All issues deemed to be "Black Issues" do not really qualify to don the moniker. More often than not, what we call "Black Issues" are really educational and economic issues. Any community that faces the lack of education and wealth that we do will face certain issues, so they aren't "Black". Some will try and argue that our previous disenfranchisement in this country is what caused the educational and economic deficiencies in the first place, but in 2008, such an argument is VERY weak. With the Civil Rights Movement 40 years behind us, we are now living in a generation that does not know the horrors of Jim Crow, and cannot conceive living in a segregated society. Although Black Americans are not accepted in every socioeconomic circle, the fact of the matter is that for the most part, we have equal access to information and resources that can free us from the ignorance and poverty that we experience at large.
Well, if we've got all this access, what's the hold up, then?
We are. Our modern culture, our outdated philosophies, our broken homes. Our hatred for White America, our laziness, our low self-esteem, our warped sense of entitlement, and most of all, our lack of critical thinking skills contribute to our problems. We deny our instinct to be independent in order to rest in the vices of victimhood. We're still tuckered out from marching and protesting, so there's no energy left to rebuild our families and communities. We want the best that life has to offer for the least amount of effort because we think that someone owes us something.
The issues I just mentioned are the REAL Black Issues - most other things are just ignorance and poverty. Get a clue and a job or a hustle if unemployment is high. I know it's not that easy, but it is that simple.
More coming soon...
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Thank you for your insightful writing. I know that a lot of people share your views. I hope that your writings will contribute to a better understanding by others of the real black issues.
ReplyDeleteIvo, I think you are lumping all Blacks in one bucket. You know we all don't think the same way. I agree with some of what you say, but its necessary not to spew out the everyday Republican rhetoric about Black folks.
ReplyDelete@formatted_dad Thanks for your support :-)
ReplyDelete@GailTravel You've got to be kidding me. My thoughts on the Black community are neither Republican nor are they rhetoric - they're real, and they transcend political affiliation.
But it's awfully convenient for Black people to lump themselves together when they like what's going on, but when someone wants to criticize, there should all of a sudden be no lumping.
Any time a candidate for the presidency of a country as baig as the United States gets 96% of the Black vote when 96% of Black are not members of that candidates party nor do 96% agree with his views, you've got a BIG FAT LUMP.
You can't have your cake and eat it, too...
Ivo, I've seen what you have said nearly word for word in Republican "Christian" forums all on the internet.
ReplyDeleteAre their Blacks, whites and Asians who need to get their act together? You better beleive it!!
Am I reading that you have preferred that Blacks stayed home and not vote rather than vote for a candidate who was Black? Would you ahve preferred that WE (including you) not have exercised our right to vote that was won under the 1965 Voters Right Act. How old were you then Ivo? Were you born? You see that happened in MY lifetime. I have seen again those "Right" forums where they complained about how many Blacks came out to vote.
You may be blessed to live in a Middle class neighborhood that provides good education to your kids. But I know of schools in my city who do not have textbooks or computers. Who are full of families below poverty level even when they are working 12-16 hours a day. You see i KNOW these people. This is not a figment of my imagination. So it is just CONVENIENT to say just get up off your butt and go to work, because you were TOLD that they are NOT working! Many many many are working off the books, without health insurance.
Gail, Gail, Gail...
ReplyDeleteYou have a warped sense of what I am saying here, so let me clear it up. I know that you're an intelligent woman, so if we agree to disagree, I want to make sure you have the right info and perspective.
I would have and will continue to prefer that uninformed people not vote. What does that have to do with the candidate being Black? I don't care what color the President is, as long as he can do the job without running the country into the ground and taxing me to high heaven!
I am the America you SAY you want! I am truly colorblind in such matters. Black America says they want everyone to be equal and for everyone to be colorblind, but as soon as I treat a Black candidate with colorblind objectivity, I am attacked by the left and called everything but a child of God.
And I do a great job of not letting anyone on the web know what my socioeconomic status is, but I'll tell you like this: I was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and most of my friends and family are still there. My mother is a HeadStart teacher, and I am friends with various educators in the Detroit Public School system, of which I myself am a graduate. Furthermore, I am a resident of the State of Michigan, which has the highest unemployment in the nation and depends on the auto industry for it's economy. Yet, I still say what I say and believe what I believe.
My beliefs are not based in some kind of separatist elitism as many might suppose. It's the elitists who are keeping us from achieving our real potential by selling us warped values about education and wealth.
Just read what I write with an objective eye, and you will soon see that we agree on more than you think.
That was beautifully written and very insightful. It was the truth...what you wrote. Everyday we are faced with different struggles that we have to try and make better, not only for ourselves, but for the ones that really want to see better and do better. We do have to stop making excuses for our action or even for not succeeding like we should. There is always a way....if we make it and not just what for somebody to hand it to us. Our ancestors worked hard for everything they were given, so why should we not put forth the effort or continue to work hard? Young america need to see that its not ok to settle for less or not work hard. They need to know that its not ok to make excuses for their actions.
ReplyDeleteTHIS IS TRUE AND IS VERY MUCH SO A PROBLEM THAT WE FACE EVERYDAY. WE DONT CARE ABOUT HISTORY AND HOW IT MAKES US WHO WE ARE TO DAY. WE LIVE IN THE FAST LANE THROUGH ENTERTAINMENT. OUR CHILDREN ARE JUST GETTING BY IN SCHOOL AND NOT LEARNING THE IMPORTANCE OF AN EDUCATION AND GETTING THE KNOWNLEDGE. WE ARE GOING THROUGH AN ECONOMIC CRISIS AND IT COULD BE BECAUSE WE ARE UNEDUCATED ABOUT SAVING MONEY, INVESTING MONEY, AND MONEY MARKETS SOME OF THESE THINGS COULD HELP US AND GIVE US A FUTURE, BUT WE ARE NOT INTERESTED IN LEARNING ABOUT THESE THINGS. THIS SHOWS OUR LAZINESS AND LACK OF INTEREST IN WHATS BEST FOR US AND THE FUTUREOF OUR CHILDREN.
ReplyDeleteI beg to differ. No one owe's me anything but I do demand respect. It is true many of us are victims because of our own self affliction of the socioeconomical positions that we are faced with; however, aren't you just as well implying the same hypocratic characterizations which oppresses our black families, homes, and societies. Under no means will any one of us be able to rid this racial disease that has stormed through the lives now considered lacking in properity and with that, with all intentions as most of us do, try hard, work hard, willfully seek better opportunities, I shamefully look at my leaders, commentators, etc. in doubt because now such persons have become like their own enemies. MLB
ReplyDelete