Where is Brother Barack?

Will Senator Barack Obama make a stop to visit Valleycrats, who tend to be more conservative than their counterparts in the Bay Area and Southern California? Can he appeal to the Valley's younger demographic (age 18-34), where his support is the strongest?

As the campaign proceeds and Senator Clinton continues to command strong support national wide by African-American voters, the question is- where is Brother Barack?

According to a recent CNN Poll, Obama trails Senator Clinton 33 to 57 percent amongst black voters. Those margins are even larger amongst black women voters despite the big push from Oprah, 25% to Clinton's 68% lead. CNN contributor, Roland Martin and former publisher/owner of the Houston Defender and the Dallas Weekly believes the lower numbers are attributed to four reasons:

#1: The campaign must stop being afraid to put Michelle Obama on the road and let her rip. She has to be his major weapon in appealing to black women.

2#: Having Oprah Winfrey's endorsement is one thing, but they must get her on the road. It will also help if Obama touts other black women who are backing him. Recently, former "Young and the Restless" star Victoria Rowell was stumping for Clinton in South Carolina, and other high-profile black women have been out front supporting her.

#3: Obama did just pick up the endorsement of Deval Patrick, governor of Massachusetts, and only the second elected black governor in history. Yes, he's a former top Clinton administration official. But his state has a small black population, so that really doesn't help Obama with black voters.

#4: Obama must forget the national polls and focus solely on South Carolina. Nearly 50 percent of the Democratic Party primary voters there are black, and research shows that 40 percent of black women haven't made up their minds in the state. Even though research conducted by the Clinton campaign reveals that Obama's message isn't resonating with blacks, research done by the Obama camp shows that when black women have met and been engaged by Obama, he's been able to convert them into supporters.

        

l-r: Mike Tyson (boxing), Darryl Strawberry (baseball), Michael Vick (football), Jason Shirley (CSUF football)

There are countless stories of black college athletes posed with celebrity, potential wealth and promising professional careers only to have those opportunities taken away due to criminal behavior and poor decisions. From the recent FSU football player, Jason Shirley and convicted murder Terry Pettis to even the EdisonHigh School and college student athletes killed the car attendance; these young black men have lost opportunities that many aspire to.  Many ask the question: Are these results solely the responsibility of the young men or are others partly to blame? And if so, who?

Here are some responses to an article on www.blackprof.com. Originally I was going to extract information from the comments but I think some of the issues couldn't have been better stated.

Personal Responsibility

"Why are we supposed to feel sorry for them when they break the law? Are they not adults? Are they not over 18? See, I have a hard time feeling sorry for them when they go out there and break the law. It should be common sense, after all, they do live in America, but I guess common sense isn't all that common anymore. But, someone needs to tell them the list of DO'S and DONT'S. And, if I knew that this was in place, then I REALLY wouldn't have any sympathy. Because, you and I both know that, because they are athletes, everything has been excused away for them, so when the REAL WORLD slaps them silly, it's a shock to them, and a shock that usually costs them their future."

 "I get it. They screwed up!!! They deserve whatever punishment they receive!!! You can't possibly see my posting as an apology for them. I always call for personal responsibility. But when schools make millions, they have a strategic opportunity to stop these boys from getting into trouble."

Parents & Families

"Most people thus far as saying there need not be any community solutions because this is a 'personal problem'. If they were raised properly by their parents by 18 they should be able to make some intelligent decisions. Some of the stuff these fools do is asinine."

"Parents need to do their job. But let's deal with the reality on the ground. It's fair to call parents to do their job."

In the recently published Come on People (read an excerpt on Amazon.com), co-authored by Bill Cosby, it speaks to the lack of parenting and that many of the problems in the black family stem from absence of father and positive male figures.  But is that the only possible response?

Universities

"Some believe universities have failed to supply young athletes with proper mentoring and active monitoring to protect them from over exposure and poor decision making. Of course, these young men bear responsibility for their actions as well. Yet, given the psychology of superstar status, celebrity and the rags to riches stories, most of these young men have in common, they are not nearly equipped to handle the transformation without guidance. Moreover, these young men generate, untold dollars in revenue for their respective schools. Surely, they can afford to expend a few dollars counseling and guiding them."

"But, I also blame the colleges. The colleges need to have, on retainer, a hard middle-aged Black man that sits these folks down at the beginning of the semester and tells them the rules of LIFE for a Black Man."

One reader gave the following recommendations for colleges and universities to avoid further loss of life and livelihood:

1) Assign a guidance counselor and require check-ins

2) Require counseling to explore their minds and make future recommendations tailored to their needs.

3) Require athletes to live on-campus in monitored facilities, in terms of going and coming. This would assist universities ability to limit the gift culture, access to alcohol, drugs and women.

4) Implement random drug testing and rehab for violations, not suspension.

It Takes a Village

Why should young people be allowed to go down the wrong path because their parents' failed them? If others around them can see the problems ahead and take a few measured corrective steps to avoid calamity, where is the harm? It's wrong to watch someone go the wrong way if you can offer a word to steer them in the right direction.

I want you bloggers to consider the measured steps that can be taken to assist young athletes whose parents have failed them before they get into trouble. Remember when these young men go down, they take, in part, the dreams of many younger and older black boys and men with them. When we work together to help them, we help ourselves as well.

On Monday, October 22,  presidential hopeful Senator Hillary Clinton made a campaign stop in the Central Valley. To a diverse crowd of nearly 4000 supporters and a few outskirt protesters, the former first lady of the White House touted her stance on the war in Iraq, health care, education and need to investment in renewable  energy. Some of the platform speakers, which   included Delores Huerta (co-founder of the

Senator Clinton in Fresno backed by Pastor Shane Scott,
SCCCD Trustee Dottie Smith, and Councilmember Cynthia Sterling

United Farm Workers), Council President Henry Perea, Councilmember Blong Xiong and program emcee Councilmember Cynthia Sterling, sang Mrs. Clinton's praise and mentioned the Valley hadn't been inspired to such Democratic-fever since the famed Robert Kennedy visit over forty years ago.

Read Rev. Shane Scott's, Senior Pastor of St. Rest Baptist Church, reason for supporting Sentaor Clinton for President on Urban Knowledge Blog

 I love that the African-Americans braces technology and that we made great strides in using the Internet. At the same time, we have to savvy about the investigating the messages and information that comes into our INBOX.

Heard this one:

"The P.O. will DESTROY all remaining African American Heritage stamps at the end of the month instead of following their usual procedure of selling them"

This internet urban legend dates back to 2000, stating that the US Post Office will stop selling stamps depicting black American heroes and leaders and destroy the remaining in possession. The Post Office has made several official statements indicating that it has no intention of taking such actions against the Black Heritage Stamp series. On the contrary, on January 8, 2007 it issued its 26^th consecutive stamp commemorating Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

But in the word of Reading Rainbow's Levar Burton, "don't take my word for it":

Snopes.com
(see the various forms of the hoax and the Post Office's multiple counter memos)

Break the Chain (letter)

Statement from US Postal Services

Internet Tidbit: Nearly two out of three African-Americans use the internet according to 2006 story published by the New York Times. The survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project has traced Americans' use of the internet dating back to 1998. There are over 211 millions U.S. internet users and those numbers will only increase with 9 out of every 10 youth, ages 12 to 17 now surf the web. Blacks have almost tripled their use of the internet since 1998 when only 23% of the community was going online.