Who's the real revolutionary?

To me man the term revolutionary is played out and doesn't hold the importance it once did(which is kinda hard to explain).
But in terms of your question the real revolutionary is the person who not only thinks differently but acts differently than the normal average person. Like to me Tupac spoke like a revolutionary. But his actions weren't really consistant with that of a true revolutionary.

And one funny coincidence that i've noticed over the years is these "revoulutionary" folks are always with a white chick. Now im not prejudice against white folks like when i was younger. But there's something powerful about choosing your wife from your own race. Like Obama and his wife. What if Obama was married to a white girl? It would be kinda akward in a symbolic way feel me.

The real revolution is us as black people moving on with our lifes. To go to school and get our education and get to college and make something of ourselves. Those who blame the white man for everything are usually broke or got some other issue they cant accept as their own fault, its much easier to place blame than accept failure. Revolutions are not all about over throwing someone powerful, it's about change. We have been going through a revolution ever since segregation ended, the more time passes the better and better we have been. We have the same oppurtunities as white kids do now, maybe not the rich, but the majority is far from rich. Look how many black men are living in the upper and middle class region. It's amazing what we have accomplished in such a short time. Revolution does mean change yes, but more change is accomplished through intellegance and working together than drawing arms and fighting for it. We have many black men and women in high positions of power, those who are on the evil white man ? just fail to see it, they see a ? in the hood, oh we need to revolt they holding you back brother. Then when they see that same ? make something of himself and workin in these high position he automatically becomes a ? or a house ? , ? rediculous.

ThaChozenWun wrote: »

We have the same oppurtunities as white kids do now, .

? man im not black but that statement is too simplistic. the institutions in the united states are set up for the success of the white man. the culture of corporate america celebrates white culture. the funding of public schools in this country are set up for the advancement of white people. Also the curriculum of public schools is filled with lies about history. The war on drugs is set up to lock up people of color. look at the population of US prisons and tell me again people of color have the same opportunites as white kids. the cia imports drugs to this country and distributes them in the black and brown ghettos of this country.

Aztec_Kang wrote: »

? man im not black but that statement is too simplistic. the institutions in the united states are set up for the success of the white man....... [2] the culture of corporate america celebrates white culture..... [3] the funding of public schools in this country are set up for the advancement of white people. .... [4] Also the curriculum of public schools is filled with lies about history. ....[6] The war on drugs is set up to lock up people of color. look at the population of US prisons and tell me again people of color have the same opportunites as white kids. the cia imports drugs to this country and distributes them in the black and brown ghettos of this country.

1.) I can say the expensive and prestigious institutions maybe, but thats a very small fraction of white kids, Ive been to college, I know a hella lot of people who are in college, and good ones at that who are black. Overall the black educational expierience is equal to the majority of the whites.

2.) Care to drop some examples of how corporate people down blacky and celebrate whitey rather than just up the man that has money?

3.) Again outside of rich and private schools, Black schools offer the same education as white schools in the same financial bracket.

4.) So..... White kids dont attend public schools and only blacks are getting these historical lies? What are these lies btw that only affect black people?

5.) Ill agree with you on the war of drugs, but look at the time it was started and by whom, it was started over ? specifically to get us. Now over the last 30 years it has changed, white, black, hispanic, asian dont matter they all gettin locked up as a result of this.

6.) The population of the US prison system does lock alot of black men up, they also lock a lot of white men up, alot of hispanics up. If someone ? up they deserve to go to jail its the law, if you gonna steal, sell drugs, ? you should be sitting in there. Alot of innocents are in jail but that goes with every race not just black men. The population is so much different between whites and blacks in America if you throw 3000 of each its going to weigh heavier on the black.

I never said that people in powerful positions arent racists. But too many of my brothers are acting as if they all are and instead of getting off they ass and making a better life, which they can with an education easily, they'd rather blame white people, who the majority have no say in what they do. Its a scapegoat thats all it is.

redhandedbandit wrote: »

man the opportunities are the same just like you have ? infested black neighborhoods you have white neighborhoods with crystal ? and heroin..how is funding of public schools set up for the advancement of white people..you act like history is the only class in school last i checked real money was in math and science anyway.

to explain the way funding of public schools is set up for the advancement of white people isn't simple. maybe i can link you an article that will open your eyes to this reality. i'd suggest looking up articles by Prof. Pedro Noguera. He is a professor of education at NYU and previously taught at Harvard and UC Berkeley.

