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Two-Thirds of Blacks Do Not Consider Obama to be a Civil Rights Leader
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action
I gave a speech at a church in upstate New York shortly after Barack Obama was elected President of the United States. During the service, the choir director took the liberty of changing the words from the song “We shall overcome,” to “We HAVE overcome.” I also remember hearing a woman outside the speech proudly announce that she had just bought a new picture of President Barack Obama. The woman said she was going to put the image right next to her pictures of Martin Luther King and Jesus. Apparently, Obama’s election was a second-coming of Juneteenth for those who seemed to feel that a black president could do no wrong.
But there is a more fundamental question in all of this: Should President Obama’s image be placed next to those who’ve fought for Civil Rights in the past? In recent survey by YourBlackWorld.com, 62.9% of the 734 respondents said they do not consider President Barack Obama to be a true Civil Rights Leader. Another 28.5% said that they do consider President Obama to be a Civil Rights leader. The rest claim they aren’t sure.
According to reference.com, Civil Rights are defined as “rights to personal liberty established by the 13th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. constitution and certain Congressional acts, especially as applied to an individual or a minority group.”
Your Black News: Iconic Singer, Odetta Dies At 77 — R.I.P.
Odetta, the singer whose deep voice wove together the strongest songs of American folk music and the civil rights movement, died Tuesday. She was 77.
The cause was heart disease, said her manager, Doug Yeager.
He added that she had been hoping to sing at Barack Obama’s inauguration. [...]
[Odetta In 2005, "House of the Rising Sun"]:
Her voice was an accompaniment to the black-and-white images of the freedom marchers who walked the roads of Alabama and Mississippi and the boulevards of Washington in quest of an end to racial discrimination. [...]
Born in Birmingham on Dec. 31, 1930, Odetta Holmes spent her first six years in the depths of the Depression. The music of that time and place — in particular prison song and work songs recorded in the fields of the deep South — shaped her life [...]
Your Black News: Native American Heritage Day To Highlight Abysmal Plight
Native American Heritage Month
By: Julian Wolfson
November is Native American Heritage Month, a month dedicated to recognizing the culture and traditions of Native Americans, as well as their contributions to the U.S.
One of the most significant days this month will be the celebration of the first national annual Native American Heritage Day on November 28, which was created when Congress passed a resolution on January 3, 2008.
While this month is intended to commemorate the achievements of Native Americans, it also provides an opportunity to reflect upon many of the issues that are important to the Native American community.
One of the biggest concerns for Native Americans is education. As reported by the National Center for Education Statistics, 15.1 percent of Native Americans ages 16-24 years old were high school dropouts in 2006. This stands in stark contrast to the national high school dropout rate of 9.7 percent [...]
More At Your Black News
Your Black Life: Iconic Singer, Odetta Hospitalized For Kidney Failure
Odetta Gordon, who is often called “The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement,” remains in a New York City hospital, suffering from kidney failure.
The legendary folk singer, who is 77 years old, entered the hospital last Saturday (11/8) for a check-up and IV nourishment. However, on Sunday (11/9) evening, she went into kidney failure, according to a statement by her manager.
Doctors are trying to stabilize her system and prevent the weakening of her other organs. She is on dialysis to rid her body of the toxic poisons that have built up due to her failing kidneys. Her doctors said the treatment seems to be slowly working.
Gordon is expected to remain in the ICU Unit for at least another week, according to the statement.
She is coherent and talking, and determined to perform at Barack Obama’s Inauguration in January, according to family members.
Her family encourages fans to send cards to Ms. Odetta Gordon; Room #719, 7th Floor ICU Unit; Lenox Hill Hospital; 100 East 77th Street; New York, NY, 10021.
From Live Daily
Your Black Politics: Barack Obama: The Test Of Black CommUNITY
Barack Obama: The Test of Black CommUNITY
By: Tolu Olorunda
Staff Writer – YourBlackWorld.com
“But we must understand that we are now at a stage of struggle for a People’s Democracy… The mass support of Obama by the national Afro-American movement, especially its progressive sector, will reinvigorate our struggle… We must enter into that mainstream struggle & make our own demands, utilize the pressure of our needs & our numbers. We are almost 50 million people with the 16th GNP in the world… almost 600 Billion dollars a year. We have the muscle and the money. We need to make our move.”
