This weekend, I spoke at The Symposium on Barack Obama and American Democracy, held at Tufts University. The brilliant scholar behind the event, Dr. Peniel Joseph, has written extensively about what President Obama’s rise has meant for black America and black power in general. Dr. Ricky Jones from the University of Louisville also presented the counter-perspective on Obama, making this event one of the more intriguing conferences I’ve attended this year.
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One of the topics on my mind as of late as it pertains to President Obama and black leadership is whether or not America needs a Black Agenda. I spoke on this topic with Rev. Al Sharpton on MSNBC, and Rev. Sharpton spent time going back and forth with Tavis Smiley on the issue, generating a great deal of conversation. The issue will be discussed further next month when the National Action Network will be holding one of the most significant forums on African American leadership that we’ve seen in quite a while.
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A Black Agenda does not have to be complicated. I believe that a consistent set of simple values pursued in a diligent, organized fashion for the next two years can help us to achieve a great deal. I will lay out three of these areas very quickly and follow up in detail with a series of articles on each topic. These ideas should be presented to the president and Congress, and we should lay out a unified front when communicating the importance of these issues to our elected officials. The areas are listed briefly below:
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Economics: We know the abysmal statistics about black unemployment, which tends to be at least 60% higher than that of whites. According to the last estimate available, black unemployment stood at 16%, with the figure being 18% for African American males. We know these numbers are unacceptable. In addition to employment gaps between whites and blacks, wealth gaps continue to persist. Our children can learn the value of wealth building, financial literacy and entrepreneurship, so that they might be able to take control of their economic futures. If you don’t liberate yourself with good money management, then capitalism is designed to ultimately enslave you.
The second key area of the black agenda should focus on the educational system. Black children in inner city schools are not getting the education they deserve. Too many of our kids are being left behind, and many brilliant young children are having their potential killed by the lack of vision of adults who’ve been trusted with their care. This has got to stop and it is critical that our government put resources into failing schools and opening doors for young people to be successful. What’s worse is that the educational system is now serving as a feeder program for penitentiaries. The only spaces created for an unemployed black male without an education is a jail cell or a casket. We’ve got to push our children to remember the value of education and push education as hard as we push everything else. Also, we must hold our schools accountable for ensuring that talented young people are not thrown under the bus. Funding must be equalized for all schools and all children across America.
The final major area in my proposal for the Black Agenda is a complete reform of the prison and criminal justice systems. Mass incarceration has devastated African American families on a scale unlike anything the world has seen since the Nazi Holocaust of World War II. All the while, we’ve allowed ourselves to be convinced that anyone labeled as a “criminal” is not deserving of basic human or labor rights. The marginalization of ex-convicts by stripping them of their right to vote or find employment serves to undermine the ability of these men to become good fathers or husbands. So, reform of the prison system is critical to saving the integrity of the African American family. In fact, it is argued by many scholars that the prison system is a direct descendant of slavery.
I will provide consistent details on the three point plan for a black agenda. Of course these ideas are not exhaustive. There is a great deal of work to be done, and I am not the president of black America. At the same time, it is my hope and expectation as a scholar that we can all contribute to the debate and ultimately win the battle for our collective soul. We must be diligent, focused and radical when it comes to fighting for our rights. America is our country too.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.
at 4:21 pm
Soular Flarez
negroid andriod shuttin down
FUHKIN PRICELESS!!
ONE NATION, ONE GOD, ONE AGENDA, ONE LOVE
RISE UP! YOU MIGHTY RACE!
at 1:55 pm
I’s got me a good job workin my whole life buildin up massah’s corporations, and if I’s do real good when Im 65 I can eat catfood in the highrises
I’s already got me a good edumacation from massah. massah gave me dat peice of paper on my wall that says I’s edumacated now so I’s dont need to read none of that stuff that massah aint tell me bout in his school. I’s got me de-gree so I’s dont need to learn nuffin else !
we dont need no prison reform cuz if they say you guilty then you must be guilty
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negro android :status: shutting down
at 1:51 pm
Economics, okay are we learning to be better employees or learning how to build OUR OWN companies and business networks?
“Capitalist N*gger” (amazon.com) or Garvey-ism?
Education, are we learning only what ‘their’ school have been telling us or are we puttin that twerk in to balance the school education with some knowledge from some of our own teachers and scholars?
Prison Reform…. this is funny… because prison aint about justice its about MONEY !!! the court system is a racket. plus that 13th-amendment-legal-slavery-status.
Marcus Garvey, Noble Drew Ali, Elijah Muhammad, and so many others put peices to the puzzle out there for us already……..
but unfortunatly… alot of us think the Emancipation-Proclamation & ‘Civil Rights’ made us free…
at 12:32 pm
I think we need to learn how to go against the grain in this society. This society was built to keep us down. Our ancestors built this country and right now we continue to carry it. We spend the most money in this country and if it wasnt for us the recession would have been worst. We need to start spending in more black owned buisness, the less money corporate america get the better. As parents we need to be role models for our kids. We should be their guide for inspiration, not the tv or radio.
at 10:55 am
Califemme23, these dudes are like medical doctors…Long on treatments, but short on prevention. These so called scholars get paid to come talk about what our problems are. Thousands of books and articles have been written. Thousands of speeches given, yet we keep going backwards. The ones that happen to offer up solutions never accomplish much either. My theory on that. These people are relying on those that cause the problem to actually fix it. That would probably work if those that caused it, actually admitted that they are that cause. When a person doesn’t feel he is in the wrong, what is the likely hood, he/she is going to make critical change. We need to govern ourselves. Not sure how any logical thinking person could argue this point.
