The Onset of Blindness Caused by VICTIMIZATION

Over the past 48 hours I have consumed two independent pieces of information that, if tied together would introduce a whirlwind of change for the party that I will talk about in a few seconds.

The first bit of information was received from the venerable Bill Moyers. Moyers is a left leaning media activist who sees himself as a new style muckraker. He seeks to "speak truth to power" and fight for his version of societal change for the "commonwealth" rather that for the corporations. This all sounds good so far.

I watched him speak on "LinkTV", the "Progressive" satellite channel that can be seen on DirecTV or on the Internet. Mr. Moyers spoke in 2004 at the "Inequality Conference". He was the keynote speaker. In his speech he opened by given credit to Barbara Ehrenreich, the author of "Nickled and Dimed To Death", the story about how today's society works so much against the working poor, throwing up roadblocks at every turn.

Mr. Moyers opened with a Black poster child to put a face on the poverty and disconnectedness that he wanted to highlight. He talked of a poor Black public school in Mt Veronon, New York. He said that this was one of the poorest areas in the region and with our present school funding formula this school and every child in it gets shunted off to the edges of the society because they don't have the resources necessary to compete. Mr. Moyers told the story about a Black child who wanted to do a book report on a job that the child wants to do once he grows up. The only problem, according to Mr. Moyers was that the library only had books that were more than 30 years old. He used the example of a book which referenced a rotary dial phone with a notation that some day soon we will be able to push a button to dial. He made a few more references regarding how dated and unusable the content of the school were. Clearly he was seeking the most extreme example to make his case that we need to nationalize the public school system, and most importantly ITS FUNDING so that these pockets of isolation would not be present and the people will not be left behind. Of course the standard reference to how with school funding being tied to property taxes that poor communities are made to suffer. No doubt Mr. Moyers will join the crowd which prefers having funding be nationalized with it tied to progressive income taxes rather than as a function of that community's productivity. Far be it for Mr Moyers to have the people who stand to benefit the most from education to place it above other items that they choose to spend their money on.

(Place holder. I will edit the video clip and place it here later)


The second element that I heard from the media that allowed me to have my "Ah ha" moment were two reports heard on "On The Media" - a radio show, with a left bias heard on NPR. This weeks segment focused on the increasing presence of electronic books as well as on-demand printing which is having a drastic impact on the publishing and distribution business. With the technology of on-demand printing the power shifts back to the center. Where as in the pre-on-demand printing world those with the largest warehouses and distribution outlets - Amazon, Barnes & Noble as well as Borders had the advantage because they had more books in their inventory than did the independent book seller, this new technology is a seismic change. Any outlet that has the printing equipment and the communications link to the publisher's system has an equal playing field with the big guys regarding their ability to offer the widest of selections to the consuming masses. Not only that but a clear case for a "green footprint" can be made because now we only print the books that are ordered rather than preemptively printing and hoping that they sell.

The second story from "On The Media" focused upon the electronic book reader that was designed and then sold by Amazon.com.



This is an electronic database that can store hundreds of books in a portable format. The real innovation, however, resides in its use of "electric ink". The new display technology simulates the paper experience and is easier on the eyes than a traditional LCD video display. There has been a run on the purchase and use of the device. As I check - the device retails for $399. This is a bit too expensive for a general purpose device but I am sure that the price will come down as other manufacturers enter this space. Comparatively an Asus EEE PC which can display PDF files as well as do general computing is a better buy at this point.

Now lets tie these two major points together.

Mr Moyers showed a poor Black school in Mt Vernon NY who's "disconnectedness" from the mainstream of society has had a deletarious impact on the students who are trapped within. Moyers makes reference to the printed past. If you don't have the paper, ink and binding on yourself in physical form then the consumers of this resource are left ignorant, not having access to the words that deliver the knowledge into their brains. The blindness represented in this analysis done by Mr. Moyers is two fold. First he focuses on the POPULAR and TRADITIONAL communications media from which these students are to receive their knowledge from - the books versus more electronic media which are great equalizers. For a person so active in the battle over Net Neutrality and the ownership of the Internet I am fully convinced that Mr. Moyers and his team of researchers are very aware of this technology that could open up the school and have it "plugged in" to the reset of the world rather than remaining as a remote outpost, right next to the wealthiest city in the world - New York City.

Secondly Mr. Moyers does not speak to the financing element in which how the situation for these children can be overcome. He would argue that a nationalization of the public school system - akin to Jesse Jackson Jr's CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT is necessary to fix this problem. This "boil the ocean" approach chooses theory over making ground gains. The story heard on "On The Media" discussed that in their on-line form books might be given away for free in exchange for advertising to be published along side of the content. Possibly a commercial shown as the book loads into the electronic reader. I record and watch the Bill Moyers Journal each week. With his "Sole Corporate Sponsor" loudly notated I assure you that he would have his IDEOLOGY trump his notions of PRACTICALITY and would stand firmly against the idea of allowing advertising to eliminate or at least defray the costs of getting this technology into the hands of these children who remain ignorant as they WAIT for Moyers and others to bring the ocean up to 212 degrees and thus these children receive the benefit of having access to these needed resources.

I would also be remiss if I failed to make note of all of the African-Americans who saw fit to pull out their checkbook over the last year and send in a record quantity of donations into the Barack Obama campaign. As we abstract the essential element of what happened - this community saw something that they DESIRED and they chose to FUND IT accordingly and would have given even MORE if there were not caps on the amount that they could give. Now just imagine if we could convince these specific African Americans to get duly motivated to feed this massive quantity of birds that they have in their hands already rather than sending volumes of money to the big bird that is in the bush that seemed more attractive to them. In their mind - upon catching this big bird in the bush that they will change the system around and thus the little birds that they have dropped will have resources trickle down to them. From where I sit - what didn't work at the municipal level once you gained control is not likely to work at a more grand scale. Those who escaped your grasp (and kept their money) will likely do so the next time.

