Common Knowledge

The C Word

They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.
--Andy Warhol--

Change your thoughts and you change your world.
--Norman Vincent Peale--

It's not that some people have willpower and some don't. It's that some people are ready to change and others are not.
--James Gordon--

Barack Obama became the first African-American politician to actually have a chance to win his party’s nomination for the President of the United States by winning, in convincing fashion, the Iowa Caucus a few days ago. All the political experts on television stated that he is the embodiment of hope. They stated that he has created the hope and change movement, so he is a force to be reckoned with in 2008. I agree. I have bought the promise, but I must in good conscience state here and now that for the sake of the country, for the sake of our community, and for the sake of hope – Barack if you are elected please deliver!!!

Barack Obama is not the candidate of change in politics in the future. He has already changed much of the landscape of politics in this presidential cycle. He has already exposed the game for what it is. It is what is. I have ranted on this blog for months about how good people are muted by the political moves of well trained, well funded, deeply rooted political machines that exists for the sole purpose of getting politicians of their choice elected. Politics is about everything but issues. Politics is about delivering things for everyone but the people. It is not and has not been for a very long time about delivering good governance for the people. I know that sounds overly negative and cynical, but it is true. I still believe that can change once we start to look at issues instead of images.

I have constantly preached about how we as a community should vote solely based on issues instead of on just how much we personally like the candidate. I still stand by my position. Yes. Barack Obama has never been elected to an executive office. Yes. Barack Obama has only been a Senator for about three years. Yes. Upon inspection Barack Obama’s record in state office does not necessary reveal him to be a maverick that has changed the landscape of politics in a city that desperately needs it. But, Barack is a very smart person that understands that what he promises he must deliver. He also has the experience of cracking the machine ceiling to break through into the United States Senate so he knows how to deal with dirtier politics-- keep your hands clean. And he is not bad on the issues either.

Barack also knows that the best candidate and the best public official do not always win. He has experienced that already. He has broken open for our community to see plain as day how politicians routinely give their endorsements away solely based on political convenience instead of philosophical integrity. That is why many of the members of the Black Congressional Caucus endorsed Hillary Clinton before the Iowa Caucus. That is why scores of African-American state politicians in South Carolina jumped on the Hillary Clinton band wagon months ago when she looked like a lock for the nomination. That is why several African-American politicians in Chicago gathered under the cloak of anonymity at the Ballroom on Martin Luther King Drive in Bronzeville on the Southside of Chicago several months ago to pledge their support for Hillary Clinton. It was not about any issues. It was not about any differences in policy between Obama and Clinton. It was about picking up their thirty pieces of silver.

Well, now that the race is wide open and Obama has demonstrated that he can win, the calculations have changed. Will all those African-American politicians jump ship and beg Obama for forgiveness or will change come on the local level as well as nationally? I guess only time will tell. I hope Obama continues to captivate the hearts, hopes, and dreams of the country and march right into the White House. And I hope that he starts to deliver real change from the moment he finishes his giving his oath of office until the moment that he hands over the keys to the new occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. And I hope that change does not stop there and that it flows from Washington, D.C. into our hearts and minds so that we can change our way of choosing politicians.

We have the Power

“Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.”
--Demosthenes--

“Power never takes a back step - only in the face of more power.”
--Malcolm X--

A lot has happened since the last time I posted an article on my blog. Before I go any further in this article I must state that my heart and prayers go out to the family of Sean Taylor. Since my last article, there was a march in Washington, D.C., Cook Commissioner William Beavers played the race card, and several high profile head coaching positions have opened up in college football without any being filled, so far, by an African-American coach. What do those three occurrences have in common? They demonstrate some of the things they we do or do not do that keep “us” from realizing our full power as a community.

We act as if we are powerless when we have all the tools we need to be a powerful voice in this country. If you listen to African-American radio talk shows or read letters posted in African-American newspapers you would think that we are powerless. That is not true. We have plenty of power. We just do not always use it correctly, creatively, or in keeping with contemporary realities. Our problem is that although we have the tools we lack the mentality. There are too many of us that are followers. When I write followers I do not mean workers or supporters. What I mean by followers is that there are too many people in our community that get angry only when we are told to be angry by a celebrity preacher, talk show host, or journalist. What I mean by followers is that there are too many of us that only see what is in front of us and do not see the big picture of systemic oppression so many times they actually help support our oppression. The best way to truly clarify what I mean by followers is for me to discuss our community’s reactions to the three examples that are mentioned in the first paragraph.

