Washington Watch is my weekly “must see TV”. Finally a news/politics show from a Black point of view.

This is looong overdue. I come from a family of political junkies and we’re all fans of the show. It’s very refreshing to listen to a panel of various African American perspectives with diffrent points of view.

Viewers need to know how/where to send in the videos?

I think that republicans are playing politics as usually. The people the US need to stop listening to what everyone is say about the president. It is the job of the republicans to make sure that he fails. If I had the wealth and power to assure someone fail, would I not do so. Many of the people in these high end jobs are not concerned about jobs, health care, or the needs of people. Their concern is about me, mines, and their hidden agendas. The Bible clearly states that men will become lover of themselves. I believe we are living in those times. We the people need make up our minds about we want. Change is hard. We say we want change, but only if change does not affect us. Change this; fix that, as long as, it does not affect me. President Obama has many people to go though before he can make any changes. These decisions are not a one man band or one political party. If that was the case I am sure his job would go a lot smother. The United States is a mess and it did get that because of President Obama. It is easy for everyone to talk about what he is and is not doing, but until you fill those shoes, you have no idea. That is what President Obama is now finding out himself. From I can see I believe he is making a change. If I had to do it all over again, I would vote for him again. Wake up people, stop letting people think for you and think for yourselves. I will remain supportive until he gives me a reason not to support him.

Is your guest April really a member of the media? She does not sound educated.

President Obama is making a huge mistake if he believes that deploying 35,000 new U.S. troops to Afghanistan will make the U.S. safer from terrrorism.

Al Qaeda-inspired bombings in Madrid (2004) and London (2005) and a rash of terrorist plots here in the United States (Fort Dix in 2007, Nabjullah Zazi in September)prove that having boots on the ground in Afganistan has not reduced the danger of terrorist violence.

SEE MY VIDEO BELOW AND READ MY COLUMN AT http://turnerstwocents.blogspot.com/

Roland,
I’ve been able to tune in to the last couple of shows – Congrats on having this forum.
A couple of suggestions…..As thorough as you are or as the show portrays you’ve got precious time, so:
1. Take the CNNish out of your show. There is no need to FILL you may have so many voices (panel) in covering issues. We get it and for me, I’d rather hear a solid perspective than have 4 or 5 people chiming in all at once, losing the focus of the topic.
2. Regarding the mortgage mess, all these seminars, symposiums or other gestures DO NOT WORK. The poor homeowners are at the mercy of those who helped perpetuate their condition. I would request you have Mark Hempstreet on and have a frank discussion on The Mortgage Holiday (http://saveoureconomy.com)

One more thing, I too supported Pres. Obamba but I think it was mentioned on your show and may have escaped many who listened……while we want to hold the President’s feet to the fire….The Black Caucus AND ALL of our elected officials should be horsewhipped because the question is what are they doing with all the resources they are provided to help THEIR communities??????What about the Zillions in contracts??? Are they seriously making sure the money gets distributed, other than their cronies???? We need Pres. Obama but we need our elected officials at the local level to get off their butt and use their resources wisely rather than smoke and mirror programs.

Thanks for reading and keep up the good work.

did segregationist disappear when they lost the cival righs fight?they were brainwashed at birth!too let there politics controll our present day life is washing in dirty water and saying your clean!step outside the box!black politics is the 21 century rawness the facts make it real!!!!!!i hope you do a real review of the year that the gop made a demand with spite intentions!they forgot there roll in the fall of our country and how they stopped the congress in spite!!!!!i wish i could show you all the gaffs they made this year and how big money put ankle chains and hooker heels on their party!!!!!!!

why people stay sleep when infomation shows what the terrist or doing?? 1.check out what happen in multan,pakistan today well everybody else is who came out of tiger’s house today!!! a)terrist attacked one of the largest intel agency in pakistan that house spy intel!!!!a full overveiw should be made!dec.8

Dear Roland, It is a treat to see and hear a political show that speaks to us and our community. I would like to see a show on what to do with over populated black in jail or first time offenders who made a mistake and can’t get pass their pass mistake to become normal citizens again.

Roland, I disagree with you all coming out against the President because he doesn’t talk about having a “black plan” specifically. Why is it that we as blacks always think we need a specific plan to help us. By doing this, to ME!, it states that we are second class citizens and we don’t have what everyone else has to pull ourselves up. That is just demeaning to me. Where was the Congressional Black Congress (CBC) when gangster rap was taking over the young minds of young black men. And you wonder why the unemployment rate for young black men is so dissproportinate. Maybe it because half of them had in their minds that they could become rich doing what the rappers do, and now that they have realized it doesn’t work that way it’s hard to get a good job with no skills other than rapping or selling drugs. Where was the CBC when the monies were being distributed back to the communities and schools etc… why did they not stand up for equality then? It is absolutely crazy that we don’t see our own mistakes and address them instead of trying to put everything on Obama just because he is part black and had a large black support. Take this energy and put a better curriculum in the schools, have more expectations from students, and mandate the involvement of parents. You all act as though this man’s 11 months in office caused all these problems and could fix it in a short time. We all could help fix these problems by doing our part and that’s to stop looking at someone else to fix it and do what we can do. If blacks aren’t getting a job, then look into why they aren’t getting hired. Is it because they lack the skills? Can’t get to the job? or is it the color of their skin? All the answers to those questions have solutions and avenues in which to deal with them. Every time I register for school there is a section in the book for those who are low income to either get a tuition waiver or book grant. So stop acting and talking as if there is nothing out there to help the less fortunate, less motivated, less whatever they classify themselves. People have to help themselves and if Black people don’t hurry up and get it, we are going to be left in the dark. Remember, we are not the fastest growing race and with the rate that we are not even dating or marrying within our race, we will have a lot more people to blame for our demise.

Fundamentally, Black folks have to stop depending on the federal government for assistance in our communities and the issues that face our communities. Clearly, President Obama is not supporting any targeted agenda for the Black community. Clearly the economic, social and political disparities the Black community faces are not considered singularly important or alarming to the president or the rest of the federal government and that should not be a surprise or great revelation when you consider the history of Blacks in this country. By no means am I letting President Obama off the hook and I applaud the tireless fight for Black folks via the CBC and the Blacks in the Congress and House. However, considering the history of Blacks in America, the last place we should look for assistance should be the federal government. I feel that it is a matter of re-educating Blacks on community building and empowerment, financial reallocation, cooperative economics. Any community where Africans and Latinos reside contains an economic and political structure for them and by them and we should be no different. They may work for somebody else’s business but those dollars go right back into their community. Additionally, when they do own businesses they have no problem employing their own. A new direction MUST be taken by Black folks, otherwise our condition will continue to deteriorate and languish and we will be further marginalized.

are you scared to expose white america?there’s been 44 white presidents 44 white vice president and until the middle of the 20th century black americans did not have a voice!how can you cater to a group of people that has always tipped the scale for only there people?those who were born under segregation or afraid too make any waves in the ocean!same talk same people!!there’s tapes of the civil rights movement that our leaders are afraid to view!show who’s on them and then you will solve our problems by confronting the racists congressmen and women and see were they began stopping our movement!!!too make it seem that these same people changed there mind in the last 40 years is just like when the cival war was over and the south went home and said”my bad”then weeks later made jim crow, willy linch,and the segregationist grandkids we have today!!my question is are you playing there game and how can you get clean washing in dirty water?

we’ll we watched “roots”to get a grip on history they watch “gone with the wind”to keep there hate going!make your reporters watch that movie and they will see how racist and segregationist fuel there hate!!!playing there game only give them power to put fear to peace!!!!watch gone with the wind and see what fuel there distaste for black people and pride!!!!!!

Roland: Great show. We need it.
But — you talk too much, Roland. You don’t let your guests participate as much as they should and you often cut them off. You’re as bad as Chris Matthews on CNN. You like hearing your own voice. When you have several guests on at one time, you should be the moderator. If you want to express so much of your own opinion, let someone else moderate. Thank you.

Mr. Martin: Your program is the best news and information program on television. I used to think that BET’s “Lead Story” was the gold standard of TV news shows, but your show even better. You would be a stronger replacement for Tim Russert on NBC’s Meet the Press than David Gregory because you exhbit the type of fearlessness in addressing issues that Russert exhibited. I for one appreciate that you have opinions and information to share and that you engage your panelists. I really like the structure of your show, which always includes a panel of black journalists. I also appreciate and respect your inclusion of a wide range of black journalists and opinion-makers from the right to the left of the political spectrum. Your show is truly “must see TV.” As for your critics who think you talk too fast or that you do not let your guests speak, I totally disagree. Your audience is watching you because you are engaged with your guests and because you have great skill in directing the discussion. You ask the questions that so many of us would like to ask or wish we knew more in order to ask. You make yourself understood and are making a profound contribution to educating and informing the public, which is in my opinion the first and primary duty of professional jouranlists and editorial writers in a representative democracy.

Bro. Roland,

Thank the Most High God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for placing you in this position where a voice can be heard that addresses the concerns of the “so-called black man and woman” living here in N. America. Roland, my Brother, I understand you are a man that acknowledges the word of “our” Heavenly Father and I know in this world of no justice, peace and truth for “us” as a “People/Nation” and “…a chosen generation…” (I Pet. 2:9) have been “placed above all people that are upon the face of the earth” (Deut. 7:6) but because of rebellion, hardheadednes and plain-old disobedience, our fore-parents didn’t uphold the keeping of that which was entrusted to them, and as a consequence these cursed conditions we are presently living have befallen us, the children, who are perpetuating the same old unrighteous practices.(Deut.28:15-68) However, with your voice, which can reach countless millions of the “Lord’s chosen” —if only, if only—this story, “the world’s best kept secret” can truly and absolutely be conveyed it would lift the heavy mist of doubt and uncertainty off the misguided hearts and souls who do not know their true history, true legacy and nationality. Because we have been and are still being “destroyed for lack of this knowledge.” For as well as you know, all our history is written and documented in “The Book of books” called the “Holy Bible.” I will only submit this challenge to all your readers, to take the time and spiritually read in the book of Deuteronomy, Chpt. 28th v.68 to see where the triangular slave-trade was prophesied to take place two-thousand years before the acutal event came to pass; and we all know through other historical writings, even made-for-TV documentaries that it came to pass. Knowing, of course, that the political world community here in so-called America, want to keep the State and Church separate because of advantage and all who support that point of view. So its understandable the intricacies it would take in order to bring this light of knowledge and truth to the forefront, especially being in the profession of national news. But possibly through your commentaries and perspectives you can present this fact of truth and bring to light these known truths that are hidden to many of the “so-called black man and woman exiled here in N. America, the Carribean Isles, Central and South America and scattered through-out the four corners of the earth. But again, I can only ask—if only, if only!!

Since the Bankers have Bonuses to reward their employees that means they have profits to pay . They can pay BLACK AMERICA.
The NAACP AND BLACK CAUCUS has a job to do. ENTREPRENEURSHIP in the black communities and reparations for Blacks should be at the top of the list.
We always have an agenda. BLACK POWER is alive and always will be.

Roland:
For some time I viewed you on CNN; and as a 70 year old African American man I have admired your strength and candor. You certainly represent our communiuty well! However, I am concerned about your comments about President Osbama’s jobs position regarding the “black Community”. The specific remark that concerns me is “many leaders in the black community are keeping their powder dry”.(meaning they are dissatified and are waiting to denounce him) They want the President to
announce his plans to increase employment of black workers. First, The President has enough critics, we don’t need to add progressive leaders in the black community to the list. Second, the conservatives and bigots would exploit such a plan and kill his Presidency! We MUST support the President to achieve our objectives! Support his program and everyone will benefit!

Tavis is tired, he has arrived, let him rest. we need WARRIORS like MANDELA to compete in this world. It is a lifelong journey.

The Black Agenda In America should be:
1. ENTREPRENEURSHIP
2. REPARATIONS
3. REBUILDING NEW ORLEANS
4. HOUSING
5. EDUCATION

Please adress these issues.

I enjoyed your show on 1/10/2010. Look forward to seeing more in the coming months/years.
On another note:
Can anyone explain why none of the promises Pres Obama made doing his campaign , i.e, transparency, no lobby run White House, a change in direction of the country etc., etc. have not yet been executed? Yet Wall Street, auto industries, and banks have been restored. Main street is still desperately seeking relief along with over 5 million unemployed. Last but not least 2 other African Americans have received Nobel Peace prizes for years of devotion and dedication. Yet Pres Obama received a Nobel Peace Prize for a few words/promises without sweat, toil, or tears.
Are African Americans still under the propaganda of the Federal Government?

Sincerely,
Professor John Womble

I loved the show. The FIRST LADY is doing the highest priority job in the world. Making her babies and her baby’s dady the number one priority in her life. As an AA woman I applaud her image as the FIRST BLACK FIRST LADY. She has nothing to prove to America. Black women need to make their families their priority. Our families are our legacies. All the money and awards can not replace the dedication to your family.

Women are needed to earn an income or raise their families without husbands – We do a great job of this.

The FIRST LADY does not fit this profile. Her image is commendable and great – SHE IS A WOMAN OF PURPOSE.

I am not sure if this issue was cleared up. However, I would like to know a lot more about the 2010 Census of which notes the race options as (Black/African American or Negros.) I am deeply offended and wants to know why I am not hearing and/or seeing more about this. Also, is this a conspiracy to not have people of a certain group receive funds for their community?

Roland, I was listening to your guest talk about the first lady Michelle, and I disagree! The Opposition already calls the president “weak” So to have Michelle out speaking on issues like the recovery act, and health care, during Town-Halls would have made no sense! I believe that they know how and when she needs to be heard, there are 3 more years to have her star shine bright!!!

Roland,

I enjoyed your show today 1/17/09. However, during your discussion on race, I feel like you & your panel failed to discuss the part of Reid’s comment about America being ready to elect a “light skinned” African-American. I agreed with Senator Reid’s comments & during the campaign I often said that if Barak Obama was “two shades darker” he would not have even been nominated. However, the comment from the book “Game Change” that I did find distrurbing was the one made by former president Clinton to Senator Kennedy when he told the Clintons that he was going to back Obama & Clinton responsed… “How could you do that? A few years ago he would have been pouring our coffee.” Now that’s the comment that you should be discussing & I do not know why THAT COMMENT is not getting more coverage!!

Volunteerism in the community and the schools is one solution for our children to succeed.. The President and the First Lady has expressed the importance of volunteerism. Since most of us are unemployed – why aren’t we spending our time helping out in the schools and communities and churches.

Our children will improve when we positively support them. We can start voluntary Homework Centers in the Churches. We do not need the President to do this.

Roland: another topic should be CAPITAL, its influence in Washington special interest groups such as BANKS , AND HEALTH CARE.

Interview BOB JOHNSON about capital , and the importance and power of CAPITAL.

Mexico has more billionaires than BLACKS. THE THIRD BILLIONAIRE IN THE WORLD IS MEXICAN!!!!!
check the source:::::::::::
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/10/07billionaires_The-Worlds-Billionaires-Latin-America_6Rank.html

Roland you’re show is my must see show on Sunday morning. Thank you for producing a show that I can identify with. I’d like to ask your thoughts on Black boys being taught by qualified Black male teachers in their formative years in school. It’s clear the current system is failing our Black boys in educating them. What are your thoughts on this.— Thank you.

Besides, I love Roland Martin. He is an excellant commentator

Roland, If you take a look at the numbers in Virginia, how many people came out to vote for the presidential race and look at the numbers, how many people came out to vote for the Govenors rac. My question is, How can the Reuplican Party say the American people is sending a message when the numbers are not matching up? Why do republican always justify a lie?

FOR LOVE OF LIBERTY will be a good historical movie. THE MOVIE PROVES OUR CASE FOR REPARATIONS///////

It was th AMERICAN INDIANS and BLACK SLAVES that won the REVOLUTIONARY WAR for the Europeans. The INDIANS were lied to regarding land ownership. BLACKS were returned to SLAVERY after they were no longer needed.

DURING THE CIVIL WAR – again INDIANS AND SLAVES fought together to abolish slavery

TO-DATE we know how the INDIANS were appreciated and repaid for their services –

THE AMERICAN INDIANS were granted their REPARATIONS. BLACKS are still confused.

When the jobs are created through SMALL BUSINESS STIMULUS, will BLACKS get 12% of the jobs created???

When public works is stimulated for increased jobs – will BLACKS only get 12% of those socalled socialistic jobs???

BLACKS DO NOT HAVE MANY SMALL BUSINESSES so that leaves us to concentrate on socialistic PUBLIC WORKS stimulus for jobs.

It appears to me that BLACKS will be the last hired even when the jobs are created. DOES ANYONE ELSE HAVE A DIFFERENT VIEW??????

I think that America in general and especially black America is giving up on our president. The Democrats, like the black community, don’t know how to unite and stick together for the greater cause, the bigger picture, the long run. We were all there to cheer on President Obama and his family on that magical, historical night in 2008. Now, just one year later it seems we’re already to throw in the towel; throw him to the wolves. The most amazing thing to me is that it seems these same people hated GWB, or disliked all of his views and opinions, we thought he was stupid and said as much. Yet, he was voted into office twice and everyone fell in line to support him. Yet, after one year in office and taking on all of the crap that GWB left behind, everyone is so quick to judge what President Obama has done to date. While Bush was in office he put us at war with other countries, a war that we still can’t explain to date why we are in it, a war that has caused this country great loss, financially and families have lost loved ones to this war unnecessarily. He made no apologies for it. Now, there was mention of the Republicans just being quiet and sitting on there hands…it’s because just like other races and the police, they’re sitting back watching and waiting for us (Democrats, Black America) to kill ourselves. The more we criticize and down rate our President and his efforts, the easier it is for them to come in for the kill at the right time. Please, for those who can, get in the Presidents ear, do not criticize him publicly. I pray that President Obama gets the right people behind him, in his corner because right now we know that there are still some moles in his camp. That was clear to see when – SOMEHOW – imposters were able to gain access into an event at the White House when security there should always be 150%. The President may need to take a step back and re-evaluate who he has around him and his family. There are qualified people out there who are more than willing to do there job correctly and to support this man and protect he and his family the way that we’ve seen and expect for past presidents. I hope that we can all get on board. I understand that no one should support President Obama simply because he is black and so are they, however, if you’re going to support him then support him fully, 100%. Don’t support in the good times and when things aren’t looking so good, you jump ship. He needs all the support and prayers that he can get. There are enought haters and naysayers out there. Pray for him, pray that God places right people in his life during this time. Give him the same time and respect that we all allowed the previous president. We gave him more and he gave us much less. Just my personal opinion…think about it.

Roland,

Please remove Armstrong Williams from your show. His presence dishonors it! He has proven himself to be a right wing hustler, out for the highest bid. He has been pushing the right wing “color Blind” society con game for years for money. He is disgusting!!!! The only thing he knows is how to position himself for a dollar hustle.

Kimara,

Why should Blacks have to “raise” money for health care, after we’ve already paid for it with tax deductions? Why should “INSURANCE” be the primary focus on health care. Why not take the over eight hundred billion to one trillion dollars being appropriated for health care “INSURANCE” for the poor, and reopen community health care facilities? That way, the poor could receive health care at no cost, or on a sliding fee scale, based on income, or lack thereof.

Such centers would also likely increase the all around health care essentials, such as pre and post natal care, etc, because they would be based in the immediate community where the people live. They could also serve as health education centers, where preventive health care measures could be taught. While certainly not perfect, these centers seemed to have received good grades before they were terminated by the Reagan Administration’s spending- cut POLICIES in the 1980s.

Not only would these centers provide health care for the poor and near poor, but they would provide jobs as well. Such centers would need physicians, nurses, health educators, social workers, administrative/management staff, janitorial staff, data entry, and record keeping personnel, etc.

Why must we talk only of INSURANCE companies(Wall Street) when it comes to health care? It just seems to me there are more efficient ways to do things.

I am looking at your Feb 07, 2010 show.. segment Green Jobs… bottom line: if President Obama was a white man, Health Care debate would have been over last year with a bill being passed, green jobs in process, don’t ask don’t tell banned, education on the move… everything that President Obama wants to change would have been done or one its way. Our main stream brothas are having the problem as George Jefferson found out ..and that was when he (George) saved the life of the bigot… that bigot would rather have had died, than to have a black man save his sorry life…. some in (Republicans, tea party etc) this country would rather this country die or go under, than have President Obama save them. ..President Obama and some of these scared Democrats will just have to do it (save them) regardless and let history tell the story and not worry about polls, elections and tea party conventions.

ROLAND – AWESOME!!!!!
THIS SHOW SHOULD BE REPEATED ON ALL THE NETWORKS.

I HAVE TO DO MORE REASEARCG ON CHINA.

THE HBCU ARE THE BACKBONE OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY. THEY ARE VITAL FOR THE SUCCESS OF BLACK AMERICA.

Roland,
Great show! I have watched Meet the Press and This Week since it seems like I was born and I am a self-confessed political junkie. One day, while flying to Florida, I ran into one of the announcers of those types of shows in ‘First Class.’ I was in law school,it was the early 90’s and I mentioned to him how wonderful it would be to have someone on the show who was Black. He literally laughed at me. He said he could not find a Black person who was qualified. I told him, I could do it. He laughed again. I stopped watching that show. (purposfully not mnentioned here)
Well, it was not funny. Several years later, it is so wonderful to see your show from the Black perspective. You are an eloquent speaker who seems very educated,literate ;and, most importantly asks questions of guests rather than simply taking their comments at face value. Otherwise know as discussing the facts. Thank you for producing such a high caliber show! I tell everyone I know to watch you! Keep up the great work and God Bless – J

MY HUSBAND AND MYSELF REALLY LIKE WATCHING YOUR SHOW, BUT WE WERE REALLY DISTURBED WHAT WE SAW THE SHOW ABOUT THE NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE AND CHINA. IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE FOR THE BLACK COMMUNITY HERE TO SEEK BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS WITH CHINA WHEN THERE ARE PLENTY OF BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES IN AFRICA. HOW CAN WE TEACH “SWAHILI” TO THE CHINESE WHEN MOST OF US DON’T EVEN KNOW THAT LANGUAGE OR ANY OTHER AFRICAN LANGUAGES OR CULTURE. EVEN CHINESE AMERICANS KNOW THEIR LANGUAGE AND CULTURE. THE CHINESE HERE DON’T EVEN WANT ANY RELATIONS WITH US, GO INTO THEIR NEIGHBORHOODS AND SEE. CHINA AS A COUNTRY HAS BEING EXPLOITING AFRICA FOR ITS RESOURCES AND HAVE SERIOUS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY. IT SURPRISES US THAT AFRICAN AMERICANS WILL LOOK TO CHINA BUT NOT AFRICA. AFRICAN AMERICANS HAVE AS MUCH STAKE IN AFRICA AS OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS THERE. WHY SET UP A CONFUCIUS CENTER AT XAVIER UNIVERSITY AND TEACH CHINESE WHEN MOST BLACK COLLEGES ARE NOT TEACHING OR ENCOURAGING OUR COMMUNITIES TO LEARN ABOUT LANGUAGES AND CULTURES LOST DURING SLAVERY? WHAT ABOUT TEACHING AFRICAN PHILOSOPHIES AND BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN THE MOTHER CONTINENT AND OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS HERE? WHY NOT BUILD CENTERS FOR OUR LEADERS AND PHILOSOPHERS FROM EGYPT TO MANY OTHER AFRICAN COUNTRIES? WHY SIT BACK AND LET CHINA EXPLOIT AFRICA FOR ITS RESOURCES? WHAT DO WE AS BLACK COMMUNITY IN THE US PRODUCE TO TRADE WITH CHINA THAT WILL BENEFIT US? WE MUST DO FOR OURSELVES FIRST. CHINA PUMPS BILLIONS INTO AFRICA BUT IT IS NOT FOR AFRICA’S BENEFIT BUT FOR WHAT THEY CAN GET OUT OF IT, OUR RESOURCES. KNOWING THAT THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY IS THE LARGEST CONSUMERS IN THE US, CHINA IS JUST LOOKING TO EXPLOIT OUR COMMUNITIES. MORALLY, MOST OF THE THINGS MANUFACTURED IN CHINA HAVE DEFECTS. WE AS BLACK PEOPLE HAVE TO FIRST LEARN TO BUILD OUR OWN ECONOMY BASED AMONGST OURSELVES HERE AND THEN SEEK TO HAVE BRIDGES AND CONNECTIONS WITH AFRICA WHERE THERE ARE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES, BEFORE SEEKING ANY BUSINESS RELATIONS WITH CHINA AND OTHER NATIONS. I HOPE THAT YOU RAISE THIS QUESTION WITH THE NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE AND OTHERS WHO WERE SEEKING RELATIONS WITH CHINA. THANK YOU

Mr. Martin, great show and it’s about time we show this society that we can do more than dance, sing,and play sports. I’ve followed you for some time, even on the TJMS. I just want to thank you for your “prospective” on Tiger Woods. It’s about time someone spoke with a grain of reality on this situation. It is way to easy for the media to make up the publics’ minds for them without them even realizing it. We are so mentally lazy in this society. We hardly ever do our own thinking, so again thanks for not jumping on that “destroy the Nword at all cost” bandwagon. I feel the exact same way especially about the parents being the roll models. Keep up the good work, and let’s have more Michael Eric Dyson along with yourself. With that combination there’s hope for us yet!
PS How bout that CNN? Campbell Brown my a*@!!

you are the first host to really share my veiws about tiger woods.white people have a way of picking so called role models,(black)and when they don’t live up to their expections they want to hang them “out to dry” and then try them through the media.i like tiger as a golfer,but he is not a role model for me.people need to get a life and stop worring about what so called celebrities are doing.keep up the good work you are doing.god bless you.

