lord, please control and direct me in th way You would have me go.

Many changes followed. My title insurance & settlement company--the one I had dreamed of, worked so hard for 4 years to start up and operate successfully--was forced to close due to the national mortgage crisis. My sons, 19, 16 and 14, decided to stay in FL with their dad when i choose to moce to NC. I lost my beloved townhome, my SUV, and my cat. The job in NC fell through and I took a job waiting tables, reducing my income by $40,000 a year. With constant prayer and steadfast faith, I came to accept these changes as necessary for me to prepare for the next chapter of my life. I would pull myself up from my bootstraps, and rebuild. I was a good Republican, after all.

But after years of taking verbal abuse from friends and family for my Rebublican status, can you imagine my horror to find that I am not type of American the GOP wants to represent! I am a 42 year old African American female, college- educated entrepreneur. At the peak of my career, my income was $70,000 a year. Three children in college, two at home and no health insurance. I paid my taxes, volunteered locally, and sponsored a Little League team. My EXhusband and I lived in the same home, because living separately denied our children of more things than we were prepared to live with. We thought our party supported our efforts, and represented us on the Hill.

But McCain wants to take my sons to some ungodly place to fight and shed their American blood, for no other reason than oneupsmanship. He wants my family to struggle to pay for his and his cronies' homes and lifestyles. He doesn't care if my 18 month old granddaughter is vaccinated, educated or unwillingly pregnated. To top it all off, he showed me yesterday, with the announcement of his VP pick, that he thinks I am a MORON incapable of reason and willing to follow the party line, no matter how ridiculous. Our leaders in the present administration have 'partied like rock stars' for the last 8 years, and we are less than groupies. I WILL NOT BE A GROUPIE FOR ANTOHER 4 YEARS.

To give my children and grandchildren a life worth looking forward to, something has to change. I believe in the greatness and goodness of this United States of America. I believe we are NOT stuck with what we have, or the future as it is seen today. It's a new Season, a new Day! I can feel the breath of the dogs at my heels--but I am detemined to GO FORWARD, and to greet this New Day with open arms. I believe....

Obama-Biden 2008.......and Beyond

Moment of Truth: A despair Mccain

DARIO from Deltona, FL — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 11:38:35 EDT

On august 29 th of 2008, this very day is Sen. John Mccain's birthday, we all want to wish him "happy Birthday". However he has given himself a great gift, he nominates Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska to be he's running mate. Wow, this man has taste. Ladies ask yourselves does Mr. Mccain think you are not smart enough where does he come from? He thinks that all of you would vote for him if he just picks someone who has similar body paRTS as you do. We got news for Sen. Mccain, women's ability is not limited to Vice Presidency, they can be President. Please stop taking women for granted! He is doing this out of despair you can tell when someone is about to lose he or she would do anything. After watching, seeing one of the most great speeches that ever given in the 21st century by Sen. Barack Obama for his presidential nomination. The republican party and their candidate got scared to death all of a sudden they can not think straight. Gov. Sarah Palin, why are you accepting to be used, you are simply your party's scapegoat. You are making a bad name for all women, they are better than that this is why Sen. Hillary Clinton ran for the highest office in America...more power to her. We have a trememdous respect for her. She changed America not you, Gov. Palin, she was not picked out of the chery bowl. On November 4th, we are going to vote for Obama, Mr. Mccain, you cannot help us. We are witnessed when it comes to battle you go and hide your true self. We will not let that happen inside the WHITE HOUSE. We won't find Mr. Mccain if elected he is going to run away. "Eight years is enough" We need to breath fresh air for next 4 YEARS. We are voting democrats.

Herstory in the Making: An Amazing Time in the U.S. for African-Americans and Women

Tabitha Brown — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:45:22 EDT

As an African-American woman, wife, mother of 4 small children, an attorney and small business owner, it is difficult to express the overwhelming feeling of pride and joy to experience herstory in the making. Not to be confused with traditional history which has not always included people like me (African Americans or women)—the herstory we are experiencing with this movement towards real change will never be forgotten.

The first African American man to become the Democratic Nominee for the President of the United States of America with a message and a movement for real change, hope and unity in our communities, throughout the country and around the world. The first woman to take her candidacy for president all the way through the primaries and nomination at the Democratic National Convention, getting 18 million votes and raising millions of dollars in support of her campaign for healthcare reform and issues important to women and children.

Undoubtedly, what will go down in herstory is the awesome realization that both African Americans and women have finally gained access to the highest position in the land, held only by White men until now. And on that quest for the presidency they have brought more people to the voting polls, received more votes during a primary season, encouraged more people to get involved with political campaigns, raised more money and inspired more people to believe that anything and everything is possible if you just believe and persevere.

Herstory will tell of the progress of African Americans and women during the 2008 Democratic National Convention—on the 88th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote and the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s I Have A Dream speech and March on Washington. For all of the men, women, young people and children that made great sacrifices, suffered great losses, and even gave their lives for freedom, justice and equality. At a time when a woman is the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, 16 women are U.S. Senators and many more in Congress, an African American will be the next President of the United States and his beautiful, supportive and successful wife and daughters will be the First Family of the United States.

Herstory is the exemplary, inspiring, uplifting, engaging, warm, encouraging, heartfelt and compassionate speech Michelle Obama gave on the opening day of the Democratic National Convention. Herstory is the gracious, incredible, powerful, optimistic, memorable and uniting speech Hillary Clinton gave on the second day of the Democratic National Convention.

Herstory is the image seen around the world of American women as mothers, daughters, wives and sisters as well as strong, accomplished global leaders and hard-working citizens that are setting an example and paving the way for future generations. Herstory is knowing that America still has a long way to go until women have equal pay, healthcare for their children, equality in all things, and can make private, personal decisions about their bodies without government legislation but that for the first time in herstory there is real HOPE that real CHANGE is coming when Barack Obama takes office as the President of the United States of America.

Attorney Tabitha R. Brown is a director at the American Psychological Association, has a private law practice and is the founder of HOPEJUSTICE (www.hopejustice.com).

Direct from the Democratic National Convention

Zhana Books — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 10:32:51 EDT

On Tuesday 26th August, 8 p.m. UK time, Adrianne George of Black Women in Europe will report direct from the floor of the Democratic National Convention on my Success Strategies radio show. Click here to join us.

It was difficult for Black bloggers to get the credentials to attend the convention, and very few will be there, with an overwhelmingly white presence amongst the bloggers. But Adrianne did it and she'll let us in on all the latest news on Tuesday.

Click here to read my Obama blogs.

Biden Rocks Danielle to Denver

Madama Ambi — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:06:30 EDT

Meet Danielle, 20-something African American woman moving out of her apartment in DC, headed for New Jersey, where she will do her PhD at Rutgers. She got a call from the Obama campaign to come to Denver & volunteer for the campaign, so she raised money from family & friends to make it happen.

This morning, her flight to Denver hit a little bump in the road...but news of Biden for VP really gets her going...

click here to listen...15:16 min.

Is America Ready for a Black President?

Randy Allgaier — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 16:32:52 EDT

Back in January when I decided to endorse Barack Obama on this site and, more importantly, vote for him in the California primary- I was thrilled about Obama’s message but I also had some pride and some of my natural cynicism was lessened by the thought that this country had matured enough that it might have been able to bridge the racial divide and actually elect an African American for President. Beyond the policy issues and Obama’s positions with which I agree and the innate desire that Obama has to bring people together which I find compelling; there was the possibility that the United States had made great progress towards healing our great national birth defect- racism. Now I wonder if that is possible.

Between “Bitter-gate” and “Wright-gate”, Obama’s campaign is reeling. In my pieces: Pandering v. Nuance aka Clinton v. Obama and Obama Elitist? Not! McCain and Clinton are the essence of the Power Elite I have made it clear that my belief about the genesis of both of these campaign issues.

Why I Support Obama's '08 Campaign

DMJC — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 13:05:00 EDT

Why I support obama's '08 campaign
I, am a woman, an African-American, and a person of diverse genetic and cultural history.
I am also a Spirit, the Real Me, who lives in a body and has a Soul who greatly transcends the color of my skin or combination of genes or cultural history.
The Real Me has a voice that comes from within my very heart of hearts. It can not and will not remain silent, but will be raised to help bring the change that is needed in my community, in my country, and in this world.

My "Real Me" Voice was used in the Primary election to vote for Barack Obama, the first "viable" African-American presidential candidate in the USA who can act as a unifying, and not divisive, force. I understood then that this was a great historical act that I could not pass by.

I am a christian who believes in the importance of the Church and in the Holy Bible as God's Word and my Final Authority, my Standard. So, yes, the media drama and spun news regarding his affiliations and dis-affiliations made me doubt my decision to support Obama, initially.

BUT,
then I read an article written by Pat Buchanan entitled "A Brief for Whitey". Pat helped me to become more conscious (to wake up) and remember all of the important reasons why my "Real Me" Voice needs to keep speaking up in support of Barack Obama. Pat helped me to get past all of the smoke screens caused by the media spin distractions.

Thanks, Pat! For helping me to wake up and speak up.

SO,
I am helping to be part of the solution for change by officially joining and supporting Barack Obama's campaign for the US Presidency. Here are my reasons:

*I am a mother of children that I want to be given opportunities to create new businesses and create new jobs for our community, instead of just being "given opportunities" to work in them. For my kids, and all kids, I want entrepreneurial training and apprenticeship opportunities, instead of just being considered as "fresh new college talent" to work as employees for the corporate executives downtown and then thrown to the side 30 years later when healthcare and pension costs increase. I want them to own and operate the major sports franchises, instead of just being scouted and recruited onto the teams to be thrown aside when they are injured or have lower performance.

*I am the friend of several very intelligent men, like Barack, but, unlike Barack, never received proper elementary education as children and have struggled to get ahead for their entire lives; this was as a result of being left behind the curve that their counterparts excelled around, as they lived in other neighborhoods that have historically had access to better public schools, and economic ability to attend private school, when integration became a threat to their families.

*I am a globally-minded person, and the world is fed-up with the superior stance of American government and diplomats. They have tolerated it for a while, but, as seen during the current Bush administration, will not tolerate it for much longer. America needs leadership that is willing to talk with world leaders and build positive relationships, instead of constantly being divisive and haughty. As evidenced by the move of American jobs overseas, and by the increasing gas costs, America needs to do things differently in regards to our international relations.

*I am a human-being, not a dog, and My "Real Me" Voice is what makes me truly equal with other human-beings. I do not want a government that supports the superior view of certain established segments of society and ignores the needs of the largest segment of society, which is still being falsely called "minorities". I should not have to be happy and content that another equal person was nice enough to let me have anything.

*I am an American, and Yes I Can, with my husband, create a viable, equal, independent, and self-sufficient future for my family, by using My "Real Me" Voice to vote for change in my American government. That is my Right, and I will not let any superior person cause me to sit down and shut up and do nothing.

My name is Donna, an Average American, and I support this message.

*Average America for Obama Squidoo Page

And If It Wasn’t For THEM You Wouldn’t Even HAVE BEEN

Tanya — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 01:47:20 EDT

I’m going to go ahead and spend some time writing my own blog tonight. I’m a little irritated. Well, a lot! I got a few bones to pick all with the same theme.

I’m going to go ahead and start with the ignorant bitchasses that keep saying…

“You’re just voting for Obama because he is black!”

I will try and respond to this without cursing or getting angry.
Since I’m a factual kinda gal, let’s look at the facts.

Okay, so Obama is an African-American...

Marjani — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:15:04 EDT

Does he "owe" the black community anything?

(click the link, read the story BEFORE commenting...)

African American Obama Phone In 19th August 2008

Zhana Books — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:37:24 EDT

Join my phone-in for African American people, 19th August 2008. Share your views on Senator Obama. If he is elected President, what effect will this have on your day-to-day life - your home, family, health, job, business? Your opinion matters.

Click here for the phone-in.

More details to follow.

The Right Stuff

J.W. — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 10:04:26 EDT

In mulling over the whole Jesse Jackson controversy over the past few days, I decided to go back to the source of it all, the thing that seemed to set the whole thing off – Barack Obama’s Father’s Day speech at the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago some four weeks ago. And as I read the transcript, I thought to myself, what would make somebody so mad at Barack Obama that he would say the things that Rev. Jackson said about him? What could Barack Obama have possibly said to tick Rev. Jackson off so much? What did Barack Obama say that was so condescending to black people? Not having heard the speech itself, I wanted to find out what he really said directly from the source and try to figure out why it caused so much controversy.

