Whatever happens in the life of an African-American is fair-game here. But you are human first, so anything that makes you happy, frustrates you, angers you, worries you, or excites you serves as the fertile ground on which we can have this discussion.
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, The Institute for Black Public Policy
Former New York Giant Lawrence Taylor has had a life that has been shameful, exciting, devastating and amazing. He has seen the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, whether you are referring to his physical prowess or his battle with drug addiction. I can’t, for one second, pretend that I know how difficult it is to walk away from crack cocaine, but I believe thatLawrence Taylor had the strength to do it.
I was proud to see Taylor rebuild his life after spending quite a few years making one mistake after another. Just like on the football field, I wanted to see him succeed. And he was succeeding, at least for a while. Then came the rape allegations.
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By Dr. Boyce Watkins www.BoyceWatkins.com
During my recent trip to New York, I was stunned after watching US Airways passengers standing on the icy wings of an airplane floating on the Hudson River. It was only after looking at my cancelled ticket that I realized I was scheduled to fly out of the same city, in the same airport, with the same airline on the same day, at the same time as the people on that flight. They were going to Charlotte and I wasn’t, but that’s still too close for comfort.
In spite of invitations I have to speak and live in big cities, I stay isolated here in Syracuse so I can search for my personal perception of truth within the deepest components of my heart. I seek ideology that is disconnected from hype, politics, financial compensation or other tools used for the tainting of souls and manipulation of minds. I chose not to go to the inauguration and I’ve rarely watched television, all because I wanted to figure out how I feel about recent events without allowing CNN or anyone else to tell me how I should feel.
This morning I watched a Black man….a real brother, Barack Obama, stand and take the oath as President of the United States. When I endorsed Barack long before he appeared to ever have a chance of winning, it was honestly just wishful thinking. I supported the campaigns of Barack, Jesse and Al, mainly because I never believed Bill Clinton to be (as some called him) the First Black President. I also saw something in Barack’s eyes and mannerisms that made me trust him. My “brother radar” gave security clearance, and I knew that only a real Black man would marry an amazing woman like Michelle Obama (the woman I came closest to marrying is actually a beautiful attorney who reminds me of Michelle). I also saw something in Obama’s poise and intelligence that made me believe that he would be good for our nation. My only concern was that I was not sure if a nation willing to elect incompetent men like George Bush would have the vision necessary to choose the best man or woman for the job.
I don’t do media appearances on Fox News anymore mainly because I was disappointed by their attacks on Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright. I was even more upset with Bill O’Reilly’s statements about having a “lynching party” against Michelle Obama, and the light-hearted death threats made by Fox News Analyst Liz Trotter, who stated that she would “take (Obama) out if she could”. I love Barack Obama, and I was inspired by his ability to make the impossible possible. Like all of us, I was happy to sacrifice to help get him into the White House.
But while I support Barack Obama, I never let myself get into Obama-mania.
While I felt the need to show up and vote, I never chose to “Barack the Vote”.
My position has always been simple: Falling in love with a politician can be a very dangerous thing, and I simply wasn’t going to do it.
Like Barack Obama, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was another President who took over our country during a tough economic time. When Black leaders met with Roosevelt to discuss their justifiable indignation over Civil Rights abuses throughout the nation, Roosevelt simply told them, “I agree with you and I want to do it. Now go out and make me do it.”
The interpretation of Roosevelt’s words is that after the celebrations are over and we’ve come back to reality, we must be sure to do what is necessary to effectively utilize this opportunity. Barack Obama is a good man, I know this from speaking to my contacts on the South Side of Chicago. But we must work hard to ensure that Barack THE MAN aligns squarely and firmly with Barack THE POLITICIAN. We must always be aware of the difference between BARACK OBAMA and the OBAMA ADMINISTRATION.
BARACK OBAMA believes that public schools should get all the funding they need and that education is critically important.
The OBAMA ADMINISTRATION knows that children don’t vote or pay taxes.
BARACK OBAMA knows that 30 – 40% Black male unemployment is an economic tragedy.
The OBAMA ADMINISTRATION knows that being too closely aligned with issues effecting Black men is neither politically productive nor popular in a country that still doesn’t like Black people all that much, especially if they are poor.
