Post Your Blogs Here.
Watch this Blog Notify me by e-mail any time a new post is made to this blog.
Value is not determined by who or how much people will pay for what you have.
January 2010 Posts
Archives
If you expected white America to embrace and applaud a Black man who did something other than shoot a ball through a hoop, knock one out of the park or sing a memorable song which they could tap their toes to, then I guess you are beginning to see the light. For over 300 years most whites have lived under the impression that, unless a Black man could do something spectacular and I mean “right now” he didn’t serve much purpose. This becomes more evident everyday as those so called independents began to turn their backs on Mr. Obama, because in his first year in office he has not delivered on what they consider their agenda. Forget the fact that the nation and the entire industrialized world were on the brink of collapse when he took office, or that we were in the midst of two wars, or that we had a massive budget deficit, this President was expected to come into office and by now have a chicken in every pot, car in every driveway and oh yea, a driveway for everyone that wanted one.
For all those folks that supported Barack Obama because they wanted to be on the right side of history, or didn’t want to be considered a racist, or was just looking for their “CumBaYa” moment here is a reality check. There are still those who like South Carolina’s Attorney General feels like giving aid to the poor is “like feeding an abandoned or stray animal”, or Bill O’Riley who thinks that the south side of Chicago is like Haiti. Not to mention those countless number of false prophets who would have you believe like Pat Roberson that, God is punishing people for not wanting to be slaves to the French. At no other time in America’s history have people been so mean spirited and so determined to make the point that, a Black man cannot lead. Could it be that white America is so pressed to illustrate their false assertion that Black people are inferior, that they are willing to sabotage the President and the entire country to make their point?
There truly is change happening in America. It may not be the kind of change you expected or hoped for, but it is in fact change. People of color are beginning to realize that the Puritans who settled this country, by stealing it from Native Americans never intended it to be a nation “by the people, for the people”. How else do you justify so many of the founding fathers being slave owners. It is time for people of color in America to come to terms with the fact that, in order to advance we must come together as a group and take command of our own lives. Now, that’s change you can believe in!
Institutional or systemic racism is a reality in our society that many of us have learned to live with. Often these measures are put into place for seemingly good reasons, but result in the singling out of a specific group that will inevitably become disadvantaged. Nothing could illustrate this fact more clearly than mandatory minimum sentencing standards implemented in the decades of the 70’s and 80’s. While laws and penalties were crafted to fight the scourge of drugs flooding urban communities, the result has been a disproportionate number of young Black men being incarcerated for crimes, that non-blacks receive far lesser punishment for. However, nothing will compare to the system being crafted now to undermine our economy and its citizens. That system is restrictions on hiring based on the status of your credit!
Although many companies have had strict requirement for credit worthy for years, many others are now finding out that the status of your credit can be used as a “legal and valid” remedy for denying you a job. With unemployment reaching 10% in the general workforce and hovering at rates estimated at 27% in Black communities these restriction could be devastating as our economy is reshaped. It is a widely known fact that Black consumers have had much greater difficulties securing credit. It is also a commonly known fact that, banks, mortgage companies, developers and others economic forces are more likely to “redline” specific communities based on demographics. These factors coupled with an evolving economy and workforce could result in nullifying many of the gains realized by African-Americans over the past four decades.
It is imperative that we start to focus on the long-term ramifications of credit worthiness as a prerequisite for employment. Since there are no clear standards for determining what credit requirements must be met to qualify you for a job the process becomes subjective. If securing a job based on your credit history becomes the rule you can bet it will not be long before segments of the population are considered unemployable. New immigration laws could relegate many of us to those jobs that have traditionally been reserved for illegal immigrants and migrant workers. In effect relegating many of us to our previous positions as menial laborers, domestic workers and field hands.
