No More Excuses
Whether one likes it or not, we are entering a “no excuses” era. We will still have to work twice as hard, but that will be the standard and expectation as we see more and more acheivers come to light.
I look forward to the angry preachers and poverty pimps being either marginalized or changing their game. At this point in my life I definitely feel that these people telling the masses that they can not make it no matter what they do has been extremely damaging to the lives of many people. This is why Obama’s message of boundless optimism, hard work (and the unspoken message) of family is what we have needed to hear for the longest time. Yes, it is difficult. Yes, you will have to scrape and scratch for everything that you get, but, yes you can make it.
The negative message makes one think that there is no hope, so they may as well engage in a life of criminality. Or they will engage in unrealistic and silly talk of “taking down the system” and waste their lives away. This is why these people must be marginalized. I will not even dignify these bitter naysayers on the sidelines.
From the Jonetta Rose Barras in the Washington Post:
Obama isn’t like the leaders who have traditionally spoken for black America. As president, he’s unlikely to embrace the confrontational identity politics that have defined black activism for so long. He won’t tolerate an African American brand of racism or a culture of violence. Nor is he likely to be patient with the long-standing narrati
Obama is already constructing a new black political and cultural narrative — gathering together the best of the past, including the coalition politics that characterized the early civil rights movement and an image of strong black males that doesn’t involve bling-bling or hip-hop misogyny. He has decried the low-hanging pants fashion so popular with young black men, blasted rapper Ludacris for offensive song lyrics and called on fathers to take responsibility for their families.
[...]The first group wants Obama to acknowledge that injustice still confronts black Americans. They want him to address the “black agenda” while creating an Afrocentric White House. “We hope there will be more attention than with previous presidents to issues pertinent to black people,” says juvenile justice expert and social commentator Michael Francis.
I’m sorry, but the above is just silly. The agenda is to move everyone forward, while providing a good example for blacks to follow. If they think he is going to turn the White House into some angry 70’s radical bastion, they have another thing coming.
But the second group says that there are important universal issues that must take priority: the global financial crisis, relief for homeowners, potential vacancies on the Supreme Court. “I think some of the demands are unrealistic,” says New York City-based finance expert Brooke Stephens, who believes that African Americans are forgetting that Obama “is not there just for us.”
[...]
But Obama is a different kind of leader. More than a decade ago, I began tracking the rise of new black leaders, noting their slow but deliberate walk away from racial politics. Obama’s election follows that of U.S. Reps. Artur Davis of Alabama and Jesse L. Jackson Jr. of Illinois, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Newark Mayor Corey Booker — all part of the race-neutral leadership class. These savvy, sophisticated political leaders are comfortable in corporate boardrooms and on urban street corners. They understand the nuances of race and racism but refuse to wear them as albatrosses around their necks. They are innovators, exploring new and better ways of serving the disenfranchised and bringing various people together to improve our communities. They embody the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s insistence that people should be judged by the content of their character. Obama’s arrival in the White House underscores the reality that the post-civil rights era is in full swing in American politics.
[...]It’s not entirely clear yet how Obama will deal with all this. He has pledged to create an Office of Urban Policy in the White House. As a former community organizer who worked on Chicago’s South Side, he knows the problems in black America, but he isn’t likely to treat African Americans as victims. And a predominantly black Cabinet or staff doesn’t seem to be in the offing, either. He has already selected Rep. Rahm Emanuel, a former Clinton adviser, as his chief of staff.
[...]
Obama, too, “will have his detractors,” says Democratic pollster Ronald Lester. “A lot of those people will never be happy.”
But “we cannot move back into the black power movement,” adds Miller. “Obama represents a transformation of the American landscape.”
And that’s the point. If African Americans want to be taken seriously, they have to get with the program. Obama’s election isn’t just about a black president. It’s about a new America. The days of confrontational identity politics have come to an end. The era of coalition politics and collaboration has arrived. Besides, Obama could never be a Rev. Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton — something even they acknowledge.
“He ran the last leg of a 60-year tag race,” Jackson told me. “The wall is down now. Barack must build the bridge for the next generation.”
I’m really down for the next part:
Meanwhile, many are buoyed by the possibility that he will change black America’s view of itself. Stephens hopes that his example will restore the “criterion of excellence in education” that her parents’ generation embraced. “We need to change the thinking of some kids that the only way they can make it is by singing, dancing and shooting hoops,” she says.
I hope that even those that sing, dance and shoot hoop will begin to preach this same message of hard work and excellence.
Adds Minott: “It’s about time we have a different meaning of what it means to be a black man and a black father.”
