From the diaries by Erick

The Associated Press is worried that Americans might accidentally imagine that the elevation of Barack Obama to the presidency could make people think that blacks in America really can get ahead. The AP is so worried that it sought out a race hustler to deny that blacks can make it here no matter what happened on November 4.

As the AP reports it, apparently young Kari Fulton “cringed” when Barack Obama won the past election. She “cringed” because she heard a white guy say that Obama’s election put a dent in the charge of racism in America. And why did she “cringe”? Why, it’s because “racism is still very much alive and well” she told the AP.

And how does young Kari know this? At 23 she never lived through Jim Crow. She doesn’t remember the days when there were few blacks on TV and blacks in music were segregated to separate genres, not mixing with white singers. She wasn’t around when black CEOs didn’t exist and no blacks roamed the halls of Congress or the White House without pushing a broom. So, how does this 23-year-old girl know that “racism is alive and well”? Because she is a black activist, that’s why.

Fulton, 23, was part of a group of young black activists from across the country who worked to register and turn out young black voters in the presidential election. The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation brought the group together shortly after the election to learn about converting their enthusiasm into ongoing political activism.

You see, the AP presents us the opinion of young Miss Fulton because she works for a black-centric activist group. I’m sort of wondering if the AP thought that a race hustler at any age would stick a knife in her livelihood and admit that the need for her activism is less extant?

I wonder what a buggy whip manufacturer would have said in the early 1900s when asked if people would still need buggy whips in the future? Do ya think he might have said, “Why sure. We’ll ALWAYS need buggy whips!”

Of course, the AP is right to say that the problems that blacks in the US face aren’t going to magically melt away because we’ve elected the first black president. But to pretend that nothing has changed regardless of that election is also just as specious. Worse it is an insult to the real discrimination that past Americans suffered through.

The AP then details a series of statistics that shows that blacks have less success than whites in America today. Naturally, these stats cannot be denied. But to assume at this stage of our nation’s history that it must all be because of white racism sadly excuses their own culpability for these problems. In an era when blacks fill spots in every walk of life at the highest levels (now including the presidency) to put their general lack of success solely on “racism” shows a serious lack of introspection.

Not once does the AP bring up the real problem that blacks have in their cultural habits as one reason why they are doing poorly by comparison.

No where does AP mention how Rap “music” celebrates the lowest societal behavior, no where does AP mention the “don’t snitch” attitude that keeps blacks from interacting with authorities, and no where does the AP mention the sordid disinterest of black fathers in the upbringing of their own children. The AP also does not explore the serious lack of interest that many blacks have in education. Not to mention the serious crime problem that black communities are mired in. All these are areas in which blacks not only have the power to affect, but can expect the hearty assistance of government AND their white neighbors.

No, instead of having a truthful discussion on race and the plight of blacks in America, the AP allows race hustlers to dump all blame on “white racism.”

Certainly a Barack Obama presidency won’t solve the problems of America’s blacks, but neither is it something to dismiss so easily. Worse, ignoring the serious problems that blacks impose on themselves is no way to make things better, either.

Sadly, the AP is only too happy to accept the word of race hustlers like our Miss Fulton instead of engaging in a serious discussion of the problems that face us all.

(Photo credit: powershift07.org)

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