I saw this ad in my local phone book (No photoshop doctoring here). I can hear someone saying right now: “Man, Massa would only give me $20 for my stereo…!”
No, I was not looking for a pawn shop. 
Not too long ago, I just happened upon the website www.slambush.net. In short, this is a contest on who can write the best anti-Bush rap. It has drawn such big names as Chuck D, Davey D, and others.
Now, I have no problem with people coming together to rally behind their favorite candidate. But when someone takes the act of voting and turn it into a “black versus white” issue, I have a problem with that. This whole website takes the whole upcoming election and waters it down to an issue of race (all white people vote for Bush–Notice I did not finish this sentence by saying “and all blacks vote for Kerry…I will get to that later). It also plays the class card as well. Below, I have took some excerpts from this website just to give you an idea:
For starters, the whole page begins with the following statement:
“Know your enemy.”
The divisiveness begins!
Bush’s backers are almost exclusively white. In 2000, 95% of Bush’s total votes came from white voters.
>This paints a picture that Bush only represents white people. Bush also carried a good percentage of the Latino vote as well as other races.
And Bush knows exactly who his supporters are. Maybe that’s why he’s the first president since Herbert Hoover to never once sit down and talk with the NAACP.
>Black people deserve a lot more than just a photo-op with a president. The NAACP wants to consider themselves the “gatekeeper for black America.” This organization has proven over and over again that it does not represent African-Americans. What keeps this organization in existence is their ability to scare people to believe that the days of Jim Crow are right around the corner.
Clinton spoke with the NAACP. How far did that get African-Americans?
How’s this for adding insult to injury? In 2003, Bush chose Martin Luther King Jr. Day to announce his opposition to University of Michigan’s affirmative action policy, a policy the conservative supreme court eventually upheld.
>Affirmative Action was a program that brought us as a nation closer to the fulfillment of MLK’s dream: That we would not be judge by the color of our skin, but the content of our character. Affirmative action forces the system to grant us opportunities based on the color of our skin and makes character secondary.
The Bush administration is here to serve the wealthy  period. Thanks to Bush’s tax cuts the richest top 1% of Americans save more than $30,000 a year while the poorest 31% save nothing at all.
>6% of 300,000 is a whole lot more than 6% of 30,000. Somebody please give them a calculator.
Anyway, it just goes on and on with the class-ism/racism crap. If you want to read even more of this propaganda, check out one of the newest 527’s: Breakbushoff.com.
If you either read, listen to, or watch black media these days, it is quite clear who these individuals/groups do not want in office. If you need a refresher on this fact, just go to bet.com and you will see subjective reporting in action. How is it then that black media, which prides itself in telling it like it is, and being the voice of African-Americans fall short of listing all of the reasons that African-Americans should vote for John Kerry? These individuals/groups have no problem of listing hundreds of reasons why Bush should not be re-elected, but in many cases fall short of just giving Kerry a clear endorsement.
I believe this “glitch” in our political consciousness stems from something that has plagued the African-American community for years: our fear of taking responsibility. Many of these individuals/groups know that by fully endorsing Kerry would mean that they would have to take some of the heat from those that adhere to their recommendations if Kerry was to forget the demands of African-Americans once he took office. By not presenting African-Americans with a full picture of who Kerry is, and why should he be president only show the fact that many in our own media are not convinced that he is a strong leader outside of his stances on affirmative action and civil rights. Also, by not fully endorsing Kerry places these individuals/groups a safe distance from Kerry where they are in a prime position to blow the racism whistle on him just in case he does not come through for Blacks–ensuring their reason for existence.
It is time that black media stop hiding behind the “objective” clause while at the same time trashing one whole side of the issues. Give us all the facts on the issues.
Tell it like it is!
I mentioned some time ago that in the last election, I voted for Al Gore. After the events of 9/11, I was very glad that he was not in office. In my opinion, Bush has proven himself to be a strong leader during these last 4 years. I consider myself a moderate-conservative because I am not completely sold on the Republican party. I would like to see this country return to the multi-party system. That way, We the People could have more choices. But until then, The Black Informant endorses Bush.