We Are Too In Love With The Memory of The Civil Rights Movement

On November 16, 2007, around five thousand (5,000) people, predominantly from the African-American community, met in Washington, D.C. in order to stage a rally/protest that was designed to put pressure on the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division (“DOJ”) due to the lack of civil rights prosecutions by the DOJ, particularly regarding hate crimes. Some people that commented on the rally said that the rally may have marked the rebirth of the “civil rights movement.” That is one of our problems. We are way too in love with the memory of the civil rights movement. I agreed with the premise of the rally. I agree with the premise of building on the foundation that the generations before “us” have provided. I do not always agree with how we as a community go about affecting that progress. We need to diversify our tactics. We need to use all of the tools that we have today. Every issue in our community will not be solved by a rally or a protest or in front of a camera. If the purpose of the rally was to call attention to the fact that civil rights/hate crime prosecutions are way down then the rally was a huge success. But if the purpose of the rally was to affect change in the DOJ, then I am not so sure it made any difference. In this case, maybe the better course of action would have been to use the members of the Black Congressional Caucus (the “Caucus”) to force the DOJ to go on the record and explain the drastic decrease in civil rights/hate crime prosecutions. We could also use the Caucus to put pressure on the DOJ through the appropriations process. And this should be an issue that any presidential candidate, regardless whether he/she is a democrat, republican, or an independent, must answer before expecting any support from our community.

Playing the Race Card in Politics Does Not Help Our Community

Our community has been wed to the Democratic Party since at least JFK. Maybe it is time for a divorce. Our votes have helped the Democratic Party maintain total political superiority in county government for the past two decades and in city government for the past five decades. Yet, what have we really to show for it? Not much (well we did make some progress under Mayor Washington, but that is the subject for another article). Now the Mayor of Chicago and the President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners are both proposing large tax increases. Many people, including me, suspect that the tax increases have more to do with paying for political patronage than it does with inflation. And which community do you think the tax increase will hurt the most? That is right. It will hurt our community. Yet, when some democrats expressed opposition to the tax increase, Commissioner Beavers, a product and staunch supporter of the political machine in Chicago that was never fair to our community, used the race card. He stated that had the Board President been white there would not have been any problems passing the tax increase. Maybe he is right. Maybe he is full of it. It does not matter. The use of the race card is a red herring. In this situation race is not the issue. The real issue is why the tax increase is necessary and what can be done to keep taxes down.

We Are Too Dependent on Celebrity Preachers to Tell Us What to Think and Do

We sent five thousand people to Washington, D.C. to protest the inequities in the justice system, yet we have said or done nothing to address the discrimination in major college football programs across the country, which has resulted in only about five African-American head coaches out of one hundred nineteen (119) major college football programs. In addition there are only twenty-six (26) African-American offensive and defensive coordinators out of two hundred-forty (240) across the country. According to articles published on this situation, and there are plenty, African-Americans make up about fifty percent (50%) of college football players and only about 3% of head coaches. Our community has continued to ignore this reality. This situation is not really about football. It is about how we have refused to use our power to affect change for the better. How can we expect other communities to respect “us” when we act as if we do not respect ourselves? Respect is never given. It is always earned.

There have been no rallies. There have been no protests. And there has been no reaction from our celebrity preachers or community activists. The truth is we do not even need a bunch of protests. We just need a change in attitude. We need to quit helping our oppressors. We need to quit feeding the machine of discrimination. With all due respect to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, we need to learn to act without always depending on them or some other celebrity to tell us to what to do and when to do it. We have the power. All we need to do in this is situation is to start sending our sons to football programs that support or at least respect our community. The African-American head coaches at the major universities have not experienced a glut of African-American high school stars that want to play for them. No, instead our boys are going to football programs that may not respect our community. That is our fault.

We have the power to change that reality right now just like we have the power to address many of the issues that exists in our community. We just need to be ready and willing to use the power we already have by being independent thinkers that use a variety of tools creatively to make a difference.

Maybe It Is Time For a New Direction

“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”

--Andy Warhol--

“Change your thoughts and you change your world.”

--Norman Vincent Peale--

“All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.”

--Martin Luther King Jr.--

Okay. I am sorry. I planned on writing about education, but after hearing about another meeting in our community that is supposed to address the “crisis” in our community, I feel compelled to write this article. Before I get into this article I want to be very clear. This article is not intended to criticize anyone in particular or to criticize the meeting that took place last Tuesday on the Southside of Chicago. The purpose of this article is to spark ideas that will hopefully translate into actions that solve issues in our community.

Even after writing that long preamble I am certain that what I am about to write will still offend people. If that happens then I am sorry because that is not my intent. However, I must to write this statement: maybe it is time that we as a community let go of the civil rights movement mentality as we knew it in the sixties and begin to change our focus and tactics. There I said it. I am certain that the old establishment in our community (provided anyone of them reads this article) will have a problem with my statement. I still stand by what I wrote. I will explain the basis of the statement.

