Feeling halfway ashamed and fearing that I had indeed been exposed as a Yankee or whatever Southern folk refer to all of the rest of us as that aren’t from down their way. Actually, can Californians be Yankees? That’s food for thought for another day and another discussion perhaps. I tried to pull it together and muster up a response that would simultaneously convey my own incredulity as well as restore my good name in the eyes of this cabby that I would never see again after the 10 minute ride back to the Northwest Terminal at the Memphis International Airport.

“It was iiight…,” I said, putting a little extra “down-home” on it in hopes that the condescending gaze being laid upon me through the rear view mirror would ease up a bit. “Wasn’t the best fried chicken I’ve ever had, but it was better than eating another burger or something at the airport. The chess pie was pretty good though,” I reported, having no reference point as this was my first experience with this Southern specialty. I was getting a little more comfortable now, feeling like I had restored the balance in the vehicle back to respectable levels. Why had I allowed Tony, with his gold-toothed sneer, in his musty little taxi with torn upholstery in the back seat where I sat, to so severely put me on the defensive and make me feel so small? Was it really that serious? Actually, it was.

Fried chicken is serious business at my house and always has been. My kids look forward to my fried chicken the way I look forward to sinking my teeth into a heavenly serving of guava crème brulee whenever my itinerary finds me in the Caribbean. Again, a story for another time, but suffice it to say that I not only was not a crème brulee fan previously, I can’t order the stuff anywhere else on the planet because I am convinced that all non-guava varieties will pale in comparison. But we were talking about chicken. My kids brag about it to their friends and beg me to make it whenever they catch me wondering about what to cook for dinner. Were it not for my health consciousness and weariness of a diet that allows for fried food any more than occasionally, they might get their wish. I was the same way about the chicken that my dad fried and especially that of my Uncle Levi (my dad’s next eldest sibling among 9). So irresistible was my Uncle Levi’s (he insists that you address him as “Uncle”) chicken that I once nearly ate myself out of the starting line-up of one of my high school basketball games. Even right now, I can almost taste the blend of 33 herbs and spices that soaked into the best golden brown skin your lips will ever touch. Okay, so it’s probably not 33, but it’s at least 3 times better than what the Colonel does with his 11.

My cousin Billy (Levi’s son) and I played on the same team and he had invited a group of us over to hang out and relax as was our ritual at some team member’s house before every game. Billy’s decision to heat up some of last night’s leftover chicken proved to almost cost us an important game as myself and another of our big men were way past lethargic during the first half. At one point midway through the second quarter, I begged the coach to remove me, running right past our bench and straight for the locker room latrine. I am happy to report that while it didn’t taste nearly as good on the way up as it had on the way down, we did rally for victory late in the game.

The awkward silence following my last statement to ol’ Tony was becoming deafening. It was bearable for the few moments while I was recollecting all of the monumental fried chicken experiences I’ve ever had, trying to quickly rank them as if Tony were the supervisor and I the grunt worker having been given the task as an action item on a deadline. His occasional check of the rear view mirror with what my paranoia deemed a disapproving glance, as Johnny “Guitar” Watson wailed through the static of the FM radio dial on this rainy evening, told me that time was up.

“I was just at the Lorraine Hotel,” I said, trying to break the ice that had formed since that initial exchange, trying to inform him that I had worked up my fried chicken appetite walking around at the Lorraine Hotel, infamous site of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and now home to the National Civil Rights Museum. His eyes didn’t seem to leave the rainy roadway as he drove up Front Street and headed toward the freeway.
“I said I was just at the Lorraine Hotel,” I repeated, a little louder this time. This at least made him look up and nod. Just when I was about to sink back into the seat of his mid-80s model Caprice Classic sedan and give up, Tony spoke.

“Now Jack Parrrrr-deez has got some chicken!” his eyes off in some distant euphoric place now, perhaps recounting his last experience the way I did with Uncle Levi’s above, but more like he was remembering the prettiest, pig-tailed, bobby-sox wearing co-ed in all of Central High School’s class of 1963.

“Oh yeah?” I said, leaning forward again.

“Yeah their homemade biscuits and that chicken…whoooooooooo!”

Whoooooooo needed no translation. In fact, my Ph.D in slang linguistics tells me that there are degrees of whooooooooo and that this one was surely of the head shaking, exhaling and thigh slapping variety. We rode in silence for the last couple of minutes as he pulled off the freeway and into the airport, both sporting contented smiles as if we had collaborated in polishing off a bucket of Jack Pirtle’s Fried Chicken (take out only on Jackson Avenue in Memphis. I had some trouble finding it online going by Tony’s pronunciation, but managed). “Yeah…Jack Parrrrrr-deez,” Tony mumbled again as I paid the fare and got out of the cab.

