November 11, 2012

Blackonomics

By James Clingman

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - All the talk about how “minorities” were successful in getting Barack Obama re-elected should give us pause to reflect on just how this nation got to this point.  Listening to the grieving Romney supporters and the shock they were experiencing (and probably still experiencing) brought with it the realization that the 2012 election is a result of things that took place hundreds of years ago.

When this country decided to create its wealth by using free slave labor and then exacerbating the situation with Black Codes, Jim Crow laws, segregation, lynching, and disparate treatment of Black people, indigenous people, Chinese people, and other so-called minorities, it put itself on a path that inevitably would prove to be antithetical to its stated mission.

The Laws of the Harvest: We will reap what we sow; we will reap more than we sow; and we will reap after we sow.  This nation sowed seeds of racism, discrimination, and subordination of entire groups of people.  Because of its power to take, to use, to discriminate, and to exact punishment, our country unwittingly set itself up for what we see today: The collective power of so-called “minorities” to determine the outcome of national elections.

This nation of immigrants has demographically evolved and is continuing to move toward what many are calling a “minority majority.”  As oxymoronic as that term is, the reality is that folks who have been subordinated and mistreated for centuries are growing in numbers and will, in a couple of decades, outnumber what is now the collective White majority.  Pat Buchanan warned about demographic and cultural changes, and power shifts among ethnic groups in his book, The Death of the West.

While I do not subscribe to Buchanan’s reasoning, I believe much of the remorse we saw and heard on the “morning after” emanated from persons who received their wake-up call regarding the true face of America – what it was and has become.  Some call it the “Browning of America.”  Mix politics with that reality and you get paranoia among the elected and the electorate.

Sow seeds of discontent and discontentment will grow.  Sow “majority rule” and reap likewise.  The yield will be greater and will come after the sowing, which may be hundreds of years later; but it will surely come.  We have come full circle in the U.S.  What was sown long ago is ready for harvesting, some good - some bad.  That harvest is reflected in our political environment and discourse and in the minds of some who fear the next four years.

So, as Rush Limbaugh noted after the election, “We’re outnumbered!” As newspaper headlines announced, “Minorities won [the election] for Obama.”  As one Republican County Commissioner cited, “We got drilled in the non-white population.”

On the “morning after,” some Republicans began rethinking their strategy to win elections.  They finally realized that neither they nor anyone else can ignore the changes this country is going through, and they cannot afford to ignore the two largest so-called “minority groups” in the U.S.  In order to win elections they must now reach out much more to those who have been marginalized for so many years.

Prior to FDR, Black people voted almost entirely Republican.  Now we see that more than 95% of Black voters support Democrats.  While that is not a prescription for success in either direction by the Black electorate, maybe now we will come to our senses as well by understanding the power of the collective.  But that’s another article.

The nascent United States, what some called an “experiment,” has evolved to another level of discovery, and some dislike the current results of that experiment.  Had the experiment been conducted without an unbiased thumb on the scales of justice, without mistreatment and malice toward those who were darker in complexion, without religious prejudice, without suppression and oppression, but instead with the understanding of the Laws of the Harvest, the latest political outcome would not be about Black, White, Hispanic, and minorities.  It would be about the best man or woman winning an election.

We have become so polarized by race, which was sown when this nation was established, that there are those among us who are actually fearful now that another race, long considered inferior and subordinate, has the power to determine the political landscape.  Rather than the result of the elections being a simple majority rules scenario, it was interpreted by many as a minority rules sea change, which caused unfounded trepidation and uncertainty.  That’s simply the reaping that must occur from the sowing that took place previously.

The Democrat/Republican thing has gotten out of hand and has been used by some to further divide races and ethnic groups.  Thus, we continue to sow seeds of discord and acrimony.  What do you think we will continue to reap?

We cannot live in the past, but we can learn from it. In the beginning, this nation sowed arrogance, superiority, and hate.  It is now reaping fear, guilt, and division.  Although we have made significant strides socially, educationally, politically, and economically, we must continue to change and, at the same time, embrace the new face of America.

Nov. 11, 2012

Nov. 12, 2012

By Trice Edney Wire Staff

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Just over a week since President Barack Obama won re-election to the White House and Black voters around the country are not only still reeling over the win, but contemplating the significance of the next four years.