So what did I find, you might ask. I found a very open, honest, and truthful piece that not only should have been said but needed to be said. I also found a very effective message, delivered by a person who not only had the right to say it, but had the influence for it to actually mean something. I mean, who better to deliver that type of message than Senator Barack Obama, the first major, viable African American candidate for President in the history of this country, a man who himself grew up with an absentee father, a man who himself grew up trying to find his place in the world without masculine direction, a man who didn’t take the path of sports and entertainment to achieve his success, a man who honors hard work, education, and personal responsibility, and a man who himself is the father of two African American daughters?

The fact is that this was the perfect message by the right messenger at the perfect time, and any one who denies that is just playing himself.

Click the link below to read the transcript of the speech. Believe me, it’s worth it.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gG5nFK

God bless,
J.W.

Keeping Hope Alive

J.W. — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:58:11 EDT

So, in the spirit of full disclosure, I have to say that I’ve never particularly cared for the Rev. Jesse Jackson. He always came across as someone who sought the spotlight more than he sought to serve the people. Someone who sought to follow in the footsteps of his mentor, Dr. King, but never had the talent or potential to do so.

Rev. Jackson also always struck me as an old school black leader, one who couldn’t keep up with the times. When black people needed economic empowerment, he was stuck on fighting for civil rights. When black people needed spiritual leadership, he was stuck on fighting for civil rights. When black people needed emotional healing, he was stuck on fighting for civil rights. To me, Rev. Jackson became a one-trick horse. Chasing the past while the present left him behind.

So then, it wasn’t surprising to me when I first heard about the tension between him and Barack Obama. Here was this young guy with a different vision for what it means to be black in America, a vision that not only clashed with Rev. Jackson’s, but one that seemed to gain more traction and make more sense. Gone were the days where black people would have to fight for their rights, but it was time for someone to call them to take responsibility, to stand on the shoulders and accomplishments of Dr. King and the other civil rights leaders of the 1960s, and walk in the way of the path that had been laid for them.

You see, the problem with Rev. Jackson’s message is that it challenged everyone but black people themselves. It blamed everybody else, but failed to call the African American community to take personal responsibility for their own actions and behaviors. It carried a bitterness of the past that failed to address the realities of the present. And it played on black people’s anger and resentment without addressing their hopes and dreams.

See, it’s easy to blame other people for your condition, but when do you start to take responsibility for your own life and future? When do you say enough is enough, no matter what anybody else tries to do to me, I’m going to make sure I do what I need to do to become who I want to become?

And so, here comes a leader that calls us to do just that. Who not only talks a good game, but leads by example. A leader who takes his message of hope, mixes it with respect, love, faith, and personal responsibility, and uses it to propel him to become a candidate for the highest office in our land. Here’s a guy who comes from the same place as Rev. Jackson, with seemingly more appeal, greater popularity, and a more effective message, and takes some shine away.

So, what do you do when the new guy comes to take your place? Do you embrace him? Hate on him? Slander his name? Hug him or slug him?

Well, recently, Rev. Jackson chose his path. Rather than embrace the idea of a different kind of message, of a change in leadership, Rev. Jackson chose to be a hater, and play into the same ridiculous mentality that has plagued the African American community for years – the crabs in a barrel syndrome. Because no one’s willing to humble themselves and follow leadership, we tear each other down to the detriment of the entire race.

And for what? Because everybody wants to be the head negro in charge.

So what was Rev. Jackson talking about? What did he mean when he said Barack was talking down to black people? Was it really that or was it that he was mad because Barack Obama was delivering a new message to black people, that it’s time to stop resting on our laurels, stop taking things for granted, and go out and make things happen for ourselves. To stop waiting on somebody else to come and make a better life for you and your family. That a better life for you and your family lies within you.

Rev. Jackson’s argument simply doesn’t make sense, and his quick apology simply shows that he is a deeply confused and frustrated man, who is liable to say any and every thing to tear down the new cat coming to take his spot. There’s a changing of the guards going on in the black community that begins with the feud between Jesse Jackson and Barack Obama but permeates throughout. This is truly about old thinking vs. new, young vs. old, past vs. future. Rev. Jackson just better hope he gets on the right side of things before time leaves him behind.

God bless,
J.W.

P.S. Check out the video below if you haven't heard the controversy.http://youtube.com/watch?v=2VI3FdlwzcY

The Cool

J.W. — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:48:23 EDT

Enough said.

Vote Obama for President in November.

Fellatio vs. WMD: The inevitable blog entry of every dissenter- be they intentional or not.

LitGriot — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:38:48 EDT

Each time that one American presidential candidate’s picture pops up, I think “Ohh, I’d do ‘em in a sec. I’d put somethin’ tough on ‘em!” Would that make this candidate unelectable? Should looks be taken into consideration? If so, does it benefit a candidate by being very HOT?

When I try to think of what matters about our presidential martyrs, those presidents within my voting life evoke a wretched picture of the American socio-political climate. Our presidents are martyrs because we expect them to be perfect, model citizens, far beyond any reproach. Like Jesus- the perfect chum with never tarnish to his shine. And Christians readily hold on to the infallibility of Jesus as a form of reverence and respect, like presidents imposing nothing but inhuman traits of perfection. He, and he is necessarily and always a he, is worshiped for his ability to preach salvation from our sins (political promises), persecuted, then effortlessly relinquishes his life for OUR sins. He is a leader in the truest, most Eurocentric sense: Leith- Go forth and die. Every president has his day- his head will be cut off! Our martyrs: Perfect, admired, persecuted, and martyred. Folks don’t even want to believe that he or his mother had sex!

President Obama...

LitGriot — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:39:01 EDT

...how far has America come.

Barack Obama is half Kenyan and half white-American so he is truly an African-American. Yet, till date we use that term with the old idea of Black American and throw him into the general pool of Blacks in America, the descendants of slaves. I am excited that his presidency can make all of us take a good look at how race is socially constructed in America, including the one-drop rule. This is where if one sixteenth of your ancestors are Black (read non-white) then you are legally seen as non-white. It is a sick baby of Jim and Jane Crow.

I don't got religion but I like Obama's faith-based plan

Liz — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 03:03:49 EDT

When George W Bush introduced his plan to use federal funds to back faith-based programs, I was outraged, as were many other firm believers in separation of church and state.

Obama's plan, on the other hand, does what Bush's plan pretended to do. It strengthens the partnership between church and community, to help faith-based programs combat social ills like poverty. And most importantly, Obama's plan WILL NOT give federal money to any program that has the intention to proselytize, or will use religion as a basis to hire or not hire someone.

I was, like Barack, raised without religion. My parents were brought up Lutheran, and it wasn't a pretty experience for them. So they resolved to leave religion out of the lives of their children.

I have always regarded this decision to be one of the best they made as parents. Without a church or a religion, I have always enjoyed the freedom of my mind to explore the questions of existence -- I can reject the notion of a God, or I can consider the supernatural, or I can stand back and analyze the psychological reasoning for faith.

But my experience is not the norm in America, and particularly not the norm in the most impoverished areas of the country. As a public school teacher, I've often worked in schools that serve inner city communities, and I know that the church plays an extremely important role in African-American and Mexican culture.

Many parents I've talked to over the years have made it clear that they don't trust anything that we teachers or that the government says. This distrust is the understandable product of decades of discrimination in the schools, through programs that told Mexican, and other Latino children, that it was wrong to speak Spanish, and through segregation which, despite some efforts to integrate schools, still largely exists. Look at any discussion of the achievement gap, and you'll see that the newest research shows that minority children are far behind white children in academic achievement at the same time that minority children receive far more disciplinary referrals, suspensions, and expulsions. There are many reasons, and many explanations, and many excuses, for why this gap exists. However, what is still lacking is a real effort towards a solution to lift communities from poverty and close the achievement gap.

Many in the inner city community turn to their church for support. If their child seems to have emotional needs, many parents opt to deal with it through their church community. They don't trust "counselors" or "social workers," or any other expert that comes from outside of their culture. If their child needs help with reading, then they go to Sunday school or another church club that will provide tutoring. I've seen it time and again -- a child who has needs, but his/her parents don't trust the schools to address it. The parents want to address it through the church.

Obama writes about this in The Audacity of Hope:

Out of necessity, the black church had to minister to the whole person. Out of necessity, the black church rarely had the luxury of separating individual salvation from collective salvation. It had to serve as the center of the community's political, economic, and social as well as spiritual life; it understood in an intimate way the biblical call to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and challenge powers and principalities. In the history of these struggles, I was able to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death; rather, it was an active, palpable agent in the world.

If we really want to get serious about changing our country, and eliminating the poverty and crime of our inner cities, we have to be willing to work with the churches. We can offer every kind of governmental program out there, but if people aren't willing to take the help, if they don't trust it, then it's for nothing.

Senator Obama has a deep and firm commitment to tackling problems of poverty that have plagued our country for decades. If we are truly progressives, and really want to enact change instead of doing lip-service to it, we're going to have to recognize the role of the church as a community voice. The church has been doing all it can for the past century to help the needy, without the support of the government. If we can bridge the two, while still making it clear that money from the government is to be used for secular, social programs only, then we can really hope to see progress. This is what Senator Obama is proposing.

Jessie Jackson , John Mc Cain and the Victim Card

FreedomOfSpeechForObama2008 — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:17:12 EDT

Well, here we go again.

Re: Jessie Jackson "foot in mouth" episode.

There is a problem within the Black Community as it pertains to the epidemic of Black men who are using this nations horrible history as an excuse to not take responsibility for their families , communities and their country. It is TRUE. It is a fact !. And every time anyone attempts to address the Black men in this country, they throw a fit. Black women try to address it and we are accused of "keeping a brutha down". Whites try to address it and they are accused of being racist. Black men , who are responsible , try to address it and they are attacked as well. As was Obama by Jessie Jackson.

Let me make something very clear. Jessie Jackson SENIOR does NOT represent the African American Community no more than John Mc Cain represents the United States Armed Forces. PERIOD ! Marching in the streets during the Civil Rights ERA does not inoculate one from being held accountable for their actions today, no more than claiming to be tortured in a prison Camp in Vietnam inoculate a former POW from being held accountable for his Foreign Policy decisions today. These Generational Victim Cards are EXPIRED and I say to John Mc Cain and Jessie Jackson, get some new material or join us in 2008.

The Jessie's and Sharpton's within the Black Community need to start realizing that we are no longer , as a community , going to give the men of our comunity, a free ride on the victim train. The days of allowing Black men to run amok and destroy our community in the name of VICTIMHOOD , are over. It is time to stop making up excuses and start taking responsibility. Black women are doing it and we are doing it in the face of much greater odds than a Black man because we are not only people of color, but we are women. It's time to stop halting the much needed debate within our community as it pertains to holding Black men , the HEAD of our community, accountable.

Sure, no community likes airing out it's dirty laundry , which is why many white Americans don't like discussing Racism , but when you ignore it or throw a fit whenever it's brought up , you are the one airing the dirty laundry by grand standing your objections outside of the Black Community in front of the national Media , against those who try to address it within the Black community in front of an African American audience. I can understand objections to those outside of the Black community , who only talk about our communitys issues as a means of degrading African Americans as a whole. But degrading and bad mouthing those within the African American Community , especially , a fellow Black MAN , is unproductive.

Jessie Jackson , Al Sharpton , Tavis Smiley , The Congressional Black Caucus , The NAACP , it is time to own up to the problems within the Africa American Community with specific regard to the role of the African American MALE. Until you all start dedicating just as much time to the the responsibility of the BLACK MALE , as you do to the responsibility of Black WOMEN and White People , then you will continue to hold the African American Community , as a whole , back. If you are looking for a place to start this discussion , might I offer a suggestion ? You can start with RESPECT. That's right RESPECT ; for your community , it's women and it's children .Because as it stands right now, there is no RESPECT.

Just go watch BET for about an hour and you'll know what I'm talking about.

SOUND SERVICE IS ORDERED BY THE KING

Firm Foundations Literary Ministry — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:14:27 EDT

SOUND SERVICE IS ORDERED BY THE KING
A gift for your family's voting enjoyment.

Why is it that an African American man can create the first clock made in the United States (Benjamin Banneker) that all people use to tell time..

But unbelieving people don't think it is time for him to run a country?

Why is it that an African American man can design a place for the high authorities to meet and a place for the President to live (The Capitol and the White House: Phillip Reid {a slave} and Pierre L'Enfant)…

But thought not good enough to lead these meetings or live in this home himself?

