Sunday, November 11, 2018
The Projected Anger of Self-Disappointment
Dick Raphaël - Is Donald Trump right when he said that President Barack Obama has done nothing during his presidency for African-Americans?
Muhammad Rasheed - No. President Obama did a lot for Black Americans, and had plans to do even more. Unfortunately his most ambitious plans required a Democratic Party President of the United States to come after him to build upon them, and since it looks like Trump is trying to break the USA so nobody will ever be able to use it again, I guess that’s that. It was fun while it lasted. smh
The actual problem is that the American people in general were so used to assuming that there wouldn’t be an African-American POTUS anytime soon, that when it DID happen, the extremely pessimistic Black community were ill-prepared. Despite the intense imploring of the new president-elect to “Tell me what to do!” during his 2008 victory speech, only a few scattered specialized activists and independent mavericks even tried to place mini-political agendas on Obama’s desk. The eight year silence from the Black community as a whole was deafening. Conspicuously, the Black Congressional Caucus members hastily slapped something together only in response to Trump’s “What do you have to lose?” insult to the Black constituency and that was it.
So now nearly two years into Trump’s presidency, we find many Black people upset at Obama because they think he didn’t do enough for them. I strongly suggest they seriously analyze those eight years, see what worked for those special interest groups who did have their stuff together and promptly responded to Obama’s directive with a rock-solid political agenda checklist to get what they demanded. There is a process to all of this; Obama wasn’t just going to pull up to everyone’s houses in a Brink’s™ truck, give everyone dap and a $50,000 cheque just because. Life doesn’t work that way, and you still have to put in the work to get what you say you want.
Especially when you find yourself as the disenfranchised group everyone else likes to exploit.
Obama did a lot for the Black American inside of the narrow area he had to work in, but he could have done MUCH more if the Black community themselves had engaged in the political arena and actively partnered with him in it. When you know better, you do better. It’s not too late. Now that we know what’s needed we can start TODAY! to work together across class and ideological lines, put together our formal Black Political Agenda, effectively strategize as to how we will enfranchise ourselves and elect Black representatives committed to fighting for our special interest causes. Then the next time we find ourselves with a Black POTUS, we’ll tell her or him what to do so we can finally close out The Struggle and become truly free.
John Connolly - Why don't we as Americans of every non black race just give a part of our paycheck every week because of your oppression.You see how ridiculous you sound all most people hear is I am black blackity black black ,it's time to address your community problems on an individual level and take responsibility as a man.Obama was a failure and Trump is the rubber band snapping back,deal with it as a man not as a color.
Muhammad Rasheed - John wrote: “Why don't we as Americans of every non black race just give a part of our paycheck every week because of your oppression.”
You 100% should. It would not only help in fixing the anti-Black systemic racism evil your group has allowed to continue on into the modern day, but it will have the benefit of purifying your soul.
Do it.
Ed Guenther - "When You’re Accustomed to Privilege, Equality Feels Like Oppression"
@John... Nothing else needs to be said here. Of course, you didn’t give any real argument, but rants and typical right wing propaganda points.
Zev Rosenblum - Black Political Agenda? Isn't that just perpetuating political racism? I'd think a political system that was all inclusive would be the ideal.
Muhammad Rasheed - No, it wouldn’t be ideal. All it would do is enable strong and cohesive special interest groups who DO have a political agenda to hoard wealth & power from those who don’t, widening the wealth gap between the Black American ethnic group and everyone else.
Zev Rosenblum - Wait, how? By definition wouldnt an all inclusive agenda be a political counter to special interest groups?
What would keep the most powerful of the legacy families from ‘crony capitalism-ing’ their way into special interest status anyway, no matter what the all inclusive agenda was supposed to say? *sighhhh*
Muhammad Rasheed - The mere “definition” of an abstract term never reflects the real life jockeying for advantageous wealth & power positioning of actual politicking.
Roosevelt Pitt - This a fabrication. Now its black folks fault that Obama didn't do anything for black people as a group. Dr. Claude Anderson approached the Obama with a black agenda and he turned him away.
Muhammad Rasheed - Many of these items were built into the list of accomplishments Obama did put in place in some form or another. Even though they weren't as powerful as what Dr. Anderson hoped for, they still represent the basic structure that subsequent accountable Black representation can build upon.
Economic Policy Expert Claud Anderson Writes Open Letter to President Obama (2011)
Muhammad Rasheed - Roosevelt wrote: "Now its black folks fault that Obama didn't do anything for black people as a group."
In his 2008 victory speech, the new President Elect point blank told you to "tell me what to do!"
