Tim Wise Discussing Race and Racism on The Rock Newman Show

Talk show host Rock Newman leads a very insightful conversation with Tim Wise, a man who has spent much of his adult life fighting racism and educating others about white privilege.

Republicans Can Make Headway with Blacks

By Raynard Jackson

Last week’s midterm elections were historic. Republicans regained control of the U.S. Senate, increased their majority in the House, and expanded their majority among governors. While these gains were historic and impressive, there was a bigger story that no one is talking about.

According to early polling figures, Black participation in this year’s midterm was 12 percent,  down slightly from 13 percent in 2010.  Eighty-nine percent of Blacks voted for Democratic congressional candidates and 10 percent voted for Republicans. This year’s figures match the 2010 midterm figures for Democrats and represents a slight increase in support for Republicans, up from 9 percent in 2010 to 10 percent in 2014.

In Illinois, incoming Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner received 6 percent of the Black vote.  He actively courted the Black vote, but did it the wrong way.  For example, how many people in Illinois know that Rauner has endowed a full professor’s chair at historically Black Morehouse College in Atlanta?  There was no reason why he should not have earned upwards of 25 percent of the Black vote with his history in the Black community. But, as with many White Republicans, his White consultants and staff thought they knew more about the Black community than Blacks.

– See more at: http://www.blackpressusa.com/2014/11/republicans-can-make-headway-with-blacks/#sthash.1CMNZHts.7yuusXp3.dpuf

Business Exchange by William Reed: Africans Come To America

By William Reed

As he winds through his second term with high “disapproval” numbers, Blacks are the only people President Barack Obama can turn to. As we enter August, a third of America’s voters think Obama is the worst president since World War II. Except for Blacks providing an upside, the first African-American president of the United States’ image is one of inexperience and ineptness. With his domestic and foreign policy portfolios both in tatters, Obama has turned to Blacks for support. This time it’s leaders from African nations that are “in good standing” with America. As he holds history’s first U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, Obama is hosting 50 African heads of state and more than 100 of their ministers.

Recent domestic polls have Obama being viewed as “less competent” and “more dishonest” than George W. Bush. Obama’s approval rating among American registered voters stands at 45 percent, but among Blacks, his job approval soars to 86 percent. Almost nine out of every 10 African American would support Obama no matter what, no matter how far America sinks under his leadership, even if they have no jobs and their own lives are in shambles. Seventy percent of Africans say pretty much the same about Obama.

The three-day Summit is the largest event any U.S. president has held with African heads of state and government. Those Africans coming to America for the Summit will be displaying the latest fashions, prints and styles of the continent. But, not much of substance is expected. It’s a “photo-op” to help Blacks, from here and there, feel good and in charge. Truth is, China, which devotes half of its $14.41 billion aid budget to its projects on the continent, regularly hosts individual African heads of state and has far outpaced the U.S. in trade and everything economic, in Africa. The structure of today’s trade relations between the U.S. and Africa is primarily dominated by fuel and fuel-related products.
Colonialist countries exploited Africa for centuries. As “the Black President,” Obama gets a “pass” for America’s colonial practices, but little else. These days China is the “most dominate” foreign country in Africa. The Africans are being very polite in coming to America because little else will come of the occasion other than a “Polaroid moment.” Obama has a long way to go to put America on economic par with China among Africans.

The African continent is home to more than a billion people that speak more than 2,000 languages. Only a few of Africa’s 54 leaders – Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, who is still the target of U.S. sanctions and the Sudanese whom the U.S. bombed and assisted in the separation of South Sudan – were not invited to the Summit.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman is hosting the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Ministerial at the World Bank. Obama’s Power Africa initiative is a key Summit issue item. “Power” is one of Africa’s most pressing challenges. According to the World Bank, only a quarter of sub-Saharan Africa has access to electricity and 10 percent per-year capacity growth is needed to meet electricity demand.
A Summit Business Forum will be presented by the Department of Commerce and Bloomberg Philanthropies. The Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs Committees will host a Capitol Hill welcoming reception. The key Blacks on African issues there are U.S. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), the Ranking Member on the U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Africa and the Republican majority’s Gregory Simpkins the Subcommittee staff director, who says his main focus is: “increasing economic linkages between the U.S. and Africa.”

Summit planners say the discussions will encourage progress in areas that Africans define as critical for the continent’s future: “expanding trade and investment ties, engaging young African leaders, promoting inclusive sustainable development, expanding cooperation on peace and security, and gaining better futures for Africa’s next generation.”

