Scared to Death of Black Males?

Today, March 26, 2008, Philadelphia Police reported that a white man died Wednesday afternoon after a confrontation with a group of black male high school students on a SEPTA concourse in Center City Philadelphia. The incident occurred at about 2:35 p.m. before the turnstiles on the Market-Frankford Line's underground concourse at 13th and Market

Police are not sure of the extent of the confrontation. Initial reports indicated that three teenagers "beat the man to death" in broad daylight.

According to witnesses, the man, a 36 year old local business manager, appeared to be seriously distressed by his confrontation with the boys. Then, the man appeared to go into cardiac arrest. He later died at a local hospital.

What the hell? All I can think is WHY? WHY? Why another violent physical attack by YOUNG BLACK MALES?

As I have said in previous posts, there is a crisis in America. Too many of our young black men are misguided, uneducated, aggressive, and mad! Immediate intervention is needed! And making racist accusatory comments is NOT intervention. We (White and Black people) are at fault for this crisis in some way or another, directly or indirectly.

At some point, it will be necessary for all races to unite and help young black men recognize their true potentials. Yes, young black men have potential, just as ALL YOUNG MEN have!

Black crime in America is not simply a BLACK problem. It is an AMERICAN problem.

(And let us not also keep pretending that White people never commit crimes....)

But in America, as always, when people hear about blacks committing crimes, especially against whites, the racist comments and attitude surface.

Below is a sample of the tone of most comments by readers on news sites reporting this tragic situation:

Anon's comments - "I disagree. It is totally about race. How often do you hear stories of a group of white kids jumping black people? You don't. Why don't you? Because whites don't act like the uneducated blacks in the city. Don't get me wrong, not all blacks are uneducated...but the ones that are are a waste of space in society and they should all just be killed. Instead, the taxpayers will be paying for these monsters to rot in jail."

Honestly, I could not bear to read all the racist comments made about blacks.

As a relatively young, educated black man, it hurts me in my core, in my spirit, in my soul that people can make such hateful negative comments about black people.

Yes, I can imagine that there are many uneducated, violent, aggressive, criminally prone blacks in America, but not all of us are that way. In fact, MOST of us are NOT criminals or will ever commit a crime.

For once, at this point in time, I am speechless...and disappointed.

White Students in South Africa Make Black Janitors Drink Urine

Viewer Discretion Advised!!!!!!!

After already feeling down about my last post, by chance, I came across a recently posted YouTube video titled, "White Students in South Africa Make Black Janitors Drink Urine."

Below are a few photo clips from the horrible video:

Click on the link to watch the full video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=hLtZ76KQ9S4
Note: The video will probably be disabled at some point soon.

Disclaimer: I did not post these photos to suggest on any level that all White people are prejudiced or would condone this inhuman treatment of blacks. (I believe that MOST White people will be just as offended as I was by this situation.)

Reasons Why I decided to post this article:

To show that racist actions like this are STILL happening...

To shock people into action...AN INJUSTICE ANYWHERE IS AN INJUSTICE EVERYWHERE

Below is a video clip of the official news story by the South African media:

Patrick J. Buchanan: White America is Mad!

Patrick Joseph "Pat" Buchanan (born November 2, 1938) is an American politician, author, syndicated columnist and broadcaster. He ran in the 2000 presidential election on the Reform Party ticket. He also sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1992 and 1996.
Buchanan was a senior advisor to three American presidents, Nixon, Ford and Reagan, and was an original host on CNN's Crossfire. He also co-founded The American Conservative magazine and launched The American Cause, a paleoconservative foundation. He has been published in many publications, including Human Events, National Review, The Nation and Rolling Stone.
On American television, he is currently a political commentator on the MSNBC cable network and a regular on The McLaughlin Group.

Patrick J. Buchanan's response to Obama's "Race Speech":

