OPINION: By George L. Cook III African American Reports.
If conservatives/republicans really care about gun violence in Chicago, then what are they going to do about it? They may make some token gestures to help but they wont tackle the biggest issue.
Many conservatives seem confounded by the fact that Ben Carson is not being received warmly by the African American voters. Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and like minded ilk seem to think that Carson's great personal narrative should have blacks flocking to him to hear his message. By focusing on his narrative they are overlooking a lot of other issues that black voters have with Carson. Check out my fictional conversation between a black voter and a conservative Carson supporter which may better help to get my message across.
CONSERVATIVE: With his great life story and all I can't see why more blacks are not flocking to Ben Carson.
BLACK VOTER: Yes, he has a great life story but what does that have to do with being president? You know that we can separate the world class neurosurgeon from the horrible candidate?
CONSERVATIVE: What, you can? But doesn't his life story at least require that you as a black person take a good hard look at him and his policies?
BLACK VOTER: Do the dumb things he says about African Americans and his allowing himself to be used to attack President Obama warrant him not even getting my attention?
CONSERVATIVE: But his narrative!
BLACK VOTER: Does his narrative mean that I should ignore his lies about West Point and stabbing someone?
CONSERVATIVE: But he made it, he has such a great life story.
BLACK VOTER: Yes but his tax plan is a complete joke. He says he would base his plan on tithing, really?
CONSERVATIVE: Again, his life story.
BLACK VOTER: So I should ignore the fact that he would do damage to programs like Affirmative Action and financial aid programs that helped HIM get into and through college?
CONSERVATIVE: You are overlooking all he overcame in life.
BLACK VOTER: But I'm not overlooking the fact that he wants to do away with many of the programs that helped own HIS family eat and keep a roof over their heads?
CONSERVATIVE: You are focusing on the wrong thing here. Ignore what comes out of his mouth and just focus on his life story, he became a world class neurosurgeon for God's sake!
BLACK VOTER: That is a great story but what comes out of his mouth says to me that he wants to be the magical negro and have no one else climb the ladder after him.
CONSERVATIVE: Magical Negro?
BLACK VOTER: Ask Clarence Thomas, he'll fill you in on that.
CONSERVATIVE: But he was raised by a single mom and look how successful he is.
BLACK VOTER: Many black children are raised by single parents and go on to be successful. They may not become neurosurgeons but they become Mayors, Congressman, doctors, lawyers, police chiefs, teachers, engineers, military officers, upper management, college deans or presidents, small business owners, and more. Carson's story is not as rare as you would like to think it is.
CONSERVATIVE: Okay, then what about the fact he's black? You guys voted for Obama in droves because he's black.
BLACK VOTER: So why didn't we vote in droves for Jesse Jackson?
CONSERVATIVE: I don't know.
BLACK VOTER: Maybe because we are a lot more pragmatic that you guys give us credit for. Yes, we voted for Obama in big numbers but many also felt that he could actually do the job. Carson has MUCH to show and prove before we reach that point. Also when it comes to black issues Rand Paul seems to be more on point that Carson.
CONSERVATIVE: BUT HIS LIFE STORY!
By George L. Cook III, AfricanAmericanReports.com EMAIL
While Donald Trump is busy sucking most of the oxygen out of the republican primary race another candidate has quietly came up on his heels. That would be the soft spoken Dr. Ben Carson who has no actual qualifications to be president of ANYTHING, let alone President of the United States.
Some republicans/conservatives feel that Carson can attract a sizable amount of the black vote that other candidates can't. What this is based on other than Carson's race is unknown to me. I guess they feel because they like him black voters should like him not because of his views but because of his inspiring life story and his work as a renowned neurosurgeon. But people are smart enough to separate the gifted doctor from the bumbling candidate. Right now Clarence Thomas might be more popular in the black community than Carson especially after Carson's ridiculous comments comparing Obamacare to slavery. I wont even mention his stupid comments about blacks waiting to get a pat on the head from democratic leaders.
But I do wonder if a sizable number of black voters (meaning more than 3%) may still vote for him. Now why the audience here is diverse it is still mostly African American and votes Democrat so your opinion is important here. So let's tale political affiliation out of it. I would like to know if everything were equal could you under any circumstances vote for Ben Carson to be president of these United States?