Hi ,Martin , love your show,
I am glad how issues are discussed on Washington Watch, whereby we can hear both sides of the argument, .

I will also like to see some issues that Fox news take on on their channel ,most of which are opinions and they try to turn it into fact.

If we can see a discussion of some of those issues on your show , creating an awareness for African-Americans to know Facts from opinion . That will be great.

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN TAVIS SMILEY THOUGHT HE WAS THE IT FACTOR ON BET? TAVIS WAS FIRED. TAVIS HAS NOT REACHED THE LEVEL OF MR JOHNSON TODAY.

I am sorry my people can not intelligently dialogue without their feelings getting hurt.

BLACKS NEED TO STOP LIVING IN THEIR FANTASY WORLD – GROW UP

Roland,

I agree that too many Americans are not taking the time to understand current issues such as the stimulus, health care reform, etc. The President needs to simplify the message to counter his opponents. Here’s an idea for him – explain his agenda (and his successes)as if he talking to children. Fight the simpleminded misinformation and hypocrisy with simple truth…..

CNN would never expose the true HAITIAN STORY like you did Lahiny. CNN pushes their propoganda. I watch BBC, world focus, journal and worldly news programs to obtain different news perspectives.

LAHINY – you are a gifted writer with a true story to tell about HAITI. THANKS TO TVONE for providing a blogging avenue for intellectuals around the WORLD.

Roland: I love your show. I want to thank both you and the Hughes family for providing a news forum for the African American community such as yours, as it is well overdue. A blogger commented about expecting real journalists on your show, which is one reason why we need the show. Some Black folk obviously don’t know how to recognize real Black journalists because they don’t see them. When they do they think, like everything else Black, you guys must be sub-standard. I follow news and commentary heavily, and formerly worked as a journalist. I can say that you have top journalists on your show who are just as experienced and credentialed as any others on the air, but whom happen to be African American. Some are quite renown in their field as a matter of fact. Additionally, I like the tough stand that you take on Obama, as it is the journalists’ job to hold all accountable in our political system regardless of race or class; it is an integral part of our system of checks and balances. Why are Black journalists expected to do any less because our “not only the black folks’ president” is black? Wow, that is a contradiction. I would like to see the conversation on your show that usually focuses only on the president,however, expanded to focus more indepth on the jobs that others in government are doing, particularly African American appointees(i.e., Holder, Rice, and the heads of other administration offices). I would also like you to include more international news (in terms of emerging issues that are or will impact the African American community, i.e. employment, education and business opportunities abroad (Big ups for your story on China), the impact of growing Black U.S. immigration as well as other immigrant groups on the African American community, and what it will take for our children to be prepared to participate meaningfully in our increasingly global world in the 21st Century. I support your and others calls for a separate and unique agenda for African Americans that speaks to our unique needs. Frankly other groups have one; it is how you fight for and leverage resources in our system of government — politics is simply the struggle over power and resources. For example their are special offices at the federal level in just about every sector, i.e. education, housing, labor, etc. that target Hispanic concerns; just look on-line at the list of federal government offices. Much of the funding for this group come via bilingual education and money targeted for urban communities, and is being diverted from programs such at Title I, that African Americans fought to secure, under the general umbrella of Urban policy. That is why we need an African American agenda — one so that we know where we are going and why, and so that we can effectively target and secure those resources that are needed. When everyone else does this it is considered a hand-up; when we do it we are conditioned to think that we are asking for a hand-out or welfare. I’m not mad at other groups though because they fight for what they want, without emotion nor apology, even if they only arrived in this country yesterday and came her illegally (No slight against Hispanics. Many other groups arrive here illegally everyday). If we don’t assert ourselves in the political process we will have nothing. Also, I have and continue to be an Obama supporter, however, for those folk who say that Obama is everyone’s not just a Black president, consider this: If Obama fails, the results of this failure would fall squarely on Black folks’ shoulders. We would be told, look you had your chance and you failed. Who knows when another African American would be elected president? It would be a mark on our entire community, so I am tired of hearing that. Additionally, with Black unemployment and education rates being the highest in the country, Obama has as much responsibility to answer our questions about what his plan is to turn around unemeployment in this community as he does to the rest of the nation, not less because he and we are Black. Finally, a note about the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). It is funny how frequently I hear people bashing this group of elected officials, most recently because of their political prowess, powerful fundraising ability, and tough stance that they have taken on Barack, while also working with him. First, this is a political caucus group, not a community-based, non-profit and traditional civil rights group. They serve at the pleasure of their constituents who have elected them to come to Washington to do a job. These people have a responsibility to to deliver resources and helpful policies for those people who send them there. The CBC has been successful doing this. Like black journalists, these people are just as intelligent and as skilled as other elected officials on the hill. Give them some respect! They, after all, recently secured about 6 billion dollars in funding for various programs that will empower many in the Black community via jobs, education, better housing, etc. and are key advocates/fighters for the public option in health care reform, which will also benefit us greatly. Had it not been for the CBC and other progressives in Congress, Obama would have walked away from the health care completely, and then where would we be? Get informed people. Much love.

As said before, they will build you up to bring you down, but I say: IF YOU LET THEM. Tiger get bac on the green, and only worry about the forgiveness from, Gd, your childrenand your wife.

Roland I look forward to watching your show every Sunday. Keep up the great work.

I watch your show each Sunday. I often re-watch the show during the show because I record the show on my DVR.
As I have tweeted, your show needs to occur daily. The wealth of information that you and your guest present to the audience is diverse, excellent and interesting. I am currently reading “Rediscovering Values” and waiting to purchase your book (need a digital version). Thanks for showing all of us the depth of commentary and discussion that occurs on your show.
Please make this show a daily!!

I truly enjoyed Sunday’s edition of WW with the Hollywood newsmakers and comedians. My only comment is that it is much to good much to cram in one hour! (that’s huggy lowdown speak!) I appreciate balanced discussion; republicans and democrats without the “talking heads”. Much success with the show. I still miss Lead Story.

Mr. Martin please add black conservative\republicans to your panels equally. The last show 3/7/2010 panel was all liberal\democrats who don’t have my views or interest in their speak

Roland,

Please encourage TVOne to update your show’s guest list WEEKLY on the site. You have viewers at Jack and Jill Politics (http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/) who would benefit from this info and be more likely to tune in EVERY week. This would also allow the sites that promote Sunday talk to list you.

Also, more video clips please! (Thanks for the Van Jones but include your panels too.)

Great perspective. Tavis Smiley needs a reality check. Every President has had a Black agenda. Unfortunely the majority has been negative toward Blacks. Only five of the forty-four Presidents had a positive agenda. Three were forced because of marches in the 50’s and 60’s. President Clinton and now President Obama because it’s right, over due and trying to correct the past. Rev. Al Sharpton and his team are working with the President to help the Black community. Tavis and his team are trying to bring disunity to the Black community with his anti-Obama talk. If Tavis wants to talk, talk about the failure of Black parents having babies and leaving them on their grandparents,70% are having babies for that govenment check, parents are putting their children on drugs to get government checks,60% of Black children are below grade level, don’t want to learn, have bad behavior,no parental support due to a lack of parental accountability, but want to blame teachers. Roland, please tell Tavis to stop being jealous of President Obama and talk about the Republicans and their agenda against the people and the President. President Obama and his supporters are new wine. The bible said you can’t put new wine in old wine bottles. I am a supporter of Health Care Reform. Oh, by the way unemployment for Blacks in the late 70’s and early 80’s was over 55%.

I think it is just great that Blacks in the entertainment industry are winning awards for their contributions as actors, writers, etc., but why in acceptance speeches, do they continue to emphasis winning these awards as if we were just freed from slavery.

Roland I appreciate a show like yours it give me a opportunity to express my opinion I been writing our senators and congress asking the question when is black peoples going to get paid for the 40 acres and a mule that was promise to black peoples ancestors after slavery ended so far I has not got a answer.

Show stats on the hate and laws that were admended for there hate to stay the fabric of our country!Native americans can show how they take land and make false laws for there advantage!Like america helped israel take land on a scripture!Step back and see what we see!Stop making soft shoe arguments on there robo points!A 100% fact ,this same political enviroment was in the dred scott,1863 freedom,jim crowe,and civil rights arguments!Why accept the same lame arguments?
There reading what there grand daddyz did to keep you in your place!Real leaders don’t soft shoe or bite there lip!research,make them shake when you come in the room!Tokenz &Uncle TomZZ!I’m out!making a leader is what i’m doing to help my people!Peace and Love!
P.S…..It’s funny but sad that you can’t name 10 men or women from the 20th century that were indicted or put to death for what happen then!!!!!!!!!!!
I don’t wash up in dirty water to see if I get a chance from a racist segregationist devil!Black People hold on our time is coming and king tutz and Ni#$%,make no mistake your time is coming also!!!

It’s sad to see that you and other media figures are trying desapately to marginalize Smiley’s event in Chicago. Less talk more action…don’t pretend like you’re contributing more than talk. But you should know talk is the first stage of action. I honestly hope the forum contributes to some solutions that we face specifically in our community. Don’t waste your time downplaying another mans contribution to the struggle.

Just heard your “CALL EM OUT” segment Roland. I’m very disappointed that you chose the topic you did when there are a slew of things that really matter to us all that you could’ve called people out on. The lies the Republicans are spreading about the Health Care Reform Bill comes to mind.

NOTE TO READERS:

My wife has asked me to apologize to readers for using the rappers’ language such as “keep it real.” She reminded me that that slang is associated with gang banging and misogyny. She said I lowered myself by using it.

So readers, please accept my apology.

Jwill7 I disagree with you about the black caucus they have done nothing about the injustice of the minority people in the U.S and that is just one thing but the list goes on.

Roland,

You and other black leaders constant “whining” about Obama “targeting” help for Africans Americans, yet you are AWOL to the war that’s going on in our schools. You can’t “target anything to a community that in most cases has a graduation rate less than 50%. The way out of any predicament is to start with what you have and the opportunity that’s right in front of you.

It was a very sad experience. I listened to a national radio talk show today and heard one of the participants from the “snow summit” brag about being at today’s Executive signing of what amounts to a “Whites Only” jobs bill.

Now the $15 billion bill, which provides a 6.2% social security payroll tax credit through December 2010 for each new worker hired and an additional $1,000 to employers who retain workers for one year, plus an additional $20 billion to spur the construction trade, was not called the “whites Only” jobs bill. But that’s what it is based on the jobs market sector that it “targets.” I’m sure those involved must know that,including the Executive Branch and the bellicose braggart who declared without shame: “I was at the White House today for the signing of the jobs bill. If you want more, then call call your congressman.” Thus keeping to the strategy cooked up in the Snow Summit to obfuscate by placing all blame on the legislative branch.

But Congress (the House anyway) had already passed a robust jobs bill, and even the senate had a proposed bill of $85 billion (see my previous posts on this site 2/28/10 for details) before the Snow Summit on 2/10/10. THE VERY NEXT DAY AFTER THE SNOW SUMMIT OF THE “LEADERS” WITH THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH, THE SENATE DECREASED THE BILL THAT WAS SIGNED TODAY FROM $85 BILLION TO $15 BILLION. Which, of course will not help African Americans, primarily because it is not intended to. It is not “targeted” that way.

Just like it is possible to have a “Whites Only” jobs bill without calling it such, it is possible to have a jobs bill that will benefit African Americans without calling it a “Blacks Jobs Bill.” In fact, no one has ever asked for a “Blacks Only” jobs bill or anything else. Those using that excuse are misled by “access seekers” and those who have no intention of doing anything for Blacks other than using them for votes, and then in other to impress whites, publicly engage in “signifying” and “playing the dozens” against Blacks. Even the idea of a Black Agenda is simply a discussion of what’s important to African Americans, that can be achieved through policy without calling it such. The passing of the “whites Only” jobs bill today is a perfect example of how that can be done. It’s called “targeting.” No one has asked for policy labeled “African American Policy.” Rather, there are calls for policy that would benefit African Americans AS AMERICANS.

The sadness that I felt was not only for the millions of African Americans whose pain is not being felt or cared about, but the bellicose doublespeak of the Snow Summit attendee. The only thing that appeared important to him was the fact that he’d attended the whites only bill’s signing. “I wuz thar [sic]. If you want sumpin else, call yo’ congross mos’ mon [congressman].”

It is sad to see people, who in fact, have been associated with standing up for African Americans reduced to inarticulate staunch defenders of the policies that deliberately ignore African Americans. They have apparently devolved to what Glen Ford on Black Agenda Report.com called, “useless access seekers.” And that is evident in their own behavior. “I wuz thar!”

It would have been best if they had not been there in the Snow Summit. Maybe then the professional legislators, those elected, would have been able to do their jobs. Maybe if they hadn’t been there, maybe Sen. Reid would not have reduced the bill THE VERY NEXT DAY AFTER THEY LEFT by $70 billion from $85 billion to $15 billion.

Given the results of their meeting, my advice –Black folks would be better off if you’d just stayed away.

I can’t wait to hear what they’re going to say in a few months when they start hearing the discontent that many Blacks will express in November 2010 when they don’t vote. I don’t encourage people not to vote. But I’m already hearing from many that if it is reasonable to conclude that “rising tides lift all BOATS,” then it is also reasonable to conclude that “rising tides will lift all VOTES.”

Hi Roland: I am glad the time has changed, and I get to see you prior to leaving for church. I am a person that lives in the Southwest and your show comes on at 8:00AM here. I enjoy watching your show and rely on comments summarized by your guests. Thanks for being so frank and having guests that share openly the pro and cons of an issue.

Roland iam sick of hearing black peoples say president obama need to do more for black peoples we need to do more for our self we have all kind of opportunies we do not take advantage of them some of us set around expecting some one to give us something or try to take from other bobby womack had a song some of the words was i like to help a man when he is down but how can you help a man when he want to sleep on the ground.I found out if you try to help yourself other peoples will help you

I watched your program Sunday night concerning the health care debate and take issue with you on your comment that people don’t care about the process in which it is passed. Process is always important because it speaks of the integrity or the lack there of, concerning those implementing it. I would like to aquire a car, the process utilized to obtain that car will tell alot about my character. I can steal it, buy it, or finance it and not pay the note….all result in aquisition….not all reflect moral integrity. Enjoyed you program and was the first time I watched it. Bruce

The HBCs can provide CADEMIES 6-12 doe BLACK BOYS on their campuses. This would help to stimulate their interest in college. Also they would love attending a university for high school. Try a pilot program . OUR HBC CAN BE UTILIZED FOR SEVERAL PURPOSES OTHER THAN COLLEGE. The financing is their. Also, this would create several jobs.

Roland this white lady i worked with about 9 months after 911 told me she was still under stress from 911 she ask me had i got over it .I told her i was under stress before 911 she ask me why I told her when i was born i already had two strikes against me black and poor that lady looked at me like she thought i was crazy.

Roland, Why did you take my comment down? still trying to brain wash people into thinking that your polls are right, well i am calling you out the next time you talk about the polls tell us how many people you poll.

WHY ARE YOU SILENT ROLAND???????

WE WILL PRESSURE YOU LIKE YOU PRESSURED OBAMA. THE BALL IS IN YOUR COURT. WE WANT A MEETING IN CHICAGO FOR CONTRACTORS AND THE BUILDINGS TRADESPEOPLE. CAN WE AT LEAST ACCOMPLISH THIS. WE CAN DO THIS. WE HAVE HELPER FOR YOU IF YOU NEED, AS A JOURNALIST GET YOUR UNBIASED RESEARCH CORRECT.

jwill7 is spouting untruths and you should address it.

roland i hear some black peoples not filling out they census because they are offended by all the names for black peoples the peoples who make out these forms is in a no win situation that we put them in regardless what we are call someone is going to be offended some black peoples still use the word color peoples and negro we need to choose one name for us all in my opinion that name should be black americans you can please some of the peoples some of the time but not all the peoples all the time.

Hello Roland,

I love your show. I’m not a very political person but I want to ask: Why can’t we black people put our money and resources together and open our own banks, our own schools, our own youth recreation centers, our own hospitals, our own anything? It’s sad to see so much division within our race. I look around my neighborhood and see the gas stations are owned by- Arabs, the beauty supply- Chinese, nail shops-Korean. My son went into a beauty supply store, which is owned by a Chinese family and wanted to make a purchase. The woman at the register followed him throughout the store. Never once asking if he needed help. When he took his merchandise up front to pay, she tossed him his change, not wanting to touch his hands. I was irate when he told me this. I immediately went to the store to speak with the woman. I saw hate in her eyes. She didn’t want to speak with me and ordered me out her store. I felt it was useless to reamain because I looked around me and there was a line of black people waiting to check out and they were looking at me like I was wrong. I left disgusted and sad that we still support businesses that do not respect us. These businesses have forced black owned business OUT OF BUSINESS. Can any black person reading this message explain to me why we black people REFUSE to support each other? We have been thru so much as a people and have so much hate and disdain for one another. Also, I strongly feel the Republican party will not support President Obama on any issue simply due to his race. I want people to call it for what it is…racism.

And you can listen at http://www.thegogettersunion.blogspot.com

1057 No. Oakley Dr. West
Apt. 102
Westmont, IL. 60559
March 6, 2010

Dear Mr. Roland Martin:
I am extremely interested in pursuing my career in Aviation. I received my Bachelors of Science degree in Aviation from Lewis University (2003) in Romeoville. I would like to pursue my educational goal and take flying lessons. I’m already $50,000 + in debt over student loans. My major aspiration is to become an African American Pilot. This is my dream and I feel with hard work and determination the end result will be accomplishment.

I am currently enrolled in Midwest Flight Academy in DeKalb, IL. I am trying to pay this on my own but my funds are limited. I am losing sight of my other financial responsibilities trying to pursue this. I am asking if you know of or have a Foundation that can assist me in my pursuit towards becoming a Pilot. In every goal I set for myself, my objective is to exceed it.

Thank you for the time spent in reviewing this letter.

Sincerely and Respectfully,

William A. Finley
gfin420@yahoo.com

@Larry,

Say it ain’t so!!!! Please inform us that you are not the Black male voice that reportedly called Limbaugh’s radio show recently praising recently elected Va. Gov. Bob McDonnell’s declaration of April as Confederate Memorial Month in that state,or some such nonsense.

I’m told, by a reliable source who’s heard you on Black radio talk shows, sometimes as “Larry,” and other times as “Sarge” (the name you use on BlackTalk Blog Radio) that it was the same voice–you.

You reportedly said that “it is time the great Confederacy got it’s just recognition for the good it tried to do.” You also reportedly praised Robert E. Lee, the defeated first and only president of your “beloved confederacy.”

My previous question to you remains unchanged. “What more do you tea party folk want?”

You already have municipal monuments, schools, roadways, etc., named after your Confederate heroes. Your flags fly on the capital rotunda of most southern states.

You have gotten all of the stimulus money, plus you recently got your LONG SOUGHT Republican “RomneyCare” health insurance bill imposed nationally. Which your mind bosses pretend not to want and incite you zealots to protest against for political theater.

Now you all want to cause further distraction by making bogus claims to new state holidays and observances, in addition to the many you already have.

And then you have the audacity to complain when I say that your zealot loyalty to these folk is “canine-like.”

Roland I’m your biggest fan i love the show and you keep us informed on what’s going on..keep up the great job

h-town jack yates lion class of 87

Again, I meant April 8, 2010.

Roland

Look forward to seeing you monitor The National Action Network’s Forum next week. It would have been great to see Tavis Smiley monitor with you. He also has a great foresight on Washington and black issues.

@NorthAvondale1,

I found your post very informative and well written. And it was insightful of you to inform readers on the exigency of the matter. Indeed, time is running out for African Americans to get their fair share of what is now $170 billion (with the recent addition of $20 billion to the initial $150) of stimulus funds allocated to the USDOT and the building/construction trades.

You mention how various forces fight and threaten Blacks to continue keeping them out. Of course they do. That has for a long time been how they have been able to maintain middle class lifestyles for themselves. They get their share and ours too. But many of us don’t seem to understand how important that issue is. So it is key that people like you keep telling your own story until the world notice that you have families too. Your children need food, clothing, and shelter too. Your children need tuition for education too. YOU COUNT TOO.

Of course, you can’t depend on the mainstream media to tell your story. That’s not how it works. They develop narratives that fit their aims at shaping public oppinion. So the narrative is the tea party this and that. In other words, they promote a group of people whose entire claim to grievance is based on TOTAL falsehood. On the other hand, your grievance is real and 100% meritorious. But you get no mention. So you are going to have to use alternative media, new media, and tell your own story like you did so eloquently here.

I first became aware of the fact that Blacks were getting virtually none of the highway stimulus funds even before I saw the statistics. My wife and I took a long planned cross country drive last summer. We drove from the east to west coasts. We drove through rain, thunderstorms, sandstorms, hills, prairies, savannas, deserts, deltas, mountains and valleys. During our journey, we saw thousands of work crews repairing roadways. Finally, she asked, “why are there no brothers working?”

After that, we started keeping count. From the east coast, to the west coast, we saw seven (7) Black men working on highway projects (Woodchuck says he was one of them). All the projects had signs stating they were funded by the American Recovery Act (stimulus) funds. All the workers were either white or Hispanic.

After returning home, I started searching the literature for evidence that what we had seen with our own eyes was wrong. The data confirmed our personal observations. Blacks are getting none, or almost none, of the Stimulus funds.

You correctly listed all levels of responsibility, and likened the struggle of Black tradesmen to that of the Civil Rights movement, regarding the threats and abuse. But don’t forget that it was the federal government that put an end to the attacks on Civil Rights workers. And after being pushed by the Civil Rights movement, federal Civil Rights laws spelled out clear guidelines for Black inclusion in all projects funded in whole, or in part, by federal tax dollars.

Please keep us informed regarding the outcome of the trials of those in your home town you mentioned who dared stand for justice in the political process of resource allocation. The NAACP is an esteemed national organization. What is the national leadership doing to help you? We know they give awards to movies that depict Blacks as chicken eaters, incestuous, and baby molesters. But what support are they giving to trench fighters like yourself and those whose names you honored?

I watch your show on sunday mornings before I go to church. It is so good to see that I’m not the only person that understands that just because we have an African American President all is well, racism has just disappeared from the seen. I work and have worked for the last 10 years in an area that is in total denial begarding our state of race relationsv in this country. Although it would be nice if it could go away it just hasn’t. Thanks for keeping it real:)

Marlene,
My math comes to about 182,692 per campus. Still a lot for a small campus.

With computers – classes can be taught worldwide. This is the age of distance learning. From China to Africa.

THE IMPOSSIBLE IS POSSIBLE.

My concerns are not validated by you – s. I am not seeking your approval -s.

Some people live in a limited environment. MY WORLD IS FULL OF POSSIBILITY.

There are three sources of educational funding – LOCAL, STATE, FEDERAL. I say HBCU’s can accomplish this goal. We should create our own schools. PUT OUR ENERGY IN SOMETHING WE CAN CONTROL. OUR OWN CHARTER SCHOOLS…………..

