Common Knowledge

Here We Go Again. Right?

"A goal without a plan is just a wish."

--Antoine de Saint-Exupery--

     On March 9, 2006, the National Unity Black Peoples Convention shall begin.  It will be held at the same high school that the first National Unity Black Peoples Convention was held in 1972.  Yet this convention will have a different focus.  In 1972 the focus of that convention was primarily how to get more African-Americans into elected offices.  This year the focus is "black economic empowerment."

     The week before last I had an opportunity to speak with Paul Brock, who is a member of the convention's executive board and who also handles public relations for the convention.  I must be honest that I was and still remain very skeptical of this convention because of the all the "big" name African-American "leaders" that are supposed to be in attendance at the convention.  As a former grass roots community organizer, I do not believe in organizing around celebrity nor do I believe in getting a bunch of folks together in order to have some alleged leader to them what to do, what to think, and how to feel.  We have had enough of that situation in our community.  However, after I spoke with Mr. Brock I had reasons for a little optimism.

     One of the reasons I felt a little optimism was his explanation of the purpose of the convention.  He told me that the main purpose of the convention is the creation and dissemination of an agenda to help create more economic opportunities for African-Americans in this country.  How could anyone disagree with that notion?  I expected him to tell me that the usual slate of African-American "leaders" were coming to the convention to tell us unenlightened folks how we can all become wealthy or famous like them, but that is not what he told me.  He told me that there is a committee of people with backgrounds in economics and it will be that committee that will come up with a slate of ideas that will be presented to the convention.  Mr. Brock further stated that through a democratic process the people at the convention will have an opportunity to accept, reject, or amend the committee's recommendations.  The recommendations that are approved by the convention will be taken back to our communities around the country and it will be up to those communities to follow, reject or amend the recommendations.

     I must admit that I was also pleasantly surprised by this plan of action, although I still have some reservations.  I then asked Mr. Brock questions based on my reservations and he gave me straight forward and honest answers, which I respected but did not belie my concerns.  My first concern is the public nature in which the agenda of economic empowerment will be formulated and then distributed.  Since there may be a perception that for every dollar that our community gains another community must lose, then there may be other communities that will oppose any plan that is designed to increase economic opportunities in our community.  Since the process will be played out in the public eye this may "tip" our hand.  I understand the need to involve as many people from our community as possible and therefore the need to make this process an open and public process; however it may come with some risk.

     I am also concerned that there are a number of "leaders" that will be in attendance in the convention that are used to receiving an inordinate amount of publicity.  I am concerned that these individuals may unintentionally turn the convention into their show as opposed to a meeting where the group can take advantage of the collective wisdom of the different committees.  I have seen first hand how a well meaning but uninformed local preacher turned a semi-productive meeting into a bootlegged open tent revival devoid of substance, focus, and meaning.  I would hate for the same thing to happen in Gary, Indiana during March 9-12, 2006.

       After talking with Mr. Brock, I realized that the National Unity Black Peoples Convention does offer an opportunity to begin to change the way we view our opportunities, our resources, and our economic future.  It can be the beginning of how we interact with one another or it could just be another gathering of a bunch of black folks where a few celebrity black "leaders" pontificate and nothing changes.  I guess the only way to find out is to wait and see.

      I know that some of you that do me the honor of reading my blog may not attend the National Unity Black Peoples Convention so I am interested in hearing what you think should be done in order to build more economic opportunities in our community.  You can either post your suggestion as a comment or you can email me at avgbrother@yahoo.com.  Next Sunday I will share my ideas about what can be done to promote African-American economic empowerment.

Accepting the Excuses of Our Oppressors

            “Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”

                                                   --Frederick Douglass--

                I am not sure which is worse, being treated unfairly or being treated like you are too stupid to notice.  It is one thing to be treated wrong, it is entirely another for the oppressors to try to sell you on how there is no oppression and it is even another for the oppressed to believe it.    That is what has been happening.  African-Americans are sometimes treated unfairly, the media says that discrimination does not exist or ignores it, and too many of us believe it.

                For the record I must say that I have nothing against Charlie Weis, Notre Dame’s current head football coach.  However that is more than I can say about the Notre Dame Football Program.  Last year Notre Dame fired an honorable coach.  That was nothing new for the university.  But what was new was how they went about doing it.  Tyrone Willingham has the dubious distinction of being the only head football coach in recent memory who Notre Dame did not honor its initial contract with.  Mr. Willingham also happens to have the distinction of being Notre Dame’s first and only African-American head football coach. 

