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Today is ‘National Blackout Day’
November 2nd, 2007
Organizers say this is a surefire way to send an anti-racism message
Want to send a powerful message about racism to the rest of America today? Warren Ballentine, a radio show host based in Raleigh, N.C., and Black leaders across the United States say you can have a bigger impact than you realize by refusing to open your wallet for the next 24 hours. In other words, they say, if you want knock out racism, you have to hit America where it hurts most – right in the pocketbook. Of course, a “national Blackout” of businesses won’t stomp out racism, they say, but it would force the U.S. Justice Department and lawmakers to begin taking hate-crime charges more seriously. “The history of our country is about what I’m calling for,” says Ballentine, countering charges that he’s being unpatriotic by calling for a national boycott. “If the federal government is not doing what it’s supposed to do, we protest. There’s nothing more American than what I’m calling for.” So what sparked Ballentine’s efforts? He says that the spate of racist acts – including the numerous nooses cropping up everywhere; the over-aggressive prosecution of young Black men (i.e., Genarlow Wilson and the “Jena Six” teens); the alleged kidnapping, rape and torture of a 20-year-old Black West Virginia woman by a gang of Whites – call for drastic measures. And he believes that African Americans might see the same kind of results that Black society realized in the 1960s with similar tactics. What if thirty-some million Black folks did decide to follow Ballentine’s lead? Researchers with the University of Georgia’s Selig Center for Economic Growth calculates that African Americans will spend in upwards of $800 billion after taxes this year – more than $2.3 billion a day – which means that a single day could levy quite a jolt to the U.S. economy. And that’s even if a sizable chunk of Whites, Latinos and Asians, who are equally frustrated with racism and the federal government’s complacency, don’t join in on the effort. Do you think the average African American is willing to keep his/her wallet closed for the day? Will you participate?
Well I did suport the blackout and it is a pretty good idea we as BLACKS SHOULD COME TOGETHER MORE OFTEN!
well now that it is over, is the nation crying out that we changed things ecomnomically or not?
Except for BET, i have not heard anything about the blackout, and I know that there were some folks who still did not hear about it until I said something to them.
Unless somebody can come up with some data, i would say it was a huge waste of time.
I still say, lets do some real damage and committ to someting tangible, that deals with certain “itmes” that we buy or the “amount” or “places” that we choose to spend out money. Everyone “can’t” do the same thing on only one day, but everyone “can” do their part if it takes place over a longer period of time. It will give more folks time to particiapte thus making a bigger impact over time.
Ironically, the things that will really make a difference are the very things that we as a culture refuse to actually do. For instance, giving up our “bling” factor or changing our credit and buying habits. I still say that if we stopped buying tobbacco products and alcohol products we could change the economic state on a national level and we would each see a change in our own pocket book for the better. Not to mention our health would be better.
Lets do this again, but next time lets boycott with a purpose and a specific strategy, not just out of blind devotion and emotion.
Folks,
I haven’t heard anything on the news or in the papers about the blackout, or any estimate of how many of us stuck together. Has anybody else heard anything other than on BET and Black Pages? I wonder if we even made a ripple.
to those concerned about the accuracy of the data in this critic’s blues above…
there was an error on the part of this author…
Census 2000 EEO Data Tool (www.census.gov/eeo2000/index.html)
some of those 50,000 figures should have been accompanied by…
less than
or
more than
or
equal to…
in various cases
this usa cultural critic was in no way attempting to fool the reading public…
but rather to make the larger point that employed usa negro citizens occupy more jobs than…
playing professional sports, singing, dancing & modern-day cooning/rapping!
Camille43,
Amen. If the lack of activity on this blog today is any indication, I suspect that ADD has set in now that folks are emotionally spent, and haven’t gotten any positive reinforcement that “we were heard.” As AB alluded above, it appears not to have even caused a ripple in the overall scheme of things.
We can’t seem to get the point over that real impact requires the execution of a well-developed strategy with focus, sustainability and metrics. Dr. King didn’t just get the people worked-up to to “take on the world.” He was shrewd in picking battles that we had a plausible chance of winning, and where there could not be any doubt (win or lose) as to the outcome.
Peace,
Alton
DIRTY IF YOU DONT GET OFF OF HERE WITH THAT WORD NEGRO YOU IDIOT!!!!!!!!!
I HEAR YOU BABY SAME TO YOU
would a $~?# by any other name…
not smell as foul as…
human feces?
COLORED SPADE”, FROM THE 1967 MUSICAL HAIR – THE STANDARD REFERENCE FOR ALL ACCEPTABLE VARIATIONS OF “NIGGER”:
I’M A
COLORED SPADE
A NIGGER
A BLACK NIGGER
A JUNGLE BUNNY
JIGABOO $~?#
PICKANINNY MAU MAU
UNCLE TOM
AUNT JEMIMA
LITTLE BLACK SAMBO
COTTON PICKIN’
SWAMP GUINEA
JUNK MAN
SHOESHINE BOY
ELEVATOR OPERATOR
TABLE CLEANER AT HORN & HARDART
SLAVE VOODOO
ZOMBIE
UBANGI LIPPED
FLAT NOSE
TAP DANCIN’
RESIDENT OF HARLEM.
