DarkStar Spouts Off

Another Take On Sean Taylor

Here is another take on Sean Taylor. This is done by George "Dr Midnight" Brooks.

Sean Taylor was 24, and had by all accounts had truly turned his life around from a rocky start, which makes this all even more painful. Sadly, he probably should have moved out of Miami, as there is a fairly good case that can be made that he knew his assailant.

Already, much has been made about Taylor’s past somehow still catching up to him, but it really doesn’t matter. Ask the late Broncos cornerback Darrant Williams who had the misfortune of getting killed by a bullet meant for someone else. Case still unsolved.

Ask the Timberwolves’ Antoine Walker, or the Knicks Eddie Curry. Both men were the victim of savage home invasions, like the one that killed Sean Taylor. Neither man has been in any trouble whatsoever with the law.

Read the rest at the link.

BTW, I know George via an email list and we've actually met at one point. He's the person who first called my son, "D.S. 2.0"

Question: How Many is "Members Of"?

The question for the day is, how many is "members of"?

If you don't know what I mean, read this Jason Whitlock piece.

Then ask yourself another question. If you assume most young Black men listen to hip hop, how is it that if hip hop is "to blame," why are most young Black men not criminals? Is Michael Wilbon a "member of"?

I mean, pointing the finger at "Souljah Boy"? GMAFB!

Taylor made bad choices and may have died because of those choices, even after attempting to clean up his life. That's a story and a point of caution. But blaming HIP HOP?!?!?!?!

I Bet The "Fine Print" Is A ....

Verizon Wireless opening up the network to outside devices is a good move on Verizon Wireless's part, and it makes me happier.

Verizon Wireless will open its network to outside mobile handsets, devices, and applications by the end of 2008, the company announced Tuesday.

The company will publish technical standards for the development community by early next year, the company said. Any device that meets the minimum technical standard will be activated on the Verizon Wireless network, the company said. In a break from the traditional closed network model in the U.S. mobile phone industry, Verizon Wireless will allow customers to run any application they choose on approved devices.

Devices will be approved in a testing lab that the company has poured $20 million into this year, company officials said in a press conference. Verizon Wireless will accept any wireless device that passes minimal connectivity tests, including gaming devices, vehicle-based devices, and wireless handsets from competitors, company officials said.

"If someone has the technical capability of building something in their basement on a breadboard ... have at it," said Dick Lynch, Verizon Wireless' CTO.

But having dealt with the technical people at Verizon Wireless, I KNOW the "fine print" has to be a *****!

Trent Lott Is Resigning

Trent Lott is resigning effective by the end of 2007. He's doing it so that he can leave the Senate on Friday, turn around and enter the Senate on Monday as a registered lobbyist. He's doing it now because new rules state congress-critters have to wait 2 years before they can become lobbyists after they leave the cesspool.

Black Gender Enrollment In College

At Howard, the enrollment of women to men is about 65% to 35%. I've been told at other co-ed HBCUs, the numbers are similar. However, when this has been mentioned, I tended to mention that, overall, women are now the majority on college campuses. I said it to try to put a proper perspective on things.

P6 got mad about a segment on NBC News and went digging. He got the results and I'm straight jackin' it.

U.S. College Enrollment Rates, 2005

Black Women 18-24: 37%
Black Men 18-24: 28%

White Women 18-24: 46%
White Men 18-24: 39%

Sooner Or Later...

Sooner or later, I think more and more Blacks are going to come to my line of thinking: be married to a political party does no good. You have to work BOTH parties as an independent, with financial resources, to get what you want out of politicians. Harry Jackson appears to be awakening.

"What they preach from the pulpit is consistent with [Republican] policies, but there was not an organized effort to have an ongoing relationship," Reeves said. "This is long-term."

But Jackson, at least, has become more skeptical about the party.

He thinks the GOP pays attention to evangelicals when it needs their votes but has not delivered when it comes to advancing their causes. Jackson said that after the 2004 election, he attended a White House meeting of evangelical leaders and listened as Rove said he didn't think the church vote had won the election for Bush.

Jackson told him: "I am a registered Democrat. The only reason I am here is because I thought you were working on issues of faith and that it would be better for my folks than the promises, promises of the Democratic party."

Democrats, he said, "come to us under the cloak of darkness at the last hour, get what they want and then act like they don't know us the next day."

That got a big laugh from the conservatives, he recalled. Then Jackson said he told Rove: "You all are doing the same thing to the evangelicals."

