dagblog - Comments for "WHY I LOVE BEING BLACK"

If not fudging facts is

PeraclesPlease — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 14:30:36 +0000

In reply to Continue the discussion with

If not fudging facts is "negative", well, I'm happy with negativeland.

Absentee voting where Obama won or lost by >10% doesn't solve any problems - it's irrelevant.

If you don't see flat 14% unemployment as a problem, I'm not sure what positive changes you're making, but unlike you, I'm not willing to judge based on ultra-limited info.

As for the post, it seems to want to make Obama a kind of Moses who raised the lost black souls out of the desert, rather than just achieved being first black president. I simply seem to remember black culture & opportunity existing before Obama, strangely enough. But I can agree on praise for MLK.

Continue the discussion with

rmrd0000 — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 12:26:36 +0000

In reply to It's only personal when you

Continue the discussion with yourself. You are irrelevant. People beyond your limited keyboard world actually vote and work to solve problems. They are aware of the problems and work to make change and don't continually concentrate on how change might be. Typing words is cheap. Making change in lives is a glorious thing. You simply have no other mode than to remain negative. Lead, follow or get out of the way. This remains a beautiful post.

Cornel and Tavis may like to have you on their radio show, if you can find it.

it's not very relevant as

PeraclesPlease — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 09:17:27 +0000

In reply to An interesting article

it's not very relevant as it's an anecdote about 1 person working for Delphi.

And ignores 25,000 Delphi jobs shipped overseas as Romney's group took it over. And non-union pensions stolen/shut down. All at a cost of $6+ billion to taxpayers.

From the Nation: "Of the twenty-nine Delphi plants operating in the United States when the hedge funders began buying up control, only four remain, with not a single union production worker."

The Washington Monthly's article is brutally dishonest.

far too many see their point

PeraclesPlease — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 09:02:58 +0000

In reply to Rm, You should develop some

far too many see their point of view as THE point of view and consider anyone who views life from a different perspective as having a tainted view of reality

vs.

anyone who tries to argue that the first Black president of the United States is anything less than a singularity significant figure in not only U.S. history, but world history, is not worth even trying to have a reasonable discussion with

they’ve come to the table betraying the fact that they lack reason

Thanks. Couldn't have said it better myself.

It's only personal when you

PeraclesPlease — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 06:40:57 +0000

In reply to Enjoy your poutrage. The

It's only personal when you make it personal.

Again you link to an article that contradicts you - look at the graph and it shows black unemployment falling under Clinton well below 10%, and after an uptick in 2001 fell again well below 10% before the 2008 collapse. Why our new acceptable standard is 14%, I haven't a clue.

(note the article states that for most of the last 50 years, black unemployment was over 10%. However for about half the last 15 years, black unemployment was lower than 10%. Of course if you go back to Jim Crow times you'll find negative trends - why not include the Depression. But since 1993, there has been a lot more opportunity and black acceptance - this should ideally and practically appear in job figures and real chances at the headhunter/employment line)

(also note, my interest in unemployment & jobs programs was there in Jan 2009 when I was concerned that "shovel ready jobs" really wouldn't help the more service economy, and there was too little money to make a big difference)

I gave personal experiences

PeraclesPlease — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 06:29:45 +0000

In reply to Thanks for commenting. I

I gave personal experiences only to support points I'd made & described.

Wattree said blacks only had opportunities in music before Obama - I noted even black literature reached a dumb white kid whose parents weren't very progressive.

I noted a black president wasn't unimaginable, based on Chisholm (your call), Jordan, Jackson's presidential runs, Colin Powell.

I noted black unemployment fell & stayed below 10% in *recent* years. Including a period where I worked with a bunch of up and coming black financial & engineering professionals. There was opportunity outside music before Obama.

I didn't vote because I don't live there, and anyplace I could vote had a margin of 30% or more - my vote would change nothing, only land me on jury roles. Draw your grand conclusion from that. Do you think you're being "civil" to use that to say I let down black voters fighting voter suppression? Your mirror is quite distorted.

