The Ten Biggest Problems Facing African-Americans Today

[DBlack]

I very much disagree with 3,5,6,8 and 9! But I gotta give you credit for a well articulated view.

it's refreshing to see brothas and sistahs express views with substance and clear thought. We need more of this to move forward.

[MadameX]

Originally Posted by DBlack

I very much disagree with 3,5,6,8 and 9! But I gotta give you credit for a well articulated view.

it's refreshing to see brothas and sistahs express views with substance and clear thought. We need more of this to move forward.

My sentiments exactly.

[Samoon]

Let there be no doubt about it. Black people should pay close attention to this ongoing election. This election is about "change", alright. But not just for the Presidency. It's also about change as a people. Black people need to realize that no one beats a path to our door unless they WANT something from us. It's time to let those people know they can beat a path to our door, but that this club now has a door charge JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!! The Clintons have done very little for us, and the NAACP has done LESS! These unconcerned individuals don't even aggressively vie for our vote (and why not, so many of us just hand our vote over on a silver platter without knowing the relevant issues that DO affect US) and all we get for our vote is war for oil, outrageous gas prices, health care you can't afford and low-wage jobs. Replacing the twerp in the White House with a skirt in the White House is not going to make me feel better about it. Barack Obama has his work cut out for him. And we'd all best pay attention to how this goes down. Because it lets us all know who our friends really are....and aren't.

"Take a look around"

The Black and Brown Divide

As Blacks have voted and tuned in on the presidency, Hispanics are firmly opposing Black leaders in favor of white ones. Is the brotherhood among minorities dead?
The Democratic primaries in California woke up a lot of people. During this election, there was a lot of talk going on about the "Black and Brown" divide. Most people have assumed for decades that since Blacks and Hispanics are minorities, it is only natural that they will support each other for elective office. Wrong! Hispanics have always viewed themselves as a "dominant" group. While Blacks have helped to elect Hispanics (The wife-cheating Mayor of Los Angeles, for example) it is abundantly clear that Hispanics have a clear opposition to voting for Black candidates. Whether it's viable Black candidates like Ron Kirk, the former mayor of Dallas who lost his bid for the senate, or now Barack Obama running for president, Hispanics have opted to vote for the white candidate--or not at all. Up until recently, this trend has been most notable in places like California and Texas, but as the legal/illegal Hispanic populations increase across the nation, I note that this trend is not just isolated to the southwest United States.
What we see is that when the candidates are Democrat or Republican , Hispanics will routinely vote Democrat. However, when the candidate is Black and his opponent is White, Hispanics will tend to vote against the Black candidate as we're seeing in the Obama/Clinton race. During "Super Tuesday" for presidential candidates, California voters chose their candidates for president. Hispanics make up a huge block of voters in California and they overwhelmingly chose Hillary Clinton over Obama by 64% according to MSNBC. It is now clear that being a fellow minority hasn't created any kinship with Hispanics in America if we ever had this. We've all heard of the racial school fights that are almost a daily occurence in California, and the situation in the jails is so balkanized that even rival gangs like the Crips and Bloods put aside their street differences, while in prison, in order to put up a resistance to the Hispanics in jail, many of whom are illegal aliens. What we see coming into form is a two front assault: Whites against Blacks on the one hand and Hispanics against Blacks on the other.

We're also seeing a lot of the same pathology typical of caucasian society against Black people being exhibited by Hispanics against Blacks. Jennifer Lopez was adamant to prove her "street credentials" when she embarked on her music career. She struck up a romantic relationship with Sean "P. Diddy" Combs to leech off his fanbase, but when it was time to choose a life partner she chose Latin singer Marc Anthony. There has been a large influx of Latinos into rap music, but you do not see Latinos clamoring to equally welcome Blacks into their music culture. To be clear, there is nothing wrong with people trying to make as much money as they can, and in all honesty there were legal and public image issues involved with Lopez's break-up from Combs (specifically a nighclub shooting involving Combs' protege' Shine). However, once again, we are seeing an economic methodology of using what Black people have to offer and then discarding Black people after usurping a position among us. Whether it's Asian stores, Arab liquor stores that prefer to set up shop in Black neighborhoods and not white ones or traditional white businesses, Black people's money is respected, but Black people ourselves are not welcome----even when it is WE who generate the income for these businesses.