Destah Owens is a single father of two from Northern California and proud UCLA Bruin who travels the world for his job as a computer engineer. His blog, “Soufflés in Saigon,” is exclusive to Urban Thought Collective.

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Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech is one of the most inspiring speeches ever delivered. Many are not aware that it was a gay black man that made this speech possible. Bayard Rustin was the individual that trained Dr. King in the method of non-violent demonstrations and he is the man that organized the historic 1963 March on Washington where the speech was delivered.

Many involved in the Civil Rights Movement were uncomfortable with Rustin’s role as the right hand of Dr. King. Some felt his homosexuality made him a detriment to the movement. But Dr. King and many other leaders were aware of how important Bayard was to the struggle. He was outgoing, he was organized, and he was committed to the cause.

Some of America’s most accomplished black writers are members of the same-gender loving community. James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, Audre Lorde and Alice Walker are just some of the names that come to mind. An African American lesbian Octavia Butler was the first science fiction writer to receive the McArthur Foundation Genius Grant. These writers were (are) brilliant.

The black gay community also claims some dynamic trailblazers in the arts. One of the most easily recognized and highly accomplished dance companies in the world is the Alvin Ailey Dance Troupe. Ailey was a gay black man. Josephine Baker, Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday are all women that also loved women. And many will argue that Duke Ellington’s success would not have been possible if it were not for black gay musician Billy Strayhorn that penned many of his hits including “Take the A Train.”

Now I’ll be the first to admit that the sexuality of these individuals should not be relevant. But since we live in a world filled with homophobia I think that to omit part of their stories would be doing them an injustice. When we tell these stories we need to tell the truth and tell the whole truth.

We live in a world where many of our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth suffer from self esteem issues. We have too many that are still resorting to suicide because they don’t feel there is a place for them in this world. These kids need to know the whole story. To our future politicians, Barbara Jordan was the first African-American woman from the South to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives and yes, she was a lesbian. To our future athletes, Justin Fashanu was the first black soccer player to earn a million pounds per year and he was a gay black man. Glen Burke is the baseball player often credited with inventing the “high five” and he was a gay black man. When we tell these stories let’s tell the whole truth.

Sharing these truths could also be instrumental in ending homophobia. Many people’s discomforts, fears and hatred of the LGBT community are based on perceptions and ignorance. Hearing the whole truth of these and other individuals could shift the thinking that for years has led to gay bashings and violent murders.

So if you are planning on attending any celebrations in February, beware of the legacy left by many black gays, lesbians and bisexuals. We are all part of the same family. And to ignore the stories of some members of the family is doing a disservice to the entire family. Take some time this month to learn more about these individuals that have earned their place of recognition during Black History Month.

Jason Green is the co-founder and facilitator of UGIMA (United Gay Informed Men of Arizona) and a frequent blogger regarding issues impacting the African-American community. His unique perspective on issues affecting the black community will be featured regularly on UrbanThoughtCollective.com. Check out more from Green at his personal blog, The J Spot.

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Listening, I couldn’t help but think about those like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King and Medgar Evers who died to make all this possible, as well as those like my immigrant grandfather, my father and aunt, who were all activists for change in the 60s, and are not alive to see this day. I have to say I still can’t believe it and get chills every time I hear the words “President Obama.”

Already, he has ordered the closing of Guantanamo Bay and discontinued abusive methods, clamped a salary freeze on top staff earning more than $100,000 a year, granted his first interview with Arab television addressing U.S. relations with the Muslim world, and has been working diligently in a bipartisan effort to get his economic stimulus plan approved by February 16th. So far it looks like he’s moving forward with his campaign promises. I’m looking forward to more on his health care initiative and decisions regarding Iraq and Afghanistan. I’ll be watching CNN with baited breath.

Another station I can’t get enough of is Starz. Since January the 19th, the network has been airing a special I produced called “11.04.08: The Day of Change,” which features over 25 of black Hollywood’s most popular faces including Regina King, Vivica Fox, Michael Ealy, Dule Hill, CCH Pounder, Sinbad, Vanessa Williams, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Taye Diggs, LisaRaye, Tisha Campbell-Martin, Laila Ali, Terry Crews and more! They all tell their stories of how they felt when Obama was elected on November 4th.

The half-hour show runs through February, but just in case you don’t have Starz you can check it out at. I am sure you’ll love it. Honestly! This was truly one of the most memorable projects I’ve produced for the network and was all because of Barack Obama.

