And this…

“According to Chicago’s Daily Herald, while Obama was running for Senate in early 2004, he told the newspaper’s editorial board that the gay rights struggle was comparable to the 1960s civil rights movement, saying that his father and mother wouldn’t have been allowed to marry in some Southern states. “So it’s not as if I’m not sympathetic to the idea that … politics shouldn’t get in the way if something’s right,” Obama told the newspaper.”

And this from The Huffington Post

“Less than halfway through his first term, President Barack Obama has appointed more openly gay officials than any other president in history.

Gay activists say the estimate of more than 150 appointments so far – from agency heads and commission members to policy officials and senior staffers – surpasses the previous high of about 140 reached during two full terms under President Bill Clinton.”

Obama made it very clear from jump his postion on gays and same sex marriage. Yet many in the Black community who claim to lean on the Bible for their moral guidance conveniently tossed all of that away in the name of a “historical moment”. Obama has also been very clear on his postion on abortion (child murder). But yet again, it was widely ignored.

Now that as president he has finished “evolving” and simply repeated his thoughts on same sex marriage from the past, now all of a sudden his view is in direct conflict with your morals.

Before you continue, I want you to pause here for a minute and think about everything I have said in this post so far. I’ll wait……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

When you HONESTLY sit down and take a look at all of this, it is very reminiscent of many of our Black churches. As Black folks, we are not stupid. We know that many of our choirs are packed with gays and lesbians. We know that some of our elders and trustees are also on the DL. We even know that in some cases, pastor likes hanging with the boys (little boys) a little too much. But we will tolerate all of that and dare anyone to speak against the “MAND (spelled correctly) of God”.

On the months leading up to the 2008 elections, I warned my fellow Christians to look at all of the issues and weigh them out. I told them to look beyond his “Blackness” and look at all of the issues. Listen to what he is saying about how he would handle the economy. Listen to how he would handle international affairs. But most importantly, pay close attention to those issues of morality and how he is proposing to push certain agendas. And make a decision based on that. Not just on his “Blackness”.

In short, I was the one that was standing on the wrong side of history. Many of the Christians I knew who said “Amen” to the same scriptures that condemn sin such as homosexuality, murder, etc. quickly accepted a widely circulated picture of Obama as Black preachers encircled him in prayer as proof positive that he was “God’s man”. Many of these so-called Christians were even siding with homosexuals to deflect any kind of criticism whatsoever about the president. Even Christians I at one time looked up to had tossed aside all of their stated convictions on these matters and suddenly became part of the fan base. They repeated all the talking points of the fan base by calling anyone who opposed Obama on anything as either “racists” or “sellouts”.

So now that some of you are now taking a stand against Obama now after defending him with your life, are you now a “sellout”? Are you now a “racist”? I can even remember how people used scripture to both justify their vote for Obama and condemn those who did not vote for him. To them, you were insulting every Black slave that died in this country. Because after all, the sole reason why slaves died in the first places was so that one day we could have a Black president, right?

I think one of the things that really get me is that on Facebook at least, I know many of these people personally. And If I were to have this same conversation with them face to face, the would be amen-ing me out of the building. But once they get on Facebook, they take on this entirely different persona that they know good and doggone will isn’t real. If anything, they are simply afraid of being left out of any reindeer games. That is why I have this love/hate relationship with Facebook in the first place. I never know which version I’m getting from some people.

By now, some of y’all may be wondering why I am talking this hard towards people I love dearly. That is EXACTLY the reason. I love my people dearly. I love the true church and everybody that makes up the Body of Christ. But unlike many of the preachers out there, I have nothing to lose like they do. Truth must be told if we are going to truly be salt and light in this world. For the ones out there who are holding fast to the truth, support them and thank God for them.

“You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost its savor, how shall it be salted? it is thereafter good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” (Matthew 5:13)

For those of your who are truly Christians, you are called to be a difference in this world, not to become like it. I’m okay with gospel music, but if you are ripping off of secular artists, teaming up with artists who also make songs about sex outside of marriage, you are not salt. Your “convictions” are being “trodden under the foot of men”. And the worst thing about it is that you think it’s cool. You are like that nerd in school who thinks that everybody is laughing at his corny jokes. But he fails to realize the huge “I am stupid” sign on his back.

So if you want to continue to support Obama, please do. But don’t twist and bend scripture to justify your position. But if you truly are a follower of Jesus Christ, for His sake and yours stop hiding your convictions behind avatars, feel good scriptures and cryptic posts on Facebook (which btw, everybody already knows who and what you are talking about) and take a stand. Christ hung on a cross for you and you are telling me you are afraid of losing “friends” on Facebook?

