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"The Truth," by Michael D' Antuono

In the summer of 2007, during the nascent stages of Barack Obama’s ascendancy to the presidency, I had my only professional position to date in which my direct superior was a black man.

I had a discussion with him regarding whom he would vote for in the 2008 presidential election. Without hesitation, he said that if a black man (from Chicago!!!) is running for the presidential seat, everything else be damned…he’s voting for THAT guy.

This, of course, represents the main issue with Barack and black folks: he was to be the panacea for the black community’s myriad of issues; a savior who ushered in the advent of a post-racial America where black folks run sh*t and get to commit people like Taylor Swift to slavery in the cornfields.

In Chicago’s nearly-all-black Bronzeville neighborhood – less than 10 minutes from where Obama’s house stands – it seems nearly every black-owned business you walk in has on its walls some type of framed picture of our president, often with angel wings or some other absurdity. I don’t know when dude turned into Jesus Christ, but I think this is evidence of black folks’ tendency to deify a bit too far.

I don’t think enough black folks have yet gotten past the historical – and admittedly important – nature of his election to also recognize his very apparent flaws. Sure, I drank the Obama Kool-Aid in the beginning, but only to the degree that my relentless cynicism would take me.  Indeed, he’s since let me down on a number of fronts: without getting into an itemized list, I think that he has not exhibited the overall cojones required of his position, nor has he demonstrated a desire to switch away from the “old guard,” especially when it comes to issues related to the financial crisis.

We had unreasonably high expectations of him to not only save the government, but to alter a racial and socioeconomic framework of our country that has been in place for generations. And he hasn’t, nor will he. Nor could he. Black folks are still dying at our own hands at a depressing clip. Poverty, malnourishment and substandard education is still rampant in scope for underserved minorities. We still have a prison system that jails a far higher proportion of blacks than the percentage that actually live in America.

The scope of what he seemingly promised on his campaign platform was almost unachievable at any rate. Barack was never going to change the world: one man, no matter his power, can do only so much.  Still, he will be elected for a second term next year, mainly because no one worth a quarter is running against him in the Grand Ole Party. I maintain only a meager semblance of hope that he will be successful in accomplishing a lot of the “hopey-changey” things he ran on.

Regardless of what happens, I think we need to get past the historical significance of a brown dude in the White House in order to see him for what he is: a politician prone to political flaws. Because as long as we back candidates that look like us and share some semblance of our ideologies, we’re prone not to look too far past the surface.

Still, no black folks I know ever supported Herman Cain. Perhaps there’s hope for us after all…?

The 2012 Republican presidential candidate pool is such a circus it reminds us more of a terrible reality show rather than suitable contenders for the highest office in the land. Enters Herman Cain, former CEO of Godfather Pizza, an alleged serial sexual harasser of women and apparently a philanderer. Herman’s latest “awe jeez not this sh*t again moment” came yesterday from his alleged mistress of 13 years, Ginger White. Ginger has outed Herman for his cheating ways, and by the time you read this she will probably have given a tell-all interview to Fox News. Said interview will be a serious blow to the Republicans coveted “black man,” who up until now has been pretty steady in the polls. For the record, Ginger is a racially ambiguous woman (some say she might be a fair-skinned black woman, not that it matters like THAT), which bodes well for Uncle Herman because we all know white America would flip their wig if Cain was sticking his hand in the prized cookie jar of Southern white women.

But enough about Herman Cain and his side show antics! His new blunder got me to thinking about how many men have been taken down by their notable side chicks, mistresses, jump offs — call them what you may. Who are some of the more standout mistresses that we’ve seen over the years? I took to my Twitter feed, asked around, and learned one thing very quickly: I better not put Alicia Keys or Gabrielle Union on this list, so I will tread lightly when talking about those young women, who are doing great things for the community might I add! Take a walk with me down the side chick hall of fame; you’ll see some familiar faces and some not so familiar ones, but they all have something in common: creeping with somebody else’s man.

Web sites such as Gawker and The Stir have raised awareness of a viral video showing the sad beating of a teen girl with cerebral palsy. The young woman is attacked by her father with what he himself describes as a “large belt” in the clip for a misdeed that is unclear — but seems to involve something as simple as the girl placing an unwanted program on a computer. The circumstances surrounding this corporeal punishment are complicated further by the fact that the father executing this spanking is allegedly “William Adams, a judge running for re-election in Aransas County, Texas” (The Stir).

