Election Aftermath

[Cynique]

Well, the mid-term elections are over and the voters have spoken.  The message sent by the majority of these typical Americans who went out and voted was that they are dissatisfied with the current state of affairs.  Implicit in this message is that they don’t like Black leaders, Hispanic aliens, Gays, Feminists, or Environmentalists. They’re against same-sex marriage,  a woman’s right to choose,  separation of church and state, health care for all, raising the minimum wage and lowering the interest rate on college loans.  These Fox News junkies reject gun controls, support murderous cops, and approve of a macho military. They’ll tolerate low taxes for the rich but hate hand-outs for the poor. They want more religion in schools,  and less government in their lives. So, these white citizens exerted their entitlement and voted Republican. 

 

When it came to standing up to bullies, the castrated Democrats didn’t set an example for their ranks and they got their asses kicked. Black America is left bereft. Liberalism is on the ropes. 

 

Since they couldn’t vote by texting, young people didn’t show a lot of interest in the election and exerted no impact on the things that will affect their future. It's hard to tell if they care.

 

Most troubling of all, is that the President of the United States has become a pariah.

 

God bless America?  Puleeze. 

[Troy]

That was a great summary Cynique.  But you glossed over the other side of the equation.  What happened to the democrats who failed to come out, yet again, and vote in another midterm election?

 

It is not hard to tell if they care; they don't.  The absolute best way to judge what someone cares about is to observe their actions.  We did not vote because we simply do not care.

 

The question really is, why don't we care? 

 

I think we have completely loss faith in our government's ability to do anything positive for us.  Sadly, the Brother in the whitehouse bears the brunt of this dissatisfaction--on both sides; whether folks are willing to say so in public or not.  A young man in Ferguson summed the sentiment up plainly; We have a black president, but I still got teargassed yesterday.

 

At the end of the day, if we really gave a crap about all the things you mentioned, we would have elected people who support Obama's agenda, rather than having it taken away in a landslide.  We have no faith in the US government's political system, the Obama Presidency, and this midterm election, just made that fact clear.

[Cynique]

Are Blacks that dumb that they won't vote to keep a party out of office that does not have their best interests at heart? Are they so blind that they don't see that their progress is hampered by Republicans and that by allowing more of them to get elected is aiding and abetting their enemy?   Has it never occurred to them that by supporting the Democrats, things would at least not get worse? 

 

Are the Democrats the lesser of the 2 evils? Hell, yes.  Blacks ain't never gonna get all they demand but they can at least step up and help their allies keep their mutual foe in check.  Apathetically standing around moping about how bad things are is counter productive.  Holding down the fort and using your ballot to stave off hostile forces makes more sense. 

 

But, I guess nothing makes sense if you don't care.  You lose your right, however, to complain when you give up without a fight.

[Troy]

Yes. Yes. No.

 

Failing to exercise ones's right to vote has never stopped anyone from complaining--including our friends in Ferguson, where just 4 out of 10 people turned out to vote in the most recent election.

 

Speaking of republicans, last night I watched a documentary on James Brown.  I did not know that James actively campaigned for Richard Nixon.  James was the prototypical Black Republican, "I don't want nobody giving me nothing, just open the door I'll get it myself." 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYNJK5sHHeo

[Cynique]

I saw that documentary, myself, a couple of nights ago.   Just came upon it by accident.  Brown was full of contradictions.  He crowed about being black and proud but typically preferred light-skinned or white women. And when it came to paying his band members a fair wage, he balked.  He got everything himself because he stiffed other people who gave him something.  He had all it took to be a typical Republican.    

 

Now that my frustration about the outcome of the election has subsided, I concede certain things.  Democrats got what they deserved because they are a bunch of vacillating wimps.  Also there are issues where Black people do not overwhelmingly  side with Dems. Same sex marriage is not fully embraced by them; gun control either, and they do want religion back in schools. So it's more about liberals vs conservatives.

 

  I am now drifting into the ranks of those who don't care.  I'm fed up with politics.  The intense dislike I harbor for right-wing Conservatives saps my energy.  Screw everything, including America.  The experiment in democracy has failed and so has the audition of a black president.      

