The president just had the same type of audience today as he had with the CBC to address issues of Latinos in America. I couldn’t help but to acknowledge how different the language & tone was to the demands & needs of Latino Americans & some who are not even documented citizens. There was clearly a difference in tone to people with many of the same problems that they wanted addressed by OUR president. It is very disheartening in the fact that some things never change when it comes to respect & who, where & how it is granted. Why didn’t Potus tell them to stop complanin’ & start marching & working to get him re-elected to get the job done as he told the CBC- particularly when they want him to address & free many of their constituents from what is considered criminal behavior in an America that is supposed to take care of its citizens & enforce illegal immigration laws?

Many saw what I call more of the same as much to do about nothing, in just the fact that President Obama was fired up  and ready to go into another campaign year in his speech addressing the CBC. While I may somewhat agree that this is the usual media foolishness  & President Obama’s usual “get the heat off of me & put it on “them/we/us” campaign style , especially when addressing African-American audiences; I am tired of more of the same where someone as thorough & precise with his words & tone as President Obama is could not have possibly known that he was about to create the types of headlines he received – much like he did during his campaign in 08′ when the NYT headline read “Obama Sharply Assails Black Fathers“ on father’s day- knowing very well that Black men’s kryptonite,right or wrong, is taking away their sense of manhood in addressing them, simply because of America’s history.

President Obama is a crafty wordsmith & an excellent campaigner- so much so that I can’t help but to think this stereotypical Black Baptist type of preacher tone that he takes with Black people so they can know he speaks their language isn’t also reflected in the tone that allows certain sectors of White people to understand that he has his people in check, so they can feel safe that he also speaks their language- a side of Blackness that many of us who have worked in corporate America know all too well whether we have been on the giving or the receiving end. I guess some Black people have been disrespected for so long & kept at the bottom of everyone’s totem pole for so long in order to appease another, that we just don’t seem to know right from wrong in tone because of the way we freely address one another as bitches, niggas, ho’s & the so called “keeping it real mentality” when we are clearly afraid of handling the truth within, to a point when we don’t even know anymore when we are being disrespected, unless it is from a White face that addresses us directly as Niggers!

“When the going gets rough, beat up on the Blacks. That’s been a rule of American politics for many generations – so why should Barack Obama be any different? “Obama took his church voice to the Congressional Black Caucus annual awards dinner to very pointedly demand that Blacks stop bugging their president about the economic catastrophe that has befallen them, and his own role in it.” Duly chastised, the Black lawmakers accepted their assignment.” READ MORE

“If all you saw in the mainstream media about President Obama’s speech to the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference Saturday night was the AP story, then you are woefully misinformed as to what the President actually said. As soon as the AP story, “Obama Tells Blacks to ‘Stop Complainin’ and Fight” hit the wire, the narrative that the president “lectured” or “talked down to” black people emerged. In reality, the President delivered a fiery campaign style speech with the purpose of igniting his base of supporters who have been frustrated with the high levels of unemployment and overall dismal pace of economic growth. The first half of the speech addressed what the administration has been able to achieve so far, which is substantial and far surpassing his predecessors.” READ MORE

I knew it was going to be an interesting Sunday that would not be a rest day in the mind, body & soul of Blackness, when the first headlines of news I saw on the internet’s social media feeds & timelines as well as on the sunday television news media broadacasts were – “Obama Tells Blacks to ‘Stop Complainin’ and Fight” & “Funk legend Sly Stone homeless and living in a van in LA“.  We need to acknowledge that our biases for or against our president is hurting more than helping because “ALL Presidents”-Black, White or other have a bias toward one constituency  -which is money($) -no matter what part of the world your president is from. The persistent rule of thumb is the saying that “Money makes the world go round” & that is made very clear with the ludicrous amounts of fundraising money collected with little governance & the governmental favors & positions gained by those who are on the right side of the money train. It seems governments all over the world these days could careless about the people of their nation & their needs when it comes down to making money- be it in sending majorities of people into reprehensible poverty or environmental destruction in a world where most pledge to want to save, protect & preserve what is left for the future. Whether your president is a first, of your party, your tribe, skin color, gender etc., the global consensus is that they will eventually sell you out if needed to make ends meet, so don’t act surprised. From indigenous Bolivians being sold out by the first indigenous president , to indigenous Brazilians being sold out by their first woman president in exchange for so called progress that  seems clearly backwards in killing the environment & displacing people who thought they were finally getting change they could believe in with the progress of their nations who voted  to make a history of firsts in presidents that not only were to represent the physical change of newly progressive governments, but also change in mentality.

Sorry to break it to the lovers of Black Camelot, but as an African I have seen my fair share of Black presidents who at the end of the day did less than promised for their people & some who even left their people worse off than they started because the people went in with the blind faith of tribalism without questioning & demanding for better. President Obama is no different & unfortunately the same Black people who say he can’t just solely be expected to save Black people or even address Black issues because he is the president of all Americans & not just Black America, are the same ones who defend him unwaveringly solely because he’s Black.