Long story short, the network called and asked me to help them produce their annual Black History Month special. A pretty simple task, they were looking for five to six young black stars to talk about special moments in black history that have stood out to them. I sent out requests but found the scheduling given the proximity to the holiday season to be a bit challenging. Thankfully, the creative director of Starz called me up and said they had changed the idea. He asked ‘how could we talk about Black History without keying in on the election of Barack Obama?’

A bit reluctant thinking most celebrities wouldn’t be interested, I sent out the revised request and boy was I wrong. From Star Jones to Hill Harper to Maya Angelou, everyone was saying yes trying to find out how they could take part. What started out as a one day shoot and brief interstitials (short promos between films) turned into two full days of shooting and a half hour special. On set there were plenty of tears and laughs as everyone told their heartfelt stories of what they were doing on that fateful day. The shoot was amazing, to say the least, and another testament to the power and magnetism that is Barack Obama.

Until next time, stay blessed, black and beautiful!
Jasmine

Jasmine Simpkins is a writer, producer and actress living in Los Angeles. She covers Hollywood from both in front of and behind the scenes. Her thoughts and experiences are chronicled exclusively for www.urbanthoughtcollective.com.

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DO A SERVICE PROJECT ON MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY

Its poetic justice that President Obama is being inaugurated the day after the MLK holiday. I will be singing Stevie Wonder’s song Happy Birthday extra loud this year. Martin Luther King Day became a federal holiday in 1986. In 1994 Congressman John Lewis was one of the sponsors of the “King Holiday and Service Act” which made MLK Day a day of service to reflect on King’s life and teachings. King Day is intended to be a day of service when people work together to bring about the things that Dr. King stood for: social activism and community service.

In many cases MLK day has become another reason for a three day weekend no different than Veterans Day or Columbus Day. Dr. King’s legacy has been whittled down to a street name (almost every urban community has a street named after him) and sound bites, but how much is being done to preserve and continue his legacy? We remark on how his vision and dream have been realized but how much are we doing to push forward his ideals? This MLK Day is particularly special because the day after MLK Day our country will inaugurate President Obama. Can you imagine the conversations Dr. King and President Obama would have had?

Finally the “bad check” to African Americans that Dr. King discusses in his “I Have A Dream” speech can be cashed by everyone. But the inauguration of President Obama is not the conclusion or the end, it’s just the beginning. Think about it: MLK Day was only officially recognized in all 50 states in 2006—20 years after it became a federal holiday. Monday January 19th is a great day to reflect on Dr. King, the importance of what we’ve achieved so far and how much more there is to be done.

This year is the 80th anniversary of Dr. King’s birth and the best way to have the “world party on the day you came to be” that Stevie talks about in “Happy Birthday” is to make MLK Day a day of service and action. Let’s remember all that Dr. King did to move us forward and celebrate how far we’ve come. Instead of sleeping late, which is what I usually do on MLK Day, (I’ve never made it to the MLK Service at BAM in Brooklyn although I always intend to) this year I am going to volunteer on MLK Day and do my small part to honor Dr. King’s legacy.

I’m reminded of Dr. King’s words, “anyone can be great because anyone can serve.” There are so many volunteer opportunities that I can choose from: painting a mural at a local school, serving at a food pantry or soup kitchen and many others. I signed up to volunteer at a soup kitchen. Check out http://my.mlkday.gov/public to find opportunities in your area.

Many people will be in D.C. for inauguration weekend, and there are service projects scheduled to coincide with the inauguration weekend. President Obama and Vice President Biden are volunteering, let’s all do the same. Whether you are at home or in D.C., get involved and honor a leader who had a “Dream” that is finally being fulfilled the next day.

For those of us who are not traveling to D.C. and are witnessing the inauguration in our own cities and town, volunteering on MLK Day is a great way to give back and set the tone for the next four years. Dr. King spent 13 years working on civil rights activities, surely we could all spend a day.

If you are looking for opportunities to volunteer on MLK Day, check out the MLK website or USA Service which lists volunteer opportunities. There’s even an MLK Day of Service Facebook page.

I recently reread Dr. King’s I Have a Dream Speech. Now is a great time to read it and reflect on its words or watch a video of the speech on You Tube. I was especially moved when he talks about the urgency of now. Dr. King’s words are still so powerful, I wish I could have been there.

Forty-five years ago Dr. King spoke from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and talked to the 250,000 people who filled the National Mall about his dream. Next week millions of people will fill the National Mall to celebrate our new President, the personification of Dr. King’s Dream. Next week will be historic and exciting whether you will be experiencing it at home or traveling to D.C. MLK Day is a good day to thank those who have come before us and paved the way. But while we celebrate, we should stop and remember that while we have reached some milestones, the struggle is far from over and there is more work to do. Make MLK Day a day on, not a day off.

