Take Care Of Home

Every now and then, I have something to say about politics. This political opinion is about something that caused me to want rant a little. Let me say from “jump” that I don’t know much about everything, maybe a little about some things, or not much about a lot of things, but I think I do have some common sense. 

African American’s have experienced suffering and the most extreme torment of any people in this country's sorted history. Even our president has been maligned, compared to Hitler, and recently called a “sub-human Mongrel”, which tell you that, as the Constitution says, Negro’s continue to be viewed as 3/5^th human or less than.

Aside from the so-called patriot’s vitriol directed at our president, over the past week or so, we have been told that America is in ‘Crisis”. Yes, and America’s approach to solving it is to send a billion dollars to help the people in Kiev, Ukraine to save the people of that nation. I am no longer dismayed when America can find any amount of money in an instant to send anywhere on earth but not places like Detroit, the Bronx, South Central, Houston, Chicago, or any other place minorities reside often called a “hood”. Maybe it’s because a hood, as the word indicate, is a place that is hidden view.

It’s sorta like that word “Recession” in the sense that as long as I can remember black people were in such a depleted state of economics. Then someone gave it a gentler sounding name when people other than us endure our kind of economic hardships. With that being said, the Republicans, in particular, want to take away all of the safety net programs designed to help the American people. Yet, there is a billion dollars laying around just waiting to help someone somewhere, but it’s just not us!

This speaks to how hypocritical the position America has taken. Frankly, it’s an Oxymoron. Kerry said the Russians are crossing the borders of a sovereign nation to invade this country. He went to say his mission was to protect the ethnic minorities of that country. What would they call African Americans and the poor who live in America?

“LAW AND ORDER THEME”!

Does anybody remember what the Bush Administration did a decade ago in the Middle East? What America did there was based on a lie, cost more than a trillion dollars, thousands of lives, and we are still in those countries. Isn't that like invading a another country. Actually, two countries! So it begs the question, why is the government involved in this situation? The next question, why are the Neo-Con’s beating the drum for another war?

A Senator said of this crisis that America is no longer feared as the most powerful military in the world. If it was so feared, it seems to me that China and Russia never thought so. If what the senator said was true about America being so feared; please tell me who the military has defeated? Let’s see, hmmm, Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Korea; need I continue!

Let’s be clear, it has nothing to do with physical fear but everything to do with the “who, what, when, where, and how much” can be gained by a select few.  The last thing I want to say, people talk about revolution. Remember that the revolution must first take place in the mind not in the man.

This is a call to consciousnesses! Right now might be a good time to stand up and say to the elected officials that they MUST take care of home! And that’s my thought provoking perspective…

Faces Of Power

America for the first time, since its creation, looks like the America that was promised through the founding documents. We know that America is a melting pot of cultures more pronounced than any other nation on the planet. All one need to do is compare a Democrat’s political rally to one held by the GOP and the comparison is striking. For the first time in American history, we have an African American president and Attorneys General, who the Good Ol’ Boys have had both in their sights.

The Citizens Counsel is hot on their trail because of the many non-scandals they’ve created. They talk about the president’s healthcare policy – repeal, repeal, repeal! They say it kills grandma and that is the best of what they say. These same groups are saying they want to continued support the banks in the area of deregulations. Yet, the Justice Department brought a judgment against CITBANK recently in the billions for wrong doing. Actually, if the president or Mr. Holder says something is red; the others will say blue – just because.

What the Good Ol’ Boys do not seem to realize is that these two men are holding all the cards. Now it is clear that their political moves have failed! This is reason why the president will step in an invoking "executive privilege” and the Senate enacted the Nuclear Option to move forward. They want us to believe that just using the words "executive privilege" as an excuse is about government failures is a loser with the public.

I don’t think this is the case because their arguments in a partisan fashion which is a loser for Republicans to which they assert the Democrats were much worse in their treatment of the Bush and his Justice Department. That is not a reason to aggressively pursue their strategy, let alone shut down the government. No Republican or conservative commentator should even raise it as a defense. The notion that this is partially motivated by politics is very damaging to what little credibility the GOP has left, and the approach is belittling to people who call themselves patriots.

