Steps To Manufacturing Success

by: Lawrence Watkins

I remember it like it was yesterday. I’m sitting in Perkins Restaurant as we finished our Friday morning bible study class in Louisville, KY. With me was Carl Brazley, my closest and most creative mentor. We were about to start one of our usual mentoring sessions that we had about once per month. This session was special as he shared his wisdom about success that has become fundamental in my life philosophy.

Mr. Brazley asked me two questions right off the bat: “What does success mean to me?” and “How will I go about achieving it?” I shared with him my personal mission statement that I had recently developed at the LeaderShape program in Champaign, IL. It states that “I want to become a tycoon politically, socially, and economically so that I may have a positive impact on my community.” Mr. Brazley then said, “That’s great! Now how are you going to ACHIEVE your mission?” This was the question that I was still trying to figure out. I had seen ultra-successful all around me in person or on TV, but I found the process mystifying at times.

Mr. Brazley continued, “Lawrence, don’t believe the hype that you see on TV when it comes to people who you view as successful. The media loves stories about self mad millionaires and billionaires, but rarely are they self made.” What he said next changed my perspective, “Here is what they [the media and often the individual in question] don’t want you to know: Success is manufactured! Many successful people have other hidden influential people in the background guiding them on the right path. Giving them the connections that they need to accelerate their success. This is what I am going to do with you Lawrence.” Whoa!! Talk about some heavy material!

The Real Secret Sauce of Success

I researched the statement that Mr. Brazley made further and I started to read more about individuals who I view to be successful. I was very surprised at the results/trends that I found. Let’s start with Donald Trump, the King of the Self Made…His father had over $100 million in real estate by the time he was born. Warren Buffett (a major influence in my thinking), the Sage of Omaha… His father was a stockbroker and four-term congressman from the state of Nebraska. What about Bill Gates? His mother sat on the board of directors of a bank and his father was a prominent Seattle attorney. The more people that I researched, the more surprised I became. Then I started to feel apprehensive, “What do I need to become successful?”

There are two things that I don’t want to happen by sharing this story with you:

1. I do not want to relegate or belittle the accomplishments of successful people just because they come from a well connected family. The people mentioned above are all extremely intelligent and have a strong work ethic. It’s also important not to hide facts about people’s environment as if that doesn’t play a critical role in success.

2. I do not want you to feel like the situation is hopeless if you don’t come from a rich and powerful family. Throughout this article, I’m going to teach you how to create your own “synthetic power family.”

Your Synthetic Family of Networks

If you don’t come from a rich and well connected family, do not worry about it. It is not the end all, be all. In fact, I know many people who come from well-to-do families, but their lives are in shambles. Money and entitlement can be hindrances to living a WEALTHY LIFE just as much as they can be assets. I come from a solidly middle class family where my father was a high-ranking police official and my mother was a high school guidance counselor. I was able to use this base to expand even further and broaden my experiences to study at Phillips Academy Andover, Carnegie Mellon University, and now Cornell. The most beautiful part is that I have paid very little for my educational experience and it’s because I created a synthetic family to help me achieve my goals.

A synthetic family is not the family you were born with, but one that you created that helps provide the resources you need to accomplish goals. I’m not just talking about money, but also advice and connections as well. Having a synthetic family is not a substitute for your real family, proper planning, or an intelligent work ethic (see my Pareto and Parkinson article). I view the synthetic family as an accelerator of the success process. The great thing about the synthetic family is that it is easy to start and replicate.

Be Your Own Barack Obama

After President Obama (wow, that sounds great) won the election for United States President in November, he had to move his actions from campaigning mode to governing mode. Immediately, Obama selected Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff and then dozens of other appointments were announced in the following weeks. President Obama surrounded himself with individuals who have a greater knowledge about different aspects of governance than he does. When President Obama and his advisors meet about the current economic situation, the advisors give their expert opinions about what Obama should do. After that, President Obama escorts them out of the room and then makes the decision he feels will be best for the country.

I ask, “What’s keeping you from being your own Barack Obama?” I urge you to assemble your own personal board of advisors to help you when you have a tough decision to make. There is not a human being on the face of the planet who knows everything. Seek out those individuals who have general wisdom as well as those who have specific expertise. Bring them into your family and achieve your goals more effectively.

The Early Bird Gets the Worm

One of the great myths of networking is that you start reaching out to others when you need something. The people who really succeed in building relationships know that you need to start building way BEFORE you need anything. This is especially true if you are thinking of opening your own business. Many people start the networking process too late in the game. Prospective entrepreneurs think about details like incorporating or the specific name of their company. Although those tasks are important, they have much less influence over your business success compared to relationship building.