“Everyone must understand that Africans aren’t looking for people to save them, but for people to partner with,” says Melvin Foote, head of the U.S.-based Constituency for Africa.

William Reed is publisher of “Who’s Who in Black Corporate America” and available for projects via the BaileyGroup.org.

An Open Letter to President Obama

By Nicholas M. Young, Ph.D.

Re: A possible path to Reparations for African Americans? Housing grants as the unfinished path of American Democracy

“To have given each one of the million Negro free families a forty-acre freehold would have made a basis of real democracy in the United States that might easily have transformed the modern world.” W.E.B. DuBois, Black Reconstruction in America, p. 602.

Greetings Mr. President. I hope that you and your family are well. It has been many years since I ran into, and chatted with you at the Hyde Park Hair Salon on E. 53rd St. in Chicago. It has been much longer since my last encounter with your great wife, Michelle. Please know that while it is still a little surreal for me to see you both in The White House, I have accepted the fact that a guy that I used to play ball with at The University of Chicago (The U of C) holds the most powerful position in the world, and his wife is the brilliant, First Lady of The United States.
But, I digress.

I write this editorial to share with you, the country, and the rest of the world my thoughts on how you, The President of The United States, can bring to conclusion the case of Reparations for African Americans. A conclusion that, journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates states recently in his impressive article in The Atlantic, would be just compensation for the “250 years of slavery, ninety years of Jim Crow, sixty years of separate but equal, and thirty-five years of racist housing policy” at the hands of The United States.

While there may be no widely accepted starting point for when the question of Reparations was first raised, the issue of compensating contemporary African Americans from whom originate from families whose ancestors were enslaved actors in the U.S., has never really gone away. Nor should it. To be sure, the question of Reparations became an issue of serious import for U.S. lawmakers after, if not before, the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation—the legislation that “freed” millions of enslaved “Americans” of African descent.

To be sure, while the Emancipation Proclamation (A Civil War measure that proclaimed the freedom of slaves in the ten states that were still in rebellion with the U.S. Government) did not “free” anyone, what the legislation did do was give Lincoln and his political allies in Congress the breathing room that they needed to craft the legislation that would eventually become the following Amendments of the U.S. Constitution: 13th (Abolishing Slavery), 14th (Granted U.S. Citizenship to Blacks, former slaves, and those born or naturalized in the U.S.), and 15th (Prohibits the federal or state governments from denying a U.S. citizen the right to vote).

As Kerry T. Burch points out in his book, Democratic Transformations: Eight Conflicts In The Negotiation of American Identity, the project of compensating the newly freed “Americans” involved promising over one million people of African descent that they would be given land (Forty Acres and a Mule) to help ease their transition from enslaved actors into a self-sustainable agricultural entrepreneurial class, dependent upon only themselves to live and become capable members of society. As Dr. Burch states, “The origin of the phrase is traced to January 1865, when General William Tecumseh Sherman, having just finished the devastating ‘march to the sea,’ issued Special Field Order 15. It set aside ‘forty acres and a mule’ for the newly freed along the coastal areas of South Carolina and Georgia, a swath extending some 100 miles in length and 30 miles inland” (p. 56).

Unfortunately, after Lincoln’s Assassination, this “…officially stated promise…was ‘taken back’ by President Andrew Johnson when he began rescinding these federal lands in late 1865. Thus began the process of returning the federal lands (my emphasis) to the confederate aristocracy…For the newly freed, despite their eventual status as formal citizens, the consequences of enforced landlessness—economic and political dependency—crippled their ability to actually be citizens” (my emphasis; p. 56).

Thus, for the newly freed former enslaved actors, the ability to create independent and prosperous lives was taken away from many of them before they had the chance enjoy the fruits of their own labor from living in and on their own property.

However, President Johnson’s reversal of General Sherman’s action also had another effect: Johnson’s policy reversal removed from African Americans the possibility of forming a new middle class that would be built on their own labor. Unfortunately, the plantation sharecropping system put the planter class back on top of the economic arrangement, and hence, back on top of the political system, as well.
Therefore, because of the failure of Reconstruction, African Americans were forced to fend for themselves, and manage their economic and social lives without the benefit of a managed social structure to navigate them from the grips of Jim Crow policies.