Angelia Dickens is an attorney and author with lots of thoughts and opinions, and now a place to share them (other than with her friends and family). Her blog is a compilation of her musings and commentary on charitable giving, volunteerism and philanthropy from an African-American perspective. Her writings have appeared in the Nonprofit Times and the Root.com. She can be reached at speakyourvoice@gmail.com. Read, comment and circulate.

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On June 17, 1962 Dr. King spoke in Los Angeles about the “Dilemma and the Challenge” facing black people. He talked about the new opportunities that were opening up as the pillars of segregation toppled and he cautioned that our success would require us to overcome the unique social and psychological obstacles set up by two and a half centuries of slavery and a century of Jim Crow. Dr. King broke it down like this: “Here we are as a people, having experienced political domination, economic exploitation, segregation and humiliation for well now 344 years! And yet the demands of history make it necessary for us to be as productive and as responsible as the people who never had these experiences.”

As we move into the Age of Obama, we recognize that while racism (both institutional and individual) still haunts us, blacks and other people of color enjoy a level of freedom, opportunity and acceptance that was unimaginable a generation ago. So, while we may still have to fight “The System,” we must also confront challenges from within. If we are to reach our potential we have to let go of the attitudes, behavior and lifestyles that are holding us back and causing us to harm one another.

Dr. King said, “We are challenged to mobilize our resources and to mobilize all of the constructive forces we can muster to make a creative contribution to the life of our nation.”

This means unity. It means working together toward the common goal of success for all black people. It means smashing the walls that separate us by class, geography, age and gender. It means that wealthy blacks have to use their money and connections to help those who are still struggling. It means gang members, drug dealers and thugs need to stop preying on us and start using their intelligence, courage and organizational skills to build up our neighborhoods, families and economy.

Our youth have to stop scoffing at education and stop making fun of peers who love to learn. Knowledge is the greatest power in the world but ignorance puts us in shackles.

Black men need to reject the sexist values of hip hop and Hollywood and celebrate the beauty and specialness of all black women — not just the ones who look like Beyonce and Halle. God did not put women on this Earth to be collections of scantily-clad body parts shaking and gyrating for the gratification of men. The fellas need to cherish the minds, hearts, abilities and souls of women and remember that sisters deserve and need our respect, our friendship, our love and our protection.

We must also agree that there’s nothing cute about having babies out of wedlock, especially if you’re still a kid yourself. Teenage pregnancy deprives children of mature, stable parents and robs young mothers of their youth, limiting their future choices and plunging many of them into poverty. It also plays into racist double standards. White America makes excuses for teens like Bristol Palin and Jamie Lynn Spears but unmarried, underage black and Hispanic girls who have babies are condemned.

The inauguration of Barack Obama affords us an unprecedented opportunity for black people to redefine ourselves by embracing the best of who we are: hard-working, family-oriented, self-loving, intelligent, dignified and spiritual people who strive for the best — even when we have the least.

As Brother Barack said on the night he was elected: “It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America…(and) while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes We Can!

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.

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The passage of Prop 8 is not our fault. African-Americans do not make up a large enough amount of the population to get anything passed or rejected on their own. The people behind Proposition 8 were well organized and well funded. But it raises a question: As African-Americans have gained more mainstream success and awareness, are we becoming just as intolerant as everyone else?

The Proposition 8 marriage debate reminds me of another marriage debate that I learned about in law school but this one involved African-Americans: the case of Mildred Loving. Ms. Loving was a black woman who lived in Virginia and married a white man in 1958. Five weeks after their wedding, police acting on an “anonymous tip” (yes that’s how it was done in those days) burst into their home and confronted them in bed with the question: “Who is this woman that you’re sleeping with?” When Mr. Loving answered that she was his wife, she was told by the police sheriff “that’s no good here.” Both Mr. and Ms. Loving were arrested and spent time in jail for the offense of being married (Ms. Loving, the black wife spent more time). They were not required to serve their one year prison sentences as long as they moved out of Virginia and did not return together for 25 years.

In 1958, segregation extended to the bedroom by law, blacks were not allowed to marry whites, just as they were unable to drink from the same water fountains. If Barack Obama’s parents had lived in Virginia instead of Hawaii they would not have been able to get married.

Mr. and Ms. Loving sued the State of Virginia and in 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to deny people the right to marry because of their race. So what’s the difference between Ms. Loving and the question being faced in Proposition 8? The first one involved blacks, the second gays. Is it really that different? It seems unthinkable that anyone would argue that Ms. Loving should not have been able to marry whomever she liked, so why are people taking a different stance when another group’s right to marry is questioned?