Come on, son!

Black website rankings for 5/14/12

Worldstarhiphop.com Alexa Traffic Rank: 1,152
Mediatakeout.com Alexa Traffic Rank: 1,756
GlobalGrind.com Alexa Traffic Rank: 6,295
TheRoot.com Alexa Traffic Rank: 15,212
TheGrio.com Alexa Traffic Rank: 17,166
eurweb.com Alexa Traffic Rank: 25,105
Concreteloop.com Alexa Traffic Rank: 36,986
BlackAmericaWeb Alexa Traffic Rank: 41,916
Blackenterprise.com Alexa Traffic Rank: 45,118
Ebony.com Alexa Traffic Rank: 76,775
Blackweb20.com Alexa Traffic Rank: 204,147
**Do I need to point out the trend here? No conspiracy here. These are the sites WE elect to visit on our own**

Thank you! THANK YOU to all the moms out there. Your love and sacrifice is a true gift from the Lord. You are thebomb.com

A lot more classy than that stupid Time cover.

Yet news orgs like CNN jump over THE PEOPLE and immediately quote polling data.

(CNN) Poll: Majority approves of Obama’s marriage decision”

Data, according to them was provided by Gallup.

So let’s get this straight. On one hand we have a majority of Americans who actually took the time to go to their local polling station/submit a ballot to vote “nay” on same sex marriage. On the other hand we have a firm that through a series of scientific and computerized methods concluded that the majority of Americans actually want to see same sex marriage become a reality.

Now either those pro same sex folks are just downright too lazy to fill out a dang ballot, or polling organizations like Gallup need to check their math.

In any event, we are we going to have a real discussion on the economy, Mr. President?
Yes, you can sing a lil’ bit, and Michelle can do some push ups. But what’s up?

This post is specifically for my Christian friends who voted for Obama. Today,  I’m going to remind you of some of the rationalizations you used to skirt around certain issues.

On the issue of abortion:

You know full well the Bible (Jeremiah 1:5) says “Before I was in your mother’s womb, I knew you”. In fact, it’s one of those scriptures that you say “amen” to every week in church. But when Obama came on the scene, and his position on abortion was made very clear, suddenly your “convictions” went silent. One of the more popular excuses was “Republicans aren’t any better because they care nothing for children after they are born”. Let’s stop there for just one moment.

Did you know that since the beginning of the school year, there have been over 2500 arrests of students in the Chicago Public school district? The man who once was over that same system (Arne Duncan), is now Obama’s Education secretary. Did you know that poverty rates among children here in the US has reportedly gone up in the last few years? What about the cheating scandal that has not only rocked the city of Atlanta, but is now coming to light in school districts all across America.

“But Duane, you can’t blame all of that on Obama.”

Of course not. But what I can look at is how Obama and his party has taken money from teacher organizations than their opponents. What I can look at is how Obama (to my knowledge) has made no public statement condemning either the nationwide cheating scandal or the high arrest rate of children in his hometown.

Another rationalization: “Obama may be pro-abortion, but what about Bush and all of his wars? Think about all the innocent victims who have died.”

Not only did Democrats take in more money from defense contractors during the 2008 election cycle, but Obama has ramped up the war machine–not slow it down as he promised and has his fan base hoped.

But let’s think about this for a minute. How does one wrong justify another wrong?

If you are reading this and you think I am trying to make a case for you to vote for the Republican party this year, not only have you missed the point, but you simply do not want take an honest look at your own rationalizations. Mitt Romney is full of his own contradictions and has nothing to do with how you rationalized in the past.

Now that Obama has come out “officially” as one who supports gay marriage, I just wonder what will be your latest rationalization.

I will be talking more about this in the very near future.

GASP!

A successful company avoiding to pay taxes? Why is this news? I mean, really.
People can front all they want to, but if you got a tax bill showing that a significant portion of your earnings (mind you, the corporate tax rate is much higher than what an individual pays) had to go to a government that quite frankly had nothing to do with your success, you would look for ways not to pay it as well.

But this is what really gets me with my friends on the left. They can hammer big banks all day, tell you where there board members live, tell you about all the evil connections of the Koch brothers. But when it comes to discussing how the same big money flows on the left as well, nobody wants to talk about that. All of a sudden, the discussion switches to…Trayvon or something racial. But when it comes to money, all they do is parrot the talking points that are handed to them. The mainstream media that they claim to hate uses a teleprompter, so do they. A president they are basically married to reads from a teleprompter, so do they.