                When Mr. Willingham was fired last year by Notre Dame, the university tried to hire Urban Meyer, but after Meyer turned them down they settled on Charlie Weis from the New England Patriots.  The media immediately embraced Weis.   He was quickly heralded as the savior of Notre Dame by the media.  Now a year later and what has Weis done.  He has delivered a very impressive ten victories versus three losses record in his first year.  But his record is about the same as Willingham’s, which was nine victories versus three losses.  As a matter of fact, Willingham had a better year by virtue of the fact that his team defeated several teams that were in the top twenty and he faced a much tougher schedule than Weis’s team.  Yet you will never hear that comparison by the media, with the exception of Jason Whitlock of ESPN.  As a matter of fact the media choose to ignore the blatant unequal treatment by Notre Dame when they rewarded Weis with a contract extension through 2015 before Weis had even completed his first year! 

                  The tragedy is not how Notre Dame treated Willingham or how the media covered this shameful situation.  The tragedy is how the African-American community reacted.  The media will never deal with the unequal treatment, so we as a community must be able to think for ourselves and stand up for ourselves.  We should have never let Notre Dame or Weis come calling for recruits in our community after how they treated Willingham because of the color of his skin.  I want to make this clear.  This article is not about Willingham.  It is about a blatant slap in the face of our community and how we responded. 

                    There are approximately three African-American head coaches in about one hundred major college programs.  That is ridiculous.  However that number can change for the better when we as African-Americans decide that it is time to demand more.  How?  Easy.  Teams that appear to be blatantly racist like Notre Dame should be treated as personae non gratae in African-American households.  If you don’t think that will be effective look at how the Chicago Public League brought the DePaul University Basketball Program to its knees when it effectively blackballed the university years ago.  We should give teams that have progressive football programs like UCLA, Washington and Mississippi State longer looks.  And teams that are not quite as progressive but are trying we should give some level of consideration.  We should also not forget our historically African-American Universities. 

Now I know people will construe this article to mean that I am suggesting that young brothers should jeopardize their professional football careers for some ethereal collective good.  I am not saying that.  Young brothers should take this action because it is in their best interest.  This is not about getting Willingham his job back.  It is about opening up opportunities for the future.  If Notre Dame can get away with what they did, then yesterday it was Willingham.  Tomorrow it will be you.

Why I created This Site

Your Reality Begins With the Lens From Which You View It

“In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.”

                                                            President Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it.”

                                                         Malcolm X

           What is this site about?  The definition of insanity is to keep trying the same old things but expect different results.  This site is dedicated to stopping the insanity in the African-American community in how we chose our leaders, use our resources and build power as a community in order to build upon the opportunities that we now have to finally abolish discrimination, racism and inequality.  I will discuss questions and proposed solutions for issues from politics, current affairs, and historical problems.  I am not presenting myself as the person with all the answers or even all the questions.  I am just the average brother with a lot on my mind.

            When I was growing up I got used to watching and then participating in discussions with my family about all types of issues from politics to history to society.  Once I started going to the barber shop I noticed that many of those family discusses appeared to have been replicated there.  I quickly became aware that it was not uncommon in most black folks experience to have those types of conversations at barber shops, cookouts, or over a game of spades in college or in a number of other different surroundings.  There is an old African proverb that “the ruin of a nation starts in the home of its people.”  Well if that is true than the reverse is also true that “the emergence of a nation starts in the homes of its people.”

            I am hoping to start conversations in a hundred homes than a thousand than a million and so forth.  I want to change how we as African Americans choose our leaders.  How we view what is important.  How we view politics.  How we view ourselves.   How we view how to build power as a community.

How can creating a blog to start a bunch of conversations in our community change anything?  Well the best way for me to explain my reasoning is for me to give a sports analogy.  You can not win a game when you are convinced of the other team’s superiority.  You have to believe that you can win long before you play the game in order to be a champion.  One of our primary problems as a community is the way we as individuals and therefore as a community think about ourselves, our opportunities, and our resources.  “Free your mind and the rest shall follow.”

I do not have all the answers or all the questions.  But I hope that as we have a conversation, we all can learn something and start to change our world for the better.

I will post an article at least once a week and I hope to hear from you folks out there.