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The Hope From Obama. We Off That?

Posted by: Michael Skolnik 9/28/2009 | 9,748 Views

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In the same city, the same windy city, where young Barry Obama walked through the streets to organize a community…the same city where Walter needed a Refrigerator to win a Super Bowl…the same city that in ‘68 made students run for their lives…the same city that needed Common Sense to understand the Twisted rhymes of a rapper…a city whose doors were opened up by Mr. West…a windy, cold city that we call “The Chi.” In this same city, Chi-Town, The Windy, The Chi, Chicago --- this same city…has been brought to her knees…and we fall right there with her.

My body shakes. My skin tightens. My head aches. My eyes tear. My heart hurts. Because on the streets of the Chi, we witnessed hope lost. We witnessed the result of a heavyweight championship match. Ali vs. Frazier. This was no “Thrilla In Manila” or “Rumble In The Jungle” – this was a defeat that pains every bone in the body. A defeat of humanity. A defeat of our people. A defeat of our nation. A defeat of our hope.

I remember sitting on the steps of an abandoned house in Little Rock, Arkansas in 2002, having a conversation with Leifel Jackson, better known on the streets as “OG” aka Original Gangster. I was there to produce a film for HBO about the 10-year street war between the Bloods and Crips in Little Rock, which at one point had a higher murder rate (per capita) than LA and New York. Leifel, the leader of the Crips and who had a federal number for 10 years, was back in the hood, trying to uplift his people in a positive way. And during that conversation, he said to me (and I will never forget it), “a hopeless kid in America is the most dangerous kid in the world.”

And now I wonder, after watching that video – what happened to the hope from Obama? I look at these young people running around the streets and beating each other up, and I see a reflection of myself. I feel I am as much at fault as they are in the tragic killing of Derrion Albert. What have I done to contribute to young people in this country having NO HOPE? I read yesterday that the unemployment rate for 16-24 years old (not in school) is 52%. FIFTY TWO PERCENT. And with that knowledge, how do we even question this type of behavior. If you have no hope, then what do you live for?

After only 8 months in office, are we already running out of hope? Is that all it took? Or did ever really have it? Maybe it was just about rockin a t-shirt or throwin a poster on your wall? Whatever hope we thought we had, WE OFF THAT.

However, I am going to take this moment to look deep inside myself and ask myself whether I really want to help make our future better. This is not about one man, in one office, in one house. This about is our generation taking control of that four letter word, and creating real opportunities for all. We know when we watch that video, that that is not the America we dream of. That is not the America we fought for. That is not the America we built with our bare hands. That is not the America we are proud of. That is not the America that we want to be.

I ask you, what America do you want? And are you ready to do something about it?

-Michael Skolnik

GlobalGrind.com Political Editor

Follow me on twitter @michaelskolnik

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38 comments

Inate , was the word I misspelled up there .. Proofreading is fundemental !! :-)

Lucien 9/30/2009 | reply
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This should be a great wake up call .. This election was big for all of us not just the one's who di not vote , these young cats have to become more creative in their hoods and look for ways to combat poverty and hopelessness with the help of community .. Love each other even when u don't like each other .. U feel me ? It's more inante then being told to stand up for ur race , it's about caring about and being cared about ... Most of these cats had mothers , they know unconditional love ? Thinking. Is an action that is required for proper or improper action , u must learn to think and to manage ur thinking and the doing . It's work , not easy .. The will be made the example and they deserve it .. Obama spoke of hope and caring about being invovled and responsible .. These cats and many more like them need to wake up ..

Lucien 9/30/2009 | reply
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*THE TRUTH HURTS*

*THIS IS THE OFFICIAL LIST OF LETS PLAY THE BLAME GAME WHEN IT COMES DOWN TO THE ANTROCITY OF BLACKS.

1. First we blamed it on slavery

2. Then we blamed it on rap

3. Now we are blaming it on Barack Obama

We must stop using our index fingers and start using our thumbs. WHY? Because when we use our index finger we are usually pointing at someone else. Blaming our problems on something or someone. Now when we use our thumbs we have no choice but to point back at ourselves.

The blame game is getting old, The race card is so balled up and washed out it is no longer readable.

Everyone walking this earth plays apart of what happens in it. Look in the mirror, the change starts with you.

TwinONE Atlanta 9/30/2009 | reply
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- ***********FACTS***********
  
  Black on Black destruction and mutilation was going on long before slavery. It was going on long before rap, and it d@mn sure has been going on before Barack Obama.
  
  TwinONE Atlanta 9/30/2009 | reply
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- See this is where the problem lies. Everyone and everything is money motivated. I would say politically motivated too, but at the end of the day, politicians want money. If it can't make them any money, then why bother to get involve. This must change. I am sick on my stomach with this garbage.
  