It seems everyone but the Black Lobby (CBC included)  knows how to wield, deal & attain acknowledgment of their power in Washington. Jews wield , deal & attain the acknowledgment of their power from Washington to Israel with what the president told the UN Assembly is an “unwavering  support” no matter if they are in the right or wrong. Latinos – citizens &  undocumented illegals alike have been able to wield, deal & attain the acknowledgment of their power from Washington to Mexico with our president  being unwavering in expressing the importance of America’s relationship with Latinos from America to Mexico, Puerto Rico & all points in between & beyond. Gays have been able to wield, deal & attain the acknowledgment of their power from washington to the military with our president acknowledging right from wrong & the importance of gays to the fabric of Ameican lives. Banks & Corporations have also been able to weild , deal & attain acknowledgment of their importance to the fabric of America with our president giving stimulus, tax credits  & little to no new regulations attached to continue the farce that they are just too big to fail & that the rest of America must sacrifice to bare minimums  because our nation will somehow falter  or cease to exist if the 1%  who control  most of our wealth is made to feel uncomfortable, or pay like everyone else for their irresponsible actions & mistakes, even if the campaign rhetoric to solely blame Republican obstructionism to reform says otherwise.

We seem to be so off track in the tone of addressing our so called family affairs & much too often- we forget that we are owed & deserve love, respect & humanity as everyday people. It was sad  to see the usual uncivil discourse amongst Black people in discussing anything Obama related. At this point we are all used to the same ol’ same ol’ in our discourse, but I was surprised that many of my generation- older & younger -not only didn’t know that Sly Stone had hit hard times into homelessness, but  were actually surprised to find out that he is still alive & not dead. We fail to build the future when we do not acknowledge or honor the past. Whether it is President Obama speaking disrespectfully to those who paved the way- not only toward his senate membership, but also toward his presidency, or when we throw away the memory & legacy of our elders by reaping the benefits which they sowed without honor & preservation of them & their achievements toward building the future at home & abroad.

“With a Black man in the White House, the African American political class has all but abandoned solidarity with Haiti. “U.S. Blacks’ hard-earned moral authority continues to deteriorate as they continue to condone—by silence and inaction—the current violation of Haitian rights and sovereignty by the U.S. government.” By walking in lockstep with Barack Obama, African Americans are using up generations of international political capital and making themselves increasingly irrelevant to world developments. “Where once Black folk actively challenged U.S. imperialism, today some are more than happy to have a Black commander at the helm.” READ MORE

President Obama can not deny & brush off the CBC & African-Americans’ respect toward their right of agitation, criticism, mutual ground & demand granted to others as complainin’  without bringing the fight to their own interests anymore than he can deny that to any other special interest audience. I can not cosign & cheer the reprimanding tone of Potus ,which as most negative statistics in America falls disproportionately amongst African- Americans than any other minority &  special interest groups he speaks with. The same tone of being spoken to instead of being spoken with is never inflected when Potus speaks in the mid-west to majority poor white & middle class People/Unions who feel he has not addressed their needs enough or fulfilled his promises in getting their vote the first time around nor in demanding for him to show that actions speak louder than words to get their 2012 vote whether Democrat, Tea Party, Republican, LGBT Groups or AIPAC. Instead he blames the obstructionism of Republicans/Tea Party & shows other special interests groups the bridges, fulfilled legislation & things he has done & is trying to do for them in not only feeling their pain, but also coming to them in humility  & ready to work to fight specifically toward their  special Interests, as he did today in addressing the needs of Latinos & as he did on his mid-west bus tour. These are all the the same things “the Blacks” want.

We need to stop co-signing the same ol’ same ol’ & change “OUR TONE” with one another for real progress. It’s no different if the “Tone Of Public Undress” comes from Smiley & West toward Potus or Potus toward his people, or whether when he says “we” it equates to Blackness, Americanness, or Global Africanness . We can’t keep ignoring the root existence & the need for civil discourse in equal parts civil & discourse & just expect everyone to fall in line in following the leader without a seat at the table. It is unfair & unreasonable for Potus to expect an automatic pass &  to produce concrete works for the gay lobby, the Jewish lobby & global bank lobbies where American stimulus gets injected in the eventual takeover of a Nigerian Bank without full disclosure to the people on either side of the Atlantic, who are expected &  told to pull themselves up from their bootstraps & take their complainin’ asses into a march to reelect their president based on the color of their skin & tribal makeup because they have no other choice in getting their specific interests met. If the president can be expected to produce major reform for gays, Latinos & Jews in their specific interests at home & abroad & the same corporations & banks that toppled into an actual bank problem, sold to the people as a global recession with a sanctioned money grab to somehow fix the problem so they can go back to business as usual, then  he can be expected to  stand up for the disproportionate police brutality, execution murders, unemployment , poverty ,racism & discrimination against the Black citizens of his nation.

“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is in an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.” Fredrick Douglas.