-Renowned Poet and Activist, Amiri Baraka, in a speech earlier this year.
The Black CommUNITY has laid its bed and must now lie in it. To be sure, this author is not particularly pleased with the 95% level of unconditional support from the Black CommUNITY, vis-à-vis Obama’s presidential bid. Nevertheless, Obama’s unpredictable popularity within the Black CommUNITY is a testament to an often glossed over, deep-seated desire/potential for divine unity of the Black CommUNITY. Obama’s candidacy, thankfully, buttressed this reality in unequivocal terms. Many have privately joked, over the past week, about the seeming impossibility of the Black CommUNITY agreeing on any specific agenda, let alone a political one. Some have quipped that the last time such unprecedented levels of support was rendered in favor of anything, O.J. Simpson was on trial for double murder. The comedic value of such statement notwithstanding, its veracity is unquestionable. Having rallied around this man, with unwavering support, let there be no more excuses for our disunity, or inability to remain unified around the ultimate cause: Total liberation.
On at least three key issues, the world will need the assistance of the Black CommUNITY to emerge victorious:
Find Out At Your Black Politics
Your Black Life: Loving v. Virginia Doesn’t Guarantee Gay Marriage
Proponents of Gay Marriage Have No Legal Argument Under Loving v. Virginia
By Syreeta L. McNeal, CPA, JD
Recently, proponents of gay marriage in California are protesting the passage of California’s Proposition 8. California Proposition 8 amended the California Constitution to restrict the definition of marriage to a union between a man and a woman.[1] Proponents of gay marriage have been making the argument that their struggle is equivalent to the struggle of African-Americans in seeking their civil rights in the 1960′s. One case that proponents of gay marriage readily equate their struggle to is Loving v. Virgina.[2] This article is intended to debunk the legal argument purported by proponents of gay marriage and show that this case does not embrace recognition of gay marriage on a state level.
Overview of Loving v. Virginia
On June 12, 1967, the United States Supreme Court held that Virginia’s statutory scheme to prevent marriages between persons solely on the basis of racial classifications held to violate the Equal Protection and Due Processes Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.[3] Listed below is the issue, relevant facts, relevant law and analysis by Chief Justice Warren in rendering his opinion:
Find Out At Your Black Life
Your Black Scholar: The Illusion of Post-Racial America
The Illusion of Post-Racial America
By: Aman Gill
An Obama Victory Would be a Milestone, but Could Stall Struggles Against Racism
It’s increasingly popular to argue that the fuel for unrest has disappeared because the problem of racism has receded into America’s past. This idea has long held sway on the right, but, paradoxically, it’s taken Barack Obama’s candidacy to elevate this persistent right-wing myth into conventional wisdom.
CIVIL RIGHTS UNFULFILLED
“The history he [Obama] needs to know is the history he rejects,” says Lenore Daniels, editorial board member of the Black Commentator, a weekly online magazine. “He rejects the whole Black Power movement: ‘Just the civil rights were fine, we’ll leave it at that, there was progress.’ [But] the Black Power movement is still relevant. That was a movement talking about economic equality, where King left off.”
[...]
Obama’s view of a united, post-racial America is in the tradition of how the political establishment – Democrat and Republican – responded to heightened militancy [...]
Full Article At Your Black Scholar
Your Black Life: Do Black Americans Really Have Voting Rights?
While attempts at voter suppression are partisan in intent they are racial in effect. The Democrats have not won an election without the black vote since 1964. The most effective and crude way to undermine their base is to minimise the vote in black areas. This is precisely what happened in Florida in 2000, where Republicans lowered the threshold for inclusion on the “purge list” of ineligible voters. By the time they were done, African-Americans accounted for 88% of those purged, even though they only comprised 11% of the actual electorate.
The practical consequences of this interference, manipulation and, at times, intimidation is twofold. It disenfranchises people who either don’t have the time, inclination or wherewithal to stand up to officialdom. And it creates huge lines while others stay and fight. A Democratic party survey from 2004 found half of the state’s African-American voters in Ohio reported some problems at the polls on election day. On average, black voters waited in longer lines than whites, were more likely to be asked for identification when they got there and felt more intimidated.
