Top House Democrats evacuated from DNC headquarters due to pro Palestinian protesters Insurrection

Fine ...Just as long as he doesn't F U! (In the general - not the specific, sense of F.) He needs to be watched - carefully - at all times.

I made the remark in regard to Affordable Care, that Mr. Obama did nothing specific for Blacks - it was for everyone. Did he really do NOTHING that was specifically for African Americans in his 8 years as President? If so, .... wow, that changes the picture.

I'm glad to hear that Trump made money available to HBCU's. At least he got something right. And Kudos to TRACS, who re-accredited seven HBCU's I think, that had lost their original accreditation, most for inability to meet financial standards. They stepped up when nobody else would help. TRACS is not my favourite accreditor, nor is Trump my favourite ANYBODY, but when they do something like that -- I'll stand and clap.

 

I agree with you about Trump. But, I like that he even defies his own party when it comes to things he wants to do. Obama really did NOTHING that was specifically for us in his 8 years as President. Biden made us promises that he abandoned when he got elected, so that's why he's hurting for African American voters right now. I knew that Morris Brown College regained accreditation with TRACS, but I didn't know about the others. Let me head over to the TRACS website to see... Ok, I knew about them but I forgot they were with TRACS.

 

Yes, Morris Brown College was the first TRACS-Accredited HBCU that came to mind, but I remembered (correctly, as it turns out) that there were six others. And some people say that I'm losing my marbles (I'm almost 81.) Bunk! I still got it! ALL of it!

From the Chronicle of Higher Ed.
To date, Tracs has accredited seven HBCUs. The accreditor prioritizes the restructuring process to get colleges operational, Eaton says..." (emphasis Mine - J.)

Whole thing here: https://www.google.com/search?q=how+many+HBCUs+has+TRACS+accredited&oq=how+many+HBCUs+has+TRACS+accredited&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigAdIBCDk3NjVqMWo3qAIAsAIA&client=ubuntu-chr&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

Hold on a minute - please. As a member of a triple-despised minority -- old, White men, I'm often perceived as more than a little stupid -- so I'm having trouble understanding why Barack Obama is not an African Anerican. His father was African - so isn't he of African descent, at least on the paternal side? His mother was American and, despite Trump's blatherskite nonsense, Barack was born in America. So -- he's an American and can claim African descent through his father. Yet he's not an African American?

Who, exactly is an African-American and who is not? Are bi-racial people all excluded from this umbrella term? Must an African American person be of provable descent - on both sides of the family - from captured, enslaved Africans brought forcibly to America? What about a Nigerian, or a Jamaican who emigrates to the US and acquires US Citizenship? Is that person not an African American?

I thought African American was politically correct term meaning Black and American (and I see nothing politically incorrect in the term "Black American". Does African-American have another definition I'm unaware of? Are invisible lines drawn? Please educate me a little, here. It's obvious I sorely need it.

 

You are, of course, absolutely right. But I think I understand what he means. "African-American" is also a specific community that has a certain culture and raise children a certain way. Barak was not raised in that culture and, perhaps, did not interact with it in a significant way before meeting Michelle. Likewise, Kamala Harris was raised by an Indian immigrant academic and did not immerse herself in the Black community until enrolling in Howard.
Having said that, I do not think it is wise for that community to exclude people in this way. And mostly, it doesn't. I also think that it will be a mistake to let Trump win because Biden didn't fulfill all his promises. I don't think many people who voted for him expected him to enact all of his agenda or even as much as he managed to do.

 

Thank you, Stanislav. And BTW, it's what she means. INTJ is one of our lady members. Just FYI - not a criticism.

 

Duly noted.

 

Being a fellow old, White man, I have to argue that being white and a male is generally an advantage. The old part does mean that I'm less intellectually sharp. However, what you have to remember is that even when you were young you sometimes went into a room and forgot what you wanted to get when you went into that room. You didn't blame it on age then so don't do it now. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

P.S. What were we talking about?

 

No, Bill. And when it's coupled with "old" then I can really feel it. Not very many people like us. I've read that yeah -it's a thing. It's because old, white men have held the power for so long, and many have misused it and inflicted harm on people and taken advantage of them. Most of the abused people were either not old, not white, not male or had the full 3-way combo going for them. LOTS of people hate us, and it's only natural. I can dig it, but I won't put up with any sh*! As Shaggy sang, "It Wasn't Me."

I'd say "let the people who took advantage of them get what they deserve." Trouble is, most of them are in their graves. We're here in their place. We're handy.

As far as memory goes, I have a weird thing going. I can remember clearly things that happened 50, 60, 70 years ago. And the important things that happened since. And I've just finished three courses. Learning still works OK. But less important events after 2004 are often very blurry. That was the year I quit drinking. I DON'T want to re-visit that decision, but....