President Obama is not in synogues, churches or mosques amongst Jewish,Muslim or Christian organizations telling them to fall in line in following his lead, to stop being complainers or in the past to stop being absentee fathers &  show their hip-hop generation children by example to pull up their pants , to stop gravitating toward lives of crime as sons of war- participating in acts of terroism or acts of revolutionaries of chosen people where the ends justifies their means for the preservation of their people, depending on who tells the story. We have heard the same type of provocative words in presidential Ebonics to the CBC or in the pulpit of our churches in Sunday sermons before. Those campaign moments that all of a sudden allow Potus to be unafraid & unresistant to coming off as the so called  ”Obama’s boogeyman-The Angry Black Man”, who must be quelled in constant concessions to local & global leaders because anything otherwise would all but lose the votes of progressives, independents & sympathetic republicans, but somehow this “tone of face” should be acceptable for the leaders of Black communities nationally  & internationally because this is the language we speak & understand?  We have heard all of rhetoric before & concluded that it was the common responsibility of all, including our president-we need action not campaign rhetoric.

I don’t want to see us fall in line in not only getting the language right, but also the delivery of said language right, in setting a path for civil discourse.  The CBC & African -Americans with all respect should also be allowed their right & time to welcome the president to their territory & local constituency & expect that when millions are raised toward the president’s campaign using Harlem & their other constituencies as its back drop, then Harlemites & Black Americans elsewhere should also have their  issues addressed in actions of what has been done or is in the direct works to being done in exchange  for the same vote & chance to buy more time in the presidency to deliver for the people- not the tone of I hear you, I am one of you so just fall in line, follow me &  stop Complainin’ Bitches! It is sad that many of us were never taught or just plain don’t care  about the manner in which we exchange words & energy. No  woman nor man wants to be addressed in the spirit or tone that can possibly be taken to infer subjugation as anyone’s “Chastised Bitch”! The only universal language that truly binds & bonds us is our desire, need & demand for RESPECT!

As much as I was disappointed in the same old headlines & campaign rhetoric of our president, I was delighted by the reaction of our elders in the CBC who chose to take in the reigns in order not to fall into the sound bite of divide & conquer. Our government is one punch away from being its own reality show atmosphere that has become on Black America’s part our Smiley & West VS. Al Sharpton, Steve Harvey & Tom Joyner, along with our Basketball Wives, our Housewives of Atlanta & DC -the only one in the series to be cancelled. Perhaps the reality of DC got too close for comfort in the fact that government  & the white house in particular was shown to open its door to anyone whether through the front door or back door, just upon the illusion of being of wealth & power locally or globally- no matter who is in charge. The exact syndrome that has caused a new generation to take it to wall street in protest, the same syndrome that always calls to resurrect campaign finance reform  as a true sign of change we can all believe in & individually agree to in non-partisanship, in order to significantly change the relationship between governments & its people on a path to return to a time when democracy was defined & served as  ”a form of government in which all people have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal (and more or less direct) participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law. It can also encompass social, economic and cultural conditions that enable the free and equal practice of political self-determination….Read More

“We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” Abraham Lincoln

“When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.” USA Constitution

I always indulge in my Sunday morning coffee with what used to be some great Sunday news mediums like “Meet The Press” &  what used to be the closest news source that we had to the idea of a global news channel-RIP CNN! So much for “keeping them honest” in the aftermath of Katrina, Haiti, Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt , Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Gaza etc. Anderson Cooper, who first brought  these issues to many people’s attention in America & beyond, has now left them hanging in the follow up  to continue the glamourization of  the new status quo news media world of obvious & covert distractions of scripted reality, tabloid worthy news & talk shows that are more based on reality tv design than the globally celebrated undeniable legacy of an Oprah Winfrey Show .

What would I do without Sunday family programs such as Like It is with Gil Noble, Tiempo & The Africa Channel mixed with Al Jazeera English finally coming in to connect my global world & how we are all fighting in a common struggle, no matter where we have our roots & enjoy & grow its fruits. I wonder  if Gil Noble & others have groomed anyone to carry on the legacy to keep the institutions & legacies of “Like It Is”  going when Gil Noble & others have reached their pinnacle & have to step down for reasons of health & just the natural progression of life ,while continuing the cycle of Life, History, Future & Legacy with the next generation. Walter Cronkite & Larry King will always be honored in their television  & news legacies & remembered as the men who paved the way & set up the blueprint of opportunity for a new generation of Dan Rathers & Pierce Morgans to continue, create & possibly surpass their legacy in honor & respect of the past by building the future.

“Two months after he suffered a severe stroke, the family of WABC/Ch. 7 legend says Gil Noble will no longer be able to host the long-running public affairs show “Like It Is.” Noble’s loved ones, along with his attorney, told WABC/Ch. 7 general manager David Davis last week that Noble would not return to the show. Noble, 79, continues to recuperate and “according to his family, is making progress.” Noble began at Ch. 7 in 1967. A year later he became host of “Like It Is,” which has become an important outlet for area viewers to get information on topics important to the African-American community. He’s focused only on “Like It Is” since 1986…” READ MORE

Who will be here to hold our American standards of news & journalism in the future when today, the type of American news & updates being fed in mass to the world  in its overt &  seemingly enthusiastic manner continues to define a hypocritical & less glamourous picture of the America painted to the world in the dream of our melting pot. The vision & view of  this type of America overfed to the people will eventually become the poison that the body eventually regurgitates in either perpetuating its inherent & contagious intolerant cancerous cells, or flushing it away for a taste of something more palatable in serving our collective mind, body & soul.  This is the exact picture  painted earlier this year by Secretary Clinton as what will be the takeover of American News  by Al Jeezera, much to its fruition.

