Victory in the Promised Land

It is now 11:45 p.m. on Tuesday November 4, 2008 and Barack Obama has officially been declared the president of the United States of America! He has made history in so many ways including running an extraordinary and masterfully engineered campaign, and defying all odds to become the first Black president of these United States. What a mighty God we serve! As Michelle Obama and even Barack have stated or alluded to on several occasions, there was a greater force working behind the scenes; Obama was simply an instrument in the hands of an omnipotent God who is indeed able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we can think or hope for.

Be not deceived, it is God Almighty who has spoken. He has shown the world that truth crushed down to the earth will rise again; that evil will never triumph over good; and that the sufferings of His creation and the oppression of His people tug at the heart of God and force His hand to move in a mighty way. Empires that are not built on the principles that God challenges us in Micah to live by: to love mercy, to do justice and to walk HUMBLY with our God, will ultimately crumble. "Except the Lord builds the house then the laborer labors in vain." This includes the world house, the White house, and the state house as well as our own personal houses e.g. families, communities, neighborhoods, faith institutions and the like.

This event has reordered things and presents us with a challenge to rise to the occasion accordingly. Barack can't change things alone; we all have a responsibility to refocus our works and efforts to operate on a higher level and to renew our commitment to work for a greater and more noble good in this world where the sufferings of the poor, marginalized, stigmatized and oppressed are alleviated if not eradicated.

While the Republicans made fun of the notion of "redistributing the wealth" the truth of the matter is there is enough wealth to go around where every family and especially our children can have a decent place to live, three meals a day, a high quality education, health care and access to extracurricular activities and working parents who are making a livable wage and not just the minimum.

If Barack is to succeed we must help him and this must become our sole mission--a shift from self service to servitude. As President John F. Kennedy challenged us in 1963, we must now indeed ask "what can I do for my country" and as Rev. Jeremiah Wright challenged, no longer should we say God bless America, but now is the time for Americans to bless God.

Based on what we have just witnessed, we can do it; YES WE CAN!

What makes this night even more monumental is the fact that 40 years ago Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at the age of 40 after delivering one of his most soul-stirring and prophetic speeches,"I Have Been to The Mountain Top" speech, delivered on April 3, 1968 in Memphis Tennessee. In this speech, Dr. King eloquently, prophetically and powerfully said these words:

"Well,I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days a head. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop.And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything.I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."

Well tonight, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. can rest in peace because his prophecy has come to past: we as a people have seen God's glory and together, whites, Blacks, Asian, Hispanic, Native Americans, and mixed races, young, old, rich, poor and in between, have walked hand in hand, worked shoulder to shoulder and marched together as a people to a place we hope is at least a part of the territory of the prophetic "promised land" that Dr. King presaged.

Will Masses Deliver Obama to the White House?

November 4, 2008 is anticipated to be one of the most significant days in America’s history. It will be the day when Americans will be challenged to put into action the very ideals that are mixed in the mortar of America’s foundation and articulated in that sacred document we know as the Declaration of Independence (1776).

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, which among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

For the past eight years, many people—Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike—have suffered tremendous threats to their life, liberty and pursuit of happiness under the Bush oligarchy. And, we have witnessed time and time again the most egregious abuse of power and disgraceful disregard for the public’s trust (in terms of both dollars and faith); the insane $700 billion bailout to stop the economic bleeding on Wall Street while doing what amounts to next to nothing to alleviate the hemorrhaging on main street is just one example. There has been “a long train of abuses and usurpations” for which prudence dictates that the time is right and it is our duty as Americans to “throw off such government and to provide new guards for the future security” of our great nation.

For these reasons and more, this election is much too costly for any one to renege on their duty to go out to the polls and vote on November 4 (if not earlier). While I am impressed with the massive campaign efforts on the ground that have resulted in record-breaking new-voter registrants and with what the recent polls are predicting, I am still a bit skeptical and nervous. My trepidation is for several reasons:

(1) If I may be candid, Black folk, young folk, and poor folk, those who have the most to gain and to lose have often been unreliable when it comes to turning out to the polls. Voter records provide the evidence to support this claim.

(2) While I am not afraid of what the Republicans will do because they have never tried to hide their hand. What I am afraid of is that we will allow them to play their hand as usual. The Republicans have always counted on those on the Left and the liberal Independents to take them for granted and to underestimate their power of persuasion at mobilizing their base—who by the way rarely benefits from their policies. Who I am most afraid of are the lukewarm Independents and the Jessiecrat democrats; those who publically profess to support the Democratic candidates but when the curtain is closed behind them change their minds.