Why is it that an African American man was brilliant enough to do the first open heart surgery (Dr. Daniel Hale Williams) and show the world how to get and preserve plasma (Dr. Charles Dre...

But thought not good enough to put a program in place where everyone can afford this surgery?

Why is it that an African American man was creative enough to design an instrument (traffic light - Garrett Morgan) to bring multiple people (traffic) to a halt...

But thought not wise enough to design a plan to halt some of this unnecessary and worthless fighting between countries?

Why is it that an African American man could create shoe soles (shoes - Jan Matzeliger) that people walk on everyday…

But thought not brilliant enough to fill the shoes of an unpopular President?

Why is it that an African American man was brilliant enough and brave enough to teach himself (Fredrick Douglas and Thomas Fuller - both slaves) and others how to read, write and/or calculate math…

But not seen brilliant enough and bold enough to calculate a platform to be President to a country that sure needs a fruit-bearing Christian President sitting in the Oval Office.

So you see citizens of America, let us not forget our past, which led us to our present and, if we now allow God to lead, it can definitely be the backbone to our future.Millions of Christian Caucasian brothers and sisters, Latinos and members of all the diverse groups that make up the family of faith have joined Barach and Michelle Obama and will continue to join this fight to defend their own future and ours.

We were good enough, brilliant enough, creative enough, and bold enough then, so let's give Mr. Obama the chance to show that we are still these things--a highly anointed people of God.

We all are as strong as our weakest link, so don't be that weak link that denies any American that chance to show we can still operate in God's will to OVERCOME hatred and BRING THE BEST MAN TO THE WHITE HOUSE. THIS TIME IT HAPPENS TO BE THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN PRESIDENT TO LEAD THIS COUNTRY.

Why is it that an African American man can create a tiny object called a filament (electric light - Lewis Latimer) that allows people to see in the dark…

But haters see him unfit to lead a country under the True Light?

REGISTER YOURSELF OR SOMEONE ELSE TO VOTE: http://www.registrationbyworkingassets.com/register/?source=homedropdown&api_key=gQKGZ9xr0iTIct4XGnRHB1ALGT4

Historical excerpts taken from an uncredited blog on June 12, 2008.

Media Spin

Carina — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:47:43 EDT

We stopped watching TV regularly about 5 years ago. We were tired of hearing the spin, the local news which covered crime and rarely positive stories, and the media channels who were only as liberal as the conservative companies that owned them. We found a lot of time was spent surfing channels and watching things that weren't really important to us. We also found new time to spend together as a family, or apart reading, writing, and other activities.

As a result, whenever I am presented with the opportunity to see television, in a store or restaurant, I am more sensitive to the violence depicted on TV and overwhelming spin against Democrats in the media.

The media seems willing to take any spin possible against Obama. Today I was getting a coffee at a Starbucks in our local Giant Eagle and my ears perked up when I heard his name.

Headline News was doing a piece on how African American voters (9 out of 10) vote Democratic. This is not surprising to me, if only because the Democratic party supports many policies that will and have already leveled the playing field for people of all colors.

The anchor woman on the program said that this was a strange thing for African Americans to vote Democratic, and showed some footage of some people on the street talking about the Democratic party being more in line with their ethics, or more in touch with the working class.

At last, they showed a young woman who explained that it was Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, who freed the slaves. Why don't African Americans honor the party that gave them freedom.

I was angry, to say the least. This seemed to me a play on history to get votes for McCain.

It is true that Lincoln was a Republican, and that many abolitionists were as well. That doesn't mean, as the new story insinuated that Democrats were FOR slavery.

It makes me sick how the media twists things to try to manipulate voters. Certainly we should remember history. But all voters of all colors should vote on who will best represent our country in foreign policy and will work for the good of all people in our country. Political agenda is more important.

I must say that in my case, I believe that Barack Obama will do his best for all races, and that's only fair. We are a nation of diverse people, and the president of the United States must be willing to acknowledge that and work to make our country a truly better place for people of all races, colors and creeds.

I believe that Barack Obama will.

Unity has invigorated this campaign!

V, aka VCubed/Virginia V — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:01:29 EDT

In the past month, especially just since our Unity district-wide event this past Saturday in Fremont, CA, that drew 150 mostly brand new volunteers for Obama, I've seen a thunderclap of energy erupt in this campaign that I only dreamed of in the primary season.

Don't get me wrong, we've had great energetic volunteers throughout this odyssey. We wouldn't have gotten here without them, and we share the beginnings of this astounding movement that's taken the nation, and the world, by storm - we were at the birth, together.

But there are three new groups, new additions to the Obama Family, that we are all so happy to be working with, at last: Hillary's devoted supporters, the entire local Democratic Party family, and all the new or reenergized political participants fired up to be part the historical triumph of the grassroots in November.

I want you all to have a sense of how intense this desire to be part of change, to get out of the armchair, turn off the TV, and get out and talk to people, has become, because you won't know it from the media. Not from mainstream media, not from the pundits trying to out-yell each other, not even from the liberal blogosphere. Those are all competing for the same audience, thriving on conflict more than solutions, parsing people into categories as if we were still more separate than united. To see the reality, let me share our events.

The Poblano Model

Stephanie -Political Organizer-Middle Georgia — Wed, 28 May 2008 20:21:01 EDT

This one's for the politicial junkies. This model shows how the voter registration drives that many of you have been involved in may determine the outcome of the general election.

http://progressillinois.com/2008/05/11/features/obama-over-the-top

The Next Sound You Hear

Marjani — Fri, 23 May 2008 18:52:54 EDT

The state I entered can only be described as a trance that was reminiscent of the day the apostle Peter sat on the rooftop of Cornelius’ home, awaiting the evening meal. A cloak opened up to him, filled with non-kosher animals of all kind. God told Peter to take his pick, kill and eat any of them. He refused, even after being made this offer three times. Finally, the Lord said to him, Peter, do not call what I have called clean, unclean. The end. Or was it the beginning?

I stared out the window, fully believing it was all just a dream—but it wasn’t the first time I had entered such a trance-like state while fully awakened. No, I was not under hypnosis; no one else was in the room, but there I stood in the middle of my children’s bedroom floor only a couple of hours after I had gotten them off to school.

I was sweeping and mopping and dusting, part of my usual daily ritual, when I looked out the window and could have sworn I saw a piece of the sky outside the window roll back, like a theater curtain when the play is about to start. For a brief moment in my life, I glanced, literally, at eternity and into a place where God’s love was innumerable, incalculable, and not able to be measured. That’s when I heard the words, “Do not place limits on me.” It would be only a few weeks later that Sis Blanchard, wife of the then-president of CB&T Bancshares and Total Systems, would come to my home and speak a word of prophecy to me.

“Thus saith the Lord that the gift love you carry inside is a gift from Him. It has no limitations and no borders on it. Yea, it is as endless as the surface of the sea, where the tide rolls in and rolls out, and just as the water carries millions of tiny granules of sand into the ocean and reshapes its surface, so is the love of God that abides in your heart. It will not be an overnight healing, but a gradual one…little by little, the love of God will show itself forth in you, and yea not in you only, but in everything and everyone you touch. For His love is not just for you, but for the whole world and all that is within it.”

That was more than 20 years ago. The manifestation thereof remains a mystery to me to this day. What I’ve beheld instead is a discomforting sour note, and mourning and weeping like never before—as if things that were supposed to go forward from there have done nothing more than go backward. Everything I set my hand to turned to dust.

Every door I opened swung back shut in my face, and every door I could peek through to see what was there had nothing on the other side that I was the least bit interested in. It was a struggle just to remember that at one point, as my life was on the verge of being sucked out of my very soul, Psalm 91 was the Word of God in which I took refuge.

It was a Psalm that not only spoke of dwelling and abiding, but of shelters, shadows, refuges, fortresses, and about trusting in God. I found trust a hard thing to do, but then I recalled that it wasn’t my own faithfulness on which I relied, it was His.

His faithfulness is the feathers (pinions) lining the nest, the wings hovering over, and the shield and bulwark behind which we all stand. If we have ever had a nagging notion that nothing we do is ever good enough, it’s because it isn’t. All have sinned and fallen short, no one has a cause or a justification for bragging rights. No one.

What is the answer, we continue to ask. What do we do? What is our purpose in life? How do we make the world a better place than the one in which we have lived? Where do we go from here?

The late great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. himself asked that question about 40-plus years ago. Where indeed? Chaos? Community? It was one of the last of things that he would have to say about the war on Vietnam, as well as many other issues that were America’s mistakes, and here we are in the New Millennium, having learned nothing. from his words and nothing from the experience. We are taught, and it has become manifest, that those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. It is not only black Americans who see the resurfacing devaluation of black people repeated from days long ago that should have been dead, but America itself has come around to a complete revolution and back to the undisputable 1960s and 1970s all over again.

God promised the Hebrews after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness that they would not enter a place of rest due to unfaithfulness, and right here in America, its African-American, black, and colored citizens, 40 years after the death of Dr. King, have yet to enter and abide in that place of rest. W.E.B. Du Bois talked about the Color Line of 150 years ago, and that Color Line, though moved up and redrawn, has not been thoroughly disintegrated or demolished.

Not long ago, a saying was passed around, “Black folk are the only people in this nation without a place to call home. We aren’t from Africa, and we aren’t fully Americans either.” Yes, the Constitution does say that anyone born in the United States of America is considered a full-fledged American with all the rights and privileges accorded hereof, but how much of that is truth and how much of that is just on paper depends on who’s talking and what kind of mood they are in on any given day.

Black folk have always lived like two-fisted drinkers drink. One drink for this hand, and another drink for the other hand. It is one of the most animate hypocrisies of all time to live in two worlds, one where we know the truth, and two where we can’t always tell it.

Enter the Year 2008 and our first viable black presidential candidate is finally running for office and all some blacks have to say is “he isn’t black enough.” Black enough for what?

If we’re waiting on a black president-elect who will turn things around and make it all right for black folk in America, we’d best not hold our collective breath. We will turn white waiting.

Truth told, Barack Obama, like so many black folk who have gone on before him, don’t owe today’s African Americans anything. He owes a debt of pride in his legacy and his righteous inheritance to his parents, grandparents, and to those unrelated who paved the way before him, but his obligations and duties end there.

The black and colored citizens of the Americas who have hailed from some root of connection to the Diaspora are no longer blood-born citizens of Africa and are only annexed onto the Constitution of the United States by a couple of bills and a hand full of amendments that can be overridden and re-amended. There’s proof enough of that in every state in the union, where there seem to be a set of written laws for whites and a set of unwritten laws for blacks, and where the written laws only apply to blacks when whites are the victims of their various animosities.

How did we ever come from that place to this one? By lack of knowledge and insolence.

The greater collective black folk, though miseducated and mostly misunderstood, had no place and made no room in their hearts for re-education, and had little to no respect for those who knew the truth. When we don’t know, don’t care to know, and have nothing but loathing and disrespect for those who do know, we soon learn that roosting chickens have more than one place to come home to and hatch.

Others amongst us have made a mighty effort to fill our swept-out societal pariahs with new knowledge to replace the old. Once we come to the place of recognition that what once was no longer exists, we must either choose to dwell with what is familiar and comfortable, or choose to move forward and embrace what is unfamiliar but will become familiar as time possesses it and doles it out in unequal proportions amongst us.

Once upon a time, when we had not many choices set before us at the conference table of life, we acted as others expected us to act. Sometimes we did this to appease, other times we did it to appeal, many times we did it to rebel, and more often than not, we did it because we knew that even those who can only sneak a peek from hell can still visualize the horizon of heaven looming just beyond their reach.

At some point along the way, the black collective understood that a people incomplete and with hope deferred tend to make unwise choices and end up living with the consequences. I often found within myself a certain double-mindedness that “made me” do wrong even when I knew what was right.

On the one side of my inner conscious, I looked at a certain set of black folk and shook my head in despair, saying that surely Dr. King’s life, and the lives of the hundreds of thousands of others lost in the Civil Rights Movement, and the time before that during the radical reconstruction, was a huge waste of time. Dr. King, I thought, could have lived out his life in peace, an old black preacher man from the south that his children and his wife could have seen off, not by the blow of a bullet, but by the deliverance of a eulogy in the church in which he delivered his first sermon. However, the other side of my inner conscious tells me that those who took no wooden nickels and made it all count for joy are the ones of which he, and all the others who sacrificed their lives and put their heads on the chopping block, would be proud; barring all others to their own detriment.