Time is on my side.

Ummm... If True, "We" Told You So!

If this is true, the people who worry a lot about border security and have stated concern about "other than Mexicans" coming across the Southern borders, like me, are about to say, "I TOLD YOU SO!!!!"

The nation's largest intelligence training center changed security measures in May after being warned that Islamist terrorists with the aid of Mexican drug cartels were planning an attack on the facility.

Fort Huachuca changed security measures after sources warned that possibly 60 Afghan and Iraqi terrorists were smuggled into the U.S. through underground tunnels with high powered weapons to attack the post, according to multiple confidential law enforcement documents obtained by The Washington Times.

This is serious...

The U.S. Is Fat and Lazy

This is yet another example of people in the U.S. being fat and lazy.

Initially, the busy McLean couple hired Ezra Glass for a few mundane chores, like waiting for the cable guy. But over time, they began giving him more intimate tasks -- planning their last-minute vacations and picking up their kids from time to time.

Now Glass takes their cars to be serviced, is a house- and dogsitter and advises them on their home audio-visual system. He planned the funeral reception for a relative, taking the death certificate and the suit for burial to the funeral home.

"We've come to rely on him more and more," said Ken Nunnenkamp, 46, a lawyer. "He'll essentially do anything we can't get around to. . . . You definitely get spoiled by it."

Forget the dog walker and errand runner. Today, some busy two-career families are turning over virtually every aspect of their existence to lifestyle managers. These hired hands, who charge a monthly membership fee or up to $100 an hour, become like an extra member of the family.

You don't have to spend money, you just need proper time management. I swear, the U.S. needs a depression to harden U.S. citizens spoiled weenies.

I Haven't Noticed Name Calling Against These People, Have You?

Mention New Orleans and the state of the city after Katrina, and it won't take long for people to start mentioning things like "dependent on the government" or "stupid for living in a flood plain," etc. But what about the people in Mississippi who suffered because of Katrina? Up until now, if anything was mentioned about Mississippi, it was about how well they have done, in comparison to New Orleans, after Katrina. So, it is interesting to read this:

While Gov. Haley Barbour (R) has hailed the casino openings as a harbinger of Mississippi's resurgence and developers have proposed more than $1 billion in beachfront condos and hotels for tourists, fewer than one in 10 of the thousands of single-family houses destroyed in Biloxi are being rebuilt, according to city permit records. More than 10,000 displaced families still live in trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Now, long-standing resentment over the way the state has treated displaced residents has deepened over a proposal by the Barbour administration to divert $600 million in federal housing aid to fund an expansion plan at the Port of Gulfport. The port's recently approved master plan calls for increasing maritime capacity and creating an "upscale tourist village" with hotel rooms, condos, restaurants and gambling.

"We fear that this recent decision . . . is part of a disturbing trend by the Governor's office to overlook the needs of lower and moderate income people in favor of economic development," 24 ministers on the Mississippi coast wrote in September in a letter to state leaders. "Sadly we must now bear witness to the reality that our Recovery Effort has failed to include a place at the table . . . for our poor and vulnerable."

State leaders rejected the complaints. Gray Swoope, executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority, which is leading the state's recovery efforts, called the port expansion a "key piece" of the state's economic recovery and said that already-funded programs will be enough to address the state's housing needs.

"The people at this table are very compassionate about the people on the coast," he said. "We feel housing has been addressed, and it's in our plans."

Swoope said that because storm-displaced Mississippians are being accommodated by the state's housing programs, the state is comfortable asking the Department of Housing and Urban Development for permission to redirect the housing aid to the port project.

Exactly how much help residents should receive for rebuilding has been a flashpoint from the beginning of the recovery, when Louisiana and Mississippi adopted starkly divergent approaches to dispensing federal housing aid.

I find it interesting. Your mileage may vary.

This Gives The Administration The Chance To NOT Enforce Immigation Laws

You can call me cynical all you want, but this gives the administration the opportunity to NOT enforce immigration laws and make no mistake about that point. The Bush administration wants open orders with Mexico and the "enforce immigration laws" people, like myself, are a major annoyance to the administration.

The Bush administration said Friday that it will modify its planned crackdown on U.S. companies that employ illegal immigrants, asking a federal judge to delay hearing a lawsuit brought by major American labor, business and farm organizations until the new strategy is completed.

