Tag Archives: Race

Cornel West: As Obama becomes ‘a puppet,’ America in the midst of a ‘radical democratic awakening’ | Raw Replay

Very thought provoking comments from Dr Cornel West…

From RawStory.com:

 

Black intellectual and Princeton professor Cornel West was once a vocal supporter of President Barack Obama. Today, that’s changed — a lot.

Speaking to Russia Today, West explained that in his view, Obama has morphed into “a centrist leaning toward the right” who acts as “a puppet of big business” at home and promotes “liberal neoconservatism” in lands abroad.

Amid it all, West said that Americans of all political stripes are in the throes of a “radical democratic awakening,” at least partially brought about by the lack of change brought by the so-called change candidate, Mr. Obama.

This video is from Russia Today, broadcast Monday, April 4, 2011.

Cornel West: As Obama becomes ‘a puppet,’ America in the midst of a ‘radical democratic awakening’ | Raw Replay.

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The Next America

Some very good news from the National Journal…

Not just for President Obama’s re-election, but for all of us…

I’m tired of rich white GOP men and crazy white GOP women- with an outrageous sense of entitlement -thinking they should run everything…

It’s time for more diversity in Government – and we sure won’t get that from the GOP.

The faster our government representation becomes multi-cultural, like our society is, the better.

The next America is arriving ahead of schedule. And it could rattle assumptions about the coming presidential election.

Last week’s release of national totals from the 2010 census showed that the minority share of the population increased over the past decade in every state, reaching levels higher than demographers anticipated almost everywhere, and in the nation as a whole. If President Obama and Democrats can convert that growth into new voters in 2012, they can get a critical boost in many of the most hotly contested states and also seriously compete for some highly diverse states such as Arizona and Georgia that until now have been reliably red.

“One of the strengths of our candidacy in 2008 is, we had a broader battlefield; what these numbers suggest is that those same opportunities are there [for 2012], and there are new ones to consider,” David Axelrod, who is expected to be Obama’s senior campaign strategist, told National Journal.

via NationalJournal.com – The Next America – Friday, April 1, 2011.

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Many U.S. Blacks Moving to South, Reversing Trend

Fascinating article on the front page of today’s New York Times…

It will be interesting to see the political implications of this new migration…

Hopefully, this will help reduce the GOP’s hold on the South….

The percentage of the nation’s black population living in the South has hit its highest point in half a century, according to census data released Thursday, as younger and more educated black residents move out of declining cities in the Northeast and Midwest in search of better opportunities.

The Rev. Ronald Peters, above, who moved last year from Pittsburgh to Atlanta, said the black middle class was more hopeful in the South than in the Northeast.

The share of black population growth that has occurred in the South over the past decade — the highest since 1910, before the Great Migration of blacks to the North — has upended some long-held assumptions.

Both Michigan and Illinois, whose cities have rich black cultural traditions, showed an overall loss of blacks for the first time, said William Frey, the chief demographer at the Brookings Institution.

And Atlanta, for the first time, has replaced Chicago as the metro area with the largest number of African-Americans after New York. About 17 percent of blacks who moved to the South in the past decade left New York State, far more than from any other state, the census data show.

At the same time, blacks have begun leaving cities for more affluent suburbs in large numbers, much like generations of whites before them.

“The notion of the North and its cities as the promised land has been a powerful part of African-American life, culture and history, and now it all seems to be passing by,” said Clement Price, a professor of history at Rutgers-Newark. “The black urban experience has essentially lost its appeal with blacks in America.”

via Many U.S. Blacks Moving to South, Reversing Trend – NYTimes.com.

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Poll: Whites Without College Degrees Especially Pessimistic About Economy

I’m not really surprised by this, but still don’t get why this group primarily votes Republican.

Well, I have some theories…

  1. They are particularly susceptible to the Republican disinformation campaign.
  2. Racial prejudice
  3. Most importantly, they have been hit hardest by the Economic downturn and don’t know where to turn.

My guess is this demographic was open to Obama and the Democrats, but was the first group to become disillusioned when the focus turned to Health Care, instead of Jobs, and no one was punished for the economic collapse.

These folks aren’t dumb.  They know the Rich and the Corporations have bought the government.

The Democrats need to work harder to make their case to this group and not let the GOP control the narrative.