But “it’s not just the black male, it’s the family,” says Miller. “He’s giving us the whole image. Obama is a healing balm.”
Indeed!
These are lofty thoughts about what an Obama presidency might do for African Americans. But a major shift can’t occur unless African Americans — actually all Americans — submit to the changing dynamics. Instead of demanding another discussion about racism or clocking when the incarceration crisis appears on the radar, black Americans should work to sustain what Obama’s campaign set in motion. They should seek to hold together his coalition — reaching out to non-African Americans — and use it to drive a progressive agenda. Not a black agenda, but a human agenda.
Couldn’t agree more
Not long ago, African American author Charles Johnson noted that blacks have been too invested “in the pre-21st-century black American narrative,” and that we need “new and better stories, new concepts and new vocabularies and grammar based not on the past but on the dangerous, exciting and unexplored present.”
That present has now arrived. Jesse Jackson, one of the principal authors of the pre-21st-century narrative, understands this. Obama, he told me, “has removed the roof. If Barack can be president, then there ain’t nothing we can’t do.”
Obama’s real contribution is allowing blacks to see ourselves as victors. That’s more valuable to black advancement than any item on a pre-fabricated list of demands. Can I get an “Amen”?
Amen. I have a feeling that some are at some point going to become dissatisfied and attempt to become a thorn in Obama’s side. They will do so at their own peril.
Filed under: Children's Issues, Practical Solutions
Another view of obama is presented here. We really need to rally around our own muslim political leaders like ellison and carson. We need to support them, educate them and give them our naseeha.
Part1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MouUJNG8f2k&feature=related
part2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-KJCMWcoms
One of the things that have kept some Blacks behind are people like them: the “poverty pimps”, the angry preachers
.I do not know who they think Barack Obama is.Some of them are selfish and these days, they are more concerned with issues that most times have nothing to do with the betterment of people. I’m concerned about education, the economy, the war etc. I ‘m more concerned about these issues than I’m about some guy wearing sagging pants. I may not like the style, but they treat this such issues like it’s an international crisis. It’s ridiculous for them to think that Barack will be a Blacks-only prez. that is not what he’s about.
The second group has a lot of sense. The issues that said is what the those people should be focusing on and should have been long before Obama became president elect.. There have been Blacks, whether Republican or Democratic, that has tried to vie for the president’s seat and felt nothing for them,but Barack is different.He was a man who people could take seriously He is about Business and is has universal appeal. To me , he just had that presidential aura about himself.
If those Black people voted for Barack to discuss pro-Black agendas then they may be in for the shock of their lives.. He’s Black but he is the also the president of the USA. It’s not only about Black people,but about the American people and the world. Besides, it would be unfair if Obama had that kind biased thinking. We had problems with Bush and other past presidents doing it us and we shouldn’t do it to others. That is not how he should be viewed.
If those “” poverty pimps” get dissatisfied with Obama way of doing business, that’s on them. I like to be around people who will tell me and others not use their race or any other background to deter them from being the best If a Black man can become president, Blacks can be anything they want to be if they set their minds to it and I”m convinced of that.I do not want to go back to negative thinking much as possible. Negativity only breeds more negativity , self barriers and lies.
If those “” poverty pimps” get dissatisfied with Obama way of doing business, that’s on them. I like to be around people who will tell me and others not use their race or any other background to deter them from being the best if a Black man can become president, Blacks can be anything they want to be if they set their minds to it and I’m convinced of that. I do not want to go back to negative thinking much as possible. Negativity only breeds more negativity, self barriers and lies. –Peaches
Salaam Peaches
*Smiling and waving*
I’ve been reflecting on the “aftershocks” of President elect Obama on the Muslim blogsphere regarding this specific issue that you have brought up here.
Peaches, here are some of the conclusions I’ve come to:
1) Many of our own people are in serious denial about the black underclass. The truth is that many of these people NEVER plan to take care of themselves, and their children. These people are actually “planning” like you and I planned our way to good jobs, and planned our way to ascertaining credentials—they are planning on remaining in a permanent state of helplessness.
2) If poverty pimps, and delusional middle and upper class blacks would stop feeling guilty and hiding they could see that Obama insistence that the issues affect EVERYONE and therefore any solutions must be for EVERYONE would realize that it includes US! DUH! It includes us. The problem is 1) some of us are deliberately choosing to not be apart of the solution or receive the solution if it doesn’t stroke our ego or our pride and 2) allow others to benefit because some among us want to see everyone in a collective state of pain to make themselves feel good—we call this leveling.
