Restoring Fairness in Hiring and Voting
Have you ever not been hired because of hearsay and/or an employer not giving you a chance to present all of the facts? Have you ever been voted out and/or not voted into an organization because of corruption, discrimination, unfairness, mismanagement, and/or illegal practices and policies? If so, you can become a meaningful part of the solution to unfairness in hiring and voting. You may think that the companies and organizations that are unfair in their hiring and voting decisions, practices, and policies are too powerful, but I want you to know that the law is on your side.
Whenever you feel that a company or organization has been unfair to you in terms of hiring or voting, you have to stand up to this unfairness. We can never end this unfairness if you are not willing to stand up to the companies and organizations responsible for it. If you are not willing to speak out against unfairness and discrimination, then I really don’t want to hear your private moaning and crying about experiencing them. People have to become more willing to take issues of unfairness and discrimination to court. One of the purposes for creating the American court system was for the people to have a remedy to combating unfairness, injustice, and discrimination.
I will stand with you against unfairness in hiring and voting if you are willing to muster the courage to stand up for yourself. It appears that I am going to have to take some people to court for their recent unfairness and discrimination against me. You can bet that I’m going to fight and win too!
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Passionately Advocate for Someone Besides Yourself
At some point, you should understand that it is important to be a passionate advocate for someone besides yourself. I have found that most of the people in my life only advocate for themselves, including family and friends—even those friends who claim to be so close to me! Most of the people in my life would not be where they are today without me—period! On the rare occasions I need something from the people in my life, I never receive close to the support I provide for them. Although I am a truly controversial figure, this does not mean that you should stray away from passionately advocating for me just to stay in good favor with people—just selfish!
The people in my life are going to have to understand that they are going to be in terrible shape if I decide to no longer help them and advocate for them. People always tell me how much they love me and how much they support me, but I have been shown time and time again that these are just lies. I have to say that Santresa Glass and Jesus have been the only constants in my life. I appreciate and love them both so dearly. I also appreciate my loyal readers—you bring much needed joy in my life.
For some of my family members and “close” friends, you are about to arrive at some serious moments and stages in your life. Now, I want you to imagine what will happen if I decide to no longer support you and be there for you.
I am truly frustrated with always helping people who always have their hands out, but never take an opportunity to do anything for me. I am trying to be nice about how I am handling this, but I am only human and I am headed toward just getting away from all the pretenders in my life—whether you are a family member or a friend.
If you really love and support me, you would be willing to sacrifice some things for me, including having to lose the favor of some of the people around you. When you think about it, I have lost the favor of many people by the things I have done to support you. I have given so much of myself to helping people, but rarely do I ever get any support and help in return. Just to be clear, I do not help people so that they can help me, but it would seem that when you are in a time of need that people would help you, especially when you have helped them for years.
My brighter days are in the near future, but I may not allow some of the dead weight to accompany me. I have a significant amount of evaluation to do in my life about the people in my life to determine if I’m going to let them continue to be a part of my life. Be sure to passionately advocate for someone in your life besides yourself! Do not provide people with fake advocacy. If you are not going to zealously advocate for them, then do not advocate for them at all.
Have a great remainder of your Sunday!
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Keep Chopping
When the storms of life are raging, don’t let them take you out! As Bishop Paul L. Fortson once said, “Down but not counted out!” In life, you are going to face some tough battles and some unfortunate hardships, but you are going to have to learn to deal with them and not let them get the best you. You are greater than your biggest challenge and greater than your biggest problem. What resides inside of you allows you to take on the world and come out on top, so reach inside of yourself and grab your victory! Throughout my life, I have experienced many great challenges and problems, and some would have taken out most people, but I never allowed those challenges and problems to terminate who I am and my life. When things don’t go the way that you want them, keep chopping. By keep chopping, I mean keep moving, keep trying, don’t give up, don’t quit, stay focused on your goals, never give in, and don’t flinch in the face of your challenges and problems.
When people tell you that you will never be anything, or that you will never be successful, I want you to know that this is the voice of the Enemy—he does not want you to win! Defeat the Enemy with your words and actions. Many of the challenges and problems you will face will call upon you to have someone greater in your life than any human being: God. You cannot live without God. A man or woman without God is a miserable creature. If you have doubts about the existence of God, you will have plenty of time in Hell to focus on the reality of his existence.
