Recently in Black Category
While this is true, "Report: Vast Majority of African American and Latino Middle-Class Families Are on Shaky Financial Ground," I think my statement holds more true. I mean, to not include Whites in the study almost implies only Blacks and Latinos are having problems. But, I see where they are going with this; Latinos and Blacks are being hit harder statistically.
"I think one of the things that I noted in the report was how much of whatever assets African Americans and Latinos have are tied up with whatever equity they have in their homes, as opposed to any other kind of assets, whether it’s cash in the bank or stocks or bonds or whatever, but that essentially the wealth that exists in black and Latino America is basically the wealth in the equity of their houses, right?"But, isn't it funny (even sad), that in a downed economy such as we are experiencing now, we still find away to say that we are more shortchanged than everyone else?
That's what some nuts will do if Obama wins. This is even more so the reason why Obama should win!. Interesting post over at Ornicus.
And while you are there, you may as well keep scrolling down as there are many posts concerning Obama, Race, McCain, and racist signs that once were okay to put up.
And while you are there, you may as well keep scrolling down as there are many posts concerning Obama, Race, McCain, and racist signs that once were okay to put up.
If you rant and rave about you being Latino or the Afro-Latino connection, then you have to accept your WHITE heritage as well.
European coloni(z)ation of Latin America resulted in a dramatic shift from a native American population to a largely mixed one, a genetic study has shown. It suggests male European settlers mated with native and African women, and slaughtered the men.
I smelled a rat after I read too many headlines and refused to support any other book, any news, any interview, any book, any article, any columnist...any'ting.
It was all a dream, I used to read Word Up magazine
Salt'n'Pepa and Heavy D up in the limousine
Hanging pictures on my wall
Every Saturday, "Rap Attack," Mr. Magic, Marley Marl
I let my tape rock 'til my tape popped
Smoking weed and bamboo, sipping on private stock
Way back, when I had the red and black lumberjack
with the hat to match
Remember Rappin' Duke? "Duh-ha, duh-ha"
You never thought that hip-hop would take it this far
Now I'm in the limelight 'cause I rhyme tight
Time to get paid, blow up like the ("World Trade")
Born sinner, the opposite of a winner
Remember when I used to eat sardines for dinner
Peace to Ron G, Brucey B, Kid Capri
Funkmaster Flex, Lovebug Starsky
I'm blowing up like you thought I would
Call the crib, same number same hood, it's all good
Uh, and if you don't know, now you know, nigga
- B.I.G.
Where's my head - oh, it's stuffed with a severe cold. So mind my lapse, as I did not post that yesterday was the date Malcolm X was assassinated. Electronic Villager, has a good post. I read about the man shortly after learning he read the entire dictionary. Impressive. Later - a rare and fairly unknown fact about me - I would later take the train from the Bronx to Bushwick, Brooklyn, and participate in classes learning about the Koran, the Old Testament, and the New Testament, basically studying Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
Yes, I was a Puerto Rican brother, that embraced Islam. A few years later, I sold oils, incense, and books on 14th street by day (actually, I was selling many places before I settled there - even in the subway in Harlem - 125th street), and then on 42nd street between 8th and 7th by night.
My Muslim name was Duma; some of the elders told me I had an 'old soul,' for I was very young and showed interest in learning and practing Sufi teachings. But, enough about me; this posts is to honor Malcolm X.
The votes will be counted into the night and into tomorrow, but today we won states
and we won delegates in every part of the country.
As of right now, we have won more states and delegates than Senator Clinton. It's a
remarkable achievement we can all be proud of.
Tonight, we know one thing for sure -- our time has come, our movement is real, and
change is coming to America.
At this moment in history, the stakes are too high and the challenges too great to
play the same Washington game with the same Washington players and expect a
different result.
This time must be different.
There will be those who say it cannot be done. But we know what we have seen and
what we believe -- that when ordinary people come together we can still do
extraordinary things.
Yes, we can.
Thank you so much,
Barack
Radio interview w/ Roberto Lovato.
Listening to the news and the so-called pundits lately is sad, amusing, and pathetic. For the longest time they've been talking about Barack Obama's race. Is he "black" enough? Can he attract white voters? And after the recent spat with the Clinton camp - where, IMHO, I believe it was incredibly stupid on both sides to get tangled on the race issue so carelessly - now everyone is talking about how Obama's reaction will play with white voters.
Since newspapers abhor a vacuum, now the issue du jour is whether Latinos will vote for Obama.
Atahualpa Yupanqui wrote a beautiful milonga entitled Los Hermanos or "The Brothers." Although it may be deemed a protest song or a song about the common Argentinian, the lyrics are universal and apply to the situation at hand here.
Emphasis added. And therein lies the main issue: Latinos have a history of racial discrimination and prejudice dating hundreds of years. Both against Latinos of African descent and against indigenous communities in Central and South America. That, compounded with a near universal denial of racism in Latin America, or denial of it as being a problem, and it is not surprising that as we carry nuestros muertos, their attitudes shine through.
