Your Black Politics: How To Eliminate Poverty — Shannon Joyce Prince

Poverty: Policies and Possibilities
By: Shannon Joyce Prince
Reprinted From Black Agenda Report

“Poor people can use themselves as weapons against poverty.”

With the recession imperiling the nation’s well-being, poverty is on everyone’s mind regardless of their political orientation. Yet too often the poor are cast as ignorant and impotent pawns needing either a kick in the pants or a magical cocktail of resources and programs. The dialogue typically stalls around what “we” must do for or to “them” as though the poor lack ingenuity and agency.

In this commentary I identify four ideas that can be used to battle poverty: ending marriage penalties, deregulating selected industries, creating tax-funded social programs run by the poor, and creating community gardens. [...]

The problem often isn’t that the poor aren’t pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, but rather when they do so they are told they don’t have the appropriate credentials. [...] For example, many poor black women braid hair as a way of making money. However, as the National Center for Public Policy Research points out, many states have threatened these women with arrest because they don’t have cosmetology licenses; licenses that often demand taking courses that cost around $10,000, and frequently don’t even cover hair braiding in their curriculum [...]

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Your Black Politics: Did Tiger Woods Pave Barack Obama’s path?

Did Tiger Woods pave Barack Obama’s path? Are you joking?
By: Dave Zirin
Originally Appeared In NY Daily News

It’s always dangerous, but never boring, when a newspaper sports columnist uncorks a political thesis. Enter Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel. Bianchi thinks that there are some unsung heroes who deserve credit for helping put a black man in the White House – and they are athletes. “If you’re searching for tangible reasons why it became possible for Barack Obama to make his historic run at the presidency … look no further than the golf course, basketball court or football field.”

Bianchi believes that, since sports have conditioned white America to accept African-Americans as heroes and leaders, black sportsmen deserve a pat on the back. He wonders: “Where else but sports can you go to Amway Arena and see 15,000 mostly white fans cheer and celebrate the accomplishments of a team that is mostly black?”

Sounds lovely. But it happens to be embarrassingly wrong – and an insult to the reason that millions waited on long lines to cast their vote [...]

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Your Black Politics: Min. Farrakhan Says Obama Would Herald ‘New Beginning’

Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan says President-elect Barack Obama has a God-given capacity to handle what Farrakhan calls the “horrible burden” Obama will face as the nation’s leader.

Farrakhan says Obama will be helped by “God and people of good will.”

The 75-year-old spoke Sunday at Mosque Maryam, the Chicago-based movement’s headquarters. The address is called “America’s New Beginning: President-elect Barack Obama.”

Farrakhan says he stayed quiet about his support the past few months out of fear it’d hurt Obama’s campaign [...]

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Your Black Life: Wall Street Journal Says Racism Is A “Myth”

The voting booths hadn’t even cooled down from last night’s historic election, before the Wall Street Journal exploited the moment by not only suggesting that “racism as a barrier to achievement” will no longer exist now that a black man has been elected, but by actually declaring that these barriers were a “myth” in the first place. I guess it took a stubborn stronghold of white, male, corporate privilege, where black achievement is the exception, not the rule, to make such a claim.

Obama’s achievements are indeed an American achievement and all those who were able to vote their dreams and not their fears reveal the very best instincts of this country’s citizenry. But let’s not forget the popular “real America” theme that Sarah Palin drilled home to her party faithful, a creepy, divisive, and yes, racist, maneuver that tried to paint Barack as a bogey man that threatened “American” values [...]

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Your Black Scholar: Morning In Obamerica — How Much Will Change?

Morning in Obamerica
By: Ishmael Reed

The wolf shall also dwell with the lamb, and the  leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and  the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

The great American satirist George Schuyler’s prescient and comic work, Black No More, is about a scientist named Dr. Crookmore who comes up with a formula that turns blacks to white (I wonder how Schuyler would treat the current profitable back- to- Africa DNA hokum). As a result of a country that is totally white, The Civil Rights organizations go out of business, and even the last hold out, the character, based upon the black nationalist Marcus Garvey, in the end, tries some of Dr.  Crookmore solution. Would something like this happen were Barack Obama to become president?  A country where there exists no social divisions and the issue of race has become defused.

The leader of the NAACP says that the work of the organization will continue even with an Obama victory. Why? Wouldn’t it be better that the NAACP shut its doors as cable’s leading conservative intellectual, Tucker Carlson has suggested? Auction off its assets and join the post race fever?