Will discrimination in: employment, banking, housing, health care, and education persist? Yes. Will bigotry, hatefulness, and kinism still exist? Yes.
But there is a new element to this equation: people of color in our nation discriminate against each other—it is not only from whites. Furthermore, within groups, people discriminate against each other—which is why if we are going to move forward and clean up the train wreck we are in—Obama has NO CHOICE but to work for EVERYONE. We are all interdependent whether we like it or not—this how humanity functions.
Something else to keep in mind is the need for compassion—not all of the black underclass is there because they chose to be some people have undiagnosed or unmanaged mental disorders. They lack the ability to reason well, and therefore, can not make good judgments with out the proper medical treatment. The children of these people end up exhibiting symptoms of their parents or care takers mental illnesses because they have never been exposed to anyone or anything else.
So, for me—it is about justice, mercy, and compassion. Yet, it also about personal responsibility and helping some else with a hand up versus a hand out.
Salaam
Peaches,
I also want to add to what I said about having compassion for people who don’t know or can’t do any better.
My siblings and I ended up in the foster care system. We all were separated, and did not grow up with each other. Till this day, I do not know one of my sisters. I saw here three times as toddler and never saw her again.
Despite the pain of having my family broken up, and it ended up being a blessing in disguise because a solid, black, catholic middle class family had enough compassion and sense of honor to offer me a hand up by adopting me and showing me an entirely different world, than the one I had known.
Exposure is EVERYTHING–which is why I’m not going to knock ANY one for feeling inspired by Obama. Although the issues that got him elected are my priority, my priority is to see ALL children who are innocent and unable to do for themselves receive some type of exposure–even if it’s just Obama and the first family.
I know exactly what it feels like to be around the black under class and I truly grateful for being adopted.
Salaam
@ Tariq
Now I see why you are being threatened! Some people are denial brother, but keep encouraging people to do well, and also I’d like to see you encourage Muslims to adopt children–even if they aren’t Muslim.
Salaam
@Heraish
The video (i’ve seen part 1 so far) is useful. It is enough to see that Obama hooked up Brezinski with a job right at the gitty-up. It is sad to see so many folks swept away in this silly tribal-racial euphoria, and they are not aware of what is going on in the bigger picture.
As far as Ellison is concerned, he needs to sit down with some people and learn the Deen. As of now, he’s in the pro-sodomite camp (which is part of the globalist agenda). This is a quote from his website:
“GLBT Equality
http://www.keithellison.org/issues-rights.htm
“Keith has always been an outspoken support of equal human and civil rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. Keith was a co-sponsor and whipped votes for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a bill which protects employees based on their real or perceived sexual orientation. At present, it is legal in 31 states for an employee to be fired for being gay (or being perceived as) gay. Keith looks forward to the time when Congress can add gender identity to the bill, completing its protection of the rights of thousands of Minnesotans.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqqC1klDpbc
Can you imagine the Sahabahs begging for two men to “marry” each other? (A`udhu billah!!!) I definitely wouldn’t consider him a go to guy to look out for the interests of the Muslims.
Sister seeking,
What may seem like like an eternity of pain is god’s test with our faith and to make us a testimony for the lives of others. I concur with you. Some people may not get the idea of their circumstances and blame god for it, but as you said, it’s a blessing. Not only we’re you able to be adopted by a wonderful family, but you’re also a living testimony to those people who may not understand their situations and/or their self-worth.
I’m childless, but even before Barack became president, I promised my self that if I had children or with somebody else that I will try to make a difference in their lives. During my life, , I couldn’t see the whole picture of things.I ‘ll never forget those times where I just gave people a very hard time about this. I didn’t feel that people cared, that I was convinced about people telling me that I was going to amount to nothing but there was one guy that I’ll never forget . He was an ex- gangbanger, who was about on the brink of suicide, but he made a 360 turnaround. Now he had a Master’s degree in history and works for himself. He said that he’s been there, that “No” wasn’t an option for him and he wasn’t accepting that from me.He along with many of his ” been there, done that ” buddies was there for me and I thank them for their persistence (as a matter of fact he keeps asking me about my college graduation date so he can he can come to it).When I think about Obama , I also think about him and many other’s who refused to let me close the door to prosperity.
As I said, I’m childless, but I have three nephs in place of them and I try to empower them. Not only that, but I find myself without realizing it doing the same to others. This was something that I told myself that I was going to do. I believe that if people have talents/ success, it should be given to others.
PS. I’m sorry to hear about the situation about you and you sister. I hope that you will be able to find each other. It wasn’t that long ago that I learned that I had a 26 year old brother.My dad tried to deny him,but his DNA suggested other wise.
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