Larry A Cochran's Posts - Authors.com2024-03-28T14:21:20ZLarry A Cochranhttp://www.authors.com/profile/LarryACochranhttp://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1547966811?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://www.authors.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=1xk896af9obez&xn_auth=noReconnecting with past learning experiencestag:www.authors.com,2012-08-01:3798404:BlogPost:1471702012-08-01T07:15:34.000ZLarry A Cochranhttp://www.authors.com/profile/LarryACochran
<p><span class="font-size-2" style="color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'; font-size: 6.5pt;">I find myself looking back at past learning environments and wondering how much of the learning was my responsibility and how much of it was the institutions. As I re-read my post on blacks failing, I wonder about patterns of delusion that may have been prearranged by the institution.…</span></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'; font-size: 6.5pt;" class="font-size-2">I find myself looking back at past learning environments and wondering how much of the learning was my responsibility and how much of it was the institutions. As I re-read my post on blacks failing, I wonder about patterns of delusion that may have been prearranged by the institution.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'; font-size: 6.5pt;" class="font-size-2">As I continue gathering information for my dissertation and manuscript "Misguided: The Black Identity Crisis in America", I am confronted with several themes that may play a large role in the direction in which the writing may take.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'; font-size: 6.5pt;" class="font-size-2">Research, Education, Economics, and Community are themes that seem to keep coming up in my readings.</span> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'; font-size: 6.5pt;" class="font-size-2">My thoughts on each have been challenged and I wonder how often we leave these challenges without seeking as much value out of them as possible. I believe that the black in America has been miss-educated. Not in just the terms of racism, but in the terms of lax preparation. We are responsible for our own communities and therefore it is senseless to think that anyone else would have much to gain from educating the Negro in America other than the Negro himself. Education remains a key component of survival for all persons.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'; font-size: 6.5pt;" class="font-size-2">It is improper to speak of education without bringing in the terms economy and community. Each has a very direct impact on the type of education received and then are in turn impacted by that education received. There is a reciprocal affect. The community trains its members to go out into the world to secure resources, that member then returns with those resources which can be distributed in common. The local economy is then predicated on those resources that have been secured. If those resources are ample, then the community thrives, if not, it withers. The sad reality is that the black community has suffered mostly from the latter. We suffocate from a lack of secured resources. I am sure that this is not just due to poor education, but rather insufficient or in some cases miss education.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'; font-size: 6.5pt;" class="font-size-2">How have I come to this conclusion? Simple. Research. I now believe that research is the key component missing in the extension of good education. If a group is not given the basic tools for understanding research and how it ties into every area, then the educational process is incomplete. The goal of education is to train individuals how to learn. This learning process never ends. Each nugget of information leads to other discoveries which then further the need to "research". Good research involves observation, idea or argument development, systematic outlining, and a slew of other concepts that will bring a greater understanding of subject matter. If blacks have not developed a love for learning, they cannot develop. Learning is life-long and must be continually sought after.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'; font-size: 6.5pt;"><span class="font-size-2">There is no room for mindlessness in a global world that is ever changing and ever rediscovering itself.</span></span></p>
<p> </p>Choices: Never isolated, but always connectedtag:www.authors.com,2011-07-18:3798404:BlogPost:647102011-07-18T03:30:43.000ZLarry A Cochranhttp://www.authors.com/profile/LarryACochran
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;">The idea that a choice made in isolation will only affect the person making it is only valid if that person was alone in the world and had no established connection to anyone. Choices are very particular for the individual, but interconnected for the whole of society. Choices can never be made in isolation of others. This is so well established an idea that economist had to create a way around it…</span></p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;">The idea that a choice made in isolation will only affect the person making it is only valid if that person was alone in the world and had no established connection to anyone. Choices are very particular for the individual, but interconnected for the whole of society. Choices can never be made in isolation of others. This is so well established an idea that economist had to create a way around it before they could come up with their own theories about how things worked. "Ceteris paribus" translated from Latin means all things being equal. That is just it, there is no such equality that exists.</span></p>
