"What's wrong with Black people?"

AAPP: I recently posted Black Youth Out of Control. Has Black America Lost Total Control ? Little did I know I would get the answers to my questions in a vivid, clear, reasoned and thought provoking style from a local Branch of the NAACP. It comes from one of the NAACP Branch President's I have come to deeply admire and respect. Mr. K Myles. I know once you read his post you will understand why I respect this brother so much.

Please check out his post.

"What's wrong with Black people?"

By K. Myles

Last night, I watched the MSNBC special "Meeting David Wilson". During the special, they aired a segment of David Wilson's film where he asked people to answer the question "What's wrong with Black People?"
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Those of you who have attended forums with me know that I have often asked a variant of the same question; "Why have Black people gone crazy?" Without discounting or negating any of the social or institutional factors that share complicity in the genesis of our dysfunction, I believe the question is worthy of our contemplation. My colleagues in academia would certainly argue that the pathologies we see within the Black community are inextricably linked to the institutions of slavery, the black codes, and Jim Crow; the institutionalized philosophies of Willie Lynch, White Supremacy and Dred Scott; and their shared legacy of Black Self Hatred. And while the evidence of such is certainly compelling (to me), I am NOT sure that it truly explains the condition of our culture.
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Where I think the argument falls flat is that it does not acknowledge the fact that we survived the horrors of all of the aforementioned attacks with our culture in tact - More HERE

Barack Obama, Bitter Pennsylvanians, Bitter Hillary, Bitter Americans?

AAPP: Hillary Clinton is now trying to paint Obama as an elitist and is having a ball trying to do it. She thinks it is just the mis-step she had been waiting for. A slip up? Or did Obama speaks the Truth On Americans being Bitter about the condition of America? Now, Hillary and company, the self righteous experts of color aroused campaigning are lunging at Obama, as Hillary hunts for Opening Over his Small-Town comments. Yes, as reported by the Chicago Times, Obama said: God, guns are only refuge of bitter Pennsylvanians. My sense is he was right, that is why he is making big headway, as polls show Pa. women are ditching Hillary. The way he made his comments could have been worded better. Yet, like the Rev. Wright this issue wont be an issue for the American voters of Pa - who know the truth. Americans are bitter. About George Bush, About the War, and about the Economy. OK, on another note, It just may be wise to learn how to bowl Obama. Or just stay out of bowling alley's. :-)

As reported by Abdon M. Pallasch Political Reporter with the suntimes.com

Thirty words White House hopeful Barack Obama said at a private California fund-raiser threatened Friday to torpedo any hopes he had of catching up to Hillary Clinton in the all-important Pennsylvania primary election 10 days from now.

Talking about how the loss of jobs over 25 years has sapped the hope of small-town Pennsylvania residents, Obama said at the Sunday fund-raiser, "they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

After the quotes surfaced on a political blog Friday, Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and GOP hopeful John McCain immediately decried them as evidence that Obama is "elitist" or "out of touch."

"My opponent said that the people of Pennsylvania who faced hard times are bitter. Well, that's not my experience," Clinton told a crowd in Philadelphia. "As I travel around Pennsylvania, I meet people who are resilient, who are optimistic, who are positive, who are rolling up their sleeves ... Pennsylvanians don't need a president who looks down on them, they need a president who stands up for them."

McCain senior adviser Steve Schmidt said, "It shows an elitism and condescension towards hardworking Americans that is nothing short of breathtaking; it is hard to imagine someone running for president who is more out of touch with average Americans."

Clinton's double-digit lead over Obama in Pennsylvania has been shrinking in recent days as Obama toured the state and outspent Clinton on broadcast advertising. More HERE

Black Youth Out of Control. Has Black America Lost Total Control ?

Black Youth Out of Control? What is going on black America? Why are we as black adults allowing our children to control adults? Run amuck in our own homes, neighborhoods and communities? Why are we allowing these types of activities to occur across our communities? What's going on Black America! OK, what am I talking about? Is it time to bring back reform schools? oops that's called prison - Right? So what should black adults be doing?

Check this out:

As reported by WRC Channel 4 - KENSINGTON, Md. -- Two 15-year-olds arrested in connection with a cache of guns found at Albert Einstein High School conspired to steal guns and sell them at school, according to Montgomery County police.Five students and a 20-year-old man have been charged after Montgomery County police said they found the weapons Wednesday while investigating a report of a shot fired at the school in the 11100 block of Newport Mill Road.Investigators said a 15-year-old boy and his 15-year-old girlfriend stole guns and other items from the girl's home in Silver Spring last week so they could sell them for cash. The weapons were locked up, police said, and the girl, who knew where the key was kept, allegedly let the boy in through a window.