WHAT LURKS BEHIND THIS MISGUIDED EFFORT IS THE FEAR THAT THE CONSTANT, CASUAL, BENIGNLY INTENTIONED USAGE OF “NIGGER” IS DEPRIVING YOUNGSTERS OF AN APPRECIATION OF THE ORIGINAL SENSE OF THE WORD AS AN EXPRESSION OF HATRED, IGNORANCE, AND MALIGN INTENT. THIS FEAR, LIKE SO MANY OTHER FEARS IN THE US, IS OVERWROUGHT. IT IMPLIES THAT WE AND FUTURE GENERATIONS ARE TOO STUPID TO DEAL WITH THE VARIETY OF INTENTIONS AND MEANINGS OF THOSE WHO CONTINUE TO USE “NIGGER”.
ANOTHER MISCONCEPTION IS THAT THE CURRENT USAGE OF “NIGGER” AND ITS VARIANTS LEADS TO LOWER SELF-ESTEEM. HERE THEY HAVE THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE. OR, MORE ACCURATELY, A CART WITHOUT A HORSE. BEING BORN OUT OF WEDLOCK, WITH AN ABSENTEE FATHER, SHOULD BE THE FOCUS OF THOSE CONCERNED ABOUT SELF-ESTEEM. HAVING NO FATHER FIGURE TO HELP A HARD-WORKING MOTHER CHECK HOMEWORK, METE OUT PUNISHMENT AND GUIDANCE, AND SHOW UP FOR PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES IS A COMBINATION OF HAYMAKERS TO ONE’S SELF-ESTEEM.
THOSE ARE THE PERSONAL AND FAMILIAL COMPONENTS OF SELF-ESTEEM. USE OF THE WORD “NIGGER” SUPPOSEDLY AFFECTS A RACIAL COMPONENT OF SELF-ESTEEM. YET THE RACIAL COMPONENT IS THE EASIEST TO VIGOROUSLY, POSITIVELY REINFORCE. WHAT OTHER RACE OR NATION OF PEOPLE HAS BEEN SUBJECTED TO CENTURIES OF OPPRESSION, YET EMERGED WITH SUCH DIGNITY AND CULTURAL STRENGTH? NOW THAT BLACK AMERICANS ARE FREE TO FIND OR LOSE THEIR WAY WITH THE REST OF US, IT IS TOO EASY TO ASK, “WHY DO BLACK AMERICANS HAVE SUCH ENTRENCHED PROBLEMS – HIGH RATES OF OUT-OF-WEDLOCK BIRTHS, HIGH RATES OF VIOLENT CRIME, AND RELATIVELY LOW LEVELS OF EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT? WHY DO THEIR COMMUNITIES SEEM SO BEREFT OF LEADERSHIP?”
EQUALLY VALID QUESTIONS ARE: “WHY ARE THERE ANY BLACK AMERICANS LEFT? WHY DIDN’T THEY ALL COMMIT SUICIDE OR GET HAULED OFF TO THE ASYLUM AFTER ALL THE LYNCHING, RAPING, CULTURAL PILLAGING, ENSLAVEMENT, POLL-TAXING, SEGREGATION? EVERY CONCEIVABLE INSULT AND INJURY HAS BEEN COMMITTED AGAINST THE BLACK AMERICAN COMMUNITY FOR MORE THAN 200 YEARS. HOW IN GOD’S NAME DID THEY HAVE THE SUPERHUMAN FORTITUDE AND SPIRIT TO OVERCOME SUCH UNRELENTING OPPRESSION?”
AFTER ALL THAT BLACK AMERICANS HAVE OVERCOME, TO CLAIM THAT THE 21ST-CENTURY USE OF THE WORD “NIGGER”, WHICH PREDOMINANTLY OCCURS IN CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN BLACK AMERICANS, COULD HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON THEIR SELF-ESTEEM IS A BUNCH OF F-WORD B-WORD.
