Let me get this straight:
1) There are more Democrats representing the Black community (black voting wards and districts) in all aspects of government (and education) today than ever before.
2) As I scan the US Census for the top cities where Blacks are most concentrated these same cities have City Councils that are from 65% to 100% Democrat. Mayor’s offices about the same percentages.
3) Almost universally the school systems are turning out subpar results.
4) The streets are not safe
5) The local economic development is anemic
6) Health care issues such as HIV infection rates and rates of STD infections are above normal.
Despite all of these sad facts……the Black Democratic loyalists asks “What has the Republican Party done to earn the Black vote?”?
When “da man” is in the mayor’s office, sheriff’s office, school board chairs and sitting on the bench in the court room – it might indeed be a good question to ask. When the Democrats that you favor enjoy such a dominant position over you, however, such a question appears perverted.
Clearly we are at a point where the new question must be “With the Black community being more isolated into cities and schools that are increasingly segregated……can the people that we POPULARLY FAVOR operate with a set of leadership policies that enable our community to leverage as many of its internal resources as possible to maintain the standard of living that we all desire?”. In so many cases the answer is NO!
It is time for the Black people who care about our end goals above our ideology to develop a set of COMMON GOALS that all (most) can agree upon as being sound. We need to begin to dispassionately appraise our policy assumptions against these goals. Those policies which don’t provide forward motion toward the attainment of these goals need to be purged. If the Black community fails to implement a more objective means of evaluation of our POPULAR political agenda that is reinforced upon us then we should content ourselves that we have done everything necessary to remain as we are today. The ability to BLAME AN EXTERNAL ADVERSARY for ones downfall is the key escape valve that prevents true INTROSPECTION of certain flawed policies from happening.
I must admit this election with Obama as the potential first Black president has been of great distress for me. No for the assumed reasons though. This distress is because it makes me see what makes many of my people tick. The mass marketing of the “MLK – Dreamer / Obama – The Dream Come True” T-Shirts along with the “Got Change?” messages shows me that this election has been abstracted from the domain of pure and dispassionate evaluation of policy and effectiveness in addressing the great challenges that our communities face. Instead Obama has been taken to the “ML King / Untouchable” stratum among some people. It is simply unworkable for our community to promote such a concept about a POLITICIAN and ONE MAN. Clearly anyone who rightly opposes some of his initiatives will be said to be like those who “stood against King”.
Some of this urban marketing of Obama is in the same light as that of “Chris Brown” or “Lil Wayne” t-shirts that I so frequently see. I literally can’t distinguish an Obama shirt from a Chris Brown t-shirt until I come up closer to the person wearing it. (and I have good vision – no glasses)
As I look at Obama’s policy to increase federal spending on education by only $18 billion and the loud applause as to the CHANGE that this is going to make for our failing schools – it is clear to me that many of our people lack the concept of LOGISTICS that would allow them to see that $18 billion spread over 50 states is little more than the $12 billion spent by “Evil Bush” over Clinton during his first budget proposal as president. Only the sentiments felt about each respective man as rendered from our community provide for the distinctions in reception for these federal educational spending programs and the “hope” that our schools will improve in kind.
I am grieved in that so much of our core interests as a community are given to ideological and partisan manipulation. If our core issues were being addressed by this popular force that dominates our people I would be forced to shut up because the overwhelming evidence would be clear. Instead there is masses consternation and the response by those who SHOULD BE held accountable is that we need to “unify” because Obama’s election in and of itself represents the VICTORY.
I would much rather have wide spread improvement at the local levels where we are most concentrated than a Black president of any party or ideology.
Clearly we have lost our way.