I AM A HIP HOP GRANDMA AND PROUD OF IT. TO EACH HIS OWN. I LIKE THEIR ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THEY RAP ABOUT WHAT THEY KNOW AND SEE. CHANGE THEIR REALITY IF YOU DO NOT LIKE IT. GET THEM OUT OF PRISON AND THE PROJECTS AND THEY WILL SING ANOTHER SONG.

Florida Virtual School PUBLIC SCHOOL

Florida Virtual School is an accredited, public, online e-learning school serving students in grades K-12 all over the world.

Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning

I REMEMBER WHEN A U.S. BLACK PRESIDENT WAS AN ILLUSION

Then & Now
Virtual school adds class with state funding

‘HISD Virtual School expanding far beyond Texas’

The Houston Independent School District established the HISD Virtual School in 2000, when HISD personnel began writing an online curriculum for students in the sixth through eighth grades.

Now, the HISD Virtual School program is becoming a model for other school districts throughout the country, including Wisconsin’s Milwaukee Public Schools.

HISD’s pioneer virtual school provides a full academic year of online core courses, advanced placement courses and test and college prep classes. The online courses provide an opportunity for two-way interactive learning any time, anywhere and for any student using a computer with the Internet.

The program is well-suited to students with special needs and independent students who may be schooled at home, according to Jo Beth Harris, director of the HISD Virtual School. It is also helpful as a supplement to traditional classroom instruction, particularly in charter schools, Harris says.

The HISD Virtual School was initiated with the help of former HISD Superintendent Rod Paige, who now serves as U.S. secretary of education. A major goal was to decrease the number of students who drop out at the middle-school level.

Now funded by the state, the total cost of the project is expected to range between $1 million and $2 million, according to Harris.

In January 2003, the HISD Virtual School began implementing curriculum for high school grades that include course work in core subjects, but expands into business, foreign language, economics, health and home economics.

Currently, the HISD Virtual School is partnering with The University of Texas and Apex Learning to create a high school curriculum and advanced placement courses that will be suitable for use in different areas of the country.

Now
During the 78th Regular Session of the Texas Legislature, Gov. Rick Perry signed into law Senate Bill 1108, which gave Texas schools the ability to receive American Disability Association funding for electronic courses, according to Harris.

The bill focused on increasing academic achievement in Texas high schools with an online diagnostic and assistance program.

This gives schools an opportunity to lessen the dropout rate in their schools by offering additional means for learning such as a more personalized learning environment.

“There was a little bit of a hold up, but Texas Education Agency Commissioner Robert Scott and Anita Givens in curriculum blew new life into it,” Harris says.

School districts that are interested in establishing funding for a virtual school must submit an application.

The applications will become available in January 2004.

“We are happy about it and happy to be a part of it,” Harris says. “With funding from HISD, we can become a real school. Now, we are just waiting for January.”

HISD’s Virtual School is still working with the Milwaukee schools, and the partnership has been expanded for another year. The Milwaukee school system has shown an increased enrollment to the middle and high school courses, Harris says.

The Virtual School was invited to present ideas for online curriculum at the National Education Computer Conference over the summer and was also invited to the conference in 2004.

Harris says she is starting to devote more time to increasing the awareness of the online program to other districts.

“Things are looking up,” she says. “We are all gaining a new start.”

In the meantime, the Virtual School is offering advanced placement courses as well as a dual credit component which allows a high school student to take general college courses while completing a high school degree.

Read more: Virtual school adds class with state funding – Houston Business Journal:

Center for Education Reform – Just the FAQs – Charter …Charter school funding; Charter school achievement; Toolkit: How to Start a Charter School; Some more Quick Facts About Charter Schools. Find Your Charter School: Comprehensive National …

http://www.edreform.com/Fast_Facts/Ed_Reform_FAQs/?Just_the_FAQs_Charter_Schools · Cached pageCharter School Financing – Following the MoneyCharter schools are public schools and should receive the same type and amount of funding as conventional district schools. But they do not. Charter schools across the United …

I love blogging.Sharon needs to wake up from her NIGHTMARE of mediocrity and reach for the stars.

FEASABILITY STUDIES

This is the first step. Have a college class conduct a feasability study , COST ANALYSIS, BUDGET, MARKETING ANALYSIS.

COLLEGE STUDENTS CAN COMPOSE A NOT FOR PROFIT BUSINESS PLAN. CONDUCT A PILOT PROGRAM. THEN ASSESS THE OUTCOMES

HBCU’s can do this. They have all of the required framework.

I AM WATCHING AL SHARPTON ACTION SHOW NOW.

I ALSO AM LOOKING FORWARD TO WATCHING MRS. HUGHES INTERVIEW FARRAKHAN.

THANKYOU TV ONE FOR THE EXCELLENT PROGRAMMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am watching Rev. Sharpton show, this sat. Morning. black college student working on my PhD in Forensic and Clinical Psychology. Being a California native, where are budget is 28 million in deficit and crowed prisoner mostly blacks and hispancis; however; the majority of psychologist are white and no blacks working with blacks.

We have an problem with educating at the higher level and drop-out rate for graduate student, who needs support to make sure that the student who qualifies for graduate studies must finish and obtain their degree.

Myles

I would like to work with HBCU daycare and K-12 pilot programs.

I just watched the NAN event on TV One and I am so glad that we are moving from a lot of talk and moving to action. I was inspired when you said what commitment are you willing to make. I checked this website, the national action network, the national urban league, and the NAACP websites for the commitment card where you were suppose to give your contact info and an issue that you are committed to work on but could not find anything. This is such an easy way for the average person to help. Can you please add this to your website?

I was on one accord with you Mr. Martin when you stated that we have had many forums about the black community but now is the time for action. Not just talk. We the people want to be engage in our community. I have some very good ideas that would help my community. The problem is the organizations and leaders stick to a select few. When we have community meetings they are usually geared toward informing what the city of Houston is doing are about themselves. Organizations don’t respond to supporting each other. You stated that you will be monitoring the commitments of those who say they are going to implement in the next 90 days.

We already no what our problems are with the black communities, but we have to allow our people to be apart of the change.
There was once a commitment in our community that allowed every child perticipate in activities in school and the parents were also involved. We can do this again. In the city of Houston our Mayor isn’t informed enough to help our community. This is a known fact because when she addressed the community leaders recently, she talked about the trash pick-up and its success in the black community but nothing about how to improve the major needs of that black community. I don’t think it is just up to her to improve our community. It is up to the leaders, parents, organizations in that community and local representatives. The leaders need to change their ways on how they allow the people to participate in the change of the community. We need prosperity now. We need to put business in our community that provide jobs for unemployable and the people of that community. This can be achieve by lisening to the people and their ideas. It can happen. I can do it, but who will allow me? Everyone dosen’t belong to a church and some people are considered to participate because of their background. We also have a population of veterans living on the streets, prisioners who come home and don’t have no work. Let us not forget the dope dealers who come home and may want to do better but how? We can address all of these problems with a very successful rate if we apply the right tools. It isn’t hard, we just need more of our organizations and leaders to allow change without them thinking about the next electiona nd their bottom line. Give us a chance to change!

Excellent forum today with Rev. Sharpton’s National Action Network.

A question I submitted concerning the role of organized labor and the building trades in blocking African-American employment at construction work sites, was not covered in any way during this important panel discussion.

Roland, perhaps you could invite the new President of the AFL-CIO on to Washington Watch, along with leadership from black trade union organizations, the NAACP, the Urban Leagtue and NAN to discuss and debate the issue of black worker inclusion, since it has a direct bearing on whether current and future dispersals of federal stimulus dollars will include “us” in any meaningful way.

There are thousands of African-American workers who are qualified to work right now, who are being deprived of opportunity. Rampant discrimination is occurring, with site foreman calling back their brothers, sisters and cousins for work, not mention for extra hours, while African-American workers are sidelined.

What is occurring among African-Americans right now is as a sister activist in my home town of Cincinnati, Ohio said is ECONOMIC GENOCIDE OF AFRICAN AMERICAN PEOPLE.”

Although the Urban League’s idea, voiced to the NAN forum this morning to send federal stimulus dollars directly to Mayors and Governors and not to just Governors is a good first step, unless problems are recognized and resolved between African-Americans workers and contractors on the one hand, and organized labor and the building trades on the other, African-Americans will continue to be left out.

And I guarantee you that Democratic elected officials, both black and white, will come up with excuses in such an event, because they are scared of the unions.

Important work is going on now in cities like Cincinnati and Chicago, where African-American activists are challenging the status quo. The Cincinnati Branch of the NAACP under the leadeship of Christopher Smuitherman and the Rev. Dock Foster, President of the (Black) Baptist Miniters Conference, have already been arrest at construction worksites in Cincinnati, where tax dollars are being used for new construction and where African-American contractors and workers are being left out.

The local media, with the exception of the Black Press and Black Radio (the Radio One affiliate), has under reported this controversy. There is a need to engage the national media to higlight these struggles, as they directly impact on the jobs issue.

Further the Democratic Party, which is financially beholden to organized labor has been ineffective in getting the building trades to reform and really open up to African-Americans.

The Republicans seem to be oblivious to this matter, where they could intervene on principle in local communities and help African-Americans find work and in the process gain significant political traction. Instead the Republicans keep whinning about black leadership meeting them half way, which is a meaningless conversation if the Republicans are not about concrete, measurable initiatives that will assist African-Americans. As a former black Republican, I can say with authority that Republicans are worse than a blind man without a cane in recognizing opportunities to promote a black agenda that would earn them credibility with African-Americans and which would really not mean a departure from their so-called principles. they fact that they have failed to intervene in local struggles is simply another indication that what Michael Steele is talking about is non-substantive PR with African-Americans.

Sadly, where African-Americans have leverage, which is inside the Democratic Party, we are not using it effectively in local communities.

The positive sign that I see is that increasingly, African-Americans are dis-afffiliating with either of the two major political parties and investing more time in their local chapters of the NAACP, National Action Network and other grassroots organizations to do precisely what was discussed in this morning’s panel.

WHEN YOU SPK ABOUT SUPPORT. I AM DEALING WITH A SITUATION IN MY DAUGHTERS SCH WHERE SHE WAS HELD IN A CLASSROOM ALONE WITH A UNLICENSED STUDENT TEACHER, ALONE AND MADE TO CLEAN UP A MESS, THAT WAS MADE BY ANOTHER CHILD. WHEN I REPORTED THIS TO MY DAUGHTERS SCH, BOARD OF ED AND THE POLICE I AM TOLD THAT EITHER THEY WONT HAVE HIM REMOVED FROM THE SCHOOL, THE CLASS, OR THAT IT THE PRINCIPALS CALL. THE POLICE SAID ITS A BOARD OF ED PROBLEM AND MY COUNCIL MEMEBER CHRISTINE QUINN HAS NOT EVEN RESPONDED, NOR HAS THE CHANCELLOR OR THE MAYOR. IF I DONT SEND MY CHILD BK TO SCH THEY WILL CALL ACS. WHEN WE SPEAK ABT SUPPORT AND ACCOUNTABILITY…IM LOST WITH THIS SITUATION….NO BODY WANTS TO GET INVOLVED? AM I NOT A TAX PAYER, A PART OF THE COMMUNITY? ITS A SHAME

Where is the list of programs so that I can chose a program to volunteer.

@Tanasha Williams:

I read your post with great interest. I feel your anger and respect your support for your child.

However, there are several questions not answered by your post that I’d like further information on:

1. When you say your daughter was “held,” what exactly do you mean?
a) was it normal after school detention?
b) If it was after school detention, what was the reason for it? Was there a breech of school policy? If so, how was it determined that a breech had occurred and that your daughter was responsible?

2.How did the “unlicensed” or uncertified person get to be the one to supervise the detention?
a)did he make the decision to detain your daughter?
b)if he made the decision, was it within his purview (line of authority) to do so?
c)although uncertified/unlicensed himself, is he being supervised by a qualified person?

3.Was your child treated differently than other children for the same breech of policy, that is, if a breech of policy is the issue? And if so, are there any identifiable things about your child that could possibly explain the difference in treatment given the social-political structure of the world in which we live. For example, you said he made your daughter clean up a mess made by another child. What is the difference between your child and the child who made the mess?

4.Did the detention violate school policy, or contribute to issues of unsafety, or harm the emotional well-being of the child?

Were I you, these are some of the issues that I would become clear on before retaining an attorney.

I would like to know the followup to these questions also. Does the school have a parent council? If so, have you consulted them? If not, have you organized one? I respect your love for your child. I wish you well.

REFER PEOPLE TO EXPERTS.

Oprah was wrong. When people have mental/emotional problems – first of all they need prayer/spiritual guidance, and PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE.

OPRAH SHOULD HAVE HAD A PSYCHIATRIST AND A PSYCHOLOGIOST ON HER SHOW WITH MONIQUES BROTHER. THE PASTOR ON THE SHOW NEVER OFFERED PRAYER AND HEALING FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY.

OPRAH IS NO EXPERT ON EVERYTHING. SHE NEEDS TO RECOGNIZE HER MONEY IS NOT KNOWLEDGE.

When we deal with rape, incest, molestations and abuse of girls or boys – this is a very sensitive traumatic experience. The entire family is traumatized.

WE LOVE MONIQUE AND SUPPORT HER AND HER FAMILY. PLEASE GET PROFESSIONAL COUNSELING FOR YOUR FAMILY. IF POSSIBLE DO NOT DEPRIVE YOUR CHILDREN OF THEIR GRANDPARENTS AND FAMILY TIES.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A PERFECT PERSON OR FAMILY. WE ALL HAVE ISSUES.

Your family is worth saving.

Roland… why is it assumed Black people need a spokesperson/leader(and who chooses this person btw)? And since we do, why are the same people “leading” us in the same circle with the same rhetoric since the civil rights movement?

Roland i think we as black people should be out their protesting with the mexican because we know all about profiling

ROLAND – YOU OBVIOUSLY WANT YOUR SHOW TO FAIL. THAT IS WHY YOU ARE ON AT 2 IN THE MORNING – NO ONE IS WATCHING YOU.

Tell me you have people with input and data on how to reach your TARGET MARKET – BLACK FOLKS. You are not CNN so stop trying to pretend.

Can you teach hildren who are hungry? Can you preach to people who are hungry??? FEED THE FLOCK

BLACK PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING. YOUR PROGRAM SHOULD TARGET THEM AND HELP RESOLVE THE IMMEDIATE CONCERNS OF -JOBS – FORECLOSURES – CRIME.

I do not believe TV ONE allow you to waste air time. WE ARE DYING ON THE VINE – AT THE BOTTOM OF THE ECONOMIC LADDER. GET A CLUE BROTHER.

SOME ADVISE IS ——- WE HAVE TOLD YOU TO CONCENTRATE ON JOBS, STIMULUS DOLLARS, UNEMPLOYMENT, WHO IS HELPING BLACKS GET THIS MONEY.

2. MAKE SURE THE FARMERS GET THEIR MONEY//////////

3. PANEL OF MINISTERS TO TALK ABOUT 12 MONTH AGENDA

ROLAND – FIND PANELS OF EXPERTS ON THESE THREE TARGETS AND YOUR SHOW WILL GAIN MOMENTUM. FEED THE PEOPLE AND YOUR SHOW WILL POPULAR.

OBAMA IS EATING , LIVING GOOD, NICE FAMILY, GREAT TRIPS LIVING THE LIFE OF A KING. WE NEED TO DIVERT OUR ATTENTION TO THE SUFFERING BLACK PEOPLE AND HELP SOLVE SOME OF THEIR – IMMEDIATE — IMMEDIATE – NEEDS.

FEED THE PEOPLE ROLAND

Chicago is bringing the NATIONAL GUARD to the ghetto. BECAUSE CHICAGO BLACKS CANNOT CONTROL THEIR KIDS.

TALK ABOUT THAT – ROLAND

On the April 25th show you discussed the banks and the financial institution reform situation as well as President Obama’s soft shoe approach. Honestly, i feel the only people who can reform these financial institutions are the everyday people who utilize them. We the people are not obligated to do any type of business with these institutions and at any given moment have the ability to withdraw all of our money from them and immediately cease all credit card payments and transactions. Government is economically bound to these entities. The people, in truth are only bound to who respects them and can invariably move about at will; the financial institutions are only as powerful as the people’s money allow them to be and without that money who really has the power? Hopefully the people will wake up and realize this powerful fact and act on it. Stop giving your money to the banks!!!!!

Mexicans have several tv and cable stations. they have the wealthiest billionaire in the world. MEXICANS KNOW HOW TO FIGHT THEIR FIGHT.

BLACKS ARE THE ONES WHO ARE DESTITUTE. WE CAN NOT FIGHT FOR OURSELVES – HOW CAN WE FOR ANYONE ELSE?

TAKE CARE OF YOUR OWN HOME FIRST!!!!!!!

I have not seen the large number of Hispanics nor La Raza, the Catholic Church or Congressman Luis Gutierrez marching with Black males when it comes to racial profiling. Once again some Hispanics expect Blacks to support them.We are held to the law more than another other group if illegal aliens are just that illegal. Enforce the law against those who EMPLOY illegal aliens and enforce the current law against those here illegally. As a Black male New Yorker I am shocked and appalled that my Mayor Michael Bloomberg condemns Arizona but praise the racial profiling of African American males by his NYPD. To date he’s not been asked about his double standard position.

Thank you for speaking on my question Roland, but I still didn’t get the answer I was hoping for. So again, why is it assumed Black Americans need leadership? Take the idea that Al Sharpton is going to Arizona to boycott the current immigration issues–> which is great. But who’s the leadership for the Latinos in this case? Or for Asians, or Native Americans in their efforts? There are times I wonder if being a “leader” is nothing more than a source of employment–> no different than Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are the “leaders” for a certain population of White America. I do believe there are issues in America that need to be addressed, but I wonder if we need a different blueprint to combat these same Civil matters that have more to do with economics than race.

why do we out source with 1. federal 2, state 3. local governments. my motto is “Government Use Only” It should be Us Manufactures only. We buy too much from overseas. I work in a prison my pants are made in vietnam 2 my shirt is made in mexico 3 my jacket is made in china. taxes helps the federal state local government run if we stop using overseas products job can be started in the us

Hi Roland martin,
We (your viewers) know you have 2 and 3 jobs because you believe that getting jobs in the black community is only a small problem. Your wrong, greatly wrong.
It’s a large, overwhelming problems in the hood, a number 1 problem. Let me list the things wrong that having a job could simply cut in half !!! 1. drugs, selling and using. 2.crimes, black on black for obvious reasons 3.education, young men and women not worries about shelter and food for family members.
People period, having something to do with their time and feeling proud of it.
Not having a job in our community exacerbates all the problems we have. People listen to you, Roland, so please go back and correct your statement on may 2nd’s Sunday show.
The congressman or representative tried to correct you nicely, but you need to correct your self on air! Jobs are vital
to the black community’s survival!!!!

@Karla,

I’ve been busy with projects and have not had time to post comments. However, I’m glad that you find my comments useful. Personally, I find many comments posted on this site useful. And even when I disagree with some of them, I still find them useful.

For example, I think Heyward’s comment above was right on point. It reflects the views of well over 90% of African Americans that I talk to. Not that they, or I, would ever agree with anyone being discriminated against. But they just don’t see the reciprocity, no matter how much “speaking in tongues” some Blacks do to the contrary of the wishes of the masses.

@Rance, I enjoyed reading your comment, and agree totally.

@Carol mcCollum, I agree 100% with your comment. While I have defended Roland to the hilt when he was being attacked without merit, I agree that his comment to which you responded was off-base and plain wrong.

If you have been reading my comments (which you may, or may not agree with for obvious reasons-although you may agree more now than you would have 6 months ago) then you know that I have consistently supported African Americans getting what has been eloquently described by Mr. Danny Bakewell as “our due.”

There is serious suffering being experienced by African Americans, and as you point out, almost all of it is economically related. There are some who see things otherwise, either due to a lack of empathy, or a lack of understanding. But how could anyone not care? Regardless how well some of us might be doing. How could one not care?

There are those who do not see the relationship between economics and most of the undesirable behaviors that are much “ballyhooed” in and about African American communities. But policy makers and analysts see the relationship clearly.

Watch this:

The Justice Policy Institute (JPI) is a Washington D.C. based think tank with the stated mission of “preventing society’s reliance on incarceration.” The JPI issues well researched reports that analyze policy and criminal justice issues. According to a May 11, 2009 JPI report crime and incarceration could be decreased by a more robust investment in prevention programs. The JPI further argues that the greater the investment in prisons rather than social programs, the greater the likelihood that prisons will be filled regardless whether there is an increase in crime or not. In fact, the JPI contends that there is an inverse relationship between crime and prisons. In other words, rather than an increase in prisons leading to a decrease in crime, the increase in imprisonment itself is what leads to an increase in crime.

But the disturbing thing about that and other reports is the JPI’s claim that the current Administration actually cut funding for prevention programs in its FY2010 Department of Justice budget of $26.7 billion. This budget, according to the JPI, invests “too little in long term solutions, and is likely to contribute to rising incarceration rates.”

The JPI report(which can be accessed on line) goes on to state that “the budget reduces spending on juvenile justice programs,” while it “increases spending on prisons, including 1,000 new contract beds (private prison providers) and two new federal prisons.”

The JPI report further states that when the organization made an inquiry about the reason for the increased prison funding, it was told that such increases were needed due to high unemployment rates.

While mostly social scientists (and Roland is not a social scientist, he is a journalist) will read reports like those published by the JPI, almost everyone is aware of unemployment reports that clearly state Black unemployment is rising while that for other groups is declining.

That raises a simple but serious question. And all Blacks should stop celebrity worshiping, at least long enough to figure out the rest.

Well said Rance! I think a lot us (black people)need to change the way we think. We should learn from other groups, not what they say about us but what they do for each other. If we are in certain positions we should help one another. If we are receiving the helping hand don’t mess it up, becuse it looks bad for you the person who gave you the helping hand, and all black people because they seem to group us together.

In the above post I made an error in stating that the Berlin Conference was held in “1865.” The actual date was 1884 -85, but the purpose and results of the conference are accurate as stated.

I apologize for the error.

Jwill7,
Once again you dropped knowledge that a lot of people needed to think about.
I had never thought about what you said about what the message could be in the stupid wearing of pants with the behinds out. I also have noticed that some females now be wearing pants like that.

JWill7,

I’m going to pick up the book you recommended; it sounds like an interesting read.

One point I’d like to make: If we’re not some of those who amass wealth as we sleep, but instead, depend upon income from employment to pay notes and maintain utilities, then even if our existence is comfortable, we’re part of the working class who support the rich. Whether poor without high school diploma, or middle classed with advanced degrees, is pretty much irrelevant for the purposes of my comments. I’ve observed some of the same behaviors I’d mentioned previously, throughout.

Unfortunately, I have personally known parents who’ve thwarted their children’s success. They may have done so unwittingly, thinking they were protecting the child from disappointment, but the result was the same. A friend of mine, who’d had her only child late in life, seemingly wanted to ensure that her little boy would always depend upon her. As a teenager, he would announce that he was hungry, and mom or dad would go into the kitchen to make him a snack. My friend still cleaned his room and and did his laundry. He was required to do no chores, and even his father didn’t insist that he help him with yard work. How do I know? Because my friend constantly bent my ear about his behavioral problems in school, which I think were partially for attention. I first suggested that she have him tested to determine if there were any learning disabilities. She claimed that he had been tested and no learning problems were apparent. She took him to tutoring sessions on Saturdays, but it made little difference because he wouldn’t turn in homework. I suggested that she contact his teachers, find out what his assignments were and then ask to see his completed homework at night. I have the feeling she didn’t, since she’d stopped talking about it. Well, the kid managed to get accepted into a small college away from home, and was looking forward to going. But then she began to do something that I thought was very peculiar: she would tell him that everyone wasn’t meant to be smart…repeatedly. Ok. Maybe that’s a basic truth. But I believe that telling him this at a time when his enthusiasm about going to school had been ignited, had the effect of dashing water on a fire. I think it also taught him to doubt his ability to do well.

It became a self-fulfilling prophecy, with him returning home permanently after the first semester, and nor did it help that he had never been prepared to manage anything in his life on his own.

