The Military Budget Healthcare Reform and Corporate Media As the summer comes to a close the battle over healthcare reform rages on. And as each week passes by US healthcare reform becomes more and more watered down. It is hard to believe that this "public debate" has moved from open dialogues about a single payer healthcare system to something now called a "public option". Only a fool would compare a genuine single payer healthcare system to this half-assed "public option" that the white house and their gutless democratic cronies are now pushing. It is clear that the Obama administration and the band of capitulating democrats are either fools or they take the general pro-single payer public for fools. It is probably a bit of both. The public option pales in comparison to the true "everybody in and nobody out" single payer system that even the vacillating president supported back in 2003 when he was a state senator. However, the deeper then state senator Obama delved into mainstream politics the deeper he willingly became influenced by corporate money. President Obama received tens of millions of dollars for his corporate presidential campaign from the mighty, and immoral, healthcare industry. Obama's strong corporate ties are a major reason why he has made an about face regarding single payer healthcare despite the fact that a single payer system is not only feasible and needed, it is also sensible. Universal single payer healthcare in a country like the US makes perfect sense; however the route the healthcare debate has gone does not. I frequently have to pinch myself to make sure I am not stuck in some runaway bad dream filled with intellectually dishonest people who are unaware that Medicare and Medicaid are in fact government run each time they make fragile claims that government run healthcare has no place in America. I then have to slap myself to make sure that I am not eternally trapped in a nightmare where the country that I reside spends more than 600 billion dollars a year on the military yet claim they cannot finance a single player healthcare system. Unfortunately I have yet to wake up from this nightmare called capitalistic American greed. It is a nightmare that consumes the lives of at least 22,000 people a year who die from a lack of healthcare. It is a nightmare in which at least 46 million people try to subsist without any healthcare whatsoever. This nightmare continues, unfettered, all the while every other industrialized country in the world has some sort of healthcare based social contract for its citizens. This nightmare turns out to be a horrible reality firmly built on the foundation of runaway capitalism. It is runaway unfettered capitalism that makes so many "profits before people" nightmares such a reality, each and every day. It is sadly interesting to observe some of the obvious questions that the corporate media consistently fail to raise to their masses of programmed viewers. Countless on-air hours are spent arguing where the money will come from to finance a vastly needed single payer system without ever a peep about military expenditure. The corporate media has perfected the "skill" of not raising important questions, and facts. Raising critical questions would enable the average viewer to discursively deconstruct myriad issues. The corporate media's perfection of this "skill" is not by chance, it is by design. This is why the overwhelming majority of "experts" they parade on their "news" programs are lock and step with their agenda. They know very well what to say and what not to say. They know not to raise any question or subject that might be too "controversial. These days what is considered controversial is often what is truthful. In essence, these corporate media puppets know not to bite the hand that feeds them. In the same manner by which the mainstream media seldom raises the tough questions neither do their hired guns (guests). This is why those who ritualistically rely on the corporate mainstream media, for their news and information, will never understand critical issues in the world today. For instance, most Americans will never know the truth or the history behind the Middle East conflict. The corporate media ostensibly loves to marginalize, demonize, and denigrate the Palestinians, their plight, and their struggle for self-determination. And because of this sad fact most Americans will continue to be complicit with their government annually sending billions of dollars of military aid to Israel. This military aid will continue to be used to repress and destroy Palestinian lives. One cannot claim to be a mediator, as the US disingenuously does, all the while militarily arming one side and ignoring the other. It is, in essence, the foreign policy double standard that the US has built a long history upon. However, why would anyone expect most Americans to complain about the billions of dollars in military aid that their country spends arming Israel, as well as many other countries, when they do not complain about the hundreds of billions of dollars the US annually spends superfluously arming itself? Most Americans have carefully been programmed not to think critically or discursively when it comes to how their government spends, or does not spend, its taxpayers' dollars. This programming has started at a very early age and has continued throughout their lifetime. Some core American ideals are firmly mounted upon militarism and unfettered capitalism. These things are virtually everywhere in American society; they are even woven into the fabric of mainstream schooling. They are more than just simply acceptable; they are as American as apple pie. This is a fundamental reason why it is easier to spot the Loc Ness Monster than a corporate media special on "excessive military spending". Those stories are antithetical to the aims of the American corporate media machine. Corporate media prospers on its viewers/listeners/readers ignorance of critical issues, especially when those issues deal with the inextricable connection between the corporation and the state. It would clearly be counterintuitive for the corporate media to blow the "whistle" on itself. However