We're Not Judas, We're Just Genius

Why do Blacks get upset when we're stereotyped, yet many of us go ballistic when a black person's political ideology doesn't quite jibe with what we're supposed to believe. Why are Black Republicans thought to have fallen prey to the wiles of The Man? Why is someone who does not ascribe to the tenets of the Democratic Party treated like Judas Iscariot?

Suppose Person A happens to be a 9th grade dropout, welfare-dependent, non-working, unwed mother of four children (one of whom has visiting hours between 2 and 5 on Sundays) living with her lesbian lover in a public housing community. It's probably not going to be in her best interest to campaign for any of Jesse Helms' protégés (but then again, she probably doesn't vote anyway…).

Envision, by contrast, Person B who lives in the suburbs, has an MBA, attends a Presbyterian church (where the organist doesn't know how to back up the pastor and the parking lot looks like a Volvo dealership), has a daughter named Hunter, a husband who puts in long hours with his patients, and is living comfortably on their combined income of 190K. There's a good chance that a few policies of the Republican Party might appeal to her.

Whether someone votes Republican because the party tends toward social conservatism (i.e. Rachelle and Dominique won't be lighting a unity candle in the Baptist church where Big Mama sung in the choir on 5th Sundays, thankyouverymuch) or whether they vote Republican because they're fiscally conservative (tired of making six figures and bringing home five figures – thanks to a progressive tax that funds an over-involved government that's doing work better-suited to the faith community) it's important that we welcome diversity within our ranks.

Even more importantly, those of us who support Republican candidates – exclusively or occasionally – should educate our brothers and sisters about Republicans whose political ideologies might align with their interests. Let's stop assuming that all Democrats are a lost cause. They just don't know no betta.

Build More Prisons

I'm struggling with something. I've been trying for years to understand what the (National) Urban League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People actually accomplish these days. So I did what every other logical person in the year 2006 would do. I check out their websites.

Let's start with the Urban League's site. On the homepage, I find something that looks promising: "What are the ABCs of Empowerment?" so I click it and am treated to the following info:

National Achievers Society - Through the generous support of caring people like you, more than 20,000 young people have been inducted into the National Achievers Society, which recognizes and awards middle-school students who excel academically.

Read and Rise - In collaboration with Scholastic, the National Urban League helped launch the Read and Rise initiative to strengthen the reading skills of African-American children - and help them develop a lifelong love of books.

Urban Youth Empowerment Program - This thriving program has helped participants increase their reading and math skills by 40 percent. And 25 percent have earned their GEDs or high school diplomas

So, these are the ABC's? The fundamentals? The building blocks? The foundation upon which our race is grounded? The cornerstone from which the principles of our empowerment will be built?

But wait – a quick diversion. For some reason I clicked a few more places on the website. And now I have enough material for a minor diatribe.

I foolishly clicked my way into the News section of the NUL site (and I mean "News" in the loosest sense of the word, by the way). In any case, the section contains a hodgepodge of poorly written press releases. Of all of the release titles, my eyes honed in on one containing the phrase, "Questionable Tactics Used by Police in Sean Bell Shooting Case." Here is some inane press release (who on earth are the press that are going to release this?? Oh, wait – am I inadvertently giving audience to this article by referring to it??) which I realize in a quick glance contains Al Sharpton's name within the text. On that basis alone, I KNOW the article is a must-read because it includes a reference to a man who sports a pompadour in 2006.

Sean Bell, a 23-year old gun-toting-crack-selling miscreant, was partying with a bunch of his friends at a Queens, NY drug trafficking operation masquerading as a strip club. He was to be married the next day to the mother of his child (a refreshing change – marriage in the 'hood). Instead he and 2 of his friends were shot by undercover cops. Sean was killed & his friends were hospitalized. Sean and his injured buddies were unarmed. Apparently, at least Sean was legally drunk. Allegedly, after they left the club the police approached their vehicle and the young men tried to run them over. Unquestionably, 50 rounds were fired by the police.