UPDATE: The blog Tutakai issued this following challenge:
So here’s the challenge: email a list of what Sen. Kerry has done to promote black progress, and we’ll put up the list next Monday. Don’t send us an anti-Bush list, as that doesn’t tell us why we should vote for Sen. Kerry and why he’s the better guy.
Send the list to his site, and he will post it!
“Clothing is wonderful, but let them go naked for a while, at least the kids,” Heinz Kerry said, raising some eyebrows. “Water is necessary, and then generators, and then food, and then clothes.” (full article)
Ah, our favorite African-American woman tells it like it is. The truth is, I know what she meant. She is just in dire need of communication skills.
I tell you what, Black people better keep her directness in mind when voting for Kerry. She may very well say something like “Y’all stop complaining and get off yo lazy tails and get a job!”
Also click here for another picture I created for our big sis.
“Clothing is wonderful, but let them go naked for a while, at least the kids,” Heinz Kerry said, raising some eyebrows. “Water is necessary, and then generators, and then food, and then clothes.” (full article)
Ah, our favorite African-American woman tells it like it is. The truth is, I know what she meant. She is just in dire need of communication skills.
I tell you what, Black people better keep her directness in mind when voting for Kerry. She may very well say something like “Y’all stop complaining and get off yo lazy tails and get a job!”
Also click here for another picture I created for our big sis.
I happened to catch “The O’Reilly Factor” last night and he was interviewing HUD secretary Alphonso Jackson. I do not recall ever hearing him speak before, but I must say, I was very impressed. I have heard many black conservative/moderates in various interviews that have on many occasions rode the party line more than addressing the issues directly. Secretary Jackson not only stayed on point, but he went further and addressed the true issue that plagues the African-American community: the victim mindset. He talked about how people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton continue to convince Black America that they need entitlements instead of delivering a message of self-reliance. He also was asked why many Black people still see Clinton as the first black president when the current administration has invested more into the Black community (more school funding, increased home ownership, etc). Jackson said that when people like Clinton speak to black people, they emotionalizes the message, and tells us what we need. This leaves the people feeling good for the moment.
He is exactly right!
Clinton has always relied on the support of black people because he knows that we are the only group that will not challenge him on any issues. He still plays this role to this day. He moves his office into Harlem and we adopt him as our own. Al Gore is also playing this same game.I will never forget the footage that I saw of him trying to preach like a black man (he must have watched a lot of T.D. Jakes videos). And of course the crowd went wild.
I tell you what, if Kerry wins this election, don’t expect him to move into the hood. Can you see Kerry trying to preach like a black man? If you want a good laugh to start your weekend, then imagine this picture with me: Kerry in a black church saying “When I think, of the goodness of Jeeeeeeeeeeesus, and Allllllllllllllllll that he has done for me, my soul, I said MY SOUL! Slap 3 people and say “MY, my, my, my, my SOUL” cries out hallelujah…I just thank God…for saving me!
At this point, he begins to shout and kick over a few chairs.
Booker Rising comments on Secretary Alphonso getting booed at the Black Baptist convention.
This was a phase that I remember hearing a lot of during the 80’s and 90’s. I can remember how my friends and I used to talk with great pride the importance of supporting one another in the field of business and entrepreneurship. As I became older, reality began to settle in for me.
When my Dad would see a business that was owned by a fellow African-American, he would (on most occasions) do his part to support that business by buying something from them - even if he did not need it. He was just glad to see US having our own. As time went on, I then remember my dad slowly becoming frustrated with most of the business dealings that he had with other African-Americans. I remember him complaining about things such as the quality of the work, people not showing up when they were supposed to (when he would call them to ask them why they were late, they would get mad at him), poor customer service, etc. The biggest complaint that I remember my Dad had was high cost. It got to the point in our household that anytime someone would offer some kind of service to our household, one of the first questions we would ask would be “are they black?” I cannot begin to tell you all the time, money, and most importantly, friends that have been lost all because of bad business experiences.