Too many people let the Enemy fool them and cause them to give up on their passions, dreams, talents, and aspirations. Never let yourself resort to suicide as an answer to your problems. Suicide is the easy way out of your problems. Have greater faith in yourself and God to help you to overcome your problems.
I know that we are experiencing some vexing economic times, but this is not the time to give up. If you cannot find a job or no one wants to hire you, start your own business. Many people are sitting on millions of dollars by not starting their own businesses.
I don’t want to hear about how troubling of a life you have had—get off your butt and die trying to change your situation. Any person can complain and moan about being handed a terrible hand in life, but those who are willing to be courageous and fighters are willing to go out and see what they can do to change the hand they have been given.
Although I have been quite successful, my life has not been easy. Once you become successful, life will still be difficult. I do want you to know that no matter what you face you must keep chopping! God bless you all!
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Black Bloggers Unite!
In general, I think more bloggers should engage in collaborative efforts, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, political affiliation, and etc. Those aforementioned things, however, can be used as vehicles for collaboration. I contend that African-American bloggers need to increase their influence in the blogosphere by joining forces through collaborative blogs, guest blogging, visiting one another’s blogs regularly (not every now and then), comment on one another’s blogs regularly (not every now and then), find mediums like Twitter, Facebook, email, telephone, and etc. to discuss blog posts ideas and future directions for one another’s blogs, and etc. Now, this is not an effort to try to increase my own readership, especially since I will soon be well over 100,000 readers in just my first year of blogging, I just want African-Americans to have a greater influence in the blogosphere.
Many Black people have a problem with sharing and helping one another. It seems like many African-Americans are concerned about not letting others outdo them, which ends up causing us to divide and conquer ourselves without any person to blame for this but ourselves. In my little over 6 months of blogging, I have had the pleasure to read the writing of some tremendously talented Black writers like The Realest Dude in the Room (
http://realestdudeintheroom.com
), I Likes It Raw (
http://ilikesitraw.com
), Uptown Notes (
http://www.uptownnotes.com
), New Black Man (
http://newblackman.blogspot.com
), The Black Sphere (
http://theblacksphere.net
), Pampered Sweet Tooth (
http://pamperedsweettooth.blogspot.com
), and many more. These previously mentioned Black bloggers provide a diverse range of topics, interests, ideas, and approaches that represent some of the best of what Black bloggers have to offer.
Unfortunately, Black bloggers are not as organized and collaborative as White bloggers, which results in much our talent not being given the recognition, focus, and attention it merits. It is up to Black bloggers to change this problem. No one is going to take us more seriously until we start taking ourselves more seriously. When you visit the aforementioned bloggers, you have an opportunity to see why Black bloggers need to be more visible and heard. For those who say that Black males are not doing anything but getting into trouble, I would like you to know that all of the aforementioned Black bloggers except for one are Black males.
One of the ways in which we can work to remedy this problem is by encouraging more Blacks to start blogging. Without a doubt, most African-Americans have something valuable to offer and say to America, so we need to encourage them to begin blogging immediately. Blogging gives them a free opportunity to get their voice acknowledged nationally and internationally. If anyone needs assistance with starting a free blog, then just contact me and I will help you to get started.
In closing, I just want to say that Black bloggers need to find ways to collaborate to increase our readership and impact in the blogosphere. I am not for us simply carving out our own “Black space” within the blogosphere, but I am for us having much more significance and power in the blogosphere. I hope that Black bloggers will soon unite!
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Google is Making the Library a Thing of the Past
As a college instructor, I have had the unfortunate opportunity to see the waning of love for libraries. While there was once a time when students (and people in general) had a thirst and zeal for obtaining information in libraries, Google is becoming more and more the chief source for those seeking information. Google can be a valuable source of finding a significant amount of information—there’s no question about that. I am just afraid that this heavy reliance on Google is making us lose some of our hunger for being researchers.
I am sure that we are much more efficient retrievers of information because of the ease of obtaining information Google provides for us. I love to use Google too. I do not, however, over rely on Google when conducting academic research. I still use libraries as primary sources of academic scholarship, and have found electronic databases to be my invaluable friends. The library is a place where I can get away and just enjoy my passion for books and learning with other members of the learning community.
When conducting scholarly research, I would encourage people to use Google as a tool, but it should not be your primary source of locating material to include in your papers. I can always tell when my students have fundamentally relied on Google and other internet sites to aid them in the development of their papers, because the papers always seem to have so few quality references. Google can give you numerous references, but Google is not a better judge of the quality of the references than the assistance you can receive in the library with finding help to assess the quality of your references. The library, especially a college or university library, is going to have less frivolous stuff than you can find on Google. This means you will have less time devoted to resolving whether you have junk or quality material.