Notice how companies like Walmart are constantly targeted for having their products built in China or not having unions. Target is right down the street and yet nothing is said about them. The left will tell you that they love and care for the poor. But they are the main ones that will constantly make fun of those “Walmart people”. But when election time comes, don’t worry, they will send a bus for them to get to the polls.

So now we have Apple avoiding to pay “their fair share”. Do you really think that millions of capitalist-hating individuals are gonna drop their iPods, iPads and other Apple products? Will they stop feeding the beast by halting both the production and consumption of apps for the Apple iTunes store?

iDont think so.

This picture accurately portrays a mindset I encounter from time to time. There are some people out there who from a mentality standpoint have never left the slave ship and want you to stay chained to it as well.

In a recent online conversation, I made the argument that we as Black folks should not spend so much time talking about issues that have no real impact on our daily lives. I’m not saying that every conversation has to be as structured as if we are talking with Booker T. Washington. But my goodness, why are we getting so deep over an idiot who made a racist cake….in Sweden? Are we that desperate to find something to keep us angry?

My argument was that while this story is despicable in every way, why are some of our best and brightest online engaging in such a deep discussion over it. Are we so desperate to find instances of racism (by the way, the guy who designed this cake was Black) that we will travel half way around the world to find it? Why is it that a bunch of White people in Sweden eating cake will generate more comments, drive more web traffic than let’s say another Black kid who was shot by another Black kid the other night in our own backyard.

And yes, I do get the point that the odder the story, the more folks will talk about it. Racism is an terrible thing. Yet it seems that our press has a penchant for finding these dumb stories while we blow them up to major news status with each click and with each share. That is what I don’t like.

This person I was responding to took the angle that the actions of this one Black guy in Sweden somehow makes all Black people look bad.

While I do believe that we are all connected, the actions of a few ignorant Black folks ultimately have a zero impact on those who do not associate themselves with that foolishness. This person used the analogy that if 100 or so Black men robbed a bank, the cops would basically include me in the hunt.

Uhhh, I live in Atlanta. Most of the crime committed here is committed by other Black folks. Yet somehow I manage to make it home every day while passing cops in different communities. The times I have been stopped suspiciously was due to the fact that the person they were looking for (according to them) fit my description. If you are a cop and the only information you have is that the perp is a young Black man, who the heck are you gonna profile? Asian men? They asked me a few questions and apologized for my inconvenience. It was no big deal. Some people that I know would have escalated the situation for no reason (like Tyler Perry).

If Sambo the Cake man wants to continue to make his cakes, that is on him. I take no ownership of his foolishness. The day his actions have a direct impact on my wallet, my ability to expand my professional network, my family is the day I will personally hunt this dude down. Until then, isn’t there something better we can talk about?

My success as a Black man isn’t chained to your stupidity.

All over the net, folks were cussing her out and disrespecting her all in the name of “justice” (Pronounced: Just-US). Here is just a sampling:

“right not i am so darn angery i can hardly stand it!!!!!! i dont even want to see this stupid woman any more go home lady”

“How could you let those words come out your mouth after what Al sharpton, your lawyers and over 2 million plus, felt your hurt and then turn around and say it was an accident? That was a low blow to this case and the people that stood behind you .Even a blind person can hear the fact and know that wasn’t an accident. How could Mr. Crump let you do that to US. That ‘s very very sad on your behalf Ms. Sybrina Fulton.”

Dr. Boyce Watkins make it plain in his latest article entitled “Note to Trayvon’s Mother: It’s Time for You to Step to the Side”.

“I haven’t spoken with Rev. Al Sharpton in a few months. But if we were still speaking and he were to ask me what to do with the mother of Trayvon Martin, my answer would be very simple:
Get her off the stage right now.”

I’m just shocked that NewsOne posted this foolishness.

Watkins (like the other commenters mentioned above) demonstrate that at the end, Trayvon’s life was nothing more than a stepping stool to forward personal grievances against Whites.

“White people? How did you jump to that conclusion?”

It’s easy. There is an entire sub culture within the Black community that will not report crimes to the police. What that means is that we have criminals walking the street right now we know who are guilty. But because of the “code”, we will not report them to the police. The sad trade off is that you have good people who are locked in self-destructive communities. While I am pretty confident that people like Watkins may have addressed this issue in the past, I have yet to see this same level of passion to bring home grown terrorists in our community to justice. And no, I’m not talking about 2 hour marches. What we need is real, ongoing support that places pressure on these thugs and to exorcise them out of our communities. Sorta like the way we are treating Zimmerman.