[Troy]

Unfortunately, we never lived in a democracy. Some more accurately call it an oligarchy/plutocracy.  The system never really for us. 

 

Funny as I read this I'm listening to Francis Cress Welsing.  If you wanna talk about the impact of racism.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fyCnSE0G04

[CDBurns]

My wife and I went to the polls last week and walked straight in and voted. No line at all... nothing. The people working the tables were three old White women taking the information to get your card and the people assisting with the completion and acceptance of the card back were three old black women. The neighborhood I'm in is about 80% Black so those were the people "not" voting.

 

When we got back to the car we just kind of sighed and said, we did the best that we could do. I then went on a rant about fixing the only thing I had control over; my inner circle. If I can make my children aware of the importance of being socially, politically, educationally and business aware then I've corrected steering on my family ship. When I write or put my information out there that I believe, I am also effecting change. This is the best that I can do in a society of apathetic people who are so afraid to ruffle feathers and try anything new that they remain inconsequential. 

 

Black folks only participate in the popular mediums. They do online surveys for Beyonce's dress or Olivia Pope's choice in men. They vote for the best color of the latest Jordan because for them those things matter and they can discuss and feel involved. But it's not even disenfranchisement that has caused our current lack of political involvement. It's simply the lack of the entertainment value in politics. At least White people use their entertainment (Fox News) to stimulate their political and social activity. They may not know jackshit about what they are voting for, but they do know how to follow the lead of their on air personalities. Our on air personalities who could at least get people out there to vote and be involved in a "hot" topic are non-existent.

 

Right now we can't even use entertainment to keep Black folks aware. At least James Brown stood for something, Trey Songz, Maxwell, Jill Scott, our new entertainers do nothing to be a part of the political dialogue. The only people who could say something in entertainment  and possibly be heard (rappers) make songs with lyrics that say, "I don't fuck with politics, I don't even follow it," but they are in Ferguson fighting for rights (Talib Kweli said the lyric above). Talk about poor guidance. 

[Troy]

Talib reflects the feelings of many.  Not a single individual in my young adult class voted.  So complete and profound was the lack of interest I did not bother to even go into it.

 

But I didn't vote myself.  Harlem is so liberal my vote would not have mattered one way or the other.  In the last midterm I voted for all 3rd party candidates.  But those candidates got so few votes that my votes were literally meaningless.  

 

Maybe not casting a vote sends a stronger message, as it makes a larger majority of people who could not be bothered.

 

Again despite being a bastion of liberalism, and home to Al Sharpton, Black folks are still not educated well, are still stopped, frisked, and killed by police officers.  I have been stopped by the police more times than I can count. 

 

Would one more vote for a democratic politician changed anything?

 

----------

 

Why a so called journalists seeks the opinion of rap artists on anything other that rapping is a travesty.  Again, I know it generates traffic and sales, but it does nothing to further the conversation or advance or collective knowledge.  

 

Despite the fact that Talib reflects the attitudes of many, who cares what he thinks about the power of the vote?  

 

Indeed, in Ferguson, given the demographics and historical voting rates, voting should have ABSOLUTELY been part of ANY strategy.  Any journalist worth a damn would reported on this and explained why this is true.  Rather than exposing the opinion of a rap artist who models the complete opposite behavior.

[CDBurns]

Talib is one of the Conscious emcees so it makes perfect sense that he was interviewed in Ferguson during the marches. I'm just looking at the idea that he wrote that lyric and then decides to lend his voice to a movement. This is the problem with these guys taking the mantle of activist. They want to be more than just an emcee, but they also want to show that they are apolitical since they think this shows how far removed from the system they are. It's a very flawed way of approaching the system and breaking it down. I had a long Facebook convo with a guy today and yesterday who was panning the upcoming film Selma because it is produced by Harpo Studios and he had a problem with 12 Years and The Butler.