AAPP - There is more:

As also reported by WRC Channel 4 Police said the boy brought three guns to a second-floor boys' bathroom at the school to show possible buyers. One gun was given to a 14-year-old boy, who accidentally pulled the trigger, police said. No one was injured.A student at the school alerted administrators after hearing the gunshot between 11:30 a.m. and noon, prompting a lockdown and search. School security officers found a bullet lodged in the bathroom wall, according to Kate Harrison, a school system spokeswoman.

AAPP: Not Feeling Me Yet, well how about the beating of a black teacher by black students in Baltimore? As reported by Sara Neufeld at The Baltimore Sun, The trouble began, Jolita Berry said, when she asked a girl in one of her art classes at Reginald F. Lewis High School to sit down.

Watch the video:



The student did not obey, coming closer to confront the teacher. "She said she's gonna bang me," Berry said. "I said, 'Back up, you're in my space. If you hit me, I'm gonna defend myself.'"

But Berry, who is 30 and started her job teaching art at the Northeast Baltimore school in December, did not defend herself. The girl caught the teacher off guard as other students cheered her on and screamed, "Hit her!"

April 10: In an exclusive interview, Matt Lauer talks to a Baltimore high school teacher who was attacked by a student while the rest of the class watched — an incident captured in a disturbing video. Teacher beating caught on video

"She just started beating on me relentlessly," Berry said, recalling the Friday morning incident that left her with a sore shoulder and a broken blood vessel in her eye. Read More HERE.

Tavis "cry baby" Smiley leaves Tom Joyner Morning Show

Paul Farhi at the Washington Post reports that one of Sen. Barack Obama's toughest African American critics has quit his long association with a national radio show after listeners decried his views.

Tavis Smiley kissing up to Hillary Clinton at the "State Of The Black Union" symposium on February 23, 2008 in New Orleans. (Richard Alan Hannon - Getty Images)

Tavis Smiley has resigned as a twice-weekly commentator on the syndicated "Tom Joyner Morning Show" after 11 years on the air, citing fatigue and a busy schedule in a personal call to Joyner. Joyner disputed that on the air and in his blog, however, writing: "The real reason is that he can't take the hate he's been getting regarding the Barack issue -- hate from the black people that he loves so much."

Read more here on how Tavis Smiley has resigned from 'Tom Joyner Morning Show'

AAPP: Hey Tavis, If 70-90% of black American voters are going against the candidate that you want to be President, while you kiss up in public to Hillary and Bill Clinton, sorry buddy, you are on the wrong side of black America.

It seems that your can't take the heat, and you know your wrong.

I guess you will be Bill and Hillary's publicist real soon. You should be ashamed of yourself. But then again, there is no shame in your political "GAME."

See Yah!

United States White House For Sale, Clinton, cash and conflicts

AAPP: I know I am preaching to the Choir, but I must say, this recent article on the Clinton, cash and conflicts by Diane Francis is another great article on how Americans cannot trust Hillary or her now infamous (to black folks) husband.

Diane Francis reviews the interesting history of former hippy's Bill and Hillary (Republican) Clinton.



Her article makes it clear to the pundit that Bill and Hillary are nothing more than two greedy Americans who would sell anything and anyone for a dollar bill, with no accountability on who owns him, Hillary, and the White House, (if the superdelegates say yes to another 4 or 8 years to a Clinton dynasty).

Check out the article:

Clinton, cash and conflicts
by Diane Francis

Remember how talented Hillary Clinton was, as a commodities trader, was when she was just First Lady of Arkansas?

She made a fortune and never lost, thanks to some buddies in Chicago’s grain casino where she had a trading account and uncharacteristic run of good trades.
Now we find out that Bill, one of the First Ladies of the U.S. Senate, is exceedingly talented too in the financial sector as a closed-end mutual fund salesman. This has come to light recently now that the Clinton’s financials were finally published.
Slick’s speaking gigs represented the biggest money-maker, some US$52 million out of the US$109 million total. At US$100K a pop, that meant he spoke at least 1.5 times per week for roughly seven years. That’s very surprising, given the months Bill said it took to write his huge book as well as the months he lost as a result of heart surgery recuperation. So some paid more, lots more like the rumored US$250,000 he got from an Arab Sheikh to talk for a few minutes in the desert. Then there’s nearly C$500,000 netted in Canada in a matter of hours or days.