Unfortunately, as many African Americans made their way to Northern cities to avoid the aggressive grip of Jim Crow, their happiness was short-lived because, as Mr. Coates states in his article, The Case for Reparations (2014): “In Chicago and across the country, whites looking to achieve the American dream could rely on a legitimate credit system backed by the government. Blacks were herded into the sights of unscrupulous lenders who took them for money and for sport.”

Thus, with this background in mind, I should like to propose the following limited remedy to the Reparations problem: awarding housing grants to needy African American families, to be used for creating new homes or improving existing residential properties.
Mr. President, the creation of these properties, built on federal lands, would provide African Americans with a legitimate chance to form a sustainable black middle class; one built on the basis of their own ethnic heritage, struggle, success, sweat, and tears.

If done correctly, this Presidential program could take the form of a new Presidential Proclamation; a policy that acknowledges the previous mistakes and failures of past Presidential administrations to compensate African Americans for what was promised to them. Further, such a program could redress the problem of land ownership for African Americans seeking to build wealth through home ownership. Such a policy could also help improve the U.S. jobless rate by hiring Americans from different social and economic groups to build and or improve these homes.

In short, I believe that you, Mr. President, represent the last chance for the United States government to fulfill the promise that it made to newly freed Americans of African descent to become property owners in this country. Sir, you are on record for saying that the United States keeps its commitments, not just abroad, but also to our fellow Americans. Therefore, your Proclamation could transform the United States into the democracy that Du Bois imagined. Please know that I, for one, hope that you will use your executive power to help grant home ownership to African Americans; American citizens, after all, whose ability to be landowners was systematically denied to them after the Civil War. I believe that such a proclamation could help establish a sustainable African American middle class. I hope that you will see the importance of creating such a program for African American families that seek this form of redress. All of them.

Take care,
Nick

Sources cited:  Coates, Ta-Nehisi. “The Case for Reparations.” The Atlantic. May 2014.
Burch, Kerry T. Democratic Transformations. New York: Continuum Books.

Nicholas Maurice Young, Ph. D., is a Sociologist, writer, screenwriter, Community Activist, and Independent Scholar. He is a former Fellow with the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University.

We Remember Music Legend Bobby Womack

Music legend Bobby Womack whose career spanned almost 7 decades is dead at age 70 according to his sister.  Last year in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Womack announced that he was diagnosed with the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.  In the interview the singer-songwriter said, “The doctor said, ‘You have signs of Alzheimer’s.’ He said it’s not bad yet, but it’s going to get worse.”

Womack wrote numerous hits, including the Rolling Stones’ “It’s All Over Now.”  He also wrote “If You Think You’re Lonely Now,” “That’s the Way I Feel About Cha” and “Lookin’ for a Love.”

Despite recent health struggles, Womack performed earlier this month at Annette Strauss Square in Dallas.  He had recorded 17 songs that charted in Billboard’s Hot 100.  Forty of his songs made it to Billboard’s top R&B chart.

Womack, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009 had reportedly been experiencing difficulty remembering the names of his collaborators while performing, in addition to his own song lyrics. ”How can I not remember songs I wrote? That’s frustrating,” Womack admitted.

Three months after the death of Sam Cooke in 1964,  Womack married Cooke’s widow, Barbara Campbell.  His group, the Valentinos disbanded and Womack became a session musician, playing guitar on several albums, including Aretha Franklin’s landmark Lady Soul, before releasing his debut album, Fly Me to the Moon, in 1968.  A string of successful R&B albums would follow, including Understanding and Across 110th Street, both released in 1972, 1973’s Facts of Life and 1974’s Lookin for a Love Again.

After the death of his brother, Harry, in 1974, Womack’s career stalled, but was revived in 1981 with the R&B hit “If You Think You’re Lonely Now.”  Throughout most of the 1980’s, Womack struggled with drug addiction, eventually checking himself into a rehabilitation center for treatment.  A series of health problems would follow, including diabetes, pneumonia, colon cancer and the early signs of Alzheimer’s disease, though it was unclear if any of these ailments contributed to his death. Womack was declared cancer-free in 2012.

Upon his death, Womack was in the process of recording his next album, tentatively titled The Best Is Yet to Come and reportedly featuring contributions by Stevie Wonder, Rod Stewart and Snoop Dogg. 

Womack was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009. “My very first thought was — I wish I could call Sam Cooke and share this moment with him,” Womack said. “This is just about as exciting to me as being able to see Barack Obama become the first black President of the United States of America!  It proves that, if you’re blessed to be able to wait on what’s important to you, a lot of things will change in life.”