 

This guy is of the hip hop generation, my generation and yours Troy. I explained that the story of Selma has been all but wiped from the history books and that in popular culture only the group U2 has created a song in the last 20 years about Bloody Sunday. I also explained that the sister who is the director Ava Duvernay is one of the most important new directors in film and that she has done more to promote Black cinema in her short time with her AFFRM movement. She has created art and that this will be her first major film release and that talking it down before it comes out is not fair. More important, Facebook is now being indexed by Google and utilized in searches. This means that a person looking for info will now have Facebook conversations as a potential source. 

 

I stated all of these things because while those of us that consider ourselves conscious do a great disservice by not fully analyzing the situation. Talib created that lyric over ten years ago, on a song called the Beautiful Struggle. it's a beautifully composed song with thoughtful lyrics, but in today's climate those words undercut his ability to successfully convey his position in Ferguson. It also may have unfortunately created a situation where the people following his lead may have, just maybe, chose to listen to the direction of his opinion in music. 

 

He is definitely an artist with a lot to say, but his own voice betrayed the people who wanted to fight for... which tells us that the generation before us has done a very poor job of preparing the next generation to understand the struggle. 

[Cynique]

Hip-hoppers/Rappers are a spinoff of the hippies of the 1960s. They are a counter-culture, emersed in free sex, drugs, and radical rhetoric. They don't trust their elders and shun conventional approaches to problems.They are different for the sake of being different because being different pits them against the status quo and gains them young rebellious followers. The difference is that those white middle class drop-outs were not materialistic or violent like the their black present day counterparts from the hood who are emersed in the bling and the gun. And the BS.

 

All of these contrarians talk a lot of smack but they lack vision and initiative and are preoccupied with style over substance. No, the preceding generation didn't prepare them for understandindg the struggle.  We thought the struggle had been won. 

[Troy]

Talib was in Ferguson and he is a relatively well known rap artist.  That is why he was interviewed, not because he was the best person to assess the situation from a political stand point.  I know Talib's mom she is an English professor at Medgar Evers college and runs the Center for Black Literature, who host the National Black Writers Conference each year.  Talib's brother is a professor at Columbia.  Talib is conscious for a reason but that still does not make him the best person to speak on the subject.

 

There are many activists on the ground, from the community, who we should be hearing from more.  This, for example, is why CNN's Don Lemon's Interview with Talib degenerated so easily Talib was the the right spokesperson and Don was too busy being defensive.  True journalism does not happen in the mainstream media.  As a result we are left with an altercation instead of more insight about Ferguson.

 

Cynique did you all really believe the struggle had been won?  Did you ever envision that we would be talking about racism in 2015 a half a century after the civil rights movement?

 

From my perspective, things were always bad and they are getting progressively worse as time goes on.

[harry brown]

LONG  AGO IN THE  1920'S     BLACK  PEOPLE    ORGANIZED   BLACK WALL STREET   IN TULSA,OKLAHOMA/BLACK UNITY/WHY  IS IT  SO  DIFFICULT,IMPOSSIBLE,TO HAVE  BLACK UNITY,KWANZAA   PRINCIPLES  THINKING  AMONG  BLACK  PEOPLE/MALCOLM X WARNED   ABOUT  BLACK  PEOPLE  BEING  DIVIDED  AND  CONQUERED.////

[Cynique]

We keep looking for pie in the sky. There are rich and poor and middle class, liberal and conservative elements in all ethnicities. Being monolithtic and united is not why Caucasian Americans prevail.  Their skin color is what determines the  entitlement that gives them a leg up in being successful in whatever they attempt. There are losers and slackers among Whites but that's because they didn't take advantage of their status.

 

Black people are united.  They all want the same thing.  But as a minority, they don't belong to the ruling class.  They can succeed as individuals but not as a group. Is it better to be diverse or a rubber stamp?

 

Yes, Troy, when the struggle culminated with the passage of massive civil rights legislation, we thought we had overcome.  We were misguided enough to think that integration was the solution.  But it wasn't.  Now things are getting worse because  of the xenophobic way the brain of Homo Sapiens is wired.  A dislike for the unlike has never evolved out of existence. 