BARACK OBAMA knows that, in spite of having a Black President, institutionalized racism in wealth and income levels, health care disparities and other areas will take at least another 100 years to eradicate. He is also intelligent enough to know that reparations are long overdue.
The OBAMA ADMINISTRATION knows that talking about racism using the same language as the United Nations (who states clearly that America continues to maintain a two-tiered society) is something that many Americans simply do not want to hear.
So, as we live in the bliss of “Obama-mania”, please consider this:
The dictionary defines “mania” as “A severe medical condition characterized by elevated moods, energy, unusual thought patterns and sometimes psychosis. Some symptoms are fixation, madness, compulsion, craving, craze, delirium, dementia, derangement, disorder, fad, fancy, fascination, fetish, insanity, lunacy and obsession.”
Like bottles of strong liquor, mania feels good. However, it should only be temporary. You also need designated drivers to keep the political house party under control and get everyone back home safely. Those who remain “high” and detached from reality are easy targets for emotionally void and disturbingly rational political administrations. Any good politician with constituents living in the midst of mania logically understands that there is very little work to do. No one campaigns in the regions they already control.
So, as Roosevelt explained in the example above, we can best show our love for President Obama by being politically intelligent, diligently resourceful, well-organized and focused on the issues. Political engines like the Obama Administration only understand those with the power to churn those engines. The easiest trick in the world is to make us think that racism is over because we have a Black President. Let’s keep our eyes on the prize.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Finance Professor at Syracuse University. He does regular commentary in national media, including CNN, BET, ESPN and CBS. For more information, please visit www.BoyceWatkins.com.
I’ve never agreed with the American criminal justice system. Point blank, it is wrong and unfair on too many levels. Since a youngster in New York, I have observed how our current system has destroyed more lives than it has protected, reformed, and/or rehabilitated.
To be considered the land of the free, the United States certainly boasts a dynamic air of hypocrisy. We have the HIGHEST incarceration rate in the world. In fact, the International Herald Tribune (owned by the NY Times) recently reported that “The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population. But it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners (READ HERE).”
Very few people seem to have a problem with this in middle America. More than likely because this alarming figure affects the Black community in widely disproportionate numbers. I would venture to say that most African Americans, myself included, can list someone within their immediate reach that is incarcerated. Yet ALL Americans turn a blind eye to the prison industrial complex that assists young brothers like myself in donning orange jumpsuits. In case you haven’t realized it, there is an entire system set up to fill and build prisons to the economic benefit of corporations and private ventures.
I am sending out this article because the NCAA should be held accountable for the fact that African Americans are giving their lives and bodies on the field, but not given opportunities to be involved on the sidelines and in the administrative offices. The article below highlights this issue, as Miami's Randy Shannon is now one of only 3 African American coaches remaining in D-1 men's college football (the lowest total since 1993). Excuse my french, but this is a damn shame. With all our community gives on the field (the NCAA earns at least $1B per year from uncompensated African American labor), there should be opportunities off the field as well.
The NCAA has much work to do when it comes to fairness and equity. Please join our fight.
Miami's Shannon will be only black BCS coach, says things haven't changed
ESPN.com news services
Of the 65 coaches leading programs affiliated with the Bowl Championship Series, Miami's Randy Shannon is about to stand alone.
A week from now, he'll be the only black man in the group.
Miami coach Randy Shannon says mandating a graduate assistant job for minorities would help provide a more diverse base.
After Sylvester Croom resigned Saturday from Mississippi State, along with the recent firings of Kansas State's Ron Prince and Washington's Tyrone Willingham -- who'll coach his final game with the Huskies on Saturday -- Shannon is one of three black coaches left in major college football, and the only one at a BCS school.
The last time there were only three black coaches at the Division I-A level was 1993, and Shannon, who waited many years before getting his first legitimate chance at becoming a head coach, simply can't understand the lack of progress in bridging the sideline race gap.
"It's sad that we keep talking about the same things," Shannon told The Associated Press on Sunday. "Maybe Sylvester was tired. I know a year or two ago he had surgery on his hip or back. But after a while, you say to yourself, how much longer can we keep going just talking about this? We can't keep talking about the same issues every year."
And yet, at this time every year, the issue keeps coming back.