While I would never encourage you to do a paper at the last minute, I would have to say that Google can be quite useful when you face this type of situation. You may not have time to go to a library or a library may not be open. In this type of situation, please use Google to help you to find the material you need to complete your paper. For those completing academic papers, “Google Scholar” can be employed to help you to find peer-reviewed publications to include in your work.
Please do not interpret this article as being in opposition to Google for looking for information and for use when composing academic papers. I am just saying that you should not lose faith in the value of a library when seeking information and when composing your papers.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
The Use of the N-words in the Black Community
I was recently inspired by a discourse that transpired between a small group of almost all African-Americans about the use of the N-words within the Black community and by Whites. Any discussion about the use of these words is certain to cause great controversy, but this does not mean we need to avoid serious conversations about the use of these words. By “N-words,” I mean “nigger” and “nigga.” While there are some deep misunderstandings about the word “nigger,” what there is not any misunderstandings about is the racist use and damage this word has inflicted on Black people. “Nigga,” however, is a word of endearment and communicates kinship, commonality, and amity. When Black people are employing the N-word, they are most often referring to “nigga” and not “nigger”—this is tremendously important to highlight.
Many racist White people continue to use nigger and expect for us (Black people) to stop using nigger or nigga. Are you crazy? We have made tremendously strides to diminish the power the word nigger has on us. One of the ways in which Black people have reduced the power white supremacists have in their use of the word nigger is to begin to take that power away from the word by reconceptualizing it to have a more positive and unifying meaning. The more Black people use the word nigga, the more we will strike mighty blows at the impact of the use of nigger by Whites.
We have made significant racial progress in America. During slavery and official Jim Crow, White people could call Black people niggers and this word would place great limits on what we could be, do, and say. Today, we can take legal action against a White person who elects to employ the word nigger at us. In a sense, we are taking ownership of this word that was once used to demean, limit, and subjugate us and making new meaning for this word with such a vile legacy in America.
Numerous White and Black people have called for an end to the use of the word nigger. I have a problem with calling for a termination of the use of this word because it would retire the use of nigga. Now, White people want us to stop saying this word when they have been calling us this word for years. No! The continued use of this word by African-Americans offers us self-healing. Many “sophisticated” Blacks are now calling for an end to the use of this word because they have become so “educated” about the word and its harmful history. By making an attempt to disallow the use of this word, one will only elevate the power of the word. Unfortunately, it will be the power of the racist meaning of the word that will gain more prominence, considering people will always be reminded of the meaning of the word that caused it to be disallowed.
So you can protest, have marches, and conferences on why this word should no longer be allowed to be used, but you will never be able to stop any word from being used. You only empower the racist meaning of the word in America when you attempt to end the use of it.
Before you get all mad with me and tell me about I don’t understand the history of the word and proceed to give me an “education” about the etymology and history of the word, I have taught a seminar on the word, so please don’t get it twisted! I hope that this article will spark a wider discourse about these words (nigga and nigger).
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Open Letter to Wendy Williams
Dear Wendy Williams:
The purpose of this letter is to ask you some questions that have truly been bothering me concerning you. First, are you really a woman? I am not trying to be disrespectful or nothing, but there are serious reasons for me asking you this question. If I offend you in any way by asking you this question, I do apologize. The reason I feel comfortable asking you this query is you feel comfortable with getting into everyone’s business, so I thought that it would be fine for me to ask you a question of this type. Again, if this question is offensive, I do apologize. If you are not a man, then why does it seem like you are so uncomfortable when you close your legs with your skirts on?
What is it about gossip that motivates you in such a way that you live for it—even developed a talk show on BET that celebrates gossip? Do you ever think about how much emotional damage you do to people with your obsessive coverage and inquiry into the most personal dimensions of their lives? I would encourage you to think critically about how you might cover the personal lives of people in a much more respectful, less exploitative, and more equitable way.
Did you get breast implants? If so, are you happy with the size of your breasts?
I must say that I do watch your talk show on BET quite frequently. The reason I watch your show is not that I’m interested in it really, but because I have to stay abreast of Black popular culture in my area of expertise. I would love to see you transition your show into a more traditional talk show, instead of the crass gossip talk show it is today. When you elect to discuss the things that you do on your show, I would like for you to think about how you are negatively representing Black people on television. Is making money that important to you that you would be willing to exploit your own race?