Secretary Clinton spoke of how those who wanted to hear real news & were interested in what was going on in the world were already gravitating toward what was once considered an alternative  underground news source as their main source of news. Those people who care to be informed of locally global news dubbed “real news” maybe the modern representation of  the global freedom riders, worthy to be the offspring to carry on the legacy with a promise & responsibility to build the future of continued legacy on the words, the deeds, the backs, the tears, the sweat, the blood & spirits of those globally celebrated as Noble Laureates of Peace & progress, not only toward their local community but also their global community of human beings; whether by a globally recognized decree or by leaving a global legacy of rewards & honor through concrete actions.

The time & place where we honor & praise Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Stephen Bantu Biko, Ken Sarow-Wiwa ,Thomas Sankara,  President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva,  President Paul Kagame-past & present future in the same vain of laureates of peace in a true honest & global sense of building peace &  true freedom; as we honor & praise those recorded in the world books of records such as Theodore Roosevelt, Ralph Bunche, Martin Luther King Jr., Mohamed Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin, Mother Teresa, Wangari Muta Maathai & President Barack Obama -the only person of African decent to have received this honor since his fellow prize recipient whom he shares Kenyan roots & a hand shake to be the generation of leaders to lead global Africa forward in its financial & environmental health, through a mutual love & respect in a common universal goal in humanism.

Wangari Muta Maathai may have lost  her battle  with cancer,  but her work must go on with the generation which she left behind & those who walked with her in understanding that they too have to have a sense of duty to global Africa, in her connection to the world as the global image of birth mother in nature, nurture, heart, soul & environment- from her roots to her fruits. The CBC, President Obama & the rest of us should have spent Monday honoring a great woman who represented the best of us globally as a great warrior, humanist, environmentalist & womanist  who died as the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Instead of giving into the media fodder of endless infighting, we should have been showcasing our unity with the world by making sure that all of our children know her name- our girls as well as our boys- in understanding that the ways of love & respect as a people & as a nation starts from the root to its fruits because this generation will be the ones to continue  the dreams of the Pan-African/United States of Africa of Osageyfo Kwame Nkruamh, Gandhi’s resistance to tyranny by means of civil disobedience, Mother Teresa’s altruistic humanitarian work as an advocate  for the rights of the poor & helpless & Wangari Muta Maathai’s overstanding that there is no reason for anyone to be poor or helpless with the abundance that mother nature has granted us, no matter the color of our skin, our gender or social economic class.

“World leaders on Monday said Kenya had lost a courageous woman. South African Nobel laureates Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu hailed the legacy of Kenyan environmental activist Wangari Maathai, calling her a “true African heroine”….”We all knew her as a voice of reason, a lady who stood above our artificial divisions of race, tribe and region and championed the cause of humanity,”…Read More

The dream for freedom for many is unwavering, whether in the Arab Spring or in the new wind of change in Africa aiming to be its own master  in control of its own currency & resources in the new era scramble for Africa, where freedom & democracy should never again mean foreign control of banks & resources with a large population of its people seeking their daily bread on foreign shores. We need to get to the sprouting up  in a global movement consistent with what was once promised as the picture of the democracy of  creating “Democratic Spaces”. A democracy once championed  in a new world order based on a union of global populations creating the type of international standard in a dream sold to the world of what can be when given the opportunity in freedom to the pursuit of happiness in liberty, dignity & justice for all. The type of shared democracy consistent of a promised land & reaching the mountain top in a word forever embedded in a great freedom fighter’s speech, addressing the audible & visual image of what he saw denied  for so many locally & globally for many of the same reasons. The type of democracy  with a fair & shared seat at the table finally going from a dream deferred to becoming a dream realized! The type of democracy that we desperately need in America & around the world today despite where we lay our heads, what God we pray to, our gender, or social economic class.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere..”Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation and this means we must develop a world perspective..” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

President Theodore Roosevelt “took the  view that the President as a “steward of the people” should take whatever action necessary for the public good unless expressly forbidden by law or the Constitution.” I did not usurp power,” he wrote, “but I did greatly broaden the use of executive power.” Read More

“If there is no struggle..there is no progress..those who profess to Favor Freedom and yet depreciate agitation…want crops without plowing up the ground…they want the ocean without the awful roar of it’s many waters..Power concedes nothing without demand…Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is in an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.” Fredrick Douglas