Immediately after graduating from college I worked for my brother, Dr. Boyce Watkins. My job was to book him for speaking engagements and manage his growing national media profile. I knew long before I started to work for him that I wanted to start my own company and I took steps to achieve this goal. For example, when Boyce would appear on a national TV show, he was often on the show with other high profile guests. We would make sure to collect that person’s contact information and follow up with him/her right away. When I started Great Black Speakers Bureau, those were my first speakers. Make sure to always begin with an end in mind!

Overcome your Fear of Rejection

Bestselling author and networking guru Keith Ferrazzi calls this the “genius of audacity.” If you never ask for what you want, very rarely do you ever get what you want. The two major emotions that stop people from asking are the fear of rejection from the other person and a feeling that the other person is better than you. Question: What’s going to have a longer impact on your life? FEAR of rejection or FAILING to reach your goals? The answer to this question for me is not reaching the goals I set out to accomplish. In this scenario, rejection MIGHT happen but failure WILL happen.

Follow Up and Stay in Touch

If the yin is overcoming your fears and asking for what you want, then the yang is following up with your contacts. This is something that I have personally struggled with lately as my number of contacts has grown significantly. However, I have noticed a direct correlation between my rate of follow up and the amount of success I achieve over any period of time. It is funny how people spend so much time making new contacts and so little time following up with them. This reminds me of the local ladies man who is only interested in the chase of a woman. Once he gets her, he then loses interest. In business and in life, don’t be this person! It is much more expensive to attain a new client/contact/friend than to maintain the ones you already have. I am not telling you to not meet new people, just do right by them when you do meet them for long lasting business/personal relationships.

State’s Rights v. Congressional Leader’s Preferences - The Fate of the Illinois Senate Seat

By Syreeta L. McNeal, CPA, JD

Recently, there has been a stimulating debate over whether Illinois’s U. S. Senator designate, Roland Burris, is entitled to fill the Illinois Junior Senate seat after embattled Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s appointment on December 30, 2008. Majority Senate Leader, Harry Reid, is stating that Illinois Governor Blagojevich’s appointment is tainted and is not valid because of Blagojevich’s recent arrest and federal complaint brought by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). With all due respect to the Honorable Harry Reid, his argument is more political than legal and shows his preferences in trying to determine the outcome of who should fill the Illinois Senate seat. Unfortunately, Senate Majority Leader Reid, who is a lawyer, should know that Burris is legally entitled to be seated as a U. S. Senator from the state of Illinois.

U. S. Constitution Denotes Senate Appointments as a State Right

The U. S. Constitution denotes the senate appointment after a vacancy as a specific state right not one to be manipulated by congressional leaders. The specific constitutional provision that addresses the replacement of vacancies in the U. S. Senate is the 17th Amendment of the U. S. Constitution. 17th Amendment, Clause 2 states “When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, that the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.”[1] This provision is important because it specifically grants the authority of senate appointments after vacancies in the hands of the states, not Congress.

Amendment XVII has backing because of another constitutional provision, Article V. Article V of the U. S. Constitution states “….Amendments…. shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures…. or by Conventions.”[2] The importance of Article V is that its gives the Amendments equal weight of importance to the Articles of the Constitution. Therefore, if an Amendment is ratified and specifically changes or narrows the scope of another provision in the Constitution, then the effect of any Amendment is binding as part of the Constitution.

An example of how Article V of the U. S. Constitution works is with the phrase “three fifths of all other persons” as mentioned in Article I.[3] In colonial times, three fifths of all other persons meant black slaves. What the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments did was to remove the impact of blacks being classified as three fifths of a person. The same logic applies with 17th Amendment by it specifically tailoring the senate appointment after vacancies to be done by the states.

For Burris, Illinois Governor Blagojevich was still the formal governor of the state of Illinois on December 30, 2008. The Illinois legislature did not remove Blagojevich prior to the Burris appointment nor change the Illinois Constitution to allow a special election to determine the U. S. Senator appointment after the vacancy. Also, Illinois Governor Blagojevich did not resign his post. So, the Burris appointment is valid under the 17th Amendment of the U. S. Constitution.

