When The Man is One of Us

This is a great perspective on why Black America (particularly "the Black Caucus") may not be ready for a Black President. Check out theroot.com more often for some great insight into culture, politics, and news.

By Jack White | TheRoot.com
Sure, Jesse is an old fool who doesn't know how to act. But his latest gaffe shows how none of us is really ready for this moment.

July 10, 2008--On one level, it is easy to dismiss the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.'s crudely worded metaphorical threat to castrate Barack Obama for supposedly talking down to black people as the raving of an increasingly irrelevant, former big shot suffused with resentment at the rising star who pushed him off stage.

That, after all, is the sort of talk we'd expect from a lynch mob, not a civil rights leader who does not seem to realize that the times have passed him by. Even his son and namesake, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., agrees that his dad is doing more harm these days than good. Pronouncing himself outraged and disappointed by his father's ugly words about Obama, Jackson Jr. issued a statement that, in effect, ordered dear old dad to "keep hope alive" and shut up.

That's good advice, and one can only hope that Jackson Sr. accepts it. But in a deeper sense, his stunningly inappropriate comments symbolize the social, political and psychological vertigo that all of us, and especially black Americans, are experiencing because of Obama's success. We are all, including Obama, in a place we never really thought we would be, and it has knocked us off our feet. We don't know how to act. We don't have a plan. We're searching for our equilibrium. And until we regain our footing, we can expect all sorts of bizarre behavior from people who ought to know better. Hold on to your hat.

We haven't really been in a place this confusing since 1954, when the NAACP's crusade against segregation culminated in the Brown vs. Board decision and the walls came tumbling down. It's fair to say that we were so focused on winning that fight that we weren't prepared for the victory or its aftermath. We've spent nearly 60 years since then trying to figure out what kind of relationship we want to have with America and with each other. For the most part, we, like Jackson Sr., have seen ourselves as outsiders battling for justice and a seat at the table. Our default has been to protest. And while that mindset has served us well, it has, in a flash, been made damn near obsolete by the prospect, even the likelihood, that one of us may soon become the most powerful man in the world. If that happens, how can we seriously argue that we're being held back by anything but the limits we place on ourselves?

That, it seems to me, accounts in part for the frustration some of us are feeling by what we interpret as Obama's move to the center. We are simply not accustomed to one of our own playing real, power politics. Some of us see his call for an expansion of George Bush's half-hearted commitment to faith-based social programs as mere politics, what Jackson Sr. castigated as "talking down to black people." We explain Obama's support for the compromise Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the Supreme Court's upholding of a citizen's right to bear arms as attempts to inoculate himself against Republican attacks.

And, of course, they are.

But they, like Obama's Father's Day speech urging black men to take more responsibility for their children, are more than political posturing. They represent the first stirrings of a new consensus that places more emphasis on a public discussion of personal responsibility than on protest, on publicly delving into our own shortcomings and dysfunctional behavior.

There's nothing new about this kind of self-examination, but in the past we've conducted it mainly in private, in barbershops and beauty parlors, and churches. We've bristled when whites in power like Daniel Patrick Moynihan, joined in the critique of, for example, our soaring rate of out-of-wedlock births. We've moaned about the negative consequences of washing dirty laundry in public. But such a self-protective mindset no longer makes sense because Obama is one of us, who has taken part in our private handwringing about the self-inflicted wounds that bedevil segments of the black community. He hasn't said anything most of us haven't heard or said at the dinner table. But now, because Obama is who he is, the whole world is listening in to the conversation.

The attention makes us uncomfortable and disoriented. So does the prospect that one of us might soon be in charge of trying to fix this mess instead of simply complaining about it.

We're not really ready for the day when The Man becomes a black man.

It's a dizzying idea that is going to take some getting used to. And until we do, we'll stumble about, like Jesse Jackson Sr., saying all kinds of crazy things as we slip and slide on the new paradigm.

Jack White is a former columnist with TIME magazine.

Summer Movie Fest

If you are ready for free "Family" movies, say yeahh!!!

Wehrenberg is offering first come first serve movies each Wednesday and Thursday for the following titles.



Not to be outdone, Regal Cinemas has the same promotion.
Regal St. Louis Mills Stadium 18
5555 St. Louis Mills Blvd. Hazelwood, MO 63042 314-227-5500
07/01/2008-07/02/2008 Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (G)
The Second Junglebook (PG)
07/08/2008-07/09/2008 Wallace And Gromit (G)
Hook (PG)
07/15/2008-07/16/2008 Muppets Take Manhattan (G)
Stuart Little (PG)
07/22/2008-07/23/2008 Everyone's Hero (G)
Bratz (PG)
07/29/2008-07/30/2008 Adventures Of Pipi Longstocking (G)
Alvin And The Chipmunks (PG)
08/05/2008-08/06/2008 Doogal (G)
Are We There Yet? (PG)

P.S. - Popcorn and Soda will cost you $9 plus tip.

