We have Settled for Less and Like it
Hold our Black Elected Officials Accountable
    

By Darryl Bowdre

We would like to think that our Black community in Tyler is politically astute and savvy, but the truth is, we are far from it. There was a time twenty years ago when we were much more connected and informed than we are now. We used to be called together by community leaders, who would tell us what was going on and what we needed to do about it. Sometimes it was just a matter of getting us prepared for what was about to take place. It was a time when it did not take an issue or a tragedy to bring us together. Now, it seems that we cannot even come together on a single issue.

   I blame us as a community. We let things get this way through selfishness and apathy. We are selfish in that too many of us are only interested in ourselves and the things we have. We have lost the important concept that community involves more than self. It comes from the same Greek word from which we get our word. “Common.” Community revolves around the idea that we share commonness with others. Internally we have settled for a broken uneducated, uninformed community. And that’s one of our grave dangers. We have settled for less and like it.

     Smith County politics is always front and center in the news, especially the Commissioners Court. Even with that, Precinct 4 Commissioner JoAnn Hampton is one of the most assessable public servants we have. She is out in front on the issues and does a tremendous job keeping us in the know. She even takes up the banner of many causes in our community that are not included in her job description.

     The same can be said of our city council representatives, Donald Sanders and Ralph Caraway. They are relentless in their efforts to fight for equality and equity in city government, and there is strong evidence that they are taken seriously at city hall and throughout municipal circles. Unfortunately, we give our school board representatives a failing grade. Therelee Washington and Orenthia Mason have done a poor job for the community they claim to have wanted to represent. They do less than anyone else in our community elected to office. They don’t come to public meetings called by the community. They don’t return telephone calls to their constituents. They don’t communicate with the community, and when they do it is only for photo opportunities. They spend their time in public school board meetings rubber-stamping everything the school district administration places before them. In short, at least one of them (Mr. Washington) is totally out of touch with the community and he needs to understand that the community in turn has become totally out of touch (and fed up) with him.

        We must get back on track. We must use proven and consistent forums to hold our elected officials accountable and at the same time support them when they’re doing a good job. We have some that are doing just that. There are some that are more outstanding than others, while still others remain un-assessable and unwilling to communicate with those who elect them, and these need to be dealt with before and at the ballot box. Until then, there is no excuse for us settling for less and liking it.