[Troy]

Cynique, I think our problems, not just Black folks, but across the culture is more greed based.  I don't think folks are born racist or afraid of people who are different.  I do however believe we are socialized to be that way.  I was raised to be prejudiced and a bit racist because I was raised in a segregated environment. The environment was segregated not just by class, but by race.  I'm even afraid to say the environment was segregated by intellect as well.  Essentially anyone with a brain in their head left the environment as soon as possible.

 

I also don't think Black people are united.  I did not come to this conclusion until I left the corporate environment and went into business for myself full time.  Sure there are many Black folks who are supportive of each other, but I don't believe there are enough of us.  The reasons are plentiful, but they essentially boil down to a distorted view of how protect one's self interest.

 

You see, Black folks typically tend to embrace the majority and all that it holds dear, from their educational institutions, corporations, communities and even their physical appearance. This too is understandable, and it is a force that is too powerful to contend with.

 

It is like trying to hold a family together where half the people in the family desperately want to be in another family.  When the family is strong it can embrace the world in such a way that everyone benefits.  Today we have a weak family, as a result, we operate from a position of dependency and weakness.

 

If you define unity by wanting the same things.  We are indeed unified.  Indeed all of humanity is unified, as there are universal desires and needs.  But our pursuit of those needs serve a few exceedingly well while the majority of us, of all colors, struggle unnecessarily.

[Cynique]

I didn't make up the word xenophobia, Troy. I would argue that it is to some degree innate. In the most pristine conditions, and this includes among infants and animals, there is a natural suspicion and wariness about creatures that look different from the tribe or the herd.  This can be nullified,  or intensified through interaction, but the initial response is one of hesitation or caution.  Does greed have to be taught?  I don't know. But sharing has to be taught, and aggressiveness has to be tamed. Man is only civilized and socialized to a certain extent. Back problems are the most common chronic ailment among humans and that's because walking upright is still something they are adjusting to... 

 

Unity works when there is a common foe. But white people don't have to be united because they have a common advantage; their skin color.  Black people are not monogomous when it comes to skin color or hair texture. They are diversified in many areas.  In order for them to become a unified force, they'd have to adopt a common mindset. This presents a challenge.  But - maybe differences can be surmounted for the common good, although Blacks on the left and Blacks on the right, lower class ones and middle class ones all seem to be miles apart. We are, indeed, an estranged family. 

 

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast.".  I am old and world weary so I leave it up to the optimism of the younger generation to rescue the race from itself.    

[Troy]

No Cynique, the concept of xenophobia is not new.  But cultural influences exert a much bigger influence on our behavior than innate ones.  I'm sure you are familiar with the "Doll Test."  If you watch even the first couple of minutes of this video you can't help but find it heart breaking.

 

 

Worse still is that our preference for white over Black persists into adulthood.  Black adults just have more sophisticated language to rationalize, justify and mask their self-hatred.  It boils down to cultural indoctrination, not an innate characteristic, that results in us being xenophobic against ourselves!  But as you can see from the "Doll Test" video everyone is else views Blackness as inferior as well.

 

How many Black people flock to Europe and eschew visiting Africa with disdain and contempt even.

 

On a more basic level; how many more people will buy a book that I sell from Amazon, who is charging a higher price, than the exact same book from a Black owned book seller charging less?  I've done blind A/B testing, and even outright appeals of support and Amazon wins EVERY TIME.   On an recent experiment Amazon was delaying shipment on a title and still more orders poured through Amazon.

 

I may not be as old as you Cynique, but I'm tired of struggling myself sometimes.  You see the battle is not just a against corporatization or racist, it is against our own people.  Again, that is the toughest battle to wage.  

 

Again the midterm elections make this quite plain.