Full Article At Your Black Scholar

Your Black Politics: Many Blacks Remain Sceptical Of Obama On Race

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Despite Barack Obama’s message of change and hope, fears persist in the black community about what his election as president could mean for the legacy of racism in America.

Namely, that it might mean nothing at all.

“America is still one of the most segregated countries by race and by class in the industrialized world,” said Dedrick Muhammad, research associate at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, a think tank for social justice.

Muhammad pointed to research showing that black Americans remain far behind the rest of the country economically, with median wealth one-tenth of that in white America, and one in three black children born into poverty.

Like most black Americans, Muhammad supports Obama’s historic bid to become America’s first black president.

However, he said the Illinois senator’s campaign tactic of largely avoiding discussion of race in his campaign has “driven me crazy.”

“What saddens me today is that we don’t talk about black-white inequality,” he said. “I see in Obama a winning strategy, but it is sad to me.”

For the 47-year-old son of a white American mother and black Kenyan father to gain the lead he currently holds over his Republican rival John McCain, Obama has had to tip-toe around any potential racial controversy, analysts say [...]

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Your Black News: Black Voters Cautiously Anticipate Obama Win

Lula Cooper expects the tears to flow if Barack Obama becomes the first black president. But she’s not breaking out the tissues just yet.

“I cried when I marked my ballot for him. We’ve had such an incredible journey to this point,” said the former civil rights activist, her voice quavering. “I think he’s going to win, but I really am very, very cautious.”

Like a Hollywood blockbuster whose conclusion feels assured but still sets the heart racing, the endgame of this election has gripped black America with a powerful mixture of emotions.

Obama’s potential victory represents a previously unimaginable triumph over centuries of racism. But beneath the hope and pride lies fear: of polling inaccuracy, voting chicanery, or the type of injustice and violence that have historically stymied African-American progress [...]

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Your Black Brothers: Black Men and “Boyism”: From Politics to Sports

Black Men and Boyism: From Politics to Sports

By: Tolu Olorunda

Staff Writer – YourBlackWorld.com

“These weekly insults to Black manhood that we have been programmed to believe are entertainment and not direct racist warfare, further reinforce, perhaps in the unconscious thinking of Black people, a loss of respect for Black manhood while carrying that loss to ever deeper levels.”

- Dr. Frances Cress Welsing in “The Isis Papers.”

Sen. Obama’s astronomical rise to political stardom has been fascinating for any number of reasons, but most especially, helpful in decoding the underlying racist perceptions of Obama, held by neo-liberal, otherwise known as, “well-intentioned” Whites. Renowned poet and activist, Amiri Baraka, once described this group as “little liberals who think Obama is just some trendy new-flavor.” These “little liberals,” are no doubt, fully responsible for the overt commodification of Obama by big-business enterprises. More saddening, however, is the reality that Sen. Obama, a Black man, is increasingly being perceived by this specific class of White liberals, as more a boy than a man [...]

Full Article At Your Black Brothers

Your Black Politics: Barack Obama Channels Inner Chris Rock (Mays Gilliam): “That Ain’t Right”

In a rally yesterday, Sen. Obama criticized Sen. McCain’s Health Care plan. Most intriguing, however, was Sen. Obama’s choice of words. In his speech, Obama utilized a catch-phrase popularized by Chris Rock’s “Head Of State” character, Mays Gilliam. “That ain’t right,” Sen. Obama remarked, as he tore apart McCain’s unremarkable Health Care tax proposals.

Watch the eerie similarity between Barack Obama and Mays Gilliam from “Head Of State”:

Reposted From Your Black Politics

Your Black Politics: When Your Eloquence Is Called Into Question, You Must Be Black

When Your Eloquence Is Called Into Question, You Must Be Black

By: Tolu Olorunda

Staff Writer – YourBlackWorld.com

They say they want you successful, but then they make it stressful

You start keepin pace, they start changin up the tempo

- Hip Hop Artist, Mos Def

If one was to pay close adherence to the words of Sen. McCain in Wednesday night’s presidential debate, such an individual would be led into believing that eloquence is not a gift, but rather a tactic of political expediency. Eloquence defined as, “the practice or art of using language with fluency and aptness,” took a new meaning in last night’s debate. In the debate, John McCain numerously chided his opponent, Sen. Obama, for Obama’s “eloquence,” which he suggested was nothing other than a tool for confusion, deception and manipulation. Arguing against the Democratic nominee’s stance on off-shore drilling, McCain retorted: “Well, you know, I admire so much Sen. Obama’s eloquence. And you really have to pay attention to words. He said, ‘We will look at offshore drilling.’ Did you get that? ‘Look at.’” Whether Sen. Obama is a skillful politician whose word-play misleads supporters is one thing; but for a nation with an obsession for castigating Ebonics-speaking Blacks, Sen. McCain’s remonstration against Obama’s ability to fluently articulate his proposals is a disturbing development [...]