Fox News has launched an all out propaganda war against the #BlackLivesMatter Movement. The network is trying to blame the recent deaths of police officers on the movement, and trying to make a case that #BlackLivesMatter is putting officers lives at risk by changing the atmosphere in which cops must now work. Somehow speaking out against BAD cops who kill people is spewing hate against all police officers. Fox News has blamed #BlackLivesMatter for starting a war on cops. There is no proof that is so and even a police chief who made such a statement admitted as much when pressed.
Fox News is spewing this propaganda and trying to make it seem like there is an epidemic of attacks on police although police deaths are down by 13% as compared to last year. US News & World Reports reports:
Shooting deaths of officers are actually down 13 percent compared with the same January-to-September period in 2014. There were 30 shootings last year and 26 this year. Those figures include state and local officers, as well as federal agents. The figures also include two accidental shootings. Suicides are not included.
Fox News has suggested that #BlackLivesMatter is a "murder movement". Network host such as Elisabeth Hasselback have asked why Black Lives Matter is not classified as a hate group. Bill (facts be damned) O'Reilly has said that #BlackLivesMatter is a hate group and declared that he was “going to put them out of business.”
But why has #BlackLivesMatter become such a huge issue for Fox News?
They would have you believe it's because the network is pro-police. That would be bullsh*t. The truth is #BlackLivesMatter is an Achilles heel for republican/conservative candidates that none of them have any answer for. Worse yet for republicans #BlackLivesMatter is making sure that it will be part of the national agenda for the 2016 election season. Any credible candidate will have to dedicate part of their platform to police reforms and that's the last thing conservatives want. If you think Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders had trouble with #BlackLivesMatter just imagine the issues a conservative/republican candidate would have addressing them. Fox News has falsely demonized #BlackLivesMatter to the point where no conservative candidate can be seen as pandering to the movement for fear of upsetting the "base".
But not being able to address police reform issues will hurt the already low percentage of black voters a republican candidate can expect to get. So what's the solution? Send in the Fox News attack dogs and try to misrepresent, demonize, demean, and belittle #BlackLivesMatter to viewers who don't know in and some cases don't care to know any better. This is being done to try to keep #BlackLivesMatter from setting any part of a national platform for the eventual 2016 candidates.
Simply put Fox News attacks on #BlackLivesMatter are purely political and must be fought back against. Fox News can have their own opinions, but they can't have their own facts.
George Cook AfricanAmericanReports georgelcookiii@gmail.com
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| George L. Cook III |
This post is written about conservatives regardless of race. I have read post by African American conservatives and heard them on radio doing some of the very things mentioned is this post, so don't try to make this a race issue. It's an ideological one.
During the recent debate over whether the Confederate Flag should fly near the South Carolina capital or anywhere on government property conservatives turned to their tried and true method of debate.
They brought up other issues that yes are more important, but that had nothing to with the debate over the Confederate Flag.
Suddenly when confronted with the fact that there was no good reason to fly the flag on government grounds conservatives started to point out black unemployment, black dropout rates and black murder statistics as red herrings.
The one thing you will notice is that these are things that conservatives don’t talk or pretend to care about these issues until there is an incident involving race.
They don’t bring these things up because they care, they bring them up to divert focus from the situation at hand. If they cared, these issues would be part of their platform on a consistent basis.
But what really bugs me is that they seem to think that focusing on one issue somehow means that African Americans can’t focus on other issues in our community.
If they did some actual research, they would learn that there are groups and individuals fighting against many of the ills that face the Black Community. Many of these groups and people get no publicity from liberal or conservative media, but they continue to fight every day to make things better in their communities.
Many issues of employment, education, incarceration, voting rights, and crime are important and being focused on individually. Of course, someone or a group focusing on one of these issues alone doesn’t help with the other issues. Of course, these issues may be more important than a damned flag but maybe that flag was the low-hanging fruit at the moment.
Maybe taking down that flag and claiming a victory can be the momentum changer to drawing attention to other issues and those that are addressing them.
But best believe these issues are being addressed and were being addressed long before conservatives pretended to give a damn. If you want to make the argument that in some situations things could be done better that would be honest but saying that these issues are not is simply being dishonest and telling an outright lie.