Bowl season hasn't even started, but already, some marquee jobs have come open -- and, in some cases, apparently been filled.
Tennessee will name Lane Kiffin as Phillip Fulmer's replacement on Monday, and ESPN.com's Ivan Maisel is reporting that sources say Clemson will promote interim coach Dabo Sweeney as soon as contract details are worked out.
One of the few black candidates believed to have legitimate interest from a BCS school that's changing coaches is Illinois offensive coordinator Mike Locksley, who has been mentioned as a replacement for Greg Robinson at Syracuse. Buffalo's Turner Gill -- who, along with Shannon and Houston's Kevin Sumlin, is one of the three black coaches who have jobs for '09 -- is also thought to be a Syracuse candidate.
The only other prominent black assistant to be mentioned so far is Notre Dame offensive coordinator Michael Haywood, who reportedly was interviewed by Washington to replace Willingham.
Floyd Keith, executive director of the Black Coaches and Administrators, has said many times he'd like to see the number of black college football coaches get to at least 10 -- but now the total is headed the other way, even though nearly half of the players at the level formerly known as Division I-A are black.
Shannon, though, knows there's no easy solution. But he likes one idea.
"If they want to give minority coaches more of a chance, they should let there be three graduate assistants and one of them has to be a minority," Shannon said. "At least then, you'd be giving a minority coach a chance to develop. If you want to address the issue, allow a third spot to be a minority position and if you can't fill it, then you can't fill it. But give them a chance."
Gill told The Buffalo News for a story published Sunday that he always heard the same thing when he interviewed for various jobs before moving to western New York.
"Not the right fit," Gill told the newspaper. "The words 'not the right fit' can be looked at in several ways. Not to say that you weren't qualified but maybe they want a guy who's going to be there for four [or] five years or has a different offensive or defensive philosophy. There's so many different dynamics to the word 'fit."
In South Florida, diversity seems to fit.
Not only does Miami have a black football coach, it has a woman -- Donna Shalala, who served as secretary of health and human services under President Bill Clinton -- as university president. And, a black men's basketball coach in Frank Haith.
A few miles away at Florida International, Cuban-Americans serve as university president (Mitch Maidique), athletic director (Pete Garcia) and football coach (Mario Cristobal). "It's a diverse community," Shannon said. "You can see every ethnic group in Miami. Coach Cristobal, he does a good job, and white, black, Hispanic, we've been this way for years in Miami.
It's a melting pot more than anything."
It's hardly that way everywhere. According to a recent BCA hiring report card, only 12 of 199 vacancies between 1996 and 2006 went to blacks.
But the need to label -- and track the number of -- minority coaches is still puzzling to Shannon.
"I think we all should be treated as coaches equally," Shannon said. "But it's just how society is. The minority deal is always going to be there."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report..
Dedicated to my former students and young brothers labeled as throwaways
By: Yorri Berry
On his eighth birthday
He doesn't get a bike
Just a prison cell with his name engraved on the exterior
Because he can't read as well as his counterparts a little less tan than he is
And his intellectual inability has less to do with his tanness
Rather his lack of in-demandness
Because his blackness means that he doesn't make the priority cut on their checklist
So instead of buying more books and hiring more qualified and credentialed educators for the underperforming school that never taught him how to read
They add a pair of handcuffs to the inventory list because he'll never graduate anyway
Check the rates
For little colored boys like him finishing high school makes him the exception
So no need for a college fund
No need for updated books and a college preparatory curriculum
No need to build state of the art computer labs when we can just install more metal detectors
Because his name is no longer little colored boy failed by the system, the schools, the inactive daddies held hostage in the prison cell a few blocks down from the one they're building for him, and the high and mighty middle class of educated black folk who dare not care long enough to matter
His name is just criminal
Or criminal junior who looks just like his criminal senior pops he never met
So we treat him like one
And when we walk down the street next to him clutching our purse noses in the air we greet him like one
And when we fail to feed him truth that says you better read until you can't read anymore because by age 18 they expect you to be in prison not college we deceive him like one
Little black boy when I see you I don't clutch my purse
Nor do I perceive you as violent as if you are out to get me
Allow me to inject two pints of reality into your mind