We need to travel overseas to make note of a project which had a similar challenge of placing technology into the hands of poor school children - the One Laptop Per Child initiative. Their original target of producing a $100 laptop was released as a $199 unit. They come up with the ingenious financing plan where Western charitable contributors seeking to make a difference can "buy one, give one". Pay about $400 and we'll send you a computer and then send another to a poor nation in Africa, Asia or South America. For the life of me upon hearing about the "Digital Divide" here in America for more than 10 years - why is it that no one came up with such a plan domestically? A reengineered machine where low cost is the primary design criteria and then an innovative financing plan to insure mass distribution. Instead they turned to the GOVERNMENT for programs and then to CORPORATIONS for donations. Certain operatives were shown at the various ribbon cutting ceremonies over time. Where are these computer labs today? Only God knows.

I have just laid about a rough framework of how we can introduce TECHNOLOGY that will allow written information to be placed into the hands of more students who are currently disconnected. Coupled with that is the financing plan. It is far past the time to discontinue the assumed inferiority and victim state of these displaced people. They are bigger victims of blind thinking and ideological constraints that have those who work on their behalf to follow the same old rut in the world rather than to innovate.

If we are indeed crafting the 21st Century class room then let us also use 21st century technology to communicate knowledge to the students and 21 century funding to insure that they receive it.

A Major Accomplishment In Logic And Reasoning For My 7 Year Old

Anyone with a child can relate to this one.

The "Band-Aid" has magical powers in the mind of a child. Upon covering up both the gushing wound or the slightest scrape that drew no blood with a Band-Aid their mind is made content.

My young daughter just asked me for a "Band-Aid" because she had what I thought to be a scrape on her leg. I corrected her, saying "bandage". You want a "bandage". "Band-Aid" is a brand name of a bandage.

As soon as I asked to see it she quickly responded "Its bleeding a little bit" because she knew the next thing I was going to say - which I did. "Think about it X - that bandage is nothing more than a piece of tape with something that soaks up the blood. There is nothing in it that is magically going to cure your pain".

She then said "Band-Aids cover up the sore and keep it from getting infected". Good one. She knows me too well.

I showed her a bottle of "Band-Aid" brand antiseptic wash and said that this says that it will kill germs and keep her sore from becoming infected. "The fact that you don't have any blood - you don't need a bandage. Just use this."

She then told me that it was actually a bug bite and that she had another one. I told her that I had a bottle of anti-inch spray up stairs that she could use. I have about 3 ant bites on my arm from working in the garden. This has done a good job to stop the itching so I won't have to scratch.

I am happy that I get to interact with my children on a daily basis. For me one major task that I have is to disassemble many of the "Why is it that way?", "BECAUSE" type of challenges and responses that are often heard. In their minds it is that way "because" they say it is with no concept of how they have arrived at that conclusion. I want my children to be able to EXPLAIN their line of reasoning as much as possible or at least to keep in mind the tricks that others who attempt to impress upon them when they seek to gain their confidence. This will also condition them to ASK QUESTIONS. If indeed "Speaking Truth To Power" is as popular as claimed within the Black community - there needs to be a new round of it acculturated to empower us to ask questions INTERNALLY without having offense being taken for the question.

Update - she just came back over to me after applying the Band-Aid liquid. She told me that it doesn't work. It's still bleeding. I asked "Is it a bug bite?" "Yes". "So how is it bleeding? Look at the ant bites that I have on my arm. They are not bleeding".

She told me "They are bleeding BECAUSE I KEEP SCRATCHING THEM".
I told her "This is why I told you to go get the anti-itch spray. It will make the bites stop itching and you won't feel the need to scratch and the bleeding will stop".

I can't lie. My son's irrational fear of monsters upstairs which causes him to avoid being by himself up there hits home with me. When I was a child I feared the monsters in the basement that were hiding behind the walls and used to call my dog to come along with me to the basement for protection. I can fully relate to the constrains and imagination of their youthful minds.

My job as their father, however, is to get them beyond the thoughts of a child and instead to use their structured thinking ability to solve problems and redirect people who would have them to depend too much upon the "sight unseen" rather than constructing a logical path to actually get there.

I can tell that my girl is getting older. Two years ago I would have never been able to talk her out of using a Band-Air. She would have complained until she got the Sponge Bob Band-Aid on her skin. The fact that she was at least willing to try my suggestion is a major advancement and a sign of mental growth.

Bill Cosby On Reverend Jeremiah Wright

Bill Cosby on Rev. Wright

Rev. Wright epitomizes the thoughts and actions that have prevented and continue to prevent black America from moving ahead and achieving their potential as a people. He suggests that this United States of America made up of sons and daughters of immigrants (I'm talking of the millions of 1st, 2nd, 3rd generation immigrants in this country) of every race, creed, color and religion each and everyone of them who had nothing to do with slavery, some how owe something to a group of people who have never been slaves? Its amazing. It seems everyone is to blame for the shambles black society is in with its violence, drugs, high school drop out rates, misogyny, and a host of other real and virulent problems, except for the very people who engage in such behavior. Enough. As a society, culture or people, they should look within themselves and fix their problems. When did this man become the spokesman for the 'black church'? And of course his church is different, but that doesn't mean his message and philosophy is acceptable, or productive or non-offensive or not-racist or indicative or our greater cultural behaviors, values and norms Americans. And yes, the link between this man and Obama really does matter. At a very minimum, it provides insight into the political and philosophical strain that Obama adheres to.

Introspective Challenge - Am I A "Jonathan Kozol" Hypocrite?

As I am flipping through my child's elementary school year book and making note of the hue of the children and teachers contained within I am forced to justify the choice of my wife and me to move to a racially integrated community. After all this type of integration is what White liberal educational activst Johnathan Kozol claimed was the only way for a Black child to be insured to receive a quality education. As a frequent critic of his views - am I in fact a living example of what he has prescribed?