Thanks for commenting. I

rmrd0000 — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 04:56:14 +0000

In reply to Rm, You should develop some

Thanks for commenting. I think what I found offensive was the arrogance of "I'm the only one here who cares about Black unemployment". When you couple that with "let me educate you about Harlem during the Depression" and I work with "a lot" of Blacks, it becomes really condescending. The inability to recognize the dedication and struggle that has been ongoing since Blacks arrived in the US as presented in the post was totally ignored. Congrats to your granddaughter.

I don't believe one can be around "a lot" of Black people and not recognize a predominate opinion about the sources of unemployment and the barriers to getting things done. Either one is not having real conversation on important issues or someone is in a self-constructed bubble that prevents oppposing viewpoints from penetrating.

I also admit that the idea that someone considered voting a waste of time yet feels compelled to give advice to the "riff-raff" an insult.

I think the profanity gets used as an attempt to anger me because, in truth, I find no need to use profanity in normal discourse. The need to use profanity indicates that you feel that you have lost the argument. Just as I don't believe that their is a "deep" concern about Black unemployment, I don't believe that someone who questions the intelligence of people with a different viewpoint is that hurt when pushback occurs.

I tried my best to be as civil as possible. As we both know, the Black unemployment rate has been averaging over 10% for more than 50 years. As someone who trains, educates and employs Black workers and professionals, I am offended when told that I am complacent about Black employment. I know of your work with postal workers. Having a "well-read" blogger give me advice is a farce.I should have broken off the conversation sooner. Thanks for your kind words.

Blacks have fought voter suppression. That battle goes on. Blacks have fought "Stop and Frisk" and are fighting Stand Your Ground". We will win those battles. As you noted in your blog, the beautiful struggle goes on. It has forged Blacks in steel. Along with Whites, women, Latinos, Asians, etc Blacks will continue to fight. We will not abide a grandiloquent blogger telling us that two charlatans are to be counted among our leaders.

Thanks again for this great blog.

An interesting article

ocean-kat — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 04:12:55 +0000

In reply to Enjoy your poutrage. The

An interesting article relevant to this discussion just came out in the Washington Monthly

A Great President for Blacks?

If you think Obama hasn’t delivered for African Americans, take a closer look at his record.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/january_february_2013/features...

Rm, You should develop some

Wattree — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 03:20:52 +0000

In reply to Since it has gotten personal

Rm,

You should develop some of your comments into articles. You have great insight, and you express them eloquently.

But far too many see their point of view as THE point of view, and consider anyone who views life from a different perspective as having a tainted view of reality. As you may have noticed, I've recently made it a policy not to waste my time with such people. It's not that I don't respect the fact that they're simply speaking from their own perspective, but trying to communicate with a person who becomes so fixated on a point of view that they assume that it's the ONLY point of view, is counterproductive, a distraction, and a gross waste of time.

Trying to deal with such people is like trying to teach a goldfish to ride a skateboard. They lack the resources to even be educated. Efficient thought requires that we recognize the importance of following truth wherever it leads, and regardless to whose ox it gores. That allows us to give truth priority over ideology. But some people are so vested in promoting their point of view, that they give ideology priority over both truth and common sense. When I run into such people, I don’t waste my time. Thinking that you can have a reasonable discussion with such people makes about as much sense as fishing for trout in a cesspool.

Thus, anyone who tries to argue that the first Black president of the United States is anything less than a singularity significant figure in not only U.S. history, but world history, is not worth even trying to have a reasonable discussion with, because they’ve come to the table betraying the fact that they lack reason.

Since it has gotten personal

rmrd0000 — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 00:37:04 +0000

In reply to Enjoy your poutrage. The

Since it has gotten personal once again we should avoid communication until a period of cooling off. Wattree's post deserve better than our argument.