Lest not forget another very serious matter in this situation, and that is the explosive disclosure of national security information one might argue came as a result of the policies most see as overreaching by the government. These are the same Republicans who have produced a side-by-side talking point paper to help explain how differently this matter is being handled than issues that ensnared the Bush White House.

Did I mention that it was these guys who have no sense of right or wrong as was demonstrated by way of invasion and torture. How can they forget that and where were the investigations then? The job description of the Attorney General is supposed to protect the President from legal and political snares, which he has done. So holding him responsible for what they are trying to do is wrong.

I wonder if they remember the Bush Administration and Justice Department. So I say, compared to Bush’s Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to Mr. Holder is a model of candor. I say this president has done a yeoman’s job of bringing the country back from the brink of unthinkable disaster in both blood and treasure. So I say, it is a case of color. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

WARNING: This Is Very Disturbing!!!

I guess every since there have been black people there have been those who are different. One of my subscribers sent me this chilling video and all I can say is this guy takes different to a whole-nother realm! I’ve been taught and affirmed by definition that “insanity is downing the same thing you’ve always down and getting the same result”. I don’t believe that describes sufficiently to what is going on in the mind of this guy. SMH!!!

VERY DISTURBING!!! And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

What Happened to the BLACK FAMILY?

In a past life, one of many that I have enjoyed, I taught a college course called the Psychology of the Black Family. From time to time I go back and look through some of those old term papers from that class. There was one assignment given to each student to write a term paper on “The Breakdown of the African American Family”.

As I read through some of the thirty or so papers I found several very significant points and a common theme throughout the papers. I decided to capture some of the key points from those research papers to share with you. My intent is to, maybe, create some dialog within our consciousness as to why the black family, our community, and black people are the least likely to work together as a solid unit to the benefit of each other as other ethnic groups do.

During slavery, and from the 1800's through the 1980's, the concept of family was tight knit, strongly woven, and the envy of most cultures. The African American family unit survived in spite of unimaginable cruelty and adversity. It is only recently, during the last thirty years or so that the African American family became dysfunctional and lost its direction. One has to think for some twisted reason we do not feel whole because in many cases we allow others define us.

I can recall a powerful statement made by one of the students who expressed that she thinks the different social pressures on black men and women have contributed to the weak traditional family structure. Black women have been able to achieve more economic and educational success than black men, leading to them being higher wage earners. This inequality has eroded black women's reliance on men and their willingness to compromise on their needs or expectations, which in turn has led to resentment and disappointment on both sides.

Black women raise children, too often alone, and the bitterness that difficult task creates causes some women to make derogatory complaints against men in general, tainting their daughters and shaming their sons. Also, it seems that black women do not often hold their sons to as high a standard as their daughters, making them further vulnerable.

If proper behavior is not modeled for young people, they have difficulty fulfilling those expectations. This creates the perfect ingredients for the dismal situations to occur in our community. She went on to say that a lot of that has to do with our values, and the lack of knowing the importance of loving our communities, our families, and ourselves.

These are 12 key factors expressed from my student’s outstanding research papers:

1. The Vietnam War: Hundreds of thousands of strong, intelligent, hardworking black men were shipped abroad to be murdered, returned home shell shocked, severely damaged, or addicted. Many of which were unable to get back on track after returning from war because the government abandoned them.

2. COINTELPRO: The covert actions of J. Edgar Hoover in the wake of the Civil Rights Era and the Black Power Movements all but insured that anyone speaking out against the governments wrong doings would receive either long prison sentences or bullets. This fear silenced our forward progression, fueling distrust, and removing many of our leaders as well as potential future leaders.

3. The Assassinations of the 1960’s: Left a huge void in leadership that has yet to be filled, particularly within the Civil Rights Movement to include within the community. Instead, a universal acceptance of the pimp/hustler image in popular culture that presented alternative heroes to black youth, which resonant in the form of Gangster Rap. This genre leads to the glorification of the criminal element amidst immature minds that lack familial structure. In addition to black on black crime and staying silent while black youth are murdered by other black youth.