I know a lot of the debate about gay marriage has been focused on religion and the idea that marriage should only be between a man and a woman. Everyone is entitled to the religious beliefs and opinions and if that is someone’s reason for voting for Proposition 8 then you should feel free to stop reading because I don’t want to challenge someone’s religious beliefs. But I would venture to say that this is only part of the story. How many black folks voted in favor of Prop 8 for religious reasons?

Why would seven out of ten African-Americans overwhelmingly vote to take away the rights of another group when we fought so hard for our rights? If someone told me that I could not marry the person I choose I would be pissed off! So what’s the difference here?

If you get a group of black people together and begin to equate the struggle that gays have had for gay marriage with the struggles that African-Americans have had, the answer will most likely be their problems are not the same. “They’ve never had to struggle, never been 3/5s of a man, never been denied the right to vote.” But we do share one thing in common: just as blacks for lynched for being black, gays have been murdered for being gay. Check out the movie “Milk.”

As we begin a new chapter, Black and Brown people, not just African Americans, should examine why there is so much infighting between marginalized groups. Why can’t Blacks, Latinos Asians, women and gays just get along and support each other’s struggles? This played out not only in the debate over Proposition 8 but also during the Presidential Election. Do you support the black guy or the woman? One of the reasons we ended up with Sarah Palin was the hope that she would appeal to women who were so upset with Hillary’s defeat that they would rather vote for a woman who did not share their opinions than a black man—we all know how well that worked! The black civil rights struggle, gay rights struggle and women’s rights struggle happened at different times but the concepts are the same.

I’m annoyed that a lot of media has tried to blame the passage of Prop 8 on black folks and portray us as narrow-minded and easily fooled. We have been portrayed as unable to think for ourselves and make well reasoned decisions. We have been portrayed as blindly following the voice and instruction of our ministers and religious leaders. That is inaccurate and unfair and not how this discussion should be portrayed. Black people do not all think the same just like any other group. We need to begin to confront the intolerance in our thoughts and some of the social conservatism in our communities. I think the Prop 8 situation is an example of this.

If intolerance had been practiced by others we would not have President Obama. People outside of the black community were able to look past his skin color and decide that he was the right person to lead this country right now. Taking steps to overcoming racial intolerance by electing a President-Elect of African-American descent should not give us the same right to become intolerant of others. We should call a spade a spade and say that if I don’t want anyone to discriminate against us; we should not pass the buck of discrimination on to another group. It’s a good time to be black and we need to leave some of this stuff behind.

In 1958: Dr. Martin Luther King said “when any society says that I cannot marry a certain person, that society has cut off a segment of my freedom.” Dr. King was referring to Ms. Loving, but 50 years later, that quote seems very timely.

Angelia Dickens is an attorney and author with lots of thoughts and opinions, and now a place to share them (other than with her friends and family). Her blog is a compilation of her musings and commentary on charitable giving, volunteerism and philanthropy from an African-American perspective. Her writings have appeared in the Nonprofit Times and the Root.com. She can be reached at speakyourvoice@gmail.com. Read, comment and circulate.

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I don’t know who originated this quote but it has made the rounds both before and after the election. What does it really mean and is there any truth to it?

The quote argues that no one is really responsible for their own success but that individual success is due at least in part to these who have walked that same path before you. Do African-Americans owe a debt to those who came before us and if so how does that relate to our decision to give back or support those who are less fortunate?

When I think about this issue, I’m reminded of a line from Jay-Z’s song “H.O.V.A.” where he talks about his past and explains that he experienced certain events in his life so that the next generation would not have those same difficulties: “Hov did that, so hopefully you don’t have to go through that.” He acknowledges that the difficulties he experienced paved the way for those who came after him were so that future artists would not have to face those same challenges. This concept is not just limited to the world of hip hop.

Is any portion of our academic success, financial security or general prosperity a result of our predecessors? Most of us would not have been able to achieve the successes that we have, if we did not have parents and grandparents who sacrificed to make things a little bit better, socially and financially. While most of us would agree that we owe a debt of gratitude to our direct ancestors, who sacrificed for the benefits we now enjoy, what about those that we’ve never met who made sacrifices for the larger “cause” or “movement” so that we could get to where are?

The names we know like Martin Luther King, John Lewis and Rosa Parks–but also those unsung he-roes and she-roes whose names never made it into the history books.

But that was a long time ago. For many of us these are individuals who did their greatest work before we were even born so why are their actions relevant to me today? Fifty years later, do we really have owe anything to Rosa Parks and Thurgood Marshall? Forty-five years later do we really owe anything to Martin Luther King? Should we just say thanks for the three-day MLK holiday weekend and move on with our lives?