<br/>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;">Since pure equality does not exist, there is only the theory of possibilities that may result from our choices. A choice made at one point is assuming that all the circumstances, perimeters, and outcomes will remain the same. This is scarcely ever true. Result will change due to perimeters and circumstances, thereby making it that any choice effecting the out one way, may effecting differently at another time or location. The interweaving of possibilities makes it impossible to determine with 100% accuracy every outcome from every<br/>choice. The choice may not change but the outcome will.</span></p>
<br/>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;">The variation in outcomes is a result of the multiplicity of paths that can be taken. These paths that are taken are being multiplied by the number of choices that can be made and then by the number of individual variations. In other words, the outcome is impossible to accurately predict. Choices are by nature risky. The chance of receiving a perceived outcome is equal with not receiving it. Even if every connected variable were to remain constant, which is highly unlikely, the outcome still may vary.</span></p>
<br/>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">Knowing that each outcome is varied leads to the next assumption, that as one choice is made, it invariable leads to more choices. Each of these choices really just opens the field to more choices down the road. As in the movie "Stranger than Fiction", even a person who decides to do nothing is actually making a choice, and that choice will interact with other choices, leaving a new variation in the outcome. Doing nothing, is actually doing something, that something is called taking a passive action. No choice is left alone, but connects with other actions by the self and by other individuals to continue producing more variations.</span></p>I was asked why young black men are failing and this is my partial reply (Repost of a Note from my Facebook page)tag:www.authors.com,2011-07-09:3798404:BlogPost:590442011-07-09T01:33:29.000ZLarry A Cochranhttp://www.authors.com/profile/LarryACochran
<p>I am reading a book called "Why Boys Fail" and it is actually clearing up some questions I have had for a while. Since I have had experiences with the special education population in various school districts and cities, I am now aware of a trend. Boys make up the majority. And in black neighborhoods this is worst. Now I do believe there are multiple factors and various stakeholders, such as parents, teachers, administrators, government, principals, and the…</p>
<p>I am reading a book called "Why Boys Fail" and it is actually clearing up some questions I have had for a while. Since I have had experiences with the special education population in various school districts and cities, I am now aware of a trend. Boys make up the majority. And in black neighborhoods this is worst. Now I do believe there are multiple factors and various stakeholders, such as parents, teachers, administrators, government, principals, and the community-at-large. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>What this all comes down to is that, no matter how much money or attention was thrown at the problem, it just kept getting worst. In the book, the author emphasizes that while most of us were looking at the racial and class issues only, we allowed the gender issue to escape us. In Australia, they discovered that boys’ at the most critical young ages were being left behind in the area of reading and comprehension due to the very nature of our biology. Men need time to learn how to comprehend or it will be like stereo instructions being played backwards.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He laid out in the book what Australia did and then what America did to address the deficit in education. Australia kept the standards high and just met the boys where they were at the younger years, allowing them to mature naturally but with the proper curriculum. In America, the standards were lowered, but the focus was said to be on racial and economic inequalities, which are important, but had nothing to do with our boys falling behind in reading and comprehension.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Now as a result of not allowing boys to be taught as boys, they grow up more and more frustrated because they really don't know what they need to, but we tell them get over it and get on with it. While they really do need to get on with it, they are now less prepared than ever. Our government then said create more programs, spend more money on high school retention programs and secure more college loans. This just continued the trend of passing along unprepared boys, and girls in some cases.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>While there are those who made it out because they decided to take it a step further, the American society does not think of that as the norm, which is considered extra. It has become extra to do homework. It has become noble to go to work. It is seen as heart-broken when the law is broken. The facts are that our black men are not as adequately prepared as we thought. I ask classmates and some of my students at times and found that not only do they skip reading their assignments thoroughly; they rarely follow up on other readings that are connected with the assignments to help explain them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>My example is this, I was sitting in one of my undergraduate classes years ago and the professor started talking about a subject that came directly from a recommending reading, not the mandatory reading. I decided to take a look at the book, and ended up reading the entire thing. At every point in the class from that point on, I understood the lectures and the assignments. Most of the students in this small class asked me how, I said, I read the recommended readings and the assignments. It worked.