until they are exposed for what they are; Americans will continue to be purposefully left in the dark regarding a wide rage of critical issues. These issues will continue to exclude America's addictive habit to military expenditure. It is trivial to focus any healthcare debate centered on the US not having enough money to sufficiently finance a single payer healthcare system if there is no serious examination regarding the amount of money America spends on its bloated imperialist military. The US spends more than 600 billion dollars a year on things like its more than 700 military bases worldwide. This budget does not even include the maintenance of nuclear weaponry. That is hidden in the Department of Energy's budget. That 600 billion dollar plus budget does, however, include the imperialist military expansion in Africa, otherwise known as Africom (Africa Command). That 600 billion dollars does not necessarily include the tens of billions of dollars of supplemental funding that goes towards the wars of aggression in Afghanistan and Iraq. If you go to the White House Office of Management and Budget (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb) they will tell you that they are using some of that money to draw down troops in Iraq "responsibly". I wonder if the fact that the US has built a well over 600 million dollar embassy in Iraq (www. thinkprogress.org/2007/05/29/photos-embassy-iraq) with an over one billion dollar a year operational cost, means that the US has no plans of permanently occupying Iraq? If that is the case that also must mean that the US's plans to build a 700 million embassy in Pakistan, (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/255/story/68952.html) must also mean the same. If these American imperialist plans seem like a distraction from the money that could be clearly spent on universal single payer healthcare, they are. It is a waste of money that will likely disrupt more lives and communities than it will save. US military spending has to be significantly reduced if there is anyway valuable lifesaving social programs, like universal healthcare, can be established. It is, by far, one of the most logical ways to find the money to fund such a program. Don't expect the white supremacist and right wing Fox News to raise these questions. And don't expect the military contractor GE (who also owns NBC and MSNBC) to challenge the government on this matter. We have to do that job. We have to continue to create a critical mass that continually pressures the hell out of this government to do what is in the best interest of masses. Left to their own "faculties" the US government will continue down the same socially destructive path they have built a legacy on. We have to strategically organize, as well as utilize our social networks to spread critical information, far and wide, one community at a time. Until then we, and countless others, will continue our restless slumber in this nightmare. As Dr. Martin Luther King said, "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom." Solomon Comissiong is an educator, community activist, author, public speaker, and the host of the Your World News radio program (www.blogtalkradio.com/Your-World-News). Click here to send him an email.
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Selective Omission and Planned Misinformation: The US Mainstream Media The idea that the American mainstream media system is a reputable source for comprehensive news and information should be the punch line for any series of good jokes. These jokes would be absolute hits at anyone’s dinner party or gathering of friends and family. However, unfortunately that line is not a joke in most circles of residents within the US. What should be a joke turns out to be a better tag line for the next great horror flick. Why…because the mainstream media is actually taken seriously within American borders. And because it is taken seriously, it does immeasurable harm by sustaining a vastly misinformed and isolated American populous. However, this misinformation begins in public schools and colleges from sea to shining sea. Far and extremely few between will one find a classroom in America that actually portrays America, her founders, and her policies as the “bad guys”. Instead of that being the point of reference in which we begin our history and social studies courses; we find the complete opposite. That antithetical vantage point is nothing short of premeditated lies. These lies are kicked off bright and early in the morning with the cultish reciting of the “pledge of allegiance”. This pledge that ends with the words “with liberty and justice for all” should be laughable to anyone that has studied history outside of the mainstream channels. With liberty and justice for all? Those words have been disingenuous and insincere since the Pledge of Allegiance’s inception in 1892. I don’t think living under the terror of Jim Crow, lynching, and US domestic policy (a la the convict lease system), for its citizens of color, embodies “justice for all”. However, this backdrop is far too seldom the historical point of reference for many Americans. The sad but honest truth is that most Americans have absolutely no idea as to the vast array of carnage, and crimes against humanity, their country has committed since its tainted “inception”. And for that reason, the American mainstream media system continues to be the perfect tool for those who truly control the empire. When you have a majority of the populous that has no accurate historical reference whatsoever, and is isolated from the rest of the world, you can feed them whatever pack of lies you wish. A stable, analytical, diverse, and well working media system informs, engages, and educates its viewers/listeners/readers. However, that notion could not be further from the truth in America. The American media system is a joke that, unfortunately, most simply don’t get. It really does not matter if it is the white supremacist Fox “News” or the so-called liberal CNN (whatever the word ‘liberal’ means to them), the limited range by which they cover current events is pretty much the same. They basically all carry