A ‘No More Excuses’ Christmas?

I find this article highly irritating, ridiculous and far reaching in making general statements. It???s also insulting to blacks.
As an educated black woman I hardly need to look to Obama (who I admire and did vote for) to all of a sudden say "I have no more excuses." Racism exists and society sometimes sucks but it NEVER gave me an excuse not to step up to the plate and deal with it.

Only now may black kids realize their potential?? Or only now do they realize they can have better role models?? Get real, that is such a cop-out and part of the problem.

Excuses are and always have been the tools of incompetence. And I have to believe that more blacks realize that fact than this sad article portrays.

I believe the point is that couples are interested and willing to get married, through a program or idea with which they connect. The grammar here is irrelevant. These couples need to set a standard and strong foundation for themselves and especially their children.

There are a host of reasons why couples have children and decide to get married. You can salute the ones who decide to take the plunge for themselves and/ or their kids.

P.S. Women having children out of wedlock probably has more relevance to education and resources than it does to binding a man down. Although I understand your point, there is more to it than we can probably understand or care to.

Marry Your Baby Daddy?

When did it become acceptable to use poor grammar to promote bettering oneself?

Please. Think about it.

Our foremothers fought long and hard for women's rights. Now they are being slapped in the face by women who have child after child out of wedlock. You would think that by the time the first one is born they would figure out that they cannot bind a man to them just because they have his child. It is so obviously irresponsible.

Don't think I am letting the men off the hook either. They need to be shown that they look more like fools than studs when they continue to father children they have no plans on supporting monetarily or emotionally.

Many resources and plans have been used and failed to get different points across. They do not seem to work. What happened to Planned Parenthood? What happened to the movements to curb the population explosion? They seem to have all gone by the wayside. (Except in China and I don't condone their methods)

Rewarding people with a free wedding is like the old adage about closing the gate AFTER the horse is out..

NotForYou: You are SO right! One of the things about Obama that impresses me is that he never got angry or alienated during his childhood. I guess we can thank his mother and grandmother for that. But striving to do better, to better oneself and to encourage one's children to do even better than we do, is a trait that blacks and whites (and orientals and hispanics and everyone else) should have in common. Unfortunately, there are greedy, selfish, unprincipled men and women of both races, and one way or another, the rest of society pays for their incivility and just plain evil.

This is a wonderful article that is needed, but the absence of GOD in our lives is THE major contributing factor in our lives of apathy and "anything will do" mentality. We, as a whole, say we believe in God but do not attend church and that means that our children do not either and being married is what God dictates, so it is easy to skirt HIS will and the attached commitment by delaying it and not caring about the children, for getting married boost their esteem and self-worth, too! And that starts the ball to rolling as being an example to our children and their other kin and friends. Settling or " a piece of man (or woman) is better than none at all", is dead!!!
the Obama's example of being God-fearing and married and sexy has resonated in.Chicago for years and far outside of Illinois. Now they are on the national scale, excuse me, world stage, and it all fits so flawlessly.
Sisters, demand it not just for yourselves
also, you stated that," They have the will to marry, but just aren't motivated.", but I feel that they have the power, but NOT the will to get maried, basically for te same reason as afore=mentioned, no God, no true commitment.

Change MUST come from within the community. That is the ONLY way change will occur.
And I agree with the author Maryann Reid, the single biggest action that the community can take to affect the most is for black men to stand up to their responsibilities as fathers.
Blame and being a constant victim will assure no progress.
These are tough words because the responsibility is on the individual.

zephyr78, You probably don't remember what it's like to be a child. The fact that you are not married will hang like a shadow over your kid's heads if you believe so or not. Kids will destroy each other with taunts over any difference or deficiency they detect. As if that's not bad enough your kids themselves may now or later internalize this difference/deficiency and come to think less of themselves and you also.

This has nothing to do with what you believe about absolute values or moral relativism. The fact is that both exist out in the real world and will be enforced instrumentally by those around us for their advantage. I'm not saying all people are like this but enough are. You never know when one will be your boss, professor, friend, etc, and by the time

There is something to be said about doing the MOST for your kids. The Ghetto is a race to the bottom. I know, I lived there and visit for the holidays every year. I have never forgotten and I have the membership to judge it. All this pressure that kids and adults put on their peers to force them into the average is energy badly spent. This is not a new concept just look at it as a different flavor of keeping up with the Jones. Out of the many random and unpredictable hardships that fall on anyone why voluntarily add one more? I rarely ever comment on blogs. Usually nothing ever merits aspiring to a grain of salt. Internet talk is cheap and hiding behind a keyboard apparently is like meth for passive aggressives. With that said pay no mind to any of this but I will advise one thing: Teach your kids to defeat swipes coercing the average and focus on their longer term future. Kids can't conceive of future choices past next week.