As we meander down the road, waiting for the sounds of joyous cries from the black community across the land, the joyous cries that are not walled behind stained glass or mirrored reflections of financial prosperity that will never apply to all, the evolutionist pundits will tell us that we’re supposed to have better sense than to have “faith” in anything. Everything in life, per the critical ‘they’, is coldly and methodically calculated, easily guessed or figured out, and our formerly peanut-sized brains have so developed and expanded over time, that if there were a “god” of some kind to behold, we would still be smarter than he, she, or it. Problem is, without faith, black folk would still be living under Jim Crow law in America.

Marches were planned, and plans were devised, and devices were put in place, but we all know the real truth behind the matter of changing fundamental and operational founding government laws: They can never change what is in a person’s heart.

The only thing that opens and unfolds cloaks filled with unkosher food that we’ve called unclean when God calls it clean, and pulls back blinds and blinders alike, so that we can see from the finite to the unfathomable, is a guiding and divine spirit that moves amongst all. When the truth starts to tear our hearts into pieces, the living sunshine of God’s love pours in like ice cold lemonade on a burning hot day.

Sooner or later, there is no more denial.

Once the denial stops, a hard life becomes a soft one with a firm undercurrent, an impure vegetative thought that once festered like a rotten potato becomes a pure one, a rock and a hard place become a bed and breakfast inn, and the gaping bleeding wound that someone thought could be fixed with a band-aid miraculously begins to heal on its own. The cancer of racism that someone tried to cure with Epsom Salts goes into remission; and the stroke of demonstrable bigotry that someone tried to heal with a pat on the back and the words “good luck” subsides and covers itself over with healthy blood vessels and tissue that doesn’t scar.

No weapon formed against us shall prosper, and every tongue that rises against us in judgment shall be condemned by us. For this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and our righteousness does not come from us, but from Him.

In times past, we have lived in a disaster area in our hearts, souls, minds, and spirits. Corporately and collectively, the American black person whose substance was once rooted in Africa dangled dangerously on the edge of negativity and passivity.

One of Michelle Obama’s opening speeches on the road to the White House spoke of not being afraid; of being tired of being afraid, of being sick and tired of being sick and tired, and it was obvious that some of the words of The Preacher had taken root in her heart.

She had not learned to despise America, as I once had. She simply learned, as I did, that better than complaining is doing. Better than griping is action. Better than denying what is, is formulating an opinion on what can be, and how to change it.

Then came her husband’s speech, “Yes we can,” and the power couple of Illinois that we tuned in and out on, was on the move to being the supernova couple. Though the supernova won’t stay forever, and will never be bigger than the sun, for a brief moment in time it is brighter than the sun because the sun itself, which has control over all things, has mandated it.

The Obamas transcended much in their complete willingness to be transparent and show forth honesty in a time when dishonesty is in power and when asking for righteousness is like asking for trouble. Even if they never sit in the Oval Office and make the kinds of decisions that will change America, and change the world, and even if they can never tell their generations to come “your pop-pop was once the President of the United States…” they did so much to de-polarize a very racially-charged and polarized nation in such a short amount of time that they were a walking, living, breathing Civil Rights memorial unto themselves. It is in them and in others like them that I see Dr. King’s living was not in vain, nor was his death. As Rafiki once told Simba, if God told Barack Obama “it is time,” there’s nothing that any naysayer of any political ilk or trapping will be able to do to stop it.

The world at-large has overwhelmingly, in a 10-1 vote, asked, requested, and required that Barack Obama be president of the United States. It means that he is the only one that they will care to listen to as the next four years roll on. They don’t want to hear anything else America has to say, and this nation could stand to be humble and learn a thing or two from the world it claims to lead. For once, we hope that this nation will do the right thing instead of the white thing.

Right now, internationalism is everything, and it will make or break America in the sense of how the rest of the world sees and beholds us: As a light in the tunnel of darkness, or as a self-destructing global heaping mass conglomeration of confusion and ever-brewing nothingness.

In order to set the world upright again, in order to set this nation back on the right path for everyone and not just a select few, the grassroots folk will, once again, have to change “what is” into what can be. It is not impossible, it is an exercise in resilient and upstanding faith, the kind of faith that finds a second set of footprints in the sand when it seems that only one person is doing the walking.

I do not claim to know the future, or to have premonitions or precognitions about what the future holds, but it doesn’t take a brainiac to figure out that as long as we keep doing what we are doing, we will continue getting what we got. This isn’t just for America, but also for black America, which has to learn to take care of itself, Obama or no Obama. He isn’t The Answer or The Way, he is simply the right leader called at the right time. There is only one way to transform the world, and that one way is to believe in the power of love of all humanity in spite of those who strike out against it in their own self-interests.

We’ve seen the forces of evil at work over many centuries, and they tried and tried hard to destroy the harmonious songs that were barely heard over the sound of crash-boom-bam ugly. They failed.

This is the hour of trading ashes for beauty, dusty mirages for clear cold water, and bitter untruths for the timeless and solid principles of mutual reverence and respect for others amongst God’s holy creation. Maybe we’ll never see another pre-911 America, but nevermore will we make the mistake of voting for and supporting a lie just because we can.

Love is not difficult to figure out, it’s difficult to carry out. Once the bloodletting is shunted and the process of healing begins, nothing in this world, or in our personal lives, will ever be the same again.

Everything we need to know about life and love, we learned in Sunday School: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep,” “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine,” and “Yes, Jesus loves me.”

For the Bible tells us so.

O-Bama, O-Eight: African American Spiritual Writers for Obama.

A personal reflection on race

Beth from ColoradObama — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:17:06 EDT

I'm copying and pasting an e-mail exchange between me and some MYBO friends:

Generational Differences

aztecdiva — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:05:55 EDT

I watched Wright's interview with Billy Moyers. I watched the speech at the NAACP. I watched the feed of Wright's speech before the press club and the following questions on CNN as I rode into city on the train.

What I saw was a clear division of the generational and responsiblity gap of the African American community. It is safe to say that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was the leader and unifier of my grandparents generation. A generation exposed to Jim Crow and segregation. There was a mentality at that time was we had to be unified as one to move forward. Unfortunately it fostered what most African Americans describe as a crab mentality. This is as one leaves the another pulls you back.

After the gains made by the Civil Rights Movement, my peers were taught the slogan "Each One, Teach One." Which pretty much says exactly what it means, as you become successful, you lift up those around as become successful to create a chain of success. Not just successful in the community, but at work or school. Out of all of guidance from my grandparents, who were ordained ministers within the United Church of Christ, this became just as important as the Golden Rule.

What I saw on Monday was the clash between the two generations. One of a person who was trapped in the past, but in mentality that cripples and prevents one from moving toward and creating a chain of success. What hurt me most was how could Wright hurt the only viable opportunity for America to change the discourse of how we relate to each other? How could he try to steal the hope and passion from millions of Americans, both young and old, who had no real role models outside of athletics or celebrity? How could he create such disappointment within the African American community by hurting our only opportunity to shatter the ceiling.

As I explained to some of my coworkers today. When Halle Berry and Denzel Washington won the Best Actor/Actress it changed what African Americans could achieve in Hollywood. Since then African Americans, who had once been denied the most prestigous award for decades, Hollywood turned the page with Halle and Denzel. Since then we have seen, Forrest Whitaker, Jamie Fox, Morgan Freeman, and Jennifer Hudson win awards for their outstanding work.

When I saw Wright's QA session, I immediately called my grandmother wondering how someone could try to destroy our opportunity to turn the page. I am truly disappointed in Wright's action not only for what he said, but also for what he represents. I am extemely proud of Barack today, as I have as each day has passed during this primary fight.

President Obama, thank you for demonstrating how "Each One, Teach one" can make America great again.

Keisha

Clintons "Hell-bound to make it impossible for Obama to win"

Soldierette!! (CENSORED) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 22:59:19 EDT

MSNBC.com

Clyburn clarifies Clinton comments

Quoted saying African-Americans suspected attempt ‘to damage Obama’

6:04 p.m. CT, Fri., April. 25, 2008

Rep. James E. Clyburn sought Friday to clarify statements he made criticizing Bill Clinton and implying that Hillary Rodham Clinton was trying to sabotage Barack Obama.

“I was sharing with the reporter the things that have been said to me,” the South Carolina Democrat told Keith Olbermann on MSNBC.

Clyburn, an undeclared delegate and the highest-ranking African-American in Congress, was quoted in a recent Reuters article saying, “There are African-Americans who have reached the decision that the Clintons know that she can’t win this. But they're hell-bound to make it impossible for Obama to win."

“I’m not saying anything that people aren’t saying among themselves, and many of them are saying it to me,” Clyburn said on MSNBC. “"That’s all I was saying, that people are saying this. I think it’s a great concern,” adding that he isn't among those who believe that Hillary Clinton is trying to sabotage the party.

Clyburn also made remarks to the New York Times, calling Bill Clinton's conduct “bizarre.” Clyburn said the former president’s conduct in this campaign had caused what the newspaper described as possibly being an “irreparable breach between Mr. Clinton and an African-American constituency that once revered him.”

On MSNBC, Clyburn said that this is something he's been saying since the beginning of the year, when Clinton seemed to be the front-runner.

“I said [this] in January, when we had the debate down at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, that ‘Bill Clinton needs to chill out.’" he said. "That was in January. At that point, everybody thought that this thing would be over on Super Tuesday and that the leading candidate for the nomination would be Hillary Clinton. That’s certainly what I thought. And even then, I thought the president was saying things that would anger black voters. Now we are down almost into May and I’m saying the same thing. The only difference is that this time there’s another person that’s in the lead who happens to be African American.”

“We have nine contests left. The conduct of this campaign in Indiana and North Carolina could very well be determinative of what we will have after we get a nominee,” he said. Clyburn said also added that party unity will depend on the second-place finisher. “If Hillary Clinton walks off the playing field, Obama is in trouble. If Obama walks off the playing field with Hillary Clinton as the nominee, Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party, would be in trouble.”

Clyburn urged Democrats to consider the good of the party. “We’re in a very critical point in this process and if we’re not careful, we could do irreparable harm. We're trying to do something that’s never been done in this country before.”

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24317580/

Should Obama distance himself from U.S. black leaders?

Stephen — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 21:00:23 EDT

Senator Obama is not really African American, as this description was originally intended for those who are black (or part black) decendants of U.S. slaves. And over the last few years, many if not all of the U.S.'s black leaders, continue to be controversial and out of step with mainstream views.

So - in order to avoid a possible negative voter fallout from remarks from today's black leaders, should he distance himself from them? Or - has he already done so?

What many of today's black leaders fail to understand is that the voting process is a free and private expression of one's views and beliefs, and that voters cannot be pressured in a manner that NBC was last year in their broadcast of the Don Imus Show. Should the GOP raise such concerns of an Obama presidency, it could well cost him the election.

Over the next several weeks, Senator Obama will be asked again to be more clear on where he stands with many of today's black leaders. It will be a defining moment in his candidacy. His earlier speech on race relations was merely an Introduction and Chapter 1. I encourage him in subsequent speeches to describe how millions of (non-minority) Americans, for reasons not of their own, face discrimnation in employment, benefits, and a long list of everyday opportunities, and that such discrimination only serves to weaken this great nation.

A response and a challenge

BENTON GRIMMETT — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 01:43:38 EDT

A Jewish friend stated the following, realizing the challenge of mending the Jewish/African American interactions/collaborations:

"I must admit that I am uncertain what the best path is to move our
communities forward and feel that we may need to make small steps."

What do you suggest to foster better relations between communities? What should the small steps be?

Public Lynching

Miz Clark — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:02:54 EDT

We have precious time to repair the wickedness hurled at our campaign! Please help me get the word out!!! Despite his stern opposition, Sen. Obama is still being made out to be some Marxist monster. There are some votes we had no hopes of getting in the first place, and I am not concerned with them.

I am concerned several people who may have been sitting on the fence have been suddenly pushed to one side by what is called inflammatory statements. A man should not be judged by the company he keeps. I can think of ONE MAN no one would DARE question his associates, but this is not the case for our senator! Please pass these links on to EVERYONE you know.

They are the FULL SERMONS delivered by Dr. Wright and butchered by the media. They may be unorthodox in delivery, but it is important to listen to the entire message before forming an opinion that affects the rest of your life and generations to come.

Confusing God and Government (God Damn America)
http://odeo.com/audio/17890793/view

The Day Jerusalem Fell (controversial 9/11 sermon)
http://odeo.com/audio/17889043/view

Thank you in advance for your help!

We Are A Part Of History For 2008!!!