George L. Cook III georgelcookiii@gmail.com
In light of the rash of videos showing police acting inappropriately toward African Americans there are two things we can expect whenever a video comes out. One being that everyone will see the videos and based on their own biases see what they want to see. The second thing is that conservatives/republicans/Tea Party will always side with the police and give them the overwhelming benefit of the doubt. Many African Americans will side with the victim because many have had or know family members that experienced their rights violated by the police. It's sad, but things always break down by race and political beliefs with this cases.
Conservatives will always find a way to side with the cop no matter what they see on video. They will post pictures of the victim holding up their middle finger or acting in a thuggish manner (even if it's not an actual picture of the victim), claim the kids were disrespectful, or if they are lucky find and post a victim's criminal record. They will do this to justify whatever the officer did as if past mistakes or teenage stupidity allows one to be beaten or shot. It's automatically assumed that the black victims were somehow at fault. They expect minorities to blindly show respect to people who in many cases show no respect to them.
There are two things that amaze me about conservatives/ Tea Party types always siding with the police.
One being that no matter how many of these videos come out, theses are always considered isolated incidents. Conservatives tend to believe that there are no bad cops just bad blacks that get themselves shot or beaten.
It's also amazing to me that people who are always spouting off about the government trying to violate their constitutional rights have no problem with police violating the rights of African Americans or other minorities. If you believe it's okay for police departments to police many minority communities the way that they do, then you believe in allowing them to routinely violate those people's civil rights. Conservatives should be the first to stand up and denounce inappropriate police actions if they truly believe the BS they spout.
Now of course that's not going to happen and one has to wonder why. Is it just having the utmost respect for law enforcement? Is it simply a blind eye to the realities of policing in minority neighborhoods, or is it due to the hue of the victim's skin as in good old fashioned racism or bias?
George L. Cook III, AfricanAmericanReports.com
SNL‘s Weekend Update piled on Dr. Ben Carson for his comments about how prisons show being gay is a choice, because some people go in straight and come out gay.
Sen. McCain reveals his true plan to fight ISIS.
From time to time we here at AAR get lucky and get interviews with top government officials. Today through sheer subterfuge and outright lying I was able to get an interview with none other than war hero and war hawk Sen. John McCain. This wasn't easy. I only gained access because I claimed I was from Fox News. McCain and an aide were dubious about my claim because I'm black. That was until I told them I was Ben Carson. They were silent for a moment and then agreed to an interview after McCain made a comment about us all not looking alike. Below is my interview with Sen McCain and his surprising plan to fight ISIS.
AAR (George Cook) (That's me!): Thank you for granting me this interview Senator McCain.
McCain: Oh no problem, I love helping you people.
(Pause as aide whispers something in McCain's ear. McCain gives me a shocked look.)
McCain: Oh my Mr. Carson I am so sorry I didn't mean to say you people.
AAR: It's okay I work at Fox and hear a lot worse. Can we continue?
(Senator McCain nods.)AAR: Senator you have been very vocal about putting soldiers on the ground and attacking ISIS. Do you really want to do that?
McCain: I want ISIS destroyed, dead, annhilated , terminated, vaporized, eviscerated and all kinds of f*cked up!
AAR: That's great sir but how do you plan on doing that? Even some of your fellow republicans are against putting boots on the ground and admit that air strikes have limited capabilities. When being honest your colleagues admit that real options that can hurt ISIS are limited.
(McCain makes a smile that scares me and begins to rub his hands together.)McCain: We don't need to put soldiers on the ground. We just need to put one man on the ground.
AAR: Who Rambo?
McCain: What do you think I am crazy? Rambo is not real.
AAR: Then who sir?
McCain: Captain America!
AAR: What the f*ck did you just say?
McCain: You heard me Captain f*cking America. We drop him in he kicks some ISIS ass, problem solved.
McCain: Bullsh*t did you see Winter Soldier? He beat like twenty guys in an elevator!
(The aide again whispers in McCain's ear.)
McCain: I have to go, it's nap time.
AAR: Oh please don't let me stand in the way of your nap time.
