Obama=Reparations: Yeah Right

Obama=Reparations: Yeah Right
Or
Let’s Get Off Our Asses and Stop Waiting For A Handout

Millions have cheered the last couple of days because Sen. Barack Obama became the first black man nominated by a major political party for the presidency. We all watched the convention with awe as a black man took center stage and proclaimed to the world that he is ready to “be the man.” Many blacks (African-Americans, Negros, Colored folk, etc.) are beside themselves at the prospect of having a black president. Why? Does it mean we are finally equal with other races and nationalities? Will brother Obama finally make the apology to the blacks for slavery? Will he finally give us reparations? Will you finally get your forty acres and a mule (promised to freed slaves after the Civil War)? Hell No!!! That is not his job first of all and secondly I don’t think he really cares. Barack Obama is just another politician out to get his by any means necessary. Don’t get me wrong, I am excited by all of this, but I am also careful not to get my feelings hurt either. We, blacks, must prepare ourselves for the impending let down and take a stand at last to reclaim what is rightfully ours; our unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Yes, blacks have been through a lot. But so have other nations of people who were able to overcome their hardships. Native Americans had their land stolen from them and then forced to live in the worst corners of it. Not all, but several tribes have turned their misfortune into success by opening casinos and taking all of your money, Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods notably. Or how about the early Irish immigrants, who managed to bully their way into politics and come to dominate the NYPD. In early NYC, through the political machine known as Tammany Hall, the Irish grabbed onto power and staked their claim as people worthy of better. The Jews, who everyone hates for some strange reason, have shown how to make lemonade from lemons. In the early Jewish immigrant history, they were not allowed to go to any hospital, so they built their own-The Jew’s Hospital opened June 5, 1855-which we know today as Mount Sinai Hospital, one of the oldest and largest teaching hospitals in the country. These nations invested in real estate and kept it in the family, looking to the success of future generations. They maintained their community as a means to survival. Just look at all the ethnic groups who were disenfranchised and turned things around for themselves. Read and open your minds to the “real world” and see how it has been done before and we can do it again. Not waiting for government to do it or for some handouts, but through the unbreakable wall of community they persevered.
I believe that a change is long overdue. We have sat on our hands for too long and accepted the crap thrown our way. We must first admit that we have no sense of community and work towards rebuilding our communities. No longer can we assume the roles portrayed in the media, we are not ghetto and we are not the dregs of society. Enough is enough; we must join together and take a stand to rectify the last 450 plus years of socio-political-economic oppression. This is the new revolution. If we want true equality, we must take it. We must break the bonds of ignorance and begin to develop our history and who we are as a people.
Deprogramming yourself is the first step. Who are you really? Are you the funny comedian with a sitcom? Are you the future top draft in the NBA or NFL? Maybe you are the successful black bitch, or the drug dealing thug on the street corner. Or are you the next gangsta rapper? Is that all that we can aspire to? I think not. Why do we not inspire ourselves and children to be more? What happened to the dreams of past revolutionaries who died fighting for our futures? Please don’t tell me the dreams died with them. We must resurrect the ideas of a successful black community and take action to make it so. Reshape your view of yourselves and the world around you; you are more than “they” say you are.
Each one teach one, can still be applied today. Sharing our knowledge with one another is the only way to better ourselves. We must also instill an attitude of self governing, where we hold each other in the community responsible for their actions. By doing this we can put an end to the aimlessness of youths wandering the streets and put them back in the education system. We can give every child several parents to raise them. We can keep our young men out of the prison system and give them a better future. The new gang in the hood would be made up of neighbors joined together to keep the community safe and on the path to social and economic independence. When we reestablish our communities, we can rebirth the black business, clean up the streets, provide a responsible future for our children and begin to live at peace.
Ask yourself if you are ready for change, not just a black face in the white house, but true change? It will not be easy, easy is doing nothing. Dedication and hard work will bring about the change we crave and need. I believe that Obama will be the next president, but have a hard time thinking that his success will mean success in the community. We must bring about that change and success. We must make a stand against the drug dealing on our blocks, the destruction of our businesses, the raping of our women and community, the emasculation and murder of our young boys and men. We must abandon the self-serving capitalist ideals that govern this nation we live in. We must rise above the greed and deception of our current policies and bring about a social reform that will bring fairness and equality to the people. The crabs in a barrel mentality, along with what the establishment has told us to be, has stifled our growth long enough, now is the time to uplift one another, to share our resources and pool our talents to bring about change and develop OUR COMMUNITY.

- J.B. Stevens

I wish I would of known about this because I would of been there to say thank you as well. My bro and I have had this conversation many times. People should be helping people. People should not be for self. No one exists here alone. The problem with the "American Way" is that people feel you need to help yourself. That's capitalism for you. It is all about the almighty $$$ dollars. Thank you Chavez for your assistance. American companies should take notice but they can't because they are too busy thinking about the bottom line. Profit.