Foreign loot

I have no problem with Clinton hiring himself out to the highest bidder, but there are two concerning issues: One involving a massively understated income from a Hollywood buddy with ties to Arab regimes; and the other problem is the Clinton Library donors whose names have not been released but whose contributions represent a form of indirect income, if you like, paid to curry favor, massage the ego and perhaps win influence.
Clinton’s US$15 million between 2003 and 2007 was from Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa Global Opportunities Fund. Up until last week, income from Yucaipa was disclosed by Hillary only as “more than $1,000 annually”.
But US$3 million a year is mega-more than $1,000 annually for a partnership with unknowns involved in questionable businesses, taking advantage of Cayman Island tax shelters.
In other words, Bill Clinton as a mutfund tout was a huge hit, a concern given that his wife has been the frontrunner to become next President of the White House. Such lucrative political front-running by a spouse is something that ethics committees in Congress should have a closer look at. Imagine if Mrs. Obama or Mrs. McCain were out there making millions in business fees from people their husbands may have dealings with if President? More HERE

AAPP: Soo... should lucrative political front-runners spouse (Bill Clinton) require a closer look from Congress? For that matter should the American people be looking closer at these greedy people?

A Question For Hillary Clinton Supporters

AAPP: I found this recent story in Politico by David Paul Kuhn and Jim VandeHei so good, that I wondered if Hillary supporters would disagree with the following review by these two great writers:

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Hillary Rodham Clinton wants voters to decide the nomination based on who can coolly and competently run the country. She had better hope they don’t study her recent campaign too closely for the answer.

Clinton has overseen two major staff shake-ups in two months. She has left a trail of unpaid bills and unhappy vendors and had to loan her own campaign $5 million to keep it afloat in January. Her campaign badly underestimated her main adversary, Barack Obama, miscalculated the importance of organizing caucus states and was caught flat-footed after failing to lock up the nomination on Super Tuesday. More HERE

AAPP: Well folks, are David Paul Kuhn and Jim VandeHei right on the money?

"Black American Opinion Radio"

Join African (Black) American Opinion for its broadcast of "Black American Opinion Radio" Late Night, on blogtalkradio. With your host, African American Political Pundit.

We plan to have a line-up of informative and sometimes controversial special guest on the program. This will be a program that addresses important and sometimes controversial issues. not Just talking about problems, but getting at solutions, plans and strategies that can work to change black communities for the better.

If you are looking for a radio program that will discuss issues important issues for the growth of the black community, then this is the radio program for you. We will tackle issues like abortion, internet activism, affirmative action, birth control, the role of the Black Church, Black Men and the Black family, Death Penalty, censorship, CIA & Drugs, Corporate crimes, Crimes of War, Entertainment, Faith, Poverty in America, Gender Issues, Globalization, Gun control, Health Care, the Holocaust vs American Slavery, Immigration, Internet, Free speech, Justice for the Poor, interracial dating and marriage, Color Arousal, Racism, Black male bashing, Black female abuse, military industrial complex, National issues, Non-violence, Police Brutality and Accountability, Prisons, political repression, Sex, Sexual harassment, Sex and the Black community, same sex relationships, sports, slavery, social security, taxes, terrorism, elections torture, urban development, womens rights, violence against black women, welfare, welfare, youth and how to reengage our young people, and so much more.

Stay tune and get ready to join us on "Black American Opinion Radio." Broadcasting every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. 11:00 PM -12:30 AM E.S.T. Please check BlogTalkRadio for any schedule or time change.

Our first program begins Monday April 14th, 2008 at 11:00 P.M. EST - Join Us!

Bridging the Digital Divide

Hello, I'm the new guy. I'm Kenneth Quinnell and I regularly blog at Florida Progressive Coalition (amongst other places). At the New Organizing Institute Blogger's Summit, AAPP made the generous offer to let the rest of us grace his space to talk about issues that appeal to his audience. Sounded like a good offer to me, so I took him up on it. This is my introduction.

A quick note on me. I'm a mid-30s adjunct college professor (political science and history) who is the happily-married father of three sons under seven. I run a statewide Netroots organization and am a state and local-level Democratic Party activist. I live in Tallahassee, Florida, and the area I live in is pretty forward-looking, but much of the neighboring area is deep-South. Parts of the Florida panhandle are referred to by Floridians as L.A. -- Lower Alabama. So, I'm a Southern White Guy.

Don't get worried, I'm not that kind of Southern White Guy. There's nothing redneck about me, I have no accent, I hate the Confederate flag, and, when it comes to issues related to race, I've always thought differently than most of the people I grew up around. (And only about 20% of the stuff at Stuff White People Like are things I actually like).

I will say that I was raised around a lot of racist people. In fact, before I went to college, I'd literally say that the majority of adults I'd known in my life were either openly racist or passively racist. But from an early age, I never understood that way of thinking. Mainly, I guess, it came from growing up in lower-class, mixed-race neighborhoods where I could easily see that my African-American and Hispanic friends didn't fit the things the adults were telling me.

