Jay-Z, Young Jeezy Put on a Vulgar and Disgraceful Display of Racial Bigotry

Jay-Z My President is black Remix LIVE 1-18-09 from pleasedontstare on Vimeo.

Mere hours before Barack Obama took the oath of office to become our next president, the best Jay-Z and Young Jeezy could do was bring their ghetto mannerisms to Washington D.C. This is the very thing that Barack Obama is talking about when he stated that we need to grow up. Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr., Malcolm X, Coretta Scott King, Johnnie Carr, John Lewis, Rev. Joseph Lowery and all the other civil rights leaders did not fight and die for us to call each other niggers or niggas, or whatever ridiculous variation there is to this word. It is unconscionable that these two men could spew this kind of vile garbage at an event in Barack Obama’s honor. Jay-Z and Young Jeezy, do you ever wonder why you are the last people invited to events such as this? It’s your behavior and your language. Shameful and it needs to stop sooner rather than later. The last thing Barack Obama needs is to be associated with this crude behavior. The event was not the place to display such crude language and to divide rather than unite.

Filed under: Bigotry, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Jay-Z, Johnnie Carr, Malcolm X, President Barack H. Obama, Racial hatred, Rev. Joseph Lowery, Young Jeezy

Barack Obama, On the Verge Of Becoming the First Black President in the USA, Wins Big in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire

If this is an omen of things to come, Dixville Notch and Hart’s Location, New Hampshire overwhelmingly voted for Barack Obama in the wee hours of this morning. The towns have a tradition of having the first Election Day ballots tallied.

Democrat Obama defeated Republican John McCain by a count of 15 to 6 in Dixville Notch, where a loud whoop accompanied the announcement in Tuesday’s first minutes. The town of Hart’s Location reported 17 votes for Obama, 10 for McCain and two for write-in Ron Paul. Independent Ralph Nader was on both towns’ ballots but got no votes.

With 115 residents between them, Dixville Notch and Hart’s Location get every eligible voter to the polls beginning at midnight on Election Day. Between them, the towns have been enjoying their first-vote status since 1948.

Being first means something to residents of the Granite State, home of the nation’s earliest presidential primary and the central focus of the vote-watching nation’s attention every four years.

According to the Huffington Post, Dixville Notch, nestled in a mountain pass 1,800 feet up and about halfway between the White Mountain National Forest and the Canadian border, followed suit in 1960, when John F. Kennedy beat Richard M. Nixon. Nixon, the Republican, swept all nine votes cast in Dixville that year, and before Tuesday, the town had gone for a Democrat only once since then. That was in 1968, when the tally was Democrat Hubert Humphrey eight, Nixon four.

Let me close by saying that I am proud to be an American, albeit a naturalized one. I prayed for Barack Obama this morning because he embodies what America is all about. He has forever changed the landscape in America and made us confront our biases. Barack Obama, for what it is worth, has done what no other president in recent times or even in the past have done. He has transcended race, the very issue that has confounded us for so long. He has rallied and energized so many people to take the electoral process seriously. He ran the best campaign I have ever seen and he deserves to win the election tonight.

Barack Obama has done Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Malcom X, Johnnie Carr, Ralph Abernathy, Medgar Evers, Hosea Williliams, Frederick Douglass, Andrew Young, John Lewis and all the other leaders of the civil rights movement proud. This is the culmination of their struggle. I am reminded of the story of David and Goliath. David slew the giant with a stone. Sometimes God sends a leader who isn’t quite what we have in mind, but he surpasses our wildest expectations. Barack Obama, you have surpassed my wildest expectations and brought me to tears. May God go with you and may you walk into your destiny tonight, as the first African American president of the United States of America.

Filed under: Barack Obama, Dixville Notch, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Hart's Location, Hosea Williams, Johnnie Carr, Presidential Elections, Ralph Abernathy, Rosa Parks

Black In America, What Does it Mean to You

I have been running a video clip of CNN’s upcoming two-part series “Black in America” on my blog and I had to ponder for a moment what being black in America really meant. I must admit, that my life’s journey did not start in much the same way as many blacks in America. I was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica and I spent most of my formative years there. The way of life was somewhat different. You see, it was not about the color of my skin in Jamaica. I was limited only by my capabilities and not the “system.” Jamaica was, and still is, a melting pot, though the country is confounded with high crime and unemployment rates. Jamaica back in the years of my youth was a wonderful place to be. The quality of education was second to none. When I started my undergraduate years at Ohio University, I breezed through the first two years with relative ease of having done most of the work at Mt. Alvernia High School in Montego Bay. Jamaica taught me how to be a person and to reach for the stars, but America taught me to fight for what I want and believe in. Being black in America gave me a strong sense of determination and a drive to succeed against all the odds, because I saw freedom fighters like Johnnie Carr, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Madame C. J. Walker, Harriet Tubman and others, fight for a cause they believed in with a fierce determination that was virtually matchless.