We have been living in our Fayette County home for 10 years. Having gotten married and lived in Fulton County to the north we chose Fayette County because it had a reputation for strong schools and a traditional, family oriented environment. Where as Fulton and Clayton are Democratic strongholds, Fayette is a Republican stronghold. It is also the case that there is a higher average income for Black residents of Fayette than White. This is only because there is a smaller population of Black people who live here and the ones who do live here have a relatively high income. The White population is more economically diverse and thus when we talk pure averages alone - the Black people's income is greater. Indeed many Blacks move to Fayette to consume the good schools and solid management of the county.

But what about Jonathan Kozol? His primary focus was on the lack of RESOURCES that are seen in urban school districts as compared to suburban districts such as in Fayette.

For Clayton County, the county immediately to the north of Fayette their per pupil spending is $7,641. (73% Black, 7% White)
The State average for all of Georgia is $8,065 (38% Black, 48% White)
For Fayette County the per pupil spending rate is: $7,685 (20% Black, 68% White)

Clearly there is more to the differences between Fayette county and Clayton than the $44 gap in per pupil spending.

Just to throw in a few additional examples:
Dekalb County's per pupil spending is: $8,426 (76% Black, 10% White)
Fulton County's per pupil spending is: $9.58 (41% Black , 39% White)

(Source: http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/ga/district_profile/39

Keep in mind that all of these systems listed above are in the "Metro Atlanta" area. Where as one could make the case that the cost of living is vastly different between "New York City" and "Upstate NY" and thus the higher rates of NYC is eaten away by higher relative costs of living.....this is not the case with these metro Atlanta districts. Salaries, energy costs to operate the schools and food costs, for example - should all be relatively equal in the metro area.

Indeed Mr. Kozol frequents the school buildings of New York and Boston where in some cases the buildings are nearing the century mark. Thus his tales of rickety wooden windows that could cut your finger off if they fall on you and the bathrooms that have a hole in the floor where there used to be a toilet are indeed commonplace in at least some of these schools. For Kozol and other activists seeking more money and reduced accountability for the results that they have been amassing the shift in focus to the PHYSICAL PLANT of the schools that they are working on behalf of is not surprising. If someone is gunning after me to improve my product why wouldn't I make the case that I need "X" BEFORE I can deliver to them a better outcome. Upon hearing this stated as the reason for the mediocre results they are bound to get some portion of what they want just because the money granting authority doesn't want to be said to be blocking the academic results that they have asked for. And, of course, in many cases THERE INDEED DOES NEED TO BE MORE MONEY SPENT ON THE PHYSICAL PLANT OF THE SCHOOLS.

Here is the rub though - Kozol and others use the soft science of how "environmental
forces" with regards to the physical plant and paint job have a depressive influence on the creation of an "high achieving academic environment". What do they have to lose in making such a redirection?

From my personal experience as both a parent as I observe my own childrens' school and then as an occasional visitor to other schools what Kozol and the other educational activists seek to put off as LACK OF FUNDING is really an issue of the PREVAILING CULTURE that is ALLOWED in many of these schools.

As I had pointed out in a previous blog entry: "My experiences at an urban elementary school" the culture within the school and the assumptions from the staff that crafted it - made all of the difference in the world between the offensive display that I saw and the more appropriate display that I saw at my child's recent end of year school play (pictured above).

More than any issue of school funding or even the prevailing race that is contained within the school is the issue of the CULTURE upon which the school is governed. Two elementary schools that teach students from K-5. Two schools that put on an assembly in which the students were the central actors within. Yet one was consistent with what we would know as traditional "child content" and the other was executed in the name of "reaching the child where he stands and what appeals to him". As I think about both occasions were an attempt to "reach the child where he now stands". It is the school administrators who perverted that location in the name of cultural indoctrination masked as "fun the way the kids like to have it".

I assure you that if the parents of my child's school had seen the assembly that I saw that they would have immediately put a stop to it and sought to have some of the administrators fired because of it. Clearly both schools are a product of the governing concepts and culture that is present within.

To be sure some people will call my focus on "culture" as being the same "soft science" as I have called the focus on the physical plant as being. The key point that negates such a challenge is the fact that the culture that is present in these same schools also dictates the content that is presented to these students, the way in which disciplinary issues are addressed by the staff and the peer pressure that is present with regard to pressuring "academic attainment" or "social status in conflict with academics". Indeed it is with culture upon which "Cultures of Success" are crafted.

To answer the Kozol Challenge - NO! My wife and I did not move to Fayette County Georgia to have our children sit next to White children. On an expanded note - the schools is "browning" with each passing year. What has remained consistent is the ACADEMIC CULTURE that is present within the school. This is what we "bought in to".

Think about the power of my conclusion. Where as Kozol and other Black Progressives make Black Academic Attainment a function of their proximity to WHITE KIDS....I distill the essential essence of what they are clamoring for and make note that it is the CULTURE that is more likely found within majority White schools not the WHITE PEOPLE themselves. Thus my viewpoint details the possibility that YES an all Black school that is properly administrated and which has the commensurate involvement of the parents can be a world class school regarding their academic performance.

The alternative to believing this? The inferiorization of Black people with our hopes toward academic success being pinned on our placement next to White kids and our lament over any ruling which outlaws racially based classroom allocations that pervert the notion of EQUALITY of each individual so.

Today's "segregated classroom" is not of the segregation of the past. My wife and I qualify for the diversity that we consume because we qualify as residents of the particular district. In the past, regardless of where an African-American lived - the "White school" was off limits. It is clear to me and all others using reason that the only way to proceed is to make note that the average Black student will more than likely be in a school that is upwards of 60%+ Black. We need to focus on enforcing all of the small points that aggregate into the culture that is predominate within the school. This effort, though tough and despite the fact that it will fall on the backs of the parents to express its final product - is the ONLY reasonable way to proceed forward. It places the burden upon the PEOPLE who stand to benefit the most from positive change to be the primary people in the conversion process so that their own children will have the benefit. It will also insure that the change is more permanently fused into the soul and character of each individual in the community.