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Now how does this tie into the falling behind of young men. Well, I work in the system and found that things that are recommended are really the things our children, especially our boys are missing. The no longer mandate comprehension, phonetics, and true reading for understanding. I mean, my son is in a reading program with the library that follows the schools program. He just reads books at volume and gets a prize. They don't even know if he understands what he read.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If parents don't understand, children are not being told to understand, and teachers are told it is not necessary that they fully understand, each generation falls further behind the next. The government will say, we need more funding, I say we need to go back to the educational strengths of the past, not the unequal distribution of the present. Children need goals and standards that match progress, not rules and formulas that produce ignorance. Readingis good, but comprehending what is read is greater. No excuses.</p>Justice is Not Equal, It is only Fairtag:www.authors.com,2011-07-06:3798404:BlogPost:577432011-07-06T02:56:02.000ZLarry A Cochranhttp://www.authors.com/profile/LarryACochran
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;">After taking a hard look at the facts surrounding the recent jury verdict, I can see how it is possible to come to a decision of "not guilty". We may be looking at the case and for that matter all cases, from the wrong perspective.</span></p>
<br></br>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">It is plain to see that based on…</span></p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;">After taking a hard look at the facts surrounding the recent jury verdict, I can see how it is possible to come to a decision of "not guilty". We may be looking at the case and for that matter all cases, from the wrong perspective.</span></p>
<br/>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">It is plain to see that based on the letter of the law, Casey Anthony received justice under the law, but it is not quite clear how the actual victim, Caylee, received justice. As for the equality, there was none, but for the fairness under the law, it was fair. It clearly states:</span></p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> </span></p>
<blockquote><p><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;">The Sixth Amendment itself specifies seven rights applicable “in all criminal prosecutions”: (1) <a target="_top" href="/topic/speedy-trial">speedy</a> trial; (2) public trial; (3) <a target="_top" href="/topic/trial">trial</a> by jury; (4) notice of the accusation; (5) confrontation of opposing witnesses; (6) compulsory process for obtaining favorable witnesses; and (7) the assistance of counsel (see <a target="_top" href="/topic/fair-trial">Counsel, Right to</a>).</span></i></p>
<p><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;">Found at: <a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/amendment-vi-to-the-u-s-constitution">http://www.answers.com/topic/amendment-vi-to-the-u-s-constitution</a></span></i></p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;">The law affords each citizen, and I do say citizen, because it is now unlawfully being applied to non-citizens as well; the same treatment. So the real argument does not lay in the fairness of the trial, it was fair. The fact still remains that Caylee, the true victim, will not be able to come back and tell anyone who did it. What is the thing that helped Casey escape without a real reprimand is that fact that there was not sufficient evidence. In a case for capital murder, it must be proven beyond reasonable doubt, but that very doubt is up for personal interpretation. This is where the inequality can seep in.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;">I have seen cases like the Scott Peterson case; he was convicted with a body, and a theory. Not a shred of evidence pointing to him as the killer, yet he was convicted [1]. Why? Because justice is not equal, it is only fair. It was fair for him to have a trial by a jury of his peers. They deliberated. He was found guilty. Casey was tried by a jury of her peers. They deliberated. She was found not guilty. What was gruesome was that both had the same attitude, both had the same presupposed motive, freedom. The only problem was that Lacey was pregnant and Scott was a male, who everyone perceived him as a cheating, lying, and murderer. This played to his disadvantage. Casey lied and did so with no regard, but still the jury saw her as being set up, a well played defense.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;">Now if the law were equal in its distribution, both would either be in jail and both would be set free, not so. Casey was able to hide behind her guilt as a defense. Scott's guilt was what killed his defense.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;">Whatever people think about either of them, what is worthy to note is that justice was dished out fairly, but not even close to being equal.