Convenience Store Owners Still Don’t Get It

(Neither do Black Customers!)
By Darryl Bowdre

Back in the early fall we carried the story of the Pitt-stop Exxon Convenience store at the corner of Front and Palace in Tyler. These are the ones who “allegedly” told a local small business man that they don’t hire Black people because Blacks steal. What followed was a firestorm of protest from the Black community.
The owners vehemently denied the charges as they saw their business drop and as the community called for a boycott of the popular store. Several community leaders met with them at their request, but were not very impressed with the conversation. If anything we were more baffled to learn that the young couple claiming ownership had only been in the country less than one year and really had a distorted view of Black Americans and were totally oblivious to our contributions. It was clear to us that they had capitalized on sacrifices that Blacks have made in this country over the centuries. While there we also pointed to the various other articles for sale that actually were demeaning to African Americans, such as some of the T-shirts and “fake jewelry” and shoes that were aimed at our race. “Anyone who would buy clothes from a gas station is dumb,” they told me. “But this is what our customers request, so we go to Dallas and buy them.”
In an attempt to counteract the boycott of their business, the couple erected a banner on their corner marquis that read, “All religions and races welcome. All will be served and treated fairly . . .” What they didn’t get was that our issue was not that they would not take Black folk’s money. Our issue was that they openly were quoted as saying they wouldn’t hire Black people because Black folk steal. That sign has since been replaced with another one that reads, “We sell delicious hotdogs.” (I guess someone told them that we like wieners.)
The couple has tried to deflect off of their original statement by saying that the man who reported to us of their opinion of Blacks has an axe to grind with them. They went on to say how “nice” they had been to him and that they had gone beyond the call of duty to help him financially and personally—most of which the man disputed. It was a he said/she said fiasco that we saw for what it was---a distraction and as further proof of their lack of understanding of the community that was making them rich. In my opinion they still didn’t get it—and they still don’t.
My phone rang the other week and it was the female owner who called to tell me that they had since hired an African American, who she said was caught stealing cleaning products off of their shelves. “We think he was a friend of Leon, and had we known we would not have hired him,” she told me. I asked her what the purpose of her call was about, to which she replied. “We just wanted you to know Mr. Bowdre that this is why we didn’t wish to hire Blacks.”
I pulled the phone away from my ear to “see” if I was hearing correctly. “I beg your pardon?” She repeated her words. I was so dumbfounded that it has taken me weeks to write this editorial. How stupid do they think we are? (Don’t answer that yet, because some of you still shop there.) That means that not only do these Mid-Easterners still not get it, but some of you don’t either—and the later is sadder.
Of course, Pitt-stop has a lot of company in East Texas. There are many foreign entrepreneurs who set up shop in predominately Black communities who have no respect for Blacks and who have never hired the likes of us. We get reports all the time from familiar places like the Texaco station at Gentry and Ross (Commonly called “The Shell”), as well as the all time favorite on Bow Street known as the D and N. This place is white-owned and filled with Hispanic workers but no Blacks. Blacks however are known to swear their life by this little rip-off super convenience store. Unlike their competitor up the street at Bow and Palace, the A & W, this store, which is also owned by Mid-Easterners, hires, and has a history of hiring people from within the community.
There are also other stores that do treat us with respect, such as the Food Fast chain—all located in the community with numerous Black employees. My issue now is not so much with them as it is the ignorance of our people who throw their money down on the counter without demanding or commanding economic accountability. Something is terribly wrong with us and until we start to get it, we will continue to be treated as we have been treated by some whites as well as by people who are not even citizens of the United States of America.
For the record, even though Pitt-stop, D&N and others are convenient to my daily schedule, I will still refuse to spend my hard-earned money there—even if they were to hire the Blackest of Blacks. I will go out of my way to spend elsewhere. There is a principle involved here and they still don’t get it—and neither do far too many of us.

Racial Humor May Never Be the Same—We Hope

By Tim Reid and Tom Dreesen

Editor's note: Tim Reid is an actor, producer and director who has starred in "WKRP in Cincinnati," "Sister, Sister" and many other television shows and movies. Tom Dreesen is a stand-up comedian who has performed scores of times on "The Tonight Show" and "Late Show with David Letterman" and who was Frank Sinatra's opening act for 14 years. They co-authored a new book, "Tim and Tom: An American Comedy in Black and White."
(CNN) -- In the early 1970s, when we were the first black-and-white comedy team in the history of show business -- and the last -- we had a routine in which Tom would interview Tim, who had just been elected the first black president of the United States. One critic who liked our act and appreciated some of our edgiest routines said the concept of a black president was just too unbelievable. We wonder where he is today.
Not that he's the only one who is surprised by Barack Obama becoming president, of course. Obama's election has caused many people to re-evaluate their attitudes about politics, race and every other aspect of American life. And we comedians are right there with them. Jokes about race relations may never be the same. At least we hope not.
Obama's election represents a challenge to comedians who deal in racial humor. With a confident, eloquent black man in the White House, along with a beautiful, accomplished wife and two impossibly adorable children, can any young black comic possibly still do jokes about bitches and 'hos?
Won't the very audiences they're trying to reach rebel and say, "Wait a minute -- we're past that now. It's not how we are going to be represented any more"?
The same is true about exaggerated black speech that is a staple of so many acts, the kind of "yo mama" shtick that has its roots in Amos and Andy. If the rappers want to continue dealing in it, that's one thing, but as a way to get automatic laughs? How long will it continue to work?
We're entering an era in which racial comedy will have to deal with creative thought rather than relying on the casual repeated use of the F word, the N word and the rest of the slackers' alphabet. In this changing frontier, how will we construct the new bases for racial humor?
Comedians won't stop living on the edge, which is where the best ones have always existed. And we did a lot of wacky things ourselves when we were traveling the country between 1969 and 1974, things we could never get away with today, such as the routine in which Tim taught Tom how to be black. The politically correct police would crucify us, or, even worse, post out-of-context snippets on You Tube for the blogosphere to go crazy over.
When we quit our good jobs as businessmen to seek the comfort and security of lives in show business, we decided not to do a typical straight-man, funny-man act.
We figured that if we were going to make comedy out of a black man and a white man sharing the same stage, it would have to be equal-opportunity comedy. Race wasn't the punch line in our routines, it was the vehicle. The aim was to get people to see, and to laugh at, the irony of racial attitudes in America.
And that's the challenge and the opportunity that comedy about race faces today. The presence of the Obama family in the White House means that it can't be business as usual any more.
America, black and white, won't be amused by humor that trades on the old stereotypes of interracial social encounters, impressions and fears. Like it or not, change has come. O.J. is in prison, and a black man is in the White House. Is everybody happy now?
So just as we're entering a new and hopeful world in American politics, we're also beginning one in comedy that could be just as exciting.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Tim Reid and Tom Dreesen

