What’s the Difference?

Below are remarks from President Barack Obama speech to the NAACP Centennial Convention at the Hilton Hotel in New York City on Thursday, July 16, 2009 that was an incredible speech by the way and below that is a piece I wrote on January 19, 2009 entitled “Shame On You” where I criticized parents who used to tell their children they can be anything they want to be but they didn’t believe it until Obama became President. However my reason for bringing excerpts of Obama’s speech together with a piece I wrote is to ask the American people what’s the difference between what Obama said and what I said nearly seven months ago in regards to parents believing in their children.

I can remember many individuals told me I was wrong for writing my piece and they criticized me left and right but I question did these same individuals say the same when Obama gave his speech. I know I am not the President of the United States of America and perhaps I come off a little harsh but the reality is that, the President and I are saying the same thing when it comes believing in our youth and telling them they can be anything they want to be as long as they work hard at it and opportunities as well as chances are given to them because of the hard work they do. However simply telling our youth they can be anything they want to be and not meaning it will not help our youth if we don’t help them to achieve it.

For far too long, conversations like this have been wasted on trying to tear down the messenger rather than to accept reality that we are our own worst critic when it comes to progress. People looked at me seven months ago when I wrote Shame On You and said I wrong and I was talking out of line. However seven months later the President of the United States of America says literally the exact same thing in perhaps a more diligent and fragile way but I am willing to bet that the same people who are perhaps reading this blog loved Obama’s speech and found no faults with me. In fact I am willing to bet that the exact same people who attacked me and tried to beat me down for my article, didn’t even take the time to read Shame On Me, which was a response piece to the criticisms that people made toward me for writing Shame on You.

Still the fact still remains, I am not in the business of personally attacking any individual or particular group but I am in the business of attacking policies and actions that are dangerous to our society and our nation of growing. It doesn’t matter to me if the policies or actions are democratic or republican, independent or moderate or black or white but what does matter is that we as people understand that it shouldn’t matter who the messenger is when certain words are given if the words are true. Obama’s words below are the exact same words of what I wrote seven months ago regardless if many of you want to admit it or not and the fact that some in our community and society used to or still tell their children they can be anything they want to be and didn’t mean it, is a disservice to the youth of our future.

Yes our youth needs inspiration and motivation but we all do at times but simply telling them they can be anything they want to be but not giving them the resources, the love, the care and other help with it in the form of actions besides just words is a disservice to the youth being anything they want to be. That’s what my message of Shame On You was all about. My article was all about pointing to the fact that we as a nation have to start believing in what we say if we want our youth to be anything they want to be and for those parents who were just saying it but wasn’t putting actions behind it than we were doing our youth a disservice that would hinder them for years to come in my opinion.

Obama’s words on Thursday hit on the same thing and that is why I am asking what’s the difference between Obama’s words and mine. I’m a big boy, I can take it but it seems that many in America can’t take the heat so they would rather be silent or wait until someone they love and like or as some call it, can’t do no wrong says it than they applaud it regardless if a little known somebody like myself said the almost identical thing seven months ago. So what’s the difference people, can someone please explain that to me.

All I’m saying is that President Obama and I want a better future for not just our youth but for America. We might disagree on how to get there in some ways but when it comes to responsibility and better parenting, we are in sync on that and I believe the words below from his speech and my article only prove that. However I could be wrong so I will leave the American people to judge.


Remarks of President Barack Obama: TO THE NAACP CENTENNIAL CONVENTION
July 16, 2009
NAACP 100 Year Convention
Hilton New York
New York, New York

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But all these innovative programs and expanded opportunities will not, in and of themselves, make a difference if each of us, as parents and as community leaders, fail to do our part by encouraging excellence in our children. (Applause.) Government programs alone won't get our children to the Promised Land. We need a new mind set, a new set of attitudes -- because one of the most durable and destructive legacies of discrimination is the way we've internalized a sense of limitation; how so many in our community have come to expect so little from the world and from themselves.