4. The Feminist Movement: Backed by liberal white women to fight for the equal rights of women; the same rights most black men had yet to fully be granted. A lot of black women got lost in the rhetoric of how men were keeping them down, losing sight of the fact that black men were down there with them. To this day, the power exchange and infighting among black men and women, is sadly considered the norm, a tool enumerated by Willie Lynch.

5. Oliver North & the Contras: The volume of drugs, mainly crack cocaine that flooded the black community during the 80 to which most of the drugs came in on U.S. ships with the support of the Government. The CRACK era escalated death and incarceration rates, unwanted pregnancies, neighborhood prostitution and a culture of violence. Folks were selling their kids to hit the pipe, and selling their souls to sell what went in that pipe. This epidemic destroyed our community in ways slavery could never have done. This form of contemporary was the cruelest type of slavery imposed upon our communities.

6. Mass media brainwashing & mind control: The influences of propaganda and distorted images of beauty and male/female roles. Shows like Life Styles of the Rich and Famous, Dynasty, Different Strokes, and the Jefferson’s for example. The American conscious during the 80's was money driven. Materialism became the idea that stuff defines you and others.

7. Education: The lack of proper education, financing support, and knowledge being taught by African American professionals. In addition our leaders and academics failed us as they fled the hood in droves for the suburbs during those crazy 80's. Prior to this period, kids saw on a daily basis married couples that looked like them, even if they didn’t live in their households. Yet the great migration to greener pastures left a void in the community leaving it to be filled by the image of the hustler-pimp-thug, ruthlessness, and violence.

8. Communication: This speaks to education of self and listening to the wrong messengers. The communication of values - parents became unavailable to hand down family legacies, traditions and value systems. We're like POW's locked in the same building for 20 years, unable to converse thru cement walls confined by our personas, egos, insecurities, isms etc.

9. The Black Church: Many churches have lost their way. The business of religion is bankrupting our communities. Many churches are not touching the lives of those outside of the church most in need. Just like back in the day when it was the design of slave masters, who did so much wickedness to use this as a tactic by offering a bible and in most instances nothing more than pain and a promise of a better life to keep us in line. This is not the same as faith which was necessary to survive our struggles.

10. Urbanization - work and home were once connected. Parents were near their families and children understood work as a way of life. Urbanization helped create “latch key" kids and images of hard work disappeared while replacing it with material objects.

11. Social Services: The advent of the system of welfare that demanded the absence of the influence of the black man in the home. Before Claudine during the early 50's welfare was a Midwestern farmer hook up and back then you HAD to be a complete family to apply. So the laws for welfare changed in the inner-city while many in the farm lands of Mid America started to change in culture to fit the application for welfare. For decades to follow, trillions of dollars in government spending on ineffective social programs in our cities have not by enlarge benefited the mobility of the family.

12. Segregation: Jim Crow Laws and Black Codes that prevented legal marriages, dehumanized people, and discriminatory practices in work/education left many African Americans unable to access resources necessary to build strong family bases causing disillusioned men/husbands/fathers to abandonment rather than face daily reminder of their "failure".

The next time you look in the mirror think about want happen. And that’s my THOUGHT PROVOKING PERSPECTIVE!

http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com

http:johntwills.com

Enemy of the Truth: Myths, Forensics, and the Kennedy Assassination

The John T. Wills Book Tree Radio Show proudly welcomes the highly acclaimed new author and forensic expert Sherry Fiester as our very special guest to start the New Year Wednesday, January 9, 2013, at 8:30 PM (est). The call in number to ask question of the author is 718-506-1699.

Some say America lost its innocence that fateful day in November 1963 in Dallas, Texas when the shocking news of the assassination of President Kennedy. One thing for sure there has been no shortage of conspiracies, theories, or doubt as to what actually happened on that fateful afternoon. Sherry merges modern CSI knowledge to examine the JFK Assassination in her new book - Enemy of the Truth: Myths, Forensics, and the Kennedy Assassination.

The Kennedy assassination is a particularly timely topic since November 2013 will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the shooting death of the 35th President of the United States. While the most studied murder investigation of the 21st century, it remains plagued by questions and a variety of theories. However, applying modern forensic investigative techniques to this high profile homicide can reveal new information—some of which is startling.