Black America Needs A "Checkpoint" Along The Way In Our Journey To Insure We Are On The Right Course

We have heard the old saying "Absolute Power Is Absolutely Corrupt". Where as this is most commonly applied to some White European nation, the fact is that this is true among the largest corporation with at will workers and the smallest informal group of people who form a knitting club.

With all humans group dynamics come into play and is used by those who are very adept at it to gain influence over others. Sometimes their antics are for the best of the group. Other times they are self serving and will ultimately lead to the destruction of the group. In most cases this imbalance simply allows the group to operate in a sub-optimal holding pattern.

The concept of management science as a discipline is new compared to most of the other science programs that you might find at a university graduate school. The lessons learned in the reconstruction of Japan after WWII formed a significant portion of this body of science. Instead of just accounting which plots the position of the company - management science uses the information that is obtained from the accountants, store room clerks that do inventory and the cash register and provides these as inputs for the managers to make strategic decisions based on empirical data.

The other part of this entire scheme is the pre-existing plan that the group or organization is shooting for. How do you know where you are if you don't know where you are going? Clearly this is a concept of relativity. The goal of management is to see if the entity is indeed "between the two sets of lines" upon the road that is their plan of action. Since this concept is abstract, unlike that of driving a car on an actual road, the entire suite of management tools as detailed above are necessary.

Now as we consider a loose band such as a race of people in a country of course there is no absolute command and control apparatus in place to absolutely direct someone's actions lest their be consequences of termination or monetary penalty. This is an "at will" association at least. At the same time, in the past the conditions of the greater country forced the issue because if you forgot that you were a part of this group that unchecked great society reminded you with the quickness. If even for pure self-interests there were motivations to work on behalf of the group to destroy these strictures.

I argue that there must be a registration of the conditions of JUSTICE per the outer society that we live within as a means of reassessing that "blank check" that is offered up to the power when time and conditions call for it. As much as some operatives resist any war time yield upon our personal freedoms - they are necessary in regards to the "circle the wagons" response that draw the group together - regardless of their will to be in such close proximity.

As with any POWER - they want unchecked abilities and they want no time limit applied to their super-constitutional powers. Only with the presence of democratic infrastructure which ultimately represents the will of the people can this magnetic pull toward the circle of thoughts be ratcheted down to be placed in alignment with the prevailing conditions. In other words the Homeland Security threat level is now "guarded" rather than high or severe.



With respect to Black folks there are several instruments available - the National Urban League "State of Black America" annual report is one of them. It has several "key economic indicators" that they measure each year. One flaw in this, however, is that they place White folks as a perfect "1.0" on their index and then measure our standing to this reference. This is flawed for we define ourselves upon their RESULTS but this does not speak to the question of if we are willing to do all that they have done to achieve these results. For example if their wealth is a 1.0/0.80 to ours but they use capitalistic practices that are not acceptable to most Black folks - shouldn't we conclude that our current standing in reference to them is sufficient because we are not willing to lose our economic mores for such wealth aggregation? Secondly, from what I have read, the day that this report hits the streets and some Black inferior position is noted several representatives of this august group run to CONGRESS to ask them "so what are you going to do about this problem?". Even though they might indeed have each regional branch to hold a forum to discuss the findings......the average Black man is never asked "SO WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT THIS PROBLEM" let alone communicating to him a plan of action for him to follow that is prescriptive in its ability to be corrective in nature. The GOVERNMENT is the central player in our salvation for too many people. Why aren't WE the government? Why must it be based out of DC?

All of the other components of this democratic infrastructure of checks and balances can reference this signal. Their rulings in the courts will be different, their "vigilance" in their personal conduct will be different as well. Clearly this threat level warning is crafted based on a long list of threat assessments that are analyzed by those know how those who threaten us work.

What of the operatives though? Indeed those in power will seek to take the smallest offender and make his offensive action to be seen as a threat to the whole. The "intelligence infrastructure" should evaluate the act and see if he is just "one lone operator" did an act on his own - relevant to THIS STORY: the proverbial "Toothless old White man in the mountain" who hates Black people and thus has a noose outside of his house - but no Blacks around to tighten the noose around. Or is he a part of a precipitating threat - if not dealt with they will soon establish a foothold for the injury of us all? Who among Black people is doing this TODAY?

The popular debate tactic is to attack the person who dares do this as having said "There Is No Racism Present In America Today". This is nothing more than Group Shunning 101. It is a tired and worthless action. Clearly the more logical evaluation is "Can a RACIST PERSON commit his offense and do it with IMPUNITY?" as they did back in the day when the rating was "Severe"? It is intellectual dishonest to put the measure on the presence of RACIST SENTIMENTS held by the individual who has equal standing under the law - just as you do. Instead the focus must be on the GOVERNMENT! Does this GOVERNMENT enforce its own law upon becoming aware that some has violated these laws? We will no more have a point of zero racism than we will have zero rapes and homicides in this nation. In fact I would fear the machinations that are used to attempt to zero out homicides, rapes and racist thought because they will prove to be more oppressive and preemptive and thus damaging than the act itself. Where are civil libertarians when you need them most?

Having established my argument on "environment" lets go back to the main line of the post. As the environmental conditions change and those who have power grow in their head count as they promise that their increased power will limit this external threat from having its way......when does the INFRASTRUCTURE within this group provide a CHECKPOINT to insure that the brute force that is yielded to these powers are justified as they call for "unity" lest we perish via our common trait? (Or as it was said in the past "either we 'hang together' or we 'hang together on the same tree having failed to stay together'".