The best way for me to explain my statement is to be blunt. I am tired of hearing about meetings to address the “black community in crisis.” I am tired of hearing about meetings to gear up for a voting drive to help a political party in order to help the “black community in crisis.” I am tired of hearing about meetings, protests, and alleged movements that are supposed to address the needs of our community, but nothing changes for the better. Please stop it!

We have had meetings after meetings after meetings and we are still in the same shape as a community. We still have not tapped the well of opportunity to build economic power in this country. We still are not a focused and issues driven political power in this country. Although we exert a huge influence in popular culture in this country, we have yet to focus our power as a community. And I think the reason why we have not made more progress is that we are using old and distorted tactics in a new era. This must stop. If this does not stop then just like the boy that cried wolf at some point the younger generation will stop listening to anything that we say as a community and will eventually be completely defined and lead by others outside our community

The simple truth is that we are living in a different era than forty plus years ago. Our needs as a community remains the same, but the issues we face as a community have changed. The government is not solution to all or even most of our issues in our community. And if we really want to completely root out discrimination then we must be ready to grab the reigns of power in this country and earn a seat at the table of power as equals.

The bottom line is the victories of the civil rights movement opened the door, now it is time that we as a community walked through the door and took our place at the table of power. The government will not give us a seat. Legislation will not provide us with a seat. We must get it ourselves. I am sure many of you who are reading this article may be thinking “that is easier said than done.” And you would be right, but that does change our reality.

The first step we must take is to stop having celebrity meetings. If we are to be organized then we must do so in an intelligent, systematic, and logical fashion. We must start small then expand. We must start with defining the problem then recognizing the issue or issues that have created the problem. After we focus on the key issue or issues then a plan of action is developed. Once the plan of action is developed a large meeting can take place where our forces can be marshalled to address the issues. No TV cameras, radio shows, or even newspaper articles are necessary to carry this out. We only need to be organized.

The next step is to work on a long range plan in order to build political, economic, and cultural power. The first step that we as individuals and as a community must take in order to start building power in all of the three areas is to start defining ourselves. What do I mean by that? I mean that we can no longer let people that are trying to sell something to us define what it means to be African-American. We can no longer let ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CNN, or MSNBC to tell us who are leaders are. Our leaders must be chosen by the wisdom of their plans and the success of their actions instead of how often they are seen on TV or quoted in the papers.

We must become more disciplined in how we choose our elected officials. Political power for an individual is built by keeping a finger on the pulse of the people’s passions so it can be exploited to get elected. Political power for our community will be built by our community being disciplined enough to vote for public officials or hold them accountable based on issues of importance to our community. In order for our community to maintain an environment of accountability then our community must first be ready to define for itself the issues that can be and must be addressed by the government. This happens when there are open, honest, and intelligent debates that are free of old notions and partisan sound bites. It also happens when the people in our community are clear about their individual and collective self interests.

In addition to understanding our individual and collective self interests we need to build and maintain strong viable networks to build economic and cultural power.

I have nothing against meetings. I have nothing against trying to do something to make a difference. A lot of good things have come from the community getting together to address problems in our community, but maybe it is time that we as a community start to look at different tactics so that we can get better results.

Run It Back

Last week a few articles were written about how African-Americans make about 72 cents on a dollar as compared to White folks with around the same level of education and skills. I started to write an article about it and how we as a community must start to work harder to reverse that fact. But I realized that I have already written an article that addresses at least one strategy that does not involve waiting for help from our government for our community to achieve economic parity. My Momma used to repeatedly harp on important lessons in order to get me to learn them. She would always say that she was willing to keep telling me until either I finally learned my lesson or she became blue in the face. My Momma never once had a blue face, but I did learn some lessons the hard way so I guess it is my turn. Some ideas are worth repeating. I am going to republish an article from eight months ago. In a way I guess you can say I going to "run it back." Here it is:

“First it is necessary to stand on your own two feet. But the minute a man finds himself in that position, the next thing he should do is reach out his arms.”

---Kristin Hunter---

Last week I stated that I would share my ideas about what can be done to promote African-American economic empowerment. Well, the first thing I must say is that I am not so conceited to believe that in my few years on this earth I can come up with a solution to a situation that has been going on for over four hundred years. My idea is not meant to be a panacea to our collective economic situation. I am certain that there are many different ways of attacking our economic situation as a community. I am also certain that several different remedies will need to be applied before we will be able to raise our economic status. However, I do think that we must develop, maintain and then integrate our networks.