Billboard magazine has compiled a list of Bobby Womack’s 10 Greatest Hits.  Click here to listen to these classics.

Click here to read “2012 Facts and Figures Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures.”  According to the study, “older African-Americans and Hispanics are proportionately more likely than older whites to have Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.”

Multiple press reports were included in this article.

 

When Ceasar Goes Mad

By Mike Ramey

Had a great time off, and am tanned, rested and ready for another go-round! To my friends, supporters, as well as my haters and trolls…wake the neighbors, get out the torches and brew the coffee ‘cause Mike Ramey is back–and still Black–on the funky electronic frontier.

A GREAT STARTING POINT:

Let’s start off with one of my favorite stories. In Daniel, Chapter 3 (KJV), we see the three Hebrew men: Hananiah (Shadrach), Mishael (Meshach), and Azariah (Abednego). They were originally kidnapped as teenagers from their homeland (along with their friend Daniel), had their names changed, and over the course of time were promoted to leadership positions under King Nebuchadnezzar. One fine day, the king decides to erect a huge golden statue of himself. When it was finished, it was decreed that ALL the officers and officials under his reign would bow their knee to worship the golden image of the king–or face the death penalty.

I can tell that many of you have heard this one…if you’ve ever been to church or read the Bible. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow. Of course the rival leaders (who didn’t like them anyway because they were Hebrews) ‘snitched’ to the king about their refusal to bow to the king’s image. “Now, men,” said the king, “I’ve been good to you; I’ve set you up in fine positions and paid you a good wage. I’m gonna give you another chance. Please…bow…now!”

The three men didn’t miss a beat…because they knew God had their back. They refused. “Oh King, we won’t bow. We serve God. He can choose to deliver us, or not to deliver us…but we won’t bow!” Their refusal was made before a packed house of other officials. The king flipped out. “Bow…or burn!” The Hebrew men refused again!

Nebuchadnezzar ordered immediate execution. “Heat the furnace seven times hotter; tie these men up, and have the strongest men in my employ throw them in, and that will be that!” The heat killed the strong men, but did nothing to the three Hebrew men. Somehow, the king got a look into the furnace and saw Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego lose, walking around, and conversing with the pre-incarnation of Jesus Christ.

While the three Hebrew men were later freed and promoted, the story didn’t end well for Nebuchadnezzar. Eventually, for his lifting himself up against God–and God’s people–the Babylonian king lost his mind (sanity), lost his family, and lost his kingdom.

There is always a high price for a nation and its leaders to pay, when they follow the same track. The Bible records a host of other public officials–from kings on down to governors–who exalted themselves ‘above’ God, and sought to abuse His people.

WHO IS ‘CAESAR’?

Let’s have a brief history lesson as to why I use the term ‘Caesar’ when I refer to the government or government systems. The Caesars were the leaders of ancient Rome, the world power that was in place when Christ walked the earth. While the Bible urges Christians to pay their taxes, pray for government leaders and others in authority and support the established systems of government, where government ‘crosses the line’ and; 1) disregards the teachings of the scriptures, 2) passes laws that are in direct conflict with biblical teachings, 3) deny the rights of the righteous by setting limits on the freedom to worship, or; 4) in any other way oppresses those who identify themselves as Christians, then it is the Christian’s duty to obey God, rather than the government.

The Caesars were arrogant, for the most part. Nero was the most ruthless of the Caesar class. His sins were many and mighty. Nero also had mental health problems. Not only did he persecute Christians, history teaches us that he set fire to Rome…and laid the blame at the feet of the Lord’s people, leading to widespread torture and persecution.

Of course, it didn’t end well for Nero…or Roman society. Do you see a pattern?

WHEN CAESAR GO MAD AND MOCKS GOD‘S LAW:

There have been more than a few examples popping up in the Mainstream Press (MSM) and the Internet of ‘Caesar’s kin’ going mad.

Let’s begin in California.

It’s no secret that Californians voted by more than two-to-one against sodomite (homosexual) marriage with Proposition Eight. While the people expressed their will at the polls, those who were on the losing side of the measure ran eagerly to the federal courts–where the will of the people was overturned for sake of immorality. Yes, this same tactic has taken place in other states of late, but let’s look at the result of the overturning of Proposition Eight in California through the eyes of Scripture.