Another instance of parents thwarting their children’s success, is from a time I worked as teen-court volunteer through my church.
Some background: the sessions were held on Saturdays, and most of the violations were for truancy. Although the prosecutor, defense attorney and jury were teenagers, the facilitor was a practicing attorney. The judge of a local precinct allowed use his courtroom for this purpose. In fact, he presided over the cases involving shoplifting or theft of service.

Most of the parents dropped the kids off, and went about their business. Granted, some had to work on Saturdays, but many didn’t. Now, as an adult, the prospect of having to appear before a judge to decide a punishment would be frightening for me. So, imagine what some of those kids must have been feeling, as they appeared before one by themselves. That gave me some insight into the family dynamic that possibly contributed to the problems the kids were having. There were also cases where kids had adversarial relationships with their teachers or school’s staff, but the kids had no one fighting for them. Some of the parents had never gone to the school to speak with teachers about their children. The facilitator offered to work with parents on individual bases to help build relationships with their children’s schools, or advise them how to challenge treatment they believed was unfair, through the school district. I’m glad to say that some of the parents took advantage of her help, and their childen benefitted from it. The parents of kids who most desperately needed help, often didn’t show for appointments and didn’t make their kids follow through on recommended actions. That was too bad, because at least a couple of those kids dropped out of school, and there seemed to be nothing we could do to prevent it.

I’m glad you brought up the private school option, which in my opinion, is sometimes more or a status symbol than proven means to a better education. My siblings and I, and most of our children were educated in public schools, and we’ve all fared well. Though private institutions generally have lower teacher:student ratios, the child’s advancement will still depend upon his study habits. Furthermore, when there was talk of providing vouchers for poor kids to attend private schools years ago, many people failed to realize that a private institution can afford to be selective, and therefore, everybody’s kids aren’t going to get into the schools of their choice anyway, especially if they don’t have the grades. But let’s say that all the kids in poor neighborhoods were able to get into private schools in other areas of town, then that would deplete state funding for schools in their neighborhoods, which might result in their closure. Subsequently, students in those neighborhood would have no choice but to travel across town to attend school. This is why parents have to press school districts, senators and representatives for improvements to their local schools…put the same energy into this as some do protesting school dress code policies. Disputing the latter doesn’t amount to a hill of beans because kids can exercise their individuality on their own time.

I have to admit that I harbor a prejudice toward what I perceive as a “mentality of helplessness”. It doesn’t matter to me whether it’s poor helplessness,rich helplessness, male helplessness, female helplessness, adult or child helplessness. I simply can’t relate to it, and an “I can’t do it” disposition bugs me.

Now, I’m sure those statements sound very foreign to a lot of people, but don’t interpret them to mean that I WON’T help someone. I, have participated in volunteerism and mentoring. I comprehend that everyone who is even reasonably successful had help getting there. But help comes in many forms, and there are times when a person must be lead by the hand through a process, and times when he is simply given instructions and pointed in a direction. Even when someone does nothing more than say, “You need to do A,B and C”, they’ve offered help and that should be appreciated, because in reality, no one has to tell you anything and sometimes won’t.

Your statement, “I know that we can empower ourselves by understanding first of all that when push comes to shove, we are and have always been alone.” is my sentiment, exactly. My parents, who were ordinary working people, always stressed to us the vital need to be able to take care of ourselves because we wouldn’t have the luxury of depending on others to help with our needs. They weren’t being unkind; they were simply imparting with us the wisdom of their experiences about survival in a cold world.

However, when you say, “They want to know what can you do for them”, what does that mean, specifically? What action would have to be performed, for some people to feel that somepne has helped them? Even family, the people who should love someone most, will feel burdened if they see no end in sight, or too little effort on their loved one’s part to help someone lift them. So, what are they looking for from strangers?

I’d like to pose a few other questions: why does poverty have to be synonymous to dirt and filth? If people treat their own neighborhoods like the city dump, disposing of trash, garbage, bottles and debris by tossing on the ground, who should clean it up? What’s so hard about putting refuse where it belongs? Is this necessary?!

When people don’t treat their environment with respect, moving them to better properties won’t solve anything because in time, their dirty habits will have those places looking like slums. One may not have the resources to move to a new zip code, or renovate the home where they live. But a broom, a bucket of soap and water can do wonders. It shouldn’t matter whether they are buying or renting the property; the point is to take pride in where one lives.

The military requires its personnel to keep their surroundings clean because the discipline helps to organize one’s thought processes and foster pride. Just as an old car looks 100% better when given a good wash, the immediate benefits of literally cleaning up the neighborhood would be existence in a place made more pleasant, aesthetically. Just sweeping and washing down steps and walkways would make a noticeable improvement. These are tasks that can be assigned to children, which would would not only be good exercise for them, but make them more cognizant of the ‘action & consequence’ relationship of littering. The long-term benefits are that their efforts might attract some businesses to their area. I genuinely believe that opportunities rise to meet effort, because I’ve witnessed it many times. So, if the residents of an area put forth the initial efforts, then more people would be inspired to offer additional help and resources to those areas. Another long-term benefit is that it would instill in children the lifelong value of taking care of what one has, regardless of how humble the possession.

You’re correct that the sagging of pants isn’t the sole reason black men are excluded from the labor market, but it surely doesn’t work in their favor either. Not to imply that they would show up at interviews like that, but since there’s a mindset that precludes a guy deciding to expose his butt to the world, the process for exclusion was already in motion. Although I recognized that this mode of dress exudes a certain defiance, it hadn’t occurred to me that it might be nonverbal communication for: kiss my a##.

Hmmm. I’ve yet to see anyone successfully persuaded by someone confirming negative conclusions about themselves. First of all, they look plain stupid walking around like babies with full diapers. Secondly, it would best serve those young men – and the ones in their 30s or 40s who should be old enough to know better – to accept that actions like those are equivalent to shooting themselves in the foot. While they end up limping along, everyone else leaves them behind. They only hurt themselves.

I wish the people with whom they do have relationships, would tell them. Better yet, I wish more MEN would tell them about it. Advice like that coming from a woman who’s unknown to them, is just blown off.

I firmly believe that children are the essential element for reversing the ills of our communities. As long as they haven’t been fed a steady diet of defeatism since birth, children remain optimistic and resilient. Planting seeds of hope and confidence in them is more likely to yield positive results than trying to reprogram adults to view life differently.

A final note: sometimes well-intentioned compassion, can be the most crippling victimization of all. People can never thrive and prosper when they’re totally absolved of all responsibility. Trials and tribulations are nothing new for black people. The difference is that we hadn’t allowed them to devastate us before.

lousi farrakhan has the right idea, roland martin you should follow his word, and help black slaves of america in 2010

Hi Roland,

First, let me say I like your show, finally a political show from a Black perspective!
My comment is regarding the nomination of Kagan to the Supreme Court.
I think most African Americans want to support President Obama, however after this week’s nomination of Kagan, I can no longer support him…Enough of making excuses for his lack of respect for Black folks.
The fact that President Obama didn’t even interview a qualified Black woman for this position, in my mine is a slap in the face to All intelligent Black women. Mr. Thomas does not represent us on the Supreme Court! Therefore, Blacks don’t have anyone on the Supreme Court that represents them.
The President has thrown Black people under the Bus, again. And, I think we should not blindly follow and/or give our loyalty (vote) to any politician, just because he is Black or mixed race.
Due to his election to President of the United States, Black people are experiencing “Backlash/Blacklash” in every area of society. It doesn’t matter who is in office, Black folks ALWAYS get the short stick or no stick at all.
Clearly, President Obama is “playing” Black people just like the White folks do…No; I can no longer support the President of All people! He can save America and put everything back on track, however my husband and I are done.

Mrs. Barbara White
Newark, California

This is a message fopr all you folks who say that you will not stand behind the President because of some reason that you feel he is not doing enough for Black America first you must understand that he is the President of all of the United States and its People and he has done a lot for Black America by just getting elected and he has been in Office for approximately a year and an half let this man run the Country as he sees fit give him time to do the things that will ultimately benefit Black America, you have to look at it this way would you rather have White American in Office who you know will never do anything for the Black People but hold them down as he has done for the last two hundred years or so and will never do a thing that will uplift Black People at least with an African American President you know that he has to be thinking of us as a people and how he can help uplift us the White Americans they have been running this country for years and done nothing for any minority so you would support a White Canadate over President Obama please take a minute to think, what you
are saying is that you would support the Slave Master over one of your own just because he did not pick a Black Supreme Court Nominee and for your information he did interview a African American Woman Judge for the position, we hve to remember that if we dont support our own President who happens to be African American, who will you support the White American who has kept us in Slavery and Bondage Mentally and physcially for all these years and you know that the White Man does not care about you at all and he has proven this time and time again and you still voted for him now that you have the first African American President you wont support him because you feel he has not done enough for you who else has done anything for you it is just like Black America to fall apart just as the White Man wants us to do divide an conquer and keep us down dont be so stupid as to say you would rather give your support to a White American the Slave Master as you have done before Barack Obama i would hope that Black Americans are smarter than that.

@Rance,

It’s not a problem. You have to read the book first. And then share what you’ve learned with others.

I’m still steaming at “Sammy” for his insensitivity towards “Julia.” She posted on the other page and self-disclosed her experiences while growing up in a white adoptive home. Not surprisingly, her account was consistent with what many professionals hear all the time specific to acculturation issues and the lack of extended adoptive family acceptance. It is for that reason that organizations like the National Organization of Black Social Workers and others have traditionally opposed such adoptions.

But rather than respect Julia’s self-disclosed experiences, he(I suppose it’s a he, if not, I apologize) gave her an insulting lecture about how fortunate she was for not growing up in a “crack house,” etc. And how she was wrong when she said there were Blacks willing to adopt her, etc. You see, he knows more about who was willing to adopt her than she does. To me he crossed the line!

First, he did not live the experience that she was brave enough to share. Yet, he’s going to present himself as the expert on her life and chastise her, simply because her lived version did not conform to his fanciful version that he got from television.

Second, it is the same uninformed frame of mind that he was in several months ago when he posted a comment accusing Blacks who do not view politics as a game of celebrity worship as needing a “civics lesson.” Simply because these Blacks seek political reciprocity. It is no secret that I am one of them. And since he knows so much about “civics,” I again suggest that he advances beyond mere “civics” and examines the relationship between socioeconmic policies and the conditions he lectured about. That’s where he’ll find the rubber meeting the road.

While he certainly has a right to his comments, he does not have the right to insult “Julia.” He can disagree with her, of course. But not about her own experiences. That doesn’t make sense to a rat. If anything, he should have commended her. Particularly, since she said that she’s now raising two adoptive Black children. But his mind-set is she must be lying when she said Blacks were willing to adopt her, because everyone knows that Blacks don’t adopt or do anything else right,etc. Except, of course, “ONE” man.

And there is no institutional racism in Blacks way, according to his way of thinking, Blacks are just no good. It would be in vain to tell him that I know of more than a few cases where children were taking from Black parents for alledged drug use and given to white households that also used drugs. That would never happen in his thinking. It would never occur to his mind-set that no one, and, I mean no one, uses more drugs than the Hollywood crowd that now adopts Black children as a fashion statement. Plus, they stay married an average of four hours, give or take an hour or two. That’s an exaggeration, but you get the point. It would also be useless to expain to him that the greatest health and developmental danger to children is not crack (as bad as crack is) but Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. A primarily white problem. But these children rarely go into child custody services, even when the parents are known crack and other drug users.

His is the kind of slavery mind-set that is holding us back. It is not significantly dissimilar to the mind-set of the zealot. Whose thinking is confined to the prescribed formula: Dem=bad, Repub=good. Lib=bad. Conserv=good. Fox news=good. All other news=bad.

The difference is in mind-sets like Sammy’s it appears to be a conditioned formula of: white=good. Black=bad.

While I do not like discussing what I do, because I’m not trying to make a name for myself, or rub shoulders with well known people, I can truthfully state that resulting from my (and team)efforts, hundreds of Black children have remained with their parents over the years where they belong.

@ JULIA, I applaud you for your brave willingness to self-disclose your experiences. You are a true champion for raising two adopted Black children. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. May God forever bless you for being a complete human being.

Excuse Sammy, for he knows not about which he speaks, whether it’s adoptions, politics, weather, or I imagine, anything else.

WE ARE ALL MIXED RACES IN AMERICA!!!!!!

America has very few PURE DNA PEO0LE.

The AMERICAN INDIANS

SPANIARDS

MEXICANS

ITALIANS
AFRICANS
FRENCH peoples all settled in America.

Whites are mixed and Blacks are mixed.

Do not fall for the propoganda. America is divided by GREED AND POWER.

Politics is the game we play in America to gain control over the masses.

DO NOT FALL FOR THE HYPE – GET A DNA TEST

prada bags 2010 and prada handbags sale in good2bags,inc.The linen blend prada bag leaves a smooth and clean impression with its simple yet graceful shade while the natural color is easy to bring you some freshness and coolness in the hot days. prada leather bag is hot sake now.

@Rance,

I don’t get your point. There are many potentially gifted Black children. They just have to be in an environment that facilitates it’s fruition. And that environment is not always limited to parents (the video proved that). Even the father in the video said that he is not a mathematician–and that the children are because the children learn by creating and competing with each other on their own. He also said something else that is important — if learning is based on common everyday things then it is more effective. How does that differ from anything I’ve said?

So I don’t understand what you mean by we have different ways of getting there. If you are suggesting that I don’t value education, then I don’t know where you may have gotten that idea from. I have always valued education!!! My reality based position expressed to you is that education is “necessary,” but it is not an “equalizer.” Where’s the disagreement? I presented relevant data (both quantitative and qualitative)that substantiated that hypothesis.

Or maybe the difference is that my philosophy of life is based in “groupism” and maybe yours is based in “individualism.” I don’t know.

In closing, many of the things we utilize everyday were invented by Black minds. These range from food stuffs, to medicines, to automobile body material(George Washington Carver); from refrigeration to stop lights (Garret Morgan); to blood plasma (Charles Drew) who died from a lack of it. A Black man was the first to perform a successful open heart surgery (Dr. Daniel Hale Williams), and even in our own time, the most successful neurosurgeon is Dr. Ben Carson, a Black man, who pioneered and successfully performed separation surgery on twins, some joined at the heads and bodies by vital nerves and organs. Feats that had been previously thought impossible. Dr. Carson’s “Gifted Hands,” (1990) is a must read for children and adults. It details how he overcame poverty and despair. But what if his mother who raised him had not been able to find a job? There are thousands like him in our community who could be saved if we had “our due.”

I don’t get your point. But I’m going to let you have the last word on this one nevertheless.

How’s that book coming that you’re supposed to be reading, “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the age of Colorblindness”?

I always enjoy the healthy exchanges with you.

Always

THANKS BARBARA

I WENT TO THE ROOTS SITE. IFOUND IT VERY EDUCATIONAL.

I think OBAMA has more power. He passed HEALTH CARE – THE OTHER PRESIDENTS FAILED AT THIS. MONEY IN AMERICA WILL BUY YOU ANYTHING. THE CHINESE ARE AN EXAMPLE OF THIS.

I am not in agreement with OBAMA on everything. THERE IS NO PERFECT CANDIDATE. BEING A PRESIDENT DOES NOT MAKE YOU PERFECT.

We can disagree with his decision and debate the issue. OBAMA IA NOT THE SALVATION FOR BLACKS. HE IS THE PRESIDENT FOR ALL AMERICANS. SOMETIMES HIS DECISIONS HAVE TO BE POLITICALLY CORRECT. WE MAY NOT EVER KNOW THE TRUE REASONS. HE DOES HAVE A CABINET THAT HE SEEKS ADVISE FROM.

There’s no doubt that Solicitor Gen. Elena Kagan, a white woman who is a former Harvard Law School dean and Ivy League graduate, is well-qualified. Yet, of those jurists considered seriously by the president (Washington, D.C., Appeals Court Judge Merrick B. Garland, a white male; U.S. Appeals Court Judge Diane Wood of Chicago, a white female; and a spate of others leaked to the media since April) only one black judge, Leah Sears Ward, was a contender.

Former Georgia Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears

Year born: 1955
Education: Cornell University, J.D. Emory University School of Law
Sears was appointed by then-governor Zell Miller in 1992 and later became the first woman elected in a contested statewide race there. In 2005, she became chief justice and, in the process, the first African-American woman in the nation to head a state supreme court. She resigned last summer to return to private practice.

Experience: Former Chief Justice of Georgia Supreme Court, Former Judge on City of Atlanta Traffic Court, Former Superior Court judge

I bring up the issue of Mixed Race, because it affects a person’s behavior and their actions. Being raised by a Black Mother verse a White Mother is an important factor in any child’s life and perspective, be it, positive or negative (this goes for Black and White Fathers too). Cultural values and morals are for the most part race-based (although, I personally believe there is one race…the human race). A lot of people (Blacks especially) negate the influence the President’s White Mother and Grandparents that raised him, had on him and his perspective of Blackness/Whiteness. Yes, the President is an African American, however his experience has been different; not the typical Brother on the street.

One of the primary reasons some many White folks voted for him was, because he is Mixed Race and intelligent (and they contribute his intelligence to their race). He is lighted skinned and “He Speaks So Well,” a comment from some of them.

No, there is not a Perfect Candidate, however most White politician are true to their constituents.
President Obama didn’t pass Health Care, the Congress, Senate and pro health care advocates did…I wrote letters of support and I know others that did.

And, the War on Drugs is something that is still shaping up…the jury is still out. Because, I understand that the Crack verses Cocaine sentencing disparity that exist between Black and White drug users is still being debated. The President received a bill to sign, whereas there would still be a disparity in sentencing, but not as much…not equal sentencing. I hope the President didn’t sign the bill. And, if easing up on Marijuana enforcement is seen as a good thing, well okay!

Unemeployment for Blacks is more than 16%; White approximately 9% and decreasing!

JWill7,

I never said nor implied that you don’t value education, and it’s not my belief that you don’t value education. However, you challenge my belief that parental involvement is critical to a child’s success, regardless of the resources made available to them outside their homes. That’s a conclusion I’ve drawn based upon my own experiences and observations. Although that British father is not a mathematician and doesn’t acknowledge “any particular genius in his family”, it’s clear that he has devoted time to thinking about how to help his children learn, and has put those principles into practice. Education begins long before the first day a child crosses the threshhold of a classroom. Most of the time, children learn their value of education, or lack thereof, from the people with whom they interact daily.

I don’t dismiss the need for competent teachers, decent school facilities and up-to-date learning tools, if not state of the art. I’m only asserting that where those resources are present, parents should work in conjunction with them, and where they’re not, parents have to work with their kids to keep them motivated in spite of the absence of resources.

When my father was a child growing up in the south, the books he had to try to learn from were those discarded from white schools. He said it was common to be in the middle of a story or chapter, or working math problems, and then find pages torn out or scribbled over.

While the black kids walked to school, they were passed by busloads of white kids. Black children had to worry about their physical safety as they were in Klan territory. Different era and locale, but similar types of demoralizing conditions. I suppose people of those times were able to withstand those pressures because they were surrounded by immediate family memebers who looked out for one another, moreso than today. Families are now more likely to be scattered across the country rather than living within short traveling distances of each other.

I appreciate the fact that a parent’s job is to provide for the physical needs of his/her child(ren). But, then what? In reality, if a parent did nothing more than feed, clothe and shelter a child, they could still be considered negligent. Part of a child’s emotional development is dependent upon development of their educational needs. Let’s eliminate the unemployed from the discussion for a moment, because understandably, there are things they won’t be able to do for their children until they’re earning income. But what about parents who are employed, and in some cases, gainfully employed, who never include books among their children’s Christmas or birthday gifts? Instead of buying more clothes than the child can wear or spending a couple of hundred dollars on the latest computer games where the child spends hours sitting on their butts, getting fat and doing nothing more than perfecting their hand-eye coordination, how about investing in the electronic toys that contain spelling and math features? We know black people will take children to amusement parks and movies, but why is it still so rare to see black people take children to museums or other types of events with some educational element? Our children, especially our young men, need a variety of experiences so that they can learn to think outside of the box. I’d like to see our young men remain dominant in sports, but expand their intellectual capacities, too. The goal should not be to prepare them for jobs, per se, but rather entrepreneurial ventures. Realizing that corporate America is too exclusive of black men, a lot of black parents steer their sons toward sports thinking that might be their only shot for acquiring wealth. Consequently, they seem to believe that their sons don’t need intellect, or that intellect is associated with effeminacy or weakness. We need our guys to be smart men…thinkers and doers.

No, education doesn’t guarantee a life lived happily ever after, free from heartache and all misery, but it strengthens one’s ability to compete, which broadens options. Of course, one has to remember that as in any competition, there are always more competitors than “prizes” to be won. The people with options may suffer some temporary disappointment when they don’t gain something deeply desired; but when they don’t get it, they’re no worse off than before because their futures and livelihoods weren’t dependent upon that one opportunity. Furthermore, I don’t live under any delusion that education erases discrimination. Before there was racism, there was classism. Humans will always design ways to separate themselves from groups of others.

I’ve ordered, “The New Jim Crow…” and expect to receive it early next week. I’ll let you know after I’ve had a chance to peruse it. Additionally, I ordered, “Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority” by Tom Burrell, and a book my sister had mentioned to me, “Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free”, Charles P. Pierce.

Barbara, yes, President Obama was raised in a White culture. However, he was deprogrammed by REV. JEREMIAH WRIGHT.

Wright, who began the “Ministers in Training” (“M.I.T.”) program at Trinity United Church of Christ, has been a national leader in promoting theological education and the preparation of seminarians for the African-American church.[24] The church’s mission statement is based upon systematized Black liberation theology that started with the works of James Hal Cone.[25][26]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_Wright

Rev. Wright is powerful. His Church is always occupied with WHITES AND BLACKS – HE SPEAKS THE TRUTH. I have admired him for over 20 years. THE TRUTH IS THE TRUTH NOBODY CAN DENY.

It is more important for Obama to be our President at this time. BLACK PEOPLE HAVE A BACK ROOM ALSO, THAT THEY SEEK ADVISE FROM THE SAME AS WHITES.

DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE OUR PRESIDENT. OBAMA KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING. HE IS BACKED BY SEVERAL BLACK INTELLECTUALS.

We need more Blacks taking power in the communities. We have the top job occupies/ We need the lower positions filled – community leaders.

Obama also loves his BLACK WOMAN AND FAMILY.

This sounds very familiar to me. I’ve heard it before expressed as the, “That’s why I don’t do business with black folk” sentiment. I use that reference because the first time many black people have a negative business experience with another black, they feel it’s time to move on to someone…ANYONE else, without giving the other party a chance for redemption. It usually backfires, though.

It’s not that I think the president should be above reproach. It’s just that the criticism from his supporters started around this time last year, only a few months after he officially took office. I expected that his detractors would never cease picking him apart, but I was surprised by how quickly blacks began to turn on him. A lot of people are angry with him for not accomplishing in sixteen months what other presidents never accomplished in four to eight years.

Yes, his disassociation with Rev. Wright was definitely a political move, because he had to appease the rest of the country to get elected. But I thought most of us accepted that as the nature of politics.

The pervasive outcry over the past year has been for creation of jobs. Yet, there are some factors to consider:

1) Unemployment has risen globally, therefore economic conditions are such that we can’t blame our president for not getting everyone to work already in the United States.
2) Businesses won’t open their doors in metropolitan areas where unemployment is prevalent until those areas undergo some “revitalization”. Unfortunately, the trend has involved displacement of residents in those areas, so that developers can go in and raze the buildings to erect new structures, or renovate existing buildings into posh living and office spaces. Either way, they’re priced out of the range of former residents.
3)What kinds of jobs? The days of unskilled laborers making high wages on assembly lines are gone. Civil service jobs are no longer plentiful. Every job that pays above minimum wage requires some application of basic math, language and computer skills. The person who is ill-prepared in these disciplines is left out in the cold. So the outcry for is a little premature. The demand should be that the education system ensures that students are proficient in skills needed to work! Where the quality of schools is poor, every school board meeting should be packed with citizens demanding improvements. Their superintendent, senators, representatives and governors’ offices should be inundated with letters demanding improvements in education and facilities. Of course, the letters are taken more seriously from registered voters who vote. They do check.