Courts will likely Validate the Burris Appointment

For those students entering law school, you will likely get bombarded with the 1803 U. S. Supreme Court case, Marbury v. Madison, in Constitutional Law.[4] Well, the Burris appointment has legal backing because of this case. To summarize the facts of the case, outgoing President John Adams appointed William Marbury as justice of the peace for the District of Columbia.[5] President Adams signed the commission letter and affixed the seal of the U. S. Presidency and delivered it to Secretary of State James Madison for delivery.[6] With incoming President William Jefferson, Secretary of State Madison refused to deliver the commission letter of appointment to Marbury and as a result Marbury commenced a writ of mandamus to compel Secretary of State Madison to deliver President Adams’ commission letter for the appointment.[7]

The Supreme Court held that the appointment by President Adams and his signature on the commission letter is all that was needed to validate the appointment of Marbury as justice of the peace for the District of Columbia.[8] Also, the Court held that “with commission being signed, the subsequent duty of the secretary of state is prescribed by law, and not to be guided by the will of the president. He is to affix the seal of the United States to the commission, and is to record it.”[9]

Now, Marbury v. Madison is still good law. To follow the same logic as presented in the Burris appointment, Illinois Governor Blagojevich appointed Burris and signed the commission letter for the appointment. This is all that was needed to validate the act. The Illinois State Supreme Court has already ruled that the Burris appointment is valid and neither Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White nor any other state official is needed to certify the Burris appointment.[10] The U. S. Supreme Court, applying Marbury v. Madison, will likely uphold the Burris appointment to the Illinois Senate seat as well.

Similar to Secretary of State Madison, Majority Senate Leader Harry Reid is using games to delay or ignore the legal Burris appointment by keeping Burris out of the Senate swearing in ceremony due to the fact that he does not have the signature of the Illinois Secretary of State. However, any lawyer should know that this gamesmanship tactic will be to no avail because Burris has U. S. Supreme Court case law in Marbury v. Madison and the 17th Amendment of the U. S. Constitution to validate his Illinois Senate seat appointment.

Legal Disclaimer: This site provides information about the law designed to keep readers informed of pertinent legal matters affecting the African-American community. But legal information is not the same as legal advice -- the application of law to an individual's specific circumstances. Although we go to great lengths to make sure our information is accurate and useful, we recommend you consult a lawyer in your specific location if you want professional assurance that our information, and your interpretation of it, is appropriate to your particular situation.

[1] U.S. Const. amend. XVII, cl. 2.
[2] U.S. Const. art. V.
[3] U.S. Const. art. I, § 2, cl. 3.
[4] See Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137 (1803).
[5] Id. at 138.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Id. at 157.
[9] Id. at 158.
[10] http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a52815d4-de26-11dd-8372-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

2009 - The Return of Intelligence

by Charlamagne Tha God

Intelligence is the new gangsta. In fact, intelligence is the old gangsta but it's the new gangsta to this generation because we have been dumbed down for so long that we either forgot, never knew or just didn't acknowledge being intelligent was the most gangsta way to be to begin with. 2009 is going to be the year of the righteous and the year of the thinker. 2009 begins an era where knowledge truly does reign supreme over almost everyone. (Word to KRS) in fact 09 is a divine year. If you are familiar with Supreme Mathematics then you know that nine is born. You are born once physically then you are born again mentally when you learn the true and proper knowledge of yourself. For example Malcolm Little was born physically May 19, 1925 but was reborn mentally some where between 1945 and 1952. This is when he was incarcerated and introduced to the Nation of Islam when he learned the true and proper knowledge of himself. He was mentally reborn El Hajj Malik Shabazz commonly known as Malcolm X.

I'm not saying that in 2009 everyone is going to convert to Islam and change their name but what I am saying is that nine symbolizes the highest level of change. Change is the basis of growth.Growth is the basis of life and if you are not constantly growing then you are dying. I say that all the time because I want people to really grasp that concept of thinking. The energy of change is all around us right now. Do you think it's a coincidence that Barack Obama's whole campaign was based on change? Is it just random he is called the "Agent of Change"? Hell no that's divine. God designed it that way. His administration starts this year and if you voted for him you are part of his government.
I voted for the first time ever last year. That alone is the direct reflection of the growth that change delivers but it doesn't stop there.

We have to continue the growth process. The way we do that is by educating ourselves. We have to be the bright, articulate, scholars gangstas and gentlemen that we where born to be. Education is sexy! Being smart is the shit! I know that last line wasn't the most eloquent way of putting it but I made my point to the people I was trying to reach. That is the beauty of hip hop and it's the exact reason that hip hop has been the most influential voice among the youth for the past three decades. It speaks right to us, in our lanquage in our voice.

