Does The Black Community Want To Work On Solutions Or Just Bitch About Problems?

by | Apr 3, 2014 | Blog | 5 comments

This is a serious question. Frankly, I want to believe the former is where we are as a community, but the position I sit in everyday makes me believe the latter is the truth.

I’m one of the moderators here at Urban Intellectuals and it may  not seem like much, but it affords me a pretty unique opportunity to peer behind the curtain of the black community. Having almost 50,000 fans on Facebook, thousands in our email database, and hundreds of thousands of visits to the website each month gives me valuable insight into the minds and thinking of the African diaspora, particularly the so-called African American.

black-woman-frustrated-headache-2All the time on the UI network, we hear cries from the gallery for solutions, “we need to stop focusing on the negative, find the positive, and use solutions to better our state” or, “stop pointing out what is wrong with the community and focus on finding solutions we can all work to be successful” or, “we need solutions, solutions, solutions”, something to that effect, but I wonder how many people are really ready to work the solutions instead of simply calling for them?

I say this because whenever we focus on solution based content, there are crickets. No one to be seen posting in agreement, talking about how they are implementing these things….nothing. There are no likes, shares, nothing, so it leads me to believe you don’t want solutions. You just want to seem like a progressive person and look good in the eyes of your peers, so you vocally call for solutions, but don’t want to get your hands dirty. You want someone else to do the work so it allows you to say, “I said this is exactly what we needed” without getting involved.

On  the other hand, if we post something outlining how or why we got into this hole and mess we have found ourselves, there are plenty of likes, comments, shares, and interaction for this material. And don’t let us post up some ratchet mess, you are all over that in a big way, but then get mad at us for giving you what you clearly want.

The media business is simple, black people. Give the people what they want in order to keep your interest up and energy in the game. If we continue to post something without any feedback, then that tells us you don’t want this material and we go in search of something else. So when you only respond to the negative or bitch worthy material, then that is what you are going to get more of in the coming days.

Personally, I don’t think the black community is ready or willing to work any solutions, but fully prepared to bitch and moan as if they are.

What are your thoughts?

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5 Comments

  1. Zarif Shamsid-Deen

    Sadly this is true

    Reply
  2. Reneegede

    Think about where solutions start. If you have nothing to bitch about, there is nothing to solve. The problem is not with the bitching, but with the refusal to follow-through after the bitchfest is over.

    Reply
  3. Solomon's Wisdom

    Cultivated Ignorance perpetuated by misguided African American leadership.

    As I write this great truth, concerning apathetic, African American Leadership causes me great pain! I acknowledge with great pride that many Blacks have made enormous contributions to Jacksonville, America, and the world. The African American Educational, Religious and Political Leadership’s ignorance, deceit and self-aggrandizement are methodically destroying the souls, minds and even lives of African Americans, for nearly three generations. For Blacks, we should not be surprised of our condition; Carter G. Woodson cautioned us in The Mis-Education of the Negro. The Dark Ghetto by Dr. Kenneth Clark. The Moynihan Report, by Senator Daniel Moynihan, Blacks enraged by such unmitigated truth. American Dilemma: The Negro problem and modern democracy, by Gunnar Myrdal. Those men understood slavery’s impact on us. However, Black leaders vigorously opposed their writings, yet they are unable to contradict any of their work, thus living in the comfort of their deceit, while still in denial of all facts and truths. We could have been rescued from our designed destructive plight with education and ethnic unity from Dr. King’s victories. However, our contemporary Black leaders chose self above all else, and ethnic discrimination which in itself has consequences as severe as de jure racial discrimination. The African-American community collectively is not suffering entirely from racism, poverty, and crime; it is the self-inflicted ignorance of allowing the present so-called African American leaders be in a position of leadership. Accordingly, there is hardly an organization or group this date, by Blacks in Jacksonville that has more substance than folly (how sad). Most Black preachers are morally bankrupt and intellectually inept. Black elected officials most often are selected by the white power structure and chosen by a Black constituency, where absolutely nothing can be done for them. Those public servants are so beholden to the benefactors they should be made to wear jockey silks so to see whose stable owns them. The local SCLC is dead, no resurrection! The local NAACP is floundering; it is no semblance of an organization for Civil Rights as in the past. It puts a chokehold on any community initiative for change. The present African American leadership’s folly, religious fanaticism, and politicians with their heads in the sand cannot decrease the pathology in Jacksonville.