I think you left out a lot of important details in your monologue about black people movnig on with their lives.

i completely agree with your point about having stronger families in communities of color as being crucial to the advancement of these people. im not trying to be argumentative for no reason. ? just isn't black and white. there's a lot more to the picture than people just needing to be more ambitious about education.

now you bringing up your hatian friend is a completely different topic. Immigrants that come to this country have a completely different drive than US born Americans. ? Mexicans crawl through tunnels to come to this country and pick grapes and earn more money than a lot of Americans doing jobs that American citizens refuse to do.

And Step wrote: »

Half true.

There is no black men or woman who is in a high position of power. Even President Obama is under white authority. That is why a group of influential Jewish leaders can summon the President of the United States to a closed door meeting and lay down their demands and boast about it

You really need to learn how this system works.

Blaming the white man for all of our problems is foolish extreme, but denying reality of a racial hierarchy is just as foolish and extreme.

I got it btw, will respond later

Your missing my point, I never said we were in the highest positions of power, your reading and seeing only what you want. I know there are alot of groups with more power than the president, I doubt any African Americans are in these seats but you cannot say for sure their isnt, alot of these are so secretive no one knows who is in them. Now what im saying with we are in powerful positions is exactly that, we are in powerful positions. Great things take time, in 20 years you will see blacks in those position higher than the president, we've only really been free for like 40 years. Look how far we have come since then, you cant expect the whole senate to ever be completely black, you cant expect to rule the world with a black fist. Its not going to open, whites got lucky in their time period, within the next 100 years everything will be multiracial, no one race will ever be the ruling majority in the near future, times are changing quit livin in the 60's

im gonna try to post an even better article later about the subject. But here's one article that i found real quick that adresses the topic to some extent.

Closing the Achievement Gap:
Racial Inequality and The Unfinished Legacy
of Civil Rights in America

by Pedro A. Noguera
New York, New York


America expects a lot from its frequently maligned public schools, and with the adoption of the federal No Child Left Behind Law (NCLB), we have demanded even more. Under NCLB, schools are expected to produce evidence that all children are learning (as measured by their performance on standardized tests) and eliminate the so-called “achievement gap”. Support for the laudable goals of NCLB has produced a coalition of strange bedfellows, most notably, conservative President George W. Bush and liberal legislative sponsors of the law Senator Ted Kennedy and Congressman George Miller. Even national civil rights organizations such as the NAACP and the National Council de la Raza have embraced NCLB. Such unusual bi-partisn support is the primary reason why even with Democratic control over Congress major changes in the law are not expected. Many liberals and conservatives like the idea of holding public schools accountable for raising student achievement. For President Bush in particular, who has called upon schools to “End the soft bigotry of low expectations”, NCLB has held up as the clearest proof (critics might say the only sign) that he is committed to civil rights.

Yet, anyone who spends time in our nation’s public schools, particularly those that serve poor children, is forced to recognize that while the goals of NCLB may be laudable, they are also laughable under present circumstances. In most cities, public schools are expected to educate the neediest children, and they are blamed when students whose most basic needs for housing, nutrition and healthcare are not met. In most cases, such children do not do as well academically as more privileged children and the reasons why are obvious. Our politicians want schools that will enable the United States to maintain its economic and technological dominance in the world, even though we continue to pay teachers salaries that make it unlikely that our top college students will enter the profession. They complain when our students do considerably less well on international tests than children in other wealthy nations, but they are not willing to do the things the nations we like to compare ourselves to do for their children – universal access to healthcare and pre-school, and generous parental leave policies. We expect schools to provide students with the knowledge, understanding and frame of mind to participate intelligently in civic life, but increasingly under NCLB the school curriculum has become so narrowly focused on preparing students for state mandated exams that there is little time for critical thinking on topics like war and Constitution, that are essential to our democratic order.

I made this point recently to the State Commissioner of Education of Texas when the two of us were seated next to each other at a national conference on reducing the drop out rate. She explained to me that she was nervous because after the conference she was going to have to appear before the state legislature in Austin to request over 5 billion dollars for public education. When I asked why that made her nervous she explained: “They want me to tell them we’ll have a zero percent drop out rate and I can’t.” I responded by saying “Why don’t you tell them that we’ll get a zero percent drop out rate in the schools when they start sending us zero percent of the children who are hungry, uninsured, un-immunized and un-housed”. She laughed and said “That’s a good one, but fat chance it’ll happen”.

Given our unrealistic and unfair expectations, it is hardly surprising that schools typically disappoint and fall short of the goals that have been set. American schools have never been expected to educate all children, and even more importantly, they have never been expected to eliminate racial and socio-economic disparities in achievement. For the first time in American history, closing the racial achievement gap has been embraced as a national priority. The profound significance of such a crusade can only be appreciated if one considers that for most of America’s history racial differences in achievement were presumed to be natural (i.e. rooted in innate ability), unalterable and therefore, acceptable.