Of course this YouTube clip is now being used as a political tool in the region by Adams’ political opponents, who seek to prove that the man is unfit to sit on the bench — particularly if it involves judging child abuse cases. But instead of turning a horrible family drama into fodder for election scandal, this video of a father beating a daughter who already has a physical handicap should raise moral and ethical questions about how to raise a family. These questions are much more important to how we live our daily lives. This clip might be difficult for some of you to watch, but it will get you thinking about the role that physical punishment should or should not play in raising children:

As horrible as this is, I suspect that this level of intensity is often employed by parents, particularly in the south, in order to ensure that their children obey their wishes. In the black community, spanking, beating, “getting out the extension cord,” and cutting limbs off trees to pummel disobedient youngsters is not only common; it is also routinely joked about by stand up comics and our own relatives at family dinners.

On The Stir, a blogger wrote a follow up story about this video full of emotional angst concerning the plight of the young girl pictured above layered on top of her own disbelief that any parent could treat a child this way. In particular, she enumerates in detail her own extensive patience with her six-year-old who she would never beat, not even for engaging in a disruptive temper tantrum. Of her own misbehaving kid, Jeanne Sage writes:

Looking at my daughter’s tear-stained face through eyes clouded by sleep, I softened. I knew her tantrum was over something patently ridiculous, and yet I couldn’t imagine raising a hand to her.

She was acting in a way that she was clearly old enough to understand was inappropriate. And yet, a hand, a foot, a belt on her body weren’t going to make that stop. It would hurt her body and make her distrust me … and distrust the words I was about to use to explain why her actions were so inappropriate. It would effectively negate my ability to actually parent, to teach her to improve her behavior. I’d be hurting her physically now, and hurting myself in the end.

Well, that’s all well and good for you Jeanne. I’m glad you got the opportunity to use someone else’s misfortune to highlight what an excellent parent you are. But that is beside the point really. The real issue is corporeal punishment, it’s limits of effectiveness, and a parent’s judgement regarding how to use it. The relatively of its appropriateness to adults seems to vary according to race, culture and region.  And many people say it depends on the kid. Some kids are just really bad and only respond to being spanked.

Of course, the obviously sensitive young lady in this video did not deserve such punishment. But in the privacy of one’s home in which a child is powerless, a girl such as her is at the mercy of a parent who might have horrible judgement about the use of force. It’s very unfortunate that this father, as a judge by profession, has such terrible judgement regarding how to treat his daughter. And the mother is no better. Clearly a situation of dysfunction. I hope William Adams loses the election, and that the loss of his role as a judge of the conduct of others forces him to reflect on his own.

But this is also an instance for all of us to reflect on beating kids. I am personally against parents beating their children for the overwhelming majority of cases. In particular, in the black community there is an issue with corporeal punishment being used too flagrantly, and usually out of proportion to the “crimes” of the child. I am sure many of you are watching this viral video and don’t even think of this as a beating, while on mainstream sites this is seen as outrageously violent. What does this say about the overuse of spanking among blacks?

In considering this relativity of opinion, would you re-classify some of the treatment you witnessed and received as a child as abuse? What do you think of the video and the use of force against a disabled child who is disobedient?

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Gossipy news site Gawker has reported on two gorgeous black twin sisters who have chosen opposing sides in the Occupy Wall Street political movement. Jill and Nicole Carty, who are identical and both Ivy League educated, share matching genes but very different political view points. According to web site The Daily, Nicole has taken to the streets in support of Occupy Wall Street, while her sister works on Wall Street as a financial services consultant. The site goes on to note that:

“It started as soon as we first got back from college,” Nicole told The Daily. “Right from the start, it was a screaming match. Even when we try not to talk about politics, one of us will say something to set the other one off.”

The sisters both graduated last year. Nicole, who is five minutes older, has a sociology degree from Brown, and Jill has dual degrees in international studies and business from the University of Pennsylvania.

Nicole took a job as an online content manager but committed herself to Occupy Wall Street after seeing video of penned-in female protesters being pepper sprayed by police.

Now she spends countless hours on the protest’s facilitation committee, allocating resources — including $500,000 in donations — and helping to steer the leaderless movement.

