David Bartholomew: The Absolute Definition of Insanity

October 19th, 2010 | By Sonnie Johnson

I’m getting so tired.  I mean, it’s to the point, I think I’m talking to myself.

I made a promise to myself when I decided to become the President of the Frederick Douglass Foundation of Virginia.  I promised I would Be Revolutionary Not Reactionary.  Lately, I’ve found I’m surrounded by people who just don’t get it.

The Joke

MY DOG

I went down this morning to sign up my Dog for welfare.

At first the lady said, “Dogs are not eligible to draw welfare”.

So I explained to her that my Dog is black, unemployed, lazy, can’t speak English and has no frigging clue who his Daddy is.

So she looked in her policy book to see what it takes to qualify…

My Dog gets his first check Friday.

Is this a great country or what?

 

How did you respond?  Did you laugh?  Did you look for the dose of reality in the joke that makes it funny?  Or did you follow the Sharpton/Jackson template and say “Off With His Head”?  Did you react to the stupidity of one man, who rightfully resigned, instead of focusing on the Revolutionary thought of using this as one of those “Teachable Moments”?

First of all say, Sad but True.  Black Unemployment is double the National Average.  How many jobs did Bartholomew’s resignation create?  One for the person that will take his position.  And that person will answer to the same network, make deals with the same circles, and probably show the same disrespect for the black community.  Why?  Because we don’t show up.

Now, some of my black conservatives should know what I mean by not showing up but I digress.   What I really mean is, we haven’t captured the hearts of OUR communities, so why should the GOP care?  Elections take money and we aren’t donating.  Why should they care?  Candidates get elected by having a majority of the votes.  How many new black voters have you brought to the GOP?

Why do we act like Liberals when it comes to situations like these?   Why do we get in a huff and puff mode of condemning someone, for something I’m sure we’ve all done, instead of pointing out that some of them are lazy.  Yet, a huge majority are hard-working and given the opportunity would become huge assets to any company.  How many men were inspired by Bartholomew’s resignation?

Why don’t we question why they can’t speak English?  Why can’t we say, the Democrats who control the school boards have more to do with making this joke funny than any other entity in this state.   We spend billions of dollars on Education and our kids are still failing to learn the basic essentials like reading, writing, or filling out a job applications.  How many kids will graduate High School since Bartholomew resigned?

Don’t we all complain that one of the major issues in the black community is the lack of a two parent home?  Why shouldn’t we use this moment to point out that the underlying principle of  this joke is, Democrats and their I care so much attitude, basically pushing us down to the point of dogs.  They created the cycle of poverty and deprivation but instead of focusing our attention on them, we focus on those we feel are closet to us.

That’s a shame.  The people in our Communities should be the ones closest to us.  They should be the ones WE tell this joke to and say, see what they’ve made you into.  A Republican might have forwarded the email but Democrats, through their policy, have made it a reality.  Which is worse?

We claim to be against black leaders who use the race card.    Yet, all we do is release a message when a White Person does something racist.  Well, I believe the most racist act is standing by when death is busy in OUR neighborhoods.  It’s not coming from an email.  It’s coming from a community shaped by Democratic policy.  When will we start making that case?