Because young brother the hit is out on you
The racism is no longer blatant
Instead it is covered in whipped cream I call institutionalized
While the media sells wholesale societal lies
That you will amount to nothing more than a dangerous, illiterate, unemployed, HIV infected throwaway
That your life isn't worth the same as the Laura Bush's and Cindy McCain's
And if you don't believe me do a comparative analysis of black men who kill white women versus black men who kill other brothers and tell me if the penalties are anywhere near the same
Lame
Is the fact that when we see your underwear and little tighty whiteys because you're too cool to wear a belt we simply shake our heads
When we hear you use the words woman and bitch interchangeably we simply shake our heads
When we see you chillin on street corners during school hours we simply shake our heads
We shake our heads and keep moving because we didn't birth you so that means you are not our problem
And like much of society we too have given up on you
Throwaway
But I dare someone to reach their clean hand into the garbage can and take back our boys and show them how to be men
Stop shaking your head because they are teens reading on 4th grade levels and tutor them
Because criticism from afar won't bring about change
See
The birthing of these words aren't for fame
Or critical acclaim
Rather my mind being shaken from mental orgasms arising from reality relationing my brain
In the middle of morning
And right now I'm in the middle of mourning truth confronting me
A newfound peripheral actuality
When I examine our communities
I see slave ships moving down the street
Except they look like you...and me
I'm just a truth-seeking rational being
Bleeding black representative of the need to go back
Not only to examine the past but analyze the present and force a burial of unequivocal jargon that some of us have "arrived"
I have no PhD yet but I'll assert that 23 years ought to qualify my perspective affirming that regardless of how many advanced degree-getting gated community living colored folk out there
If we still have public school systems graduating fewer than 50% our young men then one of our wings is broken therefore none of us can fly
I open my eyes
Only to see his fist effortlessly pounding another compelling me to envision his future in prison or a mortuary
Little brother
Son of a mother who doesn't care
Conceived of a sperm who ain't there
While last night's dinner and body wash was elsewhere
Because he came to school hungry with unclean fingernails
Didn't physically smell
Yet from the look in his eyes I knew his home life was dirty
For change he was thirsty
But the only water I had to offer were the dried up tears I cried last night as
I pondered the fate of his classmates
The one with the fresh Jordan's who could barely read
The one who uses woman and B.I.T.C.H. interchangeably
The one who has the potential to be a genius unable to focus because of his past
The one who hasn't turned in a completed homework assignment since he's stepped foot in the class
Then I think to myself
What percentage of these boys have never used the word DAD
Some days I try not to care so much
Because when I think of him I find myself unable to focus, losing sleep
But like so many others I can't overlook the reality looking back at me
While aspiring bourgeois wannabes are having tea parties and networking socials
I sit here immobile
Emotion filled with tears because I lack solutions
Wishing it was just an illusion
Yet the conclusion to which I have come is that without mental and physical individual and institutionalized change
It'll be a miracle if one of these boys graduates from college
I don't see him in juvenile detention because Jena's America attempts to sentence 28 yrs for fighting
Some look at me like my vision is skewed for not accepting this version of normality
But It'll never be normal to me because its not supposed to be
Each day I drove from work thinking about those boys I cried the entire way home
And I lived 35 minutes away
Apathetic to his pain
Terrorizing my life
When I leave, I still care
Even after I close my eyes in slumber he's still there
Yes
I understand he just may encounter more crack heads than he does college graduates
Still, I'm angry because he can't read and
HELP ME HELP YOU
Directly, indirectly, subconsciously, spiritually pleading
I wonder if King ever got tired of dreaming
Or illiterate slaves hungry for knowledge got tired of reading
I'm tired of writing but my journey and work has just begun
I'm experiencing feelings reflective of needing an emotional gas station
Instead of the violence perpetuating misogynistic videos BET needs to air my 9-5
Monday through Friday intertwined
Harsh realities
Crisis in the community
Yet how many of us are prepared to dedicate our lives to lending Minds...dollars...hearts...hands
Revolutionizing to give a damn
Longer than two-minute tears
Inactive fears
Complacency for future years
Of witnessing historical cycles remain unbroken
Yorri Berry is a Katrina Survivor and a poet who has granted YourBlackWorld.com permission to offer her thought-provoking poems to the masses. Look out for more of her highly enriching poems. Click here to Contact Ms. Berry.