As a child I had friends of all ethnicities and was never made to feel that I was somehow inferior to anyone. My first encounter with racism came one night while slightly inebriated after a night at a student hang-out of the campus of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. A white male student, obviously drunk also, called me a nigger. I was taken aback because I was never called that in all my life. I ran up to him and asked him to repeat what he had just said. He, obviously realizing that he was grossly outnumbered, started saying that he was from Queens, New York and had a lot of black friends. One of my male friends slapped him up a little and we left feeling that exhilarated, in some way. Though that was the only openly racist name I have ever been called, I have been discriminated subtly in the work place in at least two companies I worked for. My husband and I were discriminated against when we were seeking to rent an apartment in a tony section of Queens. I’ll never forget the realtor’s name–Rabani. The first one I can say discriminated against us because we were black seeking to move into a predominantly white neighborhood. Suddenly the rent skyrocketed and the deposit and security payments tripled.

In all honesty, being black in America is a lot different from the 1930s or even 1960s. We are able to achieve a lot more and we are not barred from going and living where we choose in most instances. We are able to live the American Dream in a sense. But what does being black in America really mean? For some, it means a heavy burden and the continued discrimination, though very subtle in most instances. For others, it means the culmination of dreams. Many blacks have transcended race and today we stand on the threshold of greatness–Barack Obama, the first African American to be a serious contender for the presidency. We have made great strides towards equality for all, but we are still a long way off. For many of us, being black in America means living in with the burden of mistrust by many, inferior health care, rundown neighborhoods, high crime rates, high school drop out rates and being automatically suspected of crimes and even being falsely imprisoned for crimes we did not commit. So, when Michelle Obama uttered those words that she was proud of her country for the first time in her adult life, I understood and appreciated what she meant. Unless you are black in America, you will not fully understand her position, but you can appreciate her candor. You see, America was not always kind to blacks and still isn’t in many regards. So, from a historical context, being black in America was living hell for so many of our ancestors.

I open the forum to my readers who are of African descent and living in America. What does being black in America mean to you? Please share your thoughts.

Filed under: Black in America, Frederick Douglass, Jamaica, Johnnie Carr, Madame C. J. Walker, Martin Luther King Jr., Ohio University

Justice Revius Ortique Jr., First Black Louisiana Supreme Court Judges Dies at 84

Justice Revius Ortique Jr., first black judge on Louisiana high court and civil rights advocate, has died at age 84 from complications of a stroke. There are so many unsung heroes in the struggle for civil rights that I must stop to pay homage to this great man. Ortique’s life, according to The Times-Picayune, was a succession of firsts. He was the first black member of the Louisiana State Bar Association’s policymaking organization, the House of Delegates and was also the first black Civil District Judge. His highest achievement was to win election to the state Supreme Court in 1992, but he had to step down in June 1994 when he turned 70, the mandatory judicial retirement age.

In addition to his local activities, Justice Ortique was president of the National Bar Association, an organization of African-American lawyers, and five presidents appointed him to commissions and councils, including one panel that investigated the killings at Kent State University and Jackson State College, now Jackson State University, in 1970.

A Historical Context….

Mr. Ortique was born in New Orleans and served four years as an Army officer during World War II, when he was deployed to the Pacific theater. A year after returning to New Orleans in 1946, he earned a bachelor’s degree at Dillard University. At Indiana University he earned a master’s degree in criminology by studying the criminal-justice system in the South. When Mr. Ortique returned to Louisiana, he earned a law degree in 1956 at Southern University.

According to the Times Picayune, Mr. Ortique, who set up a private practice as the civil rights movement was gathering steam, was part of a generation that possessed “a desire to bring about change,” said Sybil Morial, a friend for more than a half-century. In his profession, he channeled that desire into work on the legal teams in several suits that resulted in equal pay for black employees at companies such as the Celotex Corp. and Kaiser Aluminum.

“He was on the forefront of a lot of issues relating to civil rights,” another friend said. “I think he was well-prepared. He was fearless. Back in those days, when an African-American attorney represented a client, you’d have the deck stacked against you, but he worked pretty hard.”
His preparation was meticulous, but his friends said that was no surprise.

In 1958, he was elected to the first of five terms he served as president of the Urban League of Greater New Orleans. A year later, he was elected president of the National Bar Association, and he served three terms as president of the Community Relations Council, a biracial group formed to promote racial harmony. Mr. Ortique was the ideal choice to be a negotiator for the black community in discussions with white civic leaders on topics such as jobs in major stores and peaceful desegregation of lunch counters, bathrooms and other public facilities in the early 1960s, before access to such places was guaranteed by the landmark Civil Rights of Act of 1964.

