Perfect Strangert: The Other side of the ledger: As I am in recovery from my battle with throat cancer I’ve had a great deal of time to think about the way things appear to me. Many of my acquaintances probably feel that I faced many of the battles I fought fearlessly but that was not entirely true. But after this battle I realize that here is nothing to fear not even death, as it is inevitable other than not fighting for those that cannot fight for themselves. I also realize that many that cannot fight, cannot because they don’t realize they must but they don’t have a clue what or who to fight. I write this to say this: I have had a Facebook conversation white, male friend and a face to face with my mother and the juxtaposition of those conversations brought me to this screed. The white male tried to equate the oppression he and others have faced with the African American experience in America and my mother’s total acceptance of whatever the black president does has righteous. There is a dirty little secret that many black folks are going to get a bit mad at me for exposing, (and some will disagree, as they must), but behind closed doors a whole lot of black folks are made about their circumstances and made a the folks that are in charge because they feel betrayed by them when they look like them and they don’t do anything to help. Yep, I said anything to help... My conversation with my mother was about the President and his health care mandate. She said she has a friend that has to pay $400+ per month and who has that kind of money. I said the ACA was a kiss to the insurance companies and if the president was working for us he would have fought to have single payer. She got mad and began to defend him although her friend can’t afford the insurance. This is the defense of the black person (dirty little secret) even when the black person is detrimental to your situation. Many of my friends, some unemployed, have begun to question what the president is doing to change their world. Less AA’s working now than under Bush, ouch. Yeah he’s had his opposition but what has he fought for with respect to the AA community. And the defense is always “He’s everyone’s President”, then why did it matter that he’s black. And this is the same crap that is pulled on Black folks at every level and then you are cowed in to not saying anything about or against the persons in charge because they look like you, even to your detriment. The real dirty little secret that is talked about behind closed doors is the understanding that many of the Black folks that are picked to be in positions of power, and yes I said picked, are picked to be there to maintain the status quo, they won’t cause no trouble and we need one there to hold that place and/or they are the gatekeepers to keep black folks from making real progress. Then there are those that are chosen to receive a bit of the booty, (NO REAL MONEY) so the power brokers can say we’ve already given to the Black cause. Locally, We have a Black City manager, Asst City Manager, School supt, And numerous elected official, both now and in the past, yet the plight of the African American in Austin and Travis County is dire. (I will wait for all that disagree to name the accomplishments and we can let the debate begin. This is not about what we haven’t done , this is about why it hasn’t or is happening, possibly to educate not my mother, cause deep down she knows, but to educate a white male who thinks all I have to do is work hard and all is good. Here are obstacles that he cannot see that he thinks are accomplishments. If the Black person has been placed there to keep me from my success he will never see it. And many in this country have used the president to say “look how much you can accomplish”. BTW there are things the president could do that would cost him nothing and send a message like, an executive order that would order any and all that contract with government to pay the employees a living wage. Well ? There’s more, but let us open these flood gates.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 01:56:49 +0000
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