"How would he pull it off? I wondered.
How would Barack explain to his press groupies why he sat silent in a pew for 20 years as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright delivered racist rants against white America for our maligning of Fidel and Gadhafi, and inventing AIDS to infect and kill black people?
How would he justify not walking out as Wright spewed his venom about “the U.S. of K.K.K. America,” and howled, “God damn America!”
My hunch was right. Barack would turn the tables.
Yes, Barack agreed, Wright’s statements were “controversial,” and “divisive,” and “racially charged,” reflecting a “distorted view of America.”
But we must understand the man in full and the black experience out of which the Rev. Wright came: 350 years of slavery and segregation.
Barack then listed black grievances and informed us what white America must do to close the racial divide and heal the country.
The “white community,” said Barack, must start “acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination — and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past — are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds … .”
And what deeds must we perform to heal ourselves and our country?
The “white community” must invest more money in black schools and communities, enforce civil rights laws, ensure fairness in the criminal justice system and provide this generation of blacks with “ladders of opportunity” that were “unavailable” to Barack’s and the Rev. Wright’s generations.
What is wrong with Barack’s prognosis and Barack’s cure?
Only this. It is the same old con, the same old shakedown that black hustlers have been running since the Kerner Commission blamed the riots in Harlem, Watts, Newark, Detroit and a hundred other cities on, as Nixon put it, “everybody but the rioters themselves.”
Was “white racism” really responsible for those black men looting auto dealerships and liquor stories, and burning down their own communities, as Otto Kerner said — that liberal icon until the feds put him away for bribery.
Barack says we need to have a conversation about race in America.
Fair enough. But this time, it has to be a two-way conversation. White America needs to be heard from, not just lectured to.
This time, the Silent Majority needs to have its convictions, grievances and demands heard. And among them are these:
First, America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known.
Wright ought to go down on his knees and thank God he is an American.
Second, no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the ’60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream.
Governments, businesses and colleges have engaged in discrimination against white folks — with affirmative action, contract set-asides and quotas — to advance black applicants over white applicants.
Churches, foundations, civic groups, schools and individuals all over America have donated time and money to support soup kitchens, adult education, day care, retirement and nursing homes for blacks.
We hear the grievances. Where is the gratitude?
Barack talks about new “ladders of opportunity” for blacks.
Let him go to Altoona and Johnstown, and ask the white kids in Catholic schools how many were visited lately by Ivy League recruiters handing out scholarships for “deserving” white kids.
Is white America really responsible for the fact that the crime and incarceration rates for African-Americans are seven times those of white America? Is it really white America’s fault that illegitimacy in the African-American community has hit 70 percent and the black dropout rate from high schools in some cities has reached 50 percent?
Is that the fault of white America or, first and foremost, a failure of the black community itself?
As for racism, its ugliest manifestation is in interracial crime, and especially interracial crimes of violence. Is Barack Obama aware that while white criminals choose black victims 3 percent of the time, black criminals choose white victims 45 percent of the time?
Is Barack aware that black-on-white rapes are 100 times more common than the reverse, that black-on-white robberies were 139 times as common in the first three years of this decade as the reverse?
We have all heard ad nauseam from the Rev. Al about Tawana Brawley, the Duke rape case and Jena. And all turned out to be hoaxes. But about the epidemic of black assaults on whites that are real, we hear nothing.
Sorry, Barack, some of us have heard it all before, about 40 years and 40 trillion tax dollars ago." - Patrick J. Buchanan

Questions/thoughts that came to my African-American male mind:
Do most White Americas agree with his thoughts?

Do I really live in the United States of America or in the "Yet to be United States of America?"

Does he have a valid argument?

How can anyone ever justify slavery as a "good thing" for any race of people at any time in history?

How can anyone one minimize the continuing economic and social impact of American slavery and America's history of legalized, systemic institutionalized racism (i.e. Jim Crow, etc)?

Why do many white people assume that all Black Americans think, act, and react the same?

Would I totally agree with all of his comments if I were a White American male?

Why can't we just all get along?
Will America ever "get past" race?

Will White America ever admit that racism has a continuous, real, definite, negative impact on the advancement of the Black community?

Does Buchanan's response mean that he is a "racist?"

What can I do to change/improve the "state of Black America?"

Was Pat Buchanan's response meant to simply "inform" or to unite the races or to incite further racial divide?

What do you think?

Mid-life Suicide and Declining Spirituality

"Without emotion, man would be nothing but a biological computer. Love, joy, sorrow, fear, apprehension, anger ,satisfaction, and discontent provide the meaning of human existence" -Arnold M. Ludwig

The human condition provides us with the opportunity to experience a wide range of emotions and experiences.

However, how do people respond when the most unpleasant emotions and experiences overwhelm us?

Unfortunately, each year more than 32,000 people die by suicide each year in the United States. This is the equivalent of 89 suicides per day; one suicide every 16 minutes!

Nearly 80 percent of suicides are committed by men, although women attempt suicide more often than men.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say suicide rates among middle aged people in the United States have increased significantly in a recent five-year period.