When I talk about building a network I do not mean “networking” in the manner that it has traditionally been used. I don’t mean parties that are passed off as “networking” opportunities. I don’t mean “get togethers” where everyone is putting on airs and trying to impress the finest woman or man in the room or trying to establish an edge over all the brothers or sisters in the room. Nor am I talking about sporadic functions that are nothing more than social pick up opportunities. I am talking about establishing African-American sub-communities around certain trades or professions. An example of a type of a sub-community is the Cook County Bar Association. This is the Bar Association for the African-American community that practice in Cook County. I have had the pleasure of meeting different African-American lawyers that practice in Chicago through my involvement in the Cook County Bar Association. I have also been able to do the same in Washington D.C. with the Washington Bar Association.

A network is a sub-community of people that share interests that stem from a profession, a trade or an ethnic or racial community. It is normally established by a group of people with interests in common getting to know one another and establishing social and commercial ties. How would that make a difference in building economic power in our community? Well, it will help in several ways. One it will help in circulating job opportunities in our community. According to statistics, only about twenty percent of the jobs that are available at any given time are advertised. That means that eighty percent of the jobs that are available are never advertised and that many of the people who are filling these jobs are probably getting their opportunities through someone that they know, i.e. a network. Another opportunity that networks present are business opportunities. The more people that you know the more potential business opportunities that may be available to you. Everyone is not necessarily interested in started or maintaining their own business, but the people from our community who are interested would be better served the better all of our networks are maintained. When I was in undergrad, I had the opportunity to join Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. When I was on line we were told that our line was only as strong as our weakest link. Well, the same is true for our community. We will never truly be able to progress forward economically as a community until we are able to establish, maintain and grow our networks.

We already have the makings of many large and prosperous networks today. We just need use what we already have available to us. If you went to college that is a potential network. If you served in the military that is a potential network. If you went to high school that is a potential network. If you joined a fraternity or sorority that is a potential network. If you are a plumber or an electrician or a carpenter or a doctor or a lawyer or a small businessperson or an accountant, these are all potential networks. We just need to one understand our opportunities and two stop believing in the propaganda of rugged individualism. No one gets to the top completely by themselves. There is an old Native American saying that “many hands make light work.” We have a lot of work to do in order to promote African-American empowerment.

Think About It

“Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.”
--Oliver Wendell Holmes--

“The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion.”
--G. K. Chesterton--

“Judgement, not passion should prevail.”
--Epicharmus--

Oprah Winfrey aired a show about a week ago that was titled "Truth in America." One of the questions she asked during the show was "how can we get back to critical thinking?" That question was posed to America, but I would like to pose that question to Black America. Now I must be honest that the reason I am asking that question is that it is my opinion that we, like the rest of America, do not engage in enough critical thinking as individuals and as a community. Why do I have that opinion about our community? I feel this way because there is not enough diversity of thought and debate in our community about issues of importance.

How many times have we heard the same old discussions about affirmative action, civil rights, black empowerment, education, political parties, etc? How many times have we heard from the same old talking heads? How many times have issues of importance to our community been framed by the old, over used, distorted view that comes with the left versus right or liberal versus conservative format? That is our problem. There is not enough opportunity for newer fresher voices out there to be heard so they can raise different views, opinions, and solutions to old and new issues in our community. We, like the rest of America, are too used to approaching discussions about issues by using the same ratings chasing format that approximates a game of debate where a person that represents the “left” is pitted against a person that represents the “right.” Each person is more concerned with scoring political points than they are with presenting fresh views or solutions to issues.

In my opinion there are a number of reasons why there is not enough critical thinking in this country. One reason is that our educational system from elementary school through college is designed to train people to work for someone instead of how to think, but that is the topic of another article. Another reason is that we as a country have perfected the art of the emotional tug. What is that? The art I am referring to is the marketing strategy of appealing to target audiences’ emotions by using hot button imagery like appealing to parental instincts to protect our children or appealing to patriotism or getting people to identify with a carefully crafted image. For many years marketing firms have done this to sell products and services that we either don’t need or that we don’t need as much of. Now, or at least within the last forty years or so, the political machinery has caught up with the marketing juggernaut to use many of the same techniques to sell us politicians. The same basic tactic is used. The politicians that can get to their constituents’ hot buttons the quickest and can best remain in a position to push them usually wins.

Notice, I mentioned hot buttons not important issues or essential issues. What is the difference? The difference is that hot button issues are issues that have an emotional tug to them, but sometimes may not play an essential role in most folks day to day lives, while important issues play a significant role in most folks day to day lives, but some of those issues may be mundane, boring, and tedious to discuss and monitor. Therefore, it is easier and emotionally more satisfying to indulge ourselves in getting swept up into the emotional chase of hot button issues. How does that play out in our community?

It plays out in two ways. First, it allows politicians to appear to be doing a great job by appearing to be an advocate for the community, while needed issues go neglected for lack of competent, intelligent, diligent leadership. It also serves as a bar to discussion of other important issues because once emotions are involved in a public debate in our community it is easy to pull the blackness card.