Black people have been very naive about a good number of things, and how Hispanics see Black people is probably the most recent, and the most troubling because, unlike whites, Hispanics tend to live and work in traditionally Black neighborhoods. And what we are seeing in traditionally Black neighborhoods is a "push" to push out the Black residents.

We don't see this kind of behavior when Blacks move into Hispanic neighborhoods. And so it begs the question "Why do Hispanics hate Black people?"

Is it simply competition for space? Or, a power struggle between two ethic groups that, at the end of the day? Neither holds the baton of power in this country. That would be a sensible explaination if Black people had something to compete for. But considering that the majority of the valuable assets in America are white-owned, that doesn't hold water. Most likely it is the fact there is a highly influential nativist push among Hispanics (through long-time groups like La Raza and Conquistadors) combined with the fact that other ethnic groups have learned the lessons of white racism very well. If one wants to be looked upon favorably by the larger society (mainstream), all one has to do is to show disdain for Black Americans. Hispanics have only been a political force for the last 10 years and yet you have white politicians and white businesses bending over backwards until their spines snap to become as Hispanic as possible---even burdening themselves with extra expenses like setting up bi-lingual phone services and bi-lingual package printing. You've NEVER seen these same companies go out of their way to hire Blacks or make mainstream advertising featuring Blacks in a positive role. White politicians regularly oppose Affirmative Action, claiming that they are listening to their constituents, but we have presidential candidates like John McCaan and Hillary Clinton fighting and even openly insulting their white voters telling them they approve of amnesty for illegal aliens, for example. We have NEVER seen these same white, Republican, or even Democratic candidates publicly tell white voters that, "we are against you and in favor of Black Americans---even if you don't like it!" And yet this is exactly what we see in their attitude toward Hispanics. Not all of these politicians use illegal aliens to mow their lawn or babysit their children. More likely, big business has more to do with it than anything else but it still has a devastating effect on Black people.

It's clear that Hispanic disdain for Black people is no accident and it is clear this is not a trend we will see diminish. As Hispanic influence increases, we will see fewer and fewer opportunities for Black Americans develop. Remain in denial about this if you want, the proof will definitely be IN the pudding. We will be in the middle of a giant squeeze play, crushed between Whites on one hand and Hispanics on the other. While no one should construe this article to mean anyone should be anti-Hispanic (or anti-anyone else for that matter) we as Black people need to see to our own affairs first. We can't just support people because they are white----or Black for that matter. Screw-ups cross every ethnic line.

Hopefully this will "open the eyes" of OUR people that have sleeping on this for years, decades even. "BE for US, by US."

[Samoon]

PART II (Con't)

The next President of the United States?

While there are individuals that do not embrace Barack Obama, there are others that do support him. "Do you." Think for yourself, as opposed to someone else's perspective. End of story inasmuch as whomever you support goes.

Obama is now running for President. He decided to run at a time that the "old guard" was looking to once again squat upon the throne that they have seen as their "divine right since birth". After enduring 8 years of the second generation of the Bush family soil this country, we now have that "other" would-be dynasty, the Clintons, demanding that they should be allowed to rule over the "serfs" again. And they are using some of the most diabolical tricks in order to do so.