Sherry Fiester has applied current forensic disciplines to eight different aspects of the assassination providing scientific answers to some of the Kennedy assassination’s most puzzling questions. Fiester details how today's trajectory techniques used to reconstruct shootings when applied to the assassination prove the shooters location for the fatal head shot eliminates both the sixth floor sniper’s lair and the Grassy Knoll. Fiester also addresses the abbreviated forward movement of Kennedy's head followed by the familiar "back and to the left" movement observed in the Zapruder film, debunking the idea of two almost simultaneous gun shots to the head.

Fiester is a court certified expert in Louisiana State Federal Court and 30 Judicial Districts in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida in Crime Scene Investigation, Crime Scene Reconstruction and Blood Spatter Analysis and Reconstruction. She is published and recognized as an instructor at state and national levels. In 1995, Fiester began to apply her expertise to the Kennedy assassination. Later that year she spoke at the 1995 Coalition on Political Assassinations (COPA) Conference in Washington, DC. Fiester was the featured speaker at the Dealey Plaza Echo Kennedy Assassination Conference in the United Kingdom in 1996.

A regular presenter at JFK Lancer November in Dallas Conferences since 1996, she is a recipient of the prestigious JFK Lancer-Mary Ferrell New Pioneer Award given in recognition of her contribution of new evidence and advancing the study of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Now retired from police work, Fiester is utilizing various forensic fields to promote a better understanding of the Kennedy assassination. The results have been a variety of speaking presentations and more recently, completion of the book, “Enemy of Truth: Myths, Forensics, and the JFK Assassination.”

Why I wrote the book: I believe the historical narrative of our country concerning the Kennedy assassination is distorted with biased and unverified information. Many people still believe in a single shooter, regardless of the scientific facts that prove otherwise. Sadly, the majority of the conclusions and purported facts concerning the death of President Kennedy are anecdotal, unrealistic, and incorrect statements kept alive by those who would prefer fabrications that promote sensationalism as opposed to the quiet reality of fact. I want to fight the unsubstantiated allegations that continue to rear their head, summoning the naive to join forces in a “truth is stranger than fiction” campaign.

Although imaginative and sometimes thought provoking, these theories rely upon the suspension of common sense and fly in the face of forensic research. I want to correct those misconceptions. Polls have consistently shown that the American public’s confidence in their government has steadily declined since the Warren Report was issued in 1964, and now over 80% of the people refuse to believe Kennedy was killed by a lone, deranged gunman. The American people are convinced they have never been told the truth about the tragedy of November 22, 1963 and many will not stop in their search for the truth concerning his death and the subsequent cover-up. I am one of those people. This book is part of my fight to bring the truth to light and restore accuracy to our history.

Join me for what certainly will be an eye opening conversation with Sherry and I would suggest that if you have questions or commentary pertaining to the assassination – please call in to speak with our guest – 718-506-1699 and your question may finally be answered. Here is your chance to ask an expert! You don't want to miss this show!!! http://www.blogtalkradio.com/johntwills

Buy It At AMAZON.COM

Knowledge is the gift that keeps on giving.

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Legacy – A New Season 

AMAZON

Just a Season

Our Communities Need You

Day in and day out reports on the news contain many violent acts, most notably those crimes that involve guns and murder in one form or another. Today for instance there was a shooting reported in Aurora, Colorado where three people were found dead inside a home. It seems as if most of us, particularly our government appears to be numb to the carnage and accept it. I say accept it because nothing substantial is being done to stop the violence. I am going to admit that I don’t know the answer or claim to have a solution but the numbers say – ENOUGH!

A very recent report by the government says the violent crime rates fell for the fifth consecutive year in 2011 in the US. But in urban areas like Detroit the homicide rate rose to a level higher than nearly 40 years ago when the city was known as the Murder Capital according to the Detroit News. The same day the city's official crime statistics were announced, a Detroit woman was charged with fatally stabbing her 8-year-old daughter and a cab driver was killed in a double shooting on the city’s northwest side. I am sure there were others as well.

