Black America - 1 Year After It Reacted To Obama

Please allow me to make one point absolutely clear about this post:  THIS POSTING IS NOT ABOUT PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA!!!!!   Obama exists in the "American Political Domain".

Instead this post is from the center point of the Black Community OUTWARD.

One year ago today there was a sense of hope and majesty present among the Black "rank and file" citizen as to what our future would entail.  The accelerant which propagated this energy throughout Black America was the election of a Black man into the office of the President Of the United States and what many felt this would translate into:

• In Their Personal Lives
• For Their Community
• For Their Race
• For America
• In regards to America And The Rest Of The World

Today many Black Americans have sobered up with regard to their unbound hopes as to what both Barack Obama and a solid Democratic Majority in the Executive and Legislative branches of the Federal government.    There is still a strong proclivity of these same people to blame "Republicans" and "Racist Motivated" operatives for standing in the way of Obama.  This type of rationalization is more for the sake of providing a bit of mental comfort (aka a "conspiracy theory") regarding why some of their more left-wing radical ideas have not sailed through than they can prove that there is a "clandestine klansman" lurking in all who disagree with them.

My post is not an "I told you so" post.   I have learned that this merely creates defensiveness among those who will retrench into their position as they seek to save face.

Instead I am going to redouble my efforts to separate the "American Political Domain" from our racial nucleus and the "Community Cultural Consciousness and Competence Domain".

Bottom line we can no longer afford to expend this type of energy as a people into a vessel that ultimately not addressing the core issues that we face as a people.  I purposely made sure that I ventured into majority Black community arenas (shopping malls, sole proprietorship stores, churches, newspapers, radio and blogs).  There has never been another time in which the Black community was more unified in excitement and pride.

For some people the STATUS OF HAPPINESS that came over the masses in reaction to Obama WAS THE FEELING that they longed for.  Thus they oversold the possibility of what this historic moment would translate onto us as a people.

I saw the election of Barack Obama - a Black man as the proof of change in the times by AMERICAN rather than as evidence that the Black Establishment machine had orchestrated a coup and claimed power after decades of struggle, thus deserving a pat on the back.  Despite the propensity of certain "racism chasers" to promote a "victim based" campaign in all that they do - the preponderance of evidence shows that a Black man with certain attributes working on his behalf can indeed be popularly elected in today's America.

Someone Needs To Take The Fall For Using Our Emotions For Something Other Than Our Permanent Interests

Despite the tremendous gap between the heightened emotional sentiment that was felt last year and the hangover that we face today - there is another gap that proves more fatal to our community interests.  The gap between Black people's 91% favorable view of the presidential administration and the:

• Black Unemployment Rates - Particularly males
• The Black Male Homicide Rate - the only segment to see an increase in recent years
• The Ailments suffered by Black people as a consequence of a "Body Fluid Exchange" (Unwanted Pregnancies, HIV, STDs)
• The Abysmal Graduation Rates in large metro-area schools 

These are the ONLY data points that count.  The 91% rating by Blacks upon Barack Obama is merely "Vehicle Worship".  The masses are appraising the vehicle that has been looked upon to carry us forward and noting the leather seats, 22" rims and Bose sound system.   They did not note what the dashboard navigation system had been providing them in the way of "constructive feedback".  A loud voice and flashing indicator light attempted to tell them that they are off course from the destination that they had enter into the computer.

In this case the "operator override" by the establishment forces at the wheel has been a mistake.

It is clear that they purchased the Navigation option because it looked "cool" as it popped out of the dashboard.  More BLING than BENEFIT.