  We marched and protested for Jena 6, but what the white americans did to those African Americans in Jena, Louisiana; blacks do to other blacks daily. Why don't we march and protest for that. If those boys who killed this young man happened to be white, It will be over five million people out there ready to march. I am pissed. Let me stop before a pinch a nerve.
  
  TwinONE Atlanta 9/30/2009 | reply
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- "why don't we march and protest that" Brilliant!!!!
  
  I could not agree more
  
  michiko 9/30/2009 | reply
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- YUP we definitely need to get out there boycott against these violent males.. send them to the military.. it will straighten them out for the time being and they get free education
  
  AFgirlygirl 10/1/2009 | reply
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what i dont understand is whenever their is a diaster y is it always so easy to blame obama. Like it or not obama is not responsible for anyone elses children beside his own. He is not god and i think thats what some people fail to realize. He cannot get rid of all the evil in the world. This type of thing happens everyday n every city. I live in Cleveland and this behavior is nothing new to me. Im only 20 and i have seen more deaths in a single year then most people have seen in a lifetime. Its easier being on the outside lookin in. Alot of people whe comment on how it is in the hood have never lived in the hood. Its easy to say its stupid to get involved in violence and drugs until you actually lived it. The hood is not a friendly place and its tough growing up in it. I am not showing any sympathy for the boys who did this however we are only seeing one side of the story even thought that doesnt make it ok for a man to die at the hands of another man. Like it or not this cycle will never end. No matter how hard we fight petition or rally. The only thing we can do as parents is to worry raise and only be concerned with our own children because honestly we cant change the world

Tori 9/30/2009 | reply
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Sadly enuff this has been going on in Newark, NJ for over a decade. And not just Newark but pretty much every major metro city in the US. I remember as a young teacher having to run outside and break up a street brawl with our school and a rival school. Some of the teachers were attacked and beaten in the process. The List is too long and the problems are many and the media picks and choses what dose of dreary reality to feed the masses, while we sit there waiting with popped veins. People have been dieing somewhat senselessly sense the dawn of civilization. We can look at the mass murderers: Hitler, Khan, Vlad the impaler and etc. I not trying to dimish the loss of a young life but all too often we hear it rant and go back to our own life. And we can't say no one cares because they do. There are plenty organizations and churches who do community out-reach to disenfranchised and seemly oppress underclass. Even rappers and musicians and actors will take up a cause every now and then from 'The Stop The Violence Moment' to 'We Are The World' Let's not give this more energy than we need to this - what we resist, persist. Instead let's find out how we all can volunteer and give charity to those people and organization who are in the trenches and front lines making a difference before another incident and not after.

Peace

Saki 9/29/2009 | reply
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Simply put, We need to come together and change things ourselves. Obama is not the answer to all our problems.He can change things but the media has him and all of us caught up in all the other bullsh*t they feed us. They are distracting him and us from what we really need to be doing.We need to step our game up and starts right in our own hoods. We can make a diffrence. I see all the comments,just wondering how many of us our actually going to get up off our asses including myself.

EastCoastGrinder 9/29/2009 | reply
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This is crazy.. Im from Belize and grew up with both of my parents thankfully<---21 years of marriage and hopefully going strong, I remember thinking that my dad wasn't cool cuz he didnt rock jays or have that street swag like some of my other friends dads.. I always had my parents, especially my dad.. I didn't get the monthly or yearly visits like some of my friends were accustomed to. Of course there was mad hardship here and there, but my parents did a wonderful job in instilling the fact that things that seemed important to the Black community, weren't important to them by the slightest measure.. RIMS , nawww, FASHION, naww, all those cliches went over their heads and they never tried to fit in.. I went through high school with my own ideas of what I thought was certified cool.. raised in La, yep seen the violence, a murder, the glorification of murders, but never once condoned it.. WHY? I was taught NOT TO! Parents are the building blocks of their children lives no matter what anyone says... before we heal the community.. we need to heal the individual households and make sure that education or even talent is the forefront of our siblings and children minds'.. all this violence and drama, who's hot and who's not is also apart of being a teen..naturally, but it doesnt have to end that way.. this is for every "hood" and every household.. lets build a stable foundation from within.

AFgirlygirl 9/29/2009 | reply
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We do have to take a stand for our community. You may be raising your own kids but what about the kids living with their elderly grandmother down the street, or the one with the mother that doesn't seem to care. We have to look out for those kids when you see them outside. When you see them doing something they shouldn't be and no one is around but you, say something. You can choose to do nothing, but just know those kids and kids just like him will grow up with your children and maybe date one of them or be the one that decides to rob them or worse. Whatever positive impact you can have on any of these children is better than none. If you do nothing currently, at least strive to do something that can positively impact a child.