“It’s misplaced passion,” said Jill of her sister’s devotion to the struggle. “She could be even more powerful if she worked in economics, using the tools of Wall Street to fight back.”

When Reverend Al Sharpton began his nightly news show on MSNBC, many folks complained. Why wasn’t a traditional journalist or pundit selected to provide a black voice among the throngs of white folks who provide the majority of the political commentary on the 24-hour-news channels? Even if we aren’t seeing them every evening, there are a number of brilliant black people using new and traditional media to speak truth to political power, rather than just trying to stir the spot to hear themselves talk. Here’s just a few of our faves who you might want to hear out:

By Alexis Garrett Stodghill

Dr. Wangari Maathai was an activist from the African nation of Kenya who used her political power, education and fierce fighting spirit to preserve the purity of her native environment, while implementing sustainable measures in a way that uplifted women. For these grand achievements, Maathai was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2004, becoming the first African woman to win this prize in a moment of pride that inspired the entire continent. She succumbed to cancer late Sunday, leaving as her legacy the reminder that impoverished people and environmental vulnerability are inextricably linked in Africa, and that both needy entities are worth fighting for. Her life is a testimony to the fact that rapid growth in developing countries does not require the destruction of its lands through the rapacious stripping of resources fueled by greed.

Maathai’s work demonstrated that preserving the environment and developing depressed areas economically can and should go hand in hand for the overall betterment of society. And she was not afraid to get tear gassed or beaten by police while demonstrating to preserve the rights of citizens and the sustainability of their lands.  She waged her many political battles through the influential organization she founded, The Greenbelt Movement.

Dr. Maathai started The Greenbelt Movement in 1977 to promote her ideals and in the process her organization facilitated the planting of 45 million trees in her native Kenya. Although much of her work focused on her homeland, Maathai’s ideas have spread internationally, leading to the launch of similar programs across the African continent.

Through attaining her PhD — a first for a woman from east and central Africa — Dr. Maathai gained access to European spheres of influence, which enabled her to join powerful organizations like The United Nations Environmental Program. These ties gave her the prestige to promote her Greenbelt Movement, which “went pan-African in 1986, with successful offshoots in at least six African countries,” according to AllAfrica.com.

The importance of The Greenbelt Movement is twofold, because rapid deforestation due to overdevelopment was not only leading to permanent desertification in Kenya; it was also deepening the cycle of poverty caused by the poor degrading the lands by mistreatment in order to survive — while simultaneous diminishing this fragile source of livelihood. Maathai’s Greenbelt Movement both preserved the land from erosion, and gave people jobs planting trees (particularly women) that helped them lead better lives. The New York Times has more on this gentle revolutionary, who it deems an “environmentalist, feminist, politician, anti-corruption campaigner, human rights advocate, [and] protester”:

By Charlotte Young

When Lisa Jackson, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator learned that President Barack Obama had rejected her major proposal for stricter air-pollution regulations, she was very upset. So upset, the New York Post reports, that she almost quit her job.

According to the Post, Jackson had been confident that Obama planned to support her proposal, regardless of the persistent Republican lobbyists and business interests that rallied against it. Turns out she was wrong. On Sept. 1, after meeting with Chief of Staff Bill Daley and then with Obama, she realized her plan would have to wait.

Obama firmly rejected her proposal, which would have limited the amount of ozone that is released into the air. An administrative source disclosed that Obama informed Jackson that “we just don’t need this fight right now.”

With the US in the midst of a weak economy and incessantly low employment numbers, Obama believed that making her changes to the Clean Air Act would be too troublesome and costly for businesses and local governments who would have to monitor and contain air pollution.

Longtime friend of Jackson and senior Sierra Club official, Jeff Tittel, told the Post that Jackson, “felt like she got hit with a hot poker between the eyes.”

“Lisa was blindsided,” he said. “She was pretty pissed off.”

Jackson reportedly then spent two days contemplating whether or not to quit her job. But after traveling with Obama to view hurricane damage on Sept. 4, she had calmed down and decided to stay on board the Obama administration.

“She’s not the kind of person who goes home and takes her marbles.” Tittel said. “She’s the kind who would stay and fight even if she is frustrated.”