Edit. I don't want to re-visit that decision because I'm sitting on a PILE of money I've saved and kept, from that decision. Around $26-27K to date. That's the price of 2 German beers a day here in Canada for 18-19 years. Drinking is way expensive here. That's why I quit. Mostly money. It worked. I have more, but that $26-27K helped a lot. Islamic financial principles helped a lot, too. You don't have to believe in the religion for that. You have to understand it a little to learn the money part, but that's not a problem.

 

A lot of AA perceive that the federal hate crimes bill, that already included race, seems to work for every group besides ours. The perception is that it's like pulling teeth to get racially motivated crimes against AA people upgraded to a hate crimes designation.

 

African American is an ethnic group, just like Jamaican, Ghanaian, Igbo, Yoruba, Zulu, etc. African Americans are the descendants of enslaved Africans brought to the United States. Barack Obama is not African American because he is not a descendant of enslaved Africans brought to the United States. Also, notice that he defines himself as Black, but not as African American. That's because he knows the difference.

 

There was a time when we didn't exclude immigrant Blacks from our community. But we do now and we have our own valid reasons for doing so. As far as politics go, we have our own agenda. If we won't benefit, we won't vote. We're sick of taking Ls for the benefit of everyone else and being "rewarded" with platitudes and symbolic gestures. Those days are over.

 

It's way different here. We have Black Canadians - plain and simple. Doesn't matter whether they are descendants of slaves - slaves here or anywhere else. (I'm sure you know about the Underground Railroad. I live right in that part of the country.) Doesn't matter where Black Canadians came from. They're here now. Welcome to Canada. The term African-Canadian.., suffice it to say I've never seen it used. Somebody might have used it - I dunno.

"In Canada, Black Canadian is a designation for people of African or Caribbean ancestry, who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. In the Canadian Census Black is a self-identification choice and is included in the population group Visible Minority."

From here: (BC Black History Awareness Society) https://bcblackhistory.ca/definitions/#:

I wish I could say we don't have racism here. I can't. All I can do is my best as an individual. I do. And that is NOT hard - at all.

 

Is this a Royal "We", or do you identify as a specific group? Because it's a matter of simple fact that not =all= African-Americans share these positions.
I understand what you are saying, I just don't think it is wise. Biden admin did no significant reform benefitting immigrants or improving the immigration system, either. It is disappointing. However, there is something to be said for not being actively harmful. Steve Miller, an actual White Supremacist, is no longer calling shots on this portfolio. It IS a win, and I will take it. (I'll admit right here that I am also Ukrainian, and the Dems while not perfect are close to as good for us as politically feasible. So I *do* have my own agenda in supporting them.)
For that matter, I can't imagine why small policy wins that benefits everyone are not benefitting the Black community. POCs, including African-Americans, work at unionized workplaces, received the Child Tax Credit and will benefit if Biden succeeds in making it permanent (hey, doesn't child poverty affect you disproportionally), and have to buy Insulin (likewise). On the political agenda front, I also fail to see how refusing to resist a Fascist dictatorship serves your agenda. Republicans already work on eliminating the last shreds of Black history in schools, try to gerrymander away as much of your political voice as possible, and should they come to power, WILL dismantle the last dregs of the Voting Rights and redefine "Civil Rights enforcement" at DoJ as fighting the ominous threat of "BLM" and "CRT" "terrorism". Additionally, if you or you'all don't think current rightwing targeting of LGBT community doesn't concern you... that'd be really shortsighted.

P.S. If you want to disown Obama, that's on you. Even if he didn't actually govern as specifically *African-American* President.
P.P.S. The Biden administration marks historic funding for HBCUs | Columnists | insightnews.com

 

You wrote quite a bit. Why do you care what we do?

 

Officially, in the US, African American is a designation like Black Canadian. The US government lumps all of us together, regardless of where we're from or our ethnicity. But, none of us like it. It's like to white people all Black people are the same no matter where we're from and that's not true. We may have the same skin color, but we have different ethnicities, languages, and cultures. Lumping us all together strips us of that. Between slavery and colonization we've all been stripped of enough.

We Black people in America can come together for things that mutually benefit us. We can also maintain our own ethnicities and cultures at the same time. If something only affects AA, only AA should voice an op

It's not a deflection. It's odd to me that non-AA people care so much about what AA do/think. Why do they care? Do they really care? It's hard to believe. This is probably a trauma response.

 

smh

 

I'm pretty sure that INTJ wasn't trying to disown Obama. Here's a recap from my point of view.

I was explaining how stupid my parents were about their racism. An example I gave was my Mother stated right after the election (or maybe during the election) that Obama would only help Black folks. This was very stupid because it would not only be political suicide it would be ridiculously difficult. It's hard to pass laws or make executive orders that would only help one ethnic group.

INTJ then expressed amusement at my Mother's statement about Obama only helping Black folk. We then got into some detail about differing definitions of African-American.

Back to Stanislav's point, I hope that the Black community comes out strong for Democrats in 2024 especially if Trump is the nominee. I think it would endanger us all if a racist Trump administration got back into power. Trump has promised to wield the DOJ for political gain and to have concentration camps for immigrants and ship millions of people out of the country every year. That would be a humanitarian catastrophe.