At the same time homicides have declined nationwide for years, most notably in New York, where in 2012 there were 414 homicides and a rate of one per 19,915 people. New Orleans reported a small drop from 199 to 193 in 2012. With a population 360,740, the rate was one per 1,869 residents and in Washington, DC there were 88 homicides in 2012, the lowest total since 1961. With a population of 617,966, that puts the rate at one per 7,023 people. All of this is good.

It was also reported that elsewhere across the country, homicide rates made only slight jumps compared to Detroit.

• In Los Angeles, the homicide rate increased from 291 to 294 last year, with a population of nearly 3.8 million.
• The homicide rate in Chicago went up nearly 17 percent in 2012, topping 500 for the first time in four years. Last year’s total was 505, up from 433 in 2011.
• Homicides in Cleveland, Ohio, spiked in 2012 with 97 and a rate of one per 4,060 people.
• Philadelphia homicides increased from 324 to 331 in 2012. With a population of 1.54 million, that amounts to one per 4,642.
• In St. Louis, which has a population of 318,169 people, the rate stayed the same at between 2011 and 2012 at one per 2,815 people. There were 113 homicides last year, well below the average of 141 for the five previous years.

So ladies and gentlemen I would like to suggest that we look at ourselves because these people are our people, family, and friends more often than not. Let me also suggest that we change the dialog from “Hood” to “Community” that will induce inclusiveness. So my advice is to reach one teach one and empower our youth to do better than we did. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

Knowledge is the gift that keeps on giving.

http://johntwills.com

Legacy – A New Season 

AMAZON

Just a Season

And Our Story Continues

We've spent the last three years revisiting what we thought was long past. Witnessing the vitriol of those who want to recreate what I call Brownsville, you know, those segregated places mandated by law as a result of the wretched system of “Separate but Equal”; more commonly known as “Jim Crow”. I have tried to resurrect the ghost of the greats that changed the world, which have caused me to live a life promised to all Americans. Having said that, I readily admit there is still a long way to go.

On Election Day this magnificent journey and life’s promise continues with the reelection of President of Barack H. Obama. Since I started THOUGHT PROVOKING PERSPECTIVES I have shared the African American journey that is without question the greatest story ever told. Maybe I’ll say this more succinctly by quoting Jesse – “From the outhouse to the White House”. The irony of this was that Africans were dragged onto the shores of this place the slaves called “merica” to now having a man of African descent in the White House as President. 

This evolution brought about our acquiescence to political agendas, abdicating our own economic self-sufficiency for the greater good and most working diligently for the economic well-being of other people. Since the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments were written many have died for the rights described therein and we continue to fight for equality.

Since Black History month only comes in February it’s time we appreciate it every day. I want to leave you with this thought from “The Mis-Education of the Negro,” the most profound novel ever written in my opinion, originally published in 1933 by Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who is known as the father of Black History Month. I might add that this book should be mandatory reading for all African Americans – young and old.

The thesis of Dr. Woodson's book is that Negroes of his day were being culturally indoctrinated rather than taught in American schools, or not even given the advantage of education. This conditioning, he claims, causes African Americans to become dependent, seeking out inferior places.

He challenged his readers to become empowered by doing for themselves, regardless of what they were taught: “History shows that it does not matter who is in power... those who have not learned to do for themselves and have to depend solely on others never obtain any more rights or privileges in the end than they did in the beginning.”in the greater society of which they are a part. This assertion is clearly evident nearly eighty years later.

This goes beyond the imagination, irrespective of the many promises that have been made and broken, that fairness exists. Don’t worry, we have been taught that when we die there is a place where there is a mansion with streets paved with gold. Be that as it may, let's agree with the great Curtis Mayfield who wrote: “people get ready there’s a train a comin. You don’t need no ticket. All you need is faith to get on board… you just thank the lord.”

I have said and believe that Black History Month is “Black History is American History”. We have witnessed the first man of African descent elected president of these United States and nothing more significant has happened since the resurrection of Christ. I am thankful to have lived to see what no one living or dead ever thought would occur. God Bless America President Barrack Obama and the greatest story ever told continues!

And for those who want to succeed from the Union. We have seen this movie and how did that workout for them. And that is my Thought Provoking Perspective…

http://johntwills.com

Legacy – A New Season 

AMAZON

Just a Season

IF WE EVER NEEDED TO VOTE!!!