(3) And, finally we can not ignore the empirical evidence and realities that time and time again indicate that race is still a major unresolved issue in America and that many people have yet to truly embrace the notion that “all men” are absolutely unequivocally “created equal.” I, along with many others, have said it many times before: it will not be intellect, leadership skills, experience, integrity, sound judgment, respect, morality or any of the other characteristics we think are crucial for a president to have, but race that will be the deciding factor for many people, Democrats, Republicans and Independents a like.

(4) And, with all eyes on North Carolina as a “Battleground state,” let’s not forget our political history. We can not forget the Helms-Gantt senatorial campaign in the 1990s or the 1972 presidential race between Governor Terry Sanford and Alabama Governor George Wallace or the fact that a Democratic presidential candidate has not carried North Carolina since Jimmy Carter’s successful bid in 1976.

The bottom line is this is an election whereby we can not assume any thing, take any thing for granted, sleep, forget, underestimate, ignore or send some one else. This election simply can not be like the last two, our children’s future, our future, and our nation’s future are at stake and this time the stakes are too high.

“I Am the Darker Brother, I Too Am America”

“I Am the Darker Brother, I Too Am America”

There has been a lot of public discourse aired on radio, television and print media networks from so called “Christian conservatives,” or “American patriots” including Bill Bennett, Pat Buchannan, Rusch Limbaugh, and Jim Dobson—condemning Barack Obama for not being a true Christian or American. In fact just a few days ago I listened to Bill Bennett on a cable news show commenting on the need for Barack Obama to “show and not talk about his patriotism and loyalty to America.”

Unfortunately, these self-acclaimed patriots and Christian conservatives are by no stretch of the imagination lone voices crying out in the wilderness without an audience. They represent a dangerously large constituency—mostly White and disproportionately male—whose political ideologies and religious beliefs are rooted in a racist, patriarchal and hegemonic system that breeds intolerance, ignorance and ire all under the guise of Christianity and patriotism. This group of “Christian conservatives” and “patriots” doesn’t use the bible to win souls to Christ or to demonstrate their reference to God, the Creator AND His creation. Instead, they use religion and their so called patriotic ideals to justify every ill deed that has been engineered and perpetrated by mankind throughout the world on a colossal scale from slavery, oppression of women and children, exploitation of the poor, wars, inhumane treatment and torture of prisoners, etc.

And for some reason these people—Bennett, Dobson, Buchanan, Limbaugh etc. etc.—really believe that America belongs to White folk and that White “Christian” conservatives is the only religious group that hears from and understands the intentions of God. Sadly (for those who espouse such beliefs), most biblical scholars will attest that this idiotic notion of a God-ordained white supremacy and white privilege has absolutely no sound biblical backing and is in direct contrast to virtually every thing that is recorded as the teachings of Christ and the words of God in most religious documents.

The month of July ushers in the Fourth of July holiday, which is a time when Americans celebrate the supreme ideals of freedom, democracy, justice, liberty, prosperity, equality on which this nation was founded. It is during this time that we should be mindful however that contrary to what some people proclaim, America is not a land merely for Whites or evangelical/ conservative “Christians” but it is a land that was built by and for an ethnic and economically diverse “people yearning to be free.”

America belongs to the descendants of the slaves who were brought over en masse and forced into more than 200 years of free labor that helped to catapult America to the top of the world order as an economic superpower—a position it maintains to this very day.

America belongs to the offspring of the indigenous native Americans who were robbed of their land and faced near genocide after extending their hands to help the earlier settlers acclimate to the unfamiliar terrain of the New World.

America belongs to the descendants of the immigrants who came over via Ellis Island and Angel Island and worked in the urban cities to expedite industrialization in America. America belongs to the descendants of share croppers who helped to ensure the continued availability of cheap labor and value surplus in the South after the Civil War.

Furthermore as Ronald Takai points out in his book “A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America,” the signs of America’s ethnic diversity can be discerned across the continent in places like Chinatown, Harlem, South Boston, or in places with Spanish names like San Antonio and Los Angeles or with Indian names like Massachusetts and Iowa. Takai argues that much of what is familiar in America’s cultural landscape actually has ethnic origins from fireworks to Jazz and songs like “God Bless America,” or “White Christmas,” which was written by a Russian-Jewish immigrant named Israel Baline, more popularly known as Irving Berlin.