I am hopeful that the CBC  in their  leadership’s concessions in good faith to continue the dialogue toward real progress will meet the same type of respect of compromise that the president would like the Republican majority of Congress to give  to him, with a fair seat at the negoatiationg table. The CBC as part of the minority interest in Congress has heard President Obama in conceding to equal parts of the blame that needs to be turned into equal parts of the progress for the good of the people. I can only hope that President Obama also offers the CBC a seat at the table with the same promise of unwavering support drenched in the president’s winning signature tone of being one with the people, feeling their pain & coming humbly to form a partnership in leadership, rather than just following the blueprint to make sure the same sector of society the world over is put in its usual subservient place -expected to fall in line in following a 1 chosen leader who continues to expect blind trust & faith- election after reign with no set time or date for promotions, hand overs or promises. There is way to much to be done globally for us to continue  not to accept that we must change the “Tone of Our Discourse” to one of “Complete Civility & Respect” from generation to generation because anything outside of that is a threat toward war! We must honor our civility  through respect whether as a Havard graduate, a streets of hard knocks graduate,  or a reality show star raising the future generation of global Africans, who should know,  be shown & overstand that the universal language whether in the animal or human kingdom is RESPECT!

The Elders of the CBC evoked the past honor in legacy of an organization of the people who laid a foundation in common ground amongst individually great leaders, legacy makers & orators who gave voice  & action to a people with shared goals locally & globally.

“A predecessor to the caucus was founded in January 1969 as a “Democratic Select Committee” by a group of black members of the House of Representatives, including Shirley Chisholm of New York, Louis Stokes of Ohio and William L. Clay of Missouri. Black representatives had begun to enter the House in increasing numbers during the 1960s, and they had a desire for a formal organization. The first chairman, Charles Diggs, served from 1969 to 1971 and landed on the master list of Nixon political opponents for his position. This organization was renamed the Congressional Black Caucus in February 1971 on the motion of Charles B. Rangel of New York. Founding members of the caucus were Shirley Chisholm, William L. Clay Sr., George W. Collins, John Conyers, Ronald Dellums, Augustus F. Hawkins, Ralph Metcalfe, Parren Mitchell, Robert Nix, Charles Rangel, Louis Stokes, and Washington D.C. Delegate Walter Fauntroy. …Read More

It is sad to hear the disrespect of  the CBC by many of my generation & younger in finding their  pass & example through our president, who would have many who don’t know any better thinking that these elder Black people have just been sitting idly in their bedroom slippers in Congress all these years before he came along to lead them to the fight for the rights & freedom of Black people. The CBC has fallen short in recent years in being effective in its role to act as the voice  &  to serve the needs of  everyday Black people instead of falling prey to the same money gods of many life long politicians. The majority of the CBC deserves applause  for changing the script & not giving more fodder  in sound bites to continue more headlines like “Obama Tells Blacks To “Stop Complainin’ and  Fight”, the types of headline stories of slow news , fast news or any news day. Who knows the difference anymore when how we adress one another publicly  comes in the same disrespectful tone whether it is from Basketball Wives, Atlanta Housewives sound bites or what was expressed  & dubbed by a facebook commentator as “Presidential Ebonics”- gifted from the voice at the mountain top, sanctioned by hip-hop,  enriched in the talented tenth & raised  within the walls of the White Mid-West  Christian values  & ideology of WWII  Veterans, with dreams of his father  lambasted in the lack of knowledge that his father too was of a legacy of heroes who contributed in the same war of the world which became the deadliest & most brutal war on record- mimicking the conditions of a time in the world much like today that defined an entire century.

“I’d arrived at an unspoken pact with my grandparents: I could live with them and they’d leave me alone so long as I kept my trouble out of sight.” President Obama Dreams of My Father”

Barack Obama, whose father left his duties as a parent to chase his own dreams amongst  his generation of Dr. Nkrumah & Dr. King Jr. , like many other absentee fathers- basically left another man to raise his son. This is the gap where many Pan-Africanist/Civil Rights Era generation failed to uphold their sense of honor & respect tin passing our global African legacy on to their sons & daughters. We’ve been through these cycles for awhile now &  I am just waiting to see how it will end up -crack epidemic /Reagonomics  or FDR,MLK, JFK,Nkrumah or presidents of today such as President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva & President Paul Kagame who are revered by a great majority of their people as true Concrete change makers with betterment for a greater majority than a lesser minority.

Martin Luther King Jr. made sure they got the same language right, whether he was amongst his people in Selma with many of today’s CBC members present, or when he walked into the White House by invite of Presidents Kennedy & Johnson to share a seat at the table to address the needs of Black America.

Separate Is Not Equal Phot Credit

WE THE PEOPLE
Music by Roger Kellaway
Lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman

We the People, We the children of the dream.
We the people, We the ever flowing stream.
We the keepers Of a flame that we must pass from hand to hand
Across the land.
A land of forest green and meadow gold,
Of river young and mountain old,
From sea to shining sea.

We the People, We the hand upon the plow.
We the People, We the sweat upon the brow.
We the builders Of the bridges and the cities rising high
To scrape the sky.
A sky that knows the sound of eagle’s wings
And holds the promise that it brings.

Just as the Earth needs sun and rain to live,
Freedom needs all the love that we can give.
Guarding it ev’ry day, So we can safely say, No one will ever take it away.