the same narrowly focused news, however with different voices and overhead. They all (MSNBC, FOX “News”, CNN, et al) purposely leave out huge chucks of contextual information when they actually do report on events that occur outside of the US. For instance, I recently viewed a “news” story on the so-called liberal MSNBC which was headlined, “War Planes strike Taliban in Pakistan”. I was intrigued to see if the report would have any mention of the masses of civilians that have been destroyed when these US led air-strikes occur. Needless to say, I was not pleasantly surprised. There was no mention of the civilians who were disproportionately affected by the aggression laden US foreign policy. As they report on the news out of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan they make it seems as if the air-strikes and bombs dropped are with precision accuracy, only destroying their so-called “enemies”. This could not be further from the truth. Since taking office the Obama administration has willingly carried out the same hawkish military approach as did the mentally challenged George W. Bush and his band of war mongering men and women. This of course means that as many continue to ride the hollow wave of “change you can believe in”, scores of civilians are perishing in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Why does much of that part of the world hate the US? You might want to start with US foreign policy in pursuit of an easy answer. If the American mainstream media system was actually concerned about professionalism and raising the specter of consciousness for their viewers and readers, they would cover these stories in a wide ranging, deep, and balanced context that allowed the public to see all sides of the story. Given the fact that MSNBC’s parent company is General Electric, the weapons contractor, among other things, we shouldn’t be surprised by their pro-military reporting. As a matter of common practice, the US mainstream media will never place things in their proper context so that its viewers/readers/listeners understand the root causes of a wide variation of current events. They won’t tell you how unfair so-called “free trade” policies contribute to the establishment of sweat shops, plunder, mass immigration, and civil unrest. A recent example would be the mass killings of civilians ordered by Peru’s pro-western president, Alan Garcia, when masses of indigenous Peruvians protested the selling off of enormous chunks of the Amazon rainforest. If no change is made the indigenous Peruvians will see North American gas and oil companies, like ConocoPhillips, destroy vast amounts of their land for their own greedy capitalist interest. You won’t see this story carried in its entirety, let alone carried at all, on most mainstream outlets. If they do cover it, it will be limited, brief, and from the perspective of their own capitalist interest. This will, also, continue to keep most Americans as far away as possible to the suffering of people, throughout the world, as a result of their own country’s long legacy of imperialist foreign policy. The American mainstream media system is a very powerful and dangerous appendage of a system that does not give a damn about the advancement of humanity beyond their self-serving motives. Therefore the mainstream media takes upon the imperialist and capitalist image of the societal culture that sustains it. Populous apathy and disengagement are merely byproducts. It does not behoove the corporate and dare I say criminal minded mainstream media system to place news and world events in their proper context. Keeping the public as dumbed down as they possibly can keeps their corporate clients happy and their political partners in power. After all, if most Americans truly knew that their country’s government was at the root of most of their nation’s international disputes, they actually might try to rise up and do something about it. Whether it be murderous coup d’états, illegally funded clandestine wars, assassination attempts, unequal & oppressive “free” trade agreements, or even inhumane sanctions that take the lives of scores of people; the US government has participated in all of the above. These are the dirty little secrets that, if exposed to the majority, could and would possibly bring about real change in the way America does “business” with other countries. The corporate media keeps us in the dark because they have to. The corporate media regularly dictates to Americans what they need to think, when they need to think, and who they need to hate. The criminally minded corporate media need to do this because their Washington based political partners, and bosses, request them to. After all, if Americans really knew the truth on myriad of issues they would know the real enemy was their own government’s policies. Solomon Comissiong is an educator, community activist, author, public speaker, and the host of the Your World News radio program (www.blogtalkradio.com/Your-World-News). |
Public Education in America: A Pillar of Institutional Racism When discussing public education in America it is quite difficult to find a starting point from which to address the deepening gully of racially based inequities. As any sincere or self-educated American can attest; the US has painstakingly woven racism and white supremacy into the very fabric by which youth of color are allegedly supposed to garner the “keys” to their future. In essence, the long standing legacy of American institutional racism and white supremacy are embedded within the public educational system. The institution of racism within the public school system is, at times, conspicuously inconspicuous. As a matter of fact, racism in present day America is conspicuously inconspicuous. It is much like the silent killer that carbon monoxide is; before you know it your “dead” not knowing what the hell hit you. America’s institutional racism kills physically as in the case with police brutality. It, however, also kills cognitively as in the case of the public educational system. “Cognitive Decapitation” as author and educational activist, Jonathan Kozol, calls it. The sad fact of the matter