@pantherg08. Lets be real here brother, 85% of us ain’t worth a goddamn. Even the ones who appear to have it going on, are on some slave type mentality anyway. I agree with you, that Black women should pick better mates, but we as black men have to get up and dust ourselves off and make better choices available, because if we give the black woman a choice between trash and garbage, what real choice does she have? Go read some Sharazad Ali, and keep an open mind.
at 1:45 am
pantherg08, Get off that black women need to pick better mates business. That is ALWAYS your ONLY arguement because while black women are picking ‘bad mates’ to reproduce with….Have YOU looked in a mirror and thought about who YOU CHOSE to have a child with?? Think about who YOU as a black ‘man’ chose to put your seed in and also exactly what type of woman you chose to cultivate that seed with….Hmmmmm, that finger doesn’t feel too good sitting in your chest now does it? Just do me a favor and carry a mirror around with you everytime you want to blame a black woman for the entire state and well being of the black family…Takes TWO to tango my dear..You need to read a page or two from my man _A_….You must have black woman issues, its very evident in your posts…
_A_, We shall both continually ‘wait’ I suppose for Dr. Quackens to actually post a SOLUTION to his rhetoric about the problems. Have you noticed that? He posts a 500 page essay on the issue but NEVER a solute…
at 9:44 pm
Dr khalid muhammad told us what to do…
GARVEY-UP!!!
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U1kVMSOHvLI&rl=yes&hl=en&gl=CA&warned=True&client=mv-google
at 8:26 pm
I have to disagree completly with the author, we need to start from the bottom up first of all…
1. BET has to end, or we need to stop letting our kids watch it.
The images that are displayed on bet are sending the message that we are uneducated, thugs, bithces and ho’s nothing positive at all is coming from that network, and the fact that it is owned by a white people only makes me question there intent, not only to our kids are being affected by those images, white people also see these images and then think that we are all like that, that is a problem down the line seeing that these are the same people that are still in power and are employers.
2.I know this seems like a broken record, but black women need to start picking better mates! Dont give me that there ae not that many good black men, thats just a lie! The problem with women is that they dont know what they want. They say they want a nice, good hearted guy to there friends are whoever will listen, but they end up dating and getting sprung on some low life thug, that beats them, takes there money, disrespects, cheat, knock the women up and then leaves them!! We all know cases like that, but thats how the cycle starts because if daddy is in jail, dead or not around, and u knew he was this kind of nigga before u got with him, the child grows up fatherless, and the road to become a productive man is that much longe. Since women choose there partners, they have fully control over who they get with, so get with somebody that has something going for themselves or at least has potential! Women want drama, so they get with the drama guys, that is a failing formula!!
3. We need to inspire our youth to become something more than a rapper, singer, or athlete.
We as parents need to guide our kids goals. When they turn on the tv they see blacks as athletes rappers, etc, we need them to know that there are other careers out there, that hard work and sacrifice will aid them in there goals!! Those are my points!!!
at 7:43 pm
So how come when it comes to the real important stuff no one..comments ummmm? I bet if you look at JAYZ….KANYE..ETC stories..you guys have already commented..umm makes you wonder where our mind is at !!
at 7:22 pm
The problem with this proposal, is, there is nothing new or terribly innovative about it. These issues and many more have been studied by thousands of black groups and “scholars” (term used loosely) ad ad nauseum, and these situations keep getting worse. Undoubtedly, the 3 follow up articles will offer more of the same tired rhetoric that has gotten negative results in the past.
at 7:21 pm
Bottom line is that there was already an extensive Black Agenda proposed nearly a decade ago in the form of a bestselling book–”PowerNomics: The National Plan to Empower Black America” by Claud Anderson, EdD (2001) (www.powernomics.com or www. powernomics.org, http://www.harvestinstitute.org )
In eight chapters, this book laid out how we in Black America can become an independent and empowered group by applying principles such as vertical integration to our economic, education and religiius practices.
However, Tavis Smiley NEVER had him on any of his SOBU panels. NEVER!
If he ever had the balls to do so, Black America would’ve been much farther along IMO.
I say this because it’s Tavis and Al Sharpton who have a bulk of the minds, interests and attention of the majority of Black America but they’ll never subjugate their egos and do what’s truly in our collective best interests.
Sharpton has featured Anderson on his “Keepin’ It Real with Al Sharpton” show however.
But I’d encourage you all to go out and purchase this book if you want to read and see what a REAL Black Agenda looks like as opposed to the counterfeit one proposed by Tavis’s “Covenant” trilogy.