We the People, We the singers of the song.
We the People, We the weak and We the strong.
We the hist’ry, We the tellers of the tales of legends past
And why they last.
And why their words are written on the walls
And echo down the hallowed halls.

It’s not the flag we raise.
It’s not the song of praise.
But it’s the hope for all our children
As they face tomorrow!

We the People, We the People, We the People!

I applaud Ms. Shirley Sherrod on refusing the position given to her after she was used as yet another political pawn within a government that bi-partisanly puts politics before the service of its people. Ms. Sherrod decided not to fall into the Obama “Change We Can Believe In” hero complex by coming into a completely broken situation that needs a complete overhaul, knowing very well that she will never be given the power & support to overhaul it because everyone is on the take & she has enough experience to know better. I applaud Ms. Sherrod for being fearless in refusing to sweep it under the rug & let the dirt build up again instead of facing it head on & cleaning it up in order to expose the beauty underneath or the beauty that could be in America. We need to take heed to the Shirley Sherrod story as Black people, as a nation & as a world at large that seems to play into the hands of those who continuously use us to divide ourselves so that they can conquer. Ms. Sherrod will probably serve the country better from the outside by being the one to watch over & call the USDA out on their own madness of corruption, kowtowing to big business & general lack of regulations & enforcement. I hope Van Jones will also continue to keep his eyes on BP & the environment by continuing his work after his own Fox news & its bi-partisan enablers ousting, in telling people the truth without political shackles, the same way I believe Shirley Sherrod will in her refusal to get sucked back into the same lions den.

“Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said today that Sherrod will in the future work with the department in a consulting capacity to help it improve its civil rights performance. Sherrod said she was tempted to take the position in the Office of Advocacy and Outreach, but she could not accept it “at this point, with all that has happened.” READ MORE

In reading the piece quoted below on AOL’s Black Voices & their take on Ms. Sherrod’s job refusal, I am seeing more & more how we as local & global Black people need an overhaul in our reality check because we truly seem to see the global Black experience past, present & future completely differently & often refuse to see the other side until we are directly on the receiving end of the disrespect,struggle & carnage; As Black Republicans all of a sudden realize that Sarah Palin is no longer fit to lead in their Jack & Jill politics only after she co-signed on Dr. Laura’s “Nigger” explosion -letting them know that yes, America has come so far, but we have so far to go if we really want to see any semblance of the so called “post racial” utopian nation where you are just a “non-retreat & reload nigger” rant away from a reality check. This speaks to us when so called leaders like Russell Simmons think that having yoga in public schools & doing business with the same companies like DeBeers, who have benefitted the most from African suffering can somehow be the solution to the deplorable drop out rate amongst young Black Boys or a means to empower Africans. It speaks to us when calling for the boycott of Essence in the same month that we are accepting & celebrating the crumbs given by Vogue. It speaks to us when young Black men in Staten Island are committing hate crimes  against Mexican immigrants ,or our government continuing drone attacks on a flood ravaged Pakistan which the world seems to careless about because there is no media frenzy or celebrity telethon attached to it for it to have any importance, or the women continuously being raped in the Congo with little media attention to the fact that the act of female abuse , rape & torture is not illegal in the world enough for women to be allowed political asylum, yet our community & global leaders readily quote Dr. King’s words “Injustice anywhere is a threat to Justice everywhere” without giving voice, marching or fighting feverishly in truly giving credence & credibility to mouthing the words of Dr. King. Sometimes we have a tendency to be our own enemy in progress & attaining our own power in our progress by bowing down & accepting whatever is given to us, so I am more than ecstatic when there are true leaders like Shirley Sherrod who refuse to fall for the “okie doke” in knowing that in situations like this there are no winners  until the the root of the problem is unmasked  & abolished instead of being covered over & patronized. I am esctatic that there are leaders like Ms. Sherrod who refuse to fall in line with compromising their integrity for some symbolic gesture of faux inclusion & praise by choosing to move Forward Ever, Backward Never!

Black Voices when are you going to be honest with yourself on whose voice you really represent in your AOL compromise?

“Sherrod is entitled to harboring some bruised feelings, but what else does she expect? She came out the hero in this story, while Breitbart has been unmasked as a dishonest fool. We all know she’s no racist. She won. If she were honest with herself, she would understand why she had to be let go after watching the edited tape. With the Obama Administration’s understandable hypersensitivity to all things racial, any official caught on tape talking about how they denied services to a citizen based on race would have to go. But they corrected the mistake the next day as soon as they found out they were tricked.” READ MORE

This is the USDA that so graciously offered Ms. Sherrod a position of faux power when the power rests with Corporations who pay to play. According to NYU Professor of Nutrition Marion Nestle “It’s the testing that really causes the problems.. nobody wants to test because if they test they might find something.” In going to the recall site I realized that there are more current recalls on our food than we have been made aware of in the media.