Editorial: A Mother's Prayer

By Wanda Shelton, Executive Editor

Dr King’s dream though visual is not fully realized, however last Tuesday went a long way to making a believer out of me. I can now see a future where skin color is not a factor in the way people see you; there is still hope in this country.
My wish for my child is to grasp every positive, life-changing opportunity extended to her. I wish apathy in our youth is replaced with determination and strong will of mind. This presidential campaign afforded me the opportunity to see in people what I tried to ignore, fear. My fears deplete the more I hear President Elect Obama speak. His voice actually made teenagers, at least mine anyway, stop and listen. My teen came home from school full of questions and ready for a discussion about the state of the Union, this was a first.
In this last decade I began to lose hope of a nation waiting, full of promise for the bright young minds. The previous election, though fraught with scandal did not inspire the country to actually contemplate change. This time however the word change became more than the ordinary catch phrase, it motivated a stalled nation in to a living, breathing even fighting agent for that change.
I listened and engaged in many a conversation about whether Barack Obama should be president, but these conversations hid an out-dated fear of the Black Man. I have never lived in time of war or any situation that connected so many citizens as did this election. I tuned to CNN and other media outlets often to gain information on the latest election stats; it was definitely exciting and enlightening. At 10 p.m. November 4, 2008, I was over come with joy, and a feeling I had never felt on this scale, victory. Now the hoopla is over and a new era in America can begin, finally. I don’t for a second believe that our newly elected president can “cure” or magically transform the U.S. over night but his victory speech went along way to assuring me that I made the correct choice in his ticket. I heard a man tell me that he will try to help me, my family and my friends. I felt like my voice was heard and my vote though small and insignificant in the past will make our leaders listen to my needs.
I can once again direct my child towards hope; she can finally have that dream once deferred. Her entire future is now a blank slate ready for the vivid colors and paths she decides to choose.
So this is my prayer for my Mia:
I wish you health and a health care system that you can afford and that actually is there to aid you if you need.
I wish you wealth and for an economy stable and strong, inviting new visions and open minds.
I wish you peace and for a military system with all its leaders mindful of its true meaning. I wish you freedom, with the liberties given to all who reside in these states.
I also wish you love and the right to love and to be loved by any man worthy of that love no matter his skin color.
These simple wishes can now be yours sweet child because a new dawn has risen and the sky truly is the limit for you.

