The Excuse Game
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Posted By: Samuel Burnham on March 02, 2009 Blackonomics: February 2009, by James Clingman Jr. “Every child has lost every excuse.” Those were the words of James Clyburn of South Carolina, Majority Whip in the House of Representatives. He spoke those words on BET of all places, in response to Barack Obama being elected President of the United States. As soon as I read his statement, I thought, “Uh Oh, here we go.” Now that we have a Black President all bets are off, and all is right with the world; we have reached our highest pinnacle. “Every child,” as Clyburn said, which obviously includes every Black child, can no longer be excused for not achieving. " Let’s delve into Clyburn’s “no excuse” world of an Obama Presidency. While we are at it, let’s find some adults, maybe even some U.S. Representatives, who no longer have excuses for their behavior. The most recent heinous act against a Black man was committed in plain sight of several witnesses and captured on camera. Young Oscar Grant, lying on his stomach, hands held behind his back, and with one cop’s knee on his neck, was summarily shot and killed by a cop who had little regard for the life of a young Black man. But since we have a Black President, I don’t want to hear young men in Oakland come up with excuses for not wanting to go along with the system, despite the possibility of being on their way to school and getting shot by an overzealous police officer. Black children no longer have the excuse of being “steered” to low level education programs because they come from a “poor” neighborhood; they cannot offer the excuse of being targeted as low performers or “hyperactive,” thus, requiring them to be put on drugs to keep them calm. Black children can no longer rely on the excuse of not having enough to eat in the morning, or having to sleep in a cold house because the heat was turned off, or not having the adult examples they need in their immediate lives, not from a distance, to guide them along their way. They now have Obama, so no more excuses. No more excuses for the disparities that exist in our criminal justice system, our social service system, our educational system, and our political system. No more excuses for any child who sees corporate executives and slimy politicians fatten their pockets from the public coffers, and feast at banquet tables fit for kings and queens. No more excuses for the child who cries at night or cowers in fear of being the next Oscar Grant. Yeah right, no more excuses. How about the so-called responsible adults who run this country? Are they now out of excuses? Do they now have to take more ownership for their lives and the lives of those for whom they work? Can they still make excuses for not standing up and speaking against injustice, against disparity, and against the crimes we see everyday in the public and private sectors? Has every adult run out of excuses for allowing millions of children, who no longer have excuses, to go without adequate health care? Now that we have a Black President will every adult be held accountable for his or her actions? Will part of the “change” we raved about be adults acting like adults rather than like self-indulgent children who have no regard for anyone but themselves? Like Representative Clyburn, I also went through a few things in the fifties and sixties as a result of prejudice and racism. I saw the same things he saw, and I also wondered if we would ever have a Black President. Now that we have one, my attention is not so much on the children as it is on the adults. How can we say they no longer have any excuse, especially when many of their excuses can be traced to our neglect of their needs – regardless of who resided in the White House? Why didn’t we tell them that Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. DuBois could have been President were it not for this country’s racism? Why not share with them the fact that Barbara Jordan and Shirley Chisholm could have run this country? Why didn’t we eliminate their excuses when Reginald Lewis bought Beatrice Foods for $1 billion dollars? Or, when Oprah became a billionaire? Why didn’t we tell them “no more excuses” when Ken Chenault assumed the highest level at American Express Corporation? It is sad that some Black people, especially those in my age group, place so much emphasis on politics rather than on economics. Yes, we have a Black President, but that fact will not eliminate all excuses among our children until it eliminates all excuses among our adults. When our children see more responsible adults, they will be more responsible. The status of the Obama family alone does not, will not, and cannot eliminate all excuses for every child. If that were the case their excuses would have been eliminated long ago by the likes of Booker T. Washington, Harriet Tubman, and Sojourner Truth. Or by other Black “presidents” like Maggie Lena Walker and Madame C.J. Walker, Ed Gardner and John Johnson, S.B. Fuller and Joe Dudley, Ann Fudge and Suzanne DePasse, Barry Gordy and Robert Holland, Jackie Mayfield and Dr. Walter P. Lomax. It is only now that we have a Black “U.S.” President, a political leader rather than an economic leader that we say to our children, “No more excuses.” When Black politicians, who have “good jobs, great health care, and benefits of public office, speak about the intrinsic value of a Black man rising to the top of our political hierarchy, I wonder what it says about their own value to their constituents. I wonder if that also eliminates their excuses for acquiescing to sub-standard economic and social conditions among Black people in this country. If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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Samuel Burnham
Associate, Chosen Agency Florida A&M University class of 2003 Member Since February 2009 |
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