S.marie21 9/29/2009 | reply
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These children are angry because no one loves them. An entire generation of black children have grown up being told that they will never amount to anything by a society that has a profound contempt for blacks, by their own mothers, who are angry because they drank the kool-aid of immature, selfish men and allowed themselves to get impregnated by them, and a community that is afflicted with ignorance, apathy, and self-hatred. There is no love or respect in the black community and I do not foresee anything changing in the near future.

9/29/2009 | reply
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I have read all of your comments and all that I have to say is that. I fully take blame for I live in this city and didn't take action. I have a heart for youth a passion that's undeniable. when I saw this and went home to meditate I immediately got upset with myself. I have been waiting for others to act, when I can act myself. So I mention this on my Facebook that Gatorade has the best marketing campaign going at this moment. "NO EXCUSES" This is the role that I began to take after reading everyone comments. we came together as a people to elect a mighty president. We must come together again to save our future. "NO EXCUSES" going hard in Chicago taking our future back. I will not let my future continue to die!! For this is the stand that I am taking I am starting a movement. Michael thanks for your blogs man although they are cut throat but very needed for we must interrupt this show and reclaim our future...

9/29/2009 | reply
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Your a Fool to blame this on Obama. and a Child to expect "Hope" in some kind of Materialistic entitlement of a hand me out. YOur editor should've sent you back to the table.

Obama is a working Man..he told America, "We HAVE TO WORK..together on making these things we HOPE FOR POSSIBLE... your retarded direction of ideals and lack of Social powerful development as a young black man like myself Sicken Me. go grow tf up.

Rest in Peace Young Darrion. you have done Well.

Keith 9/29/2009 | reply
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- Sadly...you missed the entire point of the blog. There is NO blame on Obama, whatsoever. The blame is on us. I am to blame. You are to blame. We are to blame. The Obama campaign brought a tremendous amount of hope to millions of young people around the country, but if we don't take that hope (the people) and create real opportunities, then we have failed our President and we have failed our communities. So, yes, we have a lot of work to do...and so does the President. But, it will be up to us if we want to make our nation a place that gives opportunity for all.
  
  Michael Skolnik 9/29/2009 | reply
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- Love the comment....Love the call for everyone to take more personal responsibility. This is not the fault of the community. There are hardworking loving parents in some of these neighborhoods. I am ashamed that this is the kind of sh*t that they have to deal with in their old age. If these young dudes want to kill each other off put their ass on an island somewhere and have a winner take all...I'm tired of fearing for the safety of the older members of my family..These young fools are like terrorist..Yes I said that.
  
  ginger 9/29/2009 | reply
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its a sad thing when i see things like that, kids so young filled with so much anger enough to kill one of their own peer.... its a sad time we live in. My condolences go out to the family.

Tee Major 9/29/2009 | reply
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my heart goes out to the family! WAT CAN WE DO! STAND UP! I SAW QUITE A FEW PP INVOLED(FIGHTING) the rest watched instead of helpin. shame on you! veiwers almost always outweight the ppl fightin. BREAK IT UP! STEP IN GET INVOLED! UNTILL WE STAND AS A PPL WE WILL STAY IN CESS POOL WE CALL LIFE AS WE KNOW IT!

Yung Sco 9/28/2009 | reply
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I think education and structure for our youth also plays a huge part in the domino effect of violence. I remember at Berkeley High, the kids that had sh*t to do after school - whether it be sports, theater, dance, a part time job- rarely were the one's that got in trouble with the cops, got into gangs, etc. etc. I stayed out of trouble because I had hands on role models that were guiding me in the right direction.
This video is sickening - but it is essential for people to see it. To hear this young man's friends screaming for his life. To hear the guy recording it chuckling with little or no care for the loss of life. We can learn from this, so that it will never happen again.
As usual Skolnik, your words are true, and your vision bold and courageous. Never stop what you do - it is essential to our future as a nation.

9/28/2009 | reply
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- thanks for the words...they mean a lot
  
  Michael Skolnik 9/29/2009 | reply
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Young warriors:

We are a community infected. It is virulent virus, in all honesty one that will not be stopped. The illness is a tragedy to us all. We can look on it from near or look at it from afar but the fact is it’s a vivid depiction of the race. They look upon us as animals, terrorist, devils, heifers, heathens, tramps, slaves, crack-heads, drunks, welfare recipients, un-fit parents and a disgrace. We have blamed everyone and everything. They, the government has found the anti-viral capsule, PRISON.

Unfortunately, it only contains the illness for a short time as does nothing to get to the nucleus, the long term effects can be detrimental or cause repetitive flare ups due to infection. The capsule causes our DNA to forever be altered.

The vaccine has proved beneficial however; vaccinated members of the community are still scrutinized against continuously. So regardless of your high hill, high rise, hidden valley, deep trench, dark corner, your ghetto or your suburbs when you leave your confine and emerge in society, you are viewed as a indication of the virus. Nadia F. therapybynadia@yahoo.com

Nadia Hope 9/28/2009 | reply
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