We've got to say to our children, yes, if you're African American, the odds of growing up amid crime and gangs are higher. Yes, if you live in a poor neighborhood, you will face challenges that somebody in a wealthy suburb does not have to face. But that's not a reason to get bad grades -- (applause) -- that's not a reason to cut class -- (applause) -- that's not a reason to give up on your education and drop out of school. (Applause.) No one has written your destiny for you. Your destiny is in your hands -- you cannot forget that. That's what we have to teach all of our children. No excuses. (Applause.) No excuses.

You get that education, all those hardships will just make you stronger, better able to compete. Yes we can. (Applause.)

To parents -- to parents, we can't tell our kids to do well in school and then fail to support them when they get home. (Applause.) You can't just contract out parenting. For our kids to excel, we have to accept our responsibility to help them learn. That means putting away the Xbox -- (applause) -- putting our kids to bed at a reasonable hour. (Applause.) It means attending those parent-teacher conferences and reading to our children and helping them with their homework. (Applause.)

And by the way, it means we need to be there for our neighbor's sons and daughters. (Applause.) We need to go back to the time, back to the day when we parents saw somebody, saw some kid fooling around and -- it wasn't your child, but they'll whup you anyway. (Laughter and applause.) Or at least they'll tell your parents -- the parents will. You know. (Laughter.) That's the meaning of community. That's how we can reclaim the strength and the determination and the hopefulness that helped us come so far; helped us make a way out of no way.

It also means pushing our children to set their sights a little bit higher. They might think they've got a pretty good jump shot or a pretty good flow, but our kids can't all aspire to be LeBron or Lil Wayne. (Applause.) I want them aspiring to be scientists and engineers -- (applause) -- doctors and teachers -- (applause) -- not just ballers and rappers. I want them aspiring to be a Supreme Court Justice. (Applause.) I want them aspiring to be the President of the United States of America. (Applause.)

I want their horizons to be limitless. I don't -- don't tell them they can't do something. Don't feed our children with a sense of -- that somehow because of their race that they cannot achieve.

Yes, government must be a force for opportunity. Yes, government must be a force for equality. But ultimately, if we are to be true to our past, then we also have to seize our own future, each and every day.

And that's what the NAACP is all about. The NAACP was not founded in search of a handout. The NAACP was not founded in search of favors. The NAACP was founded on a firm notion of justice; to cash the promissory note of America that says all of our children, all God's children, deserve a fair chance in the race of life. (Applause.)

It's a simple dream, and yet one that all too often has been denied -- and is still being denied to so many Americans. It's a painful thing, seeing that dream denied. I remember visiting a Chicago school in a rough neighborhood when I was a community organizer, and some of the children gathered 'round me. And I remember thinking how remarkable it was that all of these children seemed so full of hope, despite being born into poverty, despite being delivered, in some cases, into addiction, despite all the obstacles they were already facing -- you could see that spark in their eyes. They were the equal of children anywhere.

And I remember the principal of the school telling me that soon that sparkle would begin to dim, that things would begin to change; that soon, the laughter in their eyes would begin to fade; that soon, something would shut off inside, as it sunk in -- because kids are smarter than we give them credit for -- as it sunk in that their hopes would not come to pass -- not because they weren't smart enough, not because they weren't talented enough, not because of anything about them inherently, but because, by accident of birth, they had not received a fair chance in life.

I know what can happen to a child who doesn't have that chance. But I also know what can happen to a child that does. I was raised by a single mom. I didn't come from a lot of wealth. I got into my share of trouble as a child. My life could have easily taken a turn for the worse. When I drive through Harlem or I drive through the South Side of Chicago and I see young men on the corners, I say, there but for the grace of God go I. (Applause.) They're no less gifted than me. They're no less talented than me.

But I had some breaks. That mother of mine, she gave me love; she pushed me, she cared about my education; she took no lip; she taught me right from wrong. Because of her, I had a chance to make the most of my abilities. I had the chance to make the most of my opportunities. I had the chance to make the most of life.

The same story holds true for Michelle. The same story holds true for so many of you. And I want all the other Barack Obamas out there, and all the other Michelle Obamas out there -- (applause) -- to have the same chance -- the chance that my mother gave me; that my education gave me; that the United States of America has given me. That's how our union will be perfected and our economy rebuilt. That is how America will move forward in the next 100 years.