McCain: Thank you Mr. Carson
THE END
DISCLAIMER: Due to the nature of the Internet I feel posting this disclaimer is needed. This is obviously satire and I did not actually interview Sen. McCain. I sure as hell don't work for Fox News. That should cover everything. George L. Cook III
Although the shooting of Michael Brown is recent we have seen and heard this script before. Whenever there is an issue of race and the killing of a young black man by police we hear of the rights sudden "concern" on the issue of black on black crime. One issue has nothing to do with the other. The conservative talking heads and pundits bring up this red herring to avoid talking about the topic at hand. On a side note why don't we ever hear the term white on white crime? But back to the topic at hand.
To avoid talking about race conservatives throw out stories about the killings in Chicago and other urban areas. They also suddenly care about the lack of black fathers in the home. They question what those protesting or talking about the killing of a black man by a cop is doing to stop black on black crime in cities or states miles away. They bring this up knowing it has nothing to do with the murders of Michael Brown, Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Ezell Ford, John Crawford, etc.
What gets me is no one ever turns to them and ask, "What are you doing to stop black on black crime?"
Conservatives are always allowed to bring up what they believe are issues in the black community and then allowed to dump them in someone else's lap. No one ever calls them out and questions them about their sudden concern for the black community. It's about time that they be called out for the hypocrites they are.
If they cared about the black community you would hear more from them when there's not a crisis. We would hear about the groups and people they have working in the black community to make things better. We don't hear that because there is not much to talk about when it comes to what conservatives do in the black community unless you count criticizing it.
So my question to the right is why don't you care about our issues on a regular basis just not when you are trying to avoid a conversation on race?
George Cook AfricanAmericanReports.com. Email me
When asked on ABC News "This Week" Eric Holder quickly dismissed Sarah Palin and her calls for the impeachment of President Obama. Watch his statements below:
[SOURCE] The United Negro College Fund announced a $25 million grant Friday from Koch Industries Inc. and the Charles Koch Foundation — a large donation from the conservative powerhouse Koch name that Democrats have sought to vilify heading into the 2014 midterm elections.
From the donation, $18.5 million will go toward nearly 3,000 merit-based scholarships to African-American students, and $6.5 million will go toward general support for historically black colleges and universities and the UNCF.
African-Americans are a key constituency within the Democratic Party. But Michael Lomax, president and CEO of UNCF, said that since the organization's inception in 1944, it has reached out to people of all backgrounds for support without an "ideological lens" because it is in everyone's interest. The organization has awarded $100 million in scholarships to more than 12,000 students at 900 schools this year alone, but he said the need is so great that the organization turns away nine out of every 10 applicants, or about 100,000 students annually.
He said that in today's politically charged climate, he's prepared to take criticism from those of different political leanings than the Kochs.
"Criticism is a small price for helping young people get the chance to realize their dream of a college education, and if I've got to bear the brunt of someone else's criticism to ensure that we have the resources to help those students, then I can handle it, and I can take the heat," Lomax said.
I read this article by someone who was inspired and motivated by the life story of Dr. Ben Carson. I wanted to share the story and the disappointment of a man who once greatly admired Dr. Ben Carson to show how two different groups view a man who could have been a great example to all. George Cook AAreports.com.
[ SOURCE ] The African American neurosurgeon’s story inspired many teen boys, but when he compares America to Nazi Germany, he destroys his own legacy.
Look I don't know if Paul Ryan is racist or not but what he said recently about the "inner city" definitely was. If he and other republicans/conservatives want people to stop accusing them of being racist then they have to stop repeating things that were born out of a racist ideology. Anyway, after Ryan's offensive "inner city" remarks he will be meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus. This wont accomplish sh*t but I guess it's a great PR move. George Cook AAReports.com.
Republican Representative Paul Ryan on Friday agreed to meet with the Congressional Black Caucus after members of the group branded his remarks about inner-city poverty this week "highly offensive".
The controversy began on Wednesday after Ryan said on William Bennett's talk radio show, "Morning in America," that there was a "tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value of work."
Representative Barbara Lee of California, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, called Ryan's remarks a "thinly veiled racial attack."
"Let's be clear, when Mr. Ryan says 'inner city,' when he says, 'culture,' these are simply code words for what he really means: 'black'," Lee said in a statement.
Read more here: Paul Ryan to meet black U.S. lawmakers after 'offensive' remarks
Here is video of the entire speech by Dr. Ben Carson at the 2014 CPAC Convention. Presented without comment because my grandma taught me that if you can't say anything nice keep your mouth shut.