The CDC's analysis showed that suicide rates among people age 45 to 54 increased almost 20 percent during the period studied (1999 to 2004). In that same period, other age groups experienced smaller increases or even declines.

Why the increase in Mid-life Suicides?
In my humble opinion, the increase is due to a number of factors including loneliness, stress, hopelessness, financial difficulties, declining health, and most importantly a lack of TRUE spirituality (which is not necessarily based on any specific religion)!

Are you at current or future risk for considering or attempting suicide? Not sure?

Perhaps you need to first deeply consider what kind of life YOU are living? Spiritual? Religious? Meaningless?

Characteristics of those living a spiritual life:
Daily meditation and prayer
Decreasing fear of death
Find pleasure in the simplest things and moments in life
Always attempting to have an attitude of gratitude
Continuous evaluation and re-evaluation of one's life and purpose
View every situation as an opportunity to learn a “life lesson”
Not dependent on continuous, external validation of their self-worth
Constant pursuit of one or more of their passions in life

Characteristics of those living a meaningless life (many times leading to depression and/or suicide):
No TRUE “belief system” in place (maybe a follower of a religion, but have no true conviction)
Constant focus on materialism (Defining one’s value, worth or success by what they have or have obtained)
Strong desire to impress others with either material, educational, or career accomplishments
Living to work versus working to live
Live for various addictions (food, sex, attention, drugs, etc.)
No belief that there is a life beyond this one (Let's be honest, if there is no life beyond this one, your life would be truly "meaningless" in every sense of the word...In that mindset, the ONLY value your life has is the value you give it...nothing more...nothing less)
Need constant validation by others (People's opinions change as often as the wind blows...If you validate yourself by people's ever-changing opinions and impressions, you will eventually find yourself to be an emotional wreck)

Notice that I do not equate living a spiritual life the same as living a religious life. One could be religious and not be spiritual. One could also be spiritual, but not necessarily religious.

Lately, I have talked to too many religious folks who have shared with me their fears surrounding their religions (mainly Christianity) and life after death. Many of them stated that they “hope” that there really is a heaven. Many “hope” their sins are forgiven. Many “hope’ that their living is not in vain. Many of them go through the routines of their religions with NO TRUE conviction or faith, just a sense of obligation or fear of a possible hell.

To me, with true spirituality, there is a sense of “knowing” versus simply “hoping.”

As you contemplate your existence, ask yourself the following questions:
· What (or who) are you living for? Money? Children? Spouse? Career? Nothing? God?

· How do you define yourself outside of your job title, educational degrees, money, family name, reputation, gender, and ethnicity?

· If you died today, are you satisfied with the life that you have lived?

· Are you living a spiritual life or a simply a religious life?

· What do you REALLY believe in?


Advice to Remember:
· Your job is NOT your life! Never define yourself by your job or your job title. (If you do, what happens to your personal worth once you no longer have your job due to retirement, health, or staff changes!)

· You are NOT what you OWN! Define your existence and worth outside of ALL current or future material possessions!

· Discover you passions and pursue them relentlessly.

In the words of Albert Einstein:

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

I choose the latter way of living my life... What about you? Please share and post a comment!

Racism or Simply a Joke?

University of Alabama student Elizabeth Dennis recently changed her Facebook profile image from Piglet, a Winnie the Pooh character, to an altered Piglet image that was in blackface with one hand holding a watermelon and the other holding a bucket of KFC Fried Chicken, with the word “Niglet” underneath.

After it got around that the photo was up she posted a new pic and added the following confession “the profile pic was a joke ... Sorry if I offended.”

Well, as an African American, I am offended...and I am a very open-minded and tolerant guy who is NOT easily offended. However, as soon as I heard about this story, a few questions came to mind:

1) Who would possibly see this as a joke?

2) Why would Elizabeth apologize about offending people when obviously that was her intent?

She really is sorry that she got caught or "called out," not that she actually posted the image.

3) Do many white people really see black people as human caricatures who walk around eating fried chicken and watermelon?

4) Why am I offended by racist actions, images, or comments? Shouldn't I just ignore their racism and attribute it to ignorance?

5) If she is racist, should she have a right to be so without being ostracized?

This is America. We have "freedom of speech." We also have the right to love or hate who we want to love or hate.

