Damon Rips Obama a New One

Please read this article first:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/21/matt-damon-slams-obama-democrats-one-term-balls_n_1162511.html?ref=mostpopular

There is a lot to what Matt Damon says in his criticism. I myself have screamed at the news "Oh stop with the negotiating already! Stand up. Have some brass ones!" And I am an Obama supporter! Although lately it has been ruefully. Constantly being snubbed by the GOP to meet with him or to have lunch hence insulting a President like never before was enough to make me fume.

I am not saying he was not the better person for choosing the higher ground and perhaps he was right in not giving Tea Partiers and the GOP wanted: a huge public retaliation. I admit I am not the better person Mr. President has proven himself to be. For example I would would have hauled Bush and his cronies up and down Pennsylvania Avenue in handcuffs dragged by horses! But since reason eventually takes hold in my radical brain I stepped back and looked at this whole matter more logically.

If he were a White President any anger expressed toward his detractors would have been acceptable. But he is our first Black President ans as such he would have been fodder for fools like Rush Limbaugh who would have used his limited vocabulary and called him "Uppity" among other coded and blatant epithets.

The truth is President Obama has had to walk a tightrope in order to not lose support. Let's be analytical here. He and media supporting pundits limit how many times they mention or reference the poor class. It is always a middle class attack. Granted as attempts to strip sub basic supportive services for the poor and disabled as well as proposing threats to Social Security ignoring the plight of the poor can no longer be brushed off the focus still remains on the middle class and how it is diminishing...a round about way of implying that the middle class is sinking into poverty but here again this must be handled delicately. You see if President Obama is not careful he will fall victim to racist right wingers who will harp on anything they can spin into his being a Black leftist radical.

So while I agree with Matt Damon's core argument the reality is a different matter altogether. I can only hope, as the GOP is in essence handing President Obama a second term, that he will prove himself to be a man of "brass."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/opinion/sunday/young-black-and-frisked-by-the-nypd.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

That African Americans remain targets is an outrage! Yet, it is a sad state of affairs. Hispanic people in Arizona as recent news reveals have been victims of profiling and do I need to even mention those of Middle Eastern heritage?

Ignorance is the catalyst for fear. We all know this but today, more than ever it seems to have become a license for a presumed acquiescence of the masses with abuse of peace keeping power and a "you don't belong on my block" mentality.

I remember Yusef Hawkins. Yousef was a young Black college student who responded to an ad in Bensonhurst Brooklyn. He went there to look into buying a car. What he received was a fatal bludgeoning with a baseball bat.

On the weekend following this young man's funeral Reverend Al Sharpton marched with his family and supporters in a peaceful demonstration against the actions that caused this tragedy. At the time Bensonhurst will still a ghetto. In other words the majority of people homogeneous-one culture, one nationality: Italian.

The supporters and grievers were met on the sidelines by rabid racists, holding baseball bats and even one mooned the protesters. This brainchild, whose brain was obviously in his posterior rump was cheered by some. Not to be fair these few were hardly representative of the neighborhood's feelings. Most felt he had every right to go wherever he wanted, especially to buy a car.

I especially remember that day because my daughter who then just 8 years old tearfully called me begging me to bring her home because she couldn't stand the hate she witnessed. Of course I went and brought her back home, so very proud of her values.

Growing up I took a lot for granted. You see I grew up in a 'Black ghetto" and was the 2 per cent white in my school. All my friends were Black and all came from hard working GREAT families. When I became aware enough to witness the Civil Right Movement I was in shock when I learned Black people in the south couldn't vote. So was my family.

My mom was a dark skinned Puerto Rican so I experienced the murmurings and finger pointing as well but, it was nothing compared to what was the real reality in this grand US of A.

Bensonhurst has since become a wonderfully heterogenous community with people of all races and national origin. But there are some people in this country that choose to believe inequality is a myth and for whatever the reason refuse to WAKE UP!

So no. Unless you walk in a Black person's shoes you DO NOT KNOW what it's like!