This is "big time politics". There is no office higher than that of President and people have lied, bribed, begged and even murdered over it. The Clintons have thrown every dirty trick and the kitchen sink at Obama; many of their tactics resembling the bigotry typical of Republicans. This was not unexpected, but that does not mean that we as black people should accept it. There is, of course, a place in America for "respect for the Clintons" as some blacks choose to support. Bill Clinton was unabashedly "a friend of Black America" following 12 years of the soft-bigotry of the Reagan-Bush decade of the 1980's. This was sorely needed......at the time. But what the Clintons must understand is that Black Americans are not children. When a child is young he plays with toy hammers. All he does with a toy hammer is smash things. But at some point, that child must become an adult and when you have become an adult, you realize that a hammer is not a toy----it is a tool and that you can no longer simply smash things. You now have a duty to build things. Black America has been trying to contribute at the front of the line for centuries. Segregation denied our fathers and mothers of this right, but we, the children, will not be denied. The Clintons were our "friends" in the 1990's. They did some good (and bad) thiings for us. And we rewarded them by giving them the presidency twice!

The Clintons have b een "repaid" or their duties to us. We owe them NOTHING! And now it is our time to decide for ourselves which directions we will take. And we must not do it, relying on what was done for us decades ago. We must do it looking forward, not backward. I do not know who you will vote for in choosing a President, but I do know that you should do it carefully, weighing the candidates in front of you.

Do not look at what they did, "way back when". Look at what is in YOUR best interests..........today!

Good post, Jaboom.

[Juice.]

Hate to break it to y'all, but the article you're praising was written for an anti-Black, anti-Islamic, anti-minority website run by a right-winged Jew named David Horowitz.
See for yourself: FrontPage Magazine

The only two I slightly agree with are #1 and #5.

Sure the lack of opportunity is killing, not only poor Blacks, but the entire lower class as America continues to prove how little it believes in its "equal opportunities/Anyone can make it if they work hard" pipe dream by outsourcing jobs and not providing any realistic way to climb the economic ladder. But that epidemic isn't attributable to "liberal mayors", and neither is the crime problem cited in the article. Drug related crime isn't typical of Black communities alone, it is a national problem that needs to be addressed. You have Mexican drug dealers murdering each other in Los Angeles, Cuban drug dealers murdering each other in Miami, and Black drug dealers murdering each other in Baltimore, why are Blacks singled out?

As for the educational system - I agree that the educational system is horribly broken, but the problem lies deeper. Being educated in the American system does not secure success and it only reinforces the false beliefs we're being fed as Black people. Black children are being made to believe that their people made no advances prior to the slave trade. Formal education is designed to crush the hearts of many of the future intellectuals who would be more than willing to put paid to the current system. And what motivates the poor child is void in the classroom.

Scholars on the subject of education, already know that what is most important for a child's, or young adult's, development is the social circumstances outside of school. This includes the homelife. It includes the life that the children and adolescents see transpiring around them on the streets. The learning really takes place in the school yard, rather than in the classroom.

None of my words are to refute that Blacks are underachieving. But we must look at all the reasons why they are not living up to their potential. It's easy to throw the blame upon those who are being oppressed and claim that Blacks are "anti-intellectual". Blacks most definitely should strive to be educated. But then we need to analyze what education actually is.

And how can "Jaboom" say that this garbage article is necessary to the upliftment of out people? The words you read in this article can be heard in any area that Blacks congregate, it's nothing new. It's fine to say to the Black guy: get an education, take care of your kids, stop sellin' on the corner, get a job; but if society makes is extremely difficult to do any of those things, who is to blame?

Couple that with the fact that the negatives of Black men are hunted out and publicized at every opportunity, and we have the manufacture of inferiority complexes. The hardest way to make something believe something is to prove it. The easiest way, as the media and television know so well, is to simply repeat the unprovable at every opportunity. The average person is influenceable and buys the garbage the media and television are selling.

Fortunately, some of us are raised to be more enlightened.

[MadameX]

Originally Posted by Juice.

Hate to break it to y'all, but the article you're praising was written for an anti-Black, anti-Islamic, anti-minority website run by a right-winged Jew named David Horowitz.

