When we look at every category from graduation rates to home ownership, African Americans come in dead last. Why is this? Is it because we are divinely ordained to be on the bottom of the rung of society or is it because we choose to blame others for what we are not willing to do ourselves? It is an important question to answer. Isn't it interesting that we live in a time when we have more rights as a people than we have ever had, but we have less will to do for ourselves than we ever have? What can we do about this?
There are a number of things we can do about this. First of all, we can look in the mirror and see what we can do personally to improve this situation. Secondly, we can join an organization that is organized and progressive about addressing these issues. One that immediately comes to mind is the Dallas branch of the NAACP where "we make things happen." The time has come for us to stop sitting on the sidelines and waiting for someone else to do something about our problem. I challenge you to join me and the other members of the NAACP as we fight to make things better for us.
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I am a graduate student in the Dallas area and I was actually having this conversation with a classmate yesterday. We are both from a city in Louisiana that has been without progression for many years. There has been virtually no opportunities for African Americans. Many, like myself, my classmate, and several of my friends, have opted to move to areas, like Dallas, where we find better opportunities career-wise and for our families. Of course, it’s a step up for us, but on a whole, as you stated, as a people we are far below where we need be. I feel that many African Americans are believing the "hype" and buying into what is said about our people. Since the beginning of time, the word "black" has carried negative connation and that has had a very negative affect both consciously and unconsciously on our people. Are we divinely ordained to be on the bottom of the ring of society? NO!!!! We just need to be encouraged and feel encouraged to be better and have better for ourselves. The resources are out there. We just have to utilize them. Our kids are just as smart as any other race of children. Let’s encourage them and introduce them to more than the Playstation 3. Give them books. Take them to the zoo, museum, library, or aquarium. The blame factor does play a role in African Americans “being at the bottom”. It is evident that nothing is given to us. We are the last to reap any benefits from anything positive given to the city and almost never given a fair opportunity to be successful. That only makes the fight harder, not impossible. What I say is DON'T GIVE UP!!! We can’t wait for someone else to help us, because no one else will. So let’s help ourselves. With the help of God, we CAN control our destiny, our status, and our existence.
I don't think we are comfortable on the bottom, I just think we are misguided. If you look holistically at successful Americans, Blacks are more successful now versus in previous times. Most notably, Blacks excel and are at the top in fields such as sports (basketball and football of course, but even golf and tennis thanks to Tiger and Venus/Serena), entertainment (Oprah, Denzel, Halle, Jay-Z and Kanye), politics (Colin Powell, Condi Rice and Obama to name a few), and the list goes on. This would suggest we ARE NOT comfortable on the bottom. The distinction is that Blacks are not excelling in mainstream American roles such as the fields of education, business and entrepreneurship. So, when our young people look for role models, they look to these few athletes and entertainers that stand out, which yield statistically unattainable goals for our young people. For males, dealing drugs or being in a gang, on the other hand, is a more viable option for inner city youth. And for females, using the body to land one of these ballers is also a more viable option. Or, poppoing out a kid seems to be a way to at least have someone that looks up to them. Yes, therein lies the problem. Our youth are misguided, as they lack clear and attainable goals, and have a self + society-inflicted case of low self-esteem.
The solution is within our reach. Successful Black people need to start GIVING BACK by showing these young people that there are more likely and attainable paths to success. You don't have to be an NBA star to drive a nice car and live in a nice house. You can buy bling-bling, have expensive toys and drink "Cris" if you have a good income and GOOD CREDIT. We need to educate our people about being responsible. It starts with our youth and it starts TODAY! How? Getting involved with the NAACP is a great way!!! The Youth Council, ACT-SO, The Education Committee -- all are ways to get involved with our youth to stop talking about the problems and start ACTING on the solutions. It's time to start GETTING THINGS DONE!!! And...it starts with us. Ask yourself...why haven't you joined?
We have not began to understand the maganatued of who we are economically. We have a gross national product that affects the economy of many around the world. Our problem of joblessness and not owning our own businesses is a problem that we can and will correct. The largest instutions in our community that collect money for banks to loan to others that we cannot get are the black churches that take millions even billions to the bank. Why aren't we our own bank? Banks say because we use many different banks and not collectively use banks together we have little power.How much does the tennis shoe industry make off of us? How many jobs do they provide for our communities? We need to get back to the basics in life as if we are not permitted to go to businesses outside our communities and make the dollar turn multiple times befor it leaves our communities. ( Mr. jones has a business/service that patronizes Mr. Smiths business/service that patronizes Mrs. Washingtons business and so on) this is not new, it has been done before. We must start to admitt that what is happening now is not working. It is time for a change!