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;">Now I return to the fact of Caylee's justice. In both cases, the victim was being fought for by the prosecution or the state. Yet in Scott’s case, the victim was used as a tool to invoke emotions and strengthen their argument. In the Casey trial, Caylee, was not seen as the victim, but rather Casey was. This was very<br/>unusual since the idea is to find out who and not what as in the Peterson trial. Circumstantial was her friend while it was Scott's enemy.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;">I have stood by the fact that I believe that justice under the law is not always going to come to a point of common sense or even truth, it is going to go to the lawyer who can convince the jury, not the public of innocence or guilt without any doubt. The problem is that doubt is in opposition to truth. Doubt says that if I have a slightly small reason to believe the facts, then there is no guilty verdict. But doubt does not say a person who is innocent, if there is a slight chance they are guilty, the verdict is guilty.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;">In most cases, the burden of proof is on the side of the prosecution [2], but this is not a well plan. For if the perceived guilty can lie well enough, they go free. Liars are good at their game and when they gamble, the law says that they have a greater chance to win[3]. Now, presuming innocence is only for some people, in some cases, and in some places. If this were not so, then Scott, would not be guilty. He must be innocent too. This is not the case because the law is not equal, it is only fair. Fairness does not always come out in equal portions, therefore some innocent will go free and some will be convicted, but here is the dilemma, a greater proportion of guilty will go free than that of the innocent. Why? Because the very nature of the guilty to lie, cheat, and steal, is protected by the law under the presumption of innocence idea.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;">Casey, if she is the killer, and we may never truly know, was able to avert the law and any evidence that would have convicted her was completely tainted. One could argue that if she was the killer, she was very methodical; her dad was a law enforcement officer. She could have learned a lot. Also, the facts were by<br/>common sense definition against her, but the facts are not what were argued, only the law. Under the law, it is always possible to be guilty and go free, but if you are innocent, you were never let go to be free, because you were never guilty in the first place. The law is not equal, it is only fair.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;">1. <a href="http://articles.cnn.com/2004-11-12/justice/peterson.verdict_1_rick-distaso-laci-peterson-scott-peterson/2?_s=PM:LAW">http://articles.cnn.com/2004-11-12/justice/peterson.verdict_1_rick-distaso-laci-peterson-scott-peterson/2?_s=PM:LAW</a></span></p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;">2. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presumption_of_innocence">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presumption_of_innocence</a></span></p>
<p><span style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode"; font-size: 10pt;">3. <a href="http://articles.cnn.com/1998-12-31/politics/1998_12_31_impeachment_1_censure-resolution-impeachment-and-conviction-impeachment-vote?_s=PM:ALLPOLITICS">http://articles.cnn.com/1998-12-31/politics/1998_12_31_impeachment_1_censure-resolution-impeachment-and-conviction-impeachment-vote?_s=PM:ALLPOLITICS</a></span></p>The Media, The Networks, The Journalisttag:www.authors.com,2011-07-02:3798404:BlogPost:569482011-07-02T21:56:11.000ZLarry A Cochranhttp://www.authors.com/profile/LarryACochran
<p>Watching a documentary on Bloomberg television about media mogul Rupert Murdock has revealed a lot. The war of Fox News is not about Liberalism and Conservatism as it may appear. Rupert is a very shrewd business man and he is feared. While there will be casualties among the many who are employed across the Murdock Empire, he will stand as a fierce businessman who knows what he wants and what it takes to get it. There is no doubt that the Murdock Family will continue on far after he is passed…</p>
<p>Watching a documentary on Bloomberg television about media mogul Rupert Murdock has revealed a lot. The war of Fox News is not about Liberalism and Conservatism as it may appear. Rupert is a very shrewd business man and he is feared. While there will be casualties among the many who are employed across the Murdock Empire, he will stand as a fierce businessman who knows what he wants and what it takes to get it. There is no doubt that the Murdock Family will continue on far after he is passed from this world to the next, it still remains to be seen why some feel the need to fight his employees, rather than Rupert himself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Empire has holdings such as Fox Sports, Fox News, Fox, Fox Entertainment, Searchlight, The Wall Street Journal, and so many others. The problem is that most of his empire has nothing to do with being liberal or conservative, so the fight that is raging is only about one particular station, Fox News. The problem is that<br/>this is a cable network and the actual Fox station which is general broadcast, has a totally different feel and agenda.