I wrote in defense of a friend on a mailing list who speaks as a conservative. Many were starting to ignore him, instead of taking him seriously. He thanked me and explained his position that I think we all need to heed.
Thanks Rob.
Let me also be clear, I am a conservative. That isn’t a role I am playing. I firmly believe that a healthy democracy is one that has different points of view aimed at each other and the collision of those views (debate) produces comprehensive, well-thought out policies that grants the rights that liberals fight for and the responsibilities that conservatives fight for.
I believe that we have been oppressed and downtrodden. I believe that there is latent racism in the fabric of our society. But I also believe that I am not going to stand by and have people even think one IOTA that our people are too weak, too frail, too incompetent, too unlearned, too poor, too demonized, and too unfortunate to put a pen to a piece of paper and write a masterpiece, put a finger to a keyboard and create a near-perfect Java script, or put their hands to a piece of metal and create an elegant automobile.
Thus, I firmly believe that despite the fact that we have racist, bigoted, rat-bastards out there controlling the means of production and the positions of industry, We have no excuse for not being the kings and queens we are supposed to be. It was in our bloodline dating back to our African Ancestors. Malcolm said it and he was the guy I was tryin’ to be like so I am just “payin’ it forward.” Look at Ken Chennault, Stanley O’Neal, Colin Powell, Condi Rice, Barack Obama, Harold Ford Jr., Andrew Young, John W. Thompson (CEO Symantec), Milton Young (President United Way MA), Oprah, Iyanla Vanzant, Shirley Jackson, and the list goes on!
So I don’t want nobody’s damn welfare (my parents have been on it), I don’t want nobody’s damn affirmative action (so someone can disqualify my intelligence, potential, or capacity), I don’t want nobody’s damn quota (so I can be their damn trophy), and certainly I don’t want nobody’s damn pity (because I want my kids to grow up with some honor and dignity)
Despite the fact that we need some variation of those programs because there are those who are genuinely disadvantaged, I still know we can do a helluva lot better as a people than what we claim to be doing now. And it is not all DA MAN holdin’ us down. Not when you have folks actin’ like pimps, hoes, and hustlas and PROUD OF IT TOO!
So as the good conservative that I am here is the charge: let’s buck up, stan’ up, and make somethin’ outta nothin’ like our great grandparents used to do!
T (Tha DA!)
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Taalib al’Salaam