Oprah and Gayle Epitomize True Friendship
Although many Black people think that Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King are involved in a lesbian relationship, they make this assumption because they have never experienced true friendship. Many Black people don’t understand what true friendship is. Black women often hate on one another, so when they see Oprah and Gayle’s love for one another, the only thing that they can think about is they are lesbians. Oprah and Gayle have repeatedly denied rumors about them being lesbians. As a truly transparent woman, Oprah would not need to hide that she is a lesbian if this was true. When you think about it, if she was a lesbian, all she would need to do is say it and many women will go out and become lesbians. Oprah has a history of influencing millions of people inside and outside of America to do what she says, does, or recommends.
In an interview with Barbara Walters, Oprah was brought to tears as she reflected on her love for Gayle. Oprah expressed again that she is not a lesbian—not even somewhat of a lesbian. The reason why Oprah has to answer questions about her potentially being a lesbian stems from a social reality that many Black people don’t love their “friends”—not even their “best friends.” If your friend does not love you, then you don’t have a friend. Oprah and Gayle are showing us how friends, especially best friends, love one another. In the Black community, many of us need to stop rejecting things simply because we don’t understand them. If you cannot explain the friendship between Oprah and Gayle as nothing more than authentic friendship, then don’t simply resort to using a simple and unfounded explanation about it. Stop saying that they are lesbians—haters! I want you to be more nuanced in your thinking than that.
Many Black people are so envious of successful Blacks. Labeling is often used as a vehicle to attempt to engender negative perceptions of successful people. Many Blacks are using labeling as their medium to attack successful Blacks. Since Oprah has not elected to marry a man yet, many Blacks find that she must be a lesbian. They selectively choose to overlook the fact that Oprah has been involved with Stedman Graham for years, although she has not made public all of the intimate details of their relationship. Have you made public all of the intimate details of your relationship with your significant other? I am confident that your answer is no.
Oprah and Gayle are showing us beautiful Black love and we should embrace it, learn from it, and strive for it. In a time when we see Lil Kim and Nicki Minaj trying to bring one another down in public, we should find hope in such a great relationship that Oprah and Gayle have. Black people have to be willing to lift one another up if they expect non-Blacks to lift them up as well.
I have the fortune to share in the type of love Oprah and Gayle have with my Black male best friend. Many Black men and women have called us gay simply because they cannot understand how two men can love one another so much and not be having sexual intercourse with one another. While it certainly does not bother either one of us, it does demonstrate how many Black people need to elevate their level of thinking. If they would give themselves the opportunity, they could experience this type of friendship with others. While you can enjoy great relationships with your family members, there’s nothing like having a true best friend who you can share so much with that you cannot necessarily share with your family members. Just as Oprah said that Gayle is the sister she never had, my Black male best friend is the brother I never had. We love one another just like we are biological brothers. This authentic friendship that we have has developed such a bond between our families that one would think that we are all biologically connected.
I am, therefore, able to appreciate the love Gayle and Oprah share. It is a love that speaks to the best of what America is and can be. Give yourself an opportunity to experience this type of love with a member of the same gender. You will thank yourself later.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
New Black Republicans Coming to D.C.
Newly elected Black republican members of Congress should not feel obligated to join the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). I do, however, think they should join the CBC to diversify the ideas offered by the group. Representative-Elect Tim Scott of South Carolina, a Black republican, has declined to join the group. While I understand that he is committed to themes that unite us regardless of our race, he is missing a golden opportunity to have republican ideas and ideals gain more exposure in the Black community. If Black republicans are really serious about bringing more Black people into the Republican Party, then they are going to have to join the most identifiably Black presence in Washington, D.C.—the CBC. I’m not questioning Representative-Elect Tim Scott’s passion for ameliorating the lives of Black people, but I am asserting that he is hurting his party by not recognizing his potential to recruit more Blacks into the Republican Party by joining the CBC. Representative-Elect Allen West of Florida, a Black republican, has decided to join the CBC. He is looking forward to challenging the ideas and policies of the members of the CBC. In the end, Allen West will be the more visible and more valuable person for the Republican Party’s efforts to recruit more Black voters.
It would not surprise me to see these two men, especially Allen West, become very prominent members in the Republican Party. They may even be successful one day in gaining the Republican Party’s nomination to become President. With the Republican Party increasingly becoming a more conservative party, these Black men have arrived at the right time to gain prominence in the party. They are both very fiscally and socially conservative. Although I want these two Black men to be successful members of the Republican Party, I don’t ever want them to forget that they are Black. I don’t ever want them to feel like they have to surrender their “blackness” to appease any member of the Republican Party. I am not saying that there are currently people in the Republican Party who will attempt to make them relinquish their blackness, but I just hope that if any people like this surface they will strongly resist their efforts.