This year will be worse [...]
Your Black Education: John McCain Believes Black Students Now Have ‘Equal Access’
Final debate: Did McCain miss mark on education?
By: Rochelle Riley
The moment came near the end of the debate. It was a small gaffe, something celebrity pundits didn’t bother with in the flurry of analysis afterward.
But it was just as telling about how out-of-touch Sen. John McCain is when it comes to American schools.
Despite calling education “the civil rights issue of the 21st century,” McCain said, “There’s no doubt that we have achieved equal access to schools in America after a long and difficult and terrible struggle.”
In what America does John McCain live?
He must have missed the 2002 study done by the Civil Rights Project showing a trend toward resegregation that is pushing schools toward levels of disparity that rival those of 25 years ago — and that poor children still learn in schools that are grossly inferior to schools in wealthier neighborhoods.
He can’t possibly know about the lack of books and equipment in urban schools that are staples in wealthier suburban districts.
And I bet he isn’t aware that many urban districts across America graduate fewer than half of the students who enter as freshmen.
Equal access?
Read Full Article At Your Black Education
Your Black World Headlines: 10/15/2008
Your Black Life: FOX News & Greta Van Susteren Attack Gwen Ifill
FOX News’s Greta Van Susteren, who last week compared Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright to reputed Klansman David Duke, took a curious look, last night, at the folly-induced controversy brewing over legendary journalist/moderator Gwen Ifill’s status as the moderator for tonight’s V.P. debate. In a segment titled, “Fair and Balanced?” the FOX News tabloid queen went to unbelievable lengths in attacking the character, integrity and dignity of Ms. Ifill — all the while claiming to be doing otherwise. As most YBW readers are aware, FOX News is neither fair nor balanced to begin with, and when journalistic ethics are mentioned, FOX is nowhere to be found. This intentional chauvinistic and racist assault upon Gwen Ifill’s character confirms two things. First, that Black women are still subjugated to the consideration, analysis, preference and dictate of White men — a la Michelle Obama. Secondly, that the GOP is so fretful over the expectable disastrous performance by their V.P. selection tonight – Gov. Palin – and a preemptive strike against the moderator was strategically formulated to make an excuse for why Palin might not be able to answer questions in a coherent and decipherable format. Gwen Ifill, being the brilliant and elegant journalist that she is, responded in an AP interview yesterday, questioning her detractors if “they made the same assumptions about Lou Cannon (who is white) when he wrote his book about Reagan?” As one might suspect, the silence was deafening. So I say more power to Gwen Ifill, for she is the embodiment of the great legacies of fierce Black Women such as Fannie Lou Hamer, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, and Callie House. As for FOX News and Greta Van Susteren, they only furthermore proved to be the goose which lays a thousand retarded eggs:
From Your Black Life
Your Black Power: Malcolm X & Martin Luther King Stress Black Pride
If the corporate media had it’s way, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King would be depicted as two tangents, far away from each other as the devil is from God. Fortunately, reality speaks louder than spin, and with the resources available today, it is clear to detect the glaring similarities between two of our greatest heroes: Malcolm & Martin. Not only were they ferocious warriors for human rights, they also both fiercely advocated the obliteration of self-hate in Black people, and the restoration of self-love, unity and community. Watch, in the following clips, how determined these great prophets were, in stressing pride in Blackness.
First up, Martin speaks on the residue of eurocentricity in the psyche of Black folks:
Second up, Malcolm regrets the wretchedness of self-hatred in Black Communities:
From Your Black Power
Your Black Sports: The Express Path to Racial Equality
The Express Path to Racial Equality
By Dr. Boyce Watkins
“The Express” is a new film featuring the great Ernie Davis, one of the most amazing college athletes in American History and the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy. He was also a football player for Syracuse University, the campus on which I teach.
I watched the trailer for the film with pride, feeling good about this man and what he accomplished. I saw all the ads, the banners around campus, the website pictures and other excitement as the city prepared for the film’s premiere. I then had a couple of thoughts.
First, I thought about the residual impact of historical racism. Most of the time, when liberal universities talk about racism, the context is one in which racism is something that happened “back then”, and “we are all better now”. The conversation is one of (relatively justifiable) celebration for just how far our nation has come in the fight for social justice.
