‘Last Chance: The Political Threat to Black America’
Lee A. Daniels
Right now, as you read this article, history is being made.
For the first time ever, an African American candidate is campaigning for President and whites are widely supporting him.
One of the country’s most popular and powerful television personalities is Black and a peek at her studio audience reveals a good number of white faces. Several major corporations are headed by Black CEOs who lead employees of all races. Mainstream media is giddy about a “color-blind” America.
So does this mean that Black America has seen the last of racial problems? No, says author Lee A. Daniels. Gains have been made politically, but social problems exist and are worsening. In his new book “Last Chance”(c.2008, PublicAffairs, $22.95 / $24.95 Canada, 223 pages, includes index), he explains.
Over the last hundred years - and especially the Civil Rights Era - Black Americans have admittedly made great strides. Daniels cites statistics that show a higher percentage today of Black homeowners. Black Americans are filling more high-position jobs. It’s tempting, therefore, to say that problems of a racial nature are waning in America.
But, Daniels says, we need to look closer. Crime is still a big problem in Black neighborhoods. Disproportionate numbers of Black Americans are in jail. The percentage of Blacks in business and academia has risen slowly or not at all in the last few decades. Past years with the GOP in the White House hasn’t helped. The hopes of the Civil Rights Movement seem so distant.
So what can be done?
First, Daniels says we should keep the momentum of the Civil Rights Movement: “… an increasing number of black Americans are worried about blacks’ progress… they are looking back to the civil rights movement to help them plot a way forward.”
Secondly, Daniels indicates that we can stop the argument that says Barack Obama isn’t a “real” Black American because he wasn’t descendant of slaves. That kind of thinking “… bears witness to the numerous new fissures that have developed among blacks in America…” says Daniels. “If … black Americans are going to begin believing they have little or nothing in common with other black Americans on the basis of class, family background, or a previous condition of servitude or not, there will be very little unanimity left in Black America.”
Thirdly, we can get involved. “The task ahead is to once again find the volcanic, self-starting organizing power that produced the… Million Man and Woman marches and to yoke it to the ongoing mission of Black America.”
Casting your vote this November will be more important than ever, and “Last Chance” explains why. Author Lee Daniels is a calming, yet urgent voice of common sense and he has the courage to say what needs to be said. He’s going to shake up some folks, to be sure, but his words are food for thought no matter how you lean, politically if you are or will be of voting age this fall, you owe it to yourself to read this important book. “Last Chance” should be one of the first political books you grab.
Candice Glover could barely remember her own name after she was crowned the new “American Idol” on Thursday.
“I’m still trying to process the whole thing, I don’t even know what’s happening,” she told the press backstage. “It feels amazing though that I finally got to this point; I’ve been working for so long.”
Businessman Leon T. Garr, a well-known leader and builder in Los Angeles, recently celebrated his 99th birthday with family and friends. Here, he is backed by his two daughters, Ranza Trotter, left, and Carolyn Jenkins. A general contractor in his hometown of Ruston, La., Garr moved his family West to California in 1944. Garr built a number of successful businesses, including a construction company, schools and saved a failing bank. A book by Garr, entitled “Let’s Go to Work!” is being filmed as a documentary directed by Antwone Fisher.
Chris Wright was playing professional basketball in Turkey last year, working toward achieving his lifelong dream of playing in the NBA, when something strange happened at the end of practice.
“I’m running sprints, just normal sprints, and I run and touch the baseline, go back and my foot gives out,” said Wright, now 23.
“I just thought I slipped or something like that. But I noticed my foot started getting numb and it just got progressively worse.”
A man hunt for a fired Los Angeles police and reserve naval officer who is suspected of killing an Irvine couple on Sunday, kiling a Riverside police officer this morning and posting a manifesto that threatens high-level LAPD officials and their families, has law enforcement officials on edge in three counties.
In the wake of Barack Obama’s second inauguration, it is easy to forget about the daily indignities and terror African Americans have endured; easy to forget that simply surviving segregation required ordinary people to engage in extraordinary acts of courage every single day.