Jazzy Williams — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Woo Hoo I feel so ALIVE!!!!! This run for the White House is making history by so many different platforms. We have a gentleman from a mixed race classified as African American and a lady running for President. We are all connecting on one accord because we have a vision. We desire something better, inspiring and challenging.

I do believe that is Change, right. So who is putting it in the face of America by connecting different races, financial backgrounds, political parties and religions? That's right our man Senator Barack Obama!

It is indeed an honor to be in support of this magnificent being. He has such a warm spirit and is a distingushed gentleman. I am inspired more so by being an active participant in this political process. This is a first for me getting completely involved in a political process to this magnitude. The first Rally to gather volunteers had me hooked. We in Dallas, TX held one of the largest they that his organizers have ever seen. It was standing room only!

Being Black ...

Soldierette!! (CENSORED) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 03:17:36 EDT

Being black and witnessing another black man being tore down is expected, sadly enough. I expect for whites to attack us, to tear us down, and to degrade us. Historically, this is what it means to be black in America. I don't think all whites are against us, just that all whites don't stand up for us when wronged. I don't think that all whites are the devil or hate me, but there are some devils of ALL races that hate me. Hate is on all sides of the color spectrum, we just don't have to be part of it. We can choose to be above it, and recognize it, or we can choose to be a part of it, and ignore it.

I have 3 sons, ages 27, 21 and 20. Each one of them are an American statistic. They are young and black and in the age group that says my sons will be dead before they reach 30. It doesn't matter that my sons were raised in church, even though we moved about five different times, if not more, during their childhood. They still attended the same church because the church came to everywhere that we moved to pick them up. I needed that little extra help to keep them close to the Word of God.

I was single mother after having left their father in the 80's, who decided that crack was his new family, instead of his boys and wife. It was cool because I've always thought of myself as a very smart, forward-thinking, hard-working, talented woman who would make a way for herself. Of course it was hard. No doubt. But the choice was to live with a drug addict or get my kids away from it. I chose to get my kids away from it and all that resembled it, which meant that we had to move... again. It was hard trying to raise young, black sons in a city where drugs and alcohol are on every corner, and in every school and playground. Lord knows they were sheltered, or in my view, protected. I grew up in Washington, DC, the nation's capital. The drug capital, in my opinion, and nothing has changed since I moved to Maryland in 1983, where my kids were raised. It was only slightly better, because we weren't wealthy or well off, we had to live where we could afford like most Americans, and there were still those pesky drugs and liquor stores at every turn. So it's hard raising little black boys. Teaching them to be kind to others, respect their peers and their elders, to brush their teeth and scrub their necks and use deodorant was the east part. Teaching them that everyone is not their friend, and to stay away from people who use drugs, or people who act out in the mall, or who disrespects girls, or music that is degrading to women and honor drug use and violence. And Lord knows they've all had enough lectures from me about having sex before marriage and the dangers of having unprotected sex. That was the hard part. Teaching them how hard life would be if they got caught up in drugs or violence or became part of the justice system. That stuff is hard to ingrain in the minds of young, impressionable kids these days. That kind of stuff took me off focus of the real issues, like going to college and buying their first home and saving for their retirement. Oh yeah, I got it in, but not nearly as much time was left after the struggles against what was happening right then. The drugs, gun violence, inadequate schools, and simple peer pressure was all part of the mix, altogether, using up time that could have been used for more positive things.

I was raised to know the struggles and triumph's of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but also knew of the struggles and triumph's of Walter F. Dickerson, my grandfather. He was a great man too. He was a great black man. He had to use the "Whites Only" bathrooms and enter restaurants through the back door. He told us the many stories of how he would walk right through the front door and use the "White Only" bathrooms. He didn't think it right, so he didn't acknowledge the "rules". He taught me how to "hustle". Back in the day, to have a hustle was to have a way outside of your regular job to make some money, legally. To braid hair or sell fish/crabs or shovel snow or rake leaves or carry groceries at the local grocery store was a good hustle back in the day. A kid could easily make close to $400 over a good snowy weekend. Shoveling snow is not equal to selling drugs. There's less than a zero chance in going to jail or getting shot for shoveling snow. He taught me the morals and values that I passed on to my sons. He taught me what a real man should look like because I didn't get that from my own father. See, my mom was also a single mother so she taught me how to be a mother and a father. That's what I give to my sons, even though it's hard.

I attended a church mostly attended by whites at one time in my life. I also attended a church mostly attended by blacks. I visited many churches while looking for a regular church to attend. What stands out for me today is that in every, single black church that I've attended, not only was the music uplifting, and the message uplifting, and the power of God was overwhelming, but they all talked politics from the pulpit. I think that's what black churches do. I'm convinced of it. I can't remember one single white church that spoke of things happening in the world, especially not of a political nature. The white church that I attended only read from the Bible. They didn't teach from the Bible, only read it to me. Then those hymnals never failed to get a yawn from me. I dutifully went to church, spent an hour, and left. No loss, no gain. But when I went to the black church, have mercy! I found myself standing up, clapping and shouting, and trust me, that's just not an easy feat. Ask anybody that knows me. (haha) But the music was a full live band, and the pastor spoke to me about things that happened every day to me, from my husband's drug abuse to my boys maybe getting some fast assed little girl pregnant. They covered everything in my black life, down to my high rent and my crime-riddled neighborhood to my bad credit to that glass ceiling, all tied into the teachings of the Bible. This was a church that spoke to me, so I joined it, because I was seeking truth in the Word of God. Now I have to admit, however, when it came down to the political views, my pastor bored me to no end. I felt offended that he was pushing his political views on me. I didn't expect it at first, so I was caught off guard. I thought to myself, "The nerve of him!", but as we got closer to election time, the candidates began to show up in church. Say what? WTF? I didn't go to church to hear about no politics, but it happened all throughout my childhood.

In closing, I would ask for all people to simply take the time to visit a church that is different from one you're most comfortable in. I'm not saying find a Jim Jones church. I'm saying, specifically, if you are white, visit a black church, and if you're black, visit a white church. The God and His Word is the same. Only the delivery is different.

Be blessed...

Do the Math

Chip Roberson in Sonoma, CA — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:21:46 EDT

I'm getting a bit annoyed with how the race issue is being discussed by Senator Clinton's staff, Geraldine Ferraro or some of the talk-show hosts like Michael Smerconish. These people are making their point, in my opinion, by only stating half the case and selectively quoting the evidence. Allow me to offer a few counterpoints.

Clinton Backers Cross the Line Again

The Mersman Political Blog — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 03:54:55 EDT

Geraldine Ferraro is a member of Hillary Clinton’s finance committee and a top Clinton fundraiser. I was not surprised to read on the Daily Kos about yet another top Clinton surrogate saying something racist and ignorant about Barack Obama.

“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept,” Ferraro said.

Ferraro, a former Democratic vice presidential candidate has claimed that if Barack Obama were white, he would not be winning this election.

I think Barack Obama would like to argue how lucky he is to be African American when he is haling a cab or running for president in a state with more than a 90 percent white population.

Last Saturday, Wyoming overwhelmingly chose Barack Obama as their Democratic candidate. Wyoming has a 96.19% white population.

“Slatersan” commented on Daily Kos that, “She's half right. If he were a white man...the race would be over...and he'd be the nominee.”

If these are the types of ridiculous questions we are going to ask to try and win, I have to ask Geraldine, would you be supporting Hillary Clinton if she was not a woman?

The fact that Clinton surrogates keep making comments like this is of no surprise to me. This is a pattern that has continued to develop over this campaign and Senator Clinton has shown she cannot control her supporters or her campaign staff.

She is obviously not ready to be president.

Read more from this author at http://mersmanpolitical.blogspot.com

Barack Obama hasn't been attacking Hillary the way she's attacked him. And I know why.

Malian — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:09:35 EDT

Barack Obama hasn't been attacking Hillary the way she's attacked him. And I know why. You see, he knows that both African Americans and women have to recover from terrible abuse in order to achieve power. He knows how far he has come. 400 years of cruel, inhuman, despicable slavery. And here he stands before us, a model of integrity, compassion, and reason.

But he knows something else.

Women have been under the same oppression for much longer than that. In every culture around the world. What would it say about him if he ignored her pain? What would it say about him if he humiliated her in front of the world by ripping her apart (which he surely has the means and grounds to do). He knows that if 400 years is a lot of abuse to recover from, the millenia of abuse inflicted on women is still more.

Hillary Clinton is the wrong choice for President. She is not ready to be our model of integrity, compassion and reason. She is an ongoing victim of the abuse men in particular have inflicted upon her throughout her life. She never rejected those men, stopped being a victim. She soldiered on, gathering scars along the way. She is courageous, but no longer in any position to be a steward of our lives - she needs some major TLC, even if she would never ask for it.

Obama has transcended the historic abuse of his people. Of course, that is a remarkable journey. But to keep it in perspective, even if Hillary has not transcended, she has been fighting an historic abuse that is many times longer, and that has extended to more people. The key to the issue is, that someone acting out of their history of abuse is more likely to be abusive. And we have seen this in Hillary Clinton's campaign and in her life.

It is not abusive to say "no" to someone who has been abused. It would propagate the legacy of sexism to elect a leader who is the product of that abuse. The reason Barack Obama deserves our votes is because he has outpaced his peers of every race or gender in creating a post-abuse paradigm. The reason he has earned the love and respect of millions is because he represents that post-abuse paradigm. And the most important person to include in that paradigm, is one Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Another Reason to Veto Clinton

Shawn in Iowa — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 16:13:30 EST

The Democratic Party cannot afford to give the nomination to Clinton. The “Get Out the Vote” campaign spent several years attempting to get young voters interested in politics. There was little success. Now the young voters are out and voting. A quick look at the exit polls show they are coming out in record numbers to vote for Obama. The same is occurring with the black vote. Both of these groups have historically been members of the Democratic Party but rarely active participants. These are groups the party needs in order to have a real presence and future in politics. If Clinton gets the nomination all the youth and black voters will again be disenfranchised - confirming their previous belief that their voices and votes do not count. This will push these voters back into the “closet” and the Democratic Party will lose them again until someone else can inspire voters like John Kennedy did and Barack Obama is doing. History tells us such a candidate is few and far between.

An anti-Obama video by an African American group and my response on YouTube

A Goner — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:29:01 EST

There are all kinds of opposition to Senator Obama. Some far right and some far left. Some unique to specific communities. Check this out. We have to deal with it.. not sweep it under the rug.
YouTube Service <service@youtube.com> wrote:

YouTube Broadcast Yourself™katloverindy wants to share a video with you watch videoVideo DescriptionWake Up People. Obama will do more harm, all democrates are doing MORE harm to black americans than any "evil" republican can do. Immigration as practically pushed back black america economically- 20 years!
With racist groups like La Raza pulling strings, Obama already thinks he has your vote and is now pandering.Personal MessageIllegal immigration, LaRaza and racismTo accept my friend request, click here.To respond to katloverindy, click here.Thanks,
katloverindyUsing YouTubeYouTube Help
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If this is a spam email, please report it. © 2008 YouTube, Inc.

Below is my personal response to this video in its entirety as posted on YouTube in bits and pieces:

Interesting video. I agree with you on some points and I disagree on some points.