The problem with hip hop today is most artists are not in tune with what is really going on out here in these streets. Some of them are too busy playing stupid to realize things are changing. People are growing and not trying to hear that murder, murder, gangbanging, drug selling, drug using, I will shoot everybody on your block twice, money is all I glorify bullshit they been kicking anymore. People are trying to be educated and informed not misguided and misled. Salute to all the rappers that encouraged the youth to vote last year. That sounded real cute at all the award shows, on 106 & Park and in in your interviews in XXL and Ozone but how many of you artist have really taken the time to educate yourselves on government? Obama is the president elect but the problems in our society didn't magically disappear when he won. We have to continue to encourage the youth to educate themselves on what's going on in these streets as well as government before they get discouraged.

They're going to start to wonder why Obama is in the white house but people still keep getting killed in our communites. Obama is in the White House but mama still complaining about money because of this thing called the recession. Educate the babies people add gas to the spark that has been lit in these young peoples minds. My TV stays on news and sports channels. These television executives wonder why shows like Real Chance of Love are suffering in ratings? You know why, because that demographic you thought was in to this mindless nonsense is in to Obama now. They are trying to figure out ways to work for their community not work for Diddy. 50 Cent's show Money and the Power got cancelled by MTV. Why? Declining viewership among 12-34 year olds. MTV wants to revamp their image. Brian Graden, President of Entertainment at MTV Network's music channels and President of logo says, "Our shows are going to focus less on loud and silly hooks and more on young people proving themselves." These are themes that are consistent with the Obama generation. Wow even MTV realizes change has come, even MTV realizes intelligence is the new gangsta.

Rappers, Radio Personalities, bloggers and anyone with a voice, we don't have to dumb down for our audiences. People want to be educated! Intelligence is the new gangsta. Dave Chappelle and the Boondocks are perfect examples of how you can educate and entertain. Killer Mike and Ice Cube are perfect examples of real gangsta rap. Why? Cause Saying fuck another rapper is easy but saying fuck George Bush takes balls. There is nothing wrong with worldstarhiphop and mediatakeout.com but your mental diet can not just consist of the bullshit content that's on those sites. Sure its entertaining to watch Max B clown Jim Jones for the 1000th time, and I love to see Tony Yayo talk shit about everybody but I love being enlightned more. Go to Finalcall.com and read Minister Farrakhan's True Role of Government. In it he says Education is not a privelage, education is a human right. It is knowledge that seperates the human from the beast, therefore, the best possible education should be given by government and gugovernment is not guaranteeing the unalienable right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I say not only demand it from our government but demand it from ourselves. If you are not in school or college go to the library! Self education is like masterbation! I don't need to pay anybody to fuck me! The library got all the knowledge I need for free. Better yet I can google what it is I'm trying to learn about. Intelligence is the new gangsta.

Remember that old cartoon that showed the brother with the gun and his pants hanging off his ass and the bandana around his mouth and everybody was laughing at him? Doesn't that remind you of your favorite rapper? Well in the same cartoon it showed a brother in a graduation cap and gown with a degree in his hand and everybody was running and screaming scared to death. You know why because intelligence has always been gangsta! My little cousin is in 9th grade he's all caught up in SWAG. He says, "I got SWAG." "Check out my SWAG." I tried to explain to him that SWAG is corny and it is just away for a man to call another man sexy, but then I realized I have to speak to him in his language. That is when I let him know that SWAG means to Study, Work, and Graduate. Study hard and get that education that is your human right because you are a citizen of the US. Work hard, get a job, or a internship while your'e in school; get your hands dirty now so you can keep them clean later by being the boss. And for Christ sake please graduate!!! Take that jewel with you all through high school and college little homie. For those not in school SWAG means to Study, Work, and Grow! Study learn everything you can about God, government, life and business. Work hard at making your community a better place to live, work hard at raising your seeds the right way and getting your family straight, and don't be afraid to grow and become the kings and queens that we are destined to be. That is S.W.A.G!! Not skinny jeans, colorful sneakers, lip peircings and all that other bullshit Lil Wayne got going on.

Intelligence is the old Gangsta, Smart is the Old Sexy and 2009 is the rebirth of the thinker, don't be afraid to express your unique brilliance, and God given genius.This is the era that Knowledge will reign supreme over nearly everyone. Happy New Year America.

--
Charlamagne Tha God
www.dirtlawradio.com
Shadyville Dj's
www.stupiddopemoves.com
I Bust Stupid Dope Moves!

Your Black Life: Race Matters MORE in the ‘Age of Obama’

Race Matters MORE in the ‘Age of Obama’
By: Tolu Olorunda
Staff Writer - YourBlackWorld.com

Reprinted From Black Commentator

“Though not apposite to my present purpose, it is but justice to the fruitfulness of that period, to mention two other important events - the Lutheran Reformation in 1517, and, still earlier, the invention of negroes, or, of the present mode of using them, in 1434.”