Hmm. Brotha D & I knew something was suspect with the document for jumpstreet. That's why we were opposed to over 90% of the propaganda. Just like the old saying goes, if it walks like a duck then, it is a duck.

[mlr710]

Originally Posted by JABOOM

Yes that is ONE of the problems with the "education establishment" another problem is the misuse of funding going to inner city schools. Just because you spend money on new buildings and computers doesn't mean they are spending money to improve what is being taught.

If all you teach is that people of color have been benefited by oppression and the loss of cultural identity in order to survive you are already lowering a child's interest in history. Compile that with teachers that are in the field as a secondary choice of employment that come for mainly suburban area's with little interaction with the students they teach and the environments they come from the problem of educating the children is evident.

Yes parents have a major part in their child's education but most parents as well as make sure their child does their best, also put their faith in an already failing system.

Which leads to problem #4

Misuse of funds in the inner cities? Exactly which school systems are you referring to and how are those school systems funded? There are city school systems and county school systems - they can be funded differently. In some states, public education is funded by property taxes in that system...in others its funded by sales taxes in that areas...and that's ALL the funds you get, period. The No Child Left Behind Act does not put one red cent into the Act itself. The mandates of this federal act are not funded by the federal government AT ALL. But this is just the money - the building, books, desks, all of that is secondary as you noted. It makes no difference how old or new the book is if its only opened within the schoolhouse walls.

Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of teachers (more than 75%) are education majors - teaching is what they wanted to do...but more importantly, from my personal experience, teachers who came into teaching from another career are doing so because they want to teach, not because its all that was left. I haven't seen any credible survey or study that would lead me to believe a substantial percentage of people are just teaching because they have too. I know many are going into teaching because of that reason, but a substantial number? I dont think so. And no teacher nowhere, should be more concerned about an individual child's education than the parent or guardian of that child..unfortunately too often these days, the teacher is the ONLY one concerned.

If there is a top ten list of things wrong with the public education system, parents are #1 thru #6 on the list.

[JABOOM]

Originally Posted by Juice.

Hate to break it to y'all, but the article you're praising was written for an anti-Black, anti-Islamic, anti-minority website run by a right-winged Jew named David Horowitz.
See for yourself: FrontPage Magazine

The only two I slightly agree with are #1 and #5.

Sure the lack of opportunity is killing, not only poor Blacks, but the entire lower class as America continues to prove how little it believes in its "equal opportunities/Anyone can make it if they work hard" pipe dream by outsourcing jobs and not providing any realistic way to climb the economic ladder. But that epidemic isn't attributable to "liberal mayors", and neither is the crime problem cited in the article. Drug related crime isn't typical of Black communities alone, it is a national problem that needs to be addressed. You have Mexican drug dealers murdering each other in Los Angeles, Cuban drug dealers murdering each other in Miami, and Black drug dealers murdering each other in Baltimore, why are Blacks singled out?

As for the educational system - I agree that the educational system is horribly broken, but the problem lies deeper. Being educated in the American system does not secure success and it only reinforces the false beliefs we're being fed as Black people. Black children are being made to believe that their people made no advances prior to the slave trade. Formal education is designed to crush the hearts of many of the future intellectuals who would be more than willing to put paid to the current system. And what motivates the poor child is void in the classroom.

Scholars on the subject of education, already know that what is most important for a child's, or young adult's, development is the social circumstances outside of school. This includes the homelife. It includes the life that the children and adolescents see transpiring around them on the streets. The learning really takes place in the school yard, rather than in the classroom.

None of my words are to refute that Blacks are underachieving. But we must look at all the reasons why they are not living up to their potential. It's easy to throw the blame upon those who are being oppressed and claim that Blacks are "anti-intellectual". Blacks most definitely should strive to be educated. But then we need to analyze what education actually is.

And how can "Jaboom" say that this garbage article is necessary to the upliftment of out people? The words you read in this article can be heard in any area that Blacks congregate, it's nothing new. It's fine to say to the Black guy: get an education, take care of your kids, stop sellin' on the corner, get a job; but if society makes is extremely difficult to do any of those things, who is to blame?