In papers filed in San Francisco late Friday afternoon, Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey S. Bucholtz told U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer that the Homeland Security Department is making unspecified changes to its plan to pressure employers to fire as many as 8.7 million workers with suspect Social Security numbers.

The Justice Department in court papers asked the judge to delay the case until March 24, or until a new program is ready.

On Oct. 10, Breyer barred the government from mailing Social Security "no-match" letters to 140,000 U.S. employers, citing serious legal questions about requiring companies to resolve questions about their employees' identities, fire them within 90 days, or else face potential fines and criminal prosecution.

President Bush made the initiative a priority in August after the Senate killed his proposed overhaul of immigration laws. In issuing a preliminary injunction, however, the judge cited plaintiffs' arguments that the Social Security Administration database includes so many errors that using it to enforce immigration laws would cause "staggering" disruptions at workplaces and discriminate against tens of thousands of legal workers.

Mark my words, they administration is going to wind up not doing anything.

Next Level Mentoring Program

Next Level Mentoring Program

The Next Level Mentoring Program is a community based, non-profit 501c3 organization located in Florence, KY. Our mission is to provide minority high and middle school students, primarily African-American, in our community with the skills and knowledge to maximize their potential to continue higher education post high school. We aspire to prepare students in grades 8th -12th for a successful transition from high school to college. Services provided by the Next Level Mentoring Program include academic one to one mentoring, personal development, cultural awareness, community service, ACT prep, a variety of seminars/workshops/panels, and college visits including a one week Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) tour.

No Brainer, They Lose

Sorry, but this is a no brainer. The parents are going to lose.

Nobody raised concern about Jayce Brown's short, floppy dreadlocks when he enrolled at the Southern Maryland Christian Academy in White Plains in August. And no one said anything during the 3-year-old's first month at the school. So his parents said they were surprised to receive a phone call last month telling them the locks had to go.

"It came out of nowhere, and they were telling me I had to cut it right away," said Danielle Brown, Jayce's mother. The toddler's school picture -- which shows a bright-eyed child grinning widely, tongue poking through his teeth -- had alerted school administrators that his hairstyle violated official school policy for boys, which forbids "extreme faddish hairstyles, including the use of rubber bands or the 'twisting' of hair."

"I told them it sounded a little bit extreme, and I offered to pull his hair back in a ponytail, but they said no locks," Brown said.

Jayce's parents refused to cut his hair, and he was suspended indefinitely. Now the Browns are preparing to file a lawsuit against the school alleging that the policy discriminates against African American boys.

The controversy over Jayce's hairstyle has infuriated many African Americans in Charles County, who see his suspension as an assault on their ability to express their ethnic identity. Experts say that, combined with recent battles over facial hair, Sikh turbans and tattoos in the workplace, the case is part of a broader cultural debate over the public significance of personal appearance, especially in such rapidly diversifying areas as Charles.

"From our perspective, for African Americans, the twisting of hair is not faddish or trendy but is a legitimate cultural expression, and so the ban on natural styles is discriminatory," said the Browns' attorney, Ardra M. O'Neal.

Danielle Brown, who chose Southern Maryland Christian Academy because it offers classes that incorporate the Christian-based A Beka curriculum, said Jayce had thrived at the school, forming a particularly close bond with his teacher. Although there were only a handful of other African American preschoolers, she never felt unwelcome during Jayce's first several weeks at school, she said.

Southern Maryland Christian Academy's headmaster, Colleen Gaines, declined to discuss the situation or make the school's attorney available for questions. In an $1,800 full-page advertisement in a community newspaper Oct. 24, school officials wrote that there is no legal precedent for a lawsuit against the school.

"As a condition of enrollment, SMCA parents and students agree to abide by all SMCA policies, including the school grooming policy," says the ad, which is unsigned but which Gaines said represents her position on the matter. "Private schools, like private employers, have the right to create and enforce a grooming policy."

The school, which requires students to wear uniforms, also bans dyed hair and states that "traditional and conservative tapered cuts are the standard." Older students are expected to be clean-shaven, and girls are not allowed to wear large earrings or more than two necklaces.

Danielle Brown said she does not object to the school's right to maintain regulations on hair length or color, but she said wearing dreadlocks is an integral part of her family's African heritage. She and her husband wear dreadlocks, as do their siblings.

It's a private school. The lawsuit should get tossed.

I Wonder How This "Mother" Sleeps At Night

I wonder how this "mother" sleeps at night!

