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Theme
Joined: 06 Jun 2009
Location: Cedar Rapids Iowa
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 Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 11:28 pm Post subject: Education is the path to a better future , said Obama |
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I have been saying this for years after working in an inner-city in the Midwest and seeing the cycle of poverty of African Americans first hand. It was my observation that many there would have had a difficult time getting a job at McDonalds outside of their ghetto because of language barriers, much less working as an English teacher abroad. It is not cool to speak proper English to ones friends, but that makes life difficult and is a component of that cycle of poverty.
Obama has tough-love message for African-Americans
By Steve Holland Steve Holland
Thu Jul 16, 11:30 pm ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) � President Barack Obama had a tough-love message for fellow African-Americans on Thursday, urging black parents to push their children to think beyond dreams of being sports stars or rap music performers.
Obama's election as the first African-American president buoyed the black community. At the 100th anniversary celebration of the NAACP, the country's oldest civil rights group, he urged blacks to take greater responsibility for themselves and move away from reliance on government programs.
"We need a new mindset, a new set of attitudes -- because one of the most durable and destructive legacies of discrimination is the way that we have internalized a sense of limitation; how so many in our community have come to expect so little of ourselves," he said.
Obama told a packed ballroom at a Manhattan hotel that blacks need to recapture the spirit of the civil rights movement of a half century ago to tackle problems that have struck African-Americans disproportionately -- joblessness, spiraling healthcare costs and HIV-AIDS.
"What is required to overcome today's barriers is the same as was needed then -- the same commitment. The same sense of urgency. The same sense of sacrifice," he said.
Obama said parents need to force their children to set aside the video games and get to bed at a reasonable hour, and push them to set their sights beyond such iconic figures as NBA star LeBron James and rap singer Lil Wayne.
Education is the path to a better future, said Obama.
"Our kids can't all aspire to be the next LeBron or Lil Wayne. I want them aspiring to be scientists and engineers, doctors and teachers, not just ballers and rappers. I want them aspiring to be a Supreme Court justice. I want them aspiring to be president of the United States," he said.
Obama noted that his own life could have taken a different path, had it not been for his mother's urgings.
'SHE TOOK NO LIP'
"That mother of mine gave me love; she pushed me, and cared about my education," he said. "She took no lip and taught me right from wrong. Because of her, I had a chance to make the most of my abilities. I had the chance to make the most of my opportunities. I had the chance to make the most of life."
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 12:23 am Post subject: |
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| The reports on the speech certainly make it sound like it would be worth hearing a recording. Does anyone have a link? |
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ManintheMiddle
Joined: 20 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 7:28 am Post subject: |
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Theme:
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| "That mother of mine gave me love; she pushed me, and cared about my education," he said |
Ironic that his mother was White and that his only positive father figure was also White. Of course, Obama's Kenyan father also valued education, having become a graduate student in Hawaii. But he valued womanizing more and so wasn't there to be a reinforcing influence on his son. Too bad.
This speech comes as no surprise to me, although I was beginning to wonder when he would finally make it. He chose the right venue as the NAACP has a victimhood mindset despite how they cheered Obama on. At the top of that list of self-appointed enablers is Julian Bond, who introduced him.
But Obama made his position clear in his second book. Fifteen years before him, Black conservative Shelby Steele struck the same chord, and more eloquently, in his collection of essays, The Content of Our Character. Of course, he wasn't acknowledged last night or at any time by the NAACP or CORE or the Urban League because in their view only liberal opinions matter. The sad reality is that the Black community is the only minority group which mutes, distorts, mocks and insults voices from within its own ranks which don't conform to the liberal agenda.
Blacks have become their own worst enemy over the past quarter century. For every gain there has been a setback, despite the enabling policies of affirmative action. In many respects, the Black family is worse off today than before the 1964 Civil Rights Act, especially in terms of widespread dysfunctionality.
Most insidious of all is the peer pressure to "be cool and act cool," which even White liberals pander to. Little has been written about this but the most eloquent account comes from former UC-Berkeley professor of linguistics, John McWhorter, in his monumental bestseller Losing the Race.
I applaud Obama for getting to the root of the problem. Most Blacks in America are now in the middle class and attending integrated schools but still performing subpar. I was hoping his election would reduce if not eliminate the excuses. Time will tell. |
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