The moment the media inaccurately described Trayvon’s shooter as “White”, the mob assembled, raised money, gave away free advertising to Skittles and various iced tea manufacturers, marched, and found gas money to make the trip down to Sanford, FL. Even though the media caught itself and now describes Zimmerman as a “White-Hispanic”, the one-drop rule still applied. But when a Black kid gets shot by another Black kid while his killer goes free, I dare you to fill up a minivan of people who will not only march, but will see the process all the way through.

But to throw parents of the deceased under the bus because they do not fit your agenda, bruh, it’s time for you to sit YOUR tail down.

(CNSNews.com) – A Florida advocacy group spearheading protests over the racially-charged Trayvon Martin shooting has welcomed the intervention of the United Nations’ human rights chief, who has called for the shooter to be put on trial and “reparations for the victims concerned.”

The only victims here are the parents. The UN is not needed.

Panel discussion (in other words, a time for big heads to pontificate over the situation.

Trayvon Martin: Every Black Parent’s Son

Panel:
- Latoyia Edwards, lead anchor, New England Cable News
- Phillip Martin, senior reporter, WGBH Radio
- Kim McLarin, cultural commentator and assistant professor of writing, Emerson College, Boston.
- Peniel Joseph, professor of history and founding director of the Center for the Study of Race & Democracy, Tufts University

Why do you need a round table discussion on something that statically is a rarity in the national Black homicide rate?

The next generation demands an answer.

“One night Representative Charles C. Diggs (D-Mich.) witnessed a vicious attack on a man in a Washington, D.C. street by a gang of Negro youth. Diggs, himself a Negro, said they acted like a pack of wolves and that the incident points up great need for social responsibility on the part of the Negro community. He, in turn, was criticized for injecting the race issue.

When predominately Negro slums produce a disproportionately large number of drops-out whose employability is low and delinquency excessive, the issue is inescapably racial. The Negro community, which suffers first from crime by Negroes (and most), has as much right to assume responsibility for harlots as it has to take credit for its heroes. The privilege of a high school education has not been denied the drop-out. It is the duty of his community to see that he does not neglect it.

Not all drop-outs are slum children, nor are they dumb. White suburbia also has its quota of withdrawals and in one survey it was found that a third of those with high IQs also chose not to graduate. Efforts to combat this problem should begin in the home and at community level. It must be impressed upon teen-agers that they must learn before they can earn, that most employers will not even consider an applicant with less than a high school education.

A good example of how a community can accomplish this is the “Back-to-School, Stay-in-School’ campaign being conducted by the Chicago Urban League. It has interested 300 community groups in helping it sell education to both youngster and their parents. This Frederick Douglass , who a century ago wrote: “One thing is for certain, we must find new methods of obtaining a livelihood, for the old ones are failing fast. ” (emphasis added)

Yesterday, I spent a great deal of time posting thoughts, personal experiences, suggestions that will help put us as a people on the road to recovery.

What started all of this was yet another sad article of a group of young Black kids in Portland (out of all places) who decided to get together and trash a local establishment. Nothing different than the other similar stories out there, but this one shook something in me to give a creative response.

I do not care what your political persuasion is (I really don’t because this is not a political issue). If you have something to contribute (a nugget of advice, bright idea, personal experience) that can help turn the tide of broken families and wayward kids in the Black community, then please join me over on the Blackinformant.com Facebook page by adding your #how2repairapeople meme. One of these ideas just might spark you to actually do something.

So glad she was willing to go public and tell her story.

But what I also found shameful was how Blackvoices/HuffingtonPost chose to only show two of the 5 officers that were sentenced. Here is a screen shot from their article.

And here is the widely-distributed full depiction of all the officers involved.

Although the article does mention the fact that there were 5 cops involved, for some reason the editor only had time to show 2 of the White officers, not all 5 (which included two Black officers).

What took place on that awful day may be tragedy, but unfortunately it is part of a larger chain of other tragedies of police officers that cross the line in that region. Blackvoices/HuffingtonPost needs not to add media malpractice to these series of unfortunate events.