The talks, which helped end an African-American boycott of major stores, were set up because nobody wanted people in either community to resort to violence.

In the mid-1960s, when Mr. Ortique led the National Bar Association, he lobbied President Johnson to appoint African-Americans to the federal bench. So a White House meeting was set up. Before it started, Johnson announced the appointment of eight African-Americans to judgeships. And during that session, Johnson announced that he was going to nominate Thurgood Marshall, a major civil rights lawyer, to be the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

A lasting legacy….

Six colleges gave him honorary doctorates. The Louisiana State Bar Association, the National Bar Association and the American Bar Association saluted him, and the Black Law Students Association named him a “Civil Rights Pioneer.” During his tenure on the New Orleans Aviation Board, five additional airlines set up shop at New Orleans International Airport, and an $850 million rebuilding, renovation and expansion program was begun. Justice Ortique also was instrumental in getting the airport named for jazz immortal Louis Armstrong.

So, he comes from the tradition of civil rights icon Johnnie Carr, who gave her life to the struggle for racial equality. We must learn about these people and the great contributions they made for us and the rich legacy they leave behind. These great and unsung heroes had the odds stacked against them but they defied conventional wisdom because they knew their purpose and worked towards it no matter what. There is a lesson in the life of Justice Revius Ortique Jr. for each of us to commit to emulating in our lives–determination. I pay homage and respect to a great man, an unsung hero in the civil rights movement

Filed under: civil rights activist, Johnnie Carr, Louis Armstrong, President Lyndon Johnson, Revius Ortique Jr., Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall

Barack Obama Clinches Democratic Nomination, Hillary Clinton Plays Dirty

I cannot express the emotions that welled up into my being when I witnessed history being made in America–a black man clinches clinches the nomination for the Democratic candidate for President. This is what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. talked about in his “I Have a Dream” speech. Barack Obama did not accomplish this enormous and awesome feat by the black vote only. Millions of whites and other ethnicities supported him. I must admit that I teared up a little. His accomplishment tonight is nothing short of amazing and long-overdue. He has shown, though the naysayers would say otherwise, that you can transcend race in America today.

It was 146 years ago that the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, which changed a lot for blacks in America, but this moment will undoubtedly go down in history. Barack Obama has climbed on the shoulders of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Ralph Abernathy, Shirley Chisholm, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Andrew Young, John Lewis, Tom Houck, Johnnie Carr, Joseph Lowery, Thurgood Marshall, Rosa Parks and so many great, great leaders and unsung heroes of our time. This is a defining moment for all our black men in America. It says that you can be anything you want to be by doing the right things, getting an education, working hard, surrounding yourself with the right people and daring to dream.

Hillary Clinton did not concede tonight and I really did not expect her to. She was as defiant as ever and she, in essence, literally made her case for the vice presidency. She could have endorsed Barack, but decided to take the low road. For what it is worth, Hillary Clinton did make history and she did fight with a great deal of determination and tenacity. I applaud her for her accomplishments in this campaign, but it is time for her to bow out. It is time for all the supporters on both sides to come together and fight for the White House this Fall. Hillary Clinton could have come out in support a little more than she did tonight. It is a moment for her to ponder his speech and decide to work for the common goal of the party.

Though I don’t agree with all Barack Obama’s positions, I am very happy that he has accomplished this great feat and I am optimistic that he will prevail in the Fall. Hillary Clinton needed to be more conciliatory and again, I think she has nixed any chances of her being his running mate. Hillary, the Fat Lady is rapping to you girl. It is time to get out of the race! Barack Obama, congratulations. This night was coming for a long time. I think one of the commentators on CNN said it best–Hillary and Bill Clinton are the Ike and Tina Turner of the campaign. They don’t do it nice and easy, they do it rough. So, I guess nobody really expected Hillary Clinton to bow out gracefully. Hillary Clinton represents the very thing Barack Obama spoke about–doing away with the Old Washington D.C. I guess the Clintons did not expect the dream of a black person getting the nomination to happen on their watch. Hillary Clinton never said that she was proud that a black person had finally made history in America by clinching the nomination for president.

Here’s the text of Barack Obama’s speech tonight. As a mother of two wonderful boys, as an immigrant and as a black woman, I am proud to say that we have overcome many of the things that held blacks back in America, though racism still exists, as this electoral process has shown, but we have come a long way from the days when we were lynched and treated like trash. When we did not have the right to vote. When we had to use separate entrances, use separate bathrooms. When we couldn’t eat at many lunch counters across the United States. When we were denied an education. When we had to sit at the back of the bus. Yes, we have come far, but Barack Obama and the millions of people who supported him have shown that YES WE CAN!

Filed under: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Johnnie Carr, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks