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Forum nameFreestyle Board
Topic subjectOld Guard vs young blood
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=7&topic_id=72321&mesg_id=72327
72327, Old Guard vs young blood
Posted by ThaAnthology, Wed Feb-06-08 02:50 PM
Old Guard versus Young Blood


Today is a very important political day for all Americans. It is the wake of Super Tuesday and the relevance of an American Black President is truly more evident than ever before. The political rabble-rousing of Bill Clinton and his ear-marking of Obama’s success in the South Carolina Primary has now officially been over-shadowed by his taking of 12 of the 20 states in yesterday’s event.

Granted, at this time the delegate count is still being tallied, and Sen. Hillary Clinton has a slight edge at this point. Again, it is too early to tell exactly how close this democratic election is.

Knowing this, Black Americans find themselves in a position we are not used to. Where is our leadership? Where are the American Black leaders our community grew to rely on during the 50s, 60s and 70s?

So far, if you want to look to American Black leadership, look in two places. You will find them in the ground, or buried with their head in the sand. There is no true strength in the American Black communities because of many deep-seeded reasons, but a few factors are readily prevalent:.

1. Economics. The so-called leaders of the past are now comfortable with their regimen of talk shows, speaking engagements and book tours. They are in a tax bracket that has detached them from today’s youthful constituents.
2. Disenfranchisement. Today’s American Black youth are disinterested, disengaged and misinformed about the truth of the state of the Black community. They know that education and health care are severely down in the urban areas, they understand that interest rates are killing their wallet; debt is at an all-time high. They know the value of their dollar does not go nearly as far as it used to. What they do not understand is that the political process is how things change. (based on the last 2 elections it is easy to understand why they feel so disenfranchised).
3. Indifference. There is a definite divide in what our leaders discuss and what their constituents are going through. These are no longer the days of Minister El Hajj Malik Shabazz and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I say that not to knock what these and many other great Americans achieved, but to say the Civil Rights movement is over. We have achieved somewhat of the goals set before us. The problem is, the problems facing the American Black communities are not as overt these days. To say Black People as a whole do not understand truly what they are voting for is not an accusation but rather a feeling that swells throughout the community. We must be reminded of why we are still fighting and to remove the false sense of complacency that has besieged our community.

So, who’s going to take the weight? This is a question that is NOT directed at the political candidates, but rather our community itself. Once again, the need to galvanize our members is vastly apparent.

Our community really needs to put itself back together. Recognize that the education our children receive is lacking on a grand scale. The school system is being used as a baby-sitter to our children, an underpaid, over-worked, under-appreciated baby-sitter with poor materials and resources.

There is a stranglehold on our music and arts. Powers that be have no regulation on what hits the airwaves and internet waves thus setting our children up for a failure of epic proportions. Creativity has been railroaded by monetary influence of a select few who have no other vested interest in our communities other than exploitation.

Sub-prime Mortgages are directly aimed at the urban communities, where most American Blacks reside. Homes are foreclosing at a tremendous rate. Gas prices are $20-$40 higher per fill than they were 8 years ago. Food prices are sky-rocketing, Health care is at welfare conditions for a large percentage of American blacks (those who can actually afford health care). Family care plans (day care, health care, dental, life insurance) are so unaffordable as compared to wages, forcing many families to go without.

There is still plenty left to fight for. Our Fore-Fathers gave us the freedom we have now, what are we giving our children? What future will we have left when the world still sees black vs. white, where an American Black presidential candidate is a big deal, where a female presidential candidate is a big deal, where private industry continues to sacrifice creativity and imagination by monopolizing music and the arts, where the deficit rises, but salaries do not, where interest rates stifle credit ratings by suffocating its masses with unaffordable conditions, it is high time we laced up our Military Surplus boots, donned our red boxing gloves and tell the established environment that there indeed is a necessity for change, and we will put forth the effort to be the beacons of that change.

Older leaders, we thank you for your assistance, tutelage and guidance but it is OUR turn. It is now up to US to turn the corner.