Couple that with the fact that the negatives of Black men are hunted out and publicized at every opportunity, and we have the manufacture of inferiority complexes. The hardest way to make something believe something is to prove it. The easiest way, as the media and television know so well, is to simply repeat the unprovable at every opportunity. The average person is influenceable and buys the garbage the media and television are selling.

Fortunately, some of us are raised to be more enlightened.

Well "Juice" I put this up as something to talk about and bring a bit of thought to a discussion of what is going on in our community.
The source I got this from was in an email whoever wrote it is not the biggest issue, it is what is being said that we should think about.

So before you decided to put words in my mouth by saying "And how can "Jaboom" say that this garbage article is necessary to the upliftment of out people?"
You should read the context of the article and form your own opinion.

Maybe what we should be pointing out in this article is the fact that some outsider decided to write an article about what our problems are maybe that should tell us that we have some obvious things WE should be handling RIGHT NOW.

You are more inclined to point out the article as being written by somebody and fail to see that it is f^cked up to the point that others see what is going on...........I say figure out what you can do to change what is going on instead of calling me out on this.

[Curious1]

Gosh...I have issue with a lot of these "Problems" and BAD things black neighborhoods and people "are faced with issues, listed"

Gonna have to chew on this again, re-read and come back to it when more awake....

[The Dragon]

Originally Posted by Samoon

Let there be no doubt about it. Black people should pay close attention to this ongoing election. This election is about "change", alright. But not just for the Presidency. It's also about change as a people. Black people need to realize that no one beats a path to our door unless they WANT something from us. It's time to let those people know they can beat a path to our door, but that this club now has a door charge JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!! The Clintons have done very little for us, and the NAACP has done LESS! These unconcerned individuals don't even aggressively vie for our vote (and why not, so many of us just hand our vote over on a silver platter without knowing the relevant issues that DO affect US) and all we get for our vote is war for oil, outrageous gas prices, health care you can't afford and low-wage jobs. Replacing the twerp in the White House with a skirt in the White House is not going to make me feel better about it. Barack Obama has his work cut out for him. And we'd all best pay attention to how this goes down. Because it lets us all know who our friends really are....and aren't.

"Take a look around"

The Black and Brown Divide

As Blacks have voted and tuned in on the presidency, Hispanics are firmly opposing Black leaders in favor of white ones. Is the brotherhood among minorities dead?
The Democratic primaries in California woke up a lot of people. During this election, there was a lot of talk going on about the "Black and Brown" divide. Most people have assumed for decades that since Blacks and Hispanics are minorities, it is only natural that they will support each other for elective office. Wrong! Hispanics have always viewed themselves as a "dominant" group. While Blacks have helped to elect Hispanics (The wife-cheating Mayor of Los Angeles, for example) it is abundantly clear that Hispanics have a clear opposition to voting for Black candidates. Whether it's viable Black candidates like Ron Kirk, the former mayor of Dallas who lost his bid for the senate, or now Barack Obama running for president, Hispanics have opted to vote for the white candidate--or not at all. Up until recently, this trend has been most notable in places like California and Texas, but as the legal/illegal Hispanic populations increase across the nation, I note that this trend is not just isolated to the southwest United States.
What we see is that when the candidates are Democrat or Republican , Hispanics will routinely vote Democrat. However, when the candidate is Black and his opponent is White, Hispanics will tend to vote against the Black candidate as we're seeing in the Obama/Clinton race. During "Super Tuesday" for presidential candidates, California voters chose their candidates for president. Hispanics make up a huge block of voters in California and they overwhelmingly chose Hillary Clinton over Obama by 64% according to MSNBC. It is now clear that being a fellow minority hasn't created any kinship with Hispanics in America if we ever had this. We've all heard of the racial school fights that are almost a daily occurence in California, and the situation in the jails is so balkanized that even rival gangs like the Crips and Bloods put aside their street differences, while in prison, in order to put up a resistance to the Hispanics in jail, many of whom are illegal aliens. What we see coming into form is a two front assault: Whites against Blacks on the one hand and Hispanics against Blacks on the other.