Despite my offense to racist actions, images, or comments, I can't possibly agree with banning people from expressing their true feelings, if not only because of my agreement with the following quote from Chomsky.

"If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all." -Noam Chomsky

Do I despise Elizabeth? No! Do I despise what she did and the obvious hateful, racist implications? Yes!!! Do I believe she has the "right" to be racist? Yes.

Never Pay Off Your Mortgage!

The American Dream: Home Ownership. How many of us spend our whole lives wanting or paying for a home? Well, maybe we got it all wrong...Is home ownership something we should all aspire to? Should we save and sacrifice to pay off our mortgage balances? Here's the simple reality for those of us who choose the path of home ownership: You really never truly own your home, you simply borrow your home for specific period of time so it really does not matter if you EVER pay off your home!

Don't believe me? Well, don't pay your real estate or school taxes and watch your home be confiscated and/or auctioned off. To me, if you truly own something, no one can take it away. Yet, even if you totally paid off your mortgage, you could still lose your home if you don't pay yearly taxes on it. So, your home is only yours under certain conditions...and if you do not adhere to those conditions, the government can take your home!

Even more, is it a wise choice to pay off your mortgage or even pay it down significantly? Consider the following example:

Both Jim and Sam sold their respective homes and each received $150,000 in profit (after closing costs, real estate agent fees, etc.)

Each purchased a home in similar neighborhoods for $300,000.

Being very wary of any debt, Jim put down the entire $150,000 profit from the sale of his previous home, leaving him with a monthly mortgage of $1,200.

Sam, on the other hand, put down only 20% (the minimum required to avoid paying PMI) $60,000. Sam's mortgage was $1,700 per month ($500 more a month than Jim's). He put the remaining $90,000 in a high interest savings account (4%).

Both ended up being laid off their jobs, receiving less than $1,200 a month in unemployment.

Neither of their unemployment checks was enough to cover their entire monthly mortgage payments.

However, here's the difference:

Jim had over put over $150,000 into his home so that he would have a significant amount of home equity. However, due to a poor housing market, the value of both of their homes decreased to around $270,000 (a $30,000 loss in home equity). (Note: Never forget that your home is worth only as much as someone is willing to pay for it! And if there are no buyers, how much is your home worth then?)

Because Jim was unemployed and had lost equity in his home, Jim did not qualify for any home equity loans or personal loans to help him cover the mortgage and other household bills until he found a job. He had no savings or liquid assets. Within 6 months, Jim was eventually forced to sell his home (at a significant loss) to avoid foreclosure.

On the other hand, although Sam had a higher mortgage than Jim, he had over $90,000 plus interest (enough to cover his entire mortgage for almost 5 years) in savings.

Sam was able to comfortably pay his mortgage, take a vacation to relieve some stress, and eventually found a new job. In fact, because of his unemployment income, he only had to use $15,000 of his savings in the year and a half he was unemployed.

What's the lesson learned here? Having liquid assets (cash readily available) is more important than having a low mortgage or no mortgage payment at all!

So, according to your monthly income and budget, pay your mortgage just down low enough to have comfortable mortgage payments. Then, save, spend and enjoy your hard earned money.

Never pay off your mortgage! Never pay your mortgage balance down too low!

ALWAYS make sure you have cash available (liquid assests) and you will be financially comfortable for the rest of your life.

Even more, once you die, your home is no longer yours anyways! (Unless you live in an alternate reality where dead people still own their homes!)

Plan to die with a mortgage balance! (And if you were really smart, you would get enough life insurance to pay off the remainder of your home's mortgage balance upon your death, leaving your loved ones with a truly "mortgage free" home on loan...well, that is, as long as they pay the yearly taxes!)

Obama's Speech on Race in America (Transcript Added)

On 3/18/08 Barack Obama speaks in Philadelphia, PA at Constitution Center.