Everyone knows what I am talking about when I say pulling the blackness card. If you do not agree with the established talking heads within our community, then you are not black. If you want to mention a different view than the media's chosen, pseudo leaders in our community, then you are dismissed as a race traitor or as someone that is suffering from a self hatred complex. The problem is that the vast majority of our leaders are political animals that seem to be more concerned with scoring political points for their party than presenting and discussing new, fresh ideas for solutions to issues in our community. This emotionally charged atmosphere stifles debate because it fosters a view that there is only one right answer to a problem and that if you do not agreed with the answer that is endorsed by the talking heads then you are the enemy.

Alas the only enemy is this atmosphere. It is the enemy of discussion. It is the enemy of respect for one another regardless of your perspective. It is the enemy of the free exchange of ideas where each idea can be judged on its own merit instead of its author’s reputation. It is the enemy of progress.

The current leadership in our community would have you believe that everything about our community is in a state of crisis. They would also have you believe that they are the only ones with solutions and that the vast majority of those solutions are on the other end of a voting ballot. I disagree. Today we as black folks have all the tools we need to become more successful as individuals and therefore as a community as a direct result of the victories of our forefathers before and since the abolition of slavery. We just need to be more creative and diverse in our strategies for success. There is an old Native America proverb that says “many hands make light work.” Well, that applies to our community. What is needed for us to continue to progress in this country is more hands on the deck of the ship of opportunity. We need all of our voices to be heard. We need all of our ideas to be discussed and considered. We need all of our minds to be engaged. This can only happen by turning down our emotional triggers, turning up our rational ears, shedding our deference to celebrity leadership, and putting on our cap of critical independent thinking. Once we as individuals and as a community do that we may find that the march to parity of opportunity in this country is “lighter work” than we thought.

Virtue is a Product of Habit

“Our character...is an omen of our destiny, and the more integrity we have and keep, the simpler and nobler that destiny is likely to be.”

--George Santayana--

“Curious things, habits. People themselves never knew they had them.”

--Agatha Christie--

A few days ago something happened to me that I am certain happens to a lot of people. On two separate occasions two different black folks approached me to join them in fraud. They wanted me to allow them to purchase groceries for me on their link card and I would give them cash at a discounted rate. I declined their offer. However, I don’t think either person would have called what they attempted fraud. They would have just called it the “hook up.”

What do I mean by the “hook up?” I mean illegal behavior. The “hook up” can mean a few different things. The two most popular meanings are: (1) getting a great deal on stuff usually because it was stolen, or (2) getting the inside track to receive an opportunity like getting a job, a promotion, or a loan. I don’t think there is anything wrong with someone receiving an opportunity through their network as long as that opportunity did not come as a result of illegal or unethical conduct. I do have a problem with aiding and abetting illegal behavior. (I know that statement may seem a little hypocritical coming from a criminal defense attorney. www.BealsLawFirm.com. Representing someone accused of a crime is a lot different from helping someone who you know has or is committing a crime. Everyone deserves a defense.)

In my opinion there are too many of “us” black folks who are willing to at least tolerate the illegal “hook up” or in some cases take part in it. Don’t believe me? Think about it. How many people do you know that have purchased a boot-legged movie? How many people do you know that purchased a computer or TV or some other consumer item from a “friend” at a really good price? The bottom line is that the majority of “us” black folks are law abiding citizens, but we still tolerate bad behavior in our community. How can any of us complain about something that was stolen from us when we accept stolen merchandise?

We must continue to build and maintain good habits. And we must stop bad habits like encouraging the illegal “hook up.”

The Miseducation about Affirmative Action

“In the state of nature...all men are born equal, but they cannot continue in this equality. Society makes them lose it, and they recover it only by the protection of the law.”

--Charles de Montesquieu--

“Equality...is the result of human organization. We are not born equal.”

--Hannah Arendt--

Affirmative action. Depending on who you are talking to those words are either the epitome of fairness of unfairness. However, this article is not about the merits of affirmative action. The purpose of this article is to reintroduce to our community the real affirmative action.

I wrote an article in 2003 about my interpretation of what affirmative action is really designed to accomplish. It was published in the Citizen Newspaper in Chicago. After I wrote the article, I was invited to take part in a panel discussion about affirmative action at the Urban League headquarters in the Bronzeville neighborhood located on the South side of Chicago. I have to admit that I was shocked at what happened at the forum. Although there was a large collection of wisdom gathered in that forum, nearly everyone that spoke on that panel seemed to be under the misguided impression that affirmative action is a policy that exists to “repay” black folks for slavery. That was news to me!