How is it that a group that is so averse to be drawn into "nationalism" as the pretext of looking past the nation's flaws accept internal operatives who attempt to do the very same thing with regards to RACE? Their power is greater than ever - as our problems continue to be as well. Why does this group claim fragility as its reasons for being intolerant of criticism or inspection? One element of totalitarianism is that QUESTIONS are not taken too kindly. If there was ever a time at "speaking truth to power" look no further than that bloc that wields power over the group of African-Americans.

So lets get specific. What does a leader of a democratic group which reports to its "shareholders" fear in the way of reporting their results and receiving praise or correction there in? The spirit of "This ain't about ME" must be enforced. If there is criticism about superstar CEOs having their way in corporate America - they ain't seen anything with respect to the machinations within the political operatives within Black America. Most critical questioning is snuffed out by the response "So what have YOU DONE by comparison?". This otherwise important question in effect SILENCES the "Quarterly Reporting" of the progress that should be forthcoming from those who claim to be in the vaulted leadership.

There is clearly a need to have a means by which the NUL "State of Black America Report" is applied to the operating assumptions of Black America and not just to the US Congress which is only a part of the American Political system. There exists a Black system of interplay that is separate and distinct from the American political system - regardless of how much we attempt to fuse these two concepts together. This system dictates the popular sentiments which are then expressed in the representation that we seek in the American political system. As a long time analyst and critic of this internal system I both see the need and DEMAND that more openness and accountability be had within this system.

I don't have the power to make the popular mass do anything they are not popularly willing to do. This is why - instead of attempting to impose my more tried and true but not POPULAR suggestions upon this group........I attempt to get them to be more clear about THEIR GOALS and the ultimate reason for ALL OF THEIR POLITICAL ACTION. If they can't PROVE PROGRESS on the ultimate "nugget" that they are attempting to work on behalf of.....what exactly are they working on behalf of BUT for the benefit of both an ideology that they can't prove has IMPROVED THEIR SCHOOLS, MADE THEIR STREETS SAFER OR LIFTED THEIR GENERAL ECONOMIC CONDITION. Without such a check - only the entity that they use to express their POPULAR sentiments - the Democratic Party - benefits.

Thus the question is - What good is it to your community to have an array of favorable Democrats in office.....when you have missed all of your goals for putting them there?

Again I ask - As a Black person would you rather be assaulted by a racist White man because the government failed to protect you OR would you rather be assaulted because you are Black, living in a community where your Blackness increased the probability of your residency there but the lack of GOVERNANCE and civility in this same community had you to be assaulted? (But at least it was not for RACIST reasons.)

You may not like to hear this - but this is what we face as a people if we don't put MANAGEMENT TOWARD OUR OUTCOMES WITH PERIODIC CHECKS AND CORRECTIONS ahead of pursuit of what we POPULARLY desire while in our aggrieved state but never seeking evidence that it is indeed PROGRESSING us.

PBS To Remake "The Electric Company" Show!!!

PBS News: New version of 1970s kids' `Electric Company' to air

This is the best news that I have heard all year regarding the improved chances that our children will enjoy wholesome and enriching entertainment to counter the foolishness that is out there already.

No commercials pushing the latest toys.
No songs made to a Snoop Dogg beat from an offensive song.

This is great news

I wonder if they will get Morgan Freeman and Rita Moreno to do a return appearance?

LOS ANGELES — In an updated blast from the past, PBS will air a new version of the 1970s children's series "The Electric Company."

Production on the 21st century model of the PBS show for 6- to 9-year-olds was set to begin Tuesday on the streets of New York City and in a New Jersey studio, according to producer Sesame Workshop.

The series, aimed at reducing the literacy gap between low- and middle-income families, will promote the idea that "reading is cool" with help from online and community-based activities, Sesame Workshop said in an announcement Monday.

"The literacy crisis today is as pervasive and alarming as it was in 1971 when we created the first version of `The Electric Company,'" said Scott Cameron, director of education and research for Sesame Workshop (which is the nonprofit educational organization behind "Sesame Street").

Weekly episodes of "The Electric Company" are scheduled to air nationally in January 2009 on PBS Kids.

Segregation

Can I ask a question?
When does the results seen in "Segregation" point to the presence of strategies that produce certain unsavory results?

I can't help but notice that people with a certain agenda seek to conflate the segregation of today with the compulsory segregation of the past. They know that this is a lie.

In a democratic society where there is private property rights respected - people are going to live where in the place of their choosing. It is unavoidable that a certain group of people who are seeking to protect their own cultural and moral priorities are going to tend to live next to other people who fortify this view. Will there be some who do so off of their racist beliefs? Indeed. I fail to see, however, how a choice to vacate an area due to racial sentiments is the same as those who block other people from living where they choose due to race? At what point do you become the suppressor of free will and become totalitarian in nature?

I have a firm belief from my personal observations as a Black man that a growing portion of that which we are aggrieved about stems from our inability as a race to confront the void in our culture and our willingness to manage it among ourselves that is the root of the problems that are perpetuated within our own communities.

Segregation also means "ownership" and "all by yourself" - allowing your theories to be on display. To those who have attempted to shift the evidence of their equality upon the government to express rather than to the PEOPLE themselves to confirm this via their acumen in ordering themselves in line with their stated common goals and thus actually produce them.

For me there is a particular pain knowing that my people - the African-American people who are descendants from people who were free on this Earth for tens of thousands of years as they prospered instead make reference to their descendancy from SLAVES who were made that way for four hundred years. How might a person who indexes himself to slavery ever return to his previous form in which he was given instruction by God to manage the land and all of the wild animals that are upon it? The two are mutually exclusive, unable to occupy the same space at the same time. One thought must die so the other can live. Kunta Kente cannot be "Toby Kente-Moore" as he seeks to retain references to his past while paying homage to his new circumstances. One must die so that the other can be reborn.