There was talk of repair of the nation’s infrastructures and building crosscountry high-speed rails, which has come up periodically for decades. These projects would generate a resurgence in construction jobs until completion. But, like Healtcare Reform, it will take an act of Congress to get them going. Undoubtedly, the republicans will oppose any initiatives from this president, and disloyal democrats will obstruct them. The pattern has been set.

I would like to see at least one black appointment to the Supreme Court, also. Since the chance for another appointment is due next year, I’m going to take a wait-and-see attitude with the current nominee.

The nation and world are going through rough times, and as difficult as it may be to feel lovey-dovey when times are hard, I still believe it would behoove black people to maintain support for this president, at least throughout his presidency. Rather than detach and walk away, we need to write letters to the White House, remind him that we voted for him, and keep the issues that are important to us before him.

Our community have started a block cleanup and a village cleanup. With the help of the village and the teens we will cut grass, pick up trash and plant flowers/vegetables. We will cook dogs and pass out juice donated from the super markets.

We will try to keep the teens busy this summer. We have Churches donating space for teen scenes during the wk. Our teens can discuss issues , play games, and prepare trips

We are going door to door , like the census workers, to talk to our neighbors. At the village hall we have wkly dinners and signed up volunteers to attend shool board meetings and village hall meetings.

We want to uplift a spirit of pride in our village. I will keep everyone informed

THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING

LATER WE CAN APPLY FOR GRANTS AND DONATIONS. TO PAY OUR TEENS.

Whites fear the immediate future when they can no longer claim their majority status.

The ASIANS are buying up everything and gaining world power. The new AMERICA will be BROWN.

WHITES – ENDANGERED SPECIESJ

@ Rance,

That was a very good post you wrote above. It shows you have knowledge on how to motivate and inspire children (I bet you are a teacher. If so, I’m going to have to be more careful about my grammar). However, I do have a few disagreements with your May 19, 2010 post. I am sure it will be OK since you and I have already demonstrated that we can have civil disagreements.

But first I’d like to express my agreement with Mrs. White’s statement (5/17/10) regarding the “backlash” African Americans are experiencing since the 2008 presidential election. She is correct, the backlash is salient in every aspect of life, from physical attacks, to on the job harassment and massive firings, and overt exclusion from the job market. That is the most obvious explanation for the disproportionate Black unemployment rate. Some even argue that this election spurned backlash is responsible for the recently revived attacks on HCBUs, attempts at forceful mergers, etc., (see AlumniRoundup.com). Clearly not enough focus is being placed on this issue.

My respectful disagreements with some of the ideas you expressed are as follow:

1. I do not view politics, as I have stated repeatedly, to be a process in which one should obsess with support or nonsupport for a politician. Rather, it is my view that one should focus on POLICY. Now that doesn’t mean that African Americans are not expected to have “favorite son” support for one politician or another. That is only culturally natural. And it doesn’t mean that you or anyone else have to agree with me. I’m simply expressing my own paradigm.

2. Given my above paradigm, I am by definition compelled to tell the truth. Therefore, when you speak about the matter of passing broad jobs and “infrastructure” legislation to put people to work being something that Congress must do, you are correct. The only thing I’d like to add is Congress (at least the House) has ALREADY DONE THAT. (please see Roll Call: Democrats: Jobs get short shrift. May 10, 2010, by Jennifer Bendery).

I’ll let you read the report and see for yourself who many Democratic Congressmen are blaming for not supporting this legislation. They are desperate for the massive job creation, after all, the fall elections are right around the corner. Also see, if you please, “Local Jobs for America Act(H.R.4812). This (LJAA) is a jobs bill which, according to a May 18,2010 Economic Policy Institute analysis, not only turns the proposed expenditure of $75 billion into a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $105 billion gain, but would lower the deficit by $39 billion. This bill, according to its promotion, would focus job creation on a massive local level. If I understand it correctly, this is precisely the type of initiative that would end much of the increasingly unbearable suffering experience by African Americans. Much of it, as Mrs. White pointed out, is in the first place society’s punishment of Blacks for the 2008 presidential election’s outcome. Because Most Blacks are in touch with their everyday life experiences, they know these things. Many of them talk about these things daily. According to a Pew Center poll(1/12/10) 81% of Blacks responded that more needed to be done to ensure “equality.” While 44% were optimistic about the future (meaning they hadn’t given up hope–that number should have been much higher), 10% said the future would be worse (from a pure hope perspective–that number should have been zero).

3.Lastly, while I’m in total agreement with you regarding the need for skills training of our youths, computer, math skills, etc. I disagree that that is the reason for the 50%+ unemployment rate within that population. There are Millions of jobs that do not require these skills. And for jobs that do, there are millions of our young people who possess the required skills. What prevents them from being hired for these jobs is the same thing that keeps their parents unemployed–institutionalized racism. This has been validated time and time again, by study after study. While the propaganda abounds about “lack of personal responsibility,” etc., there is no credible data to support that propaganda. I must go with the data.

That concludes my gracious disagreements with your post. All else you wrote, and quite ably, I might add, was right on point!!!!

Most people, like myself, who study this type of thing have long known the following:

1. The greatest economic gains for Blacks occurred in the 1940s and 1960s.

2.Since the early 1970s, the economic status of Blacks relative to whites has, on average, stagnated or deteriorated.

3.In 1970, for example, 22% of Black families had incomes over $35,000. However, by 1986, that number had fallen to 18%. This despite a growing Black middle class during that period. Most people forget that while the middle class was growing, the so-called
“underclass” was growing even faster.

So we were already aware that African Americans have been losing economic ground since the Nixon Administration. The cause for this has been charged to everything from “backlash” against Blacks for the Civil Rights movement(as manifested in industrial relocation) to any number of things. Some of them grounded in nonsensical victim blaming such as “Skip” Gates, Bill Cosby, and other Black Conservative nonsense about “35-year old Black grandmothers,” garble, garble, garble. As if so-called 35-year old Black grandmothers are in control of the pay roll departments of places where Blacks work, credit agencies that overcharge Blacks, and other race based exclusionary practices. But I digress.

However, a recent study by Brandeis University’s Institute on Assets and Social Policy(ISAP) has informed us that this devastating trend of an ever widening wealth gap between Blacks and Whites not only is continuing but getting wider. Much wider! The ISPA’s director and study’s co-author, Thomas Shapiro, presented data that show the gap has grown fourfold between 1984 and 2007. Indeed, during the period of interest,the gap increased by $75,000 from $20,000 to $95,000. LOWER middle class whites, have accumulated more wealth during this period than UPPER class Blacks. Black wealth decreased during this period from an average of $25,000 to $18,000=a decrease of $7,000, according to the study.

Of all the analyses of this study I’ve read, perhaps Glen Ford’s of Black Agenda Report(5/19/10) was the most candid: “Enemies of all colors and sly servants of the rich will use the news of the evaporation of African American wealth to heap blame on Black ‘culture,’ this strategy is designed to keep Blacks looking inward for the source of their woes, and to simultaneously despair of finding salvation in our own capacity for group agency.”

That observation was correct, because while I’ve not had time for television, a friend called and said he’d just seen one on television. A Black professor from a top university allegedly claimed that the cause of the wealth gap was “Blacks aversion to education.” My friend joked that the prof. was sitting with his head held high, brand new suit, perfect diction, and that he probably knows all about complex research concepts and data analysis like “multidimensional scaling,” “bi-variate linear regression,” “nonparametric measures of association,” etc. And that he’d read every book in the library, except the one entitled “The Origin and History of Sinecurists.” A title my friend made up.

But my response was, “He should have read the study.” If he had, he would know that Shapiro made the following observation: “Even when African Americans do everything right–get an education and work hard at well paying jobs–they cannot achieve the wealth of their white peers in the workforce, and that translates into very different life chances.”

In his essay, Ford observes that “Blacks cannot shop or invest or save or borrow our way to a just society.”

The real cause of this ever widening wealth gap, according to Shapiro, is institutionalized racism in the “housing, credit and labor markets.” While this study only covers the period between 1984-2007, one can only imagine how bad things have gotten since then. Indeed, given the increased level of Black suffering since the Great Recession which began right after the study’s period of observation ended, e.g., unemployment officially nearing 17% (16.5) but in reality at least 36%–40%, hundreds of billions of dollars lost in home foreclosures, increasingly unsafe communities due to the economic distress, I know people who consider that period (1984-2007) to be the good old days. And while some may scoff at that idea, one must consider how one would feel if one had lost one’s own home since then. Or lost one’s job since then. What is needed is empathy in understanding how people feel, what they experience. Some can talk cute about how the recession is worldwide, and that’s true. But it’s African Americans who are catching the most hell.

Shapiro states correctly that the widening gap is caused by public policy:”A-turn is needed. Public policies HAVE and CONTINUE to play a major role in creating and sustaining the racial wealth gap, and they must play a role in closing it.”

Jwill7, I saw black kids on cnn point at pictures that black like them and say they ugly. Why black people don’t teach kids better? You better answer me since you always answer rance.

Uh oh, JWill7, I think you’d BETTER answer somebody.

Actually, I work for a branch of the government. All I’ll say about it is that I’m a civilian in a very conservative, REPUBLICAN work environment, in a very REPUBLICAN state. I suppose that’s why I might be considered out of touch with my everyday life experiences. Surely I’ve never experienced racism under these circumstances, and party affiliations are not representative of people’s attitudes about race. Of course, I’m being facetious.

Though I am swift enough to grasp where you and Ms. White are coming from, I’d like to offer that we foresaw the backlash because the same occurred when blacks were fighting for the right to vote. Practically everything worthwhile comes with significant struggle; so, we can’t live in regret of victories because ignorant people want to intimidate us, in an attempt to convince us that anything good for us is just not worth the trouble.

If institutionalized racism is the barrier to every black unemployed person working, then you’re right. Their situations are hopeless. Federal anti-discrimination laws that have been in place for decades have not been able to annihilate FEELINGS of racial hatred. They’ve only managed to force people to become more discreet about their racism, making it more difficult to prove. So, given that past legislation hasn’t been able to entirely root out racism, then new legislation will do no more. You’ve heard the phrase, “Every time I finally make ends meet, someone moves the ends”? Well, that’s what will happen with new laws intended to force the powerful to distribute resources more equitably with the powerless. Since poor black people have to wait for societal changes…for others to feel differently about them, then they’re in bad shape. They should just give up and quit.

Bullying, whether between children on a schoolyard or adults in any other setting, seeks to intimidate individuals and control their behavior. Racism, whether executed blatantly and confrontationally or covertly and institutionally, is a form of bullying. The bullies’ purpose is to use every tactic at their disposal to throw the objects of their bullying off kilter. They hope that their targets will bend to their will with little resistance.

Life for black people, especially those who are born poor, is like trying to navigate through a field of land mines. Now, here’s where the education part plays in: arming our children with information is like providing them a map of the land mine field. When they know where the traps are, they have a better chance to move through while avoiding them. For example, if one believes that drugs, liquor stores and cigarette billboards were planted in ghettos, to get masses of black people hooked on substances, which would diminish their ability to function and keep them impoverished, then the response should be: “Then I won’t get hooked. They’ll have to physically hold me down and force-feed me to get me on it!”. NOT, “It’s hard out here, I need to spend my already meager income on smoking, drinking and getting high to forget”. If there were no new users recruited for these substances, the war on drugs would end in five to ten years, because no one’s going to continue to sell a commodity that no one’s buying.

You were joking about watching your grammar, but a lot of people discount the significance of correct grammar and spelling. They’re indicative of a person’s attention to detail. Let’s suppose an HR associate needs to whittle down a list of applicants for a job opening. She can quickly weed out people who’ve made spelling, grammatical and syntax errors, and justify it!

Granted, whether people recognize the difference between what is correct and incorrect can be attributed to the quality of their education. But, if someone knows she was never a strong speller, then she should keep a pocket dictionary handy. What a shame to be eliminated from an opportunity for something that might easily have been prevented.

Thirty-five year old grandmothers. (Sigh). For women who think it’s cute to be a young grandmother, it’s not. Unless she has step-grandchildren, everyone knows she had to start young, to have become a young grandmother. Nope, those women aren’t controlling payroll departments, credit agencies, or other race-based exclusionary practices. In fact, they don’t control much of anything, even within the sphere of their world, and THAT is a problem.

First of all, being a grandmother at 35 implies that her child followed in her footsteps. It’s possible that regardless of how often she and others talked to that child about life, tried to guide them away from the pitfalls, that child chose to rebel in spite of it. But there’s also the possibility that she never sat that child down and spoke honestly about her own experiences, and shared what was learned from them. When a pregnant teenager doesn’t graduate high school, not only does her earning capacity and ability to provide for her child plummet, but she is forced to rely on her parents – sometimes grandparents – to help her raise the child, which makes her appear more like a sibling in her child’s eyes. It’s difficult for a child to develop respect for a parent as an elder, when he sees her exhibiting behavior that warrants discipline from her own parents.

C’mon, Jwill7, you know what people like Bill Cosby mean when referring to young grandmothers. You understand the gravity of those circumstances. When people like Rush Limbaugh attack black people, we know that he doesn’t come from a place of concern for our people. He only wants to denigrate all of us anyway he can. This is why we have to galvanize in defense of each other, against people like him. But we have a responsibility to deal with our own about behaviors we know to be destructive.

I have a recommendation for you:
inquire with your closest IMAX theatre about when they might run a documentary called, “Elephants”. It’s a nature film about African elephants in the wild. The part of the movie that resonated with me most, was a segment where some teenaged bulls – that had been orphaned due to poaching – had formed their own herd and began going around terrorizing the cows (adult female elephants) and their calves. They were even destroying trees, food sources and just generally acting up. Here’s the good part: the adult bulls eventually gathered, and then went to the area where the teenaged bulls congregated. The older males challenged the younger one. I don’t think they had to fight them (it has been several years since I saw it so I can’t remember exactly), but they mananged to rein in the younger ones and gain control of them. See? Every specie on earth has to correct its own for preservation of the entire specie.

I can’t speak for Louis Gates, because I’m only familiar with him through his PBS specials of recent years, but I believe that Bill Cosby is simply trying to grab a few of our folks by the shoulders and shake them. I presume his intention in “picking on” or “beating up” poor blacks is to say, “OK, you know what you’re up against. Fight back! Don’t make yourself such an easy target for anyone who wants to abuse you. You have some personal power, use it”. Cosby’s interest in poor blacks seems genuine to me, and I don’t get the impression that he’s standing on them to make himself taller. He doesn’t need to. If black people can’t correct our own, then who can? When people won’t listen to ANYbody, they’re lost.

JWill7, I can tell that you care deeply about black people. I just happen to feel that we have to defend publicly, but admonish privately (if privacy is possible anymore). Otherwise we become enablers toward our own extinction. There always has to be a, “Yes, I understand. But…”

@Karla,

Once again, thanks for finding my opinions valuable. I really have not had time to watch much television. However, I did see the ending of part 1 of the so-called series of which you have expressed interest. So I really don’t know a lot about this particular CNN “show,” with show being the operative word. And I never talk about things I don’t know anything about.

However, here’s what I do know. It is unreasonable to expect parents to do what they don’t know to do. Most of us expect parents to teach racial / group pride to their children. Some don’t do it because they have been tricked into believing that to do so is “teaching hate.” While most “unbrainwashed” Black people know better, I’ve encountered people who think that way. Obviously, providing children with imperative “group esteem,” within which they can develop appropriate “self-esteem,” is the responsibility of the group and culture in which children develop, and is indispensable to the developmental process for healthy children, families, and communities.

But when we hear how some Black ADULTS talk negatively about other Blacks as a group, it is no wonder that some children (hearing this) are cheated out of the joy of feeling good about themselves and their biological group membership. (I know some people who argue that “race” is not a matter of biology–OK, and the sky ain’t blue, so they can have it their way.) But how often do we read comments on this blog about how “all” Black people are this and that, in the negative. And if an adult is so confused as to believe these negative things about their own group (having no other analysis of cause and effects in the real world), then surely such an adult would make such comments in the presence of Black children. Therefore, we need to put some group-esteem–within which to develop self esteem– in many of our parents first.

And, again, while I didn’t see more than a minute or two of the show, I’m told by some who did see it all that the information was presented without context of how the broader society/culture –which is based in an Eurocentric value system of assigning value to color– impacts these outcomes. But, then again, that’s always the trick.

Furthermore, the little bit of the show I did see, I noted that most of the white children pointed towards the Black caricatures as representing negativity, even before the interviewer had quite finished the question. So much for future hopes of a “colorblind” or “post-racial” society. And the next time one of these “sly” hustlers comes to us carrying such a deceptive message for their own personal gain, we are hereby obligated to reject that message.

One other thing I noted Karla, from the limited viewing I did; one of the Black women interviewing a little Black girl was wearing blond-like dyed hair. I wondered at the time, and still do, whether that may have biased the child’s response in selecting the Black caricature as most negative. After all, children tend to make selections that they think will please adults. So no serious researcher would dismiss the possibility of “bandwagon bias.” In other words, the child could have noted the adult’s blond hair and surmised that is the way the adult felt. Otherwise, the interviewer would not have been a Black woman with blond hair if she thought highly of her group and self. People imitate what they like, consciously, or, unconsciously. So the child could have been going along to get alone. After All, children are perhaps the most sensitive and intuitive of all people, soaking up information from their environment like sponges.

I’ll wait to read the study before I make a final decision on its usefulness. I’ll have to see its methodology, and be more familiar with its research question (why was it done and what it sought to answer) as well as it concluding “implications.”

By the way, there’s an interesting read by Professor Imani Perry of Princeton regarding this subject at the following link: http://www.afro-netizen.com.
(“The Color we see But Don’t speak: How Race Impacts our Kids.”) I found it interesting.

@Tenay,

You didn’t ask me specifically, but you did ask that “someone” speak to your question. So since I’m posting at the moment, here’s my objective take. You can find your answer in the topic being discussed. You know full well that white women are considered the standard of beauty in this society. And that’s why they’re desired by a handful of Black men. But not most Black men. Just a handful. Some of these men deny that their behavior is based on early childhood conditioning consistent with that manifested in the “Doll” and so-called “CNN” studies. I have read and been told of accounts where some fantasize that they are getting revenge with white men. Others fantasize about “forbidden fruit,” given that so many have been lynched for that behavior, or suspicion of it. So one really doesn’t know until one has had a chance to talk with them individually. But all the reasons still seem like the “Doll” and “CNN” studies to me. Honestly speaking. At any rate, Social Anthropology teaches us that most people of all groups date and marry within their own group.

I found your post interesting because a group of Black men and I were having that very discussion this weekend. The only difference is, their complaint was too many Black women dating white men. One said that it was because “sinecurists,” usually “public” Black women, along with movies and commercials, are promoting the idea that such men are “good catches.” My OBJECTIVE question was, “If they are such good catches, then how come they haven’t
been caught by females of their own
group? Since the data show that white women are the fastest growing out-of-wedlock child birthing demographic in the country. Research also shows that mixed-race couples have, by far, the greatest incidents of domestic violence.

In conclusion, and I’m still only being objective, you have women complaining about men, and men complaining about women. Young women, like my niece, complain that on college campuses, where Black men are often rare enough, the “few ones there like white girls, or each other,” she often says in disgust. I have to remind her that it’s probably not the guys doing the chasing. After all, many of these Black guys will soon be signing multi-million dollar athletic contracts. And in the corporate world, where Black men are even rarer, men complain that “sisters are afraid to let white men see them talking to brothers. But date these white guys, knowing how they treat Black guys.” So, what that tells me is that Blacks (men nor women) are not in control of any of it to begin with.

@Rance,

Interesting post. But there are some discussion points. I’ll get to them in my next post. I see you are still trying to make excuses for certain things. But that’s OK. Please don’t write anymore until I respond to what you have already written. It’ll probably be tommorrow.

Clarence,

I know you’re requesting help, but it’s not a good idea to post your address and phone number on sites like this. If someone were to call you about the matter you mentioned, you really can’t be sure they’re a source who can help you, so don’t give any further information about yourself or your child over the phone.

I would recommend you start with your District Attorney’s office, tell them your concerns and ask them what you need to do to follow up on the welfare of your child.

The following is a link to a web site called, ‘Father’s Rights’. It simply advises non-custodial fathers of actions they can take regarding child support/custody cases. They don’t provide legal services, though.

http://www.fathersrightsinc.com/

@Rance,

I finally have a chance to address some of the points you raised in your May 23, 2010 post. In reading it, I observed that most of the points have already been addressed by me in earlier posts. In the final analysis, it appears that our disagreement(where we do disagree) is paradigm based. In short, we view things differently based on our operating models,i.e., the way in which we view the world.

From what I can detect, your view of poor people and poverty is based on what social scientists called a “deficit perspective.” Such a model holds that all the problems poor people have are due to their own “deficits.” Such a perspective is salient in the tirades of conservatives like Bill Cosby, et. al. They argue that the values and culture of the poor are what keep them poor. For example, “don’t speak proper English,” “having babies too young,” “obsessed with crime,” “wearing pants wrong,” etc. In other words, if the poor would just end their devotion to these “sub-culture values,” which embarrass the rest of us, then they too can prosper like the rest of society. After all, society is “colorblind” (“post-racial”) and there’s nothing holding them back but their own values. So goes their argument.

The problem with the deficit model, not withstanding pathological (or manipulative) denial, is the fact that none of its core claims are true. For example, we know that there are a multitude of societal and systemic obstacles holding back the poor and maintaining the cycle of poverty, all of which can be directly correlated with economic deprivation (which manifest in access: education, employment, salaries,etc.) For example, to me, the problem is not only that poor education leads to poverty, but poverty leads to poor education (and I’m not talking about study habits, I’m not focusing on the deficits of the poor, rather, I’m talking about out dated textbooks, no computers on the desk, holes in the walls and ceilings and vermin scampering about, low teacher expectations, and the doubt of living long enough to benefit from anything learned anyway). Thus, these are key factors in maintaining the vicious cycle of poverty. And such a cycle can be broken only by robust, goal driven, public policy interventions. Since public policy is the cause of it in the first place. That’s where the science is, there is no science supporting the deficit model. Those who adhere to such thinking are simply expressing their own philosophical orientation and biases, not any credible knowledge derived from research.

So when I read comments that focus on the poor as the problem, however compassionate such comments may seem to be: I know I’m encountering the “deficit model.” Another point that needs addressing is the idea of “giving up.” This is an instrument in the con man’s toolbox to prevent indispensable discussion of the cause of the problem. The unhistorical and illogical argument is that if African Americans understand the cause of the problem, then they will become “helpless” and “give up.” In addition to there being no historical evidence of this, it is sheer non-sense on its face. How can one solve a problem with out understanding its cause? And those focusing on the poor and poverty stricken as the cause of their own problem, clearly have no understanding of the problem. Thus, many people correctly contend that the goal of the obfuscation is a sly attempt to perpetuate the problem by not challenging its etiology( its root causes). Therefore, continuing the status quo.

I know that’s not your intent, you’re just expressing the issues as you understand them, based on the popular premise that has dominated the public sphere for nearly forty years. One such deficit model, disguised as fact rather than philosophy, is advocated by the poor people hater Ruby Payne. Her views of blaming poor people for their own problems have been declared the God of understanding the poor in the field of education, etc. Following is an easy to read scholarly analysis of her fraud. I think you might find it a useful read while you await the arrival of the great books you’ve ordered: “Savage unrealities: Uncovering Classism in Ruby Payne’s Framework,” by Paul C. Gorski. It can be accessed at the following link: http://www.edexchange.org/publications/Savage_ unrealities.pdf.