I am a single mother, I have two sons. I own my own business. I refuse to believe that my African American brothers and sisters are okay with being at the bottom. According to mainstream media. It has been hard for me, along with many others, but I refuse to allow someone else, who does not have my best interest at heart to try to control my destiny. We as a people have to inform our young men and women of their history. And let them know Whos' they are, inspite of what is said in print or on television. I have started my own business and it is liberating to know that I determine how much I will make weekly, monthly or annually. Also, I will be to send my sons to the University of their choice. We have to understand that we cannot depend on someone else to do the right thing for us for our children. That responsibility is totally ours. My youngest son is going to the fourth grade, I started talking about college to him when he was in the second grade. We have to plant seeds and be the example for our children. My oldest son will be attending Texas Tech., in the fall. Are you aware that Texas Tech offers full scholarship to students of low income families. There is no reason for my people not to attend college. One last thought, for you mothers and fathers out there, plese get involved in your children lives. Join the PTA, attend your childs activities. Remember the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.
I live in Lufkin Tx. It's a very small town 2hrs north of Houston. I moved here after serving 10 years in the Air Force. I chose this community because it's quiet, and as a single mother. I am glad everyone knows me and my 15year old twin boys. The community looks out for them and for me. I know first hand that it really does take a villiage. I work in the professional field and out of 40 employees only one other female here is black. about a year ago i had a disagreement with one of my co-workers. Her work ethics, and job skills left a lot to be desired and after discussing the matter with my supervisor. I have now been picked on in every form imaginable, i.e. shift changes with no notice, questioning my peers about my job performance, asking other departments personnel about my job performance, NO SET SCHEDULE, anything to run me off...it is absolutlely horrible.
The boss has even told me she wished i'd quit. After then she moved me from nights to day shift, a $4.00 salary cut due to shift differential,because she said she heard i was talking bad about her.
My thing is I am never late. I never call in. My work is above average and is reflected. And trust me if there was any reason she could have fired me I would have been gone by now.
But what gets me is how hard, they make it for us. Just to get and maintain jobs. The message that i am getting now is that since i complained about the job performance of some one white. That I messed up....But on the same token my entire family pays dearly for undotted i's and uncrossed t's.
In my mind I am preparing to start my own business, or maybe even travel to Houston pursueing my current proffession. I have saved all documentation and will probably contact a lawyer real soon. There are two no three reasons I even go to work after being publicly humiliated (1)I want to pave the road for others, someone had to suffer so i could even be hired, now i would like to make it possible for others after me. Opinions and voice to be heard w/o retaliation.
I have been treated very badly, but i do understand that this is nothing compared to what my ancestors went through. And i also know first hand that we still have a long way to go. And in no way am i comfortable here on the bottom.
If I did not know that i was better than my peers.I would feel useless, stupid, unworthy, dumb, my self-esteem would be shattered, But I am great at what I do.
2nd and 3rd of all Those sons are eating me out of house and home. I can't quit. Even if i get fired I can never quit. To many people paid to high a cost. I can't quit.........
I have noted the ever increasing use of a particular offensive racial term on WBAP. I don’t think this term was widely used in this past, but it seems to be acquiring a facility to be used more and more as a plug in replacement for the now deprecated “N Word” by some of the WBAP commentators.
Here is the most recent example:
I am an Information Technology Person. I work with people of many different cultures, and many of the people that I work with are more keenly aware of the implications of this term than the typical Native American.
On the evening of October 2 2007, a large group of us were working at an IT facility in Irving. Someone turned on a radio to WBAP. The commentator was reading a list of Senators who had signed a resolution. When he came to the place in the list occupied by Senator Obama’s name, the commentator replaced his name with the term that became known to many people during the Virginia Senate race last year. Let me tell you, there was an audible gasp in the room when this was said.
In my dictionary, the “N Word” is defined as “a low person”. The “M Word” is defined as “a small black monkey”.
In my mind, I think the new, acceptable "M Word" is much more offensive then the old, unacceptable "N Word".
My criticism has to do with the general policy at WBAP, which seems to find it appropriate to use this term to make fun of a Black Presidential candidate who is not very tall.
I would be interested to hear your take on this. If you agree with me, that this is not appropriate, I hope that you will join with us in putting pressure on the WBAP management to change their policy.
I am aware that this “shock radio”, and obviously the more you can stir up controversy, and get people angry, the more they will listen, and the more money WBAP makes. But when the shock talk and name calling is over, some of us have to live in this increasingly angry community. The management at WBAP is not helping our community, when their profit motive is tearing the community apart.
I do not believe that we have become comfortable at the bottom, but it appears that there are some who have risen to the top "are" comfortable with leaving others at the bottom. I do not expect those at the top to be a another form of welfare to those who have chosen to stay at the bottom with the self defeating attitude toward those who have risen as "acking" white in their success. Not at all. I am saying that some of us who are being trampled on and lynched with the judicial system are being left at the bottom. For example...
RACISM NOT ONLY IN JENA AND JASPER…
Jena, La, Jasper, TX are not the only places where racism is being quietly denied. I am speaking about San Angelo, TX where the African Americans are afraid to speak out about racial injustices. They are afraid for their jobs, their families and for themselves. I am speaking about a city who claims to be a small West Texas town that offers a crime free lifestyle, a great retirement community…friendly until anyone challenges the status quo…the home of the brave, the free and the KKK. There is an article regarding San Angelo by googling “Racism in San Angelo, TX” and about a chapter of the KKK being located in San Angelo.