A drought began in 2010 in California–and is still going on as I pen this column.

Allow me to continue. The drought is sooooo bad that Gov. Jerry Brown, in January, 2014 urged Californians to ‘pray’ for rain! You read that right! A governor of a state which has allowed God’s ideal of marriage to be mocked, is asking for prayer to break a drought!

In Oregon, a court ruled that a Christian-owned business could NOT stand on its principles and REFUSE to back a wedding cake for a homosexual couple’s ‘wedding’. This is not the first time that this has happened to Christian-owned businesses in the USA. On the large side, remember the venom pushed against the Chick-Fil-A chain? At the small business level, I recall that a Christian couple who owned a Bed and Breakfast Inn were hauled into court by a sodomite ‘couple’ for being refused service. That case was also long and messy, and socked the business with legal fees.

Make no mistake about it. Caesar is willing to take the tax money generated by Christians and Christian-owned companies. However, when Christians are being forced out of business, or out of state by the ungodly, God is not pleased, nor do the offending parties get away with their antics. I have yet to see a state prosper where laws have been passed and oppressive tactics used against God’s people.

Remember what happened to Pharaoh–and Egypt–when God intervened.

NOT ANY BETTER IN HIGH PLACES:

In the White House, President Barack Obama has–since his first term–sided with homosexual marriage, abortion, and turning America’s back on the nation of Israel in favor of Iran, Syria and other enemies of the Jewish state. The particularly troubling note in those decisions is that President Obama and his family spent some 20 years in Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s Chicago church, sitting under his pastorate and preaching. Even a ‘casual’ scan of the KJV Bible will reveal that God’s hand of blessing is not on a nation that turns its back on Israel, let alone additional types of national immorality.

What has been the ‘blow-back’ of President Obama’s decisions to the American landscape? Well, according to the latest news, some 20 percent of American households are on food stamps. There is a 40 percent rate of OOW births, while the US has recorded some 55 million abortions since the Roe v. Wade case from 1973. Traditional marriage has declined, along with the birth rate. According to one financial analyst, the REAL unemployment rate is 37.4 percent–IF you add in those who are no longer looking for work! Black unemployment and Black Teen unemployment are BOTH in the double digits and are NOT expecting to go down anytime soon. Throw in one of the worst winters in recent memory, and you have a mess of major proportions.

When Caesar goes mad, the righteous aren’t the only ones who suffer. Those outside of Jesus Christ also suffer, though they won’t admit it. It rains on the just and the unjust. The cries of ‘tolerance’ and ‘peaceful coexistence’ that we see plastered on bumper stickers and in newspaper headlines are really buzzwords for open hostility against godly morality and those who believe in it. The only prayerful stance against those who have ‘gone over’ to a reprobate mind is a simple one: Deliverance from evil.

Many of us have come too far, to bow our knee to the Caesars now.

MIKE RAMEY is a syndicated columnist, book reviewer and Minister who lives in Indianapolis, Indiana. Emails always welcomed to manhoodline@yahoo.com. ©2014 Barnstorm Communications.

 

 

The President’s “Promise Zones”

By William Reed

The Obama White House continues a pattern of attacking symptoms instead of the underlying disease, one rehashed progressive ploy at a time.  President Barack Obama’s Promise Zones initiative is aimed at lifting up some of the America’s poorest communities.  At a White House press conference Obama told the story of his time organizing in Chicago and highlighted the work local communities do to support their neighbors and prepare them to be contributors to the economy. In his Promise Zones program, Obama proposes to invest more than $750 million in hard-hit communities to provide a tax incentive to help build homes and create jobs.  The first five are: San Antonio, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Southeastern Kentucky and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

“There are communities in this country where no matter how hard you work, it is virtually impossible to get ahead,” Obama said in his speech. “America is not a place where the chance of birth or circumstance should decide our destiny. And that’s why we need to build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class for all who are willing to climb them.”

The Obama administration is designating “promise zones” by looking for areas where local officials can make strategic, targeted investments. For instance, a “promise zone” may be interested in reducing violent crime with increased Justice Department funding for local law enforcement. Alternatively, a region may want to leverage Housing and Urban Development grants to attract private real estate investors to high-poverty neighborhoods. The president’s plan also includes tax credits for hiring workers and tax write-offs for capital investments within the “promise zones.”

