The State of Affairs of Black America

     Whenever you make an attempt to address issues in any culture, invariably, if you tell the truth you run the risk of creating a backlash not only from those that disagree, but those who understand the truth but get upset because they feel you are publicly airing "personal business" of a race of people.  I set up this blog over a year ago and just now got to the point where I felt my fingers were nimble enough to take on such a serious matter along with the negative recoil that comes with it.  I am not some elitist that aims to talk down to people.  I grew up in a project in Columbus called Sullivant Gardens and thankfully, things looked up for my parents and we were blessed to able to move to a western suburb where I had to learn to deal with other races and other thought processes.  I currently live in the inner city and understand the day to day struggles people that are less fortunate deal with on a daily basis.  Unlike most, I do have a viable solution to make corrections that is not a bunch of hot air or idle rhetoric about something I know nothing about.  Over the next few weeks, I want to address a number of items but will also outline a "fix" that is unique which can save a race of people.  I consider myself a moderate politically as there are personal benefits to my life on both sides of the aisle. On the Democratic side, there are a lot of giveaways and on the Republican side there is a lot of what I perceive as fear of change.  The key to all of this is where does Black America really fit in??

     It can become a little dangerous to talk in absolutes.  But for most who are poor, their life of poverty is a lot better than it was before Obama was in office.(Of course, i will elaborate on this comment!)  The entitlements are extreme and there is a lot of abuse in the inner city.  The black community is very apathetic and there is a corrupt mindset because of the day to day life scramble.  Democrats do not understand African Americans because they see entitlements and giveaways as the cure and the Republicans want the other extreme, which is to give nothing and "tighten the ol belts".  Black people are resilient survivors and understand that we are not on equal footing with our caucasian counterparts.  We have only been able to vote since 1967 and still today, we have to work through shenanigans on voting day just to make our vote count. 

      In the hood, people get up each day trying to figure out how to "get" money, not necessarily "earn" money. You also have to try not to "get got" which means, whatever you get, you are not trying to have someone take it so the trust level of each other is really low.  It gets pretty primal day to day.  I limit the scope to the hood but most Black people that are in touch with other Black people know the realities of the hood even though we are not supposed to talk about the realities.  As I address some items, keep in mind this is a Blog of future action, not a Blog of attacks. 

     The entitlements are extremely manipulated in the hood.  Let's start with the Earned Income Credit.  This is a governmental giveaway that is abused by more people than the IRS could ever imagine.  Poverty stricken people are exchanging kids and social security numbers like M & M's with a total disregard for the law so that they can get a larger income tax return.  Generally, the person giving up the kid's socials gets a cut of the return.  This is not even considered criminal activity in the hood, it is considered a "come up" because everyone is doing it.  The government also changed food stamps to a Directions Card in Ohio so that it would limit the exchange of food stamps to those who are not eligible for food stamps. Does this work? No! If I walked into a room of 100 Black people from all walks of life, 95% would say they know someone from whom they can get food stamps! Food stamps can be purchased for 50 cents on the dollar and a lot of the money goes towards items other than food!  In the hood, you can go into a hole in the wall bar and buy any soaps, body washes and other personal items for bargain costs from those who are stealing daily. Not only do the bars not care about stolen items being sold in the bar, the patrons do not consider it a bad thing to buy stolen items right in the front of the bar! I won't even touch people running around talking about "Did you get your Obama phone so that you can get free minutes"? The mindset is of personal survival and it has corrupted the "community first" mindset that we really need to have to get through these trying times.  In all fairness, a lot of Black leaders are trying old ways to deal with new problems and just do not yet get that they are wasting their time.

    Just think, Black people have not formally mobilized nationally to protect our own interests since Martin Luther King.  Could you really see someone standing up for a cause today and have the police hosing them down with high pressure water? Not! We tried the Million Man March...we mobilized for a march and then went back to our own lives.  When you hear of great Black people, you hear of individuals that have overcome, not of community groups really affecting change.  We have been taught to beg for a piece of the pie and chase minority set-asides instead of understanding how to leverage our position.  We have no assets and and have a large net worth gap that we will never correct without doing things differently.  We keep going to the government and begging for 40 acres & a mule when we have the ability to do much better if we use some modern techniques that have fallen in our laps.

        We almost have to beg Black people to get up and vote because most do not feel like their vote counts.  We got all hyped for Obama, just because he was Black,  and then went right back to the couch when the midterms came around and made things bad for ourselves.  The key is without a national mobilization effort, we are no good to each other.  My next post will discuss why Mark Zuckerberg can play as critical of a role in the lives of Black people as Martin Luther King....I know that is deep but stay tuned for a touch of reality!

Black America- Real Talk Real Solutions