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Yes Rupert had an agenda when he originally launched the cable network, Fox News. That agenda was to enter the market and conquer. He looked at the other news offerings and realized a niche that was being ignored; it was the so-called conservative voice. He then proceeds to build a cable news station that caters to that opinion. He also launches Fox Business. These two do have a very conservative feel, but it has to be seen for what it really is a cable network that is serving a niche market that others run from. It is actually genius to<br/>do such a thing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As an author and writer, would it make since to try to enter a market with a book or idea that everyone already has? This would be foolish. If the market is saturated with self-help books, then it would not make sense to try and dominate that market when cook books may be open. The strategy of any brand is to seek for the largest market share possible. Rupert Murdock has achieved this. Another of his tenets is that of working 24 hours, well, not literally, but having a hand in business at every single moment possible, seizing opportunity.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As an author or writer, as a publisher or agent, as a poet or singer, does it make sense to only put out a message that is valid 12 hours a day? The work has to penetrate 24 hours; the work has to go on to be extended, even when the author is not working or writing. This is just good business and good branding. Now the point of this posting is not about authors and writers, but about the media, the networks, and the journalist.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In reality every author is a journalist in their own rights, each author is putting out a message. Every publisher is a network onto itself. The media is the book, eBook, or magazine. Rupert may not be liked or he may not be favored as a nice man, but when his strategy is broken down, it is in reality what every good business person is seeking to do anyway. Rupert is just more vocal and willing to take the risks to make it happen. If the author thinks like a journalist and sees their writing as something that must be heard, something that is newsworthy, and something that is unique, then being at Fox News is what is needed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What being at Fox News means, being with a publisher that is going to make your work seen and heard by as many it can be. The publisher should be like Rupert, fighting and working endlessly to make the voices, or the niche, heard and see by all. The publisher needs to be working day and night to make sure that their writers and authors are branded for the mass market. Independence is now seen as the best way to make this happen, since the publisher has saw fit to not follow this rule. The Publishers have grown lazy, like the stations that hate the Murdock way. They have refused to do the work that once made them great. They want the work done<br/>before they lift a finger.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The only problem with the old paradigm is that if the author and writer are doing their own work, they should maintain full control of the content and brand. The author's independence is a good thing and should be embraced; however, the independent needs a bit of shrewdness in order to survive. The 'good ole boys'<br/>are not going to stand for someone who wants to control their own destiny. This is what is wrong with Fox News; they will force the viewer to think for themselves rather than telling them what to think. Freedom sometimes requires being thrown in the fire by the very same groups that cry freedom for all, except those who disagree.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A liberal is always a liberal until another liberal opinion is not their opinion, then they become less liberal to the opinion that is not their liberal.</p>
<br/><br/>
<p> </p>Impacting Books for Good Research, Study, or Writingtag:www.authors.com,2011-06-18:3798404:BlogPost:512832011-06-18T16:00:00.000ZLarry A Cochranhttp://www.authors.com/profile/LarryACochran
<p>I will be compiling a list of books that I have used for various stages of research when writing essays, booklets, and white papers.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Finding the right resources to point a writer in a good direction is just as having something to say. As many people are finding out who write non-fiction, our opinion is just that, our opinion, but it helps to have your opinion backed by other so-called experts.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Each post will highlight a different resource, what it was used…</p>
<p>I will be compiling a list of books that I have used for various stages of research when writing essays, booklets, and white papers.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Finding the right resources to point a writer in a good direction is just as having something to say. As many people are finding out who write non-fiction, our opinion is just that, our opinion, but it helps to have your opinion backed by other so-called experts.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Each post will highlight a different resource, what it was used for, how it impacted the writing, places it can be found, a brief summary, what type of reference material it is, and some possible links to others who agree or disagree with the resource.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If anyone is interested in posting an opinion, feel free to do so, as this will be an opportunity to add value to the resource itself or even debunk the resource if need be.</p>
<p>Looking forward to later posts.</p>The Impossibility (The Introduction)tag:www.authors.com,2011-06-17:3798404:BlogPost:515442011-06-17T02:13:57.000ZLarry A Cochranhttp://www.authors.com/profile/LarryACochran