President Obama has called income inequality, “the defining challenge of our time”, and is pushing to raise the minimum wage and “find new ways to help poor children break out of the cycle of poverty.”  Obama says the “Promise” programs are part of his pledge to narrow the gap between rich and poor in America.  The White House says the programs “will target job creation, housing, law enforcement and education.”

This latest big-government stimulus initiative is going to formulate yet another front for Democrats’ big “income inequality” campaign. The Democrats are full of expensive and ultimately unsustainable ideas for helping people temporarily cope with poverty (i.e., the welfare state), but are pretty much intellectually bankrupt when it comes to actually creating opportunities for people to lift themselves out of that poverty (i.e., economic growth and job creation). Income inequality is one way the White House seeks to address the larger problem of economic mobility.  The problem is that this “promise zone” initiative actually doesn’t address economic mobility in any real, lasting, or widespread way. The Obama administration is once again using more bureaucracy – via the Departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, and Commerce – to create top-down faux-collaboration in which the feds will decide upon “targeted investments” with “free money” the U.S. Treasury does not have.

The ineffectiveness of the Congress in the 50 years since Lyndon Baines Johnson introduced the “War on Poverty” makes the probability of sane and soon federal legislation to address income inequality a pipe dream. Shifting responsibility for economic development away from the dysfunctional legislative branch and toward local communities could evolve into a good thing.

Obama’s presidency never became the “Promise Land” many Blacks had hoped.  Instead of the “prosperity” most of the nation realized, large populations of Blacks have struggled economically under Obama.  Overall, 25.6 percent of Blacks in urban areas live in poverty.  Recent estimates put the figures at 17.9 percent in Atlanta, 19.3 percent in Charlotte and Los Angeles and 26.5 percent in Chicago. Two-thirds of Black children who were raised in the poorest of U.S. neighborhoods a generation ago now raise their own children in similarly poor neighborhoods.

What the whole of the country really needs to fight poverty are streamlined regulations, less red tape, fewer taxes, less prohibitive labor laws, less government spending, and less national debt at the macro level.

William Reed is publisher of “Who’s Who in Black Corporate America” and available for projects via the BaileyGroup.org

17 Highlights from the New Yorker’s Profile on President Obama

By Gary A. Johnson

The Washington Post.com has an article written by Zachary Goldfarb detailing the highlights from President Obama’s lengthy (18 web pages) interviews with New Yorker magazine editor David Remnick.  The interviews cover a number of different topics.  If you are a supporter of the President, you definitely want to read these series of interviews.

I find the President to be consistent if you are honest in your assessment of him.  By that I mean, if you accept that Barack Obama is a politician first, and you realize what politicians say and do, then you are not likely to be shocked or surprised by what you read.

That being said, here are a few comments by the President that we thought were worth highlighting:

• President Obama acknowledges that the color of his skin might have affect how some Americans perceive his presidency, but he doesn’t think it has a major overall effect one way or the other. “There’s no doubt that there’s some folks who just really dislike me because they don’t like the idea of a black President,” he said. “Now, the flip side of it is there are some black folks and maybe some white folks who really like me and give me the benefit of the doubt precisely because I’m a black President.”

This is an interesting comment.  The President thinks that the color of his skin “might” affect how some Americans perceive him.  “Might?”  Race is always a factor.  Another factor why some Americans may have soured on President Obama is that he’s been in office for almost 6 years and for many Americans, especially, Black Americans, they have not seen any significant improvement in the areas of creating jobs, reducing unemployment and affordable healthcare and the environment.  It’s not like the President can wave a magic wand and make these things disappear.  There is a complicated process called our system of government that has not been very cooperative with this President.  I’ll just leave it at that.

The President in my view has a trust issue.  Look no further than the incidents with the NSA, IRS and the Affordable Healthcare Act aka “Obamacare,”  Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, etc.  Barack Obama has been our Black President for over 5 years.  People have had plenty of time to give him the benefit of the doubt or sour on him.  Sure, there are some people that criticize him because he is Black and others who blindly support because he’s black.  There are also people who have a problem with the President making speech after speech after speech telling Americans that they can keep their doctor and their current health insurance, only to find out that was not true.  POTUS has been getting some bad advice on a number of high profile issues.

President Obama’s approval rating among all voters is 39 percent and his disapproval rating is 53 percent, according to a Gallup Poll conducted Jan. 14 to 16.  In the 2012 presidential election, Republican candidate Mitt Romney won 59 percent of the white vote, compared with Obama’s 39 percent, according to exit polling by a consortium of major news outlets.  President Obama won 43 percent of the white vote in 2008 against 55 percent for opponent John McCain.

