First & Foremost Happy Birthday to a man who contributed to shape it all!
After reading the Bob Herbert editorial the alarming statistics or the even the blunt reality of it all were both not as frieghtining as the relevance of his words to our present day communities.The accuracy and how the same issues manage to stand over time and represent our African American communities today alarms me. As the the lack of education and poor health conditions of African Americans continues to increase easily we can be lead to wonder if in fact the oppression is self inflicted?
The idea of a "New Civil Rights movement", would require individuals to form into structural groups around their own communities to stir up a movement. However, as Herbert stated "Most black people are not poor..most are leading productive lives." I began to wonder is the African American community split? Are we bonded together strong enough to even begin to fathom a New civil rights movement? Our brothers and sisters before us were in fact truly fighting for rights and equality that they all did not have.Now that we have managed to obtain this freedom would we fight for a subculture of our people that are plagued by generational curses.
I Do not feel that our communities are ready for a movement like this because a large part of Africans Americans are successful and turning from the "generational curses" amongst our people.
After viewing the Newt Gingrich short clip it saddens me to hear how he specifically directed the food stamp v pay check scenario to the NAACP and African American communities.In his statement Gingrich displays his thoughts on African Americans by those simple words. He feels that the African American Community does not work and they are the primary group of people receiving economic aid in their households. On one hand I understand it is an unspoken truth that when society thinks of lower income and proverty stricken communities they often think minorities and primarily blacks. On the other hand however within our society their are several stereotypes and categories that socially we know not to speak of. To imagine that we have entered upon a time that presidential hopefuls degrade and freely voice their personal opinions about members of a society they wish to represent and command is extremely alarming.
The idea of a "New Civil Rights movement", would require individuals to form into structural groups around their own communities to stir up a movement. However, as Herbert stated "Most black people are not poor..most are leading productive lives." I began to wonder is the African American community split? Are we bonded together strong enough to even begin to fathom a New civil rights movement? Our brothers and sisters before us were in fact truly fighting for rights and equality that they all did not have.Now that we have managed to obtain this freedom would we fight for a subculture of our people that are plagued by generational curses.
I Do not feel that our communities are ready for a movement like this because a large part of Africans Americans are successful and turning from the "generational curses" amongst our people.
After viewing the Newt Gingrich short clip it saddens me to hear how he specifically directed the food stamp v pay check scenario to the NAACP and African American communities.In his statement Gingrich displays his thoughts on African Americans by those simple words. He feels that the African American Community does not work and they are the primary group of people receiving economic aid in their households. On one hand I understand it is an unspoken truth that when society thinks of lower income and proverty stricken communities they often think minorities and primarily blacks. On the other hand however within our society their are several stereotypes and categories that socially we know not to speak of. To imagine that we have entered upon a time that presidential hopefuls degrade and freely voice their personal opinions about members of a society they wish to represent and command is extremely alarming.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAgreeing with your comment on the clip of Newt Grinch, I think it's unacceptable that he was openly clear that African Americans are lazy and don't want to work. As you point out in your post, even Herbert agrees that "Most black people are not poor..most are leading productive lives." So for him to make an ignorant statement like that shows the type of person he is. Though I think we need an Empowerment Movement too uplift black people, it makes me wonder if the Civil Rights Movement had any effect on some of the white people. We are far from where we started, but we still have some miles to go.
ReplyDeleteI think that that both you and Keara make a valid point. However I'd like to consider it a step further. Most people aren't poor and most are leading productive lives. So for him to make the point for black people due to the statistic stating they are 1/3 of the population on food stamps. There are 2/3 of people that are being unaccounted for but are the majority still using the assistance. Understanding demographics and cultures should be taken into account for proactive measures. Not just to hold one specific minority group accountable. Everyone on the assistance is American. So he needs to focus on paychecks for Americans especially in the state our economy is in. Although Obama's administration might have utilized food stamps generously, it is also represented in statistics that he is responsible for creating as many jobs as hopefully projected to boost the economy in more than short term. The economy still isn't functioning as successfully as they'd projected but the fact of the matter is, he created a tremendous amount of jobs in the time given. In the mean time, people still need to eat.
ReplyDelete