"People don't understand really, what Obama means to us, to the African-American population. They don't get how proud we are. It's okay though. It's different with President Obama. I feel a connection with him, love for him, he is one of us,” said Fabie Nathalie Lucas of Stafford, Va., a student at Virginia Commonwealth University. “Not only will Barack Obama be inaugurated on MLK Day [Jan. 21], but 2013 is the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington. The amount of pride I feel inside can't be explained.”

Virginia, as a swing state, was watched closely on election night as was Florida, with a reputation of voting problems, and Ohio, without which no Republican has ever won the presidency. President Obama won all three states.

The nail biter of an election night has now given way to pride in the Black community of which more than 93 percent of voters supported Obama. But the significance of the Obama win isn’t all about racial pride.

Seth Lumpkin, a 29-year-old small business owner from the Lorain, Ohio area voted for the good of business owners.

"My business is dependent on mostly middle class people since I'm in the inner city and my business is located in Cleveland, Ohio,” he said. “The feeling is good, knowing that the middle class won tonight."

Lumpkin continues to have hope that Obama will use the next four years to get everything done that needs to be done for this country.

"Hopefully whatever things he feels he fell short on he can fix. I was relieved for a lot of people who are less fortunate that Obama was re-elected."

To vote in America was once a right that African-Americans and women were forced to wait on and then fight for. The significance of every election – and moreover the election of an African-American amidst contention – highlights why Americans should continue to be proud, says Retired U. S. Air Force MSGT Kimberley Agnew-Tobiere.

“In the last year, I have seen the America that I serve, protect, and defend reveal itself as a racist country,” she says. “It saddens me because we have sent millions of our service members, our children, our sons and our daughters over to Iraq and Afghanistan to fight for the rights of people who cannot vote and make their own decisions; and we are in a country where we have companies threatening their employees with termination of their employment if they vote for President Barack Obama. I am just thoroughly, thoroughly, thoroughly disappointed."

Among others, Robert Murray, chief executive of Ohio-based coal provider Murray Energy Corp. in fact laid off 150 employees last week, keeping his promise to cut jobs if Obama was re-elected. Murray, with about 3,500 employees, says the layoffs will be ongoing because of what he calls Obama’s “war on coal.”

Actually, the Obama administration has expressed concerns about the health and environmental hazards of coal, including the effects of coal ash. The President is pushing for what environmentalists call “clean coal.”

There is much anticipation for the next four years and how President Obama will deal with economic hardships. In addition to the Black vote, the youth vote is largely credited for his win. Youth voted for Obama 60 percent to 36 percent for Mitt Romney.

"Granted, I don't necessarily agree with everything that either candidate put forth, but I'm happy that the president was re-elected because I do agree with the majority of his policies and I felt that he would be the better candidate to lead this country out of debt and into prosperity," says Marion Jenkins,19, a Howard University student from Detroit.

The enthusiasm among young voters will no doubt continue as they hope for continued cuts in educational costs and increases in Pell Grants.

Erwin Sweetwine, 20, an unemployed junior biology student at Morehouse College, voted for the first time.

"I was so excited to see so many of my Morehouse brothers at the polling stations,” he said. “Knowing that each and every one of our votes counted, we stood there in the rain.”

But, it’s not just the youth who are excited. Lisa Roberson, a 46-year-old Belleville, Mich. resident and mother of three expresses the sentiment that many felt leading up to Election Night.

Dina Ridley, 45, a stay-at-home mother of four college students, was barely able to speak as she awaited the results.  Suddenly, after a thunderous scream, she shouted, “Oh my goodness! This is truly history in the making. God is good. We did it!”

For some the “we” refers to Black voters. To others, the “we” refers to pride in America.

“I’m adulated. I’m happy. I’m excited. This is what I hoped for. I’m satisfied with the fact that America has spoken and they want the leadership of a man of color, which is very important,” said Ricky Allen, a Portland, Oregon Public Schools administrator and 56-year-old husband and father of two.

His wife, Deborah, a Kaiser Permanente Public Health Nurse, is equally exuberant. “I am elated, ecstatic, proud, happy, overjoyed, filled with passion and thanking God! I had to take a deep breath when they said Barack Obama. I am very proud of America.”

This story was compiled from interviews by Howard University journalism students.