10 best excuses for coming to work late

STOP COMING TO WORK LATE

32% of workers attribute their late arrivals to traffic gridlock
17% claim a lack of sleep is the reason
7% have trouble arriving on time because they need to get their children ready for school or day care.

Other issues, like forgetting something at home or not feeling well, are also popular. Fortunately for late arrivers, 43 percent of hiring managers won't count tardiness against you as long as you meet deadlines and turn in good work.
Here are the top 10 according to careerbuilder.com

1. While rowing across the river to work, I got lost in the fog.
2. Someone stole all my daffodils.
3. I had to go audition for American Idol.
4. My ex-husband stole my car so I couldn't drive to work.
5. My route to work was shut down by a Presidential motorcade.
6. I have transient amnesia and couldn't remember my job.
7. I was indicted for securities fraud this morning.
8. The line was too long at Starbucks.
9. I was trying to get my gun back from the police.
10. I didn't have money for gas because all of the pawn shops were closed.

Top 15 Places Every Kid Should See

According to Yahoo Travel: (no particular order)
Get out and explore. Exposure is the name of the game. With that being said, some of these places I have either been to or opted not to go to.

Ellis Island Museum, New York City (boring)
Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. (boring)
Colonial Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Va. (boring)
USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (sounds boring)
Grand Canyon National Park, Ariz. (boring)
National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis (on the list to do)
Redwood National Park, Calif. (on the list to do)
Monticello, Va. (sounds boring)
Gettysburg, Pa. (boring)
The Alamo, San Antonio, Texas (on the list to do)
Ground Zero, New York City (on the list to do)
Niagara Falls, N.Y. (on the list to do)
Freedom Trail, Boston (sounds boring)
Independence Hall, Philadelphia (boring)
Walt Disney World Resort, Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (on the list to do)

Just think when I was a kid my list looked like this:
Forest Park
Six Flags
California (anywhere would be fine)
The Beach (could have been the Ozarks for all I cared.)
Cousin house - They have Sega and Nintendo

Well you get the point.

Wake Up ... Tuesday May 13th, 2008

China death toll climbs over 12k
With the rise of recent earthquakes, how prepared are you for an earthquake? Hell, I slept right through the last one.

Lebron tops CeltsWhy can't the Celtics play on the road? Do they need to sleep in their own beds at night to come ready to play? Last five road games look like this:

Quarter by Quarter scoring and total.
BOS 32 18 32 18 100
ATL 20 29 30 24 103
Lose by 3, Dominated out of breaks, shut down in 2nd and 4th.

BOS 24 24 27 17 92
ATL 29 22 14 32 97
Lose by 5, Dominated out of halftime, blown out in 4th. Did I mention Joe Johnson scored everytime he touched the ball.

BOS 26 30 18 19 93
ATL 32 24 28 18 102
Never got it going. No chance with that crowd behind them. First time Celts didnt win the 3rd quarter on road.

BOS 13 22 28 21 84
CLE 32 20 27 29 108
13 points in 1st quarter? Enough said. Bright side, first time scored over 20 point in 4th quarter on road. Who cares if it was 2nd string.

BOS 21 22 22 12 77
CLE 23 22 23 20 88
Fairly close game, actually led in 4th. But only two points in the last 2:55 of the game.

This team has "veteran" leadership and 3 perennial all-stars and can't muster up enough 4th quarter points to beat someone out of the Bonner league. Has father time caught up to the Boston Three Party? I doubt it but they better not go seven games with King James. Might be a replay of this.

RKelly finally goes to trial
To see the alledged crime at hand, I have obtained exclusive footage that the grand jury will be shown as evidence of the heinous acts Mr. Kelly has done to wrong our youth. Part 1. Part 2. And the most gruesome of them all, Part 3.

In all seriousness about Kellz, his former publicist daughter? Check out Kellz taking jello shots.

Suge Knight - Welcome to Death RowAccording to TMZ, the former Death Row head honcho was laid out for three minutes. Cue Chris Tucker or Dae Dae. Now if he justs tells us the truth about Tupac, all will be fair and equal.

This is a sexy phone. This one too.

Parents
Please do not let your daughters wear this out the house, let alone prom.