390 Years Minus 100 Days

TerranceDC, a blogger over at BoomanTribune, has done a series on President Obama's First 100 Days, where it concerns Black America.

Part 1:

390 Years Minus 100 Days, Pt. 1
by TerranceDC
Thu Apr 30th, 2009 at 03:34:56 PM EST

It's been pointed out by many — including the president himself — how absurd it is to Obama's success in cleaning up messes that were decades in the making, based on his first 100 days in office. It's equally absurd to expect that 100 days in the administration of our first African American president to even begin to address 390 years of racial history in this country. But it's at least an opportunity to assess where we really are, where we're headed, and how far we've yet to go.

Racism and the social construct of race itself are much older than the United States, with deep roots European colonialism. But its beginnings in this continent can be traced back to August of 1619, when the first Africans in America — 20 or so, stolen from a Spanish ship — were traded for food by a ship's captain, upon arrival at the Jamestown colony, in Virginia. Categorized as "indentured servants," but without vital dates indicating the end of their bondage, some were almost certainly slaves. By 1640, as least one African was listed as a slave, and slavery was underway.

The space between here and there is covered by enough history books to fill entire libraries. Suffice it to say that the election of a person such as Barack Obama reflects much that has changed for the better since then. The spectacle of our first African-American president, though not a descendant of slaves himself, being sworn in on the Lincoln bible — held by his wife, who is a descendant of slaves — was a "pinch me" moment for many of us. Reality, on that day, took on a dreamlike quality.

As I watched the inauguration from home, sitting on the carpet in our family room, with our two sons, I look up at my bookshelf. There, pictures of my father and grandfather seemed be to looking down at the scene. I sensed a division in time was born at that moment. On one side was the America they'd known all their lives. On the other, my family and I — along with the everyone else — were carried along by history into an America forever changed by what was unfolding before our eyes.

Rest of Article at link above.

Read more »

Mr. President, When ARE you going to do right by BLACK FOLKS?

Not something that you can hide behind that rainbow crap, but BLACK FOLKS.

Hat tip: The Field Negro

From The Associated Press

PROMISES, PROMISES: Obama and black farmers
By BEN EVANS – 20 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — As a senator, Barack Obama led the charge last year to pass a bill allowing black farmers to seek new discrimination claims against the Agriculture Department. Now he is president, and his administration so far is acting like it wants the potentially budget-busting lawsuits to go away.

The change isn't sitting well with black farmers who thought they'd get a friendlier reception from Obama after years of resistance from President George W. Bush.

"You can't blame it on the Bush administration anymore," said John Boyd, head of the National Black Farmers Association, which has organized the lawsuits. "I can't figure out for the life of me why the president wouldn't want to implement a bill that he fought for as a U.S. senator."

At issue is a class-action lawsuit known as the Pigford case. Thousands of farmers sued USDA claiming they had for years been denied government loans and other assistance that routinely went to whites. The government settled in 1999 and has paid out nearly $1 billion in damages on almost 16,000 claims.

Farmers, lawyers and activists like Boyd have worked for years to reopen the case because thousands of farmers missed the deadlines for participating. Many said the filing period was too short and they were unaware of the settlement until it was too late.

The cause gained momentum in August 2007 when Obama, then an Illinois senator, introduced Pigford legislation about six months into his presidential campaign.

Although the case was hardly a hot-button political issue, it had drawn intense interest among African-Americans in the rural South. It was seen as a way for Obama to reach out in those areas, where he was not well-known and where he would need strong support to win the Democratic primary.

The proposal won passage in May as sponsors rounded up enough support to incorporate it into the 2008 farm bill. The potential budget implications were huge: It could easily cost $2 billion or $3 billion given an estimated 65,000 pending claims.

With pressure to hold down costs, lawmakers set an artificially low $100 million budget. They called it a first step and said more money could be approved later.

But with 25,000 new claims and counting, the Obama administration is now arguing that the $100 million budget should be considered a cap to be split among the successful cases.

The position — spelled out in a legal motion filed in February and reiterated in recent settlement talks — would leave payments as low as $2,000 or $3,000 per farmer. Boyd called that "insulting."

Boyd noted that Obama's legislation specifically called for the new claimants to be eligible for the same awards as the initial lawsuit, including expedited payments of $50,000 plus $12,500 in tax breaks that the vast majority of the earlier farmers received.

"I'm really disappointed," Boyd said. "This is the president's bill."

"They did discriminate against these farmers, maybe not all of them, but a lot of these people would prevail if they could go to court," he said.

The administration wouldn't discuss specific budget plans or commit to fully funding the claims.

But in a statement to The Associated Press, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the department agrees that more needs to be done and is working with the Justice Department to "ensure that people are treated fairly."

Kenneth Baer, a budget spokesman for the White House, also suggested that the White House is planning to do more.

"The president has been a leader on this issue since his days as a U.S. senator and is deeply committed to closing this painful chapter in our history," Baer said in a statement.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

I don't care if it is the Associated Press. I know my usual take on them, but the bullshit coming from The White House on this is disturbing. You can give those lying mofos on Wall Street BILLIONS upon BILLIONS, but you can't find the money to do right by these farmers who have obviously been discriminated against. It's no secret how completely and utterly RACIST the history of the Department of Agriculture has been towards Black farmers. No ifs, ands or buts. NOT up for debate. I'm tired of these mealy mouthed excuses when it comes to issues dealing with BLACK FOLKS.

As I've said before, there are a lot of issues, that this ' rainbow approach', will cover things.

But, there ARE things that are specific to BLACK FOLKS, and yes, I expect a BLACK MAN, who received 95% of the BLACK VOTE, to get involved in this issue.

There is RIGHT.

And there is WRONG.

And, this continued mealymouthed bullshit when it comes to BLACK FOLK is UNACCEPTABLE.

That he would be no better on this issue than Bill Clinton is UNACCEPTABLE.


STEP UP TO PLATE AND DO THE RIGHT THING.

Reminder: 3 Billion is the MINIMUM of what we give to our 51st State. NO question about finding money for the 51st State, but AMERICAN CITIZENS WHO HAVE BEEN SYSTEMATICALLY DISCRIMINATED AGAINST AND ITS BEEN PROVEN ----nothing but excuses.