I spend a great deal of time working with school districts throughout the country on efforts to close the achievement gap. Increasingly, I am impressed by the sincerity of those who lead these efforts and even more by the teachers who work tirelessly to meet the needs of their students. My experiences in our nation’s schools has led me to believe that NCLB has succeeded, not in eliminating the achievement gap, but in getting a greater number of schools to work harder at educating the students they serve. Threatened with the punitive sanctions that NCLB requires, schools and districts have gone to great lengths to find ways to raise test scores and improve academic performance.

Despite these efforts, my experiences have also led me to conclude that hard work will not be enough. In fact, if we continue to focus narrowly on finding ways to raise test scores we may drive many of our most committed educators out of public education altogether. The reason why American continues to be characterized by pervasive disparities in student achievement that correspond closely to the race and class backgrounds of children, is not because our educators aren’t working hard enough, or because parents don’t care about their children (a commonly heard accusation), but simply because as a nation we have done very little to address racial inequality.

With the adoption of civil rights laws in the 1960’s, America has made considerable progress in eliminating blatant forms of racial discrimination. The recent firing of radio talk show host Don Imus over his racist remarks, are just the most recent reminder that there is very little tolerance for public expressions of bigotry anymore. Increasingly, blacks and Latinos occupy positions of power and influence throughout American society, and the success of these individuals is frequently cited as proof that America has finally moved beyond its history of racial oppression.

However, as significant as these changes might seem, our nation has been far less successful at addressing the reality of racial inequality which manifests itself in almost every aspect of American life. There is overwhelming evidence that on every major indicator of quality of life - from wages, to health, to criminal justice and housing - not only does race continue to matter in profound and significant ways, but we remain a deeply divided society.

Nowhere are these divisions more obvious than in the field of education. Over 50 years after the Supreme Court’s Brown Decision most of our nation’s schools remain racially segregated, not be law but by fact. Even in cities like Seattle, Denver and Kansas City where whites make up the majority of the population, public schools are overwhelming comprised of non-white, poor children. Not surprisingly, the children of the poor typically don’t do as well as the children of the affluent. This is not only because affluent parents have more resources to support their children with, but also because we consistently spend more on their education.

America doesn’t just have an achievement gap, we have an allocation gap in school funding, a preparation gap due to limited access to quality pre-school, and a power gap, because poor parents are not able to exert as much influence over the schools that serve their children.

The achievement gap is nothing more than an educational manifestation of social inequality, and while there are a small but significant number of schools that have shown it is possible to produce high levels of achievement among poor children of color, doing this on a larger scale has not been possible under present circumstances.

Leaving no child behind remains an important goal, but our policy makers must realize that if we are serious about eliminating the strong association between race, class and achievement, we will have to do more than we have so far. Schools like Edison Elementary in Port Chester, NY, Roxbury Prep Charter School in Boston, and Benjamin Bannaker High School in New York, provide the proof that it is indeed possible to educate poor Black and Brown children. Their striking deviation from norms of failure and mediocrity is all the evidence we need that the problem is not the children but the way in which they are treated and served.

The real question is: do we as a nation have the will to insure that children and their families receive the support they need to achieve at higher levels and develop into healthy, well rounded adults? The answer to this question is not so much about what we will do for schools but what we do to address our pervasive racial inequality.

ThaChozenWun wrote: »

Your missing my point, I never said we were in the highest positions of power, your reading and seeing only what you want. I know there are alot of groups with more power than the president, I doubt any African Americans are in these seats but you cannot say for sure their isnt, alot of these are so secretive no one knows who is in them. Now what im saying with we are in powerful positions is exactly that, we are in powerful positions. Great things take time, in 20 years you will see blacks in those position higher than the president, we've only really been free for like 40 years. Look how far we have come since then, you cant expect the whole senate to ever be completely black, you cant expect to rule the world with a black fist. Its not going to open, whites got lucky in their time period, within the next 100 years everything will be multiracial, no one race will ever be the ruling majority in the near future, times are changing quit livin in the 60's

I'm not disagreeing with you. Read my post again.

And the 60's were a lot closer to the times now, than any other time period. Study the 60's so you don't make the same mistakes.

redhandedbandit wrote: »

so you are saying that african americans have less opportunity than immigrants

You can't compare African Americans and immigrants.

Experiences are not the same.