On the question of why people use drugs when they should have better sense than to do so. First of all, as you know, most poor people do not use drugs. Why people behave as they do is explained by a variety of academic and clinical models, none of them universally accepted. Drug use being one of them. A helpful perspective would be why do people take aspirin for headaches? The average drug user takes his drugs of choice for the same reason, only his pain is in his soul. Unlike others, he has not learned to use non-drug techniques for emotional and mental pain relief (just like the drug takers for headaches has not learned to use various available relaxation and massage techniques for headache remedy). His pain may be deep and longstanding, resulting from unresolved issues of which he is not even aware. Or it may be from learned “hopelessness” reinforced by the cruel realities of his environment. It depends on the individual, his environment (the availability of stressors, cues, and drugs), and how drug use is viewed in that environment. Whatever the reason, jail, talking, and lecturing rarely solve the problem. If the environment is responsible, then the environment itself must be changed. For example, if it is due to poverty and hopelessness, which it often is, then the environment(poverty)must be changed. If it is due to what may be called “intrapsychic” reasons, then those issues must be explored and resolved. The fact that people should have better sense than to be self-destructive is clear. What should be equally clear is, if they are being self-destructive, then that is a sign that something is terribly wrong. And this, in order to remedy it, requires compassionate listening, without compromising the expectation that the behavior must change. Many well meaning family members make the mistake of not understanding this, and rely on lectures, threats, and estrangement under the belief that the individual should know better. The individual does know better. The individual needs help, not in jail where he will get none, but within a clinically based public health model where the “Host” (individual and his feelings, motives, expectations, etc.,), his “Environment” (the availability of drugs and or social reinforcement to use drugs), and the “Agent,” the actual drugs, can all be explored within a strategy for effecting change however long it may take.

On the issue of Bill Cosby, I don’t see his behavior being motivated by the intent you stated. In addition to the venues in which he makes his uninformed exhortations being inappropriate, often all white and / or upper middle class Black (or the remainder) audiences, television, etc., he focuses on the poor as being the cause of their own problems, i.e., the “deficit model.” You can’t change people’s behavior or values by lecturing to them twice a year on television from up high at a distance, even if that was the problem. Which it is not. Therefore, regardless his intent, he will only achieve the selling of books and other rewards because in order to impact the problems of which he riles, PUBLIC POLICY must be changed. A concept to which he apparently has an aversion. And that’s another thing, we must give up thinking that poor people just need to be told right from wrong and they’re change their “deficit” behaviors, e.g., “35 year old grandmothers,” etc. That is non-sense. Poor people already know right from wrong. They don’t need a lecture. They need access to resources. All of us probably know Black mothers who perhaps birthed children sooner than they should have, but succeeded anyway with careers because they had resources. Some excel in all kinds of professions. With too many Black men being incarcerated, and denied opportunities when not, many of these women must go at it alone, except for the resource assistance of families. Still others of us might know poverty stricken childless people. Poor people need a fair public policy, that recognizes them as human beings who need relief from deprivation. Those who point fingers at the “immorality” of the poor would do well to look at their own. Now please don’t get me wrong. I am in no way upholding wrong doing of any kind. But like “Big Mama” used to say: “When you draw yo’ hand back to ‘chunk’[throw] something at somebody, remember yo’ thumb is pointing at you.”

Having said that, I commend Mr. Cosby for the good work he’s done in supporting higher education for African American students, specifically HCBUs. Were I to be presumptuous, I would argue that he would be well served to stick to that, and leave the social theories to the sociologists, moral theory to the pastors, and the economic theories to the economists and able policy advocates. We have highly qualified Blacks in all those fields. And I would give any of them the same advice should they ever argue with him about how to best do comedy.

On the question you raised about “progress.” This is a “relative” concept. In other words, compared to what? Like poverty, progress must be measured against a goal, or a standard. As I briefly discussed in my last post, a recent study by Brandeis University’s Institute on Assets and Social Policy, proves that on average, as a group, African Americans are experiencing a downward spiral into relative POVERTY in comparison to white Americans. See a useful short summary: “New Study finds racial Wealth gap has Quadrupled”: AlumniRoundup.com /2010/.

What this and other data tell us is we are steadily losing ground, regardless of educational attainment (which further proves that education, while absolutely NECCESSARY, is not an equalizer for Blacks. Therefore, I reemphasize, the problem is not due to our “deficit,” rather the cause is, as the study proves, in premeditated, well organized and ingrained systematic deprivation and exploitation. And the study doesn’t even take into account economic losses suffered by African Americans in the current recession, or economic “restructuring.” When these numbers come out, I suspect they will be almost unbearable, particularly for those still in denial and fantasizing about the supposedly great wealth of Blacks.

Given this, all evidence points to an exigent need for public policy assistance immediately. The same kind that all other groups are receiving. Furthermore, the matter of PUBLIC policy is never a PRIVATE matter, to be whispered in the quite of night or in a hush to avoid interrupting the etiquette of a library. Given our condition, we should be like James Baldwin and go “Tell it on the Mountain.” We need help!!!

While such a realization may appear to some who are immersed in various forms of “group-think” as somehow blunting Group agency, that is not the intent nor the case. Quite the contrary, it is a high manifestation of group agency, in that no one will advocate for Blacks’ “due” but Blacks. And African Americans have already earned it!! Indeed, there are a number of things already discussed that MUST be done internally, and can be done with current resources (mostly human). But the plain truth is the required economic resources cannot come from a nearly trillion dollars annually in debt, calculated by corporations as Blacks’ “spending power.” Or debt potential, is really what it is. And erroneously believed by some to be a testament to Black “wealth,” this is somehow believed no matter how often or loudly we are told otherwise. And the only reason the debt potential is that high is due to the high (rip-off) interest rates. That could very well account for half the number itself. Some colleagues and I had a great debate today regarding this issue. Some said African Americans do not “need any help” (of course they’re still paying their mortgages on time) and that we can go at it alone. However, the majority who support the reality of needed policy intervention, accused the minority of “grandiose” excuse making in order to protect their celebrity worshiping. The truth is, as was argued, there is no accountant who considers debt to be an asset. It is always considered to be a liability on balance sheets. It is considered to be an asset only by those to whom it is owed. And even then only when there is a high probability that it can / will be repaid and become credited as income earnings.

You were correct in stating that many policies already on the books have not been enforced. In fact, these range from Civil Rights Laws that Mr. Harry Alford, President and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, contends would guarantee at least 500,000 new Black jobs each year if enforced. And then there is the almost never discussed example of the so-called Disproportionate Minority Contact (Confinement) Congressional Amendment of 1998. This law requires States to develop plans to address the issue of disproportional confinement of “minority” juveniles that exceeds their representation in the respective state’s population, or lose Federal contract dollars. Yet, studies consistently show that African American Youths are represented in juvenile confinement far in excess of their state population representation. Outnumbering whites more than six to one. And the band plays on.

However, I do not agree that the purpose of Civil Rights laws is to legislate “like.” Rather, they are to legislate “fairness.” What is needed now is enforcement. We hire people to do that every election day at all levels, and some have even appointed themselves. We need to hold people accountable at every level, including our own.

I think that should suffice in responding to the talking points your post raised. Again, great food for thought you provided as always. I look forward to reading your feedback on the above references as well as the books you’ve ordered. Take care.

@Rance,

Apparently, you haven’t understood anything I’ve written. So there’s no need for me to keep going around in circles. I have to move on to other topics. What I have written is in the public sphere for all to see. And I’m sure no one has ever read, or heard, me say that education was not important. I said that Education is not an “Equalizer,” meaning it does not make Blacks “Equal” to whites in earnings and access to opportunities. I have presented multiple data sources to prove that. But I have also repeatedly said that education is absolutely “NECCESSARY,” meaning that without it, Blacks don’t have a chance at all. I have taken great diligence to explain that fact. AND THAT IS ALL I CAN DO.

You used examples of “robber barons” to prove your point. But that example does not fit as an appropriate analogy to the situation being described. First, barons, by definition, did / do already have a direct relationship with royalty (in some cultures they were the royalty). Where is the relationship of the Black poor to power or royalty? Even when they FANTASIZE about having such a relationship, they are told to wait for a “rising tide,” even as the tide rises around them and lifts all but them. But I digress.

I have never said that poor people should not study, or read to their children, or get an education. What I have said is it is incorrect to focus only on the poor as the cause of their problems. I have said that by focusing only on the “deficits” of the poor, we fail to focus on the systemic operations that cause the problem. That keeps the cycle of poverty going. Therefore, the cause is never confronted and that’s why the problem persists. I have said that policies of “obfuscatory,” false messengers, e.g., “Black conservatives,” have been hired and highly promoted to facilitate the refocusing of the cause away from the perpetrators onto the victims. I have said that the poor need resources and opportunities, and “public policy” interventions along with African Americans’ own “group agency” are required to insure that reality. I have deviated from my schedule to diligently explain that. THAT IS ALL THAT I CAN DO.

I cannot force people to break away from a life time of beliefs reinforced by daily environmental bombardment via media, and other propaganda instruments. Carried out by overt right-wingers, and covert right-wingers posing to be on the left when being on the right doesn’t sell, doesn’t facilitate their personal ambitions. But, again, I digress.

All I can do is TELL THE TRUTH. And seekers of truth will recognize it when they encounter it. While those who seek only to confirm their own philosophical beliefs, refuse to have open minds, refuse to see the world as it is by denying facts, even when the facts are sun-bright in their faces, will continue to do so. I UNDERSTAND THAT SYNDROME VERY WELL. I also know that as the numbers of the Black poor continue to grow (as they surely will) resulting from deliberate systemic “economic readjustments” on a level not seen since the Reagan administration (the transfer of wealth away from Blacks to whites, and then from the middle and bottom classes to the top), there will be more understanding as the new ranks finally realize, as a result of their own experiences, that there are obstacles in their way that are NOT of their own making. In this regard, experience will indeed be the best teacher.

I must move on. I hope you read the books you’ve ordered and benefit from the knowledge acquired, and then share with others. I hope others will read in a quest for information also.

I’m sure you’ll be fine. But my next post will be about something else that I think might benefit readers. And that is my goal. I’m not interesting in getting the last word at the expense of the truth.

@karla,

I appreciate your compliments. However, I do not view Rance as a negative person. She is a good person who simply wants to make sure that Black people do their best to succeed. I agree with that position. I’m simply pointing out other factors that must be considered if the problem is to be solved.

She and I disagree respectfully. She has great ideas. I just think that I’ve explained my position well enough already. And will not respond to the same thing over and again.

Despite what she said, I’m confident she has an open mind. I enjoy her ideas.

I realize most all Presidents have their critics; however, there is a nastiness out there in punditry world when it comes to questioning the policies of this President. Now I realize you will have the “so-called” black conservative on your show as counter balance to the discussion; however, they cannot deny that there is a personalizing of the rhetoric towards President Obama that I’ve never witness before and I’m a political junkie and have been following politics since President Carter was elected. I also am a native New Orleanian and know first hand what it feels like to wait on a President to respond to a crisis and it never happens. Which is why I’m a little perplexed as to why there was this “overkill” and political drama emanating from the likes of James Carville over the President’s response to the oil spill. Carville wasn’t this emotional as over 1,000 people drowned in New Orleans. And the Bush administration lack of providing the kind of investment it would take to rebuild New Orleans, after he promised to do just that. I realize you still have ties to CNN; however, I want you to examine Carville’s performance objectively as you seem to do when discussing the President. And as a matter of fact is it even possible for you to examine the very industry in which you work (MSM)?

I sensed it would happen. But I had no idea it would be so one sided, in fact, devastatingly embarrassing.

The Alabama night was cloudy and hid the stars I love as my wife and I stepped from the air conditioned car onto Aunt Bertha’s (not her real name)driveway. Although not as hot as I’d expected, there was still a warmness I felt as the air struck me across the face. After many hours on the road, we were there at last. And judging from the number of cars parked in front of the modest red brick house, we knew most of those who’d committed to come hadn’t arrived yet.

This is the house where as a child I spent nearly every summer. The matriarch then had been different. But Aunt Bertha had over the years grown to become what the old folk call “a spitting image” of Big Mama, whose grave we would visit first thing come morning. My paternal Aunt Bertha is my only surviving aunt (or uncle) and being in her late seventies she gets her way by threatening us that she “ain’t gon’ be around too much longer.” So that was her threat to get us to come visit her for Memorial Day, even though we’d visited her for New Years, and speak with her by phone several times each week.

It was the next day after dinner when my cousin Loretta from California, at my urging, steered the conversation towards the subject of Rep. Artur Davis’s Democratic primary run for governor of Alabama. I’d noticed all along that Aunt Bertha hadn’t mentioned the subject herself, and thought it rather strange, given her support for all things she perceives as “moving Black folks forward.”

“What do you think of Artur Davis, Aunt Bertha,” Loretta Asked.

Davis won the 7th district Congressional seat in 2002 after defeating the popular Congressman Earl Hilliard. Most people charge Hilliard’s defeat to a redistricting of the 7th district and tons of money Davis received from special interest groups outside the district who have a propensity to control Black people’s politics for their own, not Black people’s, best interests.

He’d decided to run for governor of Alabama and would be tested in the first step in that process, the Democratic primary, on June 1, 2010. His opponent was Alabama’s Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, a white man. Since Blacks make up a little over 50% of all Democratic voters in the state, Davis’s primary victory was almost a foregone conclusion. So he thought.

Like other Black politicians who like to pimp the aspirations of Blacks for personal gain, Davis felt that since he, if he would succeed in becoming Alabama’s first African American governor, didn’t have to promise Blacks much on the policy level. In fact, he ran the primary election as if he were running in the general election. He spent most of his time courting whites. He distanced himself from Blacks, even offending the state’s most powerful Civil Rights and political groups like the Alabama Democratic Conference and the Alabama New South Coalition. After all, if one expects whites’ votes, there can be no relationship with Blacks. Such a Black politician must “prove” to whites that, if elected, he will be on their side and not on the side of Blacks. It is a game political hustlers know very well. And the Blacks, “they’re just be proud,” so the reasoning goes.

So Davis gambled, and he lost the bet. He forgot that even when that strategy was successful, such as in the 2008 presidential campaign, it still garnered less than 20% of white votes in Alabama. In order to win in the November general election since the state is about 70% white, had he won the primary nomination, Davis would have needed to double that to 40%, plus get nearly 100% of Black votes with a nearly 100% Black turn-out.

Mistakenly thinking that Blacks would forgive his disrespectful behavior and “just be proud,” Davis opposed nearly every issue important to Blacks in the state of Alabama. For example, he opposed a gambling initiative, which is supposedly already legal in terms of electronic Bingo in an undefined way. Undefined, because only Blacks are raided and arrested for participating in it. Much like the “War on Drugs” in the rest of the country. His opponent favored legalized gambling as a means of financing schools (although in other states where this is law, it doesn’t help schools, because it is used to replace, rather than augment, existing funds). Davis didn’t attend the State-of the Union address, to show whites he didn’t support his friend and former Harvard Law School classmate, the Executive Branch. He tried so very hard to style his campaign on the successful 2008 presidential campaign of finessing Blacks while keeping a white approved distance from Blacks. It didn’t work for Davis. He even voted against the Wall Street bailout Health Insurance Reform Bill. Not because it was a Wall Street bailout, but because he wanted to show whites that he was with them and not the Executive Branch, knowing that they opposed it only because it was identified with the Executive Branch. Artur Davis is something else. But as smart as he is supposed to be, he didn’t know the difference between a primary and a general election.

So, despite being well financed with over a million dollars in his campaign war chest as of March 31,2010 according to OpenSecrets.org, over 64% of it donated by PACs, Davis lost 62% to 38% with 99% of districts reporting.
For him, the embarrassing part is the high Black turnout he expected never materialized. And over 40% of those Blacks who did vote, voted against him. He even lost in the 12 predominantly Black districts in the state and performed poorly in his home district of Jefferson where Birmingham is located. Of course, he was “trounced” in white districts.

Aunt Bertha looked at cousin Loretta and did not answer. Instead, she said, “I’m going into the living room and sit for a while.”

We followed her into the living room where light brown paint had long ago replaced the flower emblazoned wall paper that Big Mama used to have. On the wall facing the the light gray sofa upon which we sat, there was a long row of pictures, some in color and some in black and white. There were my grand parents and parents, uncles and aunts (all deceased now). There were pictures of George Washington Carver, Thurgood Marshall, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mrs. Fannie Lu Hamer, Muhammad Ali, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson (with the caption -”Run, Jesse, Run!”). At the end of the row, there was a picture of Lena Horne. Located to the right of Ms. Horne, was a huge colored portrait of the current US president.

“I don’t plan to vote for Davis,” Aunt Bertha finally said. “I’m tired of voting for people who are ashamed of me.”

That’s when I sensed Davis would lose. But I had no idea he’d lose in such a one sided, embarrassing way. His defeat in an election where Blacks makeup enough voters to have almost singled handily propelled him to victory should be a political warning to others, if you want Black votes, then you’d You’d better not be ashamed to call their names. You may get 60% based on “pride” alone, but 60% in a low turnout is not enough.

Again Mr. Martin your Perspective: On incumbents that lost their jobs….is STUPID! Number one …in order to become a incumbent you have to be voted into office by voters! So are you saying you don’t care about American voters? Arlent Specter was a American great politician that was the deciding vote for the stimulus package that save million Americans jobs….! Voting Specter out was a mistake and just putting incumbent out will not fits America…. Ted Kennedy …Joe Biden earn their place as returning incumbents…Those respectable incumbent are the reason for bills that help all Americans…..You Mr. Martin must stop believing everything you hear…Like Americans want to see the President emotional about the oil spill….What has happen somebody that you can’t identify…Made that statement ( more emotion from the President) and you and other pundit turn it into ” The American people said they want to see more emotion….Which is a LIE! It’s you and other news outlets repeating the statement of maybe a person…I have said over and over that white people HEAR IT!BELIEVE IT! and REPEAT IT! WITHOUT INVESTIGATING PAST THE INFORMATION FED TO THEM….. Well Mr. Martin you now are in that group! Sarah Palin is in that group the American people said this or that group! When maybe a person said this or that!

Peace Roland,

Your body language told us all we needed to know about your feelings towards “Jury Nullification”. As your interview with Paul Butler was coming to a close, you seemed not to be feeling the idea he was proposing. Hey Mister Law and Order, the brother said it was legal,whats the problem with that???

@Rance,

Haven’t heard from you in a while. You must be reading. Did the books arrive yet?

Hi JWill7,

Yes, I do most of my reading on Sundays and have been switching between the three. I’m about halfway through ‘The New Jim Crow…’.

Two paragraphs in the book which I believe support arguments I’ve made all along are:

Page 15:

“With the benefit of hindsight, surely we can see that piecemeal policy reform or litigation alone would have been a futile approach to dismantling Jim Crow segregation. While those strategies certainly had their place, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the concomitant cultural shift WOULD NEVER HAVE OCCURRED WITHOUT THE CULTIVATION OF A CRITICAL POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY AND THE THE WIDESPREAD, STRATEGIC ACTIVISM THAT FLOWED FROM IT. Likewise, the notion that the New Jim Crow can ever be dismantled through traditional litigation and policy reform strategies that are wholly disconnected from a major social movement seems fundamentally misguided.”

My interpretation of that paragraph is a suggestion that there have to be some individual and collective actions in our communities to propel positive changes. For example, in areas where schools are substandard, parents should appear at every school board meeting, demanding improvements. Those meetings should be packed every time the doors open because a unified protest is always more effective than a few lone ones.

Page 21:

“Any candid observer of American racial history must acknowledge that racism is highly adaptable. The rules and reasons the political system employs to enforce status relations of any kind, including racial hierarchy, evolve and change as they are challenged. The valiant efforts to abolish slavery and Jim Crow and to achieve greater racial equality have brought about significant changes in the legal framework of American society – new “rules of the game,” so to speak. These new rules have been justified by new rhetoric, new language, and a new social consensus, while producing many of the same results. This dynamic, which legal scholar Reva Siegel has dubbed “preservation through transformation,” is the process through which white privilege is maintained, though the rules and rhetoric change.”

Exactly the point I was making in my post of 23 May, 9:52PM, where I used the analogy of someone moving the ends.

I was particularly interested in Chapter two, ‘The Lockdown’. Although the author referred to mass incarceration of black males as “The New Jim Crow” and a restructured “racial caste system”, I thought it was interesting that she never called it what it is: a “trap”. When imprisonment for even minor drug possession offenses is causing a great number of black men to go to jail, and for long stints, then indeed, it is a trap. More of our people need to recognize it as such. That “a little weed”, as some would say, serves as the lure that ensnares so many of our men, then to put it bluntly, they’ve got to stop being suckers for it and walking into the set up.

What I’ve read so far, has reinforced my belief that parents, or any relatives of youth, HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING IN THEIR POWER TO KEEP THEIR KIDS OUT OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM. If I’m not mistaken, an adult who is not found innocent of misdemeanor charges, won’t be able to have those records expunged. So, it’s worth everything to try and avoid getting sucked into that system in the first place. Even a person who’s actually innocent, is still at the mercy of others who’ll decide their fate. I’m more convinced than ever that the people closest to a child have to be ground zero. This is why I’m always stressing the need for parents to do certain things with and for their children. If an adult can do nothing more for a child than give him the esteem to believe he has some options, so that activities that would forfeit his future appear less attractive, then that adult has done a great deed. It’s not about giving a child all the material possessions one never had; it’s about giving them a leg up so that they can reach something higher.

I found chapter two particularly interesting. The author is a lawyer by discipline, and though I acknowledge that she comprehends litigation a whole lot better than I do, I wondered why she used three cases in which defendents had actually been guilty of drug trafficking or possession, in her examples of people who didn’t receive fair representation. She noted that innocent people who were profiled and subjected to unwarranted searches, are less likely to file complaints against law enforcement for fear of retaliation. But, I would think someone would have related their experiences to her. Most people, including myself, are not very sympathetic toward guilt, especially when the circumstances were preventable. Personally, I’m more concerned with innocent people who find themselves swept into the system merely because someone implicated them, or prosecutors knew they were innocent, but suppressed evidence that would’ve cleared them. If the purpose of the book is to educate and convince the American public of the need to overhaul a justice system that operates on a racial caste, then citing cases where people have actually committed the offenses, doesn’t effectively do it.

Per, Ms. Alexander, the “War on Drugs” declared by the Reagan Administration, was actually a declaration of war against black people. Consequently, the question I’d pose is: if black people are in a war, then when are we going to begin fighting?

Understand, that I don’t mean to minimize the plights of poor people. I fully appreciate how daunting it can be to have entities as powerful as law enforcement, the judicial system, and the U.S. government, work in cahoots against ordinary citizens. But this is precisely why it has become imperative that we make our children understand what’s at stake when they participate in illegal activities, or even consort with people who are engaging in them. Let’s forget – for a moment – about the bigger fish who are behind the scenes of illegal activity. My point is: when will our folks decide they will no longer serve as pawns for those hidden faces in this “War on Drugs”? I’m not absolving the government’s role in correcting the ills of its systems, which target offenses that are inconsequential in the bigger scheme of crime. However, as I see it, we have no choice but to do some of this on our own,for our own, beginning with our households. Let those who seek to conquer us have to figure out a new way to do it, without our help.

Finally, two conditions that have not changed for blacks:

1) Penalties for infractions have always been stiffer for blacks than whites. Not fair, but still the way it is. Walking into trouble and then protesting about it doesn’t fix anything.

2) Blacks have to be better at tasks than whites, to receive consideration for opportunities. Again, not fair, but the way it is, TODAY.

I’ll keep you posted.

Rance & JWill7 are really close to defining the REAL issues and possible solutions. I feel the bottom line is that there are far too many talkers than doers. Each time I hear a Black Leader referred to as the voice of the Black Community, I cringe. We Do Not need any more voices/talkers, we need much more doers. Each time I hear another Black Leader say “I’ll fight for you” tells me that he/she does NOT want to include me. “Help me obtain the proper resources and we can fight together.” There are so many people sick and tired of all the Talk And No Action. My mission is to organize DOERS. Will all the Doers please take a stand!!!

It is clear to me that anyone who would call him/her self(or allow him/her self to be called) a “Thug,” has in that very act established a personal level of disrespect that speaks louder than any subsequent words that come from the mouth. The roles these people play is to mislead Black youngsters into lifestyles that result in their unwittingly giving “image” justification to the Jim Crow felonizing system. Period. They are paid millions of dollars to model those roles. What is a “thug’? A thug is someone who goes to jail, and in the minds of most people, rightfully so.
Therefore, the Jim Crow “felonizing” system is free to do its work by creating “acceptability” of its actions not only among the public but its victims as well. That’s the role these people play by convincing too many Black youths that being a thug is “hot” and the social thing to do. This strategy is especially effective in communities where long standing economic deprivation policies prevail and alternative economic systems for survival have developed. On the public image level, when the world sees Black people answering to the name of “thug,” it says that the Jim Crow system is correct in its mass “felonizing” policies. Afterall, thugs should be in jail as a matter of reasoning. That is the role of these agents like “Slim Thug,” “Lil’ killer Willie,” (the latter a nonce name I made up) and the rest that New Jim Crow made up.