So here comes Al Sharpton and every other We-Shall-Overcomer protesting, marching and screaming police brutality, racism, conspiracy, etc.

Give me a break. THE IDIOTS WERE TRYING TO RUN OVER THE POLICE. They clearly wanted to DIE! Can we just acknowledge the inevitable and build enough prisons for the 75% of black men who belong in prison, wait for them to do something stupid and then just throw them in and lose the key? I don't care if we build more prisons than schools – all it means is that more black men belong in prison than school. What's so wonderful about all of those young criminals that makes us want to save them? Why do we spew all of this it-takes-a-village-to-save-the-illiterate-child-of-a-crackhead-mother rhetoric when we truly know we can't undo all of the bad that the child's mom, Quanzanisha, and the absentee father (if Quanzanisha actually knows who he is) have done?

All of the Sean Bell's are going to be dead or in prison before they're 40, so why bother constructing all the safety nets that we know won't work? Yes, let's empower the children and adults that want to be saved, but seriously, can we stop wasting time, money and energy on people who have proven that they're only interested in ignoring the laws of this land? Can someone please give Al Sharpton something else to do with his time – like open up a beauty school since the brotha's hair looks better than mine?

So, later this week I'll check out how the Triangle Urban League is progressing on the ABC's…I'm prepared to be underwhelmed.

“government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

So, two and a half years later people are still mad about what Bill Cosby said during the Brown v. Board of Education 50^th anniversary gala in D.C.

What I can’t understand is why people try to act like they haven’t had some of the same thoughts. Seriously, who can say that they haven’t ever wondered why several generations of a family have lived in the projects? Who among us can say that you’ve not been outraged at the gumption of the absentee mother who is begging for mercy on behalf of her orange-suited son who has been convicted of some idiotic crime? I mean, yes, she could have neglected to be an effective parent because she was working so hard at her three jobs trying to save enough money so that she could get her family out of the projects. Riiiigggghhhttt! I’m guessing that a parent with that level of dedication and determination to pull herself up would also have their child in every before-school, afterschool and summer program available.

So what’s the problem? We give people excuses. And crutches. And more excuses.

Here is the conversation you can have with any black child in America:

Ask them why they come to school, and they’ll say, “to learn.”

Ask them why they need to learn, and they’ll say, “to get an education.”

Ask them why they need an education, and they’ll say, “so I can get a good job.”

So, the bleeding hearts among us (and I’m one of them, by the way) say, “well some kids don’t have enough to eat and that’s why they have trouble learning.” So the feds give us the National School Lunch Program, which ensures that kids, regardless of their ability to pay, can receive breakfast, lunch and perhaps an afterschool snack, at public school everyday (and by the way there are summertime feeding programs that include dinner).

Then the bleeding hearts say, “Well the resources are unequal and the black kids don’t have computers, new textbooks, experienced teachers and school supplies.” So the feds give us Title I, Title II, Title VI programs (and many more) that pump millions of dollars into even the smallest schools and school systems.

Then the bleeding hearts say, “Well the parents didn’t get a good education themselves, so they don’t know how to parent, get a job, keep a job and budget their money.” Enter the feds and their Welfare to Work programs, accompanied by Head Start early childhood education so mama doesn’t have to worry about what to do with Little Ray Ray all day.

You get the picture. For every roadblock, Uncle Sam has provided an answer. What I’m seeing, however, is that it’s not helping: the poor are poorer and the ignorant are reaching epic proportions.

To quote Ronald Reagan, “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

Reading List for The Black Republican

1) The Content of Our Character, Shelby Steele

2) The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother, James McBride

3) The Measure of Our Success, Marian Wright Edelman

4) My Soul Looks Back in Wonder: Voices of the Civil Rights Experience, Juan Williams

5) Is Bill Cosby Right? Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind?, Michael Eric Dyson