And for all of those folks out there that’s talkin about “we shouldn’t be dependent on the government” and to h**l with handouts!! Well have they forgotten, if it wasn’t FOR government, we wouldn’t even be in the situations that we find ourselves in right now. So the way I see it – WE are owed! MY bootstraps are SHORT.

All of our woes don’t solely fall onto Obama’s shoulders, just as MANY of our present woes are self-inflicted, but I agree with Ms. Carnell for the most part – We are unfortunately hooked on the least harmful fix available. & currently, we have nowhere to run… Nowhere to hide.

The inference with both these “solutions” is that I don’t have the common sense to direct my argument in the right place. It also suggests that I don’t have the right to be critical of what goes on in Washington. But my biggest problem is that it’s somehow understood that black folks can’t be citizens concerned about the way Obama governs, we have to be perceived as beggars looking for a handout from Obama. It’s incredibly racist to assume that black folks are just demanding welfare for the problems we’ve heaped on themselves. It diminishes the rightful fights we still have to continue to push for a more just society.

This thread started by talking about the effects of the recession on black America and how the president has responded. Now the conversation has detoured into an admonishment of fat people and AIDS just to remove any accountability for the recession from Barack Obama. But we’re told we should take our concerns to the official elected dog catcher to complain. But I know what a ballot looks like. I have to judge whether I’ll vote for Obama just like I have to decide if I’ll vote for my local city council member. They all have to be accountable.

Which brings me to this nonsense of “personal responsibility.”

You asked why single parent homes are persistent in African American households. This is not a matter of personal responsibility per see when the American Government created a welfare system that pushed men out the home in order to receive the subsidy. There are irresponsibility in all cultures, but the disparity that exist within the black community is certainly not self-imposed.

You asked why we underperform in schools when compared to others. Why don’t use ask why are schools are underperforming for us. It is irrefutable that schools filled with predominantly African Americans are grossly underfunded when compared to schools of White Americans.

You asked why aren’t there more African American businesses and land ownership in comparison to others. Why don’t you ask why this society allowed banks to redline African American Communities when it came to mortgages and business loans? This is a systematic issue that went on for decades creating the disparities in land and business ownership.

You ask why the disparities in health statistics. There are a myriad of reason, and none of these reason are rooted in African American sources. There are food deserts in the African American communities. There are covert population control activities that have contributed to the spread of HIV.

Now there is only one are two ways to conclude and I afraid to inform you that personal responsibility c**p is deeply rooted in white supremacist ideology. Either blacks are experiencing something that is hindering us from progress at the level of other groups, or we are inferior. The whole personal responsibility thing tends to support the latter. And I bet you don’t realize that this is the same nonsense pushed by the neo cons like Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, Bill Oreilly, and Glenn Beck. This personal responsibility fallacy completely removes the white supremacist social structure from the argument. And guess what, you are pushing something that the white supremacist oligarchy champions on a day to day basis.

Of course there are things that African Americans can do to make their situation better. h**l if someone dumps trash in your back yard, and then denies responsibility for it, you can make an effort to rid your yard of that trash. But it doesn’t make you the source of the problem.

•You can continue your current activities of expecting him (President Obama) to make good on all his promises or else don’t cast your vote for him. Vote for someone you feel can do a much better job.

•You can Throw yourself into the political arena and make ALL them changes yourself.

•You can get p****d and refuse to engage in ANYTHING.

•Or, you can make the best of the current situation and look for ways you can stay busy by being helpful.

It’s all up to you. Best to get use to it because this is what ‘LIFE’ is all about.

Be Still and know that I am God ~Psalm 46:10