Serrano joins hundreds in public thanks for Chavez oil
BY JESS WISLOSKIDAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, August 8th 2007, 4:00 AM

Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez - and the U.S. oil company that pumps his nation's oil - got a big "Gracias!" this week from the South Bronx.
The thanks was for $3 million in donations to various nonprofit borough groups.
Hundreds gathered at the Hunts Point Riverside Park Monday to welcome and thank the ambassador from the U.S.'s fourth-largest oil-providing nation, and executives from Citgo, the U.S. subsidiary of Venezuela's state-run oil company.
"For all intents and purposes, this is an American company. Ninety percent of its employees are here, they pay taxes here, they are held accountable here," said Rep. Jose Serrano, who worked with Venezuelan Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez to provide the grants.
"The only difference is they're putting money back into the communities they get their money from," he said.
The three-year grants will go to nine community-based organizations devoted to social justice and environmental change in the Bronx.
The idea is one of many by Venezuela's firebrand president, Hugo Chavez, and part of his "Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas."
But his largesse also is easily seen as a dig at President Bush, whom Chavez famously called "the devil" in a speech at the UN.
Serrano (D-South Bronx), who hosted Fidel Castro on a Bronx visit more than a decade ago, struck up a relationship with Chavez after he visited the borough two years ago and earmarked 25 million gallons of Citgo's home heating oil to be sold at a 40% discounted rate to poor Americans. Three Bronx non-profits helped distribute it to 8,000 impoverished residents.
Serrano defended the political implication of the new funding from Citgo.
The grant recipients are Casa Atabex Ache, GreenWorker Cooperatives, Mount Hope Housing, Servicios de Educación Básica, Sistas on the Rise and the new South Bronx Food Coop, as well as environmental organizations Rocking the Boat, The Point and Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice.
They did not seem to mind the political implications.
"This is allowing us to do more demonstration projects than we were able to before, and community projects," said Alexie Torres-Fleming, executive director for Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice, which educates communities about the damage of pollution.

jwisloski@nydailynews.com

Who Really Needs To Go???

I'm not saying Saddam Hussein didn't deserve what he got, but if you look at his record as a leader and humanitarian [Iraq was providing social services that were unprecedented among Middle Eastern countries. Saddam established the "National Campaign for the Eradication of Illiteracy" and the campaign for "Compulsory Free Education in Iraq,"...the government established universal free schooling up to the highest education levels; hundreds of thousands learned to read in the years following the initiation of the program. The government also supported families of soldiers, granted free hospitalization to everyone, and gave subsidies to farmers. Iraq created one of the most modernized public-health systems in the Middle East, earning Saddam an award from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization] you will begin to wonder why and who are we really fighting against. Do the research, you'll be surprised.



Omar al-Bashir, Sudan
Since February 2003, Bashir’s campaign of ethnic and religious persecution has killed at least 180,000 civilians in Darfur in western Sudan and driven 2 million people from their homes. The good news is that Bashir’s army and the Janjaweed militia that he supports have all but stopped burning down villages in Darfur. The bad news is why they’ve stopped: There are few villages left to burn. The attacks now are aimed at refugee camps. While the media have called these actions “a humanitarian tragedy,” Bashir himself has escaped major condemnation. In 2005, Bashir signed a peace agreement with the largest rebel group in non-Islamic southern Sudan and allowed its leader, John Garang, to become the nation’s vice president. But Garang died in July in a helicopter crash, and Bashir’s troops still occupy the south.



Kim Jong-il, North Korea
While the outside world focuses on Kim Jong-il’s nuclear weapons program, domestically he runs the world’s most tightly controlled society. North Korea continues to rank last in the index of press freedom compiled by Reporters Without Borders, and for the 34th straight year it earned the worst possible score on political rights and civil liberties from Freedom House. An estimated 250,000 people are confined in “reeducation camps.” Malnourishment is widespread: According to the United Nations World Food Program, the average 7-year-old boy in North Korea is almost 8 inches shorter than a South Korean boy the same age and more than 20 pounds lighter. His annual purchases of Hennessy's cognac reportedly total to $700,000, while the average North Korean earns the equivalent of $900 per year.



Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran
Ahmadinejad is an outspoken critic of the Bush administration, is supportive of strengthened relations with Russia, and has refused to stop the nuclear program of Iran against the wishes of the United Nations. He was widely condemned for his statements approving the notion that Israel "must be wiped off the map" and repeatedly describing the Holocaust as a "myth", although he has insisted that he is not antisemitic. Several former hostages from the American Embassy takeover of 1979 have named Ahmadinejad as being involved in the hostage crisis. Former hostage David Roeder in particular has been adamant about Ahmadinejad's role, saying that Ahmadinejad, in an effort to get him to talk, threatened to kidnap his son back in the USA. He said, that "the wave of the Islamic revolution" would soon "reach the entire world."