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Shame On You
By: Hodari P.T. Brown
Written January 19, 2009

America, when will we learn from the error of our ways? We should be ashamed of our actions as Americans particularly in the African American community. For those of you who are black and have children, you should be ashamed of yourself to tell your children that they can be anything they want to be but you really didn’t mean it. You should be ashamed of yourself for telling your children or any youth that they can be anything they want to be as long as they put their mind to it.

For those of you who have done this over the years to generation after generation should be ashamed of yourselves for not truly meaning what you say. It is a crying shame that no one has said this before now but people particularly children could always be anything they wanted to be way before Barack Obama came on to the scene. If many people particularly African Americans are just now believing that African Americans can do anything now that Obama is the President of the United States of America than I am here to tell you that you all should be ashamed of yourselves for not believing before now. African Americans could always be anything they wanted to be and could always do anything they wanted to do as long as we believed in our own abilities to achieve excellence and success.

We should be ashamed of ourselves for not believing that all things are possible and that the impossible is only the impossible because we don’t believe we can achieve it. It is a shame that many Americans have doubted so much over the years and it is a shame that even more African Americans have doubted more so than the rest of America. This is a far cry from the slavery days when African Americans dreamed of freedom and dreamed of better days while all the time singing African folk tales that dealt with freedom, glory and better days. This is a far cry from the Civil Rights movement when African Americans sang “We Shall Overcome” as well as other church songs as they peacefully protested Jim Crow laws in the south.

Now on the eve of swearing in Barack Obama as America’s 44th President, I hear many parents say that I can finally tell my child that they can be anything they want to be and actually mean it. Shame on you for not believing it before and shame on you for not believing in your child’s ability to achieve what they want to achieve and truly mean it before now. We all need to be ashamed of ourselves that we have not been practicing what we preached. This is truly the irony of the problem and the sadness of this theory that many American particularly African Americans have established.

Shame on you America for not believing that all things were possible way before now because America was built on dreams and believing that all dreams were possible. Our Founding Fathers believed that one day our nation would be free from Great Britain’s reign and all they had was a dream and a plan for this to transpire. However if our Founding Fathers didn’t believe in what they preached to all those farmers and slaves than America would not be the United States of America but rather Great Britain’s America. We should be ashamed of ourselves America. We should be ashamed that we were not practicing what we preached and that we didn’t even believe in our own children’s ability to achieve way before now.

It is a shame that for generation after generation that many American particularly African Americans that we have told our children that they can be anything they want to be but we didn’t even mean it when we said it. In fact, it is as if we were only saying it to keep our youths moral high in order to make sure their self-esteem was high enough for them to get through whatever tough obstacle they were facing. Nonetheless we never once thought for a minute that perhaps our actions of not truly believing in our youth and for not really pushing our youth toward achieving their dreams would hurt them in the long haul. That is the burden that we have created for many youth who were feed they could be anything they want to be although many of us didn’t really mean it.

I’m thankful that my parents told me that I can be anything that I want to be and they truly meant it. I’m thankful that they pushed me toward my goals regardless of how ridiculous and unrealistic to some they might have been, to my parents they knew that if I set my heart, mind and soul to achieving it than I could achieve it. That’s why those of you who told your children or any youth that they can be anything they want to be but you didn’t really mean than you should be truly ashamed of yourself. You should be ashamed of yourself because you probably did more damage to that youth than those who just didn’t believe in that youth’s dream. Shame on you, America, for telling generations after generations lie after lie!

The American Dream is not about telling people falsehoods. The American Dream is about people truly believing in other people and helping other people achieve their dream no matter the odds, no matter the obstacles. So shame on you, America, for not truly believing in generation after generation abilities to be anything they wanted to be. Shame on you, America, for not believing that the impossible is possible as long as you believe it is possible. Shame on you, America, for not truly believing in the words you preach.

Shame on you, America, for not truly doing God’s will and believing in God’s will to make all things possible. Shame on you, America, for not always believing that all dreams are possible no matter if they were once impossible. Barack Obama should not have made all dreams possible but we as a people who believe in God should know that all dreams are possible as long as we are living. History shows it, the heroes who have defined the odds to become the first to achieve it have shown us and us the people have witnessed it time & time again. Therefore we should be truly ashamed of ourselves for not really believing.

SHAME ON YOU!