The sad thing about all of this was that our success rate of good business relations among other people groups has been (in most cases) much higher than that of African-Americans. Please understand, when my family would do business with fellow African-Americans, we always held them to the same standard that we would with any other business (show up when you say you will, don’t get an attitude when I question your service, charge a competitive market price). In other words, if a brotha was just starting out, we did not expect him to operate on the level of Donald Trump, nor did we expect a hook-up. In fact, if the brotha did a good job, we would give him a little extra.
When the time came, I moved from my old neighborhood to the ATL. For the seven years that I lived there, I pretty much saw the same thing that I described earlier what my dad experienced , except that it was on a much broader scale (being that I was in Atlanta — the nation’s black capital).
When I think about small businesses that have the full support of the community, I can’t help but not to think of the Asian community. The entrepreneurial spirit that this people group have goes a lot deeper than a 4-year college degree. Entrepreneurship is very synonymous with the Asian culture. In fact, it has been that way for thousands of years. Usually, by the time an Asian child is able to talk, they are already learning the family business. This is not the case most of the time for African-Americans. Unless we are fortunate enough to have an entrepreneur in our immediate family, the skills that are needed to succeed in starting a business usually rely solely on a,college education. This, I believe, contributes to why many small black-owned businesses do not experience the longevity that Asian or other race-owned businesses experience.
There are many black-owned businesses out there that are successful, and have been that way for years. But unfortunately, I see them as the exception instead of the norm. To this day, I still see the same bad characteristics in many black-owned businesses that I saw growing up (again, I stress that my expectation is no different then when I go to a white-owned business)
For me, now I am at the point where depending on the type of business, if the business is black-owned, I will steer far away from it. This is something I really hate to do, but business is business.
—What do YOU think about what I said about this topic? I know that this is a very touchy one for US, but I know that I am not the only one that has seen this. Please share your thoughts on this. I am really interested on what you have to say on this.
“Police brutality and excessive force is a national crisis that requires the immediate action of President Clinton and U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno,” Mfume said. (full article)
Date of article is not given
For some time now, groups like the NAACP have hardly lost the breath to remind America of the horrors of police brutality that they claim is commonplace in the Black community. I do agree with the NAACP that police brutality is something that needs to be addressed (because it does happen);however, this does bring up another question. How can it me that a vast majority of black “leadership” push for the idea of increased gun control? Since they claim they represent African-Americans, wouldn’t they want to see us protect ourselves from this “national crisis”?
Many of these “leaders” have taken the stance that by eliminating guns from the hands of the common man, the crime rate in our communities will go down. This line of reasoning is very skewed to say the least. Guns do not make people violent no more than a can of beer makes a man into an abusive alcoholic spouse.
This is yet another example of how these so-called “leaders” want to take control out of the hands of the people and place it into the hands of massa government. Although Police brutality is a real issue, many leaders turn this issue into a scare-tactic in order to get blacks to completely rely on the government while the ones that are doing the scaring reap the benefits of political favors.
On southern plantations, slaves that reinforced the slave master’s system of making slaves more docile were usually rewarded in some fashion. This gun control issues is yet another example of how that self-destructing arrangement is still going on today.
If groups like the NAACP were as docile a few decades ago as they are today, the only thing that Malcolm X could do to protect his family would be to look out the window.
UPDATE: Here is a question from one of my readers:
I’m Not following your reasoning. Are you saying black people need to pull out the arm themselves against the police? are we supposed to start shooting cops?
Of course not! What I am saying is that if you listen closely to those who (with a emotional sense of urgency I may add) continuously describe the whole police brutality against Blacks issue, you would think that there is an all out war in the streets between cops and Black people. If we were to move on these “leaders” sense of urgency, Black people should be armed to protect themselves against this so-called nationwide aggression from the police.
The truth is, although police brutality is a real issue in which blacks are targeted, it is nowhere near the degree in which these “leaders” want the world to think. A majority of Blacks today can move about in this country without worrying about the chance that a cop is tailing them. If it does happen, in most cases, the laws of this land can bring justice. The problem that I have with black “leaders” on this issue is that they will take one issue of police brutality and blow it up to a “nationwide threat”.
