I WAS THERE...

Unfortunately for me, a few other million people were able to say the same thing. We who braved an 11 Degree wind chill, and walked for miles around the National Mall to be a part of history will not ever forget the moment when an admittedly black man took the Oath of Office to become the 44th President of the United States of America. I awoke at 4AM on the morning of January 20, 2009 with the fervor of a child who wanted to see what Santa brought him on December 25th. I will admit that I knew of several people who had descended on the District of Columbia just to be in that number. Not the number of those who like myself had to be there to personally witness this event become etched into the history of the United States, but those who came out to kick it in Love, Park, and various other venues, who came out in search of some celebratory joog, or whatever social reason's that their trip to the Nation's Capital was based upon. I despised those folk to the point that I had labeled this historic event as the "Inniggeration." I hoped that I was wrong for thinking that this level would amount to the level of debauchery that has plagued that last few NBA All-Star weekends, and indeed I was. Some of the "E.R.s" were out, dressed as if it was a fashion show, fighting in Love, and more concerned with the sights of seemingly-attractive members of the opposite sex, but that did not destroy the sanctity of January 20th. Besides, I hadn't seen much that caused me to shake my head in disbelief on the shortcomings of my ethnic group, nor did I hear of anything that ruined the spirit of this great event.

Unlike others in attendance at the National Mall, I chose not to remark that "Yes We Did," rather "Yes We Can," because as Obama alluded to in his Inauguration Address, there is still work to be done. However, 43 years after Dr. Martin Luther King addressed a crowd of 250,000, Barack Obama doing the same at the same venue to a crowd several times that size let us know that change indeed has come. Never before had I witnessed an audience of that size, nor have I ever been a part of such a magnitude, but the beauty in seeing many different races, ethnicities, nationalities, and faiths all assembled together has got to be a rush for any human being. And that it was for me. Anytime anyone speaks of Barack's Presidency, whether positive or negative, their first remark will be that he, like many other African-Americans before him, shattered a barrier, and an unmatched feeling will come over my body as I remark simply "I was there when it all happened."

My State of the Union Address

My fellow Americans, November 4, 2008 is a date that will live in infamy in the minds of all African-Americans. That, my friends, is the day that Barack Obama, a black man, became elected the 44th President of the United States. This event is something that will serve as this generation of Black Americans’ defining moment. Our parents can remember what they were doing on August 28, 1963 when Dr. Martin Luther King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, or even on April 4, 1968, when King was assassinated, but we’re not going to wish the latter on our President elect. Yes, today (last night) is that day for us where we will all remember where we were and what we were doing when we first learned the news that Obama had gained the necessary electoral votes to officially become THE FIRST black man to be elected as the President of the United States. His rise made me realize that “Change” and “Yes We Can” are more than campaign slogans; they are inspirational words that will also etch November 4, 2008 into the legacy that I am still in the process of building.

Black America, we have to realize that 2008 isn’t really that different from 1963. The ugliness that is racism, whether we choose to believe it or not, still exist in our great nation, and we have the nerve to call ourselves progressive. In a time where we are seeing that anything is truly possible, we cannot afford to sell ourselves short. Society has become so technologically advanced where we can have news correspondents interact with each other via hologram, where we can instantaneously receive news, gossip, and messages, yet a wise man named Alphonse Karr once told us; “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

If you were following the results as closely as I was, you would have seen the results that I saw at http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/president/. I was disturbed, although not really shocked to see that most of the Confederate South voted Republican. This is why we heard voters express their concerns for the Republican ticket, but say that they would not vote for Obama without giving reason. We all know the reason. I’ve long remarked that being Republican works if you’re rich, but most of the poorer states including my beloved Louisiana, were engrossed in red on those result maps. Let me ask of you CNN, MSNBC, FOX and many other media outlets, if we as a people are that blind to the facts that we would logically reason that only the state of the economy and the war in Iraq were the two major issues in the 2008 Presidential Election, without including race? This is the same election where we have had McCain supporters boo at the mention of Barack Obama during his concession address in Arizona. This is the same election where comments full of the same ignorance and hate as experienced in the 1960s can still be seen on many webpages including FOX’s (http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/11/04/wrap-polls-start-close-frenied-day-voting/comments/). And I’ll refrain from any mention of the Jena 6, Jenarlo Wilson, and many other media circuses that let us know the ways of the South. However, this is the exact same election where many others commented that if Barack Obama were 100% white McCain would have conceded the election weeks ago.

