The Obama speech

Posted by Drew458       on 03/19/2008 at 10:12 AM   

1. Interesting dilemma here - continue with the status quo of race baiting, whity hating, hood jive ‘the man keeps me down’ black community or raise youself above it by embracing the education, hard work and civility to advance yourself and your family and your future - what is a black to do?!?

   Of course for generations people have embraced the American Dream - raising themselves and their families above who and where they came from to achieve it all by becoming an American.

   [Warning History Content here] The first African ‘slave’ did not arrive in America until 1619 - 127 years after the ‘discovery’ of America - so ‘original sin’ is a misnomer. Let us not forget that African slaves could not have been gotten without the assistance of Africans (so uhmm, exactly when are they going to admit their own culpability in their own slave history (which btw is still a major problem in Africa)) and speaking of this my maternal grandfather sold himself into bondage to come to America - he was going to have it happen anyway - he and his sister were orphaned as children - it was that or off to the Charles Dickens type orphanages. . .she was bonded to nuns and shipped to Canada - granddad decided he had more of a chance at life and a future by selling himself to a ship to America than staying put. So not every single slave was/is black - and oh btw America was the first to start the anti-slavery trend (1808 - wow less than 200 years - Congress banned the importation of slaves from Africa (note, granddad didn’t bondage himself until the late 1800’s too bad that ban didn’t cover other slaves). . .And Cuba outdid the US as far as slave importation goes - but I guess it just doesn’t fit the template that the US is the sole racist country in the World ever and today. . .

   Back to topic - I just read someone say that He Who Cannot Be Named went to the TUCC to learn how to be black - which takes us back to my original dilemma - and by stepping back into the hood - HWCBN is going to find out that America doesn’t want a African as POTUS - but a (black) American would have won the Nomination without a problem. . .Until they get it -their community, opportunities and possibilites will continue to be nothing - and it doesn’t have a thing to do with whitey, the man or racism - it simply has to do with being an American first and formost - that is the only/i] way to the American Dream. No matter what ones color or way of ‘coming’ to America is -

   Posted by wardmama4       03/19/2008  at  01:30 PM  



2. Exactly. That’s precisely why he joined that church, to “understand the black experience”. And that’s fine, I have no problem with that. It’s good to have some grounding in the actual lives of people you are trying to understand.
   Personally I think The Black Community(tm) would do better by listening to Clarence Thomas, or Walter Williams, or Condi Rice, or.... well, there’s a middlin long list. But as long as The Black Community(tm) worries about people “not being black enough” and defines “black enough” as racist enough, not gonna take any responsibility myself but blame whitey and guilt him into payin my way.... well, they’ll get exactly the results you can expect. Which probably explains why I’ve known so many black people who didn’t want to be identified with The Black Community(tm).

   To be fair though, for a guy who is half white and nearly half arab, with a tiny smidgen of actual *african* ancestry… while I may not think much of setting the standard of “black enough”, I will admit that it is valid to wonder how black he is.... he seems to have kind of a reverse Michael Jackson thing goin.

   Posted by GrumpyOldFart       03/20/2008  at  04:48 AM  



3. "not being black enough” and defines “black enough” as racist enough, not gonna take any responsibility myself but blame whitey and guilt him into payin my way....

   Great response! I’ve always wondered where that Black Community is. Because I’ve never noticed a White Community. Even if you break white folks down into all their little ethnics groups - Norwegians, Lithuanians, etc., I’m still not seeing those communities. Maybe that’s my own ‘lack of ethnicity’, seeing as a very large part of my family has been over here a very long time. None of that “old country” stuff left.

   But your comment does support Ashong’s view that there are self destructive elements within his community. Sorry folks, but we threw out “Separate But Equal” generations ago. That ‘SBE’ was forced on people ... but it still doesn’t work when it’s caused by self-isolation. You can’t demand full equality on the one hand and the right to keep yourself apart from the rest of us on the other. Join the team and play by the same rules ... which I’m pretty sure was the real underlying concept of the I have a dream speech.

   Posted by Drew458       03/20/2008  at  08:23 AM