Hopefully THIS will shut down the noise…maybe

Feb10

by Duane on February 10th, 2007 at 10:24 am

(nydailynews.com) WASHINGTON – In his first TV interview after declaring for President, Sen. Barack Obama says being African-American won’t damage his chances to be elected.

“If I don’t win this race, it will be because of other factors: …[that] I have not shown to the American people a vision for where the country needs to go…that they can embrace,” Obama tells CBS’ “60 Minutes.” (more…)

So for those that feel the calling to convince folks that we are a breath away from the 1950′s, please remember what this brotha has said. Now, use that same energy to talk about his vision stance on the issues.

MEANWHILE, ON THE FLIP SIDE…

His wife also chimes in:

“…I don’t lose sleep over it because the realities are that… as a black man… Barack can get shot going to the gas station.” (source)

Hmmm, let’s see.

-I went to the market yesterday (several times), paid for my purchases and the cashier offered to take my stuff to the car. Cashier was White.

-Took my kids to Chick-fil-A yesterday. As expected, the cashier gave me my food. We even shared a laugh before pulling off. Cashier (both of them) were White.

-Took our dog to the vet without an appointment. They saw us quicker than I thought. Checked out the dog, gave her medicine, paid them their money and I was out the door. The staff was mostly White.

-On my downtime I love going to one of the many beaches in Orange county (a mostly White county I might add). If I do talk to the people there, they tend to be very friendly and in many cases be the first one to say “hi” to me. There are plenty of other times where we will engage in conversations about the area.

-While looking for a new home, sales associates treated us like everyone else…BECAUSE THEY WANTED THE SALE. Most of the salespeople we encountered were White.

-Both of our kids are part of a homeschool program where 2 days out of the week I take them to a school where they have their classes (the other days of the week I am teaching them at home). This is a VERY small school where our kids alone make up the Black demographic. While there was room for my daughter in her class, unfortunately there was no room for my son. This school went as far as to consider breaking one of its rules on class size. TOGETHER, we decided it was best for me to homeschool him full time until an opening was made available. This program has a long waiting list so his chances of getting in this year did not look to good. The other week we got a phone call from the school telling us they had an opening for him. The staff were excited to have him (again, all White).

More on my son–

During my teaching of my son here at home, I noticed that he was hitting a brick wall when it came to reading. My wife and I decided to enroll him at the local Score Learning Center. In just a few weeks both his reading and math skills have drastically improved. His main tutor is White and on some days his other tutor is Hispanic.

-My wife works for a company based in Orange country where she is one of a handful of Black employees. Based on her job performance, she has received accolades from as far up as the CEO REGULARLY. Many of her co-workers look up to her professionally because she is one of those people who is willing the help those who need it without stepping on them. Her supervisors regularly speak to her off the record letting her know about future upcoming decisions regarding the company. As a reward for her hard work, from time to time they give her things like season tickets to Disney or restaurant gift certificates for our family. One of the executives of her company sent me a “Thank You” card with a American Express gift certificate thanking me for my patience with them as it is a very demanding position.

- We currently live in a diverse neighborhood (White, Black, Hispanic) and so far after living here two years no problems that I can think of. The neighborhood we will be moving to in a couple of months pretty much has the same demographic.

But that’s just me.

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Saudia

I am doing so part time consulting for this Community Corrections and company and came in to find everyone all excited about the fact that Obama has announced that he is running. Two of the women in there 50′s joyfully proclaimed that they would vote for him and they were doing it for there ancestors and happy that in there lifetime they had a black candidate that could win. I sat quietly. I don’t believe in voicing my opinion unless asked. Then they asked and I told them that I had no intention on voting for him because I didn’t know his record. They went on to say that they were voting for him because he was black and that was all they needed. I responded with he has not had enough time to prove to me that he should be president. I even went so far as to tell them that if he won the democratic nomination that I would more likely than not vote independent. They were livid. Here is my thing. I truly in my heart of heart have nothing against Obama. America is in a time of crisis. People are losing there lives in war that has already killed over 3000 Americans. The death toll is probably ten times that of the Iraqi people. Our domestic situation is also in turmoil. Our schools are in shambles, drugs are running rampid, the deficit is ridicules and more over people are afraid. What we need now is president that has the proven ability to deal with these issues. We don’t need someone that is going to have to spend the 1st year getting on the job training.

Peg

Duane… I was told today that I really should not express my views on racial issues, ’cause as a non-black, I am not an expert on racism.

Kinda blows me away… white folks don’t get to say what they think!

Sometimes I think that MLK JR’s dream is so, so far away……

priceless

Obviously racism today isn’t as blunt as it was in our past times, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Now their are more clever forms of it, like crack carrying a five to one ration over cocaine, but its the same drug! Why? Because statistics show that 90%blacks are caught with crack and 90%caucasions are caught with cocaine. I grew up around all colors of people and was also naive to any differences until I got to be around 7/8. Went to spend the night with a little friend and although her parents liked me, when we went to the store, the park and those normal everyday places I start to realize that people were looking at me, some leaving and walking away, but why? Because I was black and in their neighborhoods, stores, and parks playing with their kids. I live in Nebraska and I don’t see every black person being treated bad, but I do know that their are many times that they are strictly because of color. The police in my town shot a young black man down for reaching for his wallet one day; a white man turned around two days later and ran, shot, and tried to escape and they tazered him? You tell me the difference? It’s not like it use to be, but it’s not completely gone either.

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