For me, November 4, 2008 was the realization that Kevin Garnett had it right all along in June; “anything is possible.” I am not regarding this date as many in our race may, that this is our free pass to do whatever we like, but I am just as pleased as the next man. Yeah the marchers of the 60s had it right, change has come, but it has indeed come and will continue to do so at a price. And the subjects of my previous postings including Pampy, Jesse Jackson, and Rev. Wright, amongst others, should act accordingly. Responding to comments about my status; “Kellen Daranda J.D. is hoping that Barack Obama becoming the 44th President of the U.S. will not make him say; ‘they should've never gave u niggas a President!’,” I am just as happy as all of you to see Obama in office, I just hope that our people do not choose to “show their color” simply because they can no longer cite “when a Black man becomes President” as their time frame for getting things accomplished. And furthermore, in our quest to check off our objectives, we should realize that nothing will be given to us. In a time frame much shorter than our arrival to this nation we have seen special interests groups such as the gays acquire rights much faster than those of us who have had no choice in what we are. (Hey, these are MY thoughts; I never said I was “politically correct.”) Here we are still waiting on our 40 acres and a mule, and now were supposed to expect that everything will work itself out because we have a black man in office?

The good that I have learned from Barack Obama is that Democracy in America is not overly influenced by improper motives such as race, and because of that is not dead. The niggers, spics, and chinks did not elect Barack Obama, America did. Besides if we look at the ethic makeup of the United States, we will see that the minority ethnic groups combined still do not equal the majority and that Black America is no longer the largest minority group. So we cannot be lead to believe that it’s the Blacks who are on welfare and that it’s the Black male who is in prison instead of college. Maybe now that society has seen a piss poor campaign get the results it should have expected from day one, it will be more willing to lend an ear to our plight. But we cannot just expect it to happen, we have to make it happen, believing that “yes, we can.”

Barack has also shown me that my previous blog posting was all wrong, I should not beat myself up regarding my shortcomings, that’s not disrupting the trend of what I had previously viewed as mediocrity, that is giving up. Despite not being where I want to be physically, mentally, financially, or emotionally, I have to take things one step at a time and see that I do have the testicular fortitude to know that I am able to change things. So what I don’t have a job at the moment, I’ll get one. So what I’m nervous about my bar results, everyone else is just like many have been before us, and many will continue to be after us, despite where they obtained their legal education. So what I’m single, it’s the time for me to fix myself. Today I’ve seen a black man become the first person to do something, being defiant enough to earn acceptance, yet conducive enough to have it given readily. I have seen a vision of my own future, far removed from the rut that I have dug myself into.

I want to thank my friends, family, and fraternity for their words of encouragement in my downward spiral and would like them to welcome back the man that has earned their love and respect. I hope that you all regard November 4, 2008 in the same respect that I do, realizing that change begins with one, and that you too can do it. So today, November 5, 2008 please remember; Carpe Diem, I know I will.

Education Still Does Not Cure Us of the "Crabs in a Barrel Theory"

I hope that this entry is not beating an already dead horse, but in order for me to ensure my “sniper” status (one shot, one kill) on the bar, I have to get this off my chest. First of all, with the whole Jesse Jackson situation, I believe Cedric the Entertainer said it best in one of the Barbershop movies; “Fuck Jesse Jackson!” With the excitement that Senator Obama has caused in regards to the 2008 Presidential Election, I really do not see how Jesse can realistically hate on the man for doing something that he wasn’t able to do 20 years ago, become the first black man to make a serious run for the Presidency of the United States.

It is bad enough that Obama has to deal with the possibility of being elected merely because he is black as if that doesn’t scare the masses enough, to encounter the “haters” that hip-hop culture has immortalized. The New Yorker recently published one of its issues where Obama is categorized as a Taliban in the oval office with a picture of Osama Bin Laden on the wall and his wife, Michelle, looking like a renegade Black Panther.

