Are Black Americans Stupified by Barack Obama?

Stupified: Confused and stupid at the same time.

AAPP: There seems to be a new sense of racial optimism. Very few newspapers or bloggers are talking about "The black-white divide in Obama's popularity. For many, including Obama, silence is golden regarding color and racial matters. Most newspapers and bloggers are talking about how African-Americans are optimistic about Obama. While some blogs dare to ponder The Obama effect: Have blacks in general suddenly become smarter?



I guess black America is going Post Racial or just stupified by post racial madness - like Jay-Z . Soon Obama like Jay Z will say "There Is No Such Thing As Black Music"

Speaking of Stupified and Post Racial - There is a great article in The Atlantic by Ta-Nehisi Coates. regarding The Essental Americanness of African Americans. Ta-Nehisi Coates notes that a CBS News polling data has some interesting results on race. Matt was surprised that a significant number (44 percent) of African-Americans believe that blacks and whites have the same shot at success in this country:

I'm surprised that as many as forty-four percent of blacks say that both races have equal opportunity. I think the evidence is unambiguously clear that they do not. African-American children have parents with lower levels of income and education. Their families, even when they have above-average incomes, tend to have less wealth than white families. And even controlling for parental income and educational attainment, black kids do worse in schools than white kids. Then beyond all that, there's clear evidence of discrimination against job applicants with "black" names that tends to suggest a broader pattern of employment discrimination. There are inequities in the criminal justice system both in terms of more punishment being meted out to black offenders, and the police and the courts doing less to protect black victims.

I'm not surprised that most white people prefer to ignore this sort of evidence and believe in the existence of equal opportunities, but it's surprising to me how many African-Americans have adopted an unrealistically optimistic view.

Ta-Nehisi Coates says: I obviously agree with Matt's assessment of the socioeconomic plight of black folks. But I don't share his surprise. First there is this--If you're black, a quick way to go insane is to think about how much racism has altered your life. But beyond that, I spent a lot of time in my youth as a left-black nationalist arguing with friends and family about race. One thing that became clear is that while a large number of black people recognize the ugly history of racism in this country, many have a hard time seeing themselves as victims of that racism.

This makes sense if you think about it from a human perspective. Black people have to compete, and their kids have to compete. In order to wake up every morning, work your ass off, and pay taxes, then tell your to do the same, it helps to buy in to the idea that "you can win." Perhaps more important than that, African-Americans are Americans, and "you can win" is a part of our ethos. I suspect that overestimating the extent to which "individual effort" matters is an American trait. Maybe even a human one, I'm not sure. More HERE

AAPP: Let me be very clear, I'm no Obama hater. President Obama is hands down, better than George W Bush any day. There are Obama haters who criticize his every move.

There are also some people that are looking at Barack Obama's policies for urban America. At this point Obama is getting an F from a number of Chicago activists. Candidly, I'm hoping that Black Americans are not becoming stupified by President Barack Obama.

President Obama does not want to be called the "Black American - President," and he shouldn't be. He is the President of all the United States, including Black citizens of America. We should hold him accountable like any President and forget about his blackness.

I'm not stupified by Barack Obama. Are you?

Hate Crimes Against Blacks on the Rise

This is not the Post-Racial American Society that American media outlets have been saying we are in.

- Publisher, The Post Racial Blog

As reported by the Southern Poverty Law Center's HATE WATCH, SF Gate and this new Post-Racial Blog, Richmond, Calif. police have arrested seven white teenagers on suspicion of felony hate crime assault with a deadly weapon in the attack on a 24-year-old black man whose face was fractured by kicks and punches from assailants who called him a “coon.” Read full article

SF Gate reports: 7 East Bay teens arrested - hate crime alleged
Brandon Manning, seen eight days after he was beaten, has broken bones in his face. (Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle)

One minute he was hanging out with seven seemingly friendly guys in a park, the next he said he was on the ground, the blows coming from all sides, a fist or foot landing hard enough to fracture six bones in his face.

But it was the words accompanying the blows that made Manning, 24, think he was about to die.

"Coon." And then, "How do you like this, you f-ing n-?"

A week after the Jan. 24 incident, Richmond police officers arrested seven East Bay teenagers on suspicion of felony assault with a deadly weapon - a hate crime investigation delayed five days because of a police clerical error.

The seven are white. Manning is black.

"I don't understand how somebody could do that in this day and age," Manning said Sunday. "I never, never thought it would happen to me."

Not in California and not in the East Bay, Manning said.

The arrest of the seven, including two juveniles, brought relief after nearly a week of anxiety, medical appointments - and especially deafening silence from the police department, Manning said.

The police report documenting the incident as an assault and identifying it as a possible hate crime sat unnoticed in the wrong in-box from the morning of Jan. 24 until Thursday, when Manning's mother showed up at the Richmond Police Department to ask about the case.

Hours later, Sgt. Lori Curran and a team of investigators got the paperwork. More HERE

It's interesting that there are so many cases of attacks on black men, women and children across America and it seems that none of the old school negro/colored organizations care. The national NAACP seems to be more concerned about holding Barack Obama accountable, when they could not even get the former President to attend any of thier events in 8 years, except for one time. I'm glad folks like the, Southern Poverty Law Center, Color of Change and the afrospear are stepping up to expose and organize against these crimes. I'm hopeful these groups get stronger, and can begin to really do the grassroot organizing our communities need and deserve.