THE AUDACITY OF BEING SMARTY PANTS

I am stealing a little thunder from a Blog that I like to read when I wrote this. Over the past few weeks I pulled back from the table of let’s “Bash Hillary” this week, lets “Bash Barak” next week. The whole Style vs. Substance, Action vs. Inactions, Bread and Butter vs. Meat and Potatoes it got tied and pathetic. Even more so, many of the Black Bloggers were and still are far worst than the Traditional Media and I just got sick of reading what new NON ISSUE was going to be the ranted of the day. Well, on my way back I go back to surfing for my general information off the Internet and International sources. Then I go to my Black Blogs and guess what, not a DAYUM beat was missed; SSDD.

My Black Conservative Blog that I enjoy had an “Obama” piece on it (when in Rome I say) that made me decide to do my first Political entry in about a month. The entry was this:

"My biggest fear of the Obama Campaign was not that he would be perceived as the Black candidate (that is pretty hard to overlook), but that he would be perceived as an uppity Black candidate (a Black elitist who is out of touch with common folk and who has the gall to look down on poor whites). Well, it happened and the media and the blogosphere has gone 'ape s__t' over...the truth!”

I thought the same thing way back when Obama was running for Senator of the State of Illinois. My beliefs were not because I am a Conservative or a Black Republican but for the only reason that I come from the same educational background as Obama. The views and perception that the Blogger addressed, I get working in my own Community. I mean lets keep it real, if you are a college graduate and live in a richly diverse Black community, you know you have had run ins with all types of people with varying levels of academic achievement. It is expected upon the first words from people speaking that we expect a minimum of rudimentary level of education; basic reading, writing and comprehension. Absent the notion of Common Sense, we can expect in this modern time that a person will at least complete a sentence with the proper Queen’s English or Street lingo with a noun and a verb. How a person communicates, does speak volumes as to their character. It tells a story of education, geographic location even generation. So when tone, posture and intent is backed behind a Man or Woman speaking in America, we have no choice but to departmentalize where we stand against them either side-by-side or on the sidelines doubting if and how we compare.

Living in urban areas, the diversity in peoples is far reaching and varied. From rich to poor, young to old, Black to White, Saints to Sinners, you can’t keep tract of the complexities. Within the communities of Black folk we have Dark skin to Light skin, Religious to Spiritual, Educated to Illiterate, Elders to Adolescence, Conservatives and New Progressives. Sticking to the Educated (Intellectuals) coming Home to community, there is and has always been a deeply rooted disdain for the character that comes with possessing (too much) knowledge; although becoming an educated Black person, part and parcel, necessitated in the uplifting of a Race.

These groups of Blacks have been a part of the Black American Diaspora since the days of Reconstruction and the Talented Ten. Even more so, those Jack and Jill Blacks are even sub-divided by Northern and Southern Intellectuals and Traditionally Black College and Universities vs. Ivy Leaguers. So when I see Barak Obama standing before the nation and speaking, the perception of him being an Agent of Change and Inspiration does exist and yet his appeal is greatest with the Youth and White Collar Professionals (at least this is how the media is reporting it). So between the Obama’s stance as an intellectual (political), well traveled, Ivy League educated, Charismatic (I hate this reference) and having a command of poised language, on the surface, he can have the appearance of a cultural elite to those without; the poor, the working class and those on the other side of the Black sub-culture.

So when you take the feelings of people under the shadow of inequities, words spoken from the physical representation of a “possible” Affirmative Action recipient that has done GOOD, an individual whom have in his niceties described them as “bitter”, an existence that may or may not exist, it would only be a matter of time before someone on the receiving end speak up and shout words like Elitist, Uppity, and Bourgie. If you come from a simular background as an Obama, the expectation for this type of negative response is like the theory of Memory Prediction Framework. This theory of when the brain takes events and stimuli from the past sets up a framework for serious and preordained reactions. This action supports in making decisions and navigating through complex obstacles and random occurrences. Think of it like driving slowly through a minefield and knowing where they are all placed. Now speed up the driving with a dust storm, the Sun in your eyes and birds flying across your window and your brain blocks out all other stimuli and concentrates on the driving to avoid the mines. This is Obama’s Memory Framework because although he was referring to economics, in America economics is tied too close to Race, either his or Small Town America’s. His fix for the situation? You will see Obama calling upon all of his past lectures, speeches, sermons, conversations, personal conflicts and history of his being MISUNDERSTOOD by others for being ELITE.

Obama’s analyst of Small Town America does not threaten those Intellectuals on par with Obama. It is only those that have not had the blessings of a Harvard education (including those that were rejected and ended up going to their SECOND CHOICE SCHOOL) and those that have been laborers for generations might have issue.