Sadly much of the rhetoric that I have heard from the "Progressive Information Station" in my years of listening do not bear out. As you listen - FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE are their ultimate goal. If you go along with them then Fredrick Douglass' words to "let us alone" would be assumed to be their ultimate goal. They wear their hair naturally as a symbol of their connection to their unmolested ancestors who were free. As you inspect their product more carefully you see that they have no intention whatsoever to be "free" as their ancestors were. "Freedom" of choice also means the obligation to live in the bed as you have made it. This basic transference to this government that is said to be "for the people" is out of alignment because they don't apply the other portion which is "of the people" - an implicit reference to the obligations that come with it.

When is there enough evidence on the ground that forces a measure of INTROSPECTION? Such an inward view would be a time out from the "chase" that is thematic of their popular movement. As they take a break from their expansionary chase they would be confronted with the need to set up better management structures within the plateau upon which they now stand, that they currently control. No longer does their long term oppressor have proximate control over this turf.

The challenge is to force into consciousness that THEY NOW have enough control over this plot of land to put their inherent skills to work as a means of producing a better outcome for the people that they CLAIM to be working on behalf of.

"Killed Because You Are Black" Vs "Killed In A Community In Chaos Where You Are More Likely To Live Because You Are Black"

Is There A Difference Between Being "Killed Because You Are Black" Or "Killed In A Community In Chaos Where You Are More Likely To Live Because You Are Black"

I had a blog debate recently with a gay White male who is forthcoming about his sexual preferences. In that particular debate I asked him if he would rather be "Assaulted by someone because he is gay" or if he would prefer to be assaulted "in a city that is out of control and thus was a man, in the wrong place at the wrong time and his sexual preference was not the driving force behind his attack"? Equal opportunity indeed.

This is the conflict that the Black community faces as an increasing number of our communities are represented by "people we favor". Gone are the days where the "hate crime" motivated by race is the PREDOMINANT threat to Black people. (I assure you that some people seeking to malign what I just said will claim that I said that "Racism is gone". I did not just say that. It is my position that the "racist act that is met with IMPUNITY by the unwillingness of the government to enforce its own laws is no more). Today as we do the numbers - a Black person is far more likely to be killed by one of his own than by anyone one else.

Today the popular strategy that has been followed (for good reason up until recently) has rendered the community impotent in fundamentally addressing this problem from within. Most of our political activism has been centered around what I call "racism chasing". Indeed the greater proportional threat to us as a people and a community received the greater amount of our collective focus.

Fast forward to today. Things are considerably different. In the areas where Black folks have the highest concentrations there is also a "popularly elected" government in place of our own choosing after they promised to "represent our best interests" if they are voted for. As I make this evaluation it is important to note my critical mandate - I promote the full equality of a Black man to a White man. Thus a killing at the hand of a Black man is no different than being killed by a White man. You end up JUST AS DEAD in either case. If you logically think about this - instead of me "bringing the White man's murderous" act down to the level of "no big deal" instead I am PROMOTING the murderous act of a Black man against us up to a common level that would trigger a mass community response that would be the case if a White person was to take one of our lives! This imbalance, in my estimation, is the key reason why we have the carnage on our streets today but so much inaction from the community which also translates into relative inaction from the municipal governments who are charged with dealing with this situation.

THE TIME IS NOW TO CORRECT THIS SITUATION BY PROMOTING THE EQUALITY OF THE BLACK MAN'S OFFENSE WITH THAT OF THE WHITE MAN!

I must also be honest. So much of the "Civil Rights Industrial Complex's" strategy is based on the fact that INDEED, the White man's actions against Black people is more damaging that that of a lowly Black man who does the same thing. The argument used by many is that so-called "Hate Crimes" do more than just assault or murder the Black people who are direct victims. The Black community is placed in a state of "TERROR", knowing that they too might be next if they don't "stay in their places". Unfortunately as we remove the label "Interracial Hate Crime" and put in "Stop Snitching" the mechanisms and results are virtually indistinguishable. A few weeks ago two Black Denver area young people were gunned down in a "stop snitching" enforcement action. (Article: Stop Snitching Enforcement Action)

The truth of the matter is that the "Civil Rights Industrial Complex" is not going to "change" to adapt to the critical needs of the Black community today. The BLACK COMMUNITY MUST CHANGE within ourselves and then a new set of organizations and leaders will emerge from this expressed need.

Thus back to the original question of this blog post. Where as the first portion of the question is related to "hate crimes" where you are killed because you are Black - clearly the second portion of the question focuses upon the CHAOS AND DISORDER that is present within our community that results in bloodshed. For me the answer is "NEITHER".

The way we achieve this "neither" state is to have DYNAMIC MANAGEMENT that is responsive to the threat at hand. Sadly there is the litmus test that is heard so frequently against those who dare to change the script "He said that there is NO MORE RACISM in existence today". This is a STRAIGHT UP LIE that is told 95% of the time that it is stated by someone wishing to malign the person in question. Often the statement was that "racist assaults" that are unchecked are not the case any longer. Please note that the onus is not on the WHITE OFFENDER - it is on the GOVERNMENT and its enforcement of the laws. How else can we have a RATIONAL discussion unless we focus on the GOVERNMENT response instead of the feelings of hatred felt by some white folks? These individual White folks are not the purveys of justice nor the state of Black/White relations any more than the individual Black person who chooses to assault a White person. It is the GOVERNMENT via its enforcement of their own laws that must be the primary measure of the state of JUSTICE in America for Black people! Without this clarity people who are so inclined with continue to run amok with their lunatic rantings. They serve to nullify the Black community's response to our own problems more than they serve any particular benefit. They are the proverbial old man sitting in a chair with his shot gun pointed out of the window, seeking intruders onto his property from the enemy clan, while the INTERNAL TERMITES EAT HIS WOODEN SHACK TO BITS! While he is "on guard" that which he claims to be protecting is falling to pieces and losing relative value everyday. This old man is not guided by any practical sense of rationality. He is guided by his HATRED for the opposing forces. If there was one who can be said to "hate his enemies more than he loves himself" - this is that man.