IN THE 72 HOURS…
SINCE THE ‘GREAT’ BLACK-OUT ‘DAY’ ORDERED BY A ‘SELF-APPOINTMENT’ HEAD N!GGA IN CHARGE…
USA’ MAJORITY NEGRO COMMUNITIES WITNESSES THE FOLLOWING ‘VILE, HATFUL & VIOLENT’ ACTS BY THE BLOODY HANDS OF ITS ‘BORN/REARED’ ‘EXTREMELY-LOW IQ’ BLACK PREDATOR TERRORIST CLASS…
‘EXTREMELY-LOW IQ’ USA BLACK EGG/SPERM DONORS HAVE ABORTED MORE THAN 6,000 NEGRO BABIES…
BLACK ‘EXTREMELY-LOW IQ’ THUGS HAVE MURDERED MORE THAN 75 NEGROES…
BLACK ‘EXTREMELY-LOW IQ’ THUGS HAVE RAPED MORE THAN 750 NEGROES…
BLACK ‘EXTREMELY-LOW IQ’ THUGS HAVE ARMED-ROBBED MORE THAN 1,200 NEGROES…
BLACK ‘EXTREMELY-LOW IQ’ THUGS HAVE VIOLENTLY ASSAULTED MORE THAN 2,400 NEGROES…
BLACK ‘EXTREMELY-LOW IQ’ THUGS HAVE INFLICTED MORE THAN 13,500 PROPERTY CRIMES ON NEGROES…
…THIS ‘VILE, DERANGED & CRIMINALLY INSANE’ BLACK ‘EXTREMELY-LOW IQ’ THUG VIOLENCE COSTING MAJORITY ‘USA NEGRO COMMUNITIES’ > $7 BILLION IN ECONOMIC LOSSES OVER THE LAST 72 HRS!
BUT SOMEHOW RADICAL BLACK POLITICAL SLUTS WILL CLAIM THAT THIS VILE & CRIMINALLY-INSANE “BLACK ‘EXTREMELY-LOW IQ’ THUG”-ON-NEGRO CRIME IS THE FAULT OF “PALE NON-NEGROID” RACISM!
NO, USA NEGROES ARE NOT THAT STUPID…
…JUST BLIND TO LOGIC & THE OVER-WHELMING EVIDENCE OF ‘RACIST MAU-MAUINGS’ OF BLACK SOPHISTRY, RADICAL BLACK ‘POLITICAL WH0RES’ & THEIR PALE NON-NEGROID LIBERAL LAPDOGS’!
Dirtyblues,
That’s F*cked Up.
It also looks like you actually your own b*llsh*t too.
You’re a sick man.
AB, Big Meech from Cali, et.al.
There’s no point in arguing with dirtyblues.
He obviously spends a lot of time formulating his thoughts and authoring those heavy epistles aimed at “educ-mu-cating” all those ignorant “usa negroes.”
Bless his heart.
Alton
Alton,
Thanks. Dirtyblues’s long, rambling and incoherent postings remind me of the Unabomber’s Manifesto a few years back. and we all know that guy was deranged. I hope dirty isn’t off somewhere cooking up something. He needs to watched very closely.
i think that we shuold join with them because so we can show wat kind of power we have!!!1
How can we call for another more strategic national boycott? We do have the economic power to make folks stand up and take notice. But it has got to be more than just someone saying we should boycott without any rhyme or reason.
Understand this, the montgomery bus boycotts lasted over a year! That is the kind of dedication it takes.
I wonder what would happen if we all decided that we would only spend our money with black businesses this Christmas, or if we decided not to put anything on a credit card this season. Or maybe if we all stopped shopping at walmart or somthing similar.
Anything is better that what just went down
Th..Th..Tha. Tha. That’s all folks.
AB,
You’re right — That’s the end of it. Despite lots of hot air and fervent emotion, the unfocused, short-lived effort fizzled as expected and all the people who were so worked up have gone on to something else.
We haven’t hear a peep out of Warrren Ballentine or any of the other organizers as to the outcome, or what their next move is – if any.
Where are all those gung-ho folks who were dissing us practical types as “just being negative” last week? I guess they got ADD after they came out of their trances.
Whatever message that was supposedly sent wasn’t apparently received by “America.” Nobody even noticed that we didn’t spend the estimated $2.0B on November 2nd.
A key reason is that as big as that number might seem, it is still paltry when you consider that just one company, Merrill Lynch, lost $7.8B in in a single day, and the market had recovered by the end of the next day. That only made the news because it was Merrill Lynch.
Until Black folks are willing to take the time to analyze, plan, and target their efforts to where they can have the biggest impact, these general boycotts won’t ever amount to much more than p*issing against the wind.
Peace,
Alton
I participated and for what. Next time Warren Ballentine calls for this kind of sh*t he can kiss my ass.
The fact of the matter is that our people are looking for a leader. We fall short by waiting for someone to step out on the forefront for us when we can all come together and present a frontline so strong no army can get through. National Blackout Day is a great way to start a change in mindset of our culture. Start with a day the next thing u know we’ll be a force to be reckoned with. We ahve to start somewhere people.
Maybe I’m being naive here, but how would this blow to America’s pocketbook do anything against racism? I also don’t understand this so-called “hate crime” issue. A crime is a crime is a crime. Why is it worse to murder someone for racial reasons versus murdering someone because you want to rob them? Is that person still not dead, regardless of why they were murdered?
I know I did
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