But they are only “role” players in a larger game, which some of them may or may not understand. The control is elsewhere. What should be the question for African Americans is, with all the talent Black people possess, why are these types of images the predominant ones being promoted to celebrity status where youth culture is concerned? And why did they evolve during the same period of time that Old Jim Crow was changing his clothes; his strategy to use mass incarceration as a means of imposing upgraded exclusionary “caste” policies onto Blacks? What is the RELATIONSHIP between these policies and the bragging about going to jail in the lyrics of these people?

(That’s one reason, dear sister Rance, some people contend that in many cases, even when parents do their best, they are often undermined by these New Jim Crow created role modeling agents, particularly in vunerable socio-economic enviroments.)

In fact, when we respond to something one of them has said, we are elevating them to an undeserved status. What more should we expect? I am convinced that we should be more concerned about the lyrics they shout to musical rhythm urging Black youths to kill each other as the LATEST STYLE. That should be our primary problem with these agents.

On the question of Black women, it is unthinkable that a Black man, or woman, would make such disparaging statements about each other as a group in the public sphere. But again, we must consider the source. If a person would, for money, encourage Black youths to kill each other for sport, then what else wouldn’t they do?

Our responsibility in these matters, is to stop worshipping people just because they have money and are on TV. Stop allowing people outside of our culture to appoint/create our celebritites, without questioning for what reasons they are being appointed/created. Usually, they are appointed/created not based on talent and even hard work, but what role(s) they are willing to play against our interest.

In closing, Rae Williams you are correct in stating that such individuals are “talking from an enslaved mind.” What other kind of mind could such an individual “talk” from. The mind is like a computer, it can only process data (information) that has been entered into its system. What does he know about the history of which you speak? How Black women have scrubbed floors, picked cotton, and washed white folks’ dirty underwear so he could be here today and insult them.

Ignorance of the struggles and success of previous generations of Black people is perhaps the least known and most needed thing imaginable. That is why I am so proud of my foreparents, and often refer to my grandmother in particular even as some others find such references amusing. But I will keep on telling the story of how I came to be. How a woman with but a third grade education, and a devoted husband (my grandfather), who with his own hands and her “naggin’” built an extra room to his small brick house so we “chillins” could have some “privocee.” A woman who taught me so much about the world and who cried as she talked about the indignities she’d felt in having to address a white person as “sir” and “Ma’am” who was but 9 or 10 years old while she was in her 50s during Old Jim Crow.

What group can succeed in a world that is based on continuity (even when that continuity is achieved through transformation) without knowledge of the contributions of that group’s ancestors and the benefit of council from its wise elders? The answer is simple–no group. So what we see in these self debasing comments are the results of the above being absent, and compensated by a manfactured illusion intoxicated on superficial success, which, by its very nature and purpose, misleading the young and weak, is detrimental to our group. And that is why it is a false success to begin with. So to shout about what such an individual says only legitimizes that individual as having a worthy view regardless what such a view may be, or who ordered such a view to be publicly voiced. When in fact, such an individual’s role is by its very creation, and function, illegitimate in the first place specific to our community’s best interest as already stated.

You and all other Black women (I am assuming you are a woman based on your name “Rae”) can be assured that 99% of Black men I know (and I know plenty on EVERY socio-economic strata), and 100% of those I associate with, do not share such views about Black women (whether living or deceased); our grandmothers, mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, aunts, and so forth. There is not enough money in the world to motivate such men as us to disgrace ourselves in such an uncivilized manner.

Mr. Martin, This morning while working out at the gym, I saw disturbing video of two African-American females involved ina tussle with a white male police officer. The broadcast said the young women who were teenagers, were being arrested for j-walking. The officer punched one young lady in the face and arrested the other. I have issue with this situation for several reasons. One, I have never seen video of an officer puching white women in the face, not that it doesn’t happen, but then these were young black women who were being arrested for j-walking of all things? Are there not some meth smoking, aryan supremist who need to be arrested for plotting to overthrow the government? I do understand that we need to teach our young people that they need to behave appropriately when approached by law enforcement, but does his punishment fit the crime. I also wnat to note that the friend of the young lady being arrested should have not put her hands on the officer also. As a people we have to do better. We have lost too many young lives to police brutality. But I wanted to what your perspective is on this situation.
I love your show. I love your swagger and Peace and Blessings to you and your wife.

I dislike long responses, but this is one.
Wow…She apologized?

Roland, I was absolutely shocked by your comment regarding the 17-year old girl that was Punched in the Face by a Police Officer. You stated something to the fact of what was she doing putting her hands on him?
We all know that “CHILD” was wrong to put her hands on the Cop; however there are a few things you and others are forgetting:
She is a child/adolescent; 17-years old
She is a Girl not a Woman
She was Punched in the Face by a MAN (A White Man at That)
And, he continued to physically abuse her after the punch

Zsa Zsa Gabor slapped a Police Officer in the FACE and he didn’t Punch her in the Face…He Arrested her as he should have. But, she is White right, so it appears she deserves better treatment than a 17-year old Black girl.

Truth, the Police Officer seen a Black face, he didn’t see a young girl; an adolescent, some other man’s daughter, he only seen a Black face…Like so many in America who don’t view Black women and girls as valuable and worthy of respect, love and protection.

This same Police Officer I am sure would not have punched a White 17-year old Girl in the face for the same reasons he did to this Black girl. But, then I guess the Black girl should just understand that she shouldn’t expect to be treated fairly and with respect by Police Officers and so many others in America.

For all the folks like you who are condoning this Police Officer’s behavior, it only speaks to Willie Lynch! The fact that Black people and especially Black men like yourself would not be outraged at the beating and physical abuse of a Black Female Child, speaks to the concerns that some Black Women have about Brothers respecting and protecting them!

Yes, he could have shot her, as so many people have said. However, this only goes to show that Black life is not respected and that a Jaywalking ticket can cause a Black child to be killed by a Police Officer and we (Black) folks rationalize this… When are we going to demand the same kind of respect that is given to our White counterparts? Instead we are using some of the same tactics that enslaved Blacks used and survival methods of the Jim Crow era. When do we stop putting up with the Second Class Citizenship Syndrome? Expect to be treated better; demand to be treated better and we will be treated better.

These teenage girls certainly deserved to be arrested, but physically assaulted and abused by a Police Officer was Excessive use of Force. Police Officers are supposed to sever and protect, this was totally over the line.

It is a sad day when intelligent Black men and women rationalize and Condon Police Brutality on a Black Child. Men are put in jail and/or charged with domestic violence, even when women attack them first (Chris Brown), children are taken away from their parents for physical abuse on this level, even if the child assaults their parent first.

Why then are people, especially Black men saying what this White man did to this girl was justified? Because he is a Police Officer? Police Officers are trained to address these situations in ways that are supposed to deescalate minor situations like this, instead of escalating these matters. I think the Police Officer has Anger Management issues, a short fuse and a disrespect for Black women/people. Why didn’t he call for backup?

Instead of posting a list of how we should behave when the Police stop us, why not circulate a petition to demand equality in the Criminal Justice System. But, I guess like Bill Cosby said, we complain when a Police Office shoots and kills someone for stealing a Pound Cake…But what were they doing stealing the pound cake…In Bill’s eyes and others, Black Life isn’t even equal to the value of a pound cake!

I guess to some this 17-year old girl wasn’t worthy of being subdued and arrested without getting punched in the face, because she deserved it , because she put her hands on him. She wasn’t taught better etc… And, let’s not get into the Black “Class” Divide…low class Blacks verses middle, upper and affluent Blacks, please America and others see only Black.

In 2010 and beyond, Blacks folks have to expect and demand to be treated fairly and with respect. Jim Crow only lives, if we continue to step a side for it, if we continue to bend our backs to it, if we continue to bow our heads to it and, if we continue to allow our children and women to be abused in the name of it!

The girl was wrong, but the Police Officer was totally WRONG and he should be reprimanded for his use of excessive force on a child!

Roland,
I would like to order a tape of today’s program on Black Power to share with my high school economics class. Please tell me if and when it will be available.

Blacks on immigration….How do Blacks feel toward our Hispanic brothers and sisters. This is just a guess on my part but 25-50 percent of the Hispanic community may have African decent. All slaves did not end up in America.

While I certainly respect the business accomplishments of Bob Johnson I can’t help but feel that in many ways he is like a drug dealer that has garnered wealth at the expense of exploiting others. BET during it’s peak was a soft porn, crime drama filled network (it has gotten slightly better). I don’t think he should be held in such high esteem. Not all money is good money.

A few weeks ago you had a guest Urologist from Johns Hopkins Hospital who is involved in a new break through treatment for prostate cancer. However, the entire interview centered around men getting tested, early detection and survival rates, etc. He was never asked to explain the new treatment. Please provide a follow up…I am a 15 year survivor and would like to pass this information on to those I know of who have recently been diagnosed with the diseased. Thanks.

@Sue Billings,

I also agree with your comment. However, you overly emphasized the term “people of color.” While I’m not knocking your expressing your conceptulation of the problem the way you see it. You did that very well. I would simply suggest that the vast majority of New Jim Crow’s felonizing victims are of a “specific” color–Black.

For a researcher, terms like “minority” and “people of color” make it difficult to ascertain the true numbers of involvement in things when it comes to Blacks. For example, we may come across a situation where in the data it is stated that “40% of contracts were awarded to minorities,” or, “people of color.” But after a loss of hours in efficiency doing additional research to find the “true” Black representation, caused by the writer’s failure to appropriately classify people, we find that the actual percentage of Blacks receiving such contracts was 1%. The other 39% were various “minorities” and “people of color.” All evidence suggest that such terms are used to deny Blacks a sense of “groupness,” and also to hide the wrongs being done to Blacks as a demographic, as well as to speciously inflate what little good that is being done to Blacks.

It is my view that we ought not be afraid to state who we are — African Americans, or the interchangable term, Black.

When you see the prison data, it becomes clear that Blacks are the main ones being victimized. I recall reading somewhere, years ago, that “the tallest tree in the forest catches the most wind.” Since Blacks are the tallest tree in all the useful data on the subject of incarceration, let’s make the world clear on who’s catching the wind. The same is true for every other category of negativity, unemployment, home foreclosures, widening wealth gaps, low wages, poorly funded schools, etc. Blacks are number one.

There were no “people of color,” or “minorities” on those slave ships with us. Subsequently, there were none during Old Jim Crow, and there are none during New Jim Crow. Our story is unique, and its time we told it like it is. While my comments are not meant to disparage any group (there is no usefulness in doing that) the truth is the truth. Given that fact, have you ever wondered where Hispanics (the few here at the time) and Asians sat on the bus while we had to move to the back? Have you ever wondered where they lived and attended church and school during Old Jim Crow? According to the elders who I’ve spoken with, it was with the whites. (We need to do more talking to those members of our families and community who lived through Old Jim Crow.) In addition to that, we need to pay attention to the world around us. For example, while on vacation in Houston last week, a friend who is an old movies buff showed a film of the “I love Lucy” television comedy from the 1950s and/or 1960s. While everyone else was laughing, the first thing I noticed was Lucile Ball played the wife of a Hispanic man. Could a white woman have had a Black husband in a highly rated television series during that era of Old Jim Crow? For that matter, would it be possible in this post-racial era of New Jim Crow? You be the judge.

In closing, for your information in case you didn’t know, there is currently a long overdue POLICY discussion about changing the remedy for the so-called “War on Drugs” to INCLUDE Blacks in a switch from the current and long standing Criminal Justice model to a Public Health model. This would be, generally speaking, the first time Blacks received the same consequences as others have all along for “nonviolent” drug involvement.

Let’s stay focused on that POLICY change and demand that it happens. If it does, it will be the best thing that could happen for Blacks whether enough of us are aware of that fact or not. And it would be a political quid pro quo, a return on our political investment. Plus, it’s just plain right over wrong. Who knows, those letters you wrote just might have had something to do with it after all. Do not become discouraged!

Thank you for being concerned about those less fortunate than yourself. But in reality, the issue involves all African Americans one way or the other. I hope my feedback regarding terminology did not offend you. It was certainly not my intent.

On today’s show 7/11/2010 when you visited LA, you spoke with 2 gentlemen from one of the parishes who complained that the president didn’t spend any time there. First the president has been down there on 4 separate ocassions, and did it ever occur to them to go to where the president was when he was there instead of the predident going to where they were.
He is POTUS and as such has a lot of things on his plate and can’t afford to personally visit each and every resident of LA, and shoudn’t be expected to. I know that things are hard for those folks, but they aren’t the only people in this country that are suffering. These are hard times, and there is a need for people to join in their own recovery and stop expecting that the POTUS is some kind of magician that can make everything better. It has gotten to the point where I don’t want to hear anymore about this, not because I am insensitve, but because I believe the media just like any other tragedy that comes along is milking this thing for everything they can to keep people watching, and instead of only reporting on the sensational and negative, maybe they could report on the positive things that are happening down there. If we just listened to the media, we would think that the preisdent is some cold-blooded monster who doesn’t care and is doing everything he can not to help those people. Surely you can’t believe that’s true?
I think the media could serve a better purpose if they would roll up their sleeves and help and use their platform to ask the people of America to come and help with the crisis, and not wait for the president to do it, but then there would be nothing to complain about.
I look forward to hearing that the well has stopped leaking and that the oil was being cleaned up, but until then, I will turn away from the news until there is some, news that is because all of the complaining and negativity is making me weary, surely there must be something going right there, why don’t you find it and report it?
God Bless the residents of Louisianna, and God Bless the POTUS.

I saw the show today about the minority fishermen and the hard time they are having with getting money from BP. Why not get the sororities and fraternities to adopt a family and send money monthly to them until they get on their feet. Flashbacks of Katrina keep popping up. The little man is always forgotten.

In typical Caucasian News Network (CNN) fashion, a recent NAACP resolution sparked a debate on the issue between Roland (at least they’re paying you) Martin and Radio Dickhead (I swear to you that’s the name on his birth certificate). Dickhead (with a capital D) stated that the Tea Party “Movement” (…bullshit) is for civil rights and a CHANGE from Status Quo government. Would this be a change from the government that up until 2008 approached EVERYTHING in the exact same manner, with the EXACT same faces doin’ the changin’? ‘Cause this new-fangled “Maverick” method (why do you let her keep talking?) seems a return to the old-fashioned, the only good Person of Color is an invisible one approach. Yeah I know there’s a few of us running around the Republican Party (I can’t decide however whether it’s pity for you all because you’re trying to address issues as if all things were equal within a party that only wants you around so that they can claim they are inclusive, or pity because you MUST have some identity and self-esteem problems). And as far as the Tea Partiers mention of civil rights, I’ll give you the same advice I give white people with dreadlocks: Just. Don’t. Inviting Roland to hang at a rally serves little to no purpose. Every white person in this country can pretend not to hate (or at the very least not condescend to) a Person of Color at least ONCE in their lives. Get a few cameras around, smile and put your arm around Roland, tell everybody that the Tea Party is all about REAL AMERICANS (I can trace my blood line back to my Iroquois and Blackfoot great-great-grandparents, how ‘bout you?) – Pointless – you’re still be the same group who REFUSES to publically remove from your ranks the very element you claim doesn’t reflect you.

Extremely Long Sidebar to President Obama: White people hate you. I don’t care about the small minority you grew up with that were decent. Most white people in America hate you. Period. And while I’d like to be able to join hands and sing Kumbaya ‘til the Second Coming, it’s not going to happen. Because liberal white people don’t have your back.

I know they smile in your face and tell you they support you, but don’t trust it. As more and more angry white people curse your race, obtain more guns, join militia groups and tea parties, Liberals get less and less vocal. Deep down Sir, they still believe that People of Color (POC) are less than; and feel that that’s the way it will always be. Plus let’s be honest – they’re scared shitless. POC live with hatred daily. Just watch TV or surf the Net. (“Look Honey – white people hate us.” “Still.” (Yawn) “Anything else worth watching……?”) With your election white liberals became privy to a little of the stress we’ve had for centuries. And frankly, they can’t handle it. They’ve been Selfish & Lazy for so long they don’t know any other way to behave. Example: Haiti was timely for white America. Just when an opportunity rose to act against some of the racial inequalities perpetrated by white people (Thanks Mr. Reid), tragedy struck Haiti. White folks got to write checks and sing songs in support of some black people (see we really do care!) and not one white person had to do any hard work in changing the racial environment here at home. Plus, BONUS: They got to continue thinking of themselves as the center of their own white-washed universe – saviors yet again of we poor colored folk. Selfish & Lazy.

Understand that the Opposition that disputes your policies is fueled by age old dogma White is Right. Every time some idiot screams, “We want our country back”, I can’t help but recall my upbringing. Growing up I rarely saw any images of POC – not on TV, in magazines, no subject matter in classrooms (save a comment or two about MLK), nor in most of the literature available to me. And those rare times we did appear? It was never in a positive light. If it wasn’t for my family’s discussions about identity, I would’ve thought I was actually some alien character from a sci fi novel. Is it any wonder that white people (& sadly too many POC) are conditioned in thinking that the only people who matter lack pigmentation? Pointing fingers at the problem is all well and good, but what steps get taken to fix it? Hatred — not my favorite topic, but necessary Sir if it helps acknowledge the severity in what’s occurring.

1) White people are Fearful. Fear POC in general, violent white people on occasion, but most of all YOU MR. PRESIDENT (White Man’s Worst Fear? An Educated Black Man. And one in a position of Power? Nightmare made real.)
2) White people are Ignorant. Most white people don’t engage another culture other than their own. A few take the time to ponder global populations but hardly ever think about their fellow Americans of color. More often than not, they think we operate from a hive mentality – if one of us speaks it must mean all of us have spoken!
3) White people are Hateful. Folks want to intellectualize it a million ways from Sunday, but bottom line, white people have an irrational fear of POC. Throw in the aforementioned conditioning and you get full-blown rage. Some have the decency to be ashamed. All too many thrive on it. Politics is just a smoke screen to camouflage the true intent – White is Right.

Yeah, they’ve got it in bad for us, but I’m just as upset by my complacent POC. How do you think our situation improves if we don’t speak up? Talk about it with any and everybody who’ll listen? How can we expect white people to learn to act right if we don’t help set the example? Just look at the way we continue to be represented (or in most cases aren’t) in TV and movies. How much of it accurately portrays us? I know it isn’t 1965 (FANTASTIC BOOK – A Taste of Honey, Jabari Asim)– but you can’t tell me we are where we need to be. Each generation improves from the last, but the presidential election in 2008 shouldn’t be the only struggle we overcome this decade.

White people on Capitol Hill are willingly going to sacrifice the welfare of America’s citizens in order to attempt to make it seem as if a black man can’t run the country. Some might call the President incompetent (Tsk, tsk, Jon Stewart – apparently you didn’t take that long look in the mirror after all; pre or post nose job you’re still the same person, right? Go on, give a glance) but considering their MO is to steal anything and EVERYTHING we do, think, or create for their own profit (slave labor that made them wealthy, industrial, scientific, and educational discoveries/advancements that NEVER show the true faces of color behind them, almost every popular music genre in existence) why in the world should we expect thoughtful, decent, intelligent, respectful dialogue? I just read that 28 percent, ALMOST A THIRD of white people in this country think too much is being done for African-Americans. That’s what we’re up against.

Mr. President, all I’m saying is a passive, shake a hand, wait and see approach won’t improve conditions or continue to engender your remaining base. I understand constantly being in the public eye is draining (Musical Interlude: Janelle Monae’s Tightrope) and it would be a joy to be able to tell some people to Back Off and Let Me Live In Peace (Sir my life isn’t nearly as prominent and yet even I manage to get harassed). Compounded by the fact that you’re fighting a few hundred years of backwards mentality, how could you expect to make any forward progress? I consider you an intelligent man with at least 35-40% politician in your blood; give them the same fake we’re-all-in-this-together backstabbing line they’ve been giving you. If I can learn to survive by doing it, anybody can! Hate them back Sir. Just a little. Please.

Before I forget, a quick shout-out to the hue-friendly, out-of-touch, sufferers of Best Black Syndrome (see Brainwashed: Challenging The Myth of Black Inferiority, Tom Burrell, Smiley Publishing Books, 2010); What’s Up Don & Soledad. And speaking of Brainwashed, Tom Burrell/Tavis Smiley: 1) Thick vs. Fat – White women think being built like an 8-year old boy is sexy. Women of Color do not. And I’ve yet to have a man of any race complain about my curves; wouldn’t hurt for you to make that distinction next publication. 2) The lack of diversity (depth, sophistication, intelligence….) for us in tv/films notwithstanding, Mo’Nique acted her ass off.

Excerpt from, Hatred: How I Came To See White People As Sub-Human (A True Story), Heart & Soul Books, 2010: When taking the train from work the other day I witnessed a young black male attempting to chat up an equally young white girl sitting with her friend in the seat in front of him. This mostly knees and elbows young man was leaning forward and smiling in an attempt to get the girl to give him the time of day. I noted with not a small amount of chagrin how this child was in the midst of an adolescent rite of passage we’ve all experienced at one time or another. It was at that moment that the girl turned to him and replied, “I don’t associate with black people.” My heart skipped a beat. Not because she shot him down (men learn early on it’s a law of averages) or even because her comment was so demeaning. What caused the breath to catch in my throat was the look on that young man’s face when she continued to say, “Except for my friend, but she’s light.” You see, this beautiful young man with the shining eyes and bright smile was the color of roasted coffee; apparently not the Acceptable Black this young girl saw fit to acknowledge. My heart broke. How could this initial innocent display become such an open declaration of racial hatred? How could it be that this Person was indicative of the future of America? I immediately looked to the young man to see if there was something I could say or do to salve the wound this ignorant girl had inflicted. He turned to me and slowly shook his head; a rueful smirk and a knowing glance hiding the pain exhibited just a moment before. I nodded my head as if to say, “It’s Ok, I understand”, both of us acknowledging a cruelty that only those of color truly know. I tell you now; the anger that rose to the surface in that instant would’ve dwarfed the sun. How DARE this wisp of all of 13 or so attempt to extinguish the light of this beautiful young man! I have to say SOMETHING if only to help reverse this grievous wrong. “Don’t even bother,” I told him. “You are far too good looking to waste your time with some Ditsy, Racist, Chick”. This of course caught the attention of the perpetrator who attempted to look down her nose at me (As only a white girl can – do they teach that at I’m The White Center Of The Universe Camp?) and insinuate that I was beneath her for even hinting that she could be in the wrong. I gave her a level gaze and said, “Yes. I mean YOU.” If she then felt even a degree of the heat burning in my eyes it showed because she immediately cast her eyes down, tuned her head and uttered not one peep up to and including when she and her friend exited the train. I’d like to say it made me feel good to tip the scales in our favor for a change. I’d like to say that I honestly felt that I helped that young man see the beauty that exists even when the world tries to tell you differently. But at the end of this encounter I only had a feeling of overwhelming emptiness; my anger for this young man’s intact self-esteem couldn’t outweigh the apathy for that young girl. Shouldn’t someone try to speak to her too? Show her a larger picture than the narrow wallet-size image she had of the world? But she meant nothing to me. All I could muster was a Good Riddance. I HAD ABSOLUTELY NO FEELING WHATSOEVER for her. And that cold realization shocked and hurt more than words could ever convey.

People I want to take to lunch, ditch, and stick with the check: One (1) antiseptic, narcissistic, translucent (real tans include the neck Two-Tone), individual who’s about as racially astute as a rock. You could hold a dozen puppies on camera; won’t ever make you look like a decent human being Jackass. This insidious enough for you?

I think I’ve covered everything. This moment of frustration brought to you by Today’s TV News Media and Ignorant White People: Former – Get Your Act Together Or Go The Way Of The Newspaper; Latter – 40 years from now you will be looking at this country from OUR perspective – pray our memories aren’t as long.

We need to pass more bills even if we do have Gop support or we shouldn’t be there. why wont they

I agree with that but fox news seems like they telling people what do. a black woman was fired today from her job because of fox news lies. When will people we elect stand up to fox news and stop firing black people because of what fox news said. They sure fire black people fast, no hearing or nothing, just fired because fox news said so. Who did we elect, maybe it was fox news.