I wish you all of the best! Have a great day!
Sincerely,
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Remembering Senator Ted Stevens
Revolutionary Paideia would like to send the deepest sympathies to the family, friends, and colleagues of Senator Ted Stevens. He was a man who worked tirelessly for the American people, especially the people of Alaska. I know that the people of Alaska will greatly miss his love of your state. Although I disagreed with some of the bills Senator Stevens wrote—like the one that provided over $250 million for a bridge to nowhere, I know that this man was just trying to do the best he could for the denizens of Alaska.
I would always enjoy watching him on C-SPAN on the floor of the United States Senate because he would be so passionate about what he was speaking for or against. Senator Stevens is the longest serving Republican U.S. senator in American history. America is better because of the service of this good public servant.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Do Something Special for Your Children Today
I was just inspired to say that I think it would be really nice for you to do something special for your children today. It does not have to be something major—just do something special for them today. Our children are our greatest assets and we need to honor them as much as possible. If you don’t take that much time out to listen to your children, take a moment today just to talk to them to see how they are feeling, what may be worrying them, what they like most, and/or what is the greatest challenge they face. You may be surprised at what you discover.
If God has given you a child, He has given you the greatest blessing you can expect to receive. If you want your children to do better, then you are going to have to have the faith to believe that they can do better. Our children need our full support and unconditional love. Stop saying that your children are bad and just pray for them to improve. If you keep telling your children that they are bad, they will certainly become bad and never stop being bad, because you spoke this into their lives.
Don’t say that you don’t have the money to do something special for your children today. It does not take any money or much time to tell your children how much they mean to you and how much you love them. During this school year, try to become more involved in your children’s education. From my own experience, I know that having involved parents in my education made a significant difference in my educational experiences and outcomes throughout the K – higher education educational pipeline.
No matter the age of your children, they are still precious. God gave you the children in your lives to treasure, cherish, and protect, so please make sure you take care of them properly. Don’t let anyone come between you and your love for your children. Again, do something special for your children today!
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Don’t Forget to Show the Best of Black Life Too
Far too often, I see too many people using all mediums, including television, radio, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, newspapers, and etc., to show America and the world the worst aspects of Black life. During the very beginning of the 20th century (and even before then), W.E.B. Du Bois asserted that artists should represent the diversity of Black life, but also needed to present the positive aspects of Black life. There once existed a time when Black people had to concern themselves only with racist White people depicting them in only negative and exploitative ways. Although there are still racist White people portraying Black people in the most demeaning and damaging ways, there is a new and growing enemy for Black people: some Black people themselves.
Some Black people do not care what they report about Black life in public. People will present information to the public about Black life that casts us in the most horrific light. Now, I am not saying that I want people to cover up truths about aspects of Black life. I would never tell anyone to do that. In fact, I have presented some of the negative dimensions of Black life in my own writing and in public and private discourses. I have spent the majority of my work and public and private discourse on truthfully disclosing the positive aspects about Black people in America, however. Without a doubt, there are limitless positive things to divulge about Black people.
I am simply too keenly aware of the racial and racist history of America to be stunned when a White person attempts to exploit a Black person publicly. Although I should not be stunned at the fact that some Black people are being just as harmful to Black people in public as any racist White person, I continue to be amazed at how some Black people are finding it cute and profitable to depict Black life in only the most horrible ways. Of course, in America, we are blessed to have the freedom of speech and I would not attempt to limit anyone’s freedom of speech. I do think that Black people should be much more aware of the things they are presenting to America and the world about Black people.
It seems that some Black people have forgotten all about the reality of the struggle we have experienced in this country to gain some respect. Some Black people love to sit around and find all of the garbage they can find about Black people, especially Black celebrities, and try to destroy their reputations. I also see that some Black people even try to exploit the lives of ordinary Black people. Whether you know it or not, what you are doing is mean-spirited and harms the constant progression of Black people.
I would just like you to think about the fact that what you may get a momentary laugh about at the expense of some Black person who does something crazy, the stuff you report about that person stays around long after the laughs are over, especially when you put it into print and publish it. I would encourage Black people to be more responsible about how you talk about Black people and Black life. Again, be balanced in how you present Black life. If you are going to ridicule some Black people, be sure that you praise some Black people too. Fair is fair.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