is that, even with the “victory” of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case, there are still two sets of educational standards. After all has desegregation cleansed the black community of the infestation of American racism and white supremacy? Integration only truly works when the integratee is allowed the same rights, respect, and overall privileges as the integrator. This was not what occurred in 1954, and after, by a long shot. More than 50 years later desegregation simply meant that black and brown youth had to adopt the Eurocentric mores and values of white America. It clearly has not meant the ending of numerous examples of inequality within the educational system. And more than 50 years later we see virtually the same racially desegregated schools as we did in the 1960s. Disparate educational standards are very much prevalent in present day America. These educational standards are very much broken down by way of race and income. And I will make the seemingly bold statement that these inequities are more race based than they are class based. A clear example of this is the fact that even so-called “well to do American born Africans” that reside within predominately white suburban communities, are strongly persuaded to worship white supremacists, slaveholders, and murderers like George Washington (owned over 300 African slaves), Andrew Jackson (murdered scores of Seminoles) and Christopher Columbus (murdered tens of thousands of indigenous of the Western Hemisphere). These students must adapt and learn to accept, as well as covet many white historical figures, regardless of the pain and damage they inflected upon enslaved Africans and indigenous people. This is nothing short of white supremacy in the raw. Even these “well to do” American born African youth are tacitly taught that in order to succeed in America they must embrace the very system that continues to oppress millions of blacks from stolen coast to stolen coast. The public “educational” system’s history books are riddled with many unsavory and oppressive historical figures. It is a direct affront to have any student of color, let alone any decent human being, have to study these characters in a positive light as if they should be exalted. This type of white supremacist instruction occurs everyday in schools throughout America. It is as accepted as the vastly unequal double standard that still requires black students to have to work two and three times as hard as their white counterparts simply to get the so-called same opportunities. This is egregiously unacceptable and has significantly lowered our human rights standards as they apply to youth of color. It is true that in the racist quagmire, commonly known as America; youth of color have to work several times harder than white youth to simply have a shot at the same opportunities. However, just because this is true does not mean that it is something that we accept and stop fighting like hell against. Can you imagine an American society that had white parents accepting an unwritten set of standards that relegated their kids to have to work several times as hard as black kids just to have a chance at the same opportunity? If you are being truly honest the answer to that quasi-rhetorical question is a resounding no! Can you also imagine the white community allowing themselves to be lectured to that they can no longer use institutional racism as a legitimate reason as to why many of their youth are not afforded the same fundamental opportunities as their black counterparts? That is also a quasi-rhetorical query that garners the same resounding no! It seems like America’s racially challenged and phenotypically black president does not understand the complexity of this problem. Last week he, once again, felt the need to lecture black people about what they can and cannot complain about. Some of the reasons for America’s educational inequities, rightfully attributed to institutional racism, are merely excuses in Obama’s fictional “book” of fairy tales. At the 100th anniversary celebration of the NAACP President Obama said: “We've got to say to our children, yes, if you're African American, the odds of growing up amid crime and gangs are higher. Yes, if you live in a poor neighborhood, you will face challenges that somebody in a wealthy suburb does not have to face. But that's not a reason to get bad grades -- that's not a reason to cut class -- that's not a reason to give up on your education and drop out of school. No one has written your destiny for you. Your destiny is in your hands -- you cannot forget that. That's what we have to teach all of our children. No excuses. No excuses. You get that education; all those hardships will just make you stronger, better able to compete. Yes we can.” I guess “complaining” and refusing to accept institutional racism in America’s public school system is just an indicator of black people making excuses. I guess black people from inner cities should simply accept the draconian lack of educational funding their schools get predicated on the lack of property taxes. I guess black parents should accept the streamlining of their children into sewing classes instead of AP (advanced placement) courses. I presume that black parents should accept the very real ‘school to prison pipeline’ that has been created for black youth. It is a system so nefarious that several states base the building of juvenile detention centers and prisons off of deficient first grade reading scores. This means that instead of using state and federal money to invest in programs that bring grade school kids up to par in reading they use the money to build prisons for them knowing that illiteracy is a major indicator of someone’s future in “crime”. I also guess that black parents should not complain, worry about, or fight against the fact that school administrators throughout this country are allowing their schools to be privatized and controlled by the military. As a matter of fact, President Obama’s secretary of education, Arne Duncan, has a history of turning predominately black and brown schools into military schools. I presume that this works out well, in the