Most police officers are hard-working individuals that put their lives on the line everyday to ensure the saftey of my black butt. It is sad that they do not get the pay that they deserve.
Trust me, I’ve had my share of “sour” interactions with police and security guards. Either it was a case of mistaken identity or the guy just seemed to have some “issues”. In any event, it did not leave me with an emotional scar, nor did it prompt me to contact my congressman for intervention. I dealt with the issue and moved on with my life. If most black people are honest, they have had similar encounters–unlike the “racist evil cop” picture that most Black “leaders” want to present to the world. To compare my “interesting” encounters with the police to that of what our elders had to deal with would be ludicrous.
But as far as the issue of the right to bear arms, all Americans deserve that right.
As you read the article below, keep the theme of Shaft in your mind while looking at the picture above.
“Republicans want you to sit out this election and simply stay home,” one radio ad tells listeners. It continues, “Bush is a rich man in the White House who is sending black men and women to be slaughtered in Iraq while Cheney and Halliburton boys get rich on oil. Don’t keep getting played.”
And a television ad states, “Bush said prosperity was right around the corner, but he wasn’t talking about the corners in your neighborhood. What are you going to do about it?” (full article)
Hey, don’t laugh! They called Clinton “The first black president”!
Booker Rising also had a posting on this (Anti-Bush Ads Geared to Young Blacks)
Yes, Massa Kerry has delivered yet another inspiring “preserve the plantation” speech to his most loyal field hands: The Congressional Black Caucus (this is the same group that declined to meet with their most loyal constituents: Black pastors from all over the US [read my posting on this]. I guess they somehow found the time to meet with one man [Kerry], as opposed to about 160 Black Pastors that flew in from all over the country). Kerry brought a message of determination that he would fight for Black America.
Below is a copy of the New York Times’ account of Kerry’s at the recent CBC conference. I will interject my thoughts in between. To read the full article by itself, click here.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 - Senator John Kerry suggested on Saturday that Republicans might be trying to suppress black votes in key electoral battlegrounds, pledging to an audience of the capital’s black elite to make sure that “every vote is counted and every vote counts.”
[Enter the conspiracy theory here. He gives no proof of any such plot]
“We are not going to stand by and allow another million African-American votes to go uncounted in this election,”
Where is he getting “million“? I thought that the election was closer than that? Besides, any votes that did not get counted would have included other races and age groups–not just Blacks]
Drawing the only standing ovation of his 35-minute speech, he said: “We are hearing those things already. What they did in Florida in 2000, some say they may be planning to do this year in battleground states all across this country.”
[What things are you hearing? Here he uses the same scare tactics that was used on the slave plantations: "Those Yankees are bad people. In fact, I heard that they will kill you on the spot".]
Representative Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland and the chairman of the caucus, noted that President Bush had also been invited to the event but did not attend.
["You know, he speaks the truth. Otherwise, that mean Mr. Bush would have came here to give us some hope." "Dang those yanks and their dirty tricks!"]
Mr. Kerry pointed to an earlier decision of Mr. Bush not to meet with the N.A.A.C.P. and declared, “We’re not going to let them put a ‘do not enter’ sign on the White House of the United States of America.”
[Hum-mm. I wonder if Collin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, or Roderick Paige saw that same sign?]
“They’ve even mocked the very notion that there are two Americas,” Mr. Kerry said of his Republican opponents. “Well, they should spend time with struggling families in the hills of Appalachia, or in public housing in cities across this country, or in the barrios of East L.A. and then tell us our journey to build one America is finished.”
["Even though I own several million-dollar homes located far away from these places, your great white massa knows what it is like to be in the hood. In fact, my motorcade sped though one the other day]
The sad thing about all of this is that the crowd ate it all up.
When you disrespect your own constituents for the sake of politics, you will get no respect from me. I only hope the true leaders in that organization that are trying to do something positive get the courage enough to leave and become the leaders that they are meant to be.
The Republican party is almost just as guilty.