This is the most important election since the Africans were dragged off that ship that summer’s day in August 1619. I won’t belabor the point BUT my message from the heart is that every son, daughter, and descendant of slaves, honor those who made it possible for us. The future is in your hands.

Vote as if your life dependent on it because it does!!! And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

                                         http://johntwills.com

 

                                         Legacy – A New Season 

AMAZON

Just a Season

 THIS VIDEO SAYS IT ALL

THOUGHT PROVOKING PERSPECTIVES HAS MOVED!!!

Yes, it’s true but I want you to come with me to http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com

THOUGHT PROVOKING PERSPECTIVES the powerful blog designed as a potent source of empowering knowledge to broaden the information base with those who share my passion for the written word. I firmly believe education is the single most important ingredient necessary to neutralize those forces that breed poverty and despair. 

THOUGHT PROVOKING PERSPECTIVES has moved to WordPress. I am grateful and very much appreciative for all the support from my many followers. So, I cordially invite you to follow me to http://thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com

 

I’ll see you at the new location.

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Race in the Race – Center Stage

I was talking with a friend a few days ago, who made the most insane comment I think I’ve heard since the wanna-be president opens his month on any given day. The friend, who is a republican, said, “It’s good to see that America’s prejudices have change and race is no longer a problem. Please forgive me if I sound like Herman Cain but my response was “you have be brain washed by the Good Ol’ Boys”.

I tried to explain to my friend, who may not be considered such much longer, that I lived through part of the Jim Crow era and find striking similarities to those days. She could not understand that what we see today is en-essence James Crow, Esq. a more grown and sophisticated version of bigotry because racial attitudes have not improved. If one looks carefully they might conclude that the issue of race has become diabolically worse!

The Associated Press (AP) reported this week that in the four years since America elected its first black president a slight majority of Americans now express prejudice toward blacks whether they recognize those feelings or not. The poll found that 51 percent of Americans now express explicit anti-black attitudes, compared with 48 percent in a similar 2008 survey. When measured by an implicit racial attitudes test, the number of Americans with anti-black sentiments jumped to 56 percent, up from 49 percent during the last presidential election. In both tests, the share of Americans expressing pro-black attitudes fell.

Another poll taken in 2011, found that 52 percent of non-Hispanic whites expressed anti-Hispanic attitudes. That figure rose to 57 percent in the implicit test. The survey on Hispanics had no past data for comparison. The AP surveys were conducted with researchers from Stanford University, the University of Michigan and NORC at the University of Chicago.

African Americans have noticed that the president has treaded cautiously on the subject of race as its community sees no change in incidents involving police brutality or cite bumper stickers, cartoons and protest posters that mock the president as a lion or a monkey, or lynch him in effigy. Republicans have called the president - "the Food Stamp President", they rant about "taking our country back", they continue to question where the President was born, they refer to him as "Barry Soetero" all as part of a concerted effort to make the President "one of them" not "one of us". When people of color see this – we see it as being directed to all of us and the entire community.

I tend to agree with Fredrick Harris, director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University who says, “Part of it is a growing polarization within American society. The last Democrat in the White House said we had to have a national discussion about race. There’s been total silence around issues of race with this president. But, as you see, whether there is silence, or an elevation of the discussion of race, you still have polarization. It will take more generations, I suspect, before we eliminate these deep feelings.”

We have seen this movie before – it’s called “History” with a sub-title called “Manifest Destiny”. If you have not seen - it there are graphic representations of slavery, lynching’s, poll taxes, and separate but equal throughout the entire story. It is a sad disgraceful reflection of what might be things to come.
Not surprising, however, in the AP poll that racial prejudice is not limited to one group of partisans. Although Republicans were more likely than Democrats to express racial prejudice in the questions measuring explicit racism (79 percent among Republicans compared with 32 percent among Democrats), the implicit test found little difference between the two parties. That test showed a majority of both Democrats and Republicans held anti-black feelings (55 percent of Democrats and 64 percent of Republicans), as did about half of political independents (49 percent).

