The Black woman has not a few friends that are disgusted by the open and racist attitudes that can be found all over the news, and the internet. I have a somewhat different attitude . Today. My attitude changes from time to time.
Thing is I can hear my ancestors laughing inside me. Every time a racist head explodes, they crack up. Though they did not stay in bodies to see this day, they see it through my eyes and enjoy it through the ages. All the black folk I know saw it coming. I may be one of the only ones that finds it amusing. Most of the time.
See while they were oppressing black and brown people leaving us with very little, we were having babies. Black and brown babies. I have nine grandchild who are of mixed race. They represent three families of white folk whose family tree has been changed. Forever. This is funny as hell as far as I'm concerned.
I can laugh at what appears on the screen of time and space. What I see is the complete soul-less nature of the racist. It is the price they pay for their hatred of black and brown folk. They have no soul.
I'm not talking about the ability to clap in rhythm and move like James Brown (though many lack this as well).
By soul I am speaking of a fundamental connection to life that enables one to see others even others that are different on the surface as being part of the same life force and equal in the respect of humanity.
Yep, the racist are out of the closet. Jim Crow is now James but his intentions are the same. Put black and brown folk in their place. I am wondering how any of us can be surprised. They have always been there. This is an attitude as old as this country. As American as the apple pie my ancestors baked for them.
Race has been the engine that drove this economy into the wealth this nation enjoyed for generations. I understand the reluctance to let go of that which came easily and quickly and at a price they were willing to pay. The price of de-humanizing an entire race of people. The price of kidnap,rape and murder. Something that ought to have chilled the soul, numbed it instead. De-faced it. Caused it to shrivel up and disappear. They didn't even notice the moment of their soul-lessness. Still don't. But they have always been there. Promoting. Promulgating. Assisting. And resisting what is good and right.
They were there reporting about Katrina. Showing photos of two sets of folk one black and one white. The white people were trying to survive. The black folk were looting. Yeah, right. Without Soul.
They were there and silent when white men took rifles to black folk on the bridges to prevent them from escaping a natural disaster. When Sheriffs shot unarmed black people in the back. When black folk were herded into a place with no food or water. They spoke of us as aliens. Soul less.
Now they have to deal with something they never expected to happen. A black man, a fine black man and his beautiful black family live in the White House. The White House ain't so white anymore. Talk about working nerves...
They thought they had taken care of him during the primaries. They sure did try. Never in my memory has a Presidential candidate been held responsible for the words of his minister. In an old sermon at that. Never. They did every thing they could to eliminate him.
He was Southside Chicago cool. Still is. They don't get it. They never will. All I can say is tough shit.
My man has been fulfilling his campaign promises one by one. You don't hear so much about that. You will though. See what scares them is that he can talk. He just doesn't spend all his time politicking. Not when it is time to govern. But he does know how.
He has managed to do quite well. With a Congress that is mostly useless and with no support from the right and very little support from the left.
We pulled out of Iraq. He got health care through. He saved this economy from an outright Depression. Folks don't like to admit it, but he has been the best person to sit in the Oval office in a generation.
Every single time in the last few days that I hear someone whining and dog whistling and speaking in code, I crack up.
Ive learned from our President. I've learned to look past the bullshit and keep my eye on the prize.
I've learned that you can let fools say whatever they want to. Actions speak louder than words.
So the Laura what's her name and the Sarah whozeit can kiss my beautiful, serene and laughing black ass.
I'm laughing at all of it. Cause the truth is, they will never get their America back. Not evah. Too late.Too bad. So sad. I'm glad.
See I didn't much like their America. Neither did my ancestors. Which is why we are laughing our asses off right about now. And brushing it off.
Now run and tell that.