<p>From time to time, I ponder on the ideas surrounding the disproportionism of Black America. Each time I learn a new piece of data from history, I come closer and closer to a self-realization that there are some groups who may have been set to be where they are, when they are set to be there and nothing aside from a miracle would change that position.</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote><p>Fredrick Douglas once said "Without struggle there is no progress".</p>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>So theoretically…</p>
<p>From time to time, I ponder on the ideas surrounding the disproportionism of Black America. Each time I learn a new piece of data from history, I come closer and closer to a self-realization that there are some groups who may have been set to be where they are, when they are set to be there and nothing aside from a miracle would change that position.</p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote><p>Fredrick Douglas once said "Without struggle there is no progress".</p>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>So theoretically some could argue that Black, oooops, African-Americans (I use this term very loosely), have not really been in a struggle, because had this group really been, there should, theoretically be some hard progress made. Now, don't start to panic, I am not saying that Black, ooooops, African-Americans have not seen the civil rights movement achieved great things, or the ending of slavery, or “Jim Crow”, but what I am insisting is that, as a people, can we really say that we have seen progress. In my life long research, I am working to disprove much of the research that continues to put Black, I mean, African-Americans in the place of "the welfare state". As seen in most countries in African, to this day, it is seen to be in a place of continual need. I think the opposite is true and has always been true.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In previous essays and articles, I have taken that stance that "the welfare state" has actually had the opposite effect as to what was desired upon Black, I still mean, African-Americans. In any state, it can clearly be argued<br/>that the Black American, is in a much worst state today than that which existed before the capturing into slavery, and not much different from the exit from slavery through "Jim Crow", until now. Now, don't get caught up in a bunch. Yes, blacks are seen to have made some success, yes there is a president who identifies with being black, but one clear and accurate look at history will tell anyone that this was even the case before, during, and after slavery as well. There have always been successful blacks or Africans in this country, even before is founding. Why then has there been such hoopla over the "so-called progress" of the Black, I mean, African-American. Success is not new, I argue that it is just now recognized, or accredited to Blacks as it should. That is the only real progress. It is the progress of the idea that Blacks are just as able as any other group to succeed and invent and prosper as any other. Ok, now I ask where the progress is.</p>
<p>If Black America is better, then where is the progress? Really?</p>
<p>In a new essay, that will also be part of my manuscript coming soon "Misguided: The Black American Identity Crisis", I will work to answer this question. I am looking at historical documents and records proving that the success that is being touted as success is nothing new. It is just part of a people that has always been. I will also work to prove, hopefully, that the need for Black-America can never be met through "so-called" aid or welfare programs. These programs inadvertently have the opposite effect on a people group that has been labeled as being "left-out", "pissed-on", "discriminated against", "locked out", or any other phrase that can be thrown out there. My life long work will be that of disproving all of the subjective research that has truly<br/>institutionalized Black, so sorry, African-Americans.</p>
<p>Before ending this introduction to future essays and books about this subject, here is the idea behind the use of the expression "Black American" as opposed to the politically correct "African-American". In order to be defined by the term African-American, it has to be assumed that a person has some lineage or connection with Africa. If this is not the case, how can a person be called "Italian-American" or "Asian-American". The ethnic group denotes the connection between the cultures. One being the origin, the second being where that person currently resides as a legal resident. Now, since most people who are labeled historically as "African-American" were already a part of this country when it formed, it could be said that rightly they are "American". For the sake of claiming a heritage or a culture in America, it may very well be more politically correct to term "African-Americans" as either "Black Americans", "Afro-Americans", or "Negro-American". Lets be real, the term Black or Negro only became offensive because someone told us it was, and did not even tell us what it meant. All of a sudden, it became politically correct to say it the way the Census Bureau said it is. What?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Look out for new articles, essays, books, and speeches on this subject. There is no shame, and any argument is gladly accepted, but make sure the argument has legs and is not based on shoddy research, hatred, ignorance, or plain emotions.</p>