    Now the social scientist has started subtle ethnic cleansing in this new world order. The final results will be hundreds of thousands of African American falling off the radar and walk off the face of the earth; with few having empathy for their circumstances and others thinking their demise the world is better off. I believe that his people’s commission, omissions, and pathologies from a verity of fronts have thwarted Dr. King dream for America. What will you see within 50 years notwithstanding President Obama’s legacy (historians will apprise him as outstanding) is little white boys and girls asking their parents what happened to Black people? The only way to improve our condition and change the paradigm is to get new open-minded cohesive leadership. We must become involved in capitalism, slowing down our consumerism. Save, invest, build, develop, create and ownership. That is the surest way for advancement, respect and a death blow to racism!”
    The African American Economic Recovery Think Tank has developed a holistic economic roadmap influencing the quality of life. The AAERTT understands the methodology needed to impact these communities. AAERTT knows how to build a competent goal-driven team to achieve that strategy. Violent crime is a direct correlation between misguided leadership’s failure to understand and implement Community Engagement 101. We have attached an economic plan that can influence the North Bank Quality of Life.

    AAERTT has four implementation components needed to increase the quality of life index by 20 to 30 percent within five years in Jacksonville, and the nation.
    1. Family infrastructure
    2. Education based on the Arts, History, and Economics
    3. Preventive Healthcare
    4. Community Development and Ownership

    Stanley “Doc” Scott
    Founder/Managing Director
    AAERTT
    PO Box 2672
    Jacksonville, Florida 32203
    Email: [email protected]
    Website: http://www.aaertt.net
    AAERTT Email: [email protected] #aaertt
    Direct Phone: 404-719-7188

    Reply
    • Linda Tate

      Well said and truth is what you speak. Thanks for sharing your most needed insight.

      Reply
  4. Solomon's Wisdom

    Stand for resolve… Our Economic Bible.

    “History shows that it does not matter who is in power… those who have not learned to do for themselves and had to depend solely on others never obtain any more rights or privileges in the end than they did in the beginning.” — Dr. Carter G. Woodson

    The most significant African American Economic Development Roadmap since the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1964 for the African American community – “40 Acres and A Mule” prepared by the African American Economic Recovery Think Tank. “
    “40 Acres and a Mule” – The African American Economic Recovery Think Tank – Click on the link below…

    https://www.facebook.com/groups/AAERTT/files/ – 40 Acres and a Mule – 303 pages.

    Core Mission is to facilitate and nurture progressive critical thinking leadership in the African American community, to develop enterprise corridors, teach and develop business ownership, community investment, and stabilization in urban core communities. We have developed tools to inspire education, create entrepreneurship, community stabilization plans for re-occupying abandoned homes, community investment clubs, and teach marketing and customer service skills. A solid plan for redeveloping critical urban communities with affordable multi-income households, apartments, public and private charter schools (pre-K through the six grades), neighborhood social-historical events and environmentally safe parks by controlling and increasing individual and community wealth, and decreasing material consumption.
    Guiding Principles

    “History shows that it does not matter who is in power… those who have not learned to do for themselves and had to depend solely on others never obtain any more rights or privileges in the end than they did in the beginning.” — Dr. Carter G. Woodson
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE5IIRiB2tE

    AAERTT Summary
    Resolve – “40 Acres and a Mule.”
    The African American Economic Recovery Think Tank presents “40 Acres and A Mule”, an African American Urban Core Economic Development Roadmap. The AAERTT founding members Stanley L. Scott and Edward Exson Sr., commission this 2017 and Beyond agenda. The AAERTT has prepared a holistic economic roadmap influencing the Quality of Life in the African-American community nationwide. Our overall goal is to find and direct financial resolve, addressing and implementing critical strategic components needed to achieve comprehensive transformation and empowerment within five years.

    @AAERTT Holistic Economic Platform
    Strategic management involves the formulation and implementation of the primary goals and initiatives taken by a company’s top management on behalf of owners, based on consideration of resources and an assessment of the internal and external environments in which the organization competes.

    Leadership methodology
    “There is only one way to achieve economic zeal for African American community’s empowerment, first, trust in real people with a common Value Proposition agenda. Second, seeking, developing, and believing in smart community resolutions and collaborative learning, keep your plans close to your heart, and lastly, surround and engage people more intelligent than yourself, and remember if it does not make sense, it does not matter. – Stanley Scott”

    The AAERTT is a knowledgeable goal-driven team with 40 plus years of combined Civil Rights, Business, and Community Engagement experience. AAERTT (@aaertt) has four strategic components needed to increase the Quality of Life index by 20 to 30 percent within five years. The AAERTT understand the methodology required to influence these communities holistically. This economic paradigm shift will endow African American families and communities economically, educational, and collectively.

    1. Family Infrastructure (Home Economics Management)
    2. Education based on the Arts and History
    3. Preventive Healthcare (Obesity, Prescription Drugs Overdose, Sexual Diseases, etc.)
    4. Economic Development and Ownership (Small Business Ownership and Co-ops)

    Stanley “Doc” Scott – Managing Director
    PO Box 2672
    Jacksonville, Florida 32203
    Website: http://www.aaertt.org
    http://www.aaertt.org
    Email: [email protected]
    Facebook: @aaertt
    Phone Number: 404-719-7188

    Reply

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