Overall results from each survey have a margin of sampling error of approximately plus or minus 4 percentage points. The most recent poll, measuring anti-black views, was conducted Aug. 30 to Sept. 11.
Many will say they remain cautiously optimistic that the future of America bends toward the side of increased racial tolerance. I say although “we’ve come a long way, but clearly we have a long way to go.” And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

http://johntwills.com

The Face of Pride

I recently read an article where the author asked a question that needed not to have been asked – “Are Black People voting for Obama because he’s black”. Let me say first, he is half white by virtue of the woman who birthed him and he was raised by white grandparents. So let’s take that off the table.

The author asked; “are black people supporting Obama mainly because he's black? If race is just one factor in blacks' support of Obama, does that make them racist? Can blacks' support for Obama be compared with white voters who may favor his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, because he's white? These questions have long animated conservatives who are frustrated by claims that white people who oppose Obama's policies are racist.”

History is clear; an entire race of people was taken from their land by force, survived slavery, segregation and discrimination that have certainly forged a special pride within the African-Americans soul. There is enough evidence to show a hard-earned pride in a president who looks like us. Our loyalty to President Barack Obama is pride - not prejudice!

It has been reported that the president lived a life much like many African America and therefore can empathize with our plight and by the mere fact that his complication is dark makes him black. He needed assistance in the form of food stamp at a point in his early life and has endured racism like the rest of us, and that also makes him black. Just look at the racism he has endured since he became president.

Race matters – there is no argument here. Voting for someone who would understand your side of the coin is not racism. It is voting for your interests. Such logic runs into trouble when applied to a white person voting for Romney because he understands whiteness better. This is a right afforded to us in our political Diaspora.
It is a fact that Martin Luther King Jr. fought Jim Crow laws, which deprived blacks of political rights after Reconstruction, upheld by Southern Democrats. But black voters switched after Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson pushed through the 1960s civil rights legislation and Republicans successfully pursued the votes of white people who disliked the civil rights agenda.

This is democracy at work. When you have the right to vote it means to vote for that which or those who supports your interest. In the case of President Obama he smashed what was thought to be the ultimate glass ceiling. He understands that black pride springs from a shared history of being treated as less than human, while the history of pride in whiteness has a racist context.

Black people understand the dog whistles of the GOP and the negative stigma about us through their generalizations in speeches about our race, such as terms like welfare queens. But the danger here is that they have taken such language to a whole nother level; like Romney’s 47% comment and those concerning reproductive rights that now include at least half of the American citizenry.

The author of the article quoted Sherrilyn Ifill, a law professor at the University of Maryland, who wrote a column exploring why so many black voters are rejecting Romney. She said it has less to do with the candidate than with his party's treatment of Obama, such as John Sununu calling the president "lazy" after the debate, a congressman shouting "You lie!" during the State of the Union address, claims that Obama is not a citizen and more.

In an interview, Ifill said that for black voters, such accusations feel like white people are attacking their own dignity. "In essence," she says, "they are closing ranks around Obama."
She noted that women were justifiably moved by Hillary Rodham Clinton's candidacy and Catholics flocked to the polls to elect President John F. Kennedy. Comparing black pride in Obama to white pride in Romney is a "false symmetry" because of the history of black oppression. "There should not be this resistance to pride over the first black president," Ifill says. "If we get to the fifth one, I'll be with you."



This is why we support! And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

http://johntwills.com

Mamie~Louise Anderson's Special Editorial

My Morning After Response to the Debate

Just when we think our champion is the underdog, watching powerlessly as his opponent preens with over-confidence, puffs up his (or her, in the case of Hillary) chest, juts out his jaw and scrambles ideology like the shape shifter he's known to be, the Commander in Chief delivers the unexpected knocked out by a deft, dignified, unassuming and lethal stroke of genius! Alas, that didn't happen. In last night's high stakes verbal sword fight, hope and change was not the case. I was waiting for the element of surprise - some wry and pointed remark to cut through Romney's barrage of conservative talking points and well-rehearsed mythology that Gov. Christie warned us on "Meet the Press" was coming.