What is most ironic about this analysis is that it forgets one important fact: the past is not something that existed once and then disappeared. The past is all around us. The present and past CANNOT be disconnected because the present is created by the past, and the past consistently manifests itself in the social infrastructure of our institutions. For example, in the days of Ernie Davis (not that long ago), African Americans were rarely allowed onto my campus (along with many others) and were certainly not allowed to be part of the decision-making bodies of these campuses. This led to a skewed inter-generational transfer of power that reflects itself in the vast degree of (in Georgetown University scholar Christopher Metzler’s words) “academic imperialism” that we see today. If you take a tour of most campuses, you see that there are few Black faces on the faculty, almost none of them tenured…
Your Black Politics: Report Says Gov. Palin Has No Record On Race Issues
There’s no record that Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin uttered anything more than the obligatory complimentary congratulations to the woman that beat her out for the Miss Alaska title in 1984. The winner was Maryline Blackburn, an African American. A ritual congratulatory wish from Palin would have been about the only public acknowledgment to date from her in an instance, in this case a beauty contest, where Palin was confronted with the issue of diversity in the person of a competitor.
Since then, Palin’s record on race and diversity has been the blankest of blank sheets. The probes into Palin’s record on diversity and civil rights have almost exclusively focused on her views on gay rights, same-sex marriage and equal pay. These are crucial civil rights issues. But so are racial diversity and civil rights.
The Web site OntheIssues.org gives a comprehensive look at the positions of elected officials on the major issues based on their statements, speeches, campaign materials and policy-position papers. Palin has taken no position on immigration, affirmative action, job and housing discrimination, school re-segregation, police-minority community relations and racial disparities in the criminal justice system.
The site did list two terse positions Palin took on hate crimes legislation and cultural diversity. Both give a tiny window into the would-be vice president’s thinking on diversity and civil rights. During the 2006 gubernatorial campaign, she told the Eagle Forum that she opposed expanded hate crime legislation…
Your Black Life: Critics Accuse DNA Law Of Violating Civil Rights
Today it’s the Baltimore area’s turn.
Tomorrow, it will be DC metro and the training will go on until every police agency in Maryland knows the procedures training and standards needed to enforce the states’ new DNA collection law.
“With this arrestee law we’re hoping to get those samples into the lab get them run and search through the database in a very timely fashion so that those people can be if they’re linked to a crime be taken off the streets quicker.” Teresa Long said. Long is the acting director of the state’s police’s forensics department.
The law says the state can take a DNA sample from someone charged with a crime of violence like murder, rape robbery certain sexual offenses…or a burglary.
Twelve other states have similar laws.
But the American Civil Liberties Union and the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus say the law that they agreed to is not in the regulations that implement it and their question is this who watches the watchers.
The caucus says the regulations circumvent protections they brokered with the governor that would protect when samples can be taken, how they’re taken and handled, and when those samples have to be destroyed and the record expunged.
In the past eight years, there have been problems handling evidence at the Baltimore County Crime Lab, The State Police Lab and more recently at the Baltimore City crime lab.
They say DNA may be perfect, but people and procedures are not.
State Senator Delores Goodwin Kelley of Baltimore County says the implementation of the law is flawed and the current labs are already overtaxed.
“He would push forward a massive new source of DNA so called evidence when the system is already faulty is overburdened it has no standards” Goodwin Kelley said.
But the state says the implementation follows the law…
Your Black News: Tavis Smiley Remembers Iconic Singer, Odetta
ON the same day, on the same steps where Martin Luther King Jr. would deliver his “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963, Odetta—only 33 but already a folk-music force—sang “I’m on My Way.” And she was. [...]
Her final interview—which she gave 10 months before her death from heart failure on Dec. 2—was with PBS host Tavis Smiley. He spoke to NEWSWEEK’s Samantha Henig about his memories of a woman whose optimism brought him to tears:
After our interview, Odetta performed “Keep On Moving It On”—a song whose hopeful lyrics in the midst of a historic election brought tears to my eyes in January. [...]
Off camera, I asked Odetta why she remains hopeful, and she talked about the path that the country had traveled just in her life. She said she could not have imagined back in her heyday that she’d ever be on PBS talking to a black man who had his own show [...]
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