Urban Thought Collective

OBAMA KILLS STEREOTYPES
A recent Los Angeles Times article asked if having Barack Obama in the White House would change negative stereotypes about black men. Well, I don’t think it will change a thing. Anyone who is prejudiced enough to believe that the majority of black men are dangerous, unintelligent, lazy, immoral and predisposed to crime are not likely to abandon their illogical attitude because Obama sits in the Oval Office. Racists will do with Obama what they’ve always done with high profile black achievers; they’ll categorize him as an exception. You know how the reasoning goes: “He isn’t like the rest of them.”

But you and I understand that Barack Obama is not an exception. He is the rule. Most black men are law-abiding, smart (even if they are under-educated), disciplined, family-oriented, hard-working and generally upstanding. This is true of the blue collar brothers as well as the brothers with advanced degrees and professional training. The majority of black men have always been about the positive and we’ve been that way despite the vile treatment to which we’ve been subjected down through our nation’s history. This is obvious to anyone who looks at the past and present with an objective and logical eye.

But racism is neither objective nor logical. It’s built on fear and fallacies about white superiority. Facts have little meaning to a racist. Therefore, it is up to them, not us, to undo the stereotypes and change the beliefs and attitudes behind them.

So, I’m not going to spend energy worrying about whether narrow-minded whites will drop their unfair, biased perceptions of us. (I stopped worrying about that a long time ago, when I realized that as a black man who I have no control over other people’s prejudices.)

I am much more interested in how President Obama might influence the way black men perceive themselves. He will be a continuous reminder that being educated, articulate, professional, loving, socially-conscious and well-mannered are excellent qualities for us to emulate. Indeed, these are qualities that black men have traditionally embraced. So, maybe having Obama up there will help empower more young black men to eschew street culture and take pride in being excellent students, committed family men, mature-minded leaders and beneficial members of their communities.

BUSH’S WAR ENDS WITH A WHISPER
The war in Iraq is over. Don’t feel bad if you didn’t know that. They haven’t exactly made a big deal about it. There’s been no formal announcement by President Bush. No new “Mission Accomplished” banners. But make no mistake. The war, for all practical purposes, is ending.

When nobody was looking, the Bush Administration turned around and did exactly what it said it would never do: it agreed to a time table for removing U.S. troops from Iraq. American and Iraqi leaders quietly reached a deal to pull U.S. fighters from Iraqi cities and towns by next summer and to have all our troops out of Iraq within two years. The deal’s been in the works for months. In fact, the State Department announced its intentions back during the summer, even as Republican presidential candidate John McCain was running around dissing Barack Obama’s plan to bring the troops home within 16 months. McCain sounded kind of silly promising about “victory” in Iraq when President Bush’s staff was already working on a schedule for bringing the troops home.

This indicates to me that Democrats on Capitol Hill and the rest of us liberals were right all along. Setting deadlines for transferring security responsibilities to the Iraqis and redeploying our troops was always the best strategy for ending this unnecessary, fruitless war which has lasted way too long and cost way too much. It’s just a shame that Bush and the Republicans were too stubborn to realize this sooner.

Thanks for listening. I’m Cameron Turner and that’s my two cents.

THINK! IT AIN’T ILLEGAL…YET!

Cameron Turner is a Los Angeles-area native whose editorials, entertainment news features and audio documentaries have appeared on national radio networks, online and in print for over 20 years.