You failed to do so.
So he was forced to work the plan he did work that y'all are currently bitching wasn't good enough, while your political rivals brought him focused political agendas to "tell him what to do."
Instead of complaining you should instead analyze the process, take the lessons learned from what you failed to do to prepare for a Black POTUS' election, and get yourself together while you work on electing new Black representation to hold them accountable when you tell them what to do.
Arizechukwu Okeke - If he can't do anything for us because of the political process, then why bother voting in the first place?
Muhammad Rasheed - Arizechukwu wrote: "If he can't do anything for us because of the political process..."
That's a strawman effigy. He DID do stuff for us. He worked his own agenda battling against his partisan rivals. If there were specific items you wanted him to fight for, too, then why didn't you come together as a Black special interest group and formally put that political agenda in front of him in the process like the other Democratic Party special interest groups did for their communities?
What were you waiting for?
If you aren't going to work the political process ALL THE WAY, then why did you vote? Just to practice?
Arizechukwu Okeke - I'm not a politician. The purpose of voting for politicians is to do the things we cannot do ourselves. If we gotta do everything ourselves, what's the point voting? 🤨
Black people made our issues known for a long time. By now BLM is well known. Our agenda isn't hard to find at this point. We just want more protection against the killer cops. But Obama was busy signing bills FOR the cops (BTW Andrew Gillum is also pro police).
Why are we always expected to do more? We've been voting, donating and organizing for the Democrats since before JFK. When do we get something back?
Muhammad Rasheed - BLM represents one specific aspect of the Black Political Agenda, and it was one of the very few that formally put a plan in front of the POTUS and got their demands met.
Where was everyone else?
Why do these generations of post-civil rights era voters think the rules and processes of the voting process somehow don't apply to them and they think they can do the very bare minimum (voting, donating and organizing for the party but not for themselves) and get everything they want? #WhereTheyDoThatAt
Arizechuwu wrote: "When do we get something back?"
When you follow through pass the bare minimum and do the rest of the work. Like in the BLM example you brought up. Recognize that it's absolutely an on going process that requires continuous work and maintenance because your rivals will NEVER stop jockeying for position and scheming to get an advantage over you. Politics is a long and intense game of high stakes chess. Who told you otherwise? Where did this new, entitled "I don't have to do shit but toss my ballot into a red-white-blue box" expectation of politics come from?
Arizechukwu Okeke - Where are their demands met? The police are still killing us and Obama's bill has helped them do so.
Big question: Why should we have to BEG not to be murdered? And why vote for any politician we have to pull teeth for in the first place?
Voting is simple. Either fulfill my needs or get your vote elsewhere. Period.
You can be a Democratic shill if you want but the facts remain that there is nothing tangible they have done for us.
Arizechukwu Okeke - And you still refuse to address the Blue Alert Law.
Muhammad Rasheed - 1.) The BLM reps sat with the Obama administration and they were actively in the plan to reform our broken criminal justice system. It was an active back-n-forth because their rival group was trying to put stuff in place--and reinforce stuff that was already in place-- while BLM were fighting for theirs. Obama signed bills that had BLM items in them and stuff their rivals had in them, too (Blue Alert) as part of the USG leadership compromise dance, and it was understood that it was going to be a big fight but at least they had a POTUS willing to help be in that fight with them.That's the stuff the incoming president's AG was trying to break.
2.) You HAVE to fight for your political gains because you are in active rivalry with people who are trying to get their political gains met at your expense. Politics is high-stakes strategizing that never ends, and when it fails, you go to WAR. Physical bloodshed WAR. When your political rival has a YUGE/BIGLY headstart and is the dominant power, it makes your side of the fight that much harder, but you cannot be lackadaisacal in it! You're not "begging," you're DEMANDING and you don't stop going full stream ahead until you get what you want and even after THAT, you remain vigilant from your rival's counter-attack.
3.) Voting is simple. And it is just a piece of the over-all political strategy needed for enfranchisement of a people, ESPECIALLY when they have literally been out of the game for 150 yrs.
4.) I'm not a "Democratic shill." If the Black community's detailed plan for full enfranchisement determines that it WOULD be better to have our own "Black Party" then I'm all for it. Right now, we have equity built up in the Democratic Party, and we are the only special interest group in it that ISN'T hardline pushing a formal political agenda from behind a strong empowerment strategy of any kind. Of all the special interest groups under the Democratic Party banner, we're the ONLY one that isn't fighting for ourselves while waiting for our inner-party rivals to do OUR work FOR us and looking crazy.
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