@Karla

“They sure fire black people fast, no hearing or nothing, just fired because fox news said so’

This not even close to the truth. Fox news did not do their homework just as the NAACP, and the administration did not.

All jumped the gun on this women. ALL, not just fox. The NAACP once again looks inept and stupid as usual, as they back track.

The administration didnt wait to hear her side either, yet u manage to blame fox.

I hope President Obama stop allowing himself to be played by FOX NEWS this incident with Mrs.Sherrod is the third incident where innocent people were harmed because they wish to prove President Obama or some in his administration are racist. Van Jones, ACORN and now Mrs.Sherrod,President Obama must stop making decisions based on his detractors. His attempting to appease his detractors may cause him to lose his supporters.

Please wake up to the traps laid for you Mr.President. Nothing short of President Obama leaving office will satisfy his detractors.Stop attempting to appease them.

@Karla,

I agree with your assessment. Mrs. Shirley Sherrod should not have been fired without due process. I also agree with Heyward. There appears to be too much of a willingness to surrender to right-wing hate mongering sociopaths.

These people are not interested in facts. They are propagandists. Their goal is to “prove” a delusion that Blacks are being racist against whites, stir up a racist backlash against the Executive Branch and put their Republican party back in power (that is if, as Karla pointed out, they’re not already in power).

But a delusion is just that–a delusion. The way to counter a delusion is with the facts. But it should be kept in mind that these people are not delusional themselves, rather they are selling delusions to others. It is important to understand that no matter how irrational these people’s ideas might appear, they know exactly what they are doing. They don’t care about who they hurt. Again, their aim is to get others to buy into the delusions they sell. That’s when they are successful, when they can produce zealots, or at the least, misguided followers. All that matters to them is their political objectives.

For example, they put out a manufactured lie on this good and decent woman, nearly 30 years of public service, and they don’t lose one second of sleep. Instead, they blame the NAACP. But that’s typical (blaming the victim.).

Notice the response of Larry, I mean “Slik,” as he assigns blame to the duped, rather than the duper. All parties are responsible, he asserts. Now, keep in mind, this is the same zealot who perennially posts on this site that his beloved Fox (faux) news never lies.

To begin with, the idea of Black “racism” is fundamentally delusional. This incident provides an excellent opportunity to discuss that. The USDA, where Mrs. Sherrod worked is notorious for its unequal treatment of Black and white farmers. The head of the department who, it is alleged, was directed to fire Mrs. Sherrod, said in a media statement that she had to go because the department did not tolerate racism. That is a positive position to take. We all know that it is wrong to interject race in the discharge of professional duties. THAT SHOULD NEVER BE TOLERATED. But I cannot imagine one Black person who would do so. I cannot imagine one Black teacher who would flunk a white student because of race, a Black physician who would refuse to treat a patient because of race, a Black prosecutor who would prosecute a white for the same thing they would not prosecute a Black for, one Black judge who would sentence a white to jail for 10 years and a Black to 6 months for the same offense, etc. Does anyone? (“Slik”, er, I mean Larry, please don’t bore me with the fictional case about people (who were obviously experiencing another type of delusion) standing in a polling place door. That case was discharged doing the Bush admin. not the present one. It is another case of Fox’s delusion peddling.)

Yet, when we look at the stats, we see that all the above things are being done to Blacks routinely.

On the issue of Mrs. Sherrod, we learn that her father was killed by the Klan. No one has been punished for the crime. Yet she has to bear that burden and the one that has been unfairly placed upon her by this unfair treatment: All caused by sociopaths, trying to sell a delusion of Black racism. EVEN AFTER HER PURPORTED VICTIMS HAVE VEHEMENTLY COME TO HER DEFENSE!!! (And thank goodness these people, happy that she helped them save their farm were decent enough to do so.)

Now back to real racism, and its not being “tolerated” at the USDA. Black farmers, it was PROVEN have been discriminated against for years by that dept. in its dispensation of farm aid. A recent settlement was rendered in their favor of I believe $1.5 Billion (I’m writing without notes) but most agree it was not enough). They still have not been paid anything at all. The fact that they won the class-action case means that employees at USDA systematically deprived Black farmers of their “due” for years. MY QUESTION IS: ARE ANY OF THESE EMPLOYEES STILL WORKING THERE? If so, why?

Racism is wrong, and should not be tolerated in any capacity. We all get that. But is it fair to punished some one for “delusional” racism, and not punish those whose actual racist behavior has been proven to be as real as the sun is bright. And is it right to use the innocent to make a point of not tolerating something that is wrong, while rewarding the guilty.

By analyzing that question, we at the same time observe two con games. They are, the “delusion” of Black racism, and the “illusion” of not tolerating those who practice real racism.

The NAACP was wrong to rush to judgement on Mrs. Sherrod. They should have considered the source. They should never have placed themselves in a position to go tick for tack in a moral game with these people (sociopaths)in the first place. The NAACP should recognize that they are the only ones practicing morals in this situation. Their practice is evident by their changing their stance and admitting that they were “snookered,” or something similar to that. I applaud them for admitting they were wrong. But next time, consider the source.

I remember reading some years past Reinhold Niebuhr’s “Moral Man and Immoral Society.” Niebuhr eloquently posited about “virtues and vices being inextricably joined.” But in the case of people who would deliberately destroy another person’s reputation and life, knowing that the charges are false, never apologize, rather blame the ones who for some reason or another buy into their market peddled delusion as fact, it appears more a case of their vices actually being their virtues.

Unfortunately, the public can expect more of these desperate attempts at hate mongering in the future. That is all these people have left. Their con game of trying to convince the public that budget deficits are the primary issue has not worked. Polls consistently show that the public of all races and ages are not willing to give up their Social Security benefits, raise their retirement age, etc., in the name of “deficit reduction” while the super rich keeps it tax breaks, as is advocated by these types of con men. Given this, the “race card” wrapped in dirty tricks is all they have left.

I believe Mrs. Sherrod’s dismissal should be rescinded. She should be apologized to, and the slanderers should be punished. It seems as if they are never punished for anything.

I hope all of you watch fox news and heard the lies that came out of sean hannity mouth that man needs to be firer that why we need to stop watching fox news

Silk yes we can blame fox news because they always edit tapes like they did with acorn its on the computer if you want to find it or go to boycottblackmen i think its on their sean hannity needs to be FIRER

As I sat with my laptop today beneath a tree that is hundreds of years old here in Southwestern Canada’s Redwood forest, I was glad I did bring it. A trip to nature, horseback riding, canoeing, hiking, and log cabin living along with late evening star gazing snuggling usually means one leaves technology behind. Sure you bring a cell phone for emergencies, but you don’t bring a laptop. That’s what my wife kept reminding me. You spend your time in peace and quiet, you watch bears from a distance and birds up close. But mostly you enjoy your company, you mediate, you reflect, and in my case you also keep up with the outside world. You stay in touch with reality, because that’s where you’ll be for good. Vacations are only temporary. This one has lasted for nearly two weeks and will be over tomorrow.

But if I hadn’t brought my laptop, or if others in our party hadn’t brought theirs, we wouldn’t know about the case of Mrs. Shirley Sherrod. We wouldn’t know that she was slandered by a sociopath seeking to prove a fundamentally delusional narrative of “Black racism.” We wouldn’t have been painfully reminded that some Blacks, who are supposed to be in leadership positions, have bought into the false narrative of “Black racism.” And are themselves so out of touch with reality that they move quickly to disassociate themselves from it, and punish it. “It will not be tolerated,” they declared. As if such a thing actually existed anywhere in the “known universe.”

But they seem to be awfully slow in moving to correct, or even discuss, real racism. Racism that has resulted in the near devastation of Black America: a Black middle class that is being rapidly destroyed, an ever widening wealth gap; incarceration rates for “nonviolent” offenses due to joblessness and daily Jim Crow hunting practices that have destroyed many Black families and threatens those struggling to hold on, just to name a few.

Let’s not talk about, or act, on that–Fox News and Glen Beck might not approve. Let’s move quickly, condemn, and fire this “racist” woman before Beck complains. But she won’t go easy, she’s a fighter –she comes from that fighting generation of Blacks. Well, then, call an “access seeker,” get him to cosign it, that should suppress any stirring among Blacks.

But it wasn’t just Blacks who stood up and said this is a good and decent woman, the conscious-less, moral less, sociopath has lied on her, trying to prove a negative, a delusion, a fairy tale of Black racism. Country and western singer, and long time farm activist, Willie Nelson stood up. The alleged victims of her “racism” stood up. Writers and journalists stood up. And because of that, it appears an injustice will be corrected.

Some said she’s demonstrated that she’s “overcome” her “racism.” Hogwash!!! She never had any “internal” racism to overcome. What she experienced was perhaps anger and frustration caused by her victimization by real racism; living in the Old Jim Crow south, her father murdered by a Klansman who was never punished. To be angry and not accept injustice simply makes her human. No one has the right to deny her that humanity. Those who would deny her that humanity, would also deny her the right to adjust and discharge her duties with decency, grace, and commitment. Which as Willie Nelson pointed out, she went beyond the call of duty in doing even “before” she became a USDA official. What a woman!! I believe it is that quality in her that generated so much support, even from those who initially bought into the scam like some white journalists, due to their own belief in the delusional narrative of “Black racism,” or, on the part of some Blacks, a pathological-like readiness to prove a point to the hand that feeds them.

Even some Blacks like the right wing loyalist Ken Blackwell, the former Ohio Secretary of State (or some similar capacity) spoke out in support of Mrs. Sherrod. But his support, as to be expected, probably was meant more to embarrass the Executive Branch than anything else. After being widely accused of suppressing the Black vote in Ohio during the 2004 presidential election which led to Bush II’s re-election, he’ll have to do much more than that to win acceptance from fair minded people. Besides, he likened Mrs. Sherrod’s experiences of Jim Crow abuse, including the death of her father, to a pitcher being cheated out of a no-hit baseball game. I don’t see the analogy. Do you?

Even Glen Beck, the apparent “boss” of the country, spoke out against her firing. But, of course, his and Blackwell’s motives were probably the same. Those in the know are aware that Beck has been hallucinating that he is Dr. Martin Luther King. That is clearly an INSULT to Dr. King, and no thinking person takes Beck’s hallucination seriously. But given the power that Beck seems to have in shaking and moving things in Washington, what if he did start taking his psychotropic meds as prescribed, come to his right mind and started advocating for the things that Dr. King advocated for, e.g., love over hate, a just society, ending war, and standing unapologetically in defense of the poor and voiceless? I bet there’d be a jobs bill signed then, because Beck seems to get things done.

As for the other sociopath, the one who edited the tape of Mrs. Sherrod’s speech to sell his “delusion” to the believers in fairy tales, and who, by his own admission, wanted to get even with the NAACP, by “proving” what he called a “double standard,” which translates to mean: “the NAACP is just as racist as we Tea Partyers.” Well, he is featured in a Politico.com article today playing the victim. He shows no remorse. He says (despite the fact that the world knows better) that the tape is factual. It is true, read it for yourself, he still says that the tape he doctored and presented as evidence that Mrs. Sherrod, and by extension the NACCP, are as racist as he is tells the truth. He says the “administration” and the media are picking on him. He says people are always picking on him. He says he’s taking a three-day vacation because people are picking on him. He says everyone is wrong but him. What he didn’t say, and would never say, is all of his behavior, the unethical practices, the refusal to accept responsible by blaming his victims, etc., meet all diagnostic criteria of a classical sociopath.

One more thing, I wish those in power would stop fearing Fox News. Those who are giving the advice to fear Fox News are simply not qualified to serve in whatever advisory capacity they serve in. Fox News, while powerful in that it is a national media entity, does not determine the will of the public. What better teacher is there than history? Fox News did everything within its power to put John McCain in the White House. It failed badly. What then makes anyone think that Fox news can determine the outcome of the next election? It doesn’t make sense!! We’re not talking about ancient history, we’ll talking less than two years ago. Something is wrong. Some advisor needs to be fired.

What will determine the outcome of all future elections is the same thing things that determined the outcome of the last one: Economic and war policies. People want and need jobs. More federal spending must be done to create jobs. All credible economists are saying it, from Paul Krugman to even Reagan’s budget director David Stockman. Even McCain’s 2008 campaign’s economic chief (whose name I can’t recall) is saying it. Yet, according to media reports, the Executive Branch is being advised to chose the “deficit reduction” route, which has prevented a full fledged effort to create jobs. Something is wrong. Some one needs to be fired. And its not Mrs. Sherrod. (Anyone wishing to be informed on this issue read the article: “Deficits, Social Security and the American Public,” by Benjamin I. Page and Lawrence R. Jacobs (6/29/10); Truth-Out.org.) There is another article in today’s Huff Post by Richard (RJ) Eskow, “Scammed: What Shirley Sherrod and Social Security Have in Common.”

In fact, one of the leaders of the anti Social Security movement (which conservatives are paid to espouse in the name of deficit reduction) is a billionaire named Peter G. Peterson, who heads a foundation by the same name. He sponsored 19 simultaneous Town Hall meetings across the country on the same weekend as the BET Awards to try and convince participants that it would be wise of them to forgo their Social Security safety nets in the name of “deficit reduction.” Despite propagating them for hours before the vote, the participants (mostly white) voted overwhelmingly to keep their Social Security and recommended higher taxes on millionaires and cuts in defense spending as the solution to the budget deficit. (Of course we didn’t know about this. We were too busy discussing whether Cris Brown’s tears were real or fake, and who Rhianna was dating). Anyway, upset that the people could not be brainwashed to give up their Social Security and other government benefits by people who don’t need such services, the con men published the results in a report called “America Speaks Without Knowing.” (It’s available online.) But it seems to me that the results are full evidence that America “knows” quite well when it’s being conned. At least some do. The results were submitted on June 30, 2010 by Dr. Lukensmeyer (who served as chief hypnotist for the meetings)to the so-called “National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.” But you can bet they are not the results he wished to present. This is the “deficit commission” appointed by the Executive Branch.

In closing, those who are calling for a boycott of Fox News, the firing of Hannity, or who have an irrational fear of Fox News, etc., you are wasting your time. Forget about Fox News and start paying attention to things that matter. Or you will turn on Fox News one day and not know what they are laughing about until you learn that they have abolished Social Security (the only safety net most Blacks have), raised the retirement age to 75 years for those lucky enough to have a job (longer than the life expectancy of most Blacks) and put Sarah Palin in the white House.

And we will have no one to blame but ourselves. Because instead of worshipping, and/or ego tripping, we should have been responsible adults and advocated for our future and the future of our children and generations yet to be born. We should have remembered our upbringing lessons: no one looks out for those who do not look out for themselves. Instead of obfuscating, picking fights with meaningless entities, in a futile effort to appear to be addressing the needs of the Black community, in a not so clever avoidance tactic, we should be addressing the real policy issues that will motivate the masses to vote as they did in 2008. Jobs, foreclosures, protecting safety nets, equal funding of schools, and criminal justice abuse, etc. And, oh yes, something “new.” But what’s new at some point becomes old. And it gets old faster, the more hungrier and homeless one becomes. Besides, homeless and hungry people don’t believe in “boogeyman” arousal tactics. They say “show me where the food and homes are at.” All obfuscators learn that sooner or later.

That’s my understanding of matters from the Redwood Forest.

Thanks Roland, for allowing me to post comments on your Blog. I’m not going to called you names. I believe you’ve learned a valuable lesson from the Sherrod case.

Dear Mr. Martin, I doubt that I will get a response from you. You’ll just continue to justify yourself. I go back to May 13th, 2008 on WVON whereby you called black women “ho’s”. As it relates to Mrs. Sherrod, I wonder if someone pulled your tape and played those words that came out of your mouth, how would you feel? The show’s topic was on prom-wear. I suppose you feel it is okay to disparage black women, as you have Mrs. Sherrod. You need to Man-up!

There are those who are wishing that the widely discussed mistreatment of Mrs. Shirley Sherrod would just go away. And for good reason –they messed up real bad that time!! Nearly everyone I talked to today expressed how Mrs. Sherrod has affected them in some way.

Some can’t explain it. They just say “she was treated wrong.” Or, “it’s gonna be awhile before I forget this one.” But others articulated that she reminds them of their grandmother, mother, aunt, big sister, former high school or elementary teacher, nice lady from the neighborhood, etc. One woman told me, “Mrs. Sherrod reminds me of my Aunt Clara, who passed away two years ago.”

Mrs. Shirley Sherrod has touched what, in large part, W.E.B DuBois called “The Souls of Black Folk.” To many, she is the real deal. Not some piece of fake silver ware or china, to be dusted of and polished to impress company. Rather, she is the wares from which we eat daily, that are also good enough for company. We don’t have to prepare her, she’s always ready.

I would like to commend Don Lemon for the CNN special he hosted Sunday (7/25/10) that informed those who viewed it of her life story. Even before then we knew she was someone special. But in the CNN piece, we learned of her childhood, her struggles and victories. We learned of the circumstances of her father’s murder, and we saw how her sister could barely contain her emotions when speaking of it even now, some 45 years later. We learned how she met her husband and what a freedom fighter (like her) he was/is. We learned how he’d lost his farm because the white agent who was responsible for helping him told him instead, “If you get a loan, it’ll be over my dead body.”

Now that’s “real” racism. Mrs. Sherrod never told anyone that. From what I understand, it was the white farmer’s own behavior that motivated her initial ambiguity regarding his case. From what I understand he was acting “superior” to her. And after all she’d been through, seeing her family lose their own farm due to “real” racism, her father murdered and the criminal never got punished, her home being shot up, the lives of her children threatened (her son said he had bullet holes in the wall next to his bed). How can anyone accuse her of “racism,” or “bias”? We also learned that she is a principal plaintiff in the landmark Black Farmers lawsuit against the USDA, which was won but the Black farmers still have not been paid. The lawsuit proved long term institutionalized racial discrimination against Black farmers by USDA in the dispensation of farm aid. This discrimination caused many hundreds of Black farmers to lose their farms.

Thank goodness the white farmer learned how to contain his bias, and allowed her to give him “the full force” of her efforts as she grew to understand how the rich and powerful fleeces everyone. And thank goodness he and his wife were decent enough to come forward and testify that Mrs. Sherrod is a good and decent woman.

Mrs. Sherrod was quoted in a recent Huff post article as saying: “I don’t want to be the fall guy, or girl” for real racism at the USDA.

My question is: When are these people going to be CHANGED out the door? Are they still hurting Black farmers? What have Black Farmers “overcome” with these people still being there?

The fact is, as I’ve posted earlier, those accusing her of these things are well aware that it is a con game. A “delusion” they are selling to stir up hate and advance their false narrative of a delusion called “Black racism.” But they don’t believe these things themselves–they are simply inculcating the minds of others with that poisonous lie. Rather, those who believe them are the crazy ones. And then they will be the first ones to have the audacity to call Willie Bee crazy, just because he sees pink elephants and thinks he’s Winston Churchill.

Nor is it helpful for people at the highest levels of power to continue to insist that Mrs. Sherrod “overcame her bias,” and how things have changed from “her Jim Crow childhood” in the south. This is so out of touch with reality it appears deliberate deception. Especially since most of us who are in touch with the real world know that all that has changed is Jim Crow’s clothes. It is equally useless and deceptive to insist that one’s own personal success is a tangible indicator that things have changed for other Blacks. There are (and always have been) lots of personal success stories, but for the masses of Blacks things have gotten progressively worse. The data verifying this decline in the vast majority of African Americans’ standard of living (wealth gaps, home loses, unemployment, etc.) and the denial of justice is everywhere and well known. Social, political, and economic scientists report on these deteriorating conditions regularly. The Black community is in a “state of emergency.” And the poor, to even acknowledge that they exist seems to be against the law. So what’s the point of saying such things, that Blacks have overcome, when most sane people know it’s untrue? Perhaps that’s these people’s roles. Perhaps that’s why they got where they are, to deceive us and the world of false progress. To cover for racism.

As an example of the above point, covering for racism, I’m reminded of the fact that before the NAACP accurately (although some argue not prudently) accused the Tea Party of having racist elements, we rarely, if ever saw a Black person on television representing the Tea Party. We saw Black right wing “pundits” speaking up for them with straight faces and crossed eyes from time to time for a sinecure, but we rarely saw an actual Black member. Since then, I’m told that almost every Tea Party “official” on TV has been Black. It’s the old hide your racism behind a Black face that our parents schooled us about. All we need to do is pay attention.

Regarding Mrs. Sherrod, her case should be a lesson to all. The plain truth is, one can “signify” and “play the dozens” about papa: Calling him “irresponsible” in an effort to impress racists for votes (when in fact both longitudinal and cross-sectional studies show that the vast majority of Black fathers do the best they can given their circumstances). And then get in a position to help him achieve employment and become a providing father but refuse to do so in deference to what one brother called “GOP TV” (Fox News). Indeed, we’ll laugh and applaud when too many Black fathers are denied their right to be fathers and then called “boys,” thinking our culture is being confirmed, not knowing (or too hypnotized to care) that we are being slyly mocked.

But when one start messing with “Big Mama,” “Mama,” “en’ ant’tee Bertha en ‘nem,” that’s crossing the line, and no amount of “Novocaine” can anesthetize Blacks disapproval in that regard. Anyone who grew up in, or is conversant with, African American culture knows these things.

Even the corporate sponsored rappers (the most salient violators of Black culture until recently) know these things. While they mostly crave money and fake jewelry, when MOST of them are handed lyrics by white producers that are disrespectful to Big Mama, Mama, and Ant’tee Bertha, they say: “I’ll rap dat stuff ya’ll tell me ’bout Lakisha, en I’ll tell Ray Ray en Peewee to gang bang en not go to school. But I cant sey dat stuff ’bout Big Mama en ‘nem!!!!!” Even MOST of them know better.

You don’t order a woman like Mrs. Sherrod to pull over to the side of a rural road and “submit” anything. That’s too much like the racist Sheriff ordering Black women to “pull over” on isolated roads so he can rape them: And then rationalize his sociopathic behavior by claiming that she is “promiscuous,” i.,e., she’s the one who raped him. That “pull over to the side of the road” part is perhaps what upset many African Americans the most, not only because of its denial of due process, but its implications as just described. People who know Black culture and the Black “experience” know these things.

And to those Blacks who signed off on this nonsense, let it be a lesson to you. Remember your upbringing teachings, taught to you most likely by women like Mrs. Sherrod: (a) never accept candy or other gifts from strangers, or follow them anywhere; (b) never bear witness against family and neighbors for lying strangers,(c) never sign, or cosign, anything before you have first read it and understand it, and (d) always respect everyone until they prove to be unworthy of respect.

In respect to Mrs. Sherrod, she has the grace of a queen butterfly floating in a summer breeze, sipping resin from one rose blossom to the next, and yet she at once manifests the strength of a thousand pillars of steel. She is worthy of our honor and support.

She, as a recent public figure, is what we’ve been missing. She is NOT phony, packaged like a product on a store’s shelf, and sent to us by image makers to TV channel hope, mostly embarrassing us even if we, and /or they, don’t know it. She is real!!!!

Roland: I’ve defended you in the past when you were in the right. While I don’t know you personally, I’ve always appreciated the forum you provide for us to express our views. But I can’t stand with you when you go messing with people like Mrs. Sherrod. If you have not already done so, please extend to her a gracious apology, put the matter behind you and move forward.

Roland,

Essence Magazine too…

Essence Magazine should NOT hire a WHITE Fashion Editor…I have purchased Essence since the 70’s…It is a Black Woman’s Magazine; culturally and racially specific…What part of that don’t you and others understand?

White Magazines hire very few Blacks, if any…you know that, because you are a Journalist.
“I am cancelling my subscription!” And, I hope other “Real Black Women Will Too”

Roland What is Up with You…
1. You justified the White Cop Punching the Black Girl in he face.
2. You spoke out against Mrs. Sherrod.
3. Now, you are siding with White Folks and missed guided Blacks at Essence!

I use to value your comments and insight, however I must say that I am finding it extremely hard to respect you and some of the comments you are now making against Black folk.

Being Multicultural should not be at the expense of African Americans…
The playing field is NOT level and yet you want Blacks to help to level it! With what, the few resources we have in this Country?

You are becoming an “Uncle Clarence.”
I am NOT feeling you and Washington Watch anymore!