• The President said he is most concerned about the impact of drug laws on minorities and the poor.  “Middle-class kids don’t get locked up for smoking pot, and poor kids do,” he said. “And African-American kids and Latino kids are more likely to be poor and less likely to have the resources and the support to avoid unduly harsh penalties.” He added that he supports Colorado and Washington’s efforts to “go forward” with their efforts at legalization and decriminalization.

• The President said he does not regard the leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden as comparable to the Pentagon Papers or other leaks vindicated by history.  Remnick writes: “The leaks, he said, had ‘put people at risk’ but revealed nothing illegal. And though the leaks raised ‘legitimate policy questions’ about N.S.A. operations, ‘the issue then is: Is the only way to do that by giving some twenty-nine-year-old free rein to basically dump a mountain of information, much of which is definitely legal, definitely necessary for national security, and should properly be classified?’”

President Obama said that even the greatest presidents — like Abraham Lincoln — had to operate in the currents of history. Remnick concludes the story with President Obama saying, “I just wanted to add one thing to that business about the great-man theory of history. The President of the United States cannot remake our society, and that’s probably a good thing.” Obama then adds, “Not ‘probably’. It’s definitely a good thing.”

Click here to visit New Yorker.com and read the entire article.

Bold Predictions for 2014

By Raynard Jackson

Now that a 2014 has come, I have decided to pull out my trusted crystal ball and give you some of my predictions for the year.

I think the biggest thing to watch is on the political front.  This year we will have congressional elections for the House and Senate.  Republicans will keep the House.  Even if Republicans have a total meltdown, they will still keep the House. But their margins may shrink (currently the Republicans hold a 17-vote margin over the Democrats).  The way congressional districts have been gerrymandered , that virtually guarantees minimum change in the composition of the House.

Republicans have a better than even chance to take over the Senate if they nominate the best conservative candidate that is “electable.”  The GOP should be able to pick up seats in Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina and West Virginia.  Republicans need only a net of six seats to win the Senate.

The Black vote could be the margin of victory in states such as Arkansas, Louisiana and North Carolina. Each has Black voters who thoroughly turned off by the Democrats and Obama.  If these Republican candidates take their message to the Black community, Republicans will take over the Senate.

I know many of my Democratic friends will laugh at me and my Republican friends will continue to want to dismiss the Black vote; but I dare my Republican leaders to call my bluff if they really want to win the Senate.

As I often say, I have been Black most of my life and I know the sentiments of my community very well.  To prove my point, what was unthinkable just a month ago is going to happen more frequently going forward.  Democrats, especially Blacks, for the first time are publicly voicing their dissatisfaction with Obama.

A group of very liberal Blacks are about to file a lawsuit against Obama for enacting policies that have decreased the number of Black students attending HBCUs. Civil Rights leaders such as Congressman John Lewis have publicly threatened to go to war with Obama over the lack of Black judges being nominated.  On Black radio, there is huge vocalization of dissatisfaction with Obama. This was unimaginable only a few weeks ago.

Blacks turning away from Obama will be one of the top news stories of the year.  The question is are Republicans prepared to take advantage of this opening within the Black community?

Gun violence and mass shootings will continue, not because of the availability of guns; but  because of the continued breakdown in our moral fabric.  By 2016, I predict that morals and values will be in the top five issues of importance to voters.  This liberal drift towards pluralism and relativism will begin to reverse itself with a lot of help from within the Black community.    Republicans, are you listening?

Look for a major reduction in corporate support for many of the reality TV shows that have proliferated over the past several years.  These corporations will find it increasingly more difficult to justify the expenditure of their corporate dollars from a cost/benefit analysis.

I expect to see more suicides from those who played professional football and hockey.  The issue of trauma to the brain during violent sports is a lot worse than the public is being told.  I think over the next few years, pro football will become unrecognizable as we know it today.

There will be no comprehensive immigration reform. However,  as a compromise, there will be a path to legalization, but not citizenship.  Republicans who vote for citizenship will lose their next election and some will even be recalled before their next election (on the local level).

Journalism will continue its downward spiral towards the cult of personality.  Journalists will continue down the path of becoming bigger than the story they are supposed to be covering.  They will continue to put more emphasis on being famous versus being accurate.