Even though many Black democrats and liberals will not like these men simply because they are conservatives and republicans, I greatly encourage them to give these men a fair chance. You should wait until they gain a voting record before negatively criticizing them. I also encourage you to wait until they write, co-sponsor, and/or support legislation (as members of Congress) that you oppose before negatively criticizing them.
I hope that Tim Scott and Allen West will not feel like they have to be the chief attack dogs on President Obama simply because they are Black. If they feel passionate about criticizing President Obama, and this criticism genuinely comes from their deepest convictions, then I think they should vociferously promulgate their disagreements with him.
I congratulate Tim Scott and Allen West on their recent election victories to become two new Black members of Congress.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Parental Involvement is Crucial to True Education Reform
Although many parents are highly involved in their children’s education, there are many who are not. If you are not seriously involved in your children’s education, you are just as responsible as their schools for not adequately serving your children. Parents, you cannot simply depend on schools to offer your children a comprehensive education. A comprehensive education encompasses children being intellectually stimulated and engaged in their studies when they are at home. If you are a parent who lacks the education to help your children with their homework, the least you can do is make sure they are doing their home and have frequent discussions with them about what they are studying and any problems they are having in school. By doing this, you will be able to see what your children’s teachers see as things you could be doing at home, based on your abilities, to aid them in improving their academic achievement. If you are not able to meet with your children’s teachers in person, arrange to speak with them on the phone, even if it’s just for a brief period of time. If you have access to a computer, then you could communicate with their teachers via email.
Instead of buying your children all of these toys for Christmas, get them some educational material and software that can improve their academic deficiencies. You have to find creative ways to be involved in your children’s education. Being actively involved in your children’s education helps them to recognize that their education should be a top priority because you take their education so seriously. When you are not actively involved in your children’s education, think about what intentional and unintentional values you are communicating to them.
Learning should not end when students leave school. You should work to create an environment in your home that is well-suited for learning to take place. Be sure that your children organize their rooms well so that their rooms become spaces where order and discipline are encouraged and expected. Valuing order and discipline has important transferability in their academic studies.
When your children are not doing well in school, you need to encourage them to do better. Don’t allow them to give up on their academic studies because they are having difficulties with certain subjects. If you don’t know how to do anything else, you can motivate them to keep trying. Let them know that you just want them to give their best efforts in school.
While I was in the K-12 educational pipeline, I had the great fortune to have parents who were tremendously involved and supportive of me achieving at the highest levels academically, athletically, and socially. Even though I did not need any assistance with my homework from them, they would always ask me probing queries about my school work and homework, which communicated to me that I could never stop striving to become a better and better student.
If you are a parent who has the time and ability to help another parent’s child to succeed, then I would encourage you to reach out to that parent and child. Parents, don’t simply blame schools, administrators, and/or teachers for your children’s educational outcomes. Become an active participant in the type of education your children receive.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Extend the Bush Tax Cuts for Everyone
In a time when the economy is as horrible as it is now, one of the best ways to stimulate it is to give tax cuts to everyone. When you give rich people tax cuts, then they can hire poor people. When you cut taxes for the middle class, they have more money to go out and spend it to drive economic recovery and growth. If the Bush tax cuts are not extended, we will experience the largest tax increase in American history. This is certainly not the time when the American people can withstand the largest tax increase in American history. If Congress does not extend the Bush tax cuts, then this could result in weakening the economy so severely we may not experience true economic recovery until years from now. This is not the time to engage in class warfare. People need jobs!
People don’t want to have to depend on food stamps and unemployment checks—they need jobs! By extending the Bush tax cuts, Congress can give rich people, you know the people who actually provide the jobs, the ability to do more hiring and the ability to purchase essential things they need for their businesses, which further grows the economy. Congressional democrats are trying to play politics with the Bush tax cuts by saying that they want to first pass the middle class tax cuts, and then discuss the tax cuts for people making $250,000 and above a year. They know that Congressional republicans are not going to vote for a bill that is going to raise taxes on people making $250,000 or more. It sounds nice to be for cutting taxes for the middle class, but really what Congressional democrats are saying is they want to raise taxes on those making $250,000 or more a year. I want Congressional democrats to know that making $250,000 a year in many places in America does not qualify as being rich.