“There are rotten apples in every industry. Or perhaps I should say rotten eggs. One especially rotten egg is Jack DeCoster, whose commercial egg agribusiness, which goes under the homey title “Wright County Egg,” headquartered in Galt, Iowa, sends eggs all over the country under many different brands. Those eggs have now laid low thousands of Americans with salmonella poisoning, and may well infect thousands more. DeCoster is recalling 380 million eggs sold since mid-May. It’s not clear how recall rotten eggs are recalled. They’re not like Toyotas. They’re already in our food supply. But this is only the beginning of the story. Thirteen years ago when I was Secretary of Labor, DeCoster agreed to pay a $2 million penalty (the most we could throw at him) for some of the most heinous workplace violations I’d seen. His workers had been forced to live in trailers infested with rats and handle manure and dead chickens with their bare hands. It was an agricultural sweatshop. Several people in Maine told me the fine wouldn’t stop DeCoster. He’d just consider it a cost of doing business. Evidently they were right. DeCoster’s commercial egg business has a record that would make a repeat offender blush…”READ MORE

Our complacency in accepting powerlessness & in accepting things as they are is the reason why our government does not seem to feel an urgency in the need for them to work to protect us!

DORITOS 2010 Crash The Superbowl Contest Finalist

All I can say is fail, fail, fail & boo to all those Black Americans who just couldn’t get enough laughs out of the usual daily stereotypes of Black children being portrayed & labeled as bad ass disrespectful bebe’s kids, irresponsible single moms bringing home random guys to meet their young children which they would leave in a room even for a moment to so call “play nice” because that can be your new daddy & having our food of choice for our growing children be unhealthy junk food instead of healthy choices of fruits & vegetables, even though black children suffer at alarming rates from diabetes, obesity, asthma & many other illnesses brought on by nutritional & environmental choices.

We can’t protest certain things when it comes to others stereotyping us as black people, while turning a blind eye to others & ourselves doing the same in the spirit of games people play or a good laugh. The fact that it was shot by a Jewish guy named Avi Cohen to win the Doritos commercial prize is not that shocking to me – he learned well from his brother in black exploitation Lyor Cohen, one of the biggest exploiters of black stereotypes in guise of entertainment to make a buck -well lots of millions of bucks that is. The amount of black people making their praises for this idiocy public should not surprise me either, except some of them are the ones who are quick to speak on people like Lyor Cohen’s exploits of Black hip-hop artists in constantly portraying stereotypes, yet they love another Cohen doing the same with some Doritos.

There is nothing funny about the type of violence going on amongst our children at schools, in their neighborhoods, in their relationships & in their homes. How dare we chastise & criticize Chris Brown about not knowing or doing better, when we find it so funny that a 5 year old child would have the audacity & know how to slap an adult who is his mother’s guest or anyone for that matter. Are we so ignorant & stuck on stupid that we do not see the correlation? If you find laughter in the misbehavior of a small child & encourage him/her in displaying the behavior for your personal amusement instead of teaching him/her that any type of violence & disrespectful behavior is not funny or acceptable at any time, then that child will grow up to be an adult who continues to think that that behavior is funny, no big deal and acceptable. Why should a 5 year old child know anything about a man who is not his father touching his momma in any way- sexually, violently or otherwise & to be able to have the gumption to verbalize it in a disrespectful unchildlike manner! Black people seem to be the jokiest people on earth – we seem to find laughter in anything & everything even when it’s to our detriment in the changing of our own conditions, yet we wonder why most of the world does not take us seriously. As Fela Kuti said: we continue to go the way of Suffering & Smiling.

09 Shuffering & Shmiling

What the hell is wrong with us as a people that we just can’t see past our own idiocy for one moment to realize why we are still fighting for equality & desegregation in education, housing, & employment, when we find the types of shunned behaviors that have been used to justify inequality & segregation in our education, housing & employment systems as hilariously acceptable. If I was a white, educated, financially well off person, I would not want such ignorance & tomfoolery invading my children’s education system, the neighborhood where I lay my head for peace & my workplace either. As the saying goes, “if you don’t stand for something, you are bound to fall for anything”.

I am beyond shocked that none of this registered with educated male & female black Americans, some of whom are civil rights activists, political pundits, ivy leaguers, writers, educators & the so called creme de la creme of black intellect. These are the same people who send their children to private schools because they do not want their children associating with the type of “bebe’s kids” who they think are in public schools, the same type of men who will date Tamika- the single mom from the projects & talk to his fellow ivy league or HBCU fraternity brothers about Tamika’s fat ass & how he only wants to “hit that”, but he’s not looking to marry her & have to be a father to some other man’s child & have to deal with any baby daddy drama, the same types of black people who move to the suburbs or to affluent or so called good neighborhoods in efforts to not be associated with the same stereotypes which they find so hilarious in this commercial, the same type of black people who would look for the nearest rock to crawl under if they were amongst their white counterparts & their child or the woman/man who they were dating’s child behaved in the manner that was portrayed in the commercial. This is the hypocrisy in your laughter that you have to come to terms with.

