Has President Obama duped the African American community?


Get wind of this. Did you know part of the stimulus package President Barack Obama signed in February called for nearly 200 million dollars to be distributed to Philippine veterans who fought with alongside US soldiers in World War II? If President Obama can provide Filipino soldiers back pay he can produce dollars for African Americans whose forefathers endured bitter cruelties during slavery?

I don’t know about you but this rubs me the wrong way. Is President Obama duping the African American community?

In my world actions speak louder than words: rhetoric is only relevant unless constructive action results from them. The rhetoric with respect to the African American community has been empty. President Obama is living in a mansion that was built by slaves. Institutionalized slavery was a profit-making machine. Slavery thrived off the free labor African slaves were forced to render by oppressors.

For over four centuries Africans were subject to the most heinous crimes every committed in world history. Rape, murder, kidnapping and not too mention having the families ripped apart but sending them to other plantations. To this day know one has been brought to justice the crimes committed.

Slaves didn’t have any civil or human rights that were recognized by the same government which allowed institutionalized slavery to flourish. Founding Father and slave-owner Thomas Jefferson wrote “we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.” As Jefferson published his famous piece of hypocrisy in the Declaration of Independence he had over 200 slaves on his property and seven children he fathered by slave Sally Hemmings.

Economically slaves labored for centuries without a paycheck. Many of us cry when we lose a job issued by current mainstream oppressors but slaves had no such luxury. Slaves consistently labored from can’t to quit while receiving no compensation while being physically and emotionally battered in the process.

How can President Obama sign a measure giving Filipino war Veterans one-time payments of $9,000 for non-Filipino citizens and $15,000 for Filipino citizens and not utter one word about the plight of African Americans? How can President Obama, who has a degree in Constitutional law, neglect to mention African slaves built this country and the home he’s living in now?

I don’t know about you but I think it’s time to pay up. Many African Americans have been conditioned that the notion of reparations is ridiculous. We’ve been conditioned to think asking for something that’s owed to us by oppressors is asking for hand out. Would any of you work for your current employer an entire month and give your earnings back to your boss? Imagine generations of slaves laboring for free while being brutalized in the process.

Here are some groups that have gotten paid:

*In March of 1953 the West Germans signed a treaty with Israel that acknowledged the persecution and enslavement of Jews during the Holocaust. Jews were compensated for the property that was stolen from them by the Nazis.

*Under the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 President Ronald Reagan apologized to the Japanese Americans internment during World War II. He provided reparations of $20,000 to each survivor to compensate for loss of property and liberty during the war.

*Native American tribes over time have received compensation for lands ceded to them by the United States by various treaties.

Now President Obama slipped in 200 million for the Filipinos. Don’t you think it’s time to get paid?

I say sue the United States governement. Take them to the world court of the United Nations. Taking your case to the Supreme Court would put the case in the jurisdiction of the oppressor. You’ll have a better chance of winning by taking the criminal to court instead of take your case to the criminal.

President Obama hasn’t addressed any of the ills that reside in the African American community. Yes, national employment is over 10 percent but it’s nearly 14 percent in the African American community. Yes, President Obama talks about going “green” and creating jobs but how many will go to African Americans?

For President Obama to sign a measure giving Filipino veterans money and simultaneously fail to address the African American community equates to duping in my world. If you objectively look beyond what you see you’d find that President Obama is duping the African American community.

I know many are joyous that an African American is President of the United States. It may not appear as such, but I’m of them. But I can’t allow the euphoria President Obama’s ascendance has generated cloud the fact he’s neglected the African American community.

I’m not trying to be a descenting voice here, I’m just keeping it real.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Yeah right. Let's sue the government for your money that you think will fix everything (it won't remotely, and might create new issues). Let's do it right now when we're all sitting here with record unemployment and a huge economic mess. After all, money will fix what has been done here. Never mind we've never been in so much debt and the country might take a tail spin. Never mind YOU were never a dang slave. You are owed that money.

It's a new day Dexter. A wonderful black man has been elected President. It's a sign we have had progress. I can not stand this mentality that we all owe you Dexter. I did not do it and I do not owe you. BTW, add women to the mix because they're still not on a level playing field either.
Anonymous said…
Never fails to amaze me how many people are so emotionally opposed to paying retributions to the descendants of African American slaves whose free labour made America possible. The torture of being ripped from their families and shipped across an ocean by the Portugese and the English and the Spanish and forced to endure whatever evils are supposed to be forgotten while everyday we endure the lasting emotional, psychological and financial legacies of these reprehensible actions? Just UNBELIEVABLE how the descendants of the oppressors never fail to minimize the toxic waste of their ancestors! Keep up the good work!
Anonymous said…
You act as though nothing has been done to help you out after this. There is quite a bit of taxpayer assistance in many forms, much of which is for minorities only.

Considering I wasn't born to rich Plantation owners, in fact quite the opposite, I find it hard to feel too responsible at this point. I can not help what took place that long ago.

YOU were never a slave. Knock the chip off your shoulder. It's 2009.

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