WEB Dubois, Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X had all talked about the THREAT FROM WITHIN being more potent than the threat from without.

There is inherently a distinct difference between fighting an external threat and dealing with an internal one. One must assume that there is a partial "love" for one of your own to being with and thus there is no particular attempt to destroy him en masse. The external threat - however - mob rule dictates that we should "kill all of them indiscriminately and let God sort them out!!". Just think about the complexities of our relative demands from the government. With the White assailant we demand that they lock'em up and throw away the key. It is said that "there is no statute of limitations on the Civil Rights cold case murders". When it comes to Black on Black crime and violence, however - that "one more Black man" put in jail will be included in the statistics that are oft repeated regarding the number of Black men in jail versus in prison. Indeed those of us who have assaulted us also get covered in the veil of protection. When the numbers are out of kilter the tendency is to point to SYSTEM that has so many brothers locked up....rather than the INDIVIDUAL ACTIONS that they have done to put them there. Clearly when it comes to White assailants - there is more of a tendency to consider each late night visit from the Klan which is still burned into the memory of the Black victim as the primary reason that they should be in jail - and we need to add some more for good measure - as they were probably the unidentified accomplice who never took off his hood.

Clearly with the "internal" resources there is a greater tendency to extend to them the graces that come with "membership". Even if they DON'T GIVE A DAMN if you are Black, White or other - and would cut your throat without consideration - the group has a never ending reservoir of grace for this wayward cancer cell. There is an inclination to express their redemptive spirit even if it translates into more infected tissue that had been previously unmolested and cancer free.

Some of you will call my stance - hateful against those who are "without", those who SOCIETY has discarded. Let me challenge you then - How do you propose to deal with them so they do not commit assaults against our own community?

I have an answer! You see there is a COST that is associated with every move that we make. Just because a "cost" is not recognized on the dashboard of those in society who control the collective consciousness the COST is present none the less. Now these same people might MISLABEL this "cost" using the wild card of "SOCIETAL RACISM!" but there is a vast cavern between having a label being POPULARLY ACCEPTED as the cause and EFFECTIVELY implementing a cure. Too many of us are willing to accept the blanket coverage of RACISM as it does as a lecturer who I recently listened to argued about "Intelligent Design" versus Evolution. When the "creationists" get stuck and can't span a gap in their reasoning they point to GOD as the magical bridge that allows them to tie everything together. While indeed there is RACISM omnipresent - there are many results that are had today which are not based on inter-racial racism but instead on the void in leadership and direction WITHIN.

As far as I am concerned - we are in a new, yet popularly unrecognized phase in our transformation as a people. The balance of our work resides in the INTERNAL management of our human resources so that our common goals can be met. Thought it is popular to point to the few high stakes exceptions which may prove to some that the "same ole same" is upon us (Sean Bell, Philly Cop brutality) the fact is that as we apply all assaults upon Black folks on a list and then sort them all together - police brutality is but a small portion of those entries. Even if you accept the notion that the Police represent a more HIGH STAKES assailant because of their official sanction the QUANTITY of entries who have no official sanction should serve to snuff out that argument for anyone seeking a serious solution to the problem.

In summary, as we revert back to the original question - the second portion of the sentence resides in the INTERNAL CHAOS and lack of law and order that is in place within our communities today. The solution resides in our actions while this being is in the cradle through to his departure from the nest when he is 17-20 years old. Like any CPA we must adjust our model to recognize the COSTS which have formerly stayed off of the books, capturing them so better MANAGEMENT DECISIONS can be made with our people's best interests in mind.

We can no longer be tied to what is "popularly assumed" to be our best interests as a people. Instead we must commit that that which is PROVABLY DEMONSTRATED to be in our best interests. Indeed this might me popular acceptance of some components which are against our current sensibilities that are contained during our time of discontentment. The challenge is, however - are you shooting for satisfaction with your current mindset OR are you shooting for the attainment of your common goals, some of which will require a change in mindset in order to achieve them?

"What is the mission for your political advocacy?" This is the central question that must be answered.

The "Organic Black Conservative" - I Like That

Continued from the Atlantic Monthly article on Cosby

“There are things that we did not see coming,” Cosby told me over lunch in Manhattan last year. “Like, you could see the Klan, but because these things were not on a horse, because there was no white sheet, and the people doing the deed were not white, we saw things in the light of family and forgiveness … We didn’t pay attention to the dropout rate. We didn’t pay attention to the fathers, to the self-esteem of our boys.”

Given the state of black America, it is hard to quarrel with that analysis. Blacks are 13 percent of the population, yet black men account for 49 percent of America’s murder victims and 41 percent of the prison population. The teen birth rate for blacks is 63 per 1,000, more than double the rate for whites. In 2005, black families had the lowest median income of any ethnic group measured by the Census, making only 61 percent of the median income of white families.

Most troubling is a recent study released by the Pew Charitable Trusts, which concluded that the rate at which blacks born into the middle class in the 1960s backslid into poverty or near-poverty (45 percent) was three times that of whites—suggesting that the advances of even some of the most successful cohorts of black America remain tenuous at best. Another Pew survey, released last November, found that blacks were “less upbeat about the state of black progress now than at any time since 1983.”