Agree - we are heading into a one world government whether folks acknowledge it as such or not. That is the Bible fulfilling itself. This is not the first time in history that the "Tower of Babel Syndrome" has captured the imagination of the 2% that control the 98% of the world's wealth in some shape, form, or fashion. According to the back of my dollar bill, that idea may be at least 7,000 years old. The question is .. Is this a "God" idea or "man over man" idea. It may be a combo package. Therefore, as far as "man over man goes" for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. There is a lot of nationalism, tribalism and racism erupting in wars all over the world simultaneously. However, we as a nation need a leader who can make sure that we get our fair shake and respect in the new world economy. I believe that Senator Obama can stand up for us. Remember, we all have freedom of will. No organization, creed, faith, or even God himself can take that away from you or me. So it would be nice if we can all learn to get along, respect each other, and mutually work together to face the challenges of global warming, poverty, disease and share the genius of technology with each other.I am quite aware of the fact that there is a sentiment among Mexicans that they will outpopulate the majority and take back their land (pre-Mexican American War) by default by being the majority population. They are making love not war. Some fear in circles like yours, that there may eventually be a Civil War in the US between the Hispanics and the rest of us. I have heard these sentiments expressed ten years ago and discussed it over coffee with my ex-Panther, militant acquaintance. Well, I personally believe that there will probably be more inter-racial dating and marraige, sharing of culture rather than war. Among the criminals and gangs, that is a different story. There will be unity fostered through common goals, interests and belief in God. The shared setbacks of the environmental problems, attacks of Al-Qaeda on 9/11, AIDS, flu, foreclosures, etc. are problems no one group can monopolize the solution. Genius lies in all the races equally and proportionately. There is a talented tenth in all races, nationalities and ethnic groups. The kingdom of heaven is manifesting itself in the midst of all this chaos. It is working itself out, from the inside of our spirits, minds and hearts to outer reality.Welcome to planet Earth. Ain't nothing new under the sun.Points I disagree:To blame immigrants from Africa, the Caribbean diaspora, Latin America or Europe for the plight of unemployment among African Americans is not realistic. African Americans have been content to get a quick buck pimping their women and making movies about it, peddling sorcery (cocaine, heroin and crack) and glamorizing it in their music, movies and literature and standing on the corner bragging about what they are not going to do.. jobs like roofing, bussing tables, working at McDonalds, etc. The youth along with their parents watch Jerry Springer more than Nightline. Pastors and ministers have lost the trust of black men because of their whoremongering and fleecing the sheep for their own personal wealth. This is not an indictment on every African American, but it has reached a critical mass factor. As a teacher, I see a defiant attitude towards learning, students believe they already know all they need to know.. how to make it on the streets. The tribalism mentality I observe among my students, "I'm this gang, I'm this hood, I'm from this street" is the fruit of 50 years of black folk selling each other out. The violence of black on black crime, is the fruit of the culture of genocide which black people have permitted to perpetuate on themselves. I agree with Senator Obama that the greatest lesson one can learn is to take responsibility for our own actions."Perfect love casteth out fear" The Bible.Let's try to walk in love. We'll make a lot more progress towards a better world.

Not Afraid of Change

Marcia from Alexandria, VA — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 12:09:10 EST

A military brat from Arkansas, I’ve seen a lot over my 64 years. My father is a Tuskegee Airman, one of the African American pilots who fought for the right to serve his country. And, I was bused off base in Ft. Walton, Florida to a two-room school with dirt yard. I was at the March on Washington and a student at Howard University when President Kennedy was assassinated. Back in ’68, I did a little phone work at Arkansas Republican headquarters for Winthrop Rockefeller, but I haven’t actively supported another candidate until now. I believe Barack Obama possesses the vision and fresh ideas we need. He’s not divisive, simply a straight-up, honest person who can do the job.

At first I was hesitant because it’s hard to get a black man elected. I didn’t want to vote for him if the country wouldn’t support him. A few things changed my mind. The first was a woman in my bowling league. We’d started talking about the election and she said, “You’re crazy if you don’t want change.” That got my attention. A woman in her mid-80s talking to me about change? She got me thinking that maybe I was being too conservative. If it’s left up to people who are afraid to make a change, Obama will never get elected.

Then he won Iowa and I sent a donation. All along my 36-year-old child has been going around with unbridled enthusiasm for Obama. Gaea has me watching every election return on CNN and MSNBC. She’s got me excited and running my mouth to everyone—from sharing my inspiration with friends at church to sending e-mails to friends across the country. I even watch YouTube every now and again. All this because I have hope like I haven’t had in a long time.

And, I realized he’s appealing to all people. He seems to have such high integrity that I believe he can improve relations with other countries and our reputation in the world. Barack Obama has shown this in his campaign. He’s got a movement going and I think he’ll follow through. Also, I believe he’ll have more respect in office because he hasn’t fought a dirty campaign and because he never supported the Iraq war. I think he’s more likely to make this country safer for my grandchildren. I believe he cares about whether students have thousands of dollars in loans. Those loans are hard to get out from under. It’s like coming out of school with a mortgage. If I’d had to take on those loans, I don’t know what would have happened. I’d have still earned my English degree, but I’d probably be working longer and wouldn’t be retired now.

The Clintons looked like a good deal when they first came in, but they seem to have gotten caught up in wheeling and dealing. They’re more of the same. I also don’t appreciate the dirty politics I’ve seen in other campaigning. Dirty politics is a turnoff. So is winning at any cost.

Barack Obama is the only candidate I’ve ever donated to, and I’m going to send him some more. You can see his concern for his fellow man. That he wants to take care of the country and fix what’s broken. And, he’s encouraging others to step-up, too.

I’M A SELLOUT FOR SUPPORTING A NON-SLAVE?

Eric from Covina, CA — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 13:37:22 EST

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE
I’M A SELLOUT FOR SUPPORTING A NON-SLAVE?

My good brother, I’ve heard some uniquely original ideas about why Black people shouldn’t support Barack Obama, but I must admit, you’ve all but stumped me here. It is your position that I’m selling out for supporting Obama, not because his mother was White, but because his father is from Africa, therefore, Obama is not a true son of slavery. You indicate, that’s why White people are supporting him–it’s a racist plot to first, preclude a son of slavery from becoming the first Black president of the United States, and second, to get African Americans to embrace someone who looks like us, but is not truly one of us. Therefore, by supporting Obama, we dishonor those African Americans who were forced to suffer in bondage. But you go on to say–-and this is the part that I like about your thinking–-that your mind remains open, so you’re ready to be convinced that your wrong.

I received your e-mail last night, but instead of giving in to the knee-jerk tendency to immediately respond, I thought I'd take the night to respectfully consider some of the issues you've brought to the table. In doing so I've come to the conclusion that our positions are not as far apart as it may seem at first blush. First of all, while I do honor the contribution that the African motherland contributed to who I am, I fully agree that the plight of African American slaves is often overlooked and, indeed, ignored as an embarrassment when we consider our journey as a people. I've been pushing that position for years. In fact, it is more than ironic that one of my position that you object to most--that African Americans make up a new and distinct culture that is in the infancy of its development--was from an article that I wrote in response to an Earl Ofari Hutchinson article about ten years ago (Our History Lies Before Us).

The right kind of experience

Naomi from Pasadena, CA — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 22:11:43 EST

I at one time was looking forward to Hillary Clinton running for the White House. Not because I was crazy about her, but because I liked her husband. My most stark memory of Hillary was of her failed universal healthcare initiative. I appreciated her bringing attention to the matter, but could not understand why she could not inspire people to move such a popular measure forward in eight years as first lady. Nevertheless, I was willing to vote for her if it meant having Bill Clinton back in the White House.

As an African American, I planned to vote for the Clintons because I wanted a White House likely to be more supportive of the issues closest to my heart. As a woman, I felt it was time to give the female species a chance to present a more compassionate commander in chief.

And then there was Barack.

WHY HILLARY'S DOG DON'T HUNT

Eric from Covina, CA — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 06:17:35 EST

WHY HILLARY'S DOG DON'T HUNT
Hillary managed to pull her carcass out of the fire in the New Hampshire Primary. But her 39 to 36 percent victory over Senator Obama seems rather shallow when you consider that she was seen as the presumptive Commander-in-Chief in waiting just prior to the Iowa caucuses. In just a few short weeks Hillary has gone from the anointed one to a woman who was, literally, brought to tears over concern for her political career—and those very tears points out an issue that begs to be examined.

If Hillary's tears were genuine (and that's a big IF), we need to ask ourselves whether or not she has the emotional strength to handle the job of President of the United States. If she breaks down into tears under the stress of simply running for the job, what can we expect from her under the awesome responsibility of actually doing the job? Some may say that's a cheap shot that's only being leveled at her because she's a woman, but actually, it's a sword that cuts both ways. If Barack Obama would have broken down under similar circumstances, his candidacy would have been over. So when we're discussing the most powerful job in the world, we can't think in terms of whether the candidate is a man or a woman, we must look at their character, strength, and stability alone—and that's exactly what my question seeks to address.
Sphere: Related Content

HOPE - by Keyanna Conner

Jane - Richmond, VA — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 12:04:12 EST

A Youthful Perspective from Keyanna - Valuable Insights for ALL:

Today, I was asked by a colleague to explain why I am “SO FIRED UP” and “READY TO GO” for Barack Obama. All of you are well aware of my support for Barack Obama and it allowed a moment for me to express my views.

To begin, I want to stress the importance of my age and ask that you step into the eyes of my generation. I am overcome with sadness because I draw a blank when trying to think of even one inspirational leader of my generation. You see, many of you came along not too long after the civil rights movement. This movement allowed you the ability to dream and to hope for a better future. You had the opportunity to glance back and envision leaders of those times such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Bobby Kennedy, etc. You also had the opportunity to connect with their passion and hard work to later become destined to make your mark in America.

Well, times have changed! My generation looks back and sees King’s dream as thing of the past. We see that we have overcome certain challenges and no longer need to hold on to this myth that we have been told. It does not help that our parents have fought a good fight and now feels the obligation to shield us from that fight. They wanted a better life for us so they worked tirelessly to provide us with that life. Nevertheless, they have forgotten that it was that fight that taught them character and meaning in this world.

So again I have been looking for those leaders who can reach our youth. I find that many individuals who have climbed the “ladder” of success often forget that they were once standing at the bottom looking up and dreaming about climbing. I challenge them now to climb down that “ladder” for moment and think about when they were at the bottom. Now, envision the current youth at the bottom and tell me what you see. The world has changed and new problems and obstacles are waiting to tackle those young minds before they even start to think about climbing that “ladder.” This is a NEW day with NEW problems that face our youth and we need a NEW leader with the vision of HOPE. What worked for your generation going up no longer applies to the challenges that we face today. What worked in the ‘90’s is no longer applicable to the challenges that we face today.

Presently, my generation lacks leaders to inspire and give us hope. Consequently, we turn to the entertainment and sports industry and idolize these individuals instead. The net result is that our children are growing up not wanting to be “The Great Debaters” but rather the new Jay-Z, 50-cent, Kanye West, or “American Gangsta”. This is a problem that cannot be overlooked. You must understand that these are individuals that you will be turning this country over to very soon. The crisis that we face requires every individual to stand up and make a CHANGE! At age 23, I have attended many more funerals than desired. “How many more funerals must I attend before you decide that this is something of grave importance?

I realize that my friends and I are the minority who are blessed to transcend this epidemic and mobilize ourselves up the “ladder.” However, I feel the need to emphasize that there are too many people not attempting that mobilization and that should open your eyes to the world you are leaving your children. As we all know, you may raise your children in the correct manner, but when they leave your presence they are in someone else’s territory. I am familiar with that territory and to answer your questions, it is as bad as it seems and it is not getting better. I want you to really see the black community and tell me if your children do not deserve better.

Through all of the despair there is still HOPE. I was reminded by a friend that not all children have hope. Some are born into a cruel world and were not fed hope, inspiration, or motivation. Some were fed the realities of this brutal world, which leads to destruction. We need our youth to have HOPE again. We need our youth to believe in the beauty of a DREAM. It was this belief that pushed me along and I am afraid that we are losing that by the day.

When I first listened to Barack Obama, something came alive within me. It was only then that I was fully aware of the desperation from which we suffer. I saw what he was offering the world and realized that it is what we have been missing all along, HOPE. I believe so strongly that this generation deserves the right to have a leader who can inspire us to become better. This is a movement that is long overdue. Many people show concern for the state of our nation but I show concern for the state of our race. I long for the day that African-Americans grace the polls in massive numbers. As you vote, I want you to take your children and express to them that you are casting a vote for the first African-American President. They may display cynicism by the thought, but the day is coming when they will turn on the television and see the first African-American President being inaugurated into office. I pray that many will say, “Jay-Z is cool, but I want to be like Barack Obama.” We have the opportunity to bring our dreams into reality and give our children the right to dream again. Just think about it…

Shelby Steele Steals Hope

Angela for Obama '08 — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 02:59:36 EST

Shelby Steele's appearance on Bill Moyer's Journal was difficult to watch. Why? Steele, a well-known, well-published author of race relations in America has written a controversial book (title intentionally left off this page) about Senator Barack Obama. Steele says Obama can't win and accuses Obama of being ambiguous and hiding his true convictions www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01112008/transcript2.html. Steel's stand is that the words change and hope are not specific enough for voters; and, as he eludes, Obama can't win the presidential election.

Every time I see him, Steel makes me cringe. Way down. Deep to my bones. Cringe. He speaks for all African-Americans? I think not. About African American Steele says "they look at white America and say we're going to presume that you're a racist until you prove otherwise. The whole concept is you keep whites on the hook. You keep the leverage. You keep the pressure.He said African Americans" www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01112008/transcript2.html. I'm African American. I don't waste thought space thinking people are racist. Well, not until tonight. Now, I think Steele is racist. How is it that he's selling all of these books? I truly hope people stop considering him as the spokesman of race relations just because his mother was white and his father was black. He spoke for all African Americans. He should be old enough to know better. Moreover, why did he have to write a book, now, about Obama saying Obama can't be elected? He seems like the racist.

