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Welcome to Operation Reach B.L.A.C.K.

Operation Reach B.L.A.C.K. is a Pan-African Blog with an acronym that stands for Building Leadership Awareness and Cultural Knowledge.

The goal of this blog is to become a "Blog of Black Thought" focusing on matters of social, economic and political awareness through education (re-education), self-affirmation and cultural expression. Above all, this blog will DEMAND respect and appreciation for one another as black men and women.

In addition to this blog, I am also a member of the team over at Jack and Jill Politics. Be sure to swing by and check me out!

Got something to say? Feel free to visit and comment on past posts or Email me at: reachblackblog@gmail.com

Be Somebody

B-Serious

Words of Wisdom

“[T]rust your experience. Know whence you came. If you know whence you came, there is really no limit to where you can go. The details and symbols of your life have been deliberately constructed to make you believe what [other] people say about you. Please try to remember that what they believe, as well as what they do and cause you to endure, does not testify to your inferiority but to their inhumanity and fear. . .[T]here is no basis whatever for their impertinent assumption that they must accept you. The really terrible thing, old buddy, is that you must accept them. And I mean that very seriously. You must accept them and accept them with love. . . . We cannot be free until they are free.”

(James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time)

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

This is NOT a Pleasant Man

That’s the feeling I get when I see exchanges like the following . . .

TalkingPointsMemo has a video of McCain’s recent interview with the editorial board of the Des Moines Register. Until now, I didn’t think his camp would let it happen . . .but performances like this make me think the guy could blow his top at any moment:



Creepy!

Peevish. Stuff like this feeds into people’s concerns about McCain’s temperament. People are correct to note that this guy takes criticism very personally. And that’s not a good look when you’ve got your finger on the button. He does not wear well under pressure.

Joy Behar (lol. . . yes . . . I am going to quote The View) said it best: It’s like McCain can’t distinguish between an adversary and an enemy. Obama is McCain’s adversary . . . a terrorist is McCain’s enemy. Does McCain know the difference???

Sorry, but I need a President who understands that difference. Otherwise, how should I expect McCain to work with a Democratic Congress? How can I expect transparency in government if McCain wages war on the media? Not a good look.

As I sat through the Republican primary debates, I was struck by the fact that McCain has absolutely NO poker face whatsoever. The disdain and (I’d go as far as to say) borderline hatred he seemed to show towards Mitt Romney was unsettling . . . uncomfortably personal and improper for a debate amongst candidates that, despite their differences, were still on the same team (all Republicans and, more importantly, all AMERICANS). It showed back then and it’s why McCain lost his debate with Obama this past Friday.

There’s a sense that, if you really wanted to, you could goad McCain into a fight just by looking at him the wrong way. It doesn’t instill confidence in voters to think that a foreign dictator could get inside McCain’s head just as easily as the editorial board at the Des Moines Register. It’s not a strength . . . it’s a weakness. It’s the sign of a man who is easily distracted and prone to erratic behavior.

Some people can’t disagree without being disagreeable. McCain strikes me as one such person. In a country torn between competing ideologies . . .red and blue . . . conservative and liberal . . . with a government mired in intense and, at times, irrational partisanship . . . Americans need a President who is mature and self-confident enough to LEAD a divided nation down a path toward better times. That’s not the path I see under a McCain administration.

Read more!