Eradicating Racism Will Take More Than Casting a Vote

LOOKS like. Not THINKS like. Not "the one who understands American liberty."
Admittedly, the speaker was an inner-city elementary school student without much knowledge of history. He's too young to remember constitutionalist Alan Keyes running for president, or to know of Thomas Sowell, black conservative economist, or Dr. Walter Williams, black libertarian professor and author.
So I hope that little guy has many chances to vote for candidates male and female who not only look like him but think and act like Bill-of-Rights-believing, small-government real Americans.

Martin Luther King is rolling in his grave. Why? Benjamin Todd Jealous is president and CEO of the NAACP and says Anthony “Van” Jones is a “National Treasure." While Van Jones may have left the White House under a cloud, the NAACP says that’s not his whole story. The group considers him a pioneering hero for the environment and civil rights — so much so that it awarded him one of its highest honors: an NAACP Image Award. It’s a move that stoked the fire from Jones critics. Jones resigned in September 2009 from his position on the Council on Environmental Quality, under a firestorm of criticism over a petition he had signed. The NAACP keeps saying he is the most misunderstood man. I'm trying to figure out exactly where he's misunderstood. Is he misunderstood because he's a 9/11 Truther? Is he misunderstood because he's a self avowed communist? Is he misunderstood because he is a guy who defended Mumia Abu Jamal, the cop killer? Let's see. Is he understood because he wants a revolution? I'm trying to figure out how he's misunderstood. How is he misunderstood? We know where Van Jones stands on Marx. The question I have now is: Where does the NAACP stand on Marx?Where does the "NEW" NAACP stand on the Black Panther party? Does the NAACP's timing seem strange considering the November election is just around the corner? The NAACP would never use "the race card" would they?

"An Obama victory is a victory for the young activists who acted as the foot soldiers for hope and change . After his election , they must demand that President Obama be accountable to them. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Freedom Riders gave President Kennedy no “honeymoon”; rather, they saw his victory as the moment to press harder for their demands."

This is disgusting. A president should not be some puppet for the "demands" of pressure groups within society . The only thing Obama should be "accountable to" is the law and the rights of the people.

We can only end racism if we end this kind of class/group-struggle thinking. Affirmative action is racism, because it defines people by their race and not by their abilities or personal character.

Obama's election is somewhat an indication that people are less negatively racist - less hateful or prejudiced against certain ethnic minorities - but that fact that people continue to advocate for "positive" racism in the form of affirmative action shows us that race is still a major factor in the progressive movement's way of thinking. To end racism we must dispel race entirely from the political and moral arena, and only judge people based on their character. To advocate for equal rights, as King did, is the best thing - but to believe that we need to use government force to identify people by ethnicity and act on that (positively or negatively) is racist. End racism!

http://abesha.wordpress.com

In the wake of Obama’s presidential victory, African-Americans had finally had their ‘excuse crutch’ kicked right under them.

The U.S. had long been dubbed - The Land of Opportunity.

Generations have flooded to the U.S. from all corners of the planet; some seeking refuge, while others simply seeking a better education, a better opportunity and a better tomorrow.
One uniform belief that is shared by ALL is that the U.S. is the one place on earth where, dreams come true and all things are possible, if one perseveres and never quits.

Yet African-Americans are the (only) group of people that play a pivotal role in filling up, all-statistics-gloomy-and-disheartening.
The question, ‘who is to blame for African-American’s failings?’, has been open for debate for the longest, and frankly for no apparent reason, when, specially all the evidences pointed back squarely at African-American themselves.

Obama’s presidential victory is a momentous and watershed moment, and particularly for this reason - it has helped shut the coffin cover down on the “racism” argument.

It is also a vindication of the timeless creed, that - no matter who you are or where you come from, you can achieve anything, no matter how hard life might sometimes tests you.

Africans Hardly Blame, While African-Americans Enjoy Blaming

I am black, of African descent, and i have lived in the U.S. for almost a decade now.
I am what you may choose to call an immigrant. And under the “white man’s” microscope, me and my African-American brothers and sisters are one and the same - BLACKS, i.e.

When i speak of race relations (racism) in America, i mainly speak from my experience as a black man in America, and everything else second, (Like pride in oneself, resilience, lack of inferiority complex ETC.)

Am i a witness of racism in America? Absolutely.

Do I believe whites have an advantage over blacks? Umm . . . Ye - - -S.

But nothing to cry and moan about. Probably very minimal advantage and one, in my African eyes, i have a hard time to identify. And definitely not something that a black man couldn’t overcome with a bit of hard work and vigilance.

What African-Americans have is a crippling disease called - Laziness.

It is precisely a dangerous disease because it is the hardest to notice and one that hardly displays its symptoms in black-and-white. However, this laziness in the black community is one that has sipped through over time, and it was almost non-existent in the generations before. African-Americans are the descendants of slaves who were subjected to hard and back-breaking labor, and this laziness that is prevalent among today’s generations of African-Americans is one that defies scientific theories, in my view.

More African-Americans had finished high school and attended college in the 70’s than they do today.

In fact, the rate of an African-American in the 70’s graduating high school and college was the same as that of an Anglo-American

African Americans Need Only Look At Africans

Perhaps no evidence debunks the “racism”argument more than black Africans who come to the U.S. to lead a triumphant and prosperous life. For that matter, one could point out the success rate of ALL types of immigrants. But for argument sakes alone, i choose to compare Apples-to-Apples (Blacks to Blacks, in this case)

And for those who are reluctant to let go off the racism argument, I have one more news for you.