Toward the end of the interview Bill Moyers said he's tired of asking African American's about race relations; he wants to know what African Americans think about other things. Well, if I could reach Bill Moyers' mind through osmosis, I'd tell him, "Bill, I have a simple answer to your problem. Don't ask African Americans about race relations. Ask them about other things." Mr. Steele nodded in the affirmative. I think he missed the point. Maybe Bill Moyers did too. Let's replay. Mr. Steele wrote a book about Barack Obama, said he can't be elected (due to race relations) and Bill Moyers invited him on his show to talk about Steele's book on Obama and race relations.

Steele also mentions during the interview a time when a white person approached him and said Obama shouldn't be seen with Al Sharpton again. Steele seemed to be okay with the comment, after all, he not only remembered it, but was able to repeat it, reference it and make the conclusion that Obama is more pleasing to whites than Sharpton. How racist is that! Well, maybe it's not as much as racist as it is stupist" (stupist, an African-American's woman's definition of a sect of people who say contradicting and stupid things).

I don't mean to sound preachy and I hope I'm not misusing the words "change" and "hope," since according to Steele they are empty; but, it's really time for change. I hope for a day when people like Steele will wake up and see the hatred they really have for themselves. I also hope and pray Sen. Obama is my next President. I want to see the day when we're all united for the same cause despite our makeup.

List of notable Blacks who endorse Sen. Obama

Major_Man saying YES WE CAN! — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 00:16:31 EDT

I'm glad to hear Congressman Clay (D-MO) is supporting Senator Obama. He is not alone in his endorsement.

BLACK ENDORSEMENTS:

Congress: Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.); Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.); Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.); Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.); Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.); Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.); Rep. Al Green (D-Texas); Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.); Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.); Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.); Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.)

Other Black notables: Gov. Deval Patrick (Mass.), Mayor Doug Wilder (Former Gov.-Virginia); Alice Walker, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Former Congressman Major Owens (NYC); Lou Gossett, Jr., Mayor Cory Booker (Newark, NJ); Major Adrian Fenty (D.C.); Halle Berry, Sidney Poitier, Oprah, Charles Barkley, Will Smith, Forrest Whitaker, Common-Rap artist, Alfre Woodard, Nas-Rap artist, Laurence Fishburne, Broncos WR David Terrell, Holly Robinson Peete, Wyclef Jean-Musician, Tracee Ellis Ross, Tyler Perry, William R. Harvey-President of Hampton U., H. Patrick Swygert-President of Howard U.

Attention fellow Black Americans: Obama will be the "first Black President" (He is the only one who has had to endure the hardship of having dark skin)

BELIEVE VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vzQv18zGOo

BARBERSHOP VIDEO: http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1243534108

No Obama News In My Home Town Paper

MSWHYTE — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 03:47:44 EDT

I have been reading the local newspaper lately. I have read stories about specific candidates. What I have not read is any articles about Barack Obama. Not even one word was mentioned about him in an article about the Democratic Debate. This does not really surprise me. The Columbus Dispatch is known for being biased. It shows in the style of writing that is used in the articles.

This really bothers me as an individual citizen. For people who do not have access to the internet, the newspaper and television are their primary sources for information. There seems to be a push on to limit Obama coverage. While it appears that the media's choices for frontrunners continue to receive ample coverage.

I stopped watching television political coverage. It is poorly organized and often there is nothing of interest being broadcasted. There is a lot of useless information. Plus that it is not difficult to detct bias in their coverage either.

There are polls that have been circulated that declare how large the black female/male following is for Hillary Clinton. I have openly questioned how the polls are conducted. Their results has caused me to request information on the demographics and implemtation of the poll. I would like to see who and where the poll was conducted.

Beauty Shop/Barber Shop Politics - A Gold Mine for Obama

V, aka VCubed/Virginia V — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 20:40:19 EDT

Does your community team have a Beauty/Barber Shop Team? Hillary has mined the black women's beauty shops to her advantage. Are we going to let her take them without representing for Obama, or neglect black men's barber shops? Lauren Champaign, one of our most dedicated volunteers in South Carolina, who gave up a $75,000 scholarship to work to get Obama elected, makes the rounds of beauty and barber shops regularly. See the great video of her work here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2007/10/12/VI2007101201543.html

We have to bring the discussion to the places people gather, in the little leisure time they have left. They can't always come to us and our meetings and house parties. Take a page out of Lauren Champaign's book and work your local B&B shops with confidence, with a canvassing pro the first couple of times, if you like. You can download commitment cards and literature, print them, take them with you and then give your signed commitment cards to your Team, City or District organizer.

Major myth to debunk in black B&B shops: Obama cannot win because white people won't vote for him. I'd recommend that mixed teams of black and white canvassers go out for Obama to black B&B shops whenever possible - nothing's more convincing than what you see with your own eyes and hear with your own ears. Read the article excerpt below (the whole first part of the article deals with Clinton's beauty shop supporters) and see what I mean:

How much do WE understand the African American Experience?

Karyn Rae Doddy — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 13:55:04 EDT

Since many "black people" in the US are so ignorant of their status and history in this country and the American public overall is so poorly educated in history or knowledgeable of the world at large, I wouldn't be so quick to say that 1st generation African Americans "don't fully understand the struggles of African Americans that were born and raised here and its not their fault either they just have a different American experience". In the US, we put our hands over our eyes and talk about how blind the rest of the world is. Despite our shared enduring problems, Kenyans had fought for and achieved independence in 1963. They have a history of civil rights struggles and are able to place our history in a world/global context that we must embrace. Africans that come to this country, and the people they bond with, may often imbue their own greater awareness in their children. The children of the people of Africa are a gift to this country as they add to our much needed enlightenment.

HOW MUCH LONGER are we going to subscribe to the teachings of imperialists and distance ourselves from Africa and its people?

Senator Barack Obama continues to show us the way! I'm fired up and ready to go!!!

Jena 6 rally in Atlanta Thursday morning (9/20/07)

Mel in Norcross — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 10:53:33 EDT

For those of you that are unable to travel to Louisiana next Thursday, there will be a rally here in Atlanta in support of the Jena 6. Please wear all black.

When: Thursday, September 20, 2007 from: 7:00 AM until 12:00 PM

Where: City Hall (Downtown Atlanta), 55 Trinity Avenue, S.W., Atlanta, Georgia 30303

The California Legislative Black Caucus Endorses Barack Obama

Lisa Beyer — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 04:54:48 EDT

California Legislators Endorse Obama

(RTTNews) - The California Legislative Black Caucus endorsed Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois for president on Thursday, calling him "the only candidate that can unite people to get things done."

Click here to read the full story.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you,

Lisa Beyer

Precinct Deputy Captain in Las Vegas Precinct 6475

Why I Support Barack Obama for President
MYBO Profile
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Southern Nevada for Obama - A Grassroots Campaign Effort

Did you know...

On January 19, 2008, Nevada will be the 2nd state in the nation to caucus for a presidential nominee!

Democrats will meet at their designated sites at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 19, 2008
NV Democratic Caucus FAQs
Clark County, NV Residents: Find Your Precinct Here

We've Got One More In Georgia! | Barack: 2; Hillary: 0

Mel in Norcross — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 17:37:05 EDT

Great late breaking news (according to the AJC):

"Rep. Sanford Bishop, an Albany Democrat, announced Monday that he's backing Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in the Democratic presidential primary."

"Bishop is the second African American congressman from Georgia to back Obama. Rep. Hank Johnson of Dekalb County endorsed Obama earlier and is already helping him raise money in the Atlanta area, home to a huge share of African American Georgians.

Bishop and Johnson will serve as Obama's state chairmen, Obama's campaign said."

The Evolution of the Hip-Hop Hegemony: Why Sen. Obama Should Embrace the Hip-Hop Entrepreneur

Jarvis Lagman — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 12:30:33 EDT

The emergence of the Hip-Hop entrepreneur as the dominant cultural symbol in the African-American community is the culmination of a dramatic revolution in how African-American cultural identity has been reformed in the last decade. While the gross self-promotion and occassional vulgarity of hip-hop artists has drawn derision from the mainstream media, the individualism and ambition that mark the successful hip-hop entrepreneur are a sign that there is a subtle cultural shift that is taking place that is enabling the kind of empowerment that black activists have been clamoring for since the beginning of our nation's history. To understand the significance of the emergence of the self-made African-American entrepreneur, we must understand the immediate context from which this dynamic has emerged.

If we think about the racial tensions that reverberated throughout the 1990s, i.e. the racial divide that characterized the OJ Simpson trial, the Rodney King assault, the LA and Crown Heights Race Riots, the Abner Louima Assault, the Amadou Diallo Shooting, etc., hip-hop had been a medium in which the frustrations of the black community were expressed. There was a recognition of a double standard, of unequal opportunity in this country. There was the recognition of the extent to which the world had become Darwinian. The crack epidemic gutted communities, AIDS wiped out the able bodied, NAFTA eliminated any hope of stable pay for the unskilled, the War on Drugs imprisoned significant portions of the population, racial profiling and police brutality terrorized communities and the dismantling of the welfare state removed the safety net that was supposed to aid all of those who were falling through the cracks. The message from society as a whole was that somehow this disaster was solely the African-American community's fault and that, in the time of the African-American people's greatest need, the country was going to remain, at best, indifferent and, at worst, hostile and belligerent. In many respects, the suspicion held by the African-American community of the establishment was and is justified. The community's cultural expressions, most noticebly rap and hip-hop, reflected the uncertainty, anger and disillusionment of African-Americans in the new, globalized world that has emerged. While hip-hop in the 1990s had a revolutionary cadence that was, in my view, a cry for help, the mainstream media denounced it as criminal. Gangsta rap they called it. While I will not elaborate on the impact that this mischaracterization has had on the African-American community, I will say that this dynamic is emblematic of the difficulties that African-Americans have faced in a society that has grossly distorted the nature of their struggle.

If we fast-forward to the present, the tenor of hip-hop has changed. The deaths of Tupac and Biggie represented a turning point in the confrontational politics of hip hop expression. Before the Tupac and Biggie saga, hip hop was the music of the underground, only appreciated by enthusiasts (not to say that hip hop did not have mainstream appeal, but at this point in time it was not THE hegemonic influence of masscultural consumption). However, the controversy generated an avalanche of publicity that popularized the genre and created opportunity for young black entrepreneurs to transform the hip-hop movement into the hip-hop industry, an industry that has become a dominant force in entertainment. People like Russell Simmons, Master P, Sean Combs and Jay-Z showed that talent and a knack for promotion can lead to enduring success. While Old-School rappers obsessed over reputation and territory and the relevance of community, the New School has concerned itself primarily with money, status and individual advancement. This individualism is an out growth of the collapse of African American collectivism in the 1990s and has re-popularized the American Dream in the inner-city. The "hustler" mentality is a capitalist attitude that is the result of the internalization of the Darwinian ethic that has characterized the African-American experience in the current epoch. While this new mentality is not without flaw (the dismantling of community in this sense is going to have a dramatic impact on the propagation of equality within the community), the shift in cultural attitudes away from antagonism towards an emphasis on individual achievement is an important development in the reclamation of the African-American destiny.

"The vicious cycle that needs to be broken isn't one of dependence but one of declining expectations" (Washington Post, 8/29/07). Part of why this cultural shift towards the glorification of hip-hop entrepreneurialism is important is because it makes achievement seem more real to the disadvantaged in the African American community. Perhaps a failure of the communitarian ethic is that while it sounds appealing, the underlying reality is that upholding the pretense of its ideals are not worth the violation of individual liberties that are often required to make communitarian ideology work in reality. While the pendulum swing towards hyper-individualism is not a panacea, it is a practice that can do much to balance the excesses of our past.

In many ways, the viability of Sen. Obama's candidacy is an out growth of the emergence of individualism in the African-American community. Sen. Obama is a self-made man who seeks to help our country shed the guilts of past excesses to forge a new path that will better serve our country and our common purpose. However, he does so as an individualist, dependent on his own merits, and does not kow-tow to the collectivism that has defined African-American politics before his candidacy. While this may irk many of the old-school black activists who have built their reputations through collectivist action, Sen. Obama is more in tune with what is actually happening on an empirical level in the African-American community. His resistance to the symbology of African-American collectivist leaders is analagous to the defiance displayed to them by the African-American community at large. For example, while the Rev. Al Sharpton and Rep. Charles Rangel may be adroit enough to bundle votes for Hillary, they do not enjoy unanimous support amongst African-Americans. For all of their clarion calls for solidarity, they are ultimately self-serving and are more interested in enhancing their public profiles rather than truly forwarding the cause. Senator Obama leads by example and through reason, not by guilt mongering. Thusly, I believe that in order to maximize the effectiveness of his individualist platform, Sen. Obama should make this distinction more apparent.