"We the people, in order to form a more perfect union."
Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.
The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.
Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution - a Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.
And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part - through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.
This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign - to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together - unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction - towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren.
This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. But it also comes from my own American story.
I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I've gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world's poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners - an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.
It's a story that hasn't made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts - that out of many, we are truly one.
Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how hungry the American people were for this message of unity. Despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white Americans.
This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either "too black" or "not black enough." We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well.
And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn.
On one end of the spectrum, we've heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it's based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we've heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.
I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely - just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.
But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country - a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.
As such, Reverend Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems - two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.
Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way
But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's work here on Earth - by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:
"People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend's voice up into the rafters....And in that single note - hope! - I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones. Those stories - of survival, and freedom, and hope - became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn't need to feel shame about...memories that all people might study and cherish - and with which we could start to rebuild."
That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety - the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.
And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions - the good and the bad - of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.
I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.
Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.
But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America - to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.
The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.
Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, "The past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even past." We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.
Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today's black and white students.
Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments - meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today's urban and rural communities.
A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family, contributed to the erosion of black families - a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods - parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement - all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.
This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted. What's remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.
But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn't make it - those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations - those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician's own failings.
And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.
In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience - as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.
Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren't always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.
Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.
This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy - particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.
But I have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.
For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances - for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives - by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.
Ironically, this quintessentially American - and yes, conservative - notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright's sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.
The profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country - a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know -- what we have seen - is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope - the audacity to hope - for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds - by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.
In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world's great religions demand - that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother's keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister's keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.
For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the OJ trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.
We can do that.
But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.
That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time." This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.
This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.
This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.
This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should've been authorized and never should've been waged, and we want to talk about how we'll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.
I would not be running for President if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation - the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.
There is one story in particularly that I'd like to leave you with today - a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King's birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.
There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.
And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.
She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.
She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.
Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother's problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn't. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.
Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."
"I'm here because of Ashley." By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.
But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.

The Only Thing We Really Have In This Life

As I have gotten older, I have realized that the only thing we really have in this life is hope because...
...Money comes and goes
...Job titles come and go
...Beauty fades
...Friendships come and go
...Diseases eventually weaken even the healthiest of us all
...Loved ones are born and loved ones die
...Everything changes, eventually, if not constantly

I hope that...
...there is truly life after death
...people will one day recognize that value and worth of even the least among us
...we are not merely "cosmic accidents" or "smart monkeys"
...there is a point to this thing we call life

Poor Mothers, Poor Choices, Poor Babies

Despite welfare reform which has never worked, there are increasingly too many single urban and rural women who are depending upon society to take care of them while they continue to give birth to illegitimate children who they, for the most part, send to school without even teaching them their ABC's, much less how to read. Let's consider a common scenario: Betty Sue in rural Mississippi, 39, has four kids (ages 3 months to 17 years old) by four different fathers. Pregnant Shanika in Philadelphia, 25, also has four kids (ages 6 months to 8 years old), but by two different fathers. Both Betty Sue and Shanika have been on welfare since they were sixteen years old. Both claim that they cannot work because of childcare options. Basically, even if they worked full-time, their salaries would not even cover their childcare expenses.

Should we, as a society, be forced to provide free food, money, and healthcare for them?

What responsibility do we have to take care of the poor people in our society?

Does it matter if people are poor by choice or ignorance?

Poor Choices

Questions for Betty Sue, Shanika, and other long-term welfare mothers:

1) Why would you keep giving birth to children that you have no means of taking care of? (After the first, second, or even third child, did you stop to think that perhaps neither you NOR society can AFFORD YOUR kids?)

2) Ever heard of birth control? (Yes, accidents can and do happen. However, how about doubling, or even tripling up on birth control using condoms, spermicide cream, AND chemical birth control (pills, Norplants, Depo shots, etc..)? AND IF ALL THAT FAILS, try closing your legs, that usually does the trick...)

Education

How many times do we hear about helping poor disadvantaged, urban youths?

We have all seen the news headlines: Closing the Achivement Gap, Why are Our Black Students Failing?, The Dropout Crisis in Urban Schools, Are We failing Our Black Boys?, etc...

Do they need our help? I would say yes...However, they also need the help and support of their PARENTS!!!

Disclaimer: Let's also keep it real folks, urban students = black students.

As an former urban educator, I have worked in and taught in many poor, urban schools where I have seen the following:

Kids starting kindergarten and 1st grade not knowing their ABCs, how to spell their name, or read simple words. (If you are a single, unemployed mother, why aren't your kids starting school with an educational advantage? I mean, don't you have free time to read to them, teach them basic math and literacy skills? Poor, urban kids should have an advantage over surburban kids or kids from working parents who don't have the TIME to teach their kids basic literacy and math skills....Oh, sorry, I forget, poor urban mother, you have to watch your talk shows, gossip, deal with your bad ass kids, and have quailty time with you boyfriend aka future baby daddy...)