The rise of the organic black conservative tradition is also a response to America’s retreat from its second attempt at Reconstruction. Blacks have watched as the courts have weakened affirmative action, arguably the country’s greatest symbol of state-sponsored inclusion. They’ve seen a fraudulent war on drugs that, judging by the casualties, looks like a war on black people. They’ve seen themselves bandied about as playthings in the presidential campaigns of Ronald Reagan (with his 1980 invocation of states’ rights” in Mississippi), George Bush (Willie Horton), Bill Clinton (Sister Souljah), and George W. Bush (McCain’s fabled black love-child). They’ve seen the utter failures of school busing and housing desegregation, as well as the horrors of Katrina. The result is a broad distrust of government as the primary tool for black progress.

You lost me on this one bro:

What both visions share is a sense that black culture in its present form is bastardized and pathological. What they also share is a foundation in myth. Black people are not the descendants of kings. We are—and I say this with big pride—the progeny of slaves. If there’s any majesty in our struggle, it lies not in fairy tales but in those humble origins and the great distance we’ve traveled since. Ditto for the dreams of a separate but noble past. Cosby’s, and much of black America’s, conservative analysis flattens history and smooths over the wrinkles that have characterized black America since its inception.

Superior to the fact that THOSE OF US who have a family tree that spans back through American Slavery is the fact that we are PROGENY OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN ON THIS EARTH FOR TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS AND HAD MANAGED TO PROPAGATE AND MAINTAIN A PRODUCTIVE ENVIRONMENT AND ECONOMY. I have a serious problem with promoting our "enslavement" beyond the proportion of time that this was the case.

Part of what drives Cosby’s activism, and reinforces his message, is the rage that lives in all African Americans, a collective feeling of disgrace that borders on self-hatred. As the comedian Chris Rock put it in one of his infamous routines, “Everything white people don’t like about black people, black people really don’t like about black people … It’s like a civil war going on with black people, and it’s two sides—there’s black people and there’s niggas, and niggas have got to go … Boy, I wish they’d let me join the Ku Klux Klan. Shit, I’d do a drive-by from here to Brooklyn.” (Rock stopped performing the routine when he noticed that his white fans were laughing a little too hard.) Liberalism, with its pat logic and focus on structural inequities, offers no balm for this sort of raw pain. Like the people he preaches to, Cosby has grown tired of hanging his head.

Bill Cosby - "This Is How We Lost To The White Man"

Article from The Atlantic Monthly

This is an article from a Cosby critic who has come around to his message.

“My problem,” Cosby told the audience, “is I’m tired of losing to white people. When I say I don’t care about white people, I mean let them say what they want to say. What can they say to me that’s worse than what their grandfather said?”

Cosby had come to Detroit aiming to grab the city’s black men by their collars and shake them out of the torpor that has left so many of them—like so many of their peers across the country—undereducated, over-incarcerated, and underrepresented in the ranks of active fathers. No women were in the audience. No reporters were allowed, for fear that their presence might frighten off fathers behind on their child-support payments. But I was there, trading on race, gender, and a promise not to interview any of the allegedly skittish participants.

“Men, if you want to win, we can win,” Cosby said. “We are not a pitiful race of people. We are a bright race, who can move with the best. But we are in a new time, where people are behaving in abnormal ways and calling it normal … When they used to come into our neighborhoods, we put the kids in the basement, grabbed a rifle, and said, ‘By any means necessary.’

Black America does not entirely share the euphoria, though. The civil-rights generation is exiting the American stage—not in a haze of nostalgia but in a cloud of gloom, troubled by the persistence of racism, the apparent weaknesses of the generation following in its wake, and the seeming indifference of much of the country to black America’s fate. In that climate, Cosby’s gospel of discipline, moral reform, and self-reliance offers a way out—a promise that one need not cure America of its original sin in order to succeed. Racism may not be extinguished, but it can be beaten.

The split between Cosby and critics such as Dyson mirrors not only America’s broader conservative/liberal split but black America’s own historic intellectual divide. Cosby’s most obvious antecedent is Booker T. Washington. At the turn of the 20th century, Washington married a defense of the white South with a call for black self-reliance and became the most prominent black leader of his day. He argued that southern whites should be given time to adjust to emancipation; in the meantime, blacks should advance themselves not by voting and running for office but by working, and ultimately owning, the land.

W. E. B. Du Bois, the integrationist model for the Dysons of our day, saw Washington as an apologist for white racism and thought that his willingness to sacrifice the black vote was heretical. History ultimately rendered half of Washington’s argument moot. His famous Atlanta Compromise—in which he endorsed segregation as a temporary means of making peace with southerners—was answered by lynchings, land theft, and general racial terrorism. But Washington’s appeal to black self-sufficiency endured.

After Washington’s death, in 1915, the black conservative tradition he had fathered found a permanent and natural home in the emerging ideology of Black Nationalism. Marcus Garvey, its patron saint, turned the Atlanta Compromise on its head, implicitly endorsing segregation not as an olive branch to whites but as a statement of black supremacy. Black Nationalists scorned the Du Boisian integrationists as stooges or traitors, content to beg for help from people who hated them.

Garvey argued that blacks had rendered themselves unworthy of the white man’s respect. “The greatest stumbling block in the way of progress in the race has invariably come from within the race itself,” wrote Garvey. “The monkey wrench of destruction as thrown into the cog of Negro Progress, is not thrown so much by the outsider as by the very fellow who is in our fold, and who should be the first to grease the wheel of progress rather than seeking to impede.” Decades later, Malcolm X echoed that sentiment, faulting blacks for failing to take charge of their destinies. “The white man is too intelligent to let someone else come and gain control of the economy of his community,” Malcolm said. “But you will let anybody come in and take control of the economy of your community, control the housing, control the education, control the jobs, control the businesses, under the pretext that you want to integrate. No, you’re out of your mind.”

Black conservatives like Malcolm X and Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, have at times allied themselves with black liberals. But in general, they have upheld a core of beliefs laid out by Garvey almost a century ago: a skepticism of (white) government as a mediating force in the “Negro problem,” a strong belief in the singular will of black people, and a fixation on a supposedly glorious black past.