On the list of obstacles an African-American faces in today’s America, racism was recently listed 18th.

18th! Making racism a non-issue by default.

So Why Do Africans Succeed Where African-Americans Fail?

Hard work, education, accountability and responsibility. It doesn’t get any more uncomplicated than that, though some intelligentsia in the African-American community would like to complicate things.

These so-called intelligentsia in the black community are what i call those with, a-hang-over-from-the-civl-rights-era. They are still living in the 60’s and 70’s. They are still stuck in solving the puzzle that has been long solved.

In fact, Africans are faced with more challenges than any African-American ever could. Most Africans are not born wih a silver spoon in their mouth; they are usually faced with all sorts of problems when they first arrive in America (Challenges like learning a new system, a language barrier that takes years to break, in addition to all the other problems and obstacles African-Americans claim to face due to their oigmentation).
So tell me, who has it hard? The African or the African-American?

The inescapable fact remains, that there is no substitute to hard work and resilience, and the sooner the African-American intelligentsia of the civil rights era fess up, the better for African-Americans.

That's... that's actually not so shocking. It's just saying that millions of Latin-Americans have much more of a right to illegally immigrate because there's not an ocean in between themselves and freedom. That's all. Every other abused and downtrodden individual living in Chad has less of a right to immigrate because they're not Latino. Because the only reason people look at illegal immigrants and say there's something wrong with this picture is because of skin colour. NOT the fact that illegal immigration is harmful. Yes, people don't like illegal immigrants because of their skin colour... that Must be it.

Racism will never end. There will always be people who Will see a skin colour. Racism will always exist. That's just the way it is.

So never stop fighting it where-ever and whenever it occurs.

I think it's is quite possible that Obama and his policies that follow in time may promote racism. In fact we already went down the wrong path with civil rights - giving a certain group of people unearned advantages, rights over others. It is unfortunate that leaders of minorities do not fight for rights of the individuals but instead contradict themselves with a focus for the rights of a group, a collective. What we end up with is a mob, a savage tribe of people fighting other savage tribes for power. We may be going backward in America. If Obama wants to take the foot hold away from racism - eliminate civil rights...and PROTECT INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS!!! After all, all groups are made up of individuals ---and when you protect these rights to life, liberty and happiness, then you protect the rights of any type of individual regardless of color, ancestry, genetics, sex, etc...

I find it absolutely disheartening to learn that there are many black voters who have based their choice of the candidates due to race. I’m sure many white people did the same, but in a goofy interview by Howard Stern’s staff, they went into Harlem, NY and asked African-Americans why they were voting for Obama. The results were disturbing. To think that some thought Sarah Palin was Obama’s running mate and how it was ok if taxes went up while Obama was in office raised huge red flags for me.

No doubt, this is a great achievement in history. The only thing that scares me is Obama’s following. I’ve never in my lifetime seen such a reaction towards a president getting elected – it was comparable to the reactions and behaviors of those who followed Hitler. And no, that isn’t an exaggeration in my opinion. As a Christian and with my beliefs that I stand firmly upon, I do think this election signifies the coming of end times. With eloquent words and deceiving promises, we found ourselves a leader who appeased people of both sides, red and blue, and this has startled many.

On the other side of the fence, you have white supremacists who are outraged by this. Racism will never end on both sides. I have been witnessing articles and debates even after the election, and it’s getting worse. I even found myself arguing with a black woman, because she only voted for Obama because of what her ancestors went through and she could not give me one intellectual reason why Obama was good for office, other than, “He’s black and has come so far!” Not a reason. We all have opportunities. Tell me you voted for him because you liked his politics, his plans for health care and his promise to lower taxes. Don’t give me ‘we’ve come so far’---yes you have and “yes you can”, but don’t base this election because of race.

That angers me.

I think we still have a few generations to go to fully stomp out racism. You have to remember that racism does not distinguish between the colors of skin. What I mean is that people of any race can be racist. David Duke and Louis Farrakhan are two examples of racists that come to mind. I think that those under 30 are less likely to be racist than those over. And as the new generation comes up and then raises their children, that generation will be even more color blind.

Some obstacles I see in our country to doing away with racism:

1. Hyphenated ethnic tags. African-American, Hispanic-American, Irish-American, Arab-American, etc. Now if someone was actually born in another country, moved to the U.S. and then became an American...that I can almost see. However, I think true rectification will come when we can all simply consider ourselves American and do away with labels.

2. Reparations. I think if there is a renewed push for slavery reparations that it will tear a rift in race relations so wide open that it will not heal for a century. Slavery was an atrocity, but there is no one alive that was a slave and there is no way to discern, accurately, what black persons actually had slaves in their family history and those that don't.

3. Education and self accountability. We need to get our black communities up and running. We need better education and self accountability. Barack Obama has spoken on this matter as well as others such as Bill Cosby. The likes of Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan need to be pushed aside by the black community as they've done nothing but profit from keeping black Americans down. The black community, as a whole, needs to take charge of their own destiny. I grew up in public housing and no one gave me a free hand-out. I worked my butt off to get out of that situation and get my education. That method applies to all Americans. Also, education on the part of white folks. Ignorance is typically the engine for distrust and hatred. When I hear a white person spew racial slurs, I think what an ignorant fool!

I'm sure I'm missing a few other issues, but those are some.

Cheers!

Though it is a good sign that racial relations are moving forward in the US this is not the 'final nail' for racism. There will ALWAYS be people out there willing to follow racist (or sexist, or any other form of ist) ideologies.