Now I know the New Yorker will no doubt defend this as an exercise of their First Amendment Right and probably label it as satire or a parody, however it is blatant racism, in my humble opinion. I also know that this does not have the Constitutional muster to rise to a defamation claim, its kinda funny when you really see how people view you. I actually praise the honesty, in hopes that more people would let their true colors show instead of opting for the fraudulent skin of being politically correct. But when its obvious that the masses still regard us in such a manner, why should we criticize ourselves even further. Seems like Jesse is just mad because someone cut off his balls a long time ago.

Like Cornel West said, “Most present-day black political leaders appear too hungry for status to be angry, too eager for acceptance to be bold, too self-invested in advancement to be defiant. And when they drop their masks and try to get mad, their bold rhetoric is more performance than personal, more play-acting than heartfelt.” Okay Jesse, so you want to cut the man’s balls off, but honestly since the 60’s what have you done that would actually stand to rival Barack Obama? You marched with Dr. King, you were there when he was assassinated, you started P.U.S.H. and have worked with the Rainbow Coalition, however, since those days, you and your cohort Al Sharpton seem more interested in asking “where the cash (and or television cameras) at?” I believe Lil Wayne expresses a similar sentiment on behalf of Al Sharpton on the Carter III’s Misunderstood. Yall feel more inclined to parade around ignorant negroes like the Jena 6 rather than focus on real issues. For the record, I believe that the sentence that the city of Jena attempted to impose on the 6 young black men was a bit over the edge, but in the end, they were still criminals, who did not deserve to be paraded around like our black heroes on the BET awards and through various other media broadcasts for directly opposing the same non-violent attitude that Dr. King was famous for. I don’t know what I would have done if placed in a similar situation, but I wonder how Jesse would feel if Barack took his statement under a guise of provocation, and slapped the shit out of him? Maybe then he might get some respect.

Furthermore, Senator Obama has brought passion back into the Democracy of the United States. This past semester I wrote a paper on the Constitutionality of requiring federal or state-issued identification in order to exercise the right to vote, and the effects that such legislation would have on blacks. It seems as though we as a people still remain acceptant of mediocrity and wonder why the rest of the minorities of the United States are bypassing us exponentially. Its because we continue to hate on each other, kill each other, and make up reasons for our lack of drive in wanting more from our government and expecting more from ourselves. Okay so we were enslaved, so what we never received our 40 acres and a mule, so what the United States is letting immigrants come to this country and accommodate them by still letting them speak their language, SO THE FUCK WHAT?! When we came here, by force, they didn’t value us the same as other human beings and in the past 100 years or so, we’ve only slightly increased over that 3/5ths standard that we used to be held to. So what that Barack Obama has a lot of people voting for him strictly under the rhetoric that he is black and has a black wife, if that incites the American public to go back and exercise their right to vote, then I’m all for it. Most people do not know that the last presidential election in which a majority of the eligible voting population voted was 1968, 40 years ago. And keep in mind that was during the Vietnam error, which follows true to the traditional strategy exercised by our Commander-in-Chief while in search for reelection; start a war. I’m not here to rant and rave about Obama and why he should be president, because anyone can do better than that idiot Bush, I’m just trying to stop the hating.

Another example of how education does not kill the crabs in a barrel theory is that in the past week I’ve had several of my classmates remark that it was time for me to let my locs go in favor of reformation for a successful legal career. Why the hate? Because someone cut their balls off and they were scared to be an individual, they would like to see my testicular fortitude removed in a similar fashion. I’m sorry homeboy, but I’m not you. Cutting my hair in order to become successful is a LAST RESORT, I REPEAT, LAST! For us as a people to get our house in order we must fist follow Walker and Texas Ranger’s advice; “Get your balls back.” If we stop worrying about what the next man is doing, and why he is doing things that we cannot or were unwilling to take the risk to, we can never hope to rise above how the masses view us. I’m pretty sure if those of us, including you Jesse, who lost our balls get them back and focus more on self-reformation rather than why you can’t do what he can/is doing, it will be much better, can we do it? Yes we can, Black America, please don’t make this one of the rare instances where I am wrong…