I am more afraid for the future of black American children than ever after seeing the great applause this shameful advertisement received across the board of what Black America represents & finds so hilarious. At a time when 100’s of inner city schools are being closed because of underperformance, drop outs rates rising, unemployment being the highest for black people in America, black on black violence at an all time high amongst younger & younger children, police brutality toward young black men reaping it’s ugly head at alarming rates, disastrous health statistics killing our young people at higher numbers than other communities, and the Oscar contender that is making black history at the start of this new decade being the movie Precious; If this is not the best time than ever to wake up & to stop finding so much laughter in our dysfunctions & to see how truly precious our children are, then I do not know when it will ever happen. Celebrating a modern day commercial version of Bebe’s kids worthy of super bowl stardom is not the way to the change we need!

I was hearing things like “damn it’s just a commercial not social commentary” in answer to my outrage of the praises- but my answer to that is “damn is just the future of our young children & their social acceptance & interaction at stake”, as they are being reared to think that this type of behavior is at all funny at any time. I urge all of those who found that commercial to be so hilarious to speak to the teachers/educators & ask them how funny they think this commercial is when they are dealing with kids & parents who think this behavior is funny & no big deal, as they battle for resources to help them educate children who are begging to learn while they have to spend most of their energy attending to hyper, misbehaving children who think it’s funny to slap an adult, point their finger in their face & speak out of line to them when they are there to educate them & not to be disciplinarians & peace or police officers.

I have been seeing a lot of uproar over the blatant marketing toward black America by fast food chains like McDonald’s. Why should we be in an uproar over having an abundance of McDonald’s, liquor stores , perpetual violence in our communities, mediocre to poor schools, misbehaving kids & so many other staples of dysfunction in our neighborhoods when we do not hold ourselves to higher standards & find great laughter in the stereotypes of our dysfunction? If you want Whole Foods, green markets, high end retailers & top notch teachers in your schools then your standards & behavior of consumption, action & interaction has to represent & attract what it is you want and deserve. Once again I ask, what the hell is wrong with the adults of Black America and why do we choose to continue to fail our children?

Let’s keep giving our middle finger to everything our ancestors & the generations before us gave their blood, sweat, tears, dignity & lives to fight for in order for us to be able to hold our heads up high in dignity & equality to our fellow man, as we pay them back by having a good laugh at their expense & undoing everything they fought against as they defied the stereotypes we so welcome & praise!
Happy Black History Month!

I am more than proud & unapologetic in accepting that I am in the minority of those who thought this was a sad day in black history & did not find any amusement in this commercial. It is a never ending cycle with us- as we celebrate a glorious day where black people of New Orleans can hold their heads up high & celebrate in equality with their neighbors in rising up from devastation, we find a way to take steps back & tarnish the celebration by praising stereotypes to let them know that nothing has changed.

Below is a list of some of the fans of the commercial who wanted to make their appreciation for black stereotypes public! Don’t be offended by being put on front street on my blog when you chose to go public with your praise! As our president says sometimes you have to call out people by name & shame them into changing their ways. I really doubt that some of you will change your mind because many have been finding all sorts of justifications, but hopefully you will give it a second thought in view of the bigger picture of where Black America is headed, how far we have come & how far we have had to come from- especially during Black History month!

josephdominique
Damnn he told him ha he got dooged by a kid .haha too funny

SprtBasScc
This is the greatest super bowl commercial ever

meredithlee12
favorite super bowl commercial so far!

pdak04
its just a commercial…
smh…
even though some women do that in real life…
roflmaooooo
but stfu whining

TheTamara1000
This was so funny. I can’t stop watching it. Who ever did not enjoy this is a hater.

Derrel Johnson
Doritos has the best commercials so far.

Jamal Simmons- Keep your hands off my momma and your hands off my Doritos. Best yet.

LaToia Jones Come one people… It’s not a social commentary it’s a cheesy commercial.

Gretchen Cook Anderson Loved that one – great choice, Jamal!

William Easley I thought it was the funniest so far. Not looking deep or for social commentary. Every image doesn’t need to be social statement.

Marc Calixte #1 Super Bowl commercial so far…… DORITOS!!! Details: Little boy SMACKING his mother’s boyfriend when he picks her up for a date. Hilarious!!!!! Chime in on your favs if you want people!!

Shirley S. Holloway That’s my favorite lol.. don’t touch my mom and don’t touch my doritos!

“I really know how it feels to be stressed out, stressed out, when ur face to face with your adversity.. we’re going to make this thing work out eventually… i was type caught up, but i swallowed my pride & let that nonsense ride…we going to make it, we gotta make it” Can’t keep letting the nonsense ride!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/02/food-stamps-will-feed-hal_n_342834.html

http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/ib241

http://blogs.bet.com/ontv/primetimeplayback/2009/11/bet-special-hosted-by-star-jones-takes-on-obesity-in-black-america/

This was before the true weight of the recession hit the Black community
Black males’ Rampant Joblessness, high drop-out rate, incarceration dooming black community: study
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_12_111/ai_n18765592/

“life is one big road with lots of signs so when u riding thru the ruts don’t u complicate ur mind..wake up & live y’all -wake up & live now..rise oh rise mighty people ..there’s work to be done so let’s do it little by little.. RIIIISE from your sleep & slumber… wake up & live”

“This is dedicated to who it may concern”