As the months draw us closer to the November election and to the realization that a non-white male could actually become the president of the United States, I am sure that the Bennett, Buchannan, Limbaugh and Dobson Klans (spelling intentional) will make numerous television appearances and spew out their white-supremacy venom all over the radio airwaves proclaiming to be the voice of the only true patriots or pure Americans and God’s “chosen ones.”

However, I am hopeful that their voices will be drowned out by the voices of the rest of us—the Other Americans—who embody the message that Obama has so skillfully promoted. A message found in the preamble of our Constitution: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Our nation was built and strengthened by its diversity. Those forces that unite us are much greater than those that divide us. And as one of America’s gifted sons, Langston Hughes so eloquently stated: “I am the darker brother (humanity). I too am America. I too, sing America."

Attempts to Assassinate Obama's Character is Politricks As Usual

The recent backlash that Barack Obama has endured as a result of the actions and words spoken by his now denounced pastor, Jeremiah Wright is disturbing yet not at all shocking. The fact that Obama (unlike any other presidential candidate in the history of US electoral politics) is being held accountable for the words and actions of his religious leader is NOT an indication of Obama’s character as some political pundits have spun the issue, but speaks more to the character of the media and political swindlers.

The incessant attention by the media on every word spoken, every hand gesture, every giggle and every frowning of the brow that Jeremiah Wright makes in an attempt to some how detect the true character of Obama (instead of Pastor Wright) is clever “politrickery” and bamboozling run amuck. I am afraid that as a life-long Democrat who is strongly considering becoming an Independent, I am saddened by the realization that we don’t have to send spies into the enemy’s camp (the Republican party) to find the instigators; the agitators with dirty hands keeping the focus on Jeremiah Wright are well entrenched within the Democratic party.

I heard on a morning radio program that is popular among African Americans a comedian say in response to the Jeremiah Wright debacle: “This is a sad day, I don’t have any jokes; actually, Black people the joke is on us.” While I agree with the overall sentiment of this statement I have to disagree a little. The joke is not just on Black people but when you consider what is at stake and the enormous possibilities that Obama’s successful bid for the White House could bring to America, it is the American people who are being duped.

Barack wrote in his inspiring and well written book, “The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream” (that last part is always left off in references but it is so important) when speaking about his early experiences trying to get elected to the Illinois State Senate when all odds were against him: “Not only did my encounters with voters confirm the fundamental decency of the American people, they also reminded me that the core of the American experience are a set of ideals that continue to stir our collective conscience; a common set of values that bind us together despite our differences; a running thread of hope that makes our improbable experiment in democracy work.” Barack brings hope to the masses, yet he is a thorn in the side of the “massas” and this makes him a real threat to the status quo which includes his opponents Hillary and John McCain.

According to a report published by University of California at Santa Cruz Sociology Professor Dr. William Domhoff (December 2006), wealth in the United States is highly concentrated in a relatively few hands. As of 2001, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 33.4% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 51%, which means that just 20% of the people owned a remarkable 84%, leaving only 16% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers). In terms of financial wealth, the top 1% of households had an even greater share of 39.7%.

Be not deceived, Barack and his agenda to level the playing field and help those at the bottom (the 80%) to share in the American dream—not merely as the exploited from which the wealthy elite accumulate their treasures—but as benefactors of those sacred values and principles that make us proud to be Americans—live, liberty and the pursuit of happiness—has become a serious threat to the establishment (e.g. self-serving members of Congress and their co-conspirators lobbyists and big corporations).

The sad reality is however that often times in America, we have failed to learn from the lessons of our past. The same old tactics of inciting fear, division and using smoke screens to evade the important issues of the day have won out time and time again. In comparison to other democratic nations, Americans who once set the example of an active democracy have become the least informed, least involved, and the least likely demand accountability from our elected leaders and overthrow those who fail us. Instead we tend to fall for the okey doke that the power elite have been so skillful at orchestrating—race antagonisms, fear, and division. We saw this occur when poor Black farmers and sharecroppers were pitted against poor Black farmers and sharecroppers while the wealthy landowners extrapolated the profits from their labor and lived lavishly off the spoil. We see it now in the immigration debate and we see it time and time again in public discourse on social reform e.g. justice system and welfare.