long run, for President Obama given the fact that he is war mongering just as much as his speech impaired predecessor, George Bush. He is also requesting, and spending more money, militarily, than Curious George (Bush) ever did. These things may be a shock to members of the “Change you can believe in” cult, however if they simply visit whitehouse.gov/omb they can get a heaping helping of reality. Many of Obama’s spending trends are laid out in black and white. I wonder what President Obama meant when he said, “No one has written your destiny for you… No excuses. No excuses”. That is the type of crap that he would never try to feed the white community in America especially if the aforementioned institutional issues disproportionately affected their community as it does black and brown skinned youth. Obama knows his limits on both sides of the spectrum. One the one hand he knows not to upset white folks by pointing fingers at America’s longstanding legacy as a bastion for racism and white supremacy. And on the other hand he knows that he virtually has no restrictions when it comes to castigating, vilifying, and reprimanding the black community as if they are a group of children that need to know and accept their proper place in society. When he said, “You get that education; all those hardships will just make you stronger, better able to compete. Yes we can” , he was pretty much telling the black community that we need to sit down, shut the hell up, and accept the institutionally racist and white supremacist country we live in without vociferously protesting it. He was intimating that we need to accept some condescending notion about our hardships making us stronger all the while relegating ourselves to an unnatural position at the bottom of society. American born Africans have always overcome tremendous odds in Amerikkka, however that does not mean that we stop fighting, organizing, and protesting until we are given the same human rights that whites in America have. Obama is placating white America each time he scolds black America for being the victims of the American nightmare. He has grown very comfortable with blaming the victims and not the institution. He speaks in masterful code much like the Joint Chiefs of Staffs he is beholden to. So when he said.” No one has written your destiny for you”, he fails to mention that masses black and brown skinned youth are presently having their destinies shaped for them from one institutionally racist classroom to the next. For each black child that works three times as hard as some privileged white kid in the suburb, in order to “succeed”, there are scores of black youth who are being devoured by an institutionally white supremacist system with a voracious appetite for black youth. If there is one thing we know it is that institutional racism cannot be fought with passiveness and acceptance. We cannot go the way Obama and his white “handlers” want us to go. We must organize. We must protest. We must never be silent. And we must never capitulate until every institutionally racist fiber of this system is shredded. Mr. Obama save your damn patronizing speeches for the Wall Street bankers you bailed out, the Israel lobby that you genuflect to and the institutionally racist segments of America you accommodate! You will hear from Black America until we have equality!
“In President Obama’s book of fairy tales, institutional racism is merely an 'excuse.'” When discussing public education in America it is quite difficult to find a starting point from which to address the deepening gully of racially based inequities. The US has painstakingly woven racism and white supremacy into the very fabric of the educational experience – the purported “keys” to our children's future. The legacies of American institutional racism and white supremacy are embedded within the public educational system. Racism in the public school system is, at times, conspicuously inconspicuous. As a matter of fact, racism in present day America is conspicuously inconspicuous. It is much like the silent killer that carbon monoxide is; before you know it you're “dead” not knowing what the hell hit you. Institutional racism kills physically as in the case of police brutality, and also kills cognitively through the public educational system: “Cognitive Decapitation,” as author and educational activist, Jonathan Kozol, calls it. Even with the “victory” of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case, there are still two sets of educational standards. After all, has desegregation cleansed the black community of the infestation of American racism and white supremacy? Integration only truly works when the integratee is allowed the same rights, respect, and overall privileges as the integrator. More than 50 years after Brown desegregation simply means that black and brown youth have to adopt the Eurocentric mores and values of white America. And half a century later we see virtually the same racially segregated schools as we did in the 1960s. Disparate educational standards are the rule in present day America, broken down by way of race and income. These inequities are more race-based than they are class-based. For example, even so-called “well to do American-born Africans” that reside within predominately white suburban communities, are strongly persuaded to worship white supremacists, slaveholders, and murderers like George Washington (owned over 300 African slaves), Andrew Jackson (murdered countless of Seminoles) and Christopher Columbus (murdered tens of thousands of indigenous people of the Western Hemisphere). These students must learn to accept and admire repugnant white historical figures, regardless of the pain and damage they inflicted upon enslaved Africans and indigenous people. This is nothing short of white supremacy in the raw. Even these “well to do” American born African youth are taught that in order to succeed in America they must embrace the very system that continues to oppress millions of fellow blacks from stolen coast to stolen coast. The public “educational” system’s history books are riddled with unsavory and oppressive historical figures. It is a direct affront