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Your Black Politics: Al Jazeera English Documents Hate-Filled Rants At Palin Rally

From AlJazzeraEnglish:

As the US presidential campaign enters its final weeks, both the Republican and Democratic candidates are hitting the swing states.

But misconceptions and rumours abound and many voters have their facts about the candidates all wrong. Some believe that Democrat Barack Obama is a Muslim, for instance.

Casey Kauffman talked to some Republican supporters after a rally by Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, in Ohio:

Your Black Politics: The Flames Of Hatred

The Flames Of Hatred
By: Tolu Olorunda
Staff Writer – YourBlackWorld.com

We’ve heard it all: the chants, rants, gestures, signs and vitriol-imbued remarks at recent McCain/Palin rallies. As Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate, prepares to make a landfall appearance in Indianapolis on Friday, how will Hoosiers conduct themselves? It would be a shame if the reported chants of “terrorist,” “traitor,” “off with his head,” “bomb Obama,” “kill him,” — all vocalized at McCain/Palin rallies within the last week and a half — are repeated, or worse, built upon.

It is no secret that Sen. McCain, his campaign, and Gov. Palin have, within the past couple of weeks, helped stoke the flames of racial-hostility with their unethical swipes at Sen. Obama. “Negative” ads are fair game in a contested election, but charges of terrorism-enabling is beyond the pale — especially when baseless. The politics of smearing one’s opponent clearly outdates the political rise of both presidential candidates, but never in history has a presidential contender accused his opponent of aiding and abetting domestic terrorism. It is inexplicable and morally reprehensible [...]

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Your Black Politics: Dr. Cornel West Drives Out The Vote In Ohio

Perhaps the greatest intellectual genius of our time, Dr. Cornel West, makes a brief appearance in Columbus, Ohio to register early voters. He takes time out to remind voters of the crucial consequences of this historic election:

Your Black News: FOX News Compares Rev. Wright To David Duke

FOX News’s Greta Van Susteren – the Journalism equivalent of Gov. Sarah Palin – made an insinuation a couple of nights ago that, at the very least, compares Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright to a man who has openly advocated for the lynching and castration of Black people. In an attempt to ask former president Bill Clinton a “tough question” (perhaps Fair & Balanced), the FOX News tabloid queen took time out from her Caylee Anthony marathon stalk-fest to query:

“What is the difference between an association with someone like David Duke and someone like Reverend Wright?”

Bill Clinton, unable to comprehend the effrontery and packaged acidic stupidity, paused for a few seconds before attempting to answer the question. David Duke, as most are aware, is a Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, who made headlines last year when he arose in defense of the nooses hung on the infamous tree in Jena, La. Most human beings would find it immensely difficult to stomach such insinuation by FOX News; but coming from a network which, on Friday Sept. 18, 2008, found it refreshing to suggest that “loaning to minorities and risky folks is a disaster,” nothing, even such as morally-repugnant as Susteren’s statement, should come off as shocking. FOX News = The High Cost Of Low Standards. A leopard indeed, does not change it’s spots:

From Your Black News

Your Black Politics: South African President, Mbeki, Steps Down

South African President, Thabo Mbeki, has agreed to resign after the ruling party ordered him Saturday to step down, a move that could heighten turmoil in Africa’s economic powerhouse.

Mbeki’s rival and heir apparent, Jacob Zuma, was not expected to take over immediately. Another figure in the ruling African National Congress could be named interim president by parliament.

“Following the decision of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress to recall president Thabo Mbeki, the president has obliged and will step down after all constitutional requirements have been met”, the Presidency said in a terse statement.

Mbeki was due to step down next year after two terms in office, but faced growing pressure from Zuma’s supporters to quit following a judge’s ruling that Mbeki may have had a role in Zuma being charged with corruption…

Continued