With the North Carolina primary upon us, all eyes are on North Carolina. The predictions are that Obama will win North Carolina. While I am hopeful I am not naïve enough to believe that Obama’s win in North Carolina is a guarantee. Remember the Helms-Gantt senatorial campaign in the 1990? Remember Judge Jim Wynn’s race for the NC Supreme Court in 2000? Or what about the 1972 presidential race between Governor Terry Sanford and Alabama Governor George Wallace? In all of these races the North Carolina Democratic Party was supposed to deliver the winning candidate and it failed to do so. The “Jessecrats,” persons who register Democrat but vote Republican—have upset the game plan in the past and I have no reason to doubt their ability to do it in the upcoming election. However, I am a woman of faith and although I may be troubled by the attempts to destroy Obama and all that he stands for, I must say that like Obama, I still have the audacity of hope.

Michelle Laws is a Ph.D. student in Sociology at NCSU in Raleigh NC. She can be reached at malaws007@gmail.com.

Black Mothers and Grandmothers Have Been Our Saving Grace

I, like many other African Americans, had the mixed-blessing of growing up under the care and watch of several strong Black women including my mother, grandmother, great-aunt, and great grandmother. It was clear that the matriarch of our family was my great grandmother.

Although I often took my great-grandmother’s presence and counsel for granted, on occasion I took the time to study this amazing woman who dipped snuff, always wore an apron, used a paper bag to make hair rollers, wasn’t afraid to shoot a rifle or kill a snake, and often sat in her rocking chair with the bible in her lap. Often times, this stately woman—in the middle of canning vegetables or fruit, sewing a quilt, picking beans, cleaning greens, planting flowers, or hanging out cloths, would take time to deposit into my spirit many seeds of wisdom that she no doubt hoped would germinate in due season. Interestingly, some times, her wisdom seeds would come from unusual sources including the cool-calm-and-collected Victor Newman on the “Young and the Restless” or Kenny Rogers playing the shrewd “Gambler.” I remember her approval and applaud, “yes suh, yes suh” of Kenny Rogers’ famous line, “you got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away and know when to run.” There are a sundry of valuable lessons that my great grandmother taught such as being patient and trusting God because “all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord,” or “don’t do evil for evil, let the Lord fix it,” or “don’t worry, God will make a way out of no way.”

My experience is not unique. Even today many Black grandmothers are stepping in, picking up the pieces and holding Black families together. According to 2000 U.S. Census data, 2.4 million grandparents, 21% who are over the age of 65, are the sole care providers to an estimated 4.5 million children under the age of 18 live. In North Carolina, according to the Children’s Defense Fund, 86,482 of grandparents are rearing their grandchildren of which 17,959 (20.8 percent) live in poverty. The effects are particularly dramatic for African American grandparents who are more likely to live at or below poverty level and without adequate social supports and financial resources (wealth assets) than any other race/ethnic group.

It is undeniable that Black women are the quintessential survivors who have been through a lot and endured it all. Marian Wright Edelman, the founder and executive director of the Children’s Defense Fund stated, “The Black family has been the strongest defense Black children have had throughout our history and must become so again.” Without minimizing the critical role of productive and strong Black males in rearing children, I contend that historically, Black grandmothers and mothers have been the strongest defense for Black children. They—Black grandmothers and mothers—have been the Black community’s saving grace.

Despite the lasting and significant contributions of Black mothers and grandmothers, there is evidence to suggest that a new generation of young Black mothers and grandmothers is emerging. This new generation is failing miserably at the most important job they will ever have to perform—rearing Black girls and boys to become healthy and productive Black men and women. I don’t ignore the structural social forces that are wreaking havoc in the black community and making it hard for Black families to thrive and survive e.g. racism, poverty, violence, victimization, poor education, substandard housing, and inadequate health care. However, even in the midst of struggle, the task of rearing Black children to succeed against all odds must not go unattended.

As a community, we must recommit ourselves to restoring the village that was once in tact and a critical determinant of our collective progress. We must establish and implement through our social, faith and community-based organizations programs that teach young mothers how to be exemplary parents and positive role models for their children. We must teach young mothers how to create environments where hope grows, and where children are protected from harm, have pride in themselves, confidence in their abilities, and faith in a God is able to do any thing but fail.

