"Judged By The Content Of My Character"

"I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 1963

It has been 46 years since Dr. King uttered those words to America. It was a historic and momentous occasion that still reverberates throughout the world. Yet as much as we (Blacks) have worked to be judged by our character and not our skin tone we are constantly being held back by our very own people.

Congresswoman Diane Watson made the following comment during a town hall discussion over health care reform in this country; "They are spreading fear and they are trying to see that the first president that looks like me, fail." These are some very damning words when you think about how long we have tried to distance ourselves from being looked at from a "skin tone" perspective but from a "character of works" perspective. Never mind that she went on to praise Fidel Castro and the Cuban government's health system. If Cubans are so happy with Fidel then why do they risk their lives and the lives of their children to set sail for the U.S.? But I digress.

I wrote my thoughts before the election about what I felt would occur should Obama get elected and many of those thoughts are being played out daily. The biggest being that any opposition to this president would be met with the big trump card of RACE. Since when did it become racism to disagree with the disastrous and ruinous financial policies of a sitting president. How would it have looked if white people would have screamed reverse racism after Kanye West made his "George Bush don't like Black people" remark. Sounds silly doesn't it. Then so does Ms. Watson's comments about a "president that looks like me."

"...In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds...We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plain of dignity and discipline...The marvelous new militancy that has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone..." Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 1963

I know many of us have heard the " I have a Dream Speech" but I don't think many of us have read it and understood what Dr. King was speaking to us about. At least many of our black leaders need to heed his words. Stop blaming the man. Stop using the race card and start self examination of our deeds and actions when it comes to being Black and in America.

Some reading this may refer to me as an Uncle Tom. A characterization that has be inaccurately used for many years. My blog friend Digital Publius posted a piece about this topic last week. Others will say that I am a hater of all things black. Those are typical responses from blacks who support liberal philosophies even though many blacks on most topics are conservative in thoughts.

Black people when are we going to stop being victims and start being owners of our destination. You can no longer say that the "man" is holding you down because the "man" is now Black or in Obama's case semi-black. Above all stop looking to the government to fix your situation. It cannot and will not without making you a slave to their rules of living. If you want to be free then be free...of a tyrannical federal government.

To quote a Clinton..."Free your mind and your ass will follow" George Clinton, Parliament Funkadelic circa 1972

Some of these are my words (credit given where necessary)! Please post yours!

What is an African-American?

I had a friend, years ago, when asked to identify his race on a job application or other school form he would always say that it was not there and would check other. He however would write in HUMAN.

So as I watched today’s inauguration of President Barack Obama, I couldn’t help but wonder aloud who or what is really an African-American. No matter what channel I switched to I kept hearing these words “first African-American President.” I have long been an opponent of the term that was coined in 1988. Jesse Jackson, who was never voted into any position of leadership by me, said that we should start calling ourselves this to identify with our heritage as a race. The media immediately ate it up and the new lexicon was born.

My long term thoughts have been that the term African-American was reserved for Black Americans who were descendants of slavery. And if that is the case then by definition Barack Obama is not an African-American. His father was a Kenyan immigrant, yeah I know Kenya is in Africa, and his mother a white American. The Black part of him was not a descendant of slavery in America, logic would say that Obama is not an African-American.

The term itself is so confusing that white people and the media try to apply it to all Black folk that they encounter or have any conversation about. Here is how it becomes confusing. Lenox Lewis has been regularly mislabeled by columnists as being African American. You see, Mr. Lewis is a black heavyweight boxer and if you saw him you would even say so too. Yet the moment he speaks you would clearly say that boy ain’t from around here is he? Lewis is British. The same has happened to Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton. Who too looks like me, walks like me but speaks with a funny accent. He too is from Great Britain. He was given the distinct honor of being the first African-American to win a Formula One race. ESPN had to issue a retraction to that story. It’s not only athletes that have had to deal with this form of political correctness. Thandie Newton and Naomi Campbell have both been referred to as African-American.

So what do we say to our African immigrants who work hard to get here? Start living the “American Dream” and become naturalized citizens of this country. Now if you ask me they are African Americans. Born in Africa and became an American citizen. Yet we tell this group oooh nooo! You can’t be a part of this club because you have not had to struggle like our ancestors. Never mind that they only came here because of some struggle in their own country in the first place like genocide, lack of education, starvation or poverty. We have to assume that everyone on the continent of Africa is Black which is not the case. What about our cousins from the Caribbean countries? What do we call them?

The term is so politically correct that this headline appeared at www.physorg.com : African-American Canadians who receive kidney transplants fare better than those in US. OK so when did African-Americans start being Canadians? Hence the word American. See what happens when we try to make things so politically correct that we make it politically stupid. Please tell your white friends that it is OK to call us Black. I can identify with that, you don’t have to try to figure out if you used the term correctly and it doesn’t make you sound uppity. And tell your uppity Black ones that its OK for them too!

Urban Dictionary online has one definition as: What white people say when they’re afraid to say black especially when a black person is in the room.

So is Barack Obama the first African-American POTUS? You judge it. I prefer to say that he is the first Black President of the United States. Does this mean that Colin Powell was not the first African-American Secretary of State? Yup… His parents were immigrants from Jamaica. None of this discounts the history that was made by both men but it calls into question what is an African-American and who can lay claim to being one?

Keep your hyphenated labels off of me. In the words of James Brown, “…I’m Black and I’m proud.”