It would also help if they acted like real Democrats instead of Republican Lites and delivered for this group…

From the Washington Post:

The deep recession has had a profound effect on virtually every segment of the country’s population. But if there is an epicenter of financial stress and frustration, it is among whites without college degrees.

By many measures, this politically sensitive group has emerged from the recession with a particularly dark view of the economy and the financial future. Whites without college degrees also are the most apt to blame Washington for the problems, and are exceedingly harsh in their judgment of the Obama administration and its economic policies.

These findings come from a new national survey conducted by The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University. The numbers represent a fresh look at the effects of the long recession on all Americans, but particularly “non-college whites,” a group of long-fought-over voters often considered a bellwether of the political ramifications of economic woes.

A mere 10 percent of whites without college degrees say they are satisfied with the nation’s current economic situation. Most – 56 percent – say the country’s best days are in the past, and more, 61 percent, say it will be a long time before the economy begins to recover.

Fully 43 percent of non-college whites say “hard work and determination are no guarantees of success,” and nearly half doubt that they have enough education and skills to compete in the job market.

Not everything is bleak in this group’s outlook, according to the survey. Nearly seven in 10 say they are mostly optimistic about their future, although that is somewhat lower than for whites with college degrees, and for most other groups in the population. More than six in 10 report feeling at least somewhat secure financially.

The survey also found differences in the outlooks of younger and older whites without college degrees. Those younger than 50 were more optimistic about the future than were those older than 50 and were somewhat less pessimistic about how long it will take the economy to recover.

via Poll: Whites without college degrees especially pessimistic about economy.

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Chapter 46: The Evolution of One Southern Liberal or Some Thoughts on Martin Luther King Day | My Southern Gothic Life

I have a new post up on my other blog.

Here’s an excerpt and a link to the full post…

As we approach the Holiday recognizing the contributions of Dr. King, I always tend to think about where we were, where we are and where we have yet to go.  To me, this is a day to stop and think. And remember.

As a Southerner of a certain age, I just can’t let this day pass without comment.  I don’t see how anyone of my generation can.

I grew up in the South before integration and during the Civil Rights Movement.  I’m not sure if I even spoke to a black person, other than our maid, before the schools were integrated when I was in the 5th grade.  People seem to forget the South in the early 1960′s was like South Africa under apartheid.  It was a very separate and scary place.  Everyone–and I mean everyone– had their place and society tried to keep them in it.

I think the late, great Molly Ivins said it best.  Molly once wrote:  ”I believe all Southern liberals come from the same starting point — race.  Once you figure out they are lying to you about race, you start to question everything.”

via Chapter 46: The Evolution of One Southern Liberal or Some Thoughts on Martin Luther King Day | My Southern Gothic Life.

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Chapter 45: The Help | My Southern Gothic Life

Yet another new post is up on my other blog.

Here is the beginning and a link to the full post:

I can’t encourage you enough to read the book “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett.  If you haven’t read it, put it on your Christmas Wish List.  If you have read it, give it to your friends.

I’ve never read a truer book about the interaction between black women who worked as Maids in the early 1960′s and their “white ladies.”

Although the book is set in Mississippi, it could very well have been set in Danville, Virginia.  I remember those days too well.

People seem to already be forgetting that the South in those days, from Richmond to Mobile, was like South Africa under Apartheid.  I was in South Africa in 1997 and felt just like I did in Virginia in 1965.

Everyone had a place and stayed in it.  But the times were beginning to change…

In the 1960′s, the bus line ran near our house.  The corner of Brook Drive and Lansbury Drive was a major stop for the Maids.  Six or seven women would get off the bus around 7:30 or 8:00 a.m. and walk back down there to go home around 6:00 or so.  Some of them wore their bedroom shoes to work as their feet were so tired and broken down from standing all day, all they could wear were scuffs.

Most of the White Ladies in Temple Terrace had maids.  They didn’t have jobs, but they had Maids.  I remember our “car pool” for Miss Touchstone’s Kindergarten, our Mothers would throw a London Fog all-weather coat over their pajamas to take us to “school” and only get dressed and made up around 4:30 before our Fathers came home from work.  I don’t know what they did in the meantime…

MORE:   Chapter 45: The Help | My Southern Gothic Life.

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