-Abraham Lincoln, “Discoveries and Inventions,” February 11, 1859

Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be misled. Race still matters, even in the age of a bi-racial president. In fact, I submit that Race matters more at this transitional period in our multi-cultural society. The presidential campaign of President-Elect Obama sought to vehemently sweep Race-consciousness under the rug, but little did they know, that this stubborn, inextricable faction of our existence would not surrender without a fight. Each time David Axelrod (Obama 2008 chief strategist) felt his campaign had just dodged another Race bullet, the Race assassins would reload for another battle. President-Elect Obama endeared millions of white votes through his desire to run a “race-neutral” campaign, nevertheless, his naïveté only provided comic relief for Black progressives who, unlike Obama, fully understand the intricacy of Race in our society.

Without Obama’s permission, Race resurrected itself early on in the 2008 presidential campaign. It began when White journalists first took it upon themselves to question Obama’s blackness; then followed the – Clinton campaign-sponsored – expose on the possibility of a madrassa-schooled Obama. Subsequently, Obama was painted as a secret Muslim smoker, whose sexism proved uncontainable. In a foreseeable move, Obama’s “outspoken,” “independent” wife would be used as a stumbling block to her husband’s progress. The unpatriotic Michelle “Jezebel” Obama became the goose that laid a thousand eggs for the Obama team’s effort to run a campaign devoid of controversy. In order to assuage the damage wrought by a strong Black Woman’s presence, Sister Michelle would have to undergo a cannibalistic process of image-reorientation, to fit into the mold of an acceptable First Lady. Shortly after, the “gotcha media” would find some legitimate dirt that could reduce Obama to a sheer spectacle. Unbeknownst to 60% of Black folks, they had, all their lives, committed a crime worthy of the death penalty: attended a Black church which advocated self-love, self-control, self-respect, and self-help.

Obama’s attendance at the Black-supremacist, racist, segregationist Trinity United Church of Christ would be the final hurrah of his “Raceless” campaign. With a rare cooperation between ABC News and FOX News in effect, Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright would soon become the “old uncle” who says things Obama doesn’t “always agree with.” The silliness of the fraudulent Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy would gain more steam as the respected theologian sought, hopelessly, to vindicate himself from the fascistic, right-wing media’s attacks on his credibility and integrity. Before long, Obama would feed the food-starved swine, and “denounce” the man who helped mold him from an unsettled bi-racial youth, to a self-confident Black man. Luckily for Obama, John McCain and Sarah Palin had one last surprise for the “disrespectful,” terrorist-enabler.

Some would argue that despite the very nature of the acidic attacks on Obama’s dignity, millions of white voters turned down the offer, and instead, proved willing to accept the moral leadership of a Black man from Hawaii. Some even contend the legacy of the Bradley effect, and its significance in today’s society. Others have unequivocally declared Racism a “myth.” A few have taken it upon themselves to announce the dawn of a “post-racial” society, where everyone has a seat at the table of opportunity and success.

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” an adage says. It is clear that most White journalists lack the sophistication to address the issue of Race in our society, but possess an egocentric appeal, which relentlessly stifles any accommodation of dissenting voices to their myopic analysis of Race in the 21st century.

Few White pundits are aware that Race is not always a tangible and physical element, per se. It, at times, plays dead, and operates in stealth mode. To combat the sleeping giant (Race), one does not avoid any engagement with it, or initiate a “conversation” – with the hopes that words can mend a 400-year, broken bond. The most effective mode of warfare is an all-out attack, and confrontation, with the most explosive component of society – Race. Princeton Professor and Author of Race Matters , Dr. Cornel West has often decimated the illusions of Race-conversations, as concrete substitutes for embracing reality. In a 1997 Harvard-sponsored Du Bois Institute forum, titled “A Conversation on Race,” Dr. West made plain what few journalists are willing to accept:

“Malcolm X used to say you don’t stab a man in the back nine inches and pull it out six inches and say let’s have a conversation. You start off with dilapidated housing, you start with decrepit school systems, you start with inadequate health care, you start with jobs that don’t pay a living wage… There is a sense of urgency… when you have… 52% of black children not just living in material poverty but psychic emptiness… This doesn’t solicit a conversation… [Imagine] Europe having a conversation about Nazism; they didn’t [have] no damn conversation. We needed to fight.”