We're also seeing a lot of the same pathology typical of caucasian society against Black people being exhibited by Hispanics against Blacks. Jennifer Lopez was adamant to prove her "street credentials" when she embarked on her music career. She struck up a romantic relationship with Sean "P. Diddy" Combs to leech off his fanbase, but when it was time to choose a life partner she chose Latin singer Marc Anthony. There has been a large influx of Latinos into rap music, but you do not see Latinos clamoring to equally welcome Blacks into their music culture. To be clear, there is nothing wrong with people trying to make as much money as they can, and in all honesty there were legal and public image issues involved with Lopez's break-up from Combs (specifically a nighclub shooting involving Combs' protege' Shine). However, once again, we are seeing an economic methodology of using what Black people have to offer and then discarding Black people after usurping a position among us. Whether it's Asian stores, Arab liquor stores that prefer to set up shop in Black neighborhoods and not white ones or traditional white businesses, Black people's money is respected, but Black people ourselves are not welcome----even when it is WE who generate the income for these businesses.

Black people have been very naive about a good number of things, and how Hispanics see Black people is probably the most recent, and the most troubling because, unlike whites, Hispanics tend to live and work in traditionally Black neighborhoods. And what we are seeing in traditionally Black neighborhoods is a "push" to push out the Black residents.

We don't see this kind of behavior when Blacks move into Hispanic neighborhoods. And so it begs the question "Why do Hispanics hate Black people?"

Is it simply competition for space? Or, a power struggle between two ethic groups that, at the end of the day? Neither holds the baton of power in this country. That would be a sensible explaination if Black people had something to compete for. But considering that the majority of the valuable assets in America are white-owned, that doesn't hold water. Most likely it is the fact there is a highly influential nativist push among Hispanics (through long-time groups like La Raza and Conquistadors) combined with the fact that other ethnic groups have learned the lessons of white racism very well. If one wants to be looked upon favorably by the larger society (mainstream), all one has to do is to show disdain for Black Americans. Hispanics have only been a political force for the last 10 years and yet you have white politicians and white businesses bending over backwards until their spines snap to become as Hispanic as possible---even burdening themselves with extra expenses like setting up bi-lingual phone services and bi-lingual package printing. You've NEVER seen these same companies go out of their way to hire Blacks or make mainstream advertising featuring Blacks in a positive role. White politicians regularly oppose Affirmative Action, claiming that they are listening to their constituents, but we have presidential candidates like John McCaan and Hillary Clinton fighting and even openly insulting their white voters telling them they approve of amnesty for illegal aliens, for example. We have NEVER seen these same white, Republican, or even Democratic candidates publicly tell white voters that, "we are against you and in favor of Black Americans---even if you don't like it!" And yet this is exactly what we see in their attitude toward Hispanics. Not all of these politicians use illegal aliens to mow their lawn or babysit their children. More likely, big business has more to do with it than anything else but it still has a devastating effect on Black people.

It's clear that Hispanic disdain for Black people is no accident and it is clear this is not a trend we will see diminish. As Hispanic influence increases, we will see fewer and fewer opportunities for Black Americans develop. Remain in denial about this if you want, the proof will definitely be IN the pudding. We will be in the middle of a giant squeeze play, crushed between Whites on one hand and Hispanics on the other. While no one should construe this article to mean anyone should be anti-Hispanic (or anti-anyone else for that matter) we as Black people need to see to our own affairs first. We can't just support people because they are white----or Black for that matter. Screw-ups cross every ethnic line.

Hopefully this will "open the eyes" of OUR people that have sleeping on this for years, decades even. "BE for US, by US."

Hey sis,
Can you give me the source of this article.