I do not take yanky48's view. It is typical of sheltered, defensive, and greedy "whites" and their only justification is that they exploited this land first. That's not quite a moral victory on their part, it's like being the first thief. A country continues to be built on the backs of the oppressed and it's not dominant culture's exclusive right to own or lead it. Aimless seething indignation for crimes past, present, and future on minorities is not enough.

Let the whites Prada and Gucci each other into irrelevance. Ghetto culture should not aspire to dominant culture, it can go past it. Look at their wonderful self-deceit with the mortgage mess. Don't compete for parity compete to succeed it. They have all means in the world at their disposal and look what they choose to do with it. This is nothing against dominant culture, they are free to turn themselves around. The first step is to stop buying into and self-enforcing their version of ourselves.

I guess in short: Strengthen your family, demand better schools, and ignore those who say you can't become. Otherwise why did we go through the trouble of electing Barak Obama? Self help is a must. We can't just rest on our laurels no matter how long or how hard the fight was to get them.

When will Americans learn? As I recently wrote in an article I titled "The Colors of Freedom: Black & White" it is long past time for the black and white communities to stop buying into the garbage that we have been fed which leads us to believe we cannot function as neighbors, friends, coworkers and yes, even family. The fact is, relations between black and white in the South being one of confortable familiarity, to the point in many cases of familial bonding, date back to long before the War of Northern Agression. What I find interesting in "MrYanky's" comments, is that his obvious bigotry based on skin color is precisely the sort of racist viewpoints held by NORTHERNERS against BLACKS since the first slave ships arrived from the African Continent. Why didn't the slaves rise up and revolt, or even walk away from the plantations in the vast numbers expected by the North and the Lincoln Administration? Read the "Slave Narrratives" and see for yourself.
Here is what I know for sure. Our leaders in Washington have known that the day was coming when their fiscal mismanagement (to put it ever so mildly) would lead to the nation's collapse. They are counting on us to fight against one another. How many thousands, or millions will die in American streets from simple lack of every day needs, when some bigot like MrYanky here could have reached out to help? How many will perish needlessly because we as ONE PEOPLE continue to buy into this imaginary divisiveness that says we are so vastly different. Are we? Do we not want the very same things? A comfortable home, a good education for our children, quality HEALTH care (as opposed to the current system of "sick care") opportunities equal to our own abilities, and a chance to know true peace. Oh, and I'm white by the way. Does that really matter? If it does... the pity.

Mr. Yanky48, you have my deepest sympathies. It is not your fault that you are unable to know the hope of a people who have and do face daily challenges of trying to overcome the racial stigmas that you have so ungraciously described. It is not easy to endure the humiliation and most times substandard housing and financial assistance that is the sole means of livelihood for whites, black, hispanic, and other people who find themselves in need of these services. Hooray for you- after your years of education, you walk away without a sense of empathy for your fellow man, woman, or child. In the spirit of this special season and time of change; God bless you and have mercy.

First, as a white male i find it amusing that black people think that because we now have a black President that things have changed. In fact, they have not, at least not in my eye. The fact that a black man is now President Elect does not change my view of black people. As many white people and blacks will find out you can put a black man in the White House but it will do nothing to change they're values, morals and culture. It's just another black family living in government housing. Most blacks will continue to be criminals, worthless trash that are always looking for a handout due to white people feeling guilty about slavery. If the government kept giving me a check each month for doing nothing i would be right where they are today. Without an education and proper upbringing what can we expect from the average black male? Another Kanya West?

Some things the government indeed can't do, but I hope Obama follows through on his promises in areas of economic justice and once again respecting the dignity of hard work not just for black families, but for all families. The unemployment numbers of recent years mask a story where good jobs have left and been replaced by non-living-wage McJobs where even two earners can't support a family. A company like Wal-Mart would only have to raise prices 0.5% for each additional dollar per hour paid, but those types of jobs would be exponentially more valuable to communities if they paid a living wage. There would also be higher morale and far less turnover. More money needs to flow to the bottom to get the economy going again...putting more at the top, as under Bush, just means more hoarding and bubbles. In an economy like this, though, people might think getting married could be delayed if their job is constantly under threat, and even if they had money for a mortgage the bank likely wouldn't give them one, anyway. It'll take awhile to turn all that around. .

Dribble. That's all I have to say about this article.

Dribble. That's all I have to say about this article.

this article was horrible. thanks for helping everyone blanket stereotype black people... because you know... they couldnt do it on their own