According to a recent poll conducted by CNN and Essence, many people think conditions have improved for black women over the past decade but not for black men.
The survey showed 65 percent of blacks and 70 percent of whites believed black females were better off today than they were 10 years ago.
While 60 percent of whites think conditions have improved for black men, only 35 percent of blacks felt the same.
JENA TEEN SENTENCED FOR NOOSES
Jeremiah Munsen was sentenced to four months in prison for placing two large nooses on his truck and driving past a group of marchers gathered at a bus depot.
The 19-year-old had faced up to a year after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of interfering with the marchers’ federally-protected right to travel. The marchers were waiting for a bus home after protesting the Jena 6 court case.
According to acting assistant Attorney General Grace Chung Becker when charges were filed against Munsen in April, “The defendant used a noose to threaten peaceful civil rights marchers who were in Louisiana to rally against racial intolerance.”
JACKSON SPEAKS
In a candid interview with the editors of Essence, Jesse Jackson speaks on his remarks about Sen. Barack Obama, the role he’ll play at the upcoming Democratic National Convention and why he’s still relevant.
Contrary to recent reports, Jackson will be in attendance at the convention, but he’ll be there as an Obama supporter and nothing more. “I have spoken at the last six Democratic conventions, so I wanted to certainly make room for more speakers and broader participation,” he said.
ESSENCE.COM: Many younger African-Americans have been complaining that the old guard civil rights leaders focus too much on African-Americans as victims rather than moving the race forward. What do you think about this point of view?
JACKSON: This “old guard, new guard” is an unhealthy division. Politics must be inter-generational. You need Barack on the one hand to talk, you need Charlie Rangel, chair of House Ways & Means [Committee], and John Conyers, chair of our House Judiciary [Committee]. In politics you grow by adding and multiplying, not by subtracting and dividing. So “old guard vs. new guard” is not a healthy combination. The reality is that we achieved the right to vote, we achieved freedom, but we didn’t achieve equality, and that is the remaining civil rights work.ESSENCE.COM: The rapper Nas and writer Kevin Powell, who is running for Congress in Brooklyn, have said that you particularly, and other civil rights leaders, are no longer relevant and need to step aside. How do you remain relevant to this newer generation?
JACKSON: The reality is that if you’re running for Congress, you need the votes of senior citizens. You need the votes of churches. You are not getting in Congress on a youth vote. That’s not the mass that you need to win a congressional seat. You need an intergenerational, multicultural coalition. And that experience cannot be thrown away. In Dr. King’s time, Dr. King was 34, but he reached out to A. Philip Randolph. It took both A. Philip Randolph and Dr. King in tandem to make the March on Washington take place.ESSENCE.COM: We’ve seen you champion African-American issues and fight against injustice. Many people simply want to know, when you mentioned the N-word in your off-air remarks about Obama last month—why? They want you to tell them, as an African-American, why did that happen?
JACKSON: It should not have happened. What was private talk became public controversy, and I am embarrassed by that. There is no virtue in that kind of talk, and it should always be discouraged. My appeal even then was that responsibility is a significant message, but our needs require real government intervention and private sector incentives to address the issues of unemployment, building affordable housing and making education more affordable, which really was my point. It was a very painful period for me to have gone through that. The good news is that it’s behind us now.ESSENCE.COM: Have you talked to Obama about it?
JACKSON: Yes. As a matter of fact, he sent me a welcome to the convention and made credentials available to me. We’ve gone on to the next stage.ESSENCE.COM: As Senator Obama moves forward in the campaign, do you have any words of advice for him?
JACKSON: I think we have an outstanding candidate. We have the burden now to fully register and vote. There are still maybe 6 to 8 million Blacks unregistered who should not miss this hour, this opportunity. Now that we have a who, let’s focus on the what. What is an urban policy that can begin a renewed commitment to educate our children and to employ adults and provide public health care? These are the issues he has embraced. We have a candidate who has a good grasp of the issues that matter. But the burden is upon us now to maximize registration and output. Read the interview in its entirety.
…AND HE’S BEEN BEATING AROUND THE BUSH SINCE I WAS BORN!
We need to get over that “victims” shit, and blaming “the white-man” for everything. Where the fuck has it gotten us: AIDS is rising faster amongst black women than any other group ( from brothers in and out of jail), gang murders rampant in every major city in this country (even Haftford, Ct., had 11 murders over a few days recently) dropout rate at 50 percent, and on and on. I stop listening to Steve Harvey’s ass, cause he’s big into that “they” victim’s mentality shit. Sure enoug, I turn on today, thinking he’d be more about Bernie Mac, and he had Michael Basden on. About 30 seconds into me listening, Harvey started with the “they” shit. I turned it right off. That shit’s gotten us nowhere, except depending on thieveing muthafuckas like Jesse (and his many beer and burger franchises) and the moneychanger ministers.
I see some educated foolishness in here. I also smell some of that Black Hebrew Israelite ‘women need to follow the black man’ schtick. I don’t hear shyt about how the Black man has objectified and virtually denounced his Black female counterpart. Or how as of late, it seems that ‘the Black man’ is sucking just as hard and fast on the teat of the yt man as he claims the Black woman is. I mean, a glance at BET should back all of what I’m saying up. Furthermore, I know ‘Black men’ who won’t glance at a sister that can’t take care of herself AND him. I also know the variety that slink into the arms of yt women. Not for love (which is FINE), but because apparently they follow better than Black women. *insert MASSIVE eyerolls*
Flat out, there are good brothers and good sisters out there. And we need one another. All this ‘battle for superiority’ bullshyt is just that: Bullshyt. The divide and conquer worked. Fine. Can we start working on it?