The call was a prank, one of many at the Drews' home this year. A lawn job. A brick through a window. Threatening phone calls. Paintball attacks.

The neighborhood is angry.

Residents are struggling to understand what happened here, in two homes four doors apart.

By now, the story is the subject of both national discussion and schoolyard lore:

One year ago, 13-year-old Megan Meier tied a cloth belt around a support beam in her closet and hanged herself. Her parents first said she was driven by a soured online romance, and the cruel, taunting Internet messages of a boy named Josh Evans.

Then they were told that Josh Evans didn't exist — that the Drews had concocted him to get back at Megan for quarreling with their daughter. According to a police report, Lori Drew said she wanted to know what Megan was saying online about her daughter and had "instigated and monitored" the fake account.

There's a special place in hell waiting for her! I hope her own family is so disgusted with her that they have shunned her!

Saturday Brain Synapse Firings

Random thoughts on a Saturday:

• As I approach the middle of my 4th decade, I learned, to my dismay, during a football game that what used to be "FWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH" when I decided to hit that "next gear," is now a "Phhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhtttttttttttttttttt". Now I KNEW, mentally, that it was bound to happen, but I thought I, the person who relied on his speed and quickness (there is a difference and I had BOTH) would somehow beat father time! NOPE!
• One of my male friends was telling me on Thanksgiving that he was going to go out EARLY, like 4 AM early, to get a "good sale." I told him he was out of my mind and I refuse to take part in the early buyer shell game. Later, he said, in all seriousness, that people who line up on Thanksgiving evening to catch the midnight sales are crazy. OHHHHHH. KAAAAAAYYYYYYY.
• "P" always played quarterback in the neighborhood football games. He was quick and had a good arm. He couldn't take a hit nor could he deliver a good hit, but he was a decent "sand lot" quarterback. P used to walk around with socks stuffed down the front of his pants.
  
  One day, a few of us walked to Mondawmin Mall to do something. All of a sudden, P approaches us talking about all of the phat girls in the mall, meanwhile, he's wearing daisy duke shorts, socks stuffed in the front, and he was wiping make up off of his face.
  
  "OK. What ever! Yeah, there are some phat girls here, but we don't think you care about them!"
  
  On Thanksgiving, I found out P had a sex change. "He" is now "she."
• I went to get a gallon of milk. At the cash register, I realized the milk cost $3 fiddy a gallon. In my area, regular unleaded gas costs $2.99 - $3.10 a gallon. I'm must sayin'.
• If your married and your spouse is just not up to par, or maybe your spouse is up to par and YOU aren't, life just is not pleasant. I'm thankful that Mrs. D.S. is up to par [ most of the time ;-) ] *Smooches*. That's ONE of the things for which I am grateful.

On Our Shoulders

The On Our Shoulders program was created out of the empathy felt by its founder, Ray Cook, as he watched countless youths die and become victims of violence on the streets of Baltimore.

The counseling, education and skills training offered by On Our Shoulders helps young people develop career potential and connections to advanced education.

The program components include:

Group Sessions

• Assessment
• Review Street Violence Statistics
• Health and Hygiene Classes Conducted by Registered Nurses
• Individual Drug Counseling and Referral
• Young Mothers/Fathers Group
• Support Groups for Young Victims of Violence

On The Job Training

• Pre-apprenticeship Training
• Catering, Food Handling and Baking Classes
• Clerical Training
• Construction/Electrical/Plumbing
• Barbering/Braiding (Hygiene Enhancement Classes)
• Modeling Training/Fashion Shows

Skill Enhancements

• Academic Skills
• G.E.D. Preparation and Testing
• Computer Skills
• Job Readiness Skills
• Life Skills/Coping Skills/Decision Making Skills
• Paid Internships
• College Preparation/Scholarships/Advanced Education

Crimminal Assessment

• Help young people understand charge papers and court procedures
• Provide an assessment on program participants to the courts
• Appropriately recommend "On Our Shoulders" as an alternative to incarceration

Advanced education will be based on academic performance, attendance, punctuality, and commitment to the program. Our youth will need to demonstrate a high degree of motivation within the program to receive a court representation and assessment verification

This Is Not What This Time Of Year Is About

This is not what this time of year is about. This is just sad and sickening.

Thanksgiving shoppers are the earliest of early birds, and they've usually got Christmas on the brain.