The African-American community has done much to reform its image and become more proactive in propagating the awareness that self-sufficiency will be the key to salvation. However, this project will not be successful if conducted under continuous assault by mainstream cultural imagery that seeks to denounce the value of the African-American culture in general. The emergent individualism of the hip hop culture is begging for recognition. If Sen. Obama would make the effort to publicly recognize the positive aspects of the hip hop culture, he would be able to better resonate with the voters who are typically wary of the establishment. Sen. Obama needs to not only attempt to connect to the community, but also, he needs to call attention to the good that the community has done to better itself in the midst of a world that has been increasingly callous.

Barack and New Orleans

ShonShyne — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 15:41:00 EDT

Unfortunately, it seems that Senator Barack Obama is not as favored amongst the general Black American population as Senator Hillary Clinton is. At the recent Essence Festival held in New Orleans recently, Clinton received an entire day for seminars scheduled prior to Obama being squeezed in to speak the following day for a small segment. Seems like Clinton was favored here over Barack . . . perhaps because we still remember her startling claims about the white house operating just like a plantation.

When Clinton made this shocking statement in the early part of the Hurrican Katrina catastrophe about the white house being ran just like a plantation, it caught the attention of many African Americans . . . and won them over. Even though Clinton is great at making these types of bold statements to win over the Black vote, we must all remember that these are just words. President George Bush has taught us a thing or to about believing what comes out of a politicians mouth.

Instead of us paying attention to just these bold verbal gesture, we need to pay even closer attention to a person's actions and their spirit. I probably shouldn't get into the intricacies of the infidelity surrounding the Clinton marriage and the scandal involving Monica Lewinsky, but I must admit that it is very puzzling to me that Hillary Clinton did not divorce Bill Clinton. The only reason I would stay in a marriage like this was due to a huge benefit like political gain. So she has probably know for a long time that she will be running for President. The decision to stay in the marriage with Bill shows me her character - as long as she benefits she will stay in it no matter what. Guess who else exemplify this trait?

Well Obama exemplifies a different spirit - a spirit of integrity, honesty, and character. Both Obama and Clinton attribute the New Orleans/Katrina lack of response by the government to racism. And if they both agree on issues that affect the Black community, then why do many Black Americans show favor for Hillary Clinton over Obama Barack. Don't we see the difference in the natural spirit that they exude? Clinton exudes the spirit of self-gain and Obama exudes the spirit of genuine concern for all communities.

We all need to look past the obvious outcries and look deep into the character of these politicians.

Black Culture Scholar Michael Dyson Endorses Obama

V, aka VCubed/Virginia V — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 07:45:16 EDT

Michael Eric Dyson is a force of nature, and he's not only a scholar who now has a post at Georgetown University, but a media personality and author of popular books. He took the opportunity at the Essence Jazz Festival in New Orleans to endorse and introduce Obama. Expect Obama's support in the African American communities to grow considerably in the months to come, as Dyson and Cornel West, another famous African American scholar, preacher and culture critic in media circles, publicize their endorsement of Obama. An irony tucked into the article: Dyson's wife supports Clinton!

Newark NJ Mayor Endorses Barack

V, aka VCubed/Virginia V — Mon, 14 May 2007 07:49:37 EDT

Newark NJ Mayor Cory Booker is a friend of the Clintons as well as of Barack, but he will be giving a ringing endorsement of Obama on Monday and it's getting lots of media attention. Write/call your mayor and ask him/her to endorse Obama too!
Newark's mayor plans to endorse Obama's run By Daniela FloresAssociated PressMIKE DERER / Associated PressCory Booker, mayor of New Jersey's largest city, is to announce his endorsement today. "It's been a long time since I've been so excited about a candidate as I am with Barack Obama," he said.
TRENTON - The high-profile mayor of New Jersey's largest city says he endorses Sen. Barack Obama for president.

Newark Mayor Cory A. Booker said he would officially announce his endorsement at a news conference with Obama today, when the senator arrives in New Jersey to attend a number of events, including a town-hall meeting with union members in Trenton.

"It's time that we have a national leader that's going to raise us around our highest common ideals and remind us that we have more in common as a people than we do that divides us," Booker told the Associated Press.

First "St. Cloud for Obama" Gathering a Success!

Yolanda (MN) — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 20:25:43 EDT

The first gathering of St Cloud for Obama was held Saturday, March 17, 2007, at the Mississippi Bean and Tea Company in downtown St. Cloud! There were 17 adults and 5 children present ready and willing to discuss Barack Obama, his book The Audacity of Hope, his policy and plan for America, and our desire to help him in his quest to be the next President of the United States.

The overwhelming feeling of those gathered is that we are drawn to Obama because of his heart and soul and his ability to articulate the same to others in a way that is believable. We are also thrilled with his commitment to community organizing, as well as his thorough knowledge of the US Constitution. As one person stated, "This is a president who will understand that the Consititution is a living, organic document. It means what we say it means." The group articulated a strong desire to have a President who truly understands the Constitution such that s/he will not use it to harm the very citizenry it was crafted to protect.

As conversation continued, some amongst us expressed concern that Obama would be "corrupted" by the "slash and burn" politics of a Presidential election, while others remained convinced that what sets Obama apart from his contemporaries is that he seems to hold himself accountable to a "personal standard" of excellence from which he does not veer. All hoped that once the campaign gets "dirty," Obama will rise above the fray and maintain his unwavering emphasis on the practical application of ideas that will enhance the lives of everyday Americans.

There was much talk about the politics of race in this campaign; some expressed dismay by how much the media wants to focus on race, rather than on ideology and message. Others conceeded that ours is a racialized nation and Obama, as an African American man, represents new hope for the future of our country scarred by the "original sin" of slavery. Additionally, one amongst us raised the clarion call for Obama to use his international experience to the benefit of our relationships with the world community.

Almost all gathered expressed concern about the fact that once Obama ascends to the presidency, he will be saddled with the "Iraq crisis." At least one person lamented that perhaps we are all setting Obama up for failure as he will have to clean up a terrible mess abroad, while others reminded us that a strong showing around domestic issues such as jobs, health care, education, retirement savings, and reduction of debt will cause the American people to be enamored with him. As one attendee stated, "I vote with my wallet."

Finally, we closed with a discussion about our role as change agents in St. Cloud and in our nation and what we can do to bring about positive and lasting change through our grassroots efforts. We emphasized the importance of "each one, reach one" as we go forward with our work on Obama's campaign.

In short, we had the wonderful opportunity to meet and greet each other, share valuable information about becoming involved in the campaign, and plan our next meeting.

Upcoming Events

March 31, 2-4pm, HOUSE PARTY, Lehman Home

April 21, 10-12noon, St. Cloud for Obama Meeting, Mississippi Bean and Tea Company

St. Cloud for Obama is well on our way to becoming a force to be reckoned with!

Stay tuned for more information...(smile)

GO OBAMA!

Yolanda (MN)

Blog on racism in politics

Josef — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 16:20:46 EDT

From This Week in Race, an excellent blog that explores racism and its role in American political and social life. Obviously, the professors are quite interested in Barack Obama as a candidate, especially how the media portrays him and how the public receives him as a black candidate. So far, all their posts have been very in depth and they do not overgeneralize what it means to be implicitly racist.

3/9/07

Obama's Stock: Financial Misdealings a Persistent Criticism of African American Candidates

This week, we sent out an electronic press release addressing the racial undercurrents of the questions that have been surfacing around Barack Obama’s financial dealings. We wanted to use this space to share our thoughts on that with you, as well as to elaborate on them.

This past Wednesday, The New York Times reported that Obama purchased stock in companies that stood to benefit from Obama’s policy advocacy in the U.S. Senate. While such financial dealings should certainly be scrutinized, we cannot ignore that such allegations have been prominent among criticisms of black candidates for other offices in the past. And we know why.

Black schmlack...

Marjani — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 20:04:30 EST

Obama and Black History lessonEver since the nation first met Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in 2004, his race has been called into question more times than Michael Jackson's. Obama is clearly a black man, but is this really a breakthrough? Some blacks say Obama isn't "black enough," which seems ironic because for many blacks, former President Bill Clinton was "black enough." In 2001, Clinton was honored as the nation's "first black president" at the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Annual Awards Dinner in Washington , D.C.

Were there other "black" presidents? Some historians have reason to believe people don't really understand the genealogy of past U.S. Presidents. Research shows at least five U.S. presidents had black ancestors and Thomas Jefferson, the nation's third president, was considered the first black president, according to historian Leroy Vaughn, author of Black People and Their Place in World History.

Vaughn's research shows Jefferson was not the only former black U.S. president. Who were the others? Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge. But why was this unknown? How were they elected president? All five of these presidents never acknowledged their black ancestry.

Jefferson, who served two terms between 1801 and 1809, was described as the "son of a half-breed Indian squaw and a Virginia mulatto father," as stated in Vaughn's findings. Jefferson also was said to have destroyed all documentation attached to his mother, even going to extremes to seize letters written by his mother to other people.

President Andrew Jackson, the nation's seventh president, was in office between 1829 and 1837. Vaughn cites an article written in The Virginia Magazine of History that Jackson was the son of an Irish woman who married a black man. The magazine also stated that Jackson's oldest brother had been sold as a slave.

Lincoln, the nation's 16th president, served between 1861 and 1865. Lincoln was said to have been the illegitimate son of an African man, according to Leroy's findings. Lincoln had very dark skin and coarse hair and his mother allegedly came from an Ethiopian tribe. His heritage fueled so much controversy that Lincoln was nicknamed "Abraham Africanus the First" by his opponents.

President Warren Harding, the 29th president, in office between 1921 and 1923, apparently never denied his ancestry. According to Vaughn, William Chancellor, a professor of economics and politics at Wooster College in Ohio, wrote a book on the Harding family genealogy. Evidently, Harding had black ancestors between both sets of parents. Chancellor also said that Harding attended Iberia College, a school founded to educate fugitive slaves.

Coolidge, the nation's 30th president, served between 1923 and 1929 and supposedly was proud of his heritage. He claimed his mother was dark because of mixed Indian ancestry. Coolidge's mother's maiden name was "Moor" and in Europe the name "Moor" was given to all blacks just as "Negro" was used in America. It later was concluded that Coolidge was part black.

The only difference between Obama and these former presidents is that none of their family histories were fully acknowledged by others. Even though Obama is half-white, he strongly resembles his Kenyan father. And not only is Obama open about his ancestry, most people acknowledge him as a black man, which is why people will identify Obama, if elected, as the first [TRUE] black president of the United States.

voice your opinion on my blogs..

Rory-
www.brandnewsheriff.com

We all win when he runs!

Kathie from Detroit, MI — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 04:55:45 EST

I have a friend who always reminds me that we have a 50% chance of yes, but only if we try. So I know that with his declaration today Senator Obama will either make it in to the general election in 2008 or he won't. I am stating the obvious, and it is simplistic I know-- but there is a 100 % certainty that he would not be elected president, if he did not get into the primary race at all. Senator Obama represents the best opportunity for a campaign season that includes full and honest public debate of issues the voters really care about-- universal health care, our children and families, education, jobs, small businesses, civil rights and economic justice, judicial justice, ending the wars over seas, aiding distressed communities here at home, rebuilding our cities, towns and states devastated by natural disasters and inhumane govermental policies and actions.

Frankly I wonder about this man-- why give up his personal privacy and life, and that of his family . Young and new to the national political scene, he certainly could have waited. He could have avoided the questions of "degrees of Blackness" from within his own (my) community--- the same community that declared Bill Clinton the first Black president. Senator Obama could have used the next 4 years to become more learned about national politics and and international issues.

But sometimes when you get the call, you do not have the luxury of waiting, or deciding when you will get pressed into service. Sometimes the learning is trial by fire, and Senator Barack Obama has the next year to learn and share much. I believe Senator Obama got his call, heard it and is now heeding. I also believe that WE will be all the better for his entry in this political race of OUR life times.

Now let us pray for the continued well-being of Senator Obama and his family, whatever our religious or spiritual beliefs! And support him for President as the best hope today for tomorrow's bright future!