to force any student of color - or any decent human being! - to endure studying these characters in a positive light, as if they should be exalted. The racial double standard requires black students to work two and three times as hard as their white counterparts simply to get the same opportunities. But just because it is true does not mean it is something that we should accept. Can you imagine the white community allowing themselves to be lectured to, as we are, that it is impermissible to take into consideration real facts of the past and present, when evaluating the performance of various white demographic groups? Of course not. Yet it seems that America’s racially challenged but phenotypically black president does not understand the complexity of the nation's problem. Last week he, once again, felt the need to lecture black people about what they can and cannot complain about. In President Obama’s book of fairy tales, institutional racism is merely an “excuse.” At the 100th anniversary celebration of the NAACP Obama declared: “We've got to say to our children, yes, if you're African American, the odds of growing up amid crime and gangs are higher. Yes, if you live in a poor neighborhood, you will face challenges that somebody in a wealthy suburb does not have to face. But that's not a reason to get bad grades -- that's not a reason to cut class -- that's not a reason to give up on your education and drop out of school. No one has written your destiny for you. Your destiny is in your hands -- you cannot forget that. That's what we have to teach all of our children. No excuses. No excuses. You get that education; all those hardships will just make you stronger, better able to compete. Yes we can.” I guess “complaining” and refusing to accept institutional racism in America’s public school system is just an indicator of black people making excuses. I guess black people from inner cities should simply accept lack of educational funding for their schools get predicated on the inadequacy of property taxes. I guess black parents should accept the streamlining of their children into sewing classes instead of AP (advanced placement) courses. I presume that black parents should accept the very real “school to prison pipeline” that has been created for black youth. It is a system so nefarious that several states base the building of juvenile detention centers and prisons on deficiencies in first grade reading scores. This means that instead of using state and federal money to invest in programs that bring grade school kids up to par in reading they use the money to build prisons for them knowing that illiteracy is a major indicator of someone’s future in “crime.” I also guess that black parents should not complain, worry about, or fight against the fact that school administrators throughout this country are allowing their schools to be privatized or controlled by the military. President Obama’s secretary of education, Arne Duncan, has a history of turning predominately black and brown schools into military schools. I presume that this works out well, in the long run, for President Obama given that he just as much a war monger as his speech impaired predecessor, George Bush. He is also requesting and spending more money, militarily, than Curious George (Bush) ever did. Such facts may be a shock to members of the “change you can believe in” cult, but they are facts nonetheless. I wonder what President Obama meant when he said, “No one has written your destiny for you… No excuses. No excuses.”He would never try to feed that kind of crap to the white community. Obama knows his limits on both sides of the racial spectrum. On the one hand he knows not to upset white folks by pointing to America’s legacy as a bastion of racism and white supremacy. And on the other hand he knows there are virtually no restrictions on how often he can castigate, vilify, and reprimand the black community - as if African Americans are a group of children that need to know and accept their proper place in society. When he said, “You get that education; all those hardships will just make you stronger, better able to compete. Yes we can,” he was pretty much telling the black community that we need to sit down, shut the hell up, and accept the institutionally racist and white supremacist country we live in. When he proclaims that our hardships make us stronger he is demanding that we acclimate ourselves to occupying an unnatural position at the bottom of society. American-born Africans have always overcome tremendous odds in Amerikkka, but that does not mean that we should stop fighting, organizing, and protesting until we are given the same human rights that whites have in this country. Obama is placating white America each time he scolds black America for being the victims of the American nightmare. He is quite comfortable with blaming the victims and not the institution. He speaks in masterful code much like the Joint Chiefs of Staffs to whom he is beholden. So when he said, ”No one has written your destiny for you”, he ignores the fact that masses of black and brown skinned youth are presently having their destinies shaped for them from one institutionally racist classroom to the next. For each black child that works three times as hard as some privileged white kid in the suburb in order to “succeed,” there are scores of black youth who are devoured by an institutionally white supremacist system. If there is one thing we know it is that institutional racism cannot be fought with passivity. We cannot go the way Obama and his white handlers want us to go. We must organize. We must protest. We must never be silent. And we must never capitulate until every institutionally racist fiber of this system is shredded. Mr. Obama, save your damn patronizing speeches for the Wall Street bankers you bailed out, the Israel lobby that you genuflect to and the institutionally racist segments of America you accommodate! You will hear from Black America until we have equality! Solomon Comissiong is an educator, community activist, author, public speaker, and the host of the Your World News radio program (www.blogtalkradio.com/Your-World-News). |