Dr. West is hardly alone in his insistence that substantive acts of courage must be mustered if our society is to mature – Race wise. W.E.B. Du Bois, one of Black America’s most celebrated scholars, though known as a staunch advocate of integration, grew tired of the little progress made in the quest to assimilate both cultures, and bridge a gap of unity. Du Bois, just as our present reality begs, was wrestling with the small-mindedness of “illiterate nitwits,” whom he felt perceived the world through a dual-nature prism. Du Bois confronted the question of integration, vis-à-vis education, and how much improvement was being made in the struggle for a collective brotherhood/sisterhood. Richard Wormser’s The Rise & Fall of Jim Crow: The African-American Struggle Against Discrimination, 1865-1954 (Social Studies, History of the United States Series), shows a frustrated Dubois who, in 1934 – whilst still editor of The Crisis – suggested a temporary alternative to the desegregated school system for Black children,

“A separate Negro school, where children are treated like human beings, trained by teachers of their own race, who know what it means to be black, is infinitely better than making our boys and girls doormats to be spit and trampled upon and lied to by ignorant social climbers whose sole claim to superiority is the ability to kick niggers when they are down.”

What Du Bois understood, which many fail to grasp today, is that Race happens to be one of the most underrated influences in society – then, and today. Though 20 years before the historic Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling, Du Bois’s prophetic words were able to travel through time and investigate the future. Lo and behold, civil right leaders would discover, later on, that even after the ruling to desegregate public schools, it would take more than legislations to correct the horror motivated by decades of separate and unequal schooling. Thus, Du Bois’ proposal of a schooling paradigm, in which qualified and concerned Black educators imparted the gift of life unto their pupils, was most apt for a generation taught to hate themselves, and psychologically abused in classrooms where Eurocentric standards of education were considered infallible.

In 1967, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would pick up where Du Bois left off, and give one of his most prophetically-structured, spiritually-furnished, but least-talked-about speeches of his lifetime. King, at this point, was an agitated, frustrated, irritated, scared, courageous, and disturbed King. Unlike the King often celebrated during the month of February, or the third Monday in January, this King had just been hit with a dose of reality. Suffering betrayal from certain comrades and lieutenants (who shall remain nameless), Dr. King was more convinced, at this point, that all that glitters is certainly not gold. Ten days after his most crucial speech, “Beyond Vietnam,” Dr. King, stepped up to the lectern at Stanford University to lay down the gauntlet on what the civil rights movement must represent, if our society is ever to develop beyond the illimitable constraints of Race.

In his speech, Dr. King repudiated the silliness of those who would rather evade the elephant in the room, than engage in a “genuine” fight for equality for all:

“I came to see that so many people who supported morally and even financially what we were doing in Birmingham and Selma, were really outraged against the extremist behavior of Bull Connor and Jim Clark toward Negroes, rather than believing in genuine equality for Negroes.”

King also dispelled the notion that “racial progress” is only calculable by the measures white brothers and sisters take to accept certain elements of Black leadership. Hence, Obama’s triumph over John McCain cannot accurately illustrate the “racial progress” made, if Black folks have voted for White candidates, overwhelmingly, since being granted the right to vote, without any special investigation into their ability to “transcend-race”:

“Racism is... the false and tragic notion that one particular group, one particular race is responsible for all of the progress, all of the insights in the total flow of history.”

As though speaking with a megaphone of the future, Dr. King would address our present reality, with a stern warning against deceptive claims that time can truly solve the problems of racial injustice. King warned against the digestion of the White media’s assertions that the success of President-Elect Obama delineates a “new era,” as time has washed away the old, messy, horrible days of racism:

“I’m sure you’ve heard this idea. It is the notion almost that there is something in the very flow of time that will miraculously cure all evils. And I’ve heard this over and over again. There are those, and they are often sincere people, who say to Negroes and their allies in the white community, that we should slow up and just be nice and patient and continue to pray, and in a hundred or two hundred years the problem will work itself out because only time can solve the problem. I think there is an answer to that myth. And it is that time is neutral.”

In his speech, Dr. King made sure to tackle the cynicism of those who believe legislations are mere paperwork, and devoid of any enforceable power to correct the ills of a racialized society. However, like Malcolm X, Dr. King also understood the degree to which such claims arouse credibility, with numerous occurrences of lynchings, even after the passage of the Civil Rights Bill and Voting Rights Act:

“It’s the notion that legislation can’t solve the problem; it can’t do anything in this area. And those who project this argument contend that you’ve got to change the heart and that you can’t change the heart through legislation. Now I would be the first one to say that there is real need for a lot of heart-changing in our country. And I believe in changing the heart. I preach about it. I believe in the need for conversion in many instances, and regeneration, to use theological terms… But after saying this, let me say another thing which gives the other side, and that is that although it may be true that morality cannot be legislated, behavior can be regulated. Even though it may be true that the law cannot change the heart, it can restrain the heartless. Even though it may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, it can restrain him from lynching me.”