After the forum, I thought to myself “how can we as African-Americans defend a program when we do not know the real purpose of that program?” Then it occurred to me that is why affirmative action is so easily attacked. It has an image problem.

The best way to understand what affirmative action is really about is to look at its origins. Affirmative action started as a prohibition of discrimination against African-Americans in employment opportunities by defense contractors. President Roosevelt issued an executive ordered requiring defense contractors to promise not to discriminate in response to a threat to organize a march on Washington, D.C. by A. Philip Randolph. After successive executive orders affirmative action evolved from a simple prohibition from overt discrimination to a requirement that contractors take affirmative steps to make certain that African-Americans received equal opportunity to a quota system that was encouraged by the Nixon Administration. Affirmative action was never intended to be “pay back” for slavery nor was it ever intended to be a tool for “unqualified” African-Americans to receive college admissions or jobs over “qualified” white males or others.

The advent of the 1980’s saw the rise of Reaganism and the mantra of “reverse racism,” as if racism has or had a natural direction. During this period of time affirmative action was unfairly and incorrectly mislabeled as a misguided program that ultimately lead to the admission or hiring of unqualified or less qualified black folks over white folks. This was and still is a gross distortion of what affirmative action is about.

Today’s affirmative action is all about merit! It is about the merit of the college or job applicant not their parents. What am I talking about? Let me please break it down. Everyone knows that people can inherit wealth because we see it every day. We also know that the wealth that is inherited usually is not earned by the person that inherits it. Therefore, that person’s economic status has nothing to do with how smart, creative or even hard working that person is. It primarily is a product of being born into a wealthy family or to someone that wishes to give them wealth. The same is true for many factors that our society uses to judge college applicants and even factors that lead to building and maintaining wealth. But no one seems to want to discuss this.

Merit is not what your mom or dad did, it is what you do. If you get a high score on a standardized test because you come from a home where you have been sent to good schools, live in a highly competitive and motivated environment, and you parents have money to hire a tutor for you so you can score high on the test, you did not earn those things. Your parents did so that is not your merit. It is theirs. If you have easy access or easier access to jobs or business opportunities because of your parents or the neighborhood that you were born into or because of family connections that is not something that you earned. Your parents or your family earned those perks.

College admission is one of the most heavily debated areas regarding affirmative action. College applicants are judged purely by standardized test scores and high school grades. Yet, no one seems to want to mention that standardized test scores do not do what they are supposed to do and that is predict college success. Therefore, they are useless as an admission tool unless the college’s goal is to admit the wealthy and fortunate born; but opponents of affirmative action still use it as a measuring stick to show that unqualified minorities are being admitted over qualified whites. It seems to me that our society can not possibly determine who is qualified until we first determine what is qualified. In my book it is not what your parents did.

The Evil Empires!

"Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river."

                                                               Nikita Khrushchev

"Great spirits have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds.  The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly."

                                                                Albert Einstein

         

         Should Black folks stop voting along party lines?  Wait!  Before any of you folks out there start looking for me or branding me a "sell out" or a republican please keep reading.  I am none of the aforementioned, but I feel compelled to ask the question.  Think about it.  African-Americans are the most loyal democrats.  Yet, a great many issues continue to go unresolved in our communities.

         We need to start voting for candidates based solely on issues not party affiliation.  We must rethink this two party voting scheme that the democrats and republicans have sold to the rest of the country.

         The two parties have brainwashed us into believing that we have only two choices instead of the the different and unique choices of individual candidates for every race for every office.  We need new blood in our community.  We need fresh ideas and a source of revitalized energy to tackle issues in our community.  We will not get that with the current system in place.  The two party system leads to slogans instead of solutions.  It leads to a brand name type of process of choosing public officials, which leads to electing political hacks.  And it typically leads to a good ole boys network that suffocates independent, free thinking, results dedicated candidates regardless of whether the candidate is a democrat, republican, or an independent.

         The political landscape in Chicago is an example of that very phenomenon.  Several barriers have been erected to prevent candidates that do not have the political organization or the connected political friends from getting on the ballot.  Chicago has a 25,000 signature requirement to get on the ballot to run for a citywide office.  This requirement is 2.5 times the signature requirement it takes to get on the ballot in Illinois to run for the President of the United States and 5 times the signature requirement to get on the ballot to run for Governor of the entire state of Illinois!  Who created that outrageous disparity?  The Illinois General Assembly.  The voice of the people.  Right?  What is the reason for the huge disparity?  Well, it appears to me to be designed to give incumbents and party cronies an advantage.