The interesting and ironic thing is that, compared with Latin America, the U.S. has been extremely progressive in how it deals with racial discrimination. For example, when they conducted the census in Puerto Rico, well over 75% of the people identified themselves in terms of color as "white." We're not talking Argentina here, which is recognized as the most European of the Latin American nations. We're talking about Puerto Rico, home of salsa music and reggaetón.
And, why do people call themselves "white" when most Puertoricans are mulatto? Because nobody wants to be black. But because there are so many people of color - either black or brown - Puertoricans came up with two interesting conventions: first was "el que no tiene dinga, tiene mandinga" or "he who does not have dinga (ancestors from the African dinga tribe), has mandigo (ancestors from the African mandigo tribe)." Or, "everybody's black." The second one was that if you have a single blood relative who was white - no matter how far removed - then you're white. Those two conventions managed to remove race from the everyday debate in P.R.
What it hasn't removed is the fact that most of the statewide elected officers are white. Puerto Rico has never had a dark-skinned governor. Or resident commissioner. And one of our all-time greatest musical export, Menudo, was always an all-white boy band.
And P.R. is hardly alone on this. In the Dominican Republic, it was the political "kiss of death" for a Presidential candidate when rumors surfaced stating that he was either born in Haiti or he was of Hatian parents.
And so it goes in Latin America. I can't think of a single country that is "free from sin" so to speak.
When it comes to race, we need to drop our dead ones and leave them behind.
Since newspapers abhor a vacuum, now the issue du jour is whether Latinos will vote for Obama.
“Many Latinos are not ready for a person of color,” Natasha Carrillo, 20, of East Los Angeles, said. “I don’t think many Latinos will vote for Obama. There’s always been tension in the black and Latino communities. There’s still that strong ethnic division. I helped organize citizenship drives, and those who I’ve talked to support Clinton.”And it's not just mainstream media.
I recently had a discussion with a good friend who heads a prominent Latino social service agency in Los Angeles about the White House prospects of Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama. He lowered his voice and shamefacedly said that many Latinos that he talked with scoffed or sneered at the idea of voting for Obama.Emphasis added. There are many possible reasons why Latinos may feel "apprehensive" about voting for an African-American candidate. However, lets focus on the one reason nobody is discussing in either article.
When I asked why, his answer was blunt. They just can’t see themselves voting for a black guy. The disdain, or less charitably bigotry, that he said many Latinos express toward Obama is anecdotal and can hardly be taken as the sentiment of most Latinos. But that some expressed that sentiment is not surprising.
Atahualpa Yupanqui wrote a beautiful milonga entitled Los Hermanos or "The Brothers." Although it may be deemed a protest song or a song about the common Argentinian, the lyrics are universal and apply to the situation at hand here.
Which translates, roughly, to "And so we keep on walking/tanned in solitude/and in us our dead ones/so nobody's left behind."Y así seguimos andando
curtidos de soledad;
y en nosotros nuestros muertos
pa' que nadie quede atrás
Emphasis added. And therein lies the main issue: Latinos have a history of racial discrimination and prejudice dating hundreds of years. Both against Latinos of African descent and against indigenous communities in Central and South America. That, compounded with a near universal denial of racism in Latin America, or denial of it as being a problem, and it is not surprising that as we carry nuestros muertos, their attitudes shine through.
The interesting and ironic thing is that, compared with Latin America, the U.S. has been extremely progressive in how it deals with racial discrimination. For example, when they conducted the census in Puerto Rico, well over 75% of the people identified themselves in terms of color as "white." We're not talking Argentina here, which is recognized as the most European of the Latin American nations. We're talking about Puerto Rico, home of salsa music and reggaetón.
And, why do people call themselves "white" when most Puertoricans are mulatto? Because nobody wants to be black. But because there are so many people of color - either black or brown - Puertoricans came up with two interesting conventions: first was "el que no tiene dinga, tiene mandinga" or "he who does not have dinga (ancestors from the African dinga tribe), has mandigo (ancestors from the African mandigo tribe)." Or, "everybody's black." The second one was that if you have a single blood relative who was white - no matter how far removed - then you're white. Those two conventions managed to remove race from the everyday debate in P.R.
What it hasn't removed is the fact that most of the statewide elected officers are white. Puerto Rico has never had a dark-skinned governor. Or resident commissioner. And one of our all-time greatest musical export, Menudo, was always an all-white boy band.
And P.R. is hardly alone on this. In the Dominican Republic, it was the political "kiss of death" for a Presidential candidate when rumors surfaced stating that he was either born in Haiti or he was of Hatian parents.
And so it goes in Latin America. I can't think of a single country that is "free from sin" so to speak.
When it comes to race, we need to drop our dead ones and leave them behind.
It takes a man to say he is sorry, in this case it takes a state.
Elana Levin, from The Drum Major Institute, has written a article to Progressive bloggers and their lack of opinion and coverage on the immigration issue.
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