It is true that the NAACP chapter in San Angelo hides their head in the ground…afraid to stand up for what is right…no longer staying true to why the organization was first created. Ignoring what Rev. Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers and Harriet Tubman fought and died for. There are far too many situations where the NAACP and other like organizations have the opportunity to get involved and failed.
I speak and write from first hand experience. In September 2005 before Hurricane Rita struck the area, I was on a walker from a recent but 5th hip replacement. I contacted American Red Cross in San Angelo, a city I believed to be far enough away from the congestion and fast approaching storm, to get reporting instructions. I was informed by Emmit Lopez who was over that chapter that he had no idea of what to do or where to tell me to go. I explained my medical condition and requested “reasonable accommodations” upon my arrival. I continued to call over the next 3 days with no answers. When I arrived in San Angelo, I was taken in by a local resident who took a friend and me to the staging area at the coliseum …again I made requests for accommodations. Over the next 10 days I slept in the same bed as the homeowner without ever receiving assistance from the city. I called many numbers including placing calls to Mayor Lown and other city officials. Ron Havalah called me back and that was to tell me that I needed to get a mattress from the Goodwill. Being an asthmatic it was not a viable option for me which Ron Havalah promptly told me that I needed to get my doctor in Louisiana to write a note stating the breathing condition. I was also told by “all” orthopedic doctors in San Angelo and surrounding cities that they would not be treating me for the hip disability and I was forced to drive 12 miles to and 12 miles back to Baton Rouge for a 45 minute doctor visit.
I had to return to Baton Rouge on December 4th 2005 for more surgery on the hip, stayed one night in the hospital and the next morning I had to drive back to San Angelo, TX. When I returned home I had a message from Carol Unger for the first time (I placed many calls to her and was never called back), at the Emergency Management office wanting me to attend a FEMA meeting at the city hall. I begged not to attend but she insisted that it was very important. To Ms Unger and to the city officials it was important…important because it was a “head count” for reimbursement for a false claim. I was taken to a separate room away from the meeting and other evacuees. In that room I was told by Burton Barry and David Niceweather, that the city was unable to provide a handicap toilet but could get me a chest of drawers (which was one of the items I requested) No city money was spent on me until February 2006 when the city paid two utility bills and when it was then that I found out that San Angelo took care of all other evacuees except me.
While all of this was going on I was informing FEMA of San Angelo’s failure to respond, my medical condition and the need for more surgery. The response that I received from FEMA was that my application had been denied and that I should appeal. I did…I was then considered eligible. Is that the end? No, FEMA also told me that they do not assist with medical issues, transportation to and from the doctor. At one point I did not believe that I could return to Louisiana due to the amount of mold in the area and was told by FEMA that they would not assist me in relocating to any other destination other than Louisiana even if there were medical problems associated with the area. Now, I am being charged with FEMA fraud…not first by FEMA but by San Angelo and the local FBI. I never received any letters from FEMA requesting repayment of any overpayment, which is supposed to be protocol. What I did receive was letter after letter reiterating my eligibility. I had no idea of any wrong doing until June 26, 2007when 6 armed FBI agents stormed my home, slapped handcuffs on me and snatched me outside the house. The agents rushed in looking for weapons and other adults…I don’t own a water gun!!! I was allowed to use the toilet only with a female agent who still had me handcuffed from behind, pulled my pants down, used the tissue to clean me up and pulled my pants back up.
I did not learn that I was being arrested and my Miranda Rights read to me only after I was in the back of an FBI car and was half way to the Federal Building Tucson, AZ. This is not an issue of FEMA fraud by me but an issue of discrimination as Black woman and a person with a disability. This is an issue of an uppity “n” gal who doesn’t know her place. This is an issue of a cover up by San Angelo for fraud and failing to provide for me as a disabled person during the first 10 days. This also an issue of my speaking out about a young Black man who allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself in the back of the head and then set himself on fire in his car where he was found dead the next morning in San Angelo. Many of the citizens believe that this was murder by the San Angelo, TX. police department. He was married to a white woman whose family members had ties to the underground and who were also on the SAPD police force.
Not only is racism still alive in other places but so is lynching…legalized lynching. I have been chained by the feet behind a 2007 F450 Racism pick up, dragged down “Justice Street” intersecting with South Lynch street ending at a culvert with my head on a platter. It is in situations like this that we must take up the cause of Dr. King and expose racism everywhere and in all fashions. It is situations like this that we must help those who are being pushed to the bottom and forgotten about. It is situations like this that needs the attention more than Michael Vick and his dog fighting. It is situations like this that go unnoticed or ignored everyday.
TIMRE-OUT!
Why? We are not holding the Dallas Cowboys, Owner feet’s to fire?
1. No Blacks in the Head Office.
2. No Blacks contractors helping build his 1billion dollars doom.
We have given the Dallas Cowboys a pass too long.
I have contacted the NAACP branch in Dallas and they will not return my phone call.
TC Carstarphen
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