But to point the finger at the Black woman for doing what Black men should have been doing an eon ago (going for education, creating and providing for strong family units, uplifting their OWN communities) is ri-damn-diculous.
Again, that’s that tainted azz Black Hebrew Israelite patriarchy bullshyt. Stop being a follower (and subscribing to ANY religion that pits you against your own people) and start being a leader.
I agree with 62..
*claps for #63*
NICE! My friend recommended me a very interesting place “”"”"”W e a l t h y L o v e s.co m”"”"”"” If you’ve ever been there you will know what I mean…
———@Lil Nepatizz
———Yes sis, I am an Israelite of the tribe of Judah. You probably are as well, but
———you’d rather be “black”. That’s your prerogative. The black man has objectified
———his woman and he hasn’t done what he’s needed to do to keep the men of the
———other races from using her as a whore. This is why you sisters don’t know how
———to act when a black man does step up to do that. You think that he is trying to
———”control” you or take away your “liberation”. The main reason why the black
———man is also objectifying his woman is because he doesn’t know how to do
———anything other than that because the black woman objectifies herself. If the
———black woman continues to objectify herself and whore herself out, and not
———respect the black man, then the black man must deal with her on her terms.
———Your other point about the black woman providing strong family units is only
———going deeper into more black feminism and self-glorification. Are black families
———strong? What planet are you from? It seems like many black women want all
———the credit and none of the blame. Are you uplifting the black community? How?
———By dressing half-naked and tattooing the small of your back? By supporting
———hom*sexuality? By teaching your sons to be effeminate? By running the
———streets at all times of night and then wondering why you’re the victim of sexual
———assault?
———Sis, do yourself a favor. Don’t try to address or attack the Most High or his
———servants. You’re not intelligent enough, nor are you strong enough. You don’t
———have the mental faculties to engage me in a debate on what it means to be a
———leader. 98% of our people are confused, you being one of them, and talk too
———much. For example, a common ploy of black people (to show they’re their own
———worst enemies) is to say, “We need to stop blaming the white man.”, i.e.
———#62 “Shag”. Then when you address black people’s issues, black people like
———yourself will say, “Stop pitting yourself against your own people…”, lol. In other
———words, black people don’t want to change. They like being slaves, and they
———particularly like being slaves in this society. That’s how one knows that there is
———only one solution.
You know Judah, a few things you have said and I would agree. But for the past few days you had me shaking my head. But now I know why you come off like you do. You are an Israelite. I don’t know your mission. I never had a real interest because they (Israelite) come across as insane. I call you guys the mean muslims. I now know what we are dealing with on CL SMDH. Why are you so angry?? And the little bit that I’ve heard about your tribe is that you all are the biggest hypocrites walking. I don’t know if this is correct but I was told you preach (screaming) against the white man but adore white women, I don’t know, like I’ve said I run from ya’ll. I am so glad the cops had you guys removed from publicly speaking in my area. You come off as terrorist. I thought it would be against your belief to be affiliated with a site like this. Well, I have a chance to ask an Israelite a question without being scared to death, I might as well ask. What is your mission? And does it apply to humans?
LOL! How did I know? LOL!!! Typical. You Israelites (for the most part) do NOTHING but spout empty rhetoric and spread misogyny – you debase women under the guise of your “Most High”. Which is sad. Cause whether or not you know it, you come from woman and without us there simply would be no you. (Which, in this instance wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.) And yes, having taken sex ed, I do understand that it takes more than one set of chromosomes, however, I have yet to malign the Black male… I’m sure you cannot say the same about the Black female.
As far as I’m concerned, you (and the ‘religion’ you hide behind) are irrelevant in the struggle of my people. As long as you do nothing but verse and make broad, sweeping, utterly absurd generalizations about the people, OUR people, YOUR people (that you are seriously out of touch with) you are nothing but a hinderance.
There is blame (and credit) to be shared among all Black people. I know of more than one woman who took care of a raised strong sons and daughters. I know of a few men who single handedly raised wonderful sons and daughters. I know of more than a few two parent homes that did the same… but I also know what the reality is about the nuclear family of Black people – single parents. Divorced or otherwise toting the title of ‘Baby Mama’ or ‘Baby Daddy’ and somebody (gender be damned) is absent. All of it is wrong. All of it needs to be addressed. And none of it is made better by glorifying or deconstructing and denouncing either gender. (But why am I telling you this? You blame rape on the victims – heaven forbid it be the rapists fault. *insert MASSIVE MULTIPLE EYEROLLS*)
Oppression was/is something that we’re all under. And hollering about the “Most High” and subscribing to what I like to call the Baby/King Complex (men holler like babies about how they’ve been done so wrong, cry foul insisting that it’s someone else’s fault that they don’t know any better, but want to be treated like Kings – a title which FEW deserve…) on top of being derogatory toward the very mothers, sisters, aunts and grandmothers who wiped your asses and provided for you does not help the issues at hand.
And say what you will about me. It doesn’t matter. I can’t be baited like that. But I will say this: Leadership is a heavy mantle to be toted only by those who know what leadership means and what it entails. The profound responsibility of it. And if you think you’re ‘leading’ by heckling your people under the guise of being the Most High’s servant, peddling male chauvinism, berating women and making skewed conjectures that teeter perilously on the border of supreme preposterousness (not to mention inaccuracy), not only are you completely incorrect, you are reprehensible for actively participating in these behaviors.
“and fuck jesse jackson cause it aint about race now!” – the game.
jesse a hater and they shoulda send that boy 2 yrs in jail or matter the same amount of time they send the jena 6 who jump that white boy