We shouldn’t forget those unidentified people who braved water hoses to register to vote so that 45 years later we could not only vote, but vote for an African-American presidential candidate. We wouldn’t be able to live in integrated neighborhoods and go to the best schools in the country (and have parents who could afford to send us to them) if it weren’t for those who fought for equality before us.

We would not be rejoicing over President-Elect Obama, if Shirley Chisholm, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson had not tried to become President before him. And even though they did not get to the “promised land” of the presidency themselves, they paved the way so that we as a people could get to the “promised land.”

This isn’t a history lesson and everyone has heard what I just said before. The question is “what should I do about it?” The answer: you should “give back” in some way and give someone else a helping hand. Marion Wright Edelman said, “Service is the rent we pay for living.” Well, the rent check is past due. Each of must do something to contribute.

Some of us think that we have no one but ourselves to thank for our success. Everything that we have is because we are smart, talented and hard-working. But we are not unique– there were and are others who were just as smart, just as talented and just as ambitious, who did not have the same opportunities. “To Whom Much is Given Much is Expected.” Many things have changed—we are able to vote without paying a poll tax, we do not have to worry about being turned away from the polls because of the color of your skin, and we’ve been able to vote and elect a black president. We can’t take that luck for granted. We have to DO SOMETHING.

This summer HBO aired the documentary “The Black List”. One of my favorite segments was Al Sharpton, when he talked about a conversation he had with someone who said “I didn’t make it because of civil rights; civil rights didn’t write my resume.” Mr. Sharpton’s response was “Yes, but civil rights made someone read your resume.” As we celebrate our new President lets not forget not only how far we’ve come but also how far we need to go. We owe a debt of gratitude to those giants on whose shoulders we stand. The best way to start to pay back that debt is by paying it forward, lending a helping hand and making a commitment to make a difference by using your time and financial resources, no matter how large or small, to make someone’s path a little easier.

Enough preaching, now solutions . . .

To be continued…

Angelia Dickens is an attorney and author with lots of thoughts and opinions, and now a place to share them (other than with her friends and family). Her blog is a compilation of her musings and commentary on charitable giving, volunteerism and philanthropy from an African-American perspective. Her writings have appeared in the Nonprofit Times and the Root.com. She can be reached at speakyourvoice@gmail.com. Read, comment and circulate.

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- James Baldwin, “Going to Meet the Man” Essay: “This Morning, This Evening, So Soon.”

Now that the pixie dust has slowly begun to dissipate on the Cinderella story that is Barack Obama, I’ve been thinking about what it all means. The entire campaign brought out so many raw emotions in me. I’ve run the spectrum from anger (what you say, Hillary?) to exasperation (Sarah Palin, really?), to inspiration, and the final ecstasy of elation. In this brief calm before the storm of Inauguration Day, I have dried my eyes long enough to do a little reflecting.

As I watched the coverage in the days following victory, I understood the depth of history I was witnessing. Yet, I wondered if the young folks of all races, and even some of the middle aged white folks really “got it.” Most people of a certain age have only seen our image as it is today. You know, the blinged out, club lovin’ ho hoppin’ generation that is doing just fine. Never mind the disproportionate levels of poverty, AIDS, gang violence, homelessness, drug abuse and fatherless children we suffer from year after year. Not to mention the fact that our men are still not graduating college at comparable rates, and please let’s not talk about the number of us that call prison home. As far as most of the world knows, we are poppin bottles and models all night! Our mainstream music just does not reflect our current conditions.

Even the horror of Hurricane Katrina was only a temporary moment of exposure. Yet there we were. Dead, black bodies were drifting down Canal Street, stranded citizens (who were suddenly deemed “refugees”) were standing on rooftops and crammed into a football stadium while a CNN commentator said, “Look at them, they are so poor and so black.” Then, our President and the nation seemed to simply forget. We cannot afford to forget.

I was speaking with a young relative of mine recently, and he actually laughed when I told him that I have family members that experienced Jim Crow in it’s hey day. For him, Black History is a loose understanding of slavery and Martin Luther King, Jr. There is no in between. The idea of ‘colored only’ signs and cross burnings just went completely over his head. The concept of not being able to look at, much less talk to a white woman without being (legally) slaughtered Emmett Till style was just not something he could fathom. I suppose I should have been thrilled that he has never known the sting of racism. I should have been joyful that we have made it to the point where so many have never been personally touched by the cold hand of hate. But I wasn’t. I was sad. Because without knowing our history, we have no idea how far we have come or how far we have yet to go. We cannot afford to forget.