Yes We Can: The 2010 Schott 50 State Report on Black Males in Public Education reveals that the overall 2007/8 graduation rate for Black males in the U.S. was only 47 percent. Half of the states have graduation rates for Black male students below the national average. The report highlights concerns that New York's graduation rate for its Regents diploma is only 25 percent for Black male students. New York City, the district with the nation's highest enrollment of Black students, only graduates 28 percent of its Black male students with Regents diplomas on time. Overall, each year over 100,000 Black male students in New York City alone do not graduate from high school with their entering cohort. These statistics—and the other alarming data in this fourth biennial report— point to a national education and economic crisis.The very grim reality, read more...
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This week marked the 45th anniversary of the Watts riots in Los Angeles. Watts, a mostly black working-class neighborhood since the 1940s, became a hotbed of racial tension and injustice throughout the early 1960s. Residents were targets of police brutality, housing discrimination and inadequate access to public services. So when two white police officers pulled over Marquette Frye on August 11, 1965, just two days after President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, Watts residents were already on edge. Frye had been stopped on suspicion of drunk driving, but residents say the cops needlessly roughed him up in the street. In a Los Angeles Times news report on the rioting, residents described the scene—and how police stoked the incident into violence.Frustration boils over...
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Today a federal court in Washington, DC, prevented Louisiana from continuing to utilize a discriminatory formula as part of the federally-funded "Road Home" Program, which was designed by the Louisiana Recovery Authority and approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ("HUD") to aid homeowners in their efforts to rebuild in the wake of devastating damage resulting from Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.A long awaited verdict, the full story...
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Not long ago, the public debate on immigration shifted from the undocumented workers themselves to their children. "Anchor Babies" as they have come to be known. The problem with these so-called "anchor babies" is that they are protected by this pesky little thing known as the Constitution. The 14th Amendment of the Constitution to be exact. It contains this crazy concept that says if you're born here, then you're a citizen.Another dose of constitutional reality, read this outstanding commentary...
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After all is said and done, what much of the so-called Tea Party wants is a return to America as a White Man's Country. there are a few obstacles in the way, Including the U.S. Constitution, but that's not insurmountable.This week in White victimology, here is the breakdown...
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Racism is bad for your health, new evidence suggests. We’ve written before about the link between racism and health. Traditionally, scholars have conceptualized this in only one direction; that is, racism is bad for people of color. African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans who are the targets of racism are worse off than whites in terms of their health on a wide range of measures. Some of this is about health disparities rooted in income inequality, but there’s a growing body of research that points to racism as a root cause for at least part of these differences. Now, some new research suggests that racism may also be harmful for white people.Yet another way racism harms the citizens of this country, read more...
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It's 7 a.m. and the courtyard of the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) is a beehive of activity. I awoke to about a dozen people sitting in folding chairs. The tent I've just slept in shares a blue tarp-roof with the makeshift "waiting room" just outside the offices of the human rights offices-turned-community center.
Haitians Hope for Humanitarian Parole, full story...
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Fisk University is the number one university in producing black graduates that go on to get PhDs in the natural sciences, and the historic institution is in grave financial danger. With blacks being underrepresented in the sciences, and Fisk as the primary pipeline, it's potential demise could have a major impact.
Saving Fisk University, the sad details...
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One of the most notable accomplishments of liberalism over the past 20 years is something that didn't happen: the demise of affirmative action. Contrary to all predictions, affirmative action has survived. This is a triumph not only for race relations but also for the liberal vision of an inclusive society with full opportunity for all.
The Enduring Relevance of Affirmative Action, more...
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It will be five years since Katrina on August 29. The impact of Katrina is quite painful for regular people in the area. This article looks at what has happened since Katrina not from the perspective of the higher ups looking down from their offices but from the street level view of the people – a view which looks at the impact on the elderly, the renter, people of color, the disabled, the working and non-working poor. So, while one commentator may happily say that the median income in New Orleans has risen since Katrina, a street level perspective recognizes that is because large numbers of the poorest people have not been able to return
Katrina pain index 2010 New Orleans
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A must read, recommended by Van Jones......
Washington We Have a Problem