I was always interested in other cultures, too, and loved the idea that there were other people out there who had different experiences and thought about things differently than I did. I grew up as a big, big fan of stand-up comedy and sports (among other things) and amongst the names that my sons have been given are tributes to Jackie Robinson and Richard Pryor, two of my idols (along with George Carlin and FDR).

So, what will I post about? Well, pretty much anything that might be of interest to readers of a blog titled African American Political Pundit. There will be a bit of a Florida focus, but not overwhelmingly so. Everyone knows Florida has a high Hispanic population, but what most people don't know is we also have the third-highest black population in the country. I'll talk about the roots of white racism and interactions between the races and how all of this interacts with politics, particularly progressive/liberal/Democratic politics. And I'll respond to what others say about what I've written and whatever people ask me. Hopefully, this will be an interactive experience and we can all learn something valuable from each other. Or at least have a little fun along the way.

Check Out The Film "Rape In The Congo'

Rape In The Congo As reported by the BBC, Rape is frequently used as a weapon of war. Tens of thousands of women and girls have been raped in the Democratic Republic of Congo since fighting broke out in 1998. Despite the launching of the peace process in 2003, soldiers from armed groups and the national army continue to sexually assault people living in the eastern provinces of the country. More HERE AAPP: This matter has not gone unnoticed by a number of major media outlets. As example NY Times, reporter, Jeffrey Gettleman, — Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynecologist, cannot bear to listen to the stories his patients tell him anymore. Every day, 10 new women and girls who have been raped show up at his hospital. Many have been so sadistically attacked from the inside out, butchered by bayonets and assaulted with chunks of wood, that their reproductive and digestive systems are beyond repair. “We don’t know why these rapes are happening, but one thing is clear,” said Dr. Mukwege, who works in South Kivu Province, the epicenter of Congo’s rape epidemic. “They are done to destroy women.” Eastern Congo is going through another one of its convulsions of violence, and this time it seems that women are being systematically attacked on a scale never before seen here. According to the United Nations, 27,000 sexual assaults were reported in 2006 in South Kivu Province alone, and that may be just a fraction of the total number across the country. Read More HERE Check Out The Film "Rape In The Congo' Tonight on HBO.

Political Video Tuesday - A Message To Hillary

Black Blog Watch Is Also "A Great Site To Watch"

A new black Website and blog has been launched. BlackBlogWatch.com is tracking the best African American Authored Blogs.

Courtney Payne who hails from Fort Washington, Maryland, which is about 10 miles south-east of DC, has created one of the more innovative black website tracking sites on the internet.

If you want to keep up-to-date on what going on across the internet with black bloggers and black websites check out BlackBlogWatch.com

Let the good folks at BlackBlogWatch.com know African American Political Pundit suggested the website.

urban neon communities

As reported in the Washington Post, Washington D.C. like many other cities across America are creating urban neon communities. Check out the article in The Washington Post about Seventh Street which is a neon-lit pathway lined with boutiques, taverns, restaurants serving fusion cuisine and a world-class convention center. On H Street, east of Union Station, condos sell for more than $1 million, and new nightclubs throb with the young and hip.

Forty years ago, the conditions on Seventh Street NW, 14th Street NW and H Street NE -- three corridors at the core of Washington's cultural and economic soul -- were beyond desperate. On April 4, 1968, and the following days after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, a noxious mix of rage, frustration and lawlessness paralyzed the nation's capital. Thousands of rioters flooded the streets, ransacking shops and setting buildings ablaze. Thirteen people were killed, including two suspected looters shot by police, and more than 1,000 were injured. It took 13,600 armed federal troops to restore order after three days, but the charred remains and the scarred storefronts would define Washington for years to come.

The complex and painstaking process of reconstruction began soon after the fires were doused, pushed along by federal and local officials, churches and community organizations. For three decades, progress was slow and sporadic: a new District office building, for example, or a neighborhood health center, a pocket park or a subsidized apartment building.

But over the past decade, as developers rediscovered cities across the country, the pace of construction exploded along Washington's riot corridors. Boarded-up husks and rubble-strewn lots were reborn as faux-loft apartments, luring white professionals to predominantly black neighborhoods.

Civic leaders have celebrated each groundbreaking and ribbon-cutting as fresh evidence of a city reborn. Yet the renewal also has provoked questions that echo the race and class tensions that triggered the cataclysm 40 years ago.

Why did it take so long? And who's reaping the benefits? More HERE

AAPP: Join Us tonight at 11:00 PM EST on my Late Night BlogTalk Radio Program -Black Political SlugFest as we talk about Martin Luther King, The Riots, The Poor Peoples Campaign, The Gentrification of America, the role of Civil Rights groups like the NAACP in the new age of black internet organizing and other issues impacting the politics of Black America.

The Call-in Number: (718) 508-9867