         Democrats and republicans are not only fighting over philosophical differences.  They are fighting for dominance of the political arena.  Both want to create and maintain as many "safe" districts, cities, counties, or states as possible where they have complete control of every office.  Both have done that in some places in this country.  The republicans have been successful in creating and maintaining "safe" districts in rural areas and the democrats have been successful in creating and maintaining "safe" districts in cities.  It is in these "safe" districts that our communities are harmed the greatest because many potentially good public officials are choked out of being able to have a decent shot at getting elected in favor of political hacks, cronies and politicians whose main loyalty is to the party boss that sponsored their campaign.  This process maintains the same old leadership which maintains the same old priorities which results in the same old stagnation in government.

         "Safe" districts like Chicago and so on are breeding grounds for political corruption because of the huge power that incumbents and party insiders hold.  Anyone that wants to run for office has to kiss the ring of one or more members from the established party structure in order to have a realistic chance of being elected to an office regardless of how qualified, creative, or suited that person is for that office or if that person does not bow down and kiss the ring then they are faced with a Herculean task that could drain their life savings and even threaten their careers.  This leads to the election of political hacks.  We have a solution to this situation.  It is simple.  We should elect or retain only those public officials that articulate and are ready to provide solutions to our issues.  If they can do that they stay. If they can not, then it must be out with the old and in with the new.  But we can not, we must not continue to go for the same old okie doke by electing cronies and hacks from political machines.  As long as we continue to elect people whose primary loyalty is to the established dominant political party as opposed to the voters in their districts, we will continue to have corrupt politicians and administrations.  Yes.  The names will change.  The faces will change, but the actions will stay the same.

It is Time to Make a Life Style Change

"It's not that some people have willpower and some don't.  It's that some people are ready to change and others are not."

                                                              James Gordon, M.D.

     "They always say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."

                                                                 Andy Warhol 

         The Chicago Defender announced an initiative in the African-American Community to get Black folks to lose weight.  The objective of this initiative is to educate and motivate people in the African-American Community to lose a collective weight of one million pounds.  Roland S. Martin, the executive editor of the Chicago Defender, wrote a very informative and persuasive article for why African-Americans in the Chicagoland area should take part in this initiative.  I guess I will have to throw my two cents in on why this initiative should go beyond the objective to get our people to lose weight.  It should try to get our people to change our life styles so that not only will we lose weight, we will keep it off and lead healthier, more active lives.

         Our community has one of the highest rates of obesity in the country.  According to the American Obesity Association's ("AOA") website thirty nine point nine (39.9%) percent of African-Americans are considered obese. This figure is higher than Mexican-Americans (34.4%) and Americans of predominantly European descent (28.7%); although all three groups have experienced a significant increase in obesity rates over the past ten years.  These numbers include nearly thirty percent of African-American women between the ages of 12 and 19 that are obese, which is alarming.  I want to be clear.  I am not talking about just overweight.  According to the AOA a person is obese if their Body Mass Index ("BMI") is over 30.  You can go to their website at www.obesity.org to calculate your BMI.  A person is just overweight if their BMI is between 25 and 29.9.    I do not want to lead people to think that the BMI system is the only system to determine whether you are overweight.  People that have a high percentage of muscle mass may have higher BMIs that are not overweight, but that is not the norm.  According to AOA nearly seventy percent of African-Americans are overweight, which is different from obese. 

         There may be people out there that may ask what is the big deal about obesity.  As a matter of fact there are a few organizations that have attempted to play down the significance of obesity.  Well, according to the AOA, obesity increases a person's chances of suffering from type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, and high blood pressure.  Do those conditions sound familiar to our community?  How many of us have mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters, and cousins that suffer or have died from at least one of those diseases?  Diabetes and heart disease are in the top ten leading causes of death of African-Americans.  However, unlike many of the other leading causes of death for African-Americans, diabetes and heart disease may be preventable by leading a more active healthier life that will shrink our waistlines.

         The one million pound weight loss initiative should be the beginning of a change in attitude in our community that must lead to a change in life style in our community.  How many of us drive nearly every where we go?  How often do many of us walk to the store or the dry cleaners or the barber shop or the bank or the sports bar or the library?  How many of us park in the farthest parking space when we go to the mall or to run errands at places that are too far to walk?  How many?  If I had to bet for or against whether the majority of us walk to do our errands or to go to work or to do our daily activities, I would bet against it. 

         We must incorporate more physical activity into our daily lives.  As most people reach adulthood and gain more responsibilities we tend to get away from regular physical activities that we may have taken part in when we were younger.  It is this decline in physical activity that can be dangerous since it can and will lead to weight gain if we do not have any replacement activity.  That is why we need to include some physical activity in our daily routines so that we have a chance to burn off some of the calories that we take in every day.  Let's face it.  We live in American; the home of super sizes, fast food and convenient processed food.  There are way to many opportunities to take in a huge amount of calories everyday.  Is it really realistic to expect the majority of us to stick to a strict diet or workout regimen?  Judging by the numbers in our community and in this country, I would say no.  That is why we need to change our way of thinking and start to incorporate more physical activity in our lives along with better eating habits.  Each one of us needs to find whatever physical activity that works best in our daily routines.  If it is walking than we need to walk more.  If it is bicycling than we need to bicycle more.  If it is rollerblading than we need to roller blade more.  And if it is a strict workout routine than that is great too.  Like Nike we must just do it.