Nov. 12, 2012

By Hazel Trice Edney

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous, a leader of the movement largely credited for the Black voter turnout in last week’s election, says the Presidents’ ‘Rising tide lifts all boats’ theory will not be acceptable the next four years and that President Obama will be pressed for policies to specifically forge Black progress.

“Four years ago, the entire nation was finding themselves in a situation that Black Americans had found themselves in for generations. We were wise to say, ‘We’re all in the same boat now. Let’s figure out how to make this tide rise for everybody,” Jealous recounted in an interview. “Now that it has risen for some faster than for others, we owe it to our nation as a whole to figure out how to actually get those boats that are stuck unstuck and to get the tide to rise for every community.”

During a White House Press Conference in January 2010, President Obama answered that “A rising tide lifts all boats” when asked what he would do about the high level of Black unemployment. This year, months before re-election, he told Black Enterprise Magazine that he is the President of all of America, not just Black America.

Looking at the consistent Black vote for President Obama, Jealous is clear:

“This is a mandate for Black leadership and for Black communities to assert the value of our vote and to say, ‘We didn’t just make this moment possible once. We did it twice. And we need all hands on deck to overcome this deficit of job creation in our communities, to overcome this high tide of discrimination against our communities, and to turn the ship of state around – not just for America overall, but for Black communities specifically.’”

Black leaders realize that President Obama was elected to be President of all of America. But some also believe Black America and its specific pains have largely been neglected by his administration while other minority groups have received benefits based on their specific problems.

This includes:

• Women with the Lilly Ledbetter Act for equal pay.
• Gays with the ending of the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy for the U. S. military and President Obama’s endorsement of same-sex marriage earlier this year.
• Latinos with Obama’s change in deportation policies to stop the deportation of illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. at a young age, and who meet certain other criteria.
• Veterans by President Obama’s open appeal for Americans to hire veterans and his push for a Veterans Jobs bill.

Many African-Americans have waited patiently while arguing that President Obama needed to get to his second term before taking on specifics pertaining to the Black community. Meanwhile, unemployment in the Black community has in fact gone down from its highest peak of 16.7 percent where it was when he made the “rising tide” statement to a current 14.2 percent. But it remains nearly twice that of Whites, which currently stands at 7.0 percent and was at 8.8 percent when President Obama spoke of the rising tides. The White unemployment rate has never soared above the national average and has never reached double digits.

Because of the economic crisis, African-Americans have also disparately suffered in housing foreclosures, in health care statistics and educationally.

Like Ben Jealous, the Rev. Jesse Jackson also says it’s time for Blacks to receive a greater return on their vote.

“Blacks should expect equal protection under the law and protections from patterns of racial discrimination,” Jackson says. “The foreclosures that disproportionately target Blacks, our health care is at the bottom, our businesses were targeted and of course poverty and education…The most prevailing issue going forward is growing poverty, race disparities and violence.”

African-Americans have benefitted generally from President Obama’s Affordable Health Care Act; his increase in Pell Grants and other economic initiatives, such as Obama’s saving the auto workers industry. But in order to receive the most impactful benefits, leaders say there must be specific initiatives like those for veterans, Latinos, gays, and women.

“What we’ll see going forward is a very frank and frankly more public conversation about the need for all of us – from the front line community organizer in the smallest community to the most powerful person in the world himself - President Obama,” says Jealous. “We ought to do everything we can to ensure that his legacy is one of definitive improvement in the financial situation for the Black middle class and the Black working class that makes up for all that we have lost in our recent years.”

The initial strategy will be to talk it out, says Jealous.

“It means that we have to be willing to have very hard conversations about what it’s going to take to turn things around for the long-term unemployed; not just the recently jobless. And it means that we’re going to have to have a strategy – not just on how to incorporate college graduates into our economy – but how we actually create an economy like the economy this country had for centuries where unskilled laborers can still support their families.”

Jackson agrees: “The last time around, we chose pride and fear over policy - pride that we finally got a Black guy elected president and fear. We tried to bargain…In the mean time we sacrificed some pressing issues and policies. We must objectively address our worsening condition. We must have some policy, the urban reconstruction.”

Jackson predicts a growing movement in the months and years to come: “I think scholars and journalists will grow freer to express themselves. That doesn’t necessarily mean negatively. It’s just that we are the third rail. We’re the voice of conscience. The third rail must come alive.”