Again this year Kmart and Wal-Mart, two of the country's largest retailers, opened their doors on Thanksgiving. FAO Schwartz, the venerable toy retailer, joined in. Its stores in New York, Chicago and Las Vegas were open for the first time on Thanksgiving.

The deals at one Kmart in Burbank, Calif., lured many away from food, family and football. Gary Okimoto saved $260 on a TV, but spent four hours in the cold, waiting for his shopping opportunity.

"We had a heater out there, some lawn chairs," Okimoto said. "I was going to bring the poker table, but I couldn't fit it in the car."

I think I'd lose my job because I damn sure wouldn't be working on Thanksgiving at a department store!

You Know It Ain't A Good Store When...

You know it ain't a good supermarket when you go to a particular supermarket on Thanksgiving Eve, and the parking lot is nearly empty, as well as the store, and the store is STOCKED with typical Thanksgiving foods that are normally sold out by now.

Maybe It's Me

Maybe it's me, but ...

ACWORTH, Ga. (AP) - Three boys ages 8 and 9 were being held Monday in a detention center on charges of kidnapping and raping an 11-year-old girl in the woods near a suburban apartment complex, officials said.

The alleged attack happened Thursday and the girl's mother reported it to authorities Sunday, Acworth police Capt. Wayne Dennard said.

"The victim said they were playing outdoors and the girl was forced into a wooded area where she was sexually assaulted, where one of the boys raped her," Dennard told The Associated Press.

... this is just unbelievable. Does a boy actually sexually function at 8 or 9?

There is more to this. I won't be surprised if it is a lie, or if there was "consensual" sex and the kids talked about it and her mother found out, or that if it DID HAPPEN, the boy who did it is in a home where sexual abuse is occurring.

Something other than the obvious stinks with this story.

Dallas pastor recruits 100+ black men for mentoring program

Dallas pastor recruits 100+ black men for mentoring program

When Dr. David E. Martin, senior pastor of Gospel Tabernacle in Southeast Dallas decided to launch an on-site initiative, a mentoring program entitled “Men with a Cause,” he recruited 100 of his male parishioners and volunteers representing affiliate churches to participate.

Adhering to the request to dress in suits for the entire day while mentoring elementary school student, more than 100 men who were screened by Dallas Independent School District volunteered to mentor the 795 students at Frederick Douglass Elementary in Pleasant Grove.

“I wanted to be to provide access to the students about the opportunities and even the inform them of the challenges I have had to endure,” Elder Edward Rodgers, entrepreneur and coordinator of Men with a Cause said.

As students, parents, the 54 faculty and staff arrived on campus at 7:15 a.m., they were greeted by the “Men with a Cause.”

Throughout the day the men were on campus serving as mentors and providing support to the faculty, staff and student body in various capacities.

More at the link.

Mentor Search

Who ever is responsible for handling publicity for 100 Black Men, they deserve a gold medal.

I have a news search for "Black mentor" and I notice the 100 Black Men chapters throughout the country get regular hits.

Make sure you check out Black Self Help Information.

This Could Push Some Blacks Towards Obama Or GOP Setup?

This is some wicked s*** and shows to Obama that this is serious bizniz!!!!

Bob Novak Spews Innuendo

Agents of Sen. Hillary Clinton are spreading the word in Democratic circles that she has scandalous information about her principal opponent for the party's presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, but has decided not to use it. The nature of the alleged scandal was not disclosed.

This word-of-mouth among Democrats makes Obama look vulnerable and Clinton look prudent. It comes during a dip for the front-running Clinton after she refused to take a stand on New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's now discarded plan to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens.

Experienced Democratic political operatives believe Clinton wants to avoid a repetition of 2004, when attacks on each other by presidential candidates Howard Dean and Richard Gephardt were mutually destructive and facilitated John Kerry's nomination.

It could also be Republicans trying to set up Clinton for a win so they can go against Hillary Clinton.

Marion Barry IS A Crackhead, But...

I meant to post about this but because I was busy, I forgot. Well, here it is from the Ombudsman of The Washington Post:

After receiving an unsolicited press release, Page snapped back: "Must we hear about it every time this crack addict attempts to rehabilitate himself with some new -- and typically half-witted -- political grandstanding? I'd be grateful if you would take me off your mailing list.

If Tim Page had left off there, this would not have been a "mini-issue" for The Washington Post. But because he continued with...