My final prediction is that Obamacare will be a huge albatross around the necks of the Democrats for the next three years and will make their retaining the White House very problematic.  The issue will be are the Republicans prepared to address some the major problems facing America with policy solutions?

If the answer is yes, then Republicans will win the White House. If the answer is no, we can kiss the America we know goodbye.

Raynard Jackson is president & CEO of Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC., a Washington, D.C.-based public relations/government affairs firm. He can be reached through his Web site,  http://www.raynardjackson.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at raynard1223.

Winners and Losers of 2013

By Raynard Jackson

Well, it’s that time of year once again for me to pick my biggest winners and losers for 2013.  Unlike most of the year end lists, mine will not be based on polling data, or popularity. Rather, it’s from the lens of a businessman. Based on the contribution of time, money, or intangible capital, did the person or group receive an appropriate rate of return on their investment?

I will begin with the three biggest losers and work down from there.  By far, the biggest loser of the year and of the Obama presidency was and is the Black community.  How can a group give a president 96 percent and 94 percent of their vote to him and have little, if anything to show for it. If the White unemployment rate was the same as the Black unemployment rate, it would be declared a national crisis. No sitting president, regardless of party, would have won reelection with that dynamic at play.

According to the November 2013 unemployment report (the most recent data available), the national unemployment rate was 7.2 percent. For Blacks, it was 12.5 percent; for Latinos 8.7 percent, and Whites 6.2 percent.  According to Heidi Shierholz, an economist for the Economic Policy Institute, “the Black unemployment rate has always been higher, largely due to long term structural trends that include a lower education level and a more limited social circle.”

Blacks have been the most loyal voting bloc for Democrats and for Obama particularly in the history of the U.S. and yet this president says he is not going to do anything specific for Blacks because he is president of all of America. All except Black America.

Yet, this president can’t go a day without trying to shove homosexuality down the throats of Americans and Africans. He doesn’t have the guts to try this in the Middle East because he know how the pro-Israel lobby will react.

This president can hardly go a day without trying to give amnesty to those in the U.S. illegals. He wants to inject millions of new people into the labor market to compete with Blacks for low and unskilled jobs, thus further exacerbating the high unemployment rate in the Black community.

And to think, educated Blacks said all of last year, that if Obama won reelection he would then help Blacks since he didn’t have to face the voters again.  When a person shows you who they are, you better believe them.

The second biggest loser is the “truth.”  According to Obama, “You can keep your own doctor.”  Enough said.

The final biggest loser is the media.  They have bent over backwards to curry favor with Obama and his minions.  They worked hand in hand with Obama to perpetuate the story line that Benghazi was about a video tape.  They reluctantly covered the IRS scandal and many of them hold out Edward Snowden as some kind of hero. Obama has more active journalists in his administration than any of his predecessors, yet he is one of the least transparent presidents.

By far the biggest winner of the year is the homosexual movement, both under Obama and the U.S. Supreme Court. Obama has done more to expand the homosexual movement than any other person on the face of the earth.  He is the same person that Newsweek magazine labeled  the “first gay president.”  It is estimated that homosexuals account for 2-5 percent of the U.S. population, but they have been showered with more tangible benefits under Obama than all other groups combined. And the Supreme Court has also been complicit in furthering that agenda.

The second biggest winner of this year are those in the country illegally. They can’t even vote, but yet they have received more attention and action from Obama than the Black community.  As if this weren’t bad enough, you have the NAACP and the National Urban League supporting illegals and their push for citizenship. This defies logic that they would put a group of non-citizens before the interests of citizens they purport to represent. What is it about Black organizations that they have to be “inclusive” yet other effective groups look after the narrow interests of their supporters.

The third biggest winner is Vladimir Putin.  During his annual state of the nation address two weeks ago, he said, “…We do not infringe on anyone’s interests, we do not force our patronage on anyone, or try to teach anyone how to live…We know there are ever more people in the world who support our position in defense of the traditional values that for centuries have formed the moral foundation of civilization, putting traditional family values top of the list.”

Wow!  Who would have ever dreamed that the U.S. would be lectured by Putin on traditional values and the sanctity of the traditional family?  This was a direct rebuke of Obama’s attempt to force other nations to accept his views on homosexuality.

So I end this year as I began—trying to get people to think a new thought.  Happy New Year!

Raynard Jackson is President & CEO of Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC., a Washington, D.C.-based public relations/government affairs firm. He can be reached through his web site,  http://www.raynardjackson.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at raynard1223.