Black People, Culture And Poverty – Ta-Nehisi Coates

Black People, Culture And Poverty – Ta-Nehisi Coates:

“Culture attracts such protest from many blacks not because we think that the culture of poverty is a myth, but because the mass of us who, in the space of about 40 years, have made more progress than any group of blacks before us, don’t deserve to be told that our culture is making people poor. Seriously. Fried catfish and Outkast ain’t never disenfranchised nobody.”

(Via Ta-Nehisi Coates.)

True dat.

Signify Brother

Blacks, whites hear Obama differently – Nia-Malika Henderson – POLITICO.com:

On his pre-inaugural visit to Ben’s Chili Bowl, a landmark for Washington’s African-American community, President Barack Obama was asked by a cashier if he wanted his change back.
“Nah, we straight,” Obama replied.
The phrase was so subtle some listeners missed it. The reporter on pool duty quoted Obama as saying, “No, we’re straight.”
But many other listeners did not miss it. A video of the exchange became an Internet hit, and there was a clear moment of recognition among many blacks, who got a kick out of their Harvard-educated president sounding, as one commenter wrote on a hip-hop site, “mad cool.”

(Via Politico.)

For real. For real.

The Messiah Myth – TIME

The Messiah Myth – TIME:

“It pains me to deliver this sobering news to those who think Obama will wave his hand and erase whole ghettos: Barack Obama is a black President, not black Jesus.”

(Via Time Magazine.)

PREACH!

No Longer a Pep Talk

I voted yesterday morning and had an emotional moment. I took my son into the booth and saw Barack’s name with “President” underneath it. Everything else blurred out and all I could see was his name. I pressed the button and lit it up. I realized I was about to live history. I looked at my son and thought, “My son could do this.” I pressed the “VOTE” button, left the booth, and my eyes welled up.
Yes We Can. This is why America is the greatest country in the world.

Yes We Did

YouTube – President-Elect Barack Obama in Chicago:

(Via YouTube.)

Thanks be to God.

Why the GOP is SOL with Me

In the article, FactCheck.org Radio Ads Accuse Kerry Of Not Helping Blacks, I got a good strong dose of why I think supporting the GOP is misguided at best, at least in this election.

In the article, FactCheck.org Radio Ads Accuse Kerry Of Not Helping Blacks, I got a good strong dose of why I think supporting the GOP is misguided at best, at least in this election.
The 527 behind the ads, the so-called People of Color United, exemplify the mudslinging that’s become so distasteful in this election cycle. I assert that both parties are definitely supporting this behavior for short term political ends. Many of the ads contain so many distortions of the truth that I can’t really say they convey the truth at all, even a slanted version of it.
The worst example of this was the ad about how Kerry failed to save a measure to extend unemployment benefits. Words can’t convey my anger at the ad itself, which drips with hypocrisy and lies by omission of key facts. How insulting is it when a party is willing to (indirectly) blame an opposing candidate for not saving a measure that they themselves killed? I will quote the FactCheck.org article for proof [bold emphasis mine]:

However, the main reason the measure failed was that most Republicans voted against it, and because Republicans raised a point of order to ensure that 60 votes, rather than a simple majority of those voting, would be needed for passage. (The vote was 40-59: 60 votes were needed to pass because the measure required a waiver of pay-as-you-go provisions of the Budget Act.) There were 39 Republicans and one Democrat voting against,  with 47 Democrats and only 12 Republicans voting in favor.

My problem here is not one of ideology (although I disagree with much of Republican ideology), it’s one of decency and integrity: simply telling the truth.

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