Kids coming to school unprepared, hungry, and dirty. (How much time and energy does it take to make sure your child does his homework? How can your child be hungry when you get several hundred dollars of free food per month? It runs out. Well, hell, perhaps you could budget your money and stop buying damn steaks and prime cuts...How can you not take the time to make sure your kids take a bath and come to school clean?)

Mothers defending their children no matter what they do. (Common scenario: Ms. Jackson, Tequan hit two students and punched the teacher because she told him to stop cussing at her and to sit down. How you gonna suspend my got damn child? I don't have to time be running up to school for this shit. Hell, you all supposed to give them a got damn education instead of calling me and bothering me and shit. Ms. Jackson, do you understand why we suspended your son? You racist motherf(*&s@&! You think I am stupid?.....)

Poor Out of Ignorance

Maybe they don't know any better...Ignorance breeds ignorance...Poor uneducated mothers are likely the grown-up children of other poor uneducated mothers...Thus, the cycle continues....

I am not cold or callous or insensitive to the plight of poor children born to poor mothers. (I myself was born to a poor, uneducated mother).

However, at what point do we, as a society, hold mothers (and fathers) accountable for parental responsibility? (which by the way does include providing for childrens' EMOTIONAL, EDUCATIONAL (Yes, you should not simply expect teachers to teach your child), SOCIAL (yes, you have to talk to your children...like, hold a real conversation) and PHYSICAL NEEDS. )

Black Men and Violent Crime: A Nationwide Crisis

Photo from Raleigh Chronicle
Police are looking for this man, seen here using Eve Carson's ATM card in a digitally enhanced false-color image from surveillance tape. A photo expert told the Raleigh Chronicle he believes a second person can be seen in the rear seat of this SUV.

Disclaimer: I purposely did not put a lot of time into providing references to validate many of the "facts" presented in this article. However, if you doubt any of my "facts," please feel free to validate or refute them at your leisure.

When I first heard the tragic news stories about the young, white, smart, UNC female student being murdered, I have to admit that my first thought and fear was, "It was probably a young black guy who robbed and killed her." And guess what? It was a young black male... Does my assumption indicate that I am racist? I don't think so...

Here's the reality: A disproportionately large amount of crimes in America are committed by black people (in comparison to all other races), mostly by young black men.

Here's another reality: I am not the only person (White, Black, or Other) who made the assumption about the black ethnicity of the criminal suspect in the UNC murder case... (Yes, one could argue "innocent" until proven "guilty." However, the black man in the photo has NO JUSTIFICATION in having possession of her ATM card AND actually using it!)

When people actually state the facts about the statistics regarding the "ethnicity" of most convicted criminals in America, one or more things tend to happen:

1) People are automatically labeled "racist" (How is pointing out the truth an indication of hidden racism?)

2) People remain publicly silent in fear of being labeled a "racist"

3) People, especially many black people, get offended (How can you resolve a problem situation if you do not FIRST admit there there IS a problem?)

4) People insist that the murderer's race does not matter. But, race matters, especially in America.

It matters that Eve Carson was a White girl who, despite the negative stereotypes about other races, was "determined that she wanted to go to a public university because she wanted to be exposed to as much diversity as possible."

And what happened? She is killed by at least one black man...some exposure to diversity, eh?

Ok folks, that's not all... It wasn't just Eve Carson...There are recent headlines about the confession of another young black man who says he abducted, then shot Auburn University freshman from Georgia. This white young lady's name was Lauren Burk.

At one point, do we as a society say "NO MORE!" We are in crisis mode right now. This cannot continue to go on.

This article is not meant as an attack on black men at all. It was my desire to generate honest discussion about the epidemic of violent and non-violent crime perpetuated by black men.

As a society, our family needs an immediate intervention because not only is White America (and a high % of Black America) mad, but they are SCARED of black men. Stories like this do nothing to dispel negative sterotypes or perceptions about black men.

Many of my associates, both white and black, have vented to me regarding their private fears regarding the escalating problem of criminal activity by a subset of the black American population, mostly poor, urban blacks.

Of course, not all, nor many, nor most black Americans are criminals or will ever commit a crime. (That is a reality that we ALL must also admit).

However, there are enough black criminals (many repeat offenders) to warrant a courageous, honest conversation about the increasing occurrence and visibility of black criminals in America. Our prisons are overcrowded and are filled MOSTLY with black men and women.

How does anyone (White, Black, or other) even begin to honestly answer the following questions?