[Cynique]

Due to what happened during slavery, centuries later black Americans all look different from each other, embodying a broad spectrum of skin color, hair texture, facial features, so it's natural that they identify with people who look like themselves rather than pure bred Africans. As opposed to school aged children preferring white dolls, experiments have also shown how an infant reacts with apprehension and whimpers when staring into the face of someone whose skin color and facial features look different from the family members who usually pick it up.  And all the cultural influences in the world won't make a black man reject an attractive woman of his own race in favor of a fat, flat-butt, pimply faced, pale-eyed, thin-lipped, dishwater blond.   

 

Black woman certainly aren't color-conscious.  A dark-skinned hunk gets just as much a play as a light-skinned dude.  It's all about the swag. Or do black people reject their music, their food, their style, or their slang, all of which are components of their culture. They also ridicule any white person who strikes them as being square and corny.   

 

You are playing fast and loose with the "self-hate" phrase, Troy. Black people hate the negative behavior of low-lifes because it prejudices other ethnicities against those who are trying to do what people of all races do to get ahead.

 

Do you hate yourself? I don't hate myself. Who I really despise are black conservatives who aspire to be carbon copies of tight-assed white people.  

[Troy]

Cynique, Black people have looked different from each other before we left the continent of Africa.  Keep in mind all of the genetic diversity we see today started in Africa.

 

I'm not sure infants can see well enough to distinguish facial features.  Besides there is a difference between ingrained self hate and being uncomfortable with something unfamiliar.

 

And to be clear, I'm not talking about who people choose to sleep with, or are physically attracted to, I'm talking about who people support with their money and expertise.

 

Cynique, you or even I may not hate ourselves.  We may even be willing to judge others by their behavior, ignoring the color of their skin.  But I'm saying most of us do not do this.  I disagree with your statement, "Black woman certainly aren't color-conscious."   (who wrote this and what did you do with Cynique?) We live in one of the most color conscious cultures on Earth.  

 

Again, there are some like yourself that are not color conscious, but I suspect that you are in the minority.  You do realize that skin lightening creams are on the shelves of stores from Nigeria to East Harlem today.

 

Have you seen the film Dark Girls or the dozen of books on the subject I've shared on this website?

 

[Cynique]

The genetic diversity we see in black Americans originated in the slave cabins being visited by white plantation owners, Troy, not the different races on the African continent.

The reason there is a difference between ingrained self-hate and a discomfort with the unfamiliar is that one is "cause" and the other is "effect". Discomfort with the unfamiliar is natural, and the reason for such discomfort is because the unfamiliar are perceived as a threat. Blacks don't hate themselves so much as they hate the different-looking people who deny them equality. "Self-hate" is a catch-all label used by Afro-centric sects who want to promote their cause by laying guilt trips on those who don't share their sentiments. It's a phrase they use to console themselves because after all these years, Black Americans have never fully embraced Afro-centrism, - and that's because after 2 centuries in this country, they are who they are.

 

And it's really not a stretch to say that skin color is no big deal when it comes to black women's preference in men, dating back to the times of screen idol, Sidney Poitier. Who's the current hottie among celebs? Terrence Howard? No. Dark-skinned Idris Elba, not to mention other darker brothers like Tyrese Gibson, Taye Diggs, Tyson Beckford and Morris Chestnut. I've never heard a woman complain about a brother's dark skin if he has a lot of other things going for him like a good job, a great body, good "game", great bedroom skills. Oddly enough, I have heard light-skinned guys remark about women discriminating against them. Trophy wives certainly don't care about the color of the wealthy black men they marry.

 

And for every dark-skinned woman whining about being discriminated against, there's a light-skinned sista who has been penalized for her skin color. Who's the "it" girl nowadays? Dark-skinned Oscar winner, Lupita Nyong'o. Who is the latest to represent for black women on TV? Dark-skinned Oscar nominee, Viola Davis, star of the new hit TV series, "How To Get Away With Murder". Tokenism is alive and well, and darker skin Blacks benefit from this.

 

There's a certain standard that applies to bankable people of all ethnicities. Those who people support with their money and expertise, transcend color lines. In the public sector, it's about the individual with charisma. 

 

Yes, race matters and institutionalized racism remains a fact,  but let's get it straight about who's hating whom and, why.