Romney showcased his CEO command at President Obama's expense and the moderator was as ineffectual as a lowly employee serving tea in the board room. For the president to allow Romney this runaway performance so late in the game showed the miscalculation of a cagey enemy by his handlers who neutered him with his own brand: Mr. Nice Guy. I doubt President Obama has allowed himself to think of Romney as "the enemy," but that psychological adjustment would have made his fighting skills effective.

And make no mistake, that skinny guy can fight! But you don't bring a butter knife to a gunfight; this is war! The camera angles made it worse. Practiced Romney faced the nation and the President, confidently. President Obama looked down, like a student taking notes. The optics were awful. Like most of you, I was screaming at the TV, trying to coach our distant leader out of that sleep walk.

And yet... Here we are, the morning after, weighing the lopsided victory of the desperately animated, amped and dominating Governor that has the pundits and fact-checkers doing President Obama's work for him, in effect, proving Romney aggressively wrong on points and even more distasteful as he flipped into attack mode in a manner absent of diplomacy. In the President's defense, everybody now talking about what (contender) Obama coulda or shoulda said is effectively building the case against Romney, siding with the Prez in a whispering campaign that highlights the lies and distortions that have characterized his feckless, Etch-a- Sketch campaign.

If letting the media do the work for him is the Obama campaign's calculated risk, and I don't believe it is, Chicago is slicker than slick and more street smart than we've ever given them credit for. They have mastered the politics of shaping public sentiment by default, allowing rude Romney to display his latent bully as Obama's cool and likeable persona remains presidentially intact. I think, to be honest, Romney kicked Obama's ass at a time when mastery of debate was all it would have taken to put Romney away for good.
This is a choice election and mano a mano, it was ideology vs ideology. Conservative vs liberal, a dichotomy antithetical to President Obama's "there are no red states; there are no blue states" core values, pragmatism and political philosophy. He needed to take it to the bridge, but he didn't. 

The President's table was set and Romney was his guest, but he let him take over the house, not just the dinner party. I'm watching this and thinking, confrontation is a skill the President would be wise to master. When the enemy is face to face; in point of fact, in your face and looking down his patrician nose at the nation, pretending to have compassion, it's time to ball up your verbal fist and land one, Pow! Right in the kisser! The President lacked this killer instinct and without it, he lost round after unstructured round when facts and figures, a few pithy anecdotes and a flash of humor would have won by a knockout punch upside Romney's big head! I waited all night for that. It didn't come.

This is all spin. We will see in the days ahead how it all shakes out. Romney's lies landing on our punch-drunk champion. The President's unvoiced deflections. Michelle's brow creased with concern. Miss Ann's smug condescension. The nation's compassion for the leader who has run himself raggedy on our behalf, crisis after crisis. The Black Man who dares to climb to the lonely heights yet a second time to save us from oligarchy. Time will tell...

 Initially, the polls will shift in Romney's favor, if only because America loves a comeback and a fighter. After all, as Joan Allen pointed out, he was boning up on debate skills while the President was running the world. In the end, that doesn't matter. This is WAR! If debate is the arena that can determine this close race, our fearless gladiator, President Obama, must master it and come out swinging next time, preferably without the gloves. (but that's just me talking smack, a girl from Harlem 's tenements and el barrio's projects who learned to fight to survive.)

And this thing about suppressing Black rage and appearing to be unflappable. Here's my thinking: To be human is to display the full range of human emotion, no matter how it is broadly misinterpreted. Surely a second term president has earned the right to fully express fighting instincts. The non-angry Black Man is a reverse stereotype we simply can't afford. Yet, Obama doesn't have to be mad to defeat Romney. It ain't personal; it's business. He doesn't have to stoop to conquer or fight dirty, but he really does have to fight like the devil to win.

What you bet he brings his “A game” next time and the final debate will be brilliant, no matter what else is happening in the world? What you bet? 10,000 Monopoly dollars? Let this be a lesson in gauging the enemy and ferreting out Romney's long-hidden agenda. Seeing how far he's willing to pivot from his base to take the Oval Office. I am confident President Obama will rise to the occasion. There is too much at stake for him not to and with The First Lady in his corner, he cannot simply lose. 

KEEP THE FAITH, BABY!

Mamie~Louise Anderson

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