I cannot think of anything the useless Marion Barry could do that would interest me in the slightest, up to and including overdose." [ Emphasis mine ]

... he went over the line. I'm sorry, but even if you don't like someone, including a comment about overdosing like that is going too far. At a minimum, Page needs to be suspended for a fairly long time. If he lost his job, it wouldn't interest me.

NPR Poll on Blacks: Interesting Links

Here are some links to responses on the NPR Poll on Blacks:

A response to Juan Williams (Washington Post Letters to the Editor)

Williams: Middle Class Blacks Are A Different Race (Jack & Jill Blog)

NPR Presents Juan Williams Cherrypicking of Pew Poll Without Counterpoint (Jack & Jill Blog)

The P.U. Report (P6)

NPR Poll on Blacks: Class or Values?

The following is disjointed, and I know it. I'm hoping I have time to clean it up before it is posted based on time. If not, consider this a draft that I made public.

I read this on Wednesday morning:

Consider: The black people most likely to say that blacks no longer share values across class lines have only a high school diploma or less education (37 percent), or they are lower-income (39 percent). Those most likely to say that all black people have many common values are college-educated blacks (78 percent) and black Americans who have incomes of more than $100,000 (66 percent).

But 70 percent of the same well-educated black people also acknowledge that they see values increasingly "diverging" between the black poor and middle class. That's different from the responses to a 1986 poll in which all classes of black Americans said differences over values were not diffusing the common black experience. Today both middle-class and poor blacks agree that racism is still a big issue for any black person. But they admit that the divide over values is splitting the community.

Is this a class issue or a values issue? If it is a values issue, is it broad based values being compared or "key" values being the issue?

Are most Blacks in the middle and upper classes criminals? How about most Blacks in the lower classes? If the answer is no, which is the answer, then what? Obeying the law is not a class value it is a societal value, in general.

Class has been an issue in the Black community for a very long time. This was born out with the clashes that occurred between "northern Blacks" and the incoming "southern Blacks" during the period of the Northern Migration.

When I was younger, "everyone" knew about Jack & Jill. I'm sure Juan Williams knows about Jack & Jill and about the rules in order to be NOMINATED to get into the group and what it takes to get in after being nominated. If Juan Williams wanted to illuminate things in the Black community, he could have mentioned Jack & Jill and their class based organization. Or maybe he could have mentioned the Prince Hall Masons, Elks, Daughters of Elks, and other "old" Black groups that revealed the class differences in the Black community going back DECADES. Jack & Jill was founded in 1938!

So, why is it that the Black folks who were part of this survey didn't consider Jack & Jill when responding to the questions? Or, the "Black Masons"? Or the Black Greeks?  Or the Black funeral home director families!!!!! ( I think that's a good one. Just TRY to get into that field without being family or close friends of the family of a Black funeral home director and see how far you get! ) All of these groups are a consideration of class, and by direct extension, class values.

Again, I don't understand the responses.

I am really mulling these studies over.

NPR Poll on Blacks: Mental Health Assessment

The NPR/Pew Research Center Poll showed something interesting:

The survey also finds blacks less upbeat about the state of black progress now than at any time since 1983. Looking backward, just one-in-five blacks say things are better for blacks now than they were five years ago. Looking ahead, fewer than half of all blacks (44%) say they think life for blacks will get better in the future, down from the 57% who said so in a 1986 survey.

However, there is more to that one: 44% said better,  21% said worse, and 31% said the same. You can say that 75% said that things are going to get better or stay the same. Is that positive or negative?

20% of the Blacks polled said things are better for Blacks than 5 years ago, 49% said the same, 29% said worse. You could say that 78% said that things are better or the same. Is that positive or negative?

What does this say about my mental view of the "Black world"? What does the poll results say about the mental view of the "Black world" of those Blacks who gave responses? If you take the same view as the person who wrote the "abstract," then you would have to say there is a negative pervasiveness of the Blacks polled. If that matches that of the general Black population, then "we" have an overall negative outlook. And what does that say?

To me, again, it says that Blacks, as a group, are mind f****d mentally damaged. Overall income of Blacks is rising. More Blacks are entering the middle class. More Blacks are creating businesses. Are their negatives? Yes, but to take a negative view of things, to me, is unwarranted. And it demonstrates, to me, that Blacks are adverse to thinking good about "themselves." Which, to me, means "we" need mental help.

Or am I a Pollyanna?

Full results are here. Enjoy.