Jackson is the first African American to serve as the head of the EPA. Not only has she pushed for added ozone regulations, in her role she has made sure to reach out to communities that have been historically under-represented in environmental issues. Under her leadership the EPA has increased its protection of vulnerable groups, which include children, the elderly and low-income residents, that are often faced with environmental and health concerns that go unnoticed.

The White House plans to review the proposal on emissions again in 2012. Brendon Gilfillan, a spokesman from the EPA told the Post that Jackson isn’t going anywhere.  “This administration has a tremendous record on the environment and a lot more work left to do,” he said.

By Alexis Garrett Stodghill

The GOP is gearing up to fight the enactment of a new map that redraws state assembly voting districts in Illinois. Republicans there, which are in a minority in the legislature, have filed a law suit questioning the new map that was created in response to demographic shifts revealed by the U.S. Census. The updated map seeks to preserve an accurate representation of the state’s communities, and has been approved by Illinois’ governor and legislative body. But because Republican state representatives are in the minority, the party has had little input into its boundaries.

The GOP is seeking to overturn the approved map in the hopes of gaining better political footing, in a move that has inspired a coalition of African-American groups to file a motion defending the document. The Chicago Tribune reports:

A coalition of African-American civil rights groups is seeking to join Illinois Democrats in defending a newly drawn legislative district map that Republicans are challenging in federal court.

In a request to a special three-judge federal panel considering the GOP lawsuit, the organization African Americans for Legislative Redistricting asks to be added as a defendant because its members helped Democrats craft new boundary lines for the state’s 59 Senate districts and 118 House districts.

The organization is made up of the Chicago Urban League, the Rainbow Push Coalition founded by Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., the Woodlawn Community Development Corp. led by Rev. Leon Finney and the Cook County Bar Association, an African-American lawyers’ organization.

The coalition said it offered testimony to legislative committees, consulted with groups that focused on minority rights relating to new boundary lines and created its own redistricting plan that was submitted to the General Assembly.

By Alexis Garrett Stodghill

Rep. Allen West is becoming famous for saying the most ridiculous things. As a man who entered Congress not even a year ago, he has transformed from being the Tea Party poster boy for their claims of racial inclusion into a figure who inspires vigorous head scratching with his boisterous words. Having JUST left behind the rancor caused by comparing himself to Harriet Tubman and black Democratic leaders to overseers on the Democratic plantation (I kid you not), Rep. West couldn’t just sit back for a moment and relax. That mouth had to keep on flapping — but now instead of trash-talking obvious enemies, he has decided to take on his real nemesis: GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain.

Yes, another overly loud and painfully cantankerous Tea Party “favorite,” who also gleans his popularity from the fact that his blackness seems to prove that the overwhelmingly white political organization is not racist. Rep. Allen West probably does not appreciate his doppelganger, who is stealing his shine as the black far right lap dog. And he made his feelings known in a rather lengthy offhand comment made to left-leaning political site, Talking Points Memo. When asked his opinion of Cain’s recent apology to Muslim groups for making inflammatory comments against them, Wild Wild West had this to say:

Cain issued an apology to Muslims in July following his meeting with officials at a Virginia mosque for a “discussion about religion and politics.” The meeting came after Cain claimed that American communities had the right to ban mosques in their neighborhoods.

His apology earned him a verbal beating from former supporters on his Facebook page and on anti-Muslim blogs.

Not gonna happen with West, the Tea Party favorite told TPM following a news conference at the Capitol Hill screening he hosted of an anti-“Ground Zero mosque” film.

“He did not frame things in a very good objective and historical assessment, and I think he kind of got himself backed into a very ugly corner,” West told TPM. “I would never give anyone the opportunity to come back and exploit me making some type of gaffe, and I think that’s what happened.”

(Washington Post) — A special investigative committee formed by the D.C. Council concluded in a report released Tuesday that “nepotism and cronyism” in the hiring practices of Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s administration violated local and federal law and damaged the city’s reputation. The report, released after a six-month council investigation, portrays Gray (D) as “disconnected” and aloof as he allowed several top aides to control critical personnel decisions in the early days of his administration.  The report also confirms allegations by former mayoral candidate Sulaimon Brown that a top Gray campaign official paid him to disparage then-Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) during the 2010 primary campaign, although the probe found that Brown exaggerated the amount.

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