Dr. Boyce Watkins
www.BoyceWatkins.net
It appears that the Federal Reserve is making big moves to prepare for the possible failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two major players in the housing market. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson speaks of using up to $300 Billion dollars to extend a line of credit to these institutions in order to avert their failure.
I'll be discussing our nation's financial irresponsibility on Al Jazeera, an international news network. I like Al Jazeera, it's a great place to give commentary. Al Jazeera viewers exist mostly in Asia, Europe and the Arab world, so it's audience is much bigger than CNN or networks we are familiar with. What I love most about Al Jazeera is that they love me as a financial expert. Most American shows don't consider black men to be financial types, so they only call me when they want to talk about "black stuff". Al Jazeera understands that a financial expert can also have brown skin.
When it comes to the Fed stepping in with billions to bail out irresponsible home buyers who can't afford their mortgages, I don't want to hear A DAMN THING about black male irresponsibility. Again, as I continue to explain, black people are not the only ones who deserve to be lectured by our leaders. I hope Obama hear's this. Holding Obama responsible doesn't mean you hate him. It only means you are holding him to the same standards he is allegedly holding black men....the last thing we need is another black man not wanting to be held accountable (LOL).
If Obama, McCain or anyone else wants to find someone to lecture about irresponsibility, they only need to visit a frat party on a college campus on a Friday night. Perhaps they can find one of the hundreds of thousands of new alcoholics and rapists created in these embarrassing environments. The next time someone talks about kids in hip hop, you can make reference to the drunken frat boy as a counter model. The point is that irresponsibility knows no racial boundaries, so we need to stop thinking that way.
I refuse to accept racial stereotypes or ostracism of black males. It is wrong and unfair, and what's worse is that many black people continue to buy into the notion that we are more flawed than everyone else. Black people, let's learn to love ourselves, ok? We will never be perfect enough to deserve love from those who see black men as less than human. That's just a fact.
Yes, we've got to do better, but if a conversation starts with "This is what's wrong with you", it's not going to get very far with me. I am getting sick of the self-hate and I refuse to accept it.
No comments:
Post a Comment