It’s funny yet sad to see the reaction I get anytime I bring this stuff up from the so-called Black elite online. Without blinking they will dismiss all of these kids as being “hoodrats”, “thugs”, “ignorant”, and (oh my goodness) will even call them ‘niggas’in an attempt to distance themselves from them. But fortunately the online Black elite will have “Black Family Day” right around the time to vote. Then it’s back to “those kids”.

Those that have been following me for some time have seen me make the argument that ALL of these kids belong to us. In fact, I’ve wrote about it here and on several other occasions.

If my kids are acting up, I can’t go across the street to correct the neighbor’s kids first. I have to first take care of my own house. For you Bible-believing, church going folks, Jesus called that “hypocrisy”.

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:3-5

So can we talk?

White Teen Beaten, Tortured By Blacks – Hate Crime

Mpls. Police Ponder 8 P.M. Curfew After Youth Mob Attacks

If anything else, the Trayvon Martin saga has once again placed the value of personal “Blackness” right on center stage.

What do I mean by that?

When news broke out about a young girl in New York was gang raped by a group of White men (including some police officers), it became one of those defining moments in Blackness. Stand up for this innocent young girl or else the value of your Blackness will be deducted. Don’t ask any probing questions, just defend her from the evil White media.

We know how that story turned out.

Then there was those White Duke lacrosse players who allegedly raped a Black single mother who came to their house to provide some “entertainment”. Once again, screw the facts. If you are Black, you must defend this young girl at all costs. If you are caught questioning her story, your Black card will deducted more points.

Sadly, we know how that story turned out as well.

And there have been other Black tests as well that are too numerous to mention here.

Today we find ourselves once again being pushed into yet another endless line of other Black folks, by other Black folks to once again have our Black card swiped and credited or debited. If you wear a hoodie and post it on Facebook, 50 points. If you “like” someone who did, that’s 10 points. Sadly, if you are determined not to repeat the mistakes we made in the past and want to see all the fact first, “Please step to the side and one of our “Real” Black brothas and sistahs will be here to frisk and x-ray you.”

I was on the phone yesterday with a brutha who 10 years has worked in juvenile detention system in the city of Philadelphia. His salary isn’t the greatest. But he does it because he loves the kids and want to see real change. Most of the young men under his watch? Young Black men. Although he totally agreed that there should be a thorough investigation into the Trayvon situation, he is frustrated with the lack of equal concern for young Black men in his own city. So he recently joined Facebook and began to share his overal viewpoint. Agreements with his viewpoint have been peppered with “Uncle Tom”, “Larry Elder-type” (What does that supposed to mean?) and other non-flattering responses.

For me personally, the storyline has pretty much been the same. Not only have I worked extensively with Black youth over the years, but I have seen them graduate from high school, graduate college, and land into marriages that have lasted for years. That is how you rebuild a community. But for the Black gate keepers out there, one moment of stepping out of line of group think can cost you some major points.

***Did I forget to mention that by even mentioning this self-hating point system, some immediately classify this as “whining”. What they don’t realize is by classifying this as whining, they are acknowledging that this dichotomy does actually exist. The only difference is they do not have the courage to call it out, lest they lose points from their own Black card.***

In American history, we learned that African slaves were placed on auction blocks while White plantation owners yelled out the value they were willing to pay. Black men were rated on everything but intellect. Black women were also rated on the same scale including sexual features. In 2012, I find myself witnessing the same concept minus the physical stage and plantation owners. In today’s world, your worth is now determined by a cabal of Black folks who tell us which day to do the Green dance, Red dance, Gold dance (think “The Wiz”)

Watch Emerald City Sequence – Green, Red, Gold in Music  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

For many of us, we were always told by our Black elders that in this world we are going to have to work twice as hard as any White man to prove our worth. But in this day and age, it has become more apparent that the only endless tests of self worth (light skin vs. dark skin, interracial marriage debate, live in the hood vs. live in the suburbs, good English vs. broken English, Democrat vs. Republican, Trayvon vs. all the facts, etc.) come from my own people.

In my heart of hearts, I am begging for the Sanford police department and the FBI to resolve this issue quickly so that we can move on to more pressing issues (like Black on Black crime). But alas, I fear that the issues that plague our community on a daily basis will once again will be a zero sum issue for the Black card system.

“EXTREME SEXTAPE!!! Hood Dudes Are Shopping A New SEXTAPE…Allegedly Showing Actress Maia Campbell…And 20 DUDES!!! (But Was It SEX…Or RAPE???)”

(From MediaTakeOut.com – A Black-owned site that is one of the most visited webpages in Black America)