Post-Racial America is not here yet

Steve Harvey: Women's Standards Too Low

T.D. Jakes' Dilemma

Malcolm X, Obama, Powell, Rice and 'House Negroes'

A Solution for Low income Borrowers
By Prianjali Mascarenhas

The U.S. housing market has witnessed a mortgage collapse unlike anything we’ve seen since the Great Depression. With housing foreclosures affecting neighborhoods around the country, many people are left wondering what went wrong, and how they can help support affordable housing solutions for people hardest hit by the crisis. The Center for Responsible Lending predicts that 2.2 million borrowers could lose homes through the end of 2009, with a loss of $164 billion in wealth.
Unfortunately, many pundits have adopted a “blame the victim” strategy, saying that low-income borrowers are to blame for getting in over their heads. These pundits ignore that many low-income borrowers have been victims of predatory lending, with unscrupulous lenders offering sub-prime mortgages, intentionally being unclear about the terms and potential for changes in fees and rates. Borrowers start out with low “teaser” interest rates, but then their loans shift to high interest rates after the introductory period, in addition to other costly hidden fees, prepayment penalties, and more.
The demographic hardest hit by predatory lending in the sub-prime market includes the elderly, women, and low- and moderate-income borrowers: the people who can least afford it. People of color in particular are receiving a disproportionately higher number of high-cost loans and in turn stand to lose substantial equity as a result of high debt payments. The Center for Responsible Lending reports that 53 percent of African-Americans and 42 percent of Latinos who bought homes in 2006 received a high-cost sub-prime loan, compared to only 22 percent of white borrowers.
The current crisis is not a consequence of bad borrowing, but of bad lending.
But there are lenders, such as Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), who understand the right way to engage with underserved, low-income communities – and as a result, their portfolios have remained strong, so far avoiding the crash that has harmed lenders that are more conventional.
CDFIs lend to the same group of low- and moderate-income individuals who have suffered from predatory lending, but with some very important differences in their practices.
Lenders at CDFIs develop personal relationships with their borrowers and are familiar with the details of the local economy. They work to provide additional services to borrowers to ensure the success of those loans, such as foreclosure prevention counseling, financial training programs that educate borrowers on abusive lending practices, and legal advice. Their core mission is to build wealth in low-income communities, not strip wealth out.
If all lenders followed such guidelines, we would not be facing the crisis we have today.
For example, Self-Help Credit Union in Durham, N.C., engages in direct home lending to qualified low-income borrowers and has a track record of 3,000 successful direct loans totaling more than $228 million. And Self-Help financed over $4 billion in loans through its secondary mortgage market programs—in which Self-Help purchases loans from partner banks and credit unions, and sells them to Fannie Mae, helping give liquidity to these partner institutions. (This program has not been affected by the recent government takeover of Fannie Mae.) To be eligible for this program, loans must meet responsible lending standards—meaning that no high-cost loans are included. This results in preserving home ownership opportunities for working-class Americans, particularly people of color.
People who choose to invest in institutions like Self- Help that offer fair and affordable alternatives to abusive predatory lending are promoting a positive solution to the growing foreclosure and mortgage crisis. Promoting affordable housing, and educating borrowers on how to manage their loans, allows low- and moderate-income populations an opportunity to build equity and eventually fuel the economy.
What’s more, community investors are doing well by doing good. Investors in CDFIs can expect a steady and reasonable return, running at about 3 percent to 5 percent per year. Community investing’s consistent success means that it is outperforming today's rollercoaster stock market (as it previously did during the dot-com collapse).
While our nation is in need of a sound regulatory framework to combat the crisis, it is clear that community investing is making positive impacts in low-income communities affected by the sub-prime mortgage crisis. You can become a community investor by opening a federally insured account at a community development bank or credit union. (To find a CDFI in your area, visit www.communityinvest.org.)
Minuteman Media.org
--Prianjali Mascarenhas is community investing director for Co-op America/Green America. www.greenamericatoday.org