In essence, we must help young mothers to realize that as Langston Hughes wrote in his famous poem “Mother to Son,” which I revised for the occasion, that:

“Life isn’t a crystal stair. It’s got tacks in it, splinters, and boards torn up and places with no carpet on the floor—bare. But all the time, you must keep on climbing on, and reaching landings, and turning corners, and sometimes going in the dark, where there isn’t any light. No matter what, you mustn’t turn back or sit down on the steps because you find it’s hard. Don’t you fall now but keep on going, keep on climbing and just know that for mothers, especially Black mothers, life isn’t, has never been, and won’t ever be a crystal stair.”

Who Cries for Young Black Males?

When I heard about the tragic and senseless murder of UNC student Eve Carson, I remember standing in my living room completely fixated on the local news with this hollow feeling fermenting in my stomach accompanied by an overwhelming sense of sadness. “Lord have mercy, God please don’t let the perpetrators be Black,” I silently prayed. I wish I could say that my mind is at ease now that the two suspects have been apprehended. However, instead of peace and resolve, there is a haunting in my spirit that on occasion interrupts my sleep and troubles my mind. This case and many others cause me to ask: What on earth is happening to our young Black males?

Contrary to a popular opinion, the majority of our young people, Black youth included, are managing to navigate through turbulent adolescent years and overcome life threatening obstacles (i.e. abject poverty, abuse and neglect) without succumbing to persistent patterns serious and chronic antisocial or other risk behaviors (unprotected and premature sexual activity, drug and alcohol use). However, when you disaggregate the local, state, and national youth risk behaviors data (crime, health, and school) what you will find is that Black youth in particular and Black males in general are represented at a disproportionately higher percentage than their peers of other race/ethnic groups in several major areas of disturbance including violent crime, sexual activity and related outcomes e.g. cases of sexually transmitted diseases and infections, and school drop out. Black males share the brunt of these numbers among the youth and Black youth population. Research has shown that Black male students, when compared to other students by age, gender and race—consistently rank lowest in all academic achievement measures; are suspended and expelled at higher rates; are most likely to drop out of school, fail to graduate from high school or to earn a GED; and are more likely than males from any other race/ethnic group to be placed in classes for the educable mentally retarded and for students with learning disabilities. A recent study published by The Schott Foundation for Public Education (2006) based in Cambridge, Mass. also found that the national high school graduation rate for African-American male students was 45% (2003/2004) compared to 70 percent of white male students. The Sentencing Project reports that for young Black males in their twenties, 1 in every 8 is in prison or jail on any given day. And, Black youth in general and males in particular are overrepresented at all stages of the US Juvenile Justice System compared with their proportion of the U.S. population. Similar patterns exist in North Carolina’s schools and juvenile justice system. In North Carolina, for the last fifteen years of data that I have observed, Black youth have accounted for more than 60% of all juvenile commitments to our state’s secured custody juvenile facilities referred to as Youth Development Centers (formerly Training Schools).

I can’t help but wonder in light of the many people who cried for Eve Carson (and rightfully so), who cried for Demario Atwater and Lawrence Lovett Jr.? Their situation is just as tragic. Most importantly, who is crying for the salvation of young Black males? While it easy to paint young killers in our midst as evil and callous monsters, the harsh reality that we all must accept is that unlike the fictional character “Topsy” in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, these children didn’t just grow out of nothing or nowhere but they are members of the families that live next door and products of our community. And, guess what folks—there’s potentially more Demario and Lawrence’s out there on our watch.

We must come to terms with the fact that keeping children safe from harm and from harming others is everybody’s business. We can not afford to keep doing business as usual where we use sensational cases to advance political agendas or leverage funding for agencies or programs that have very little stake, connection or buy-in from the communities and populations they are proposing to serve. As we have learned the stakes for the Black community are way too high. We have an alarming number of young Black males in particular and poor and disenfranchised youth in general who, in the absence of positive and caring adult role models and mentors, safe homes and communities, and positive educational and employment opportunities, will continue to choose death over life, be it their life or some one else’s.

The sobering assessment is that this is how it has been, however, in an area like the Triangle that is surrounded by a wealth or resources—intellectual academies (e.g. universities, research institutes), funding pools (e.g. Fortune 500 businesses and multimillion dollar companies), and human capital—this is not how it has to be. We must declare that by any means necessary, not one more Black youth will kill or be killed on our watch.