                Now I am sure anyone that have seen my picture of my website or anyone that knows me may think that I have a lot of nerve writing this article, but that is not true.  Yes.  I am slim.  Yes.  I have been lucky to have a high metabolism for most of my life.  However, even I have a higher BMI than I should.  And even I have gained weight over the years.  I only weighed one hundred and fifty nine pounds five years ago and now I am up to about one hundred and eighty-five pounds.  My BMI is 25, which is right on the edge of overweight so I will make a deal with every one that reads this article.  I promise to work to change my life style.  I will cut out fried foods, unhealthy fat, and processed foods.  I will also limit driving to work to no more than twice and week and I will take public transportation to work that requires me to walk at least a mile and one half round trip to the train station.  Will you join me in a change in life style?

We Must Ring The Bell of Freedom

A strong positive mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug.

Patricia Neal

Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.

William James

            I finally got the chance to see the Return of the King episode of Boondocks.  That is the Boondocks episode that portrayed a Dr. Martin Luther King character that used the “n” word and a swear word.  I must say that after watching the much publicized scene where Dr. King was supposed to have used such offensive language I was a little disappointed.  Actually, I was not disappointed as much as I thought to myself what was the big deal? Then I realized that maybe it was a big deal. Maybe instead of wasting our time protesting Aaron McGruder, we should think about reevaluating our situation as individuals and as a community.

            For the record the much talked about scene where Dr. King was supposed to have “cursed out” a crowd of young African-Americans was anything but that.  The King character did use one swear word and he used the “n” word quite a bit.  But the use of the “n” word by the King character was specific, focused, and explained.  I did not find this episode to be offensive or derogatory towards the King legacy.  I did, however, find this episode to be a little thought provoking. 

I took two main themes from the episode that I think are worth raising.  First, I think it is time we as African-American acknowledge that we must stop living in the past.  Second, I think we must ask ourselves are we making the best of all the opportunities that we have from the efforts and sacrifices that were made by the generations before us.

            I am not trying to disrespect anybody from the past, but there comes a time when one must stop looking back and start looking forward with a minds eye towards what it took to get be in the present.  There are too many of our leaders that are still trying to relive the experiences of the 1960s.  And the truth is that the 1960s have been over since January 1, 1970.  Too often when there is a problem in our community the first thing our leaders propose is a march or a public boycott, even during times when we are our own worst enemy. The political, cultural and economic landscape has changed greatly since the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.  Although we as a community essentially face the same issues that we were fighting for in the past, the appearance and process of addressing our issues have changed.  Therefore we must change our attitude in how we approach solutions to our issues. We must change how we articulate of our issues.  We must change our techniques in addressing our issues.  In nature either you evolve or you become extinct.  We must move beyond the mindset, language and techniques of the past to deal with the present in order to move into the future.

            Are we as African-Americans making the best use of all the opportunities that we have from the efforts and sacrifices that were made by the generations before us?  I have to say I am not sure.  Before anyone gets the wrong idea I am not one of those brothers that like to sit up and talk about how things were in the “good old days.”  I understand that there are more African-Americans graduating from college today than there were fifty years ago.  I also understand that on average we have a higher home ownership rate, average income, percentage above poverty and a larger number of African-American owned businesses.  But are we doing as much as we should be?  I hate to say it, but I think we are not.

            Because of the efforts, leadership and sacrifice of so many of our fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, great aunts, great uncles, and ancestors we have legal protection from voting, employment, housing, and lending discrimination.  Yet, what have we done with these protections?  How far have we taken these protections?  Yes, we have made progress, but have we made enough?  We have millionaire athletes from our community but only one billionaire sporting franchise owner.  There are quite a few wealthy movie stars from our community, but no movie studios.  We still allow others to define who we are.  We allow others to define our community’s worth.  We allow others to set the value of institutions that reflect our community’s history, culture, and ideas.  We can no longer allow that to happen.  We as individuals must want more for ourselves.  Once we want more as individuals, we will get more as a community.  Make no mistake about it our struggle has historically been and continues to be the American struggle for a seat at the table of power in our country.  This struggle never stops so we can not stop either.  We just need to rethink, retool, and rededicate our efforts individually and collectively.  Once we sit at the table of power in this country as an equal, freedom shall ring for our community for as long as we keep our seat.