Dr. King, who described the plight of Black folks as synonymous to “impoverished aliens,” made sure to draw a blueprint of true integration, before departing from this imperfect, and often, maddening realm of existence:

“We must come to see now that integration is not merely a romantic or aesthetic something where you merely add color to a still predominantly white power structure. Integration must be seen also in political terms where there is shared power, where black men and white men share power together to build a new and a great nation.”

If President-Elect Obama’s obsession with a man who saw no distinction between Black folks (or Negroes) and properties of iron, or transportation vehicles, is of any significance, it simply suggests that the future of Race matters is one of an imperishable existence. Race cannot be eliminated from a society which was born with it. Dr. Condoleezza Rice, earlier this year, described Race as a “birth defect” of our society. Whether corporate-minded, white pundits highlight this reality or not, it is the duty of Black progressives to make plain, for the masses of our people, the past, present, and future of Race Matters. Long live RACE, but down with racism.

Your Black World: Barack Obama Wrestles With Self-Hatred

Black Rage, Barack’s Redemption
By: Tolu Olorunda
Staff Writer - YourBlackWorld.com

Reprinted From Black Commentator

“In Chicago, sometimes when I talk to the black chambers of commerce, I say, ‘You know… A good economic development plan for our community would be if we make sure folks weren’t throwing their garbage out of their cars.’”

-President-Elect Obama (April 2007).

“Y’all have Popeyes out in Beaumont? I know some of y’all you got that cold Popeyes out for breakfast. I know… You can’t do that. Children have to have proper nutrition. That affects also how they study, how they learn in school.”

-President-Elect Obama (February 2008).

“The previous generation, the Moses generation, pointed the way. They took us 90% of the way there [to equality]. We still got that 10% in order to cross over to the other side.”

-President-Elect Obama (March 2007).

“But if we are honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that what too many fathers also are is missing – missing from too many lives and too many homes. They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men… You and I know how true this is in the African-American community… Yes, we need more jobs and more job training and more opportunity in our communities. But we also need families to raise our children… Any fool can have a child... [D]on’t just sit in the house and watch ‘SportsCenter’ all weekend long.”

-President-Elect Obama (June 2008)

…“We’ve all said in the black community, we don’t see all of who we are in, in the media. We see snippets… of our community and distortions of our community. So the world has this perspective that somehow Barack and Michelle Obama are different, that we’re unique. And we’re not. You just haven’t seen us before.”

-First Lady-Elect Michelle Obama (May 2007)

“[T]here’s always… doubt in the back of the minds of people of color, people who have been oppressed, who have never been given the real opportunities that you never really believe, that you believe somehow that somehow someone is better than you, you know deep down inside you doubt that you can really do this cause that’s all you’ve been told is no… And I think it’s one of the horrible legacies of racism and discrimination and depression you know it keeps people down in their souls in a way where you know sometimes they can’t move beyond it.”

-First Lady-Elect Michelle Obama (Nov. 2007)

A close look at the above-listed quotes would strike a curious chord in the reader. How can it be that a married-couple with identical political characteristics provoke such discord in their views on Race, and Black identity? After much deliberation, I’m convinced that President-Elect Obama’s disturbing perspective of the African-American community is not motivated by malice or cowardice, but simply a result of his upbringing. In other words, his distinctly condescending attacks on Black consciousness are merely a product of the overwhelming, disproportionate influence his White mother and White grandparents had on him. In contrast, Michelle Obama, raised by Black parents and nurtured in the womb of Black America, is prone to persuade a more empathetic view of the African-American community. It is virtually impossible for Barack Obama to have emerged from the loving arms of a woman who, “once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe,” and not have inherited some of such Negrophobia, which has cast dark shadows on Black male psyche. In Just Walk on By, Author, Brent Staples wrote of the degree of “lethality nighttime pedestrians” attribute to certain Black males who fit the kinds of cringe-worthy stereotypes which Obama’s grandmother (God rest her soul) must have expressed constantly. The impact of this on the young Barry cannot be overlooked.