I’m only in my third decade of existence, but I’m keenly aware of the daily infliction of indignity that Black people endured and overcame. I have experienced it on a much smaller scale, but it’s still there, simmering at the surface of my everyday life. When I was a teenager, I was reading books that took me into the heart of the pain and suffocation that living among our white, proud domestic terrorists promised. My mother always told me that books could take you anywhere. They took me to rural Mississippi, they took me the unjust courtrooms (thank you, Bigger Thomas, the front lines of the Black Power struggle, (Nikki Giovanni’s “Black Feeling, Black Talk, Black Judgment” is timeless must read), they took me into the heart of disillusioned black soldiers who came home to nothing , and all over world (thank you, Maya Angelou). Knowing how difficult it was to just BE was a primer that I am beyond grateful for.

When I was in High School, I was at the heart of the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. When the Rodney King verdict came down, I saw the first brick thrown through store a window, and watched the fires outside my window rage all night. I went to school in the days that followed and had to listen to the white students say things like, “I just don’t understand why they have to come to our stores just because they burned theirs down.”

I don’t want us to be lulled into a false or contrived sense of “makin it.” Yes, white people voted for a Black man. But, they didn’t vote for the Black man. They still harbor the same issues of latent racism, they still misunderstand our struggle, and, in crisis, they will still display the same bunker mentality that defines their interaction with people of color. They will still clutch their pearls and purses when a brother walks by. Sports, dancing and rappin’ are still the best light for them to observe us under. They still, as the above James Baldwin quotes bears out, have not faced their role in history in a direct, honest way. We have had no choice but to collectively peek through the proverbial mirror. With a biracial leader, it is high time that they do the same.

This election means so much to me. I love what it represents for all of us. I love what it means to know that a Black man is the leader of the free world, his intelligence, compassion, sincerity and reason on full display for all to see. With the world damn near falling off of its axis, the task is great. Now that Obama has not only my email address, but millions of others, I’m interested to see how his team chooses to mobilize us beyond the ballot box. How can we continue to harness this unprecedented wave of involvement by ordinary, empowered citizens and create a completely new way of governing? City by city and state by state, passionate volunteerism can revitalize neighborhoods, schools and our communities at large. It is just beginning.

Obama and his new team have a fresh set of downs. Let’s make sure he doesn’t fumble at the goal line, and is able to be a two-term president that is historic not just for the color of his skin, but for overseeing a new world order and giving us all confidence and conscience.

We cannot afford to forget.

Ellene V. Miles is the managing editor of www.urbanthoughtcollective.com and has worked as an entertainment publicist for many years. Her collection of rants is featured exclusively on UTC for the good of the people.

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The Weather Underground was a group of angry middle class white college kids whose foremost goal was to end the Vietnam war. I wonder if he understands that this claim of “pallin around with terrorists” is like saying Obama is a pawn for a group similar to Hamas.

Before we can continue we need to know that The Weathermen issues with America were valid. America was in a vicious war in Vietnam, the same war McCain missed because in October 1967, while on a bombing mission over Hanoi, he was shot down, badly injured, and captured by the North Vietnamese and held prisoner until 1973. A war that Martin Luther King described this way: “A war where we wandered into the towns and see thousands of the children, homeless, without clothes, running in packs on the streets like animals. These children degraded by our soldiers as they beg for food, children who sold their sisters to our soldiers, soliciting for their mothers.”

I can’t understand how Americans refuse to acknowledge the dark past of this nation, a nation that refused to recognize the independence of the Vietnamese, even though the country quoted the American Declaration of Independence in their own document of freedom. We are strange liberators indeed. Our western arrogance has poisoned the international atmosphere for so long, and our citizens allow it to happen in order to live in an ignorant bliss. So much that in the 60’s, the American government started targeting it’s own citizens. Fred Hampton, Martin Luther King, and some believe JFK. Conspiracy theories, aside the citizens oppressed by it’s own nation began to fight back, some with non violent protest, and others used aggression.

Our president John F. Kennedy prophesied the future saying “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” And that’s what happened when the Weathermen began to bomb government buildings out of frustration.

This is why I believe that the claims being made by McCain against Obama are very dangerous for a country whose past is still fresh in the minds of many who lived through these evil events of America’s dark past. Especially when America is now involved in a very Vietnam-ish war in Iraq. Someone needs to tell McCain that his nasty campaign may cost Obama his life, as much as I hate to say it. The tag of a revolutionary is not a tag you want to have pinned on you, if you’re trying to stay alive, because as Huey Newton said of the revolutionary, “he is a doomed man.”

If you take the time to look at America’s current political climate it can easily be summed up by words spoken 40 years before today’s date. When Dr. King stood up to his own government not on civil rights issues but against the war. If you change Vietnam for Iraq the comparison is scary.