For those of you, and I am speaking to many of my friends too, who love to talk about the Bush tax cuts are mainly for the wealthiest people in America, I want you to know that they also pay the overwhelming majority of the taxes in America. If you cannot bring yourself to even begin to think about supporting a tax cut that would go to a wealthy person, then I want you to think about the last time somebody poor or just barely making it hired you. You should not have to think too long because a poor person or person barely making it never has hired you. Therefore, while it may sound good to say that you are not supporting the Bush tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, what you are really saying is you are not supporting economic growth and efforts to improve unemployment.
In these tough economic times, be willing to give up being an ideologue for the sake of ameliorating our economy and to help our hurting people to weather this turbulent economic tempest.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Cameron Newton is a Fraud
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) should have declared Cameron Newton ineligible to participate in NCAA intercollegiate athletics until a full investigation into various allegations about Cameron Newton could have been conducted. Although Cameron Newton has played phenomenally this season, this should not give him any special privileges. The NCAA has found that Cecil Newton, Cameron Newton’s father, did seek money in exchange for his son’s signing with certain schools, but the NCAA contends that Cameron Newton did not know anything about it and neither did Auburn. Yeah right! Cam Newton claims that he did not know that his father was seeking money in exchange for his signing. Yeah right! If the NCAA does not immediately declare Cameron Newton ineligible and take away all of Auburn’s wins this season, then the NCAA will prove without a shadow of doubt that it is a corrupt cartel.
Now, if I would have interviewed Cameron Newton after he won the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Championship against the South Carolina Gamecocks, the interview would have went tremendously different. Trust me—I would not have allowed his use of a hackneyed biblical scripture to prevent me from asking him probing questions. My first question would have been where’s your daddy? My second question would have been did you commit academic fraud on three papers while a student at the University of Florida? If he answers no to that question, I would then ask him why are credible people associated with the University of Florida who oversee disciplinary issues involving students saying that you did? Next, I would ask him do you really expect for the American people to believe that you did not know that your father was seeking money in exchange for you playing at a certain school? I would finally ask him why is it that you always find yourself surrounded in controversies involving illegal and criminal activities? I would end by telling him that the scripture that he used only refers to those who are saved—he cannot be saved with all of those lies he continues to tell. Repent Cameron Newton! The interview he gave after the SEC Championship game would have certainly went very differently if I was the interviewer—that’s for sure. I’m too intelligent, too skilled of a questioner, and too unsettling of a person to allow him to evade those aforementioned questions that most people want real answers to. I would have asked probing follow-ups to those questions. It would have been a post-game interview to remember!
The NCAA has simply been unfair in how it has treated Cameron Newton in comparison with how wrong they treated A.J. Green of the Georgia Bulldogs. Did A.J. Green and/or Georgia not have enough money to please the NCAA? We need to replace the NCAA with a serious governing body that will be a fair agency to oversee intercollegiate athletics. At the end of the day, Auburn is a fraudulent university and Cameron Newton is a fraudulent student, student-athlete, and person. Oh yeah, Cecil Newton is a fraudulent person and pastor.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Albany State University Will Defeat Delta State University
On tomorrow, Albany State University will defeat Delta State University in the quarterfinals of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II playoffs. The Albany State University Golden Rams will host Delta State in Albany, Georgia. ASU was victorious over Wingate last week. Revolutionary Paideia endorses Albany State University and predicts that the Albany State University Golden Rams will win the NCAA Division II National Championship. Albany State has a highly underrated Head Coach, Mike White. He always has the team ready to play to win the game. When Mike White’s team wins the national championship, he will never have to worry about being underrated any longer.
Albany State has one of the top offenses and defenses in the NCAA Division II. To defeat Delta State, and to win the remaining games in the playoffs, ASU will need to play well on both sides of the ball. I know that the Golden Rams will play well on both sides of the ball to defeat Delta State and the remaining teams in the playoffs. When the Golden Rams defeat Delta State, they will host another playoff game at home in Albany, Georgia.
I encourage all alumni to show support for Albany State University, and to go to the game on Saturday if you can. These guys have played tremendously well and are making Albany State University proud. Current students and alumni need to show up on Saturday and show Delta State why you don’t come to Albany, Georgia and come away with a win. I encourage all ASU alumni, students, faculty, administrators, and staff to be as loud as possible to make it a truly hostile environment for Delta State. I know that the ASU band will represent well for ASU as always.
Be sure to become Facebook friends with the ASU football players to let them know how much you support them and to let them know you believe that they will win the national championship. The stadium should sell out on Saturday. It should be so many people at the stadium on Saturday that Delta State wonders what they have gotten themselves into. One thing is for sure, however, the ASU football players will certainly help Delta State to understand that they have gotten themselves into a great mess when they crush them on the field. If you are not supporting the Golden Rams right now, don’t jump on their bandwagon when they win the NCAA Division II National Championship!