There are many more White people in America than any other race. Why are most of the prisons filled with Black people? (Of course, there is racism in America. However, no one in America is “forcing” any black people to resort to crime. Poverty and racism, no matter how extreme, do not justify criminal behavior.)

Why are most criminals in the news black? (Yes, there is bias in the news media. However, if blacks didn’t commit many crimes, they could not be shown as doing so…)

Are most crimes in America committed by black people?

Why are most of the kids in racially mixed schools who fight, disrupt class, and get suspended black?

Am I wrong to be afraid of black people, especially in certain urban areas?

America, we must have this conversation. And, we must have it now in the "Yet to be United" States of America.

We must also take responsibility for being part of the problem.

(By the way, why are “their” problems “our” problems ONLY when “their” problems spill over into “our” communities?)

White America cannot react by further segregating themselves from Black America. Perhaps, this segregation is part of the problem.

Across the color line, there is a direct link between poverty, lack of education, and crime.

As a former urban educator, I strongly believe that many, if not most, of the “root causes” for criminal activity in the Black community begin and end with education.

In my humble opinion, some of the “root causes” of increasing crime in the black community are as follows:

There has been a disparity in the quality of education received by Black students (Ask any urban educator about the quality of MOST urban education and learning…)

Many black students see no value in education (Thus, when we try to educate many of them, they resist)

Many black students are beginning to see themselves as the “violent, impulsive, aggressive, lazy, criminals” that they are constantly being marketed as in the media (Basically, many black youth fall victim to a self fulfilling prophecy being projected upon them by mainstream media and society as a whole. I taught and mentored many black students who would NEVER commit a crime, are actively involved in their community, and consistently achieve academic success. However, we rarely hear about these students in the media, unless it is Black History Month...)

Many black students have low self-esteem that is associated with America’s consistently negative view of blacks (On the whole, being 'black" is not perceived as being a “desired condition” in America, Africa, and throughout the world)

Because of hopelessness, poor living conditions, and exposure to crime, many black students develop what I term the "F&*# you"' attitude. Anyone who has ever interacted with blacks on a regular basis has encountered blacks who have the "F&8# you" attitude about EVERYTHING.

Many black students are bombarded with images of personal "worth" based on material possessions (expensive clothes, fancy cars, jewlery, cash, etc).

So, what do you get when you add all of that up?

No Education + Poverty + No Self-Esteem + Hopelessness + Bad Attitude + Materialism = The Continued Decline of America, Race Relations, and the Black Family

Yes, this "black crime problem" could be perceived as a "black problem" that blacks need to come together to solve.

However, there must also come a point in time in which we, as a nation, must take unified action; not in violence or retaliation, but in peace, community involvement, and with a strong sense of urgency.

Lastly, we must never forget that white people have no monopoly on morality (Remember slavery, colonialism, holy wars, lynching, genocide, etc..?)

And yes, I want people to get mad about what I am saying and how I am saying it. Then, I want people to actually take positive action in healing our nation and our communities...because in the end, all we have is each other...

The Only Way to Live

"Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don't, and believe that everything happens for a reason.

If you get a chance, take it.

If it changes your life, let it.

Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it." ----Harvey Mackay

Why Can't We All Get Along?

Dogs can live with dogs, cats can live with cats, and certainly rats with rats! BUT, dogs, cats, and rats are natural enemies, right? Well, here's a clip from a low budget yet thought provoking video about a homeless guy in Santa Barbara and his three unlikely pets. And if you don't get the message, well, you're just not thinking!



What about whites, blacks, and asians? What about catholics, jews, and muslims? What about republicans, democrats, and independents? What about all of us? All humans -- right?

No Middle Ground

Either there is a god and everything matters or there is no god and absolutely nothing matters. There is no middle ground regarding this issue. No gray area. Either there is a god. Or, there is not.

If I had to give a quick rationale for the existence of God, it would be as follows:

God Talk

Logically speaking, for every “effect,” there is a “cause.”

The “cause” is always greater than the “effect” because without the “cause,” there would be no “effect.”

So, the “effect” owes its “existence” to the “cause.”

“Effect” is dependent on “cause.”

At some point in “time” there had to have been a “non-dependent effect” that needed no “cause” based on the fact that the “universe” exists and at one point, did not.

“Something” “caused” the universe to “exist.”

Thus, the entire universe is a “dependent effect.”

The “non-dependent effect” that “caused” the universe is what we call “god.”