“We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak…it grows out of my experience in the ghettoes of the North over the last three years — especially the last three summers. As I have walked among the desperate, rejected, and angry young men, I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems. I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. But they ask — and rightly so — what about Vietnam? They ask if our own nation wasn’t using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.”
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin makes the case on why this election, 40 years after he spoke the words above, is so important. We can not have 4 more years of the same failed policies of Bush. Please vote. Please encourage everyone you know to vote. Our very life might depend on it.

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/3/8/01927/77742

BlogXilla.com is one of the biggest relationship and entertainment sites on the internet, and has been mentioned and featured in numerous publications including LA Times, TMZ, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, MTV, VH1 and many more. The site focuses on relationships and entertainment news. Xilla’s take on politics and society will be featured weekly on Urban Thought Collective.

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When I was a kid, the encyclopedia was king. If it said so in there, then it was so. At the time, it never occurred to me that my 1979 “World Book Encyclopedias” were only useful for events that had occurred up to that point and would become more and more obsolete with each passing day. In primary and secondary education, we were fed text books and various period novels that spoke from a historical perspective but were never encouraged to question what we were reading. It was fact. The book said it. We were supposed to believe it. That settled it. Luckily, I was led to pick up a “Things Fall Apart” and a copy of the “Autobiography of Malcolm X” to add some spice and different perspective to the very suburban Catholic private school education that I received. This at least primed me for the multitude of new thoughts and, perhaps more importantly, schools of thought that I would be exposed to in the years after high school. The university scene was quite the eye opener in the way of this “alternative” knowledge. In fact, it was an awakening of sorts.

Unfortunately, most of us don’t spend a lot of time in the Student Union, or by “The Bear” chopping it up or exchanging ideologies anymore. We go to work, and go home and try to figure out how to pay our bills when they come up. We catch our news in sound bites or on text scrolls at the bottom of the screen as we get our cardio workout done at the gym. We don’t have time. We don’t MAKE time to question any of the information, never mind actually verifying any of it. It would be an incredible travesty for our generation, stewards of the Information Age, not to take advantage of the wealth of material at our disposal. Imagine how much more effective the 18-35 set of 40 years ago might have been in their protests and Civil Rights Movements armed with the vast resources that most of us possess today. Yet, we sit idly by and check our “Myspace,” being much more in the know about who’s going to get the shot at love with “Tila Tequila” than the healthcare or economic plans of the presidential candidates.

So here’s my question for you today: Do we read? No, really. Do we read? Do we stay up on current events? I hope that my supposition on this question is woefully wrong, but I don’t think that it is. Please prove me wrong. Black people, please prove me wrong. I’m trying to give the benefit of the doubt, but I’m not encouraged at this point. To say that the information at our disposal is abundant is to grossly understate the facts. Recall Senator McCain’s gaffe during the YouTube/CNN debates last year (something about downplaying the significance of the internet and information technology) and it’s almost laughable when you think of how much access we have.

I’m not trying to take a moral high ground here and point the finger at everybody else about not being informed enough, because I am by no means as informed as I’d like to be. At times, my life seems to be a sprint from one activity to another, with meals taken on the run and sleep often caught up on at inopportune times. That’s actually one of the things I like about traveling. Not only do I get to interact with people from far away places and hear their take on things, but I also get to catch up on reading while I fly.

I’m fortunate to have a mother that incessantly clips newspaper articles for me to read and calls and emails me to “watch this on PBS” or “read last Sunday’s Boondocks” or “listen to this guy on “Fresh Air” at 4pm.” One such article shed an interesting light on some of the things that I’ve long suspected about Ronald Reagan. In his opinion piece on November 13, 2007, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert strongly suggested that Reagan’s campaign trail stop in Neshoba County, Mississippi was not nearly as random as Reagan supporters would have you believe. “I believe in states’ rights!” is what Reagan told them that day, implying that when it comes to issues of ‘you and the blacks, we’re with you’ [the good white folks of Neshoba County]. Recall that this is also the same guy that opposed Dr. King’s Holiday, tried to weaken the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and opposed the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964.

There is hope though. One of my friends that I least expected got on the topic of the Marriott bombing in Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, and Afghanistan recently, and we had a short conversation. A few more of these and we might have ourselves a bonafide revolution. What kind of revolution is unknown. Perhaps a fact-gathering revolution, or even a stay-in-the-know revolution. So please, stay hungry for knowledge and leave no stone unturned in your search for the truth. You never can have too much information.

Destah Owens is a single father of two from Northern California and proud UCLA Bruin who travels the world for his job as a computer engineer. His blog, “Soufflés in Saigon,” is exclusive to Urban Thought Collective.

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