Let’s Go Rams!!!
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
The Significant Value of Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are just as valuable as predominantly White institutions (PWIs). In fact, many HBCUs are better than PWIs. Don’t let people tell you that you should attend PWIs because HBCUs do not have any real value. Many successful Black people graduated from HBCUs. When you look at many well-known Black people’s academic backgrounds, you will find that they may have graduated with their master’s or doctoral degrees from Harvard, Yale, or Princeton, but their undergraduate degrees come from HBCUs like Albany State University, Howard University, Fisk University, or Hampton University. If you really want to be challenged and really want to receive an education instead of a miseducation, an HBCU is the place where you want to be.
If you are Black, an HBCU gives you access to a professional network to help you to advance academically, socially, and professionally. I have read too many blog posts and opinion pieces published in various venues that argue that HBCUs don’t prepare students for the real world because they don’t show students what the real world looks like. They have argued that having Blacks students situated predominantly with other Black students does not equip them to be able to work with and understand the predominantly White America we reside in. This, however, could not be further from the truth. Nobody knows better how to work with and understand White people better than Black people. Trust me! We, Blacks, have been working with White people even before this country was founded, so we kinda got this thing figured out by now. Ya dig what I’m saying?
A strong effort has been engaged in by many conservatives, Whites, and republicans to defund and dismantle HBCUs. Other than racist motivations, I cannot understand why these people would try to eliminate and damage HBCUs in this way. I wonder does it have to do with trying to prevent a significant percentage of Black people from gaining training in higher education. Don’t try to say that I’m simply playing the race card either. Why else would people try to eliminate and defund HBCUs then?
HBCUs have proven to be excellent training grounds for preparing students to find and excel in jobs, careers, and graduate and professional schools. When you attend an HBCU, you will be taught by professors who are not all Black—there is diversity in the faculty. The staff is not all Black—HBCUs have diverse staffs. The students are not all Black either—just predominantly Black.
If you are a high school student looking to find a higher education institution that will prepare you for the future, I encourage you to consider one of the many fine HBCUs situated across America. I highly recommend that you look at attending Albany State University, Howard University, Hampton University, Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Fisk University. I could list many other HBCUs, but begin with those schools first, especially Albany State University. You will have a campus experience that cannot be duplicated by a PWI—this is simply a fact!
I would also like to encourage all alumni of HBCUs to enthusiastically support your HBCU of choice economically, socially, academically, and professionally. It is really not a good look when many Black graduates of HBCUs try to hide the fact that they went to HBCUs with their current or past attendance of prestigious PWIs. For me, this equals racial self-loathing and self-hatred. Stop this today!
I encourage everyone to give to your nearest HBCU today!
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
President Obama’s Eligibility to be President
President Obama was born in Hawaii. He is, therefore, eligible to be President of the United States of America. His mother and father were legal citizens of the United States at the time of his birth. Again, he’s eligible to be President. His eligibility to be President has even been verified by the republican Governor of Hawaii, Linda Lingle. Go here to see a copy of President Obama’s birth certificate:
http://www.fightthesmears.com/articles/5/birthcertificate
. People need to stop trying to smear this man about his constitutional eligibility to be President.
If you want to strongly oppose President Obama, then express your substantive disagreements you have with him on critical issues and policies. I have substantive disagreements with President Obama on a number of important issues and policies, but I am not one of these people in the blogosphere trying to smear him about not being eligible to be President.
I wanted to offer the blogosphere a serious counternarrative to what many blogs out there are saying about President Obama not being born in America, and that he was not an American citizen at the time of his birth. People have a right to question your motivations when you are not willing to go to the above website and see for yourself that President Obama was born in America. When people start to question whether or not you are a racist, then don’t get mad. I contend that it is a fair question for them to ask you. If you would simply look at the evidence that has been presented at the above website, you will find there is no doubt that President Obama is constitutionally eligible to serve as President.
Don’t believe many of the negative things you read about President Obama on the internet. When you see some of these negative things, I encourage you to engage in your own serious research to resolve whether or not what you have read about him is true. You can disagree with President Obama without hating him. You can disagree with him without resorting to using racist comments, personal attacks, and etc.
If you just cannot stand the sight of President Obama, I would like for you to at least consider having a reverence for the office he occupies. I am not trying to get you to become a democrat or to support President Obama, but I am trying to get you to understand that President Obama is constitutionally eligible to be President.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