Obama was also never immune to the toxic wrath of White-supremacy as a child. Whilst being called “Negro” at school, it is reported that he was “teased more than any other kid in the neighborhood - primarily because he was so different in appearance.” A neighborhood friend recalled how Obama, as a young man, was “built like a bull. So we’d get three kids together to fight him.” An outcast amongst his lighter-skinned friends, he was once thrown into a swamp, when a group of neighborhood rascals grew disturbed that he had decided to tag along with them. Being Black, in this young man’s mind, must have resonated more as a negative, than a positive. It is inconceivable for a love-starved bi-racial kid to undergo such traumatic experience, without incurring an indelible stain of self-hatred. It is in this vein, I believe, that President-Elect Obama attempts to win a battle with his childhood, by scapegoating the Black Community.

Barack Obama’s nonchalance toward Black folks can also be a product of his elite educational background. It is no secret that Ivy-League institutions, such as Harvard and Princeton, promote a deficiency in diversity, vis-à-vis the student/faculty body. Having bathed in the muddy waters of a racialized childhood, it is no insult to suggest that Obama was baptized in the Holy waters of white-dominated institutions, such as the Harvard Law Review, to cleanse all remembrances of his “dark” past, and start anew. On the other hand, Michelle Obama, though privileged with an equivalent share of elite education, had a much different take on life at diversity-deprived institutions: “Predominately White universities like Princeton are socially and academically designed to cater to the needs of the White students comprising the bulk of their enrollments… My experiences at Princeton have made me far more aware of my ‘Blackness’ than ever before. I have found that at Princeton no matter how liberal and open-minded some of my White professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus; as if I really don’t belong.” It is, at this point, clear that the singular difference between Barack and Michelle’s racial ideologies is the background which supports them.

It must be noted that Sen. Obama’s irrational display of self-hatred is not an anomaly in a community literally taught to hate itself. Just this past week, TV Judge and Activist, Judge Mathis, hosted a Black Woman who claimed that 90% of the Black Women she had encountered embarrassed her so much that she often hoped to be white. Mathis, growing disgusted, recommended that this particular lady, just “get her face bleached” and get it over with. Mathis then felt the urge to question her: “If you could kill yourself and come back as white, you would do it, wouldn’t you?” And to total shock of the studio audience, the plaintiff responded in the affirmative, “Definitely.” Regrettably, this attitude is not uncommon to the Black experience in America. It has scarred the fabric of our humanity for generations, since slavery. Many historians would agree that every ailment which afflicts the conditions of Black America today is directly traceable to the horrific conditions that buried the dignity of Black folks for 400 years, and beyond. Self-hatred has proven to be a successful escape route for those Blacks/Browns seeking repair to their damaged self-esteem. This is why a president, who values the humanity of people of culture/color, must be acutely aware of the words he/she chooses in remonstration against such communities. If Barack Obama is unaware of this reality, well-informed counsels such as Michelle Obama and Valerie Jarrett must take a personal interest in educating him.

And now, to President-Elect Obama or any campaign staffers reading this: There’s only a certain amount of discomfort the Black Community can afford after being robbed of its culture, identity, intellectual contributions and pride. Many African natives come to the American shores and thrive in ways that, unintentionally, insult the dignity of their African-American family. This ability for African success in a foreign land often stimulates the claim that the problem lies not in the practice of racism, but indecision, by Blacks in America, to pick themselves up by their bootstrap and take personal responsibility for their actions.

Such inference is an assault on the legacy of the not-so ancient history of legal/physical slavery, which consistently strides to stifle the potential of Black/Brown peoples in our society. We did not ask for this. This truth, however, escapes many white brothers and sisters, who act as though Black people are preoccupied with excuses, and possess a fundamental lack of determination for success. President-Elect Obama, it is incumbent upon you to arrest this notion. Not advance it. The reason Black folks are so enamored of the concept of a Black presidency is because they have searched, endlessly for a public official who can take into account the integrity of their dignity and contribution to society. If the next administration is unable to do so, there is little hope left for this democratic experiment.

To anti-Obama Black progressives: President-Elect Obama is our brother – even though he’s acted in ways that contradict this reality. Whilst he might not exhibit an impassioned concern for the Black Community, his background mirrors one oh-so many of us were enshrouded in. I propose, humbly, that Obama be forgiven for his rabid attacks on the Black Community, and granted a chance at redemption. There’s no doubt that his outspoken, generalized and unilateral critiques of Black folks are unmerited. But I am convinced, however, that deep-down, he appears to hold dear the conscience of the Black Community. What our brother, President-Elect Obama deserves is re-education, not retaliation. For a man who, at childhood, was deprived substantive interaction with the other side of his DNA, there’s certainly much need for a reorientation of who/what the Black Community is.