I am outraged! Sure, you may read this and say I’m just a Black man with a chip on his shoulder…but it’s just jaw-dropping how differently people of color are portrayed in the media. I’m not talking about movies and TV. The NEWS.
Charles Ramsey helped rescue 3 women who had been kidnapped for 10 years is being relegated to a “Sweet Brown” style Internet story. Various news sites report his “colorfulness” and how funny his response were. NO emphasis on the factor that he helped rescue the 3 women. 

The restaurant where he works at as a dishwasher, has created a t-shirt with his image and all the proceeds will go to the kidnapped women. Really? The couple that called 911 to because they spotted Donner are considered newsworthy heroes rewarded with 80% of a large reward.

I note the T-shirt and reward, not to make it about money, but to show how a poor black man will be exploited vs. celebrated for his simply civic, yet heroic actions.

TV networks offer hair and  make up, wardrobe adjustments, and other preps for scheduled interviews. Each of the interviews of working-class Ramsey show little to no effort to provide him with the aides.

I could be wrong. I could be reading too deep.

But I have to ask… when I watch Morning Joe and they ask Dule Hill (Psychs, West Wing) to tap dance on a morning news show…

Are we only expected to be Nino Brown the drug lord, soft shoeing Sambo, or docile, contained Jon Coffee?

I’ll lose some friends. Some will think different of me. Cool. 

So this NY Daily News article below notes Some black pastors are telling their flocks to stay home Election Day 

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/black-pastors-telling-flocks-stay-home-election-day-article-1.1161290#ixzz26kars6pq

Some black clergy see no good presidential choice between a Mormon candidate and one who supports gay marriage, so they are telling their flocks to stay home on Election Day. That’s a worrisome message for the nation’s first African-American president, who can’t afford to lose any voters from his base in a tight race.

The pastors say their congregants are asking how a true Christian could back same-sex marriage, as President Barack Obama did in May. As for Republican Mitt Romney, the first Mormon nominee from a major party, congregants are questioning the theology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its former ban on men of African descent in the priesthood.

In 2008, Obama won 95 percent of black voters and is likely to get an overwhelming majority again. But any loss of votes would sting.

“When President Obama made the public statement on gay marriage, I think it put a question in our minds as to what direction he’s taking the nation,” said the Rev. A.R. Bernard, founder of the predominantly African-American Christian Cultural Center in New York. Bernard, whose endorsement is much sought-after in New York and beyond, voted for Obama in 2008. He said he’s unsure how he’ll vote this year.

It’s unclear just how widespread the sentiment is that African-American Christians would be better off not voting at all. Many pastors have said that despite their misgivings about the candidates, blacks have fought too hard for the vote to ever stay away from the polls.

Black church leaders have begun get-out-the-vote efforts on a wide range of issues, including the proliferation of state voter identification laws, which critics say discriminate against minorities. Last Easter Sunday, a month before Obama’s gay marriage announcement, the Rev. Jamal-Harrison Bryant of Baltimore formed the Empowerment Network, a national coalition of about 30 denominations working to register congregants and provide them with background on health care, the economy, education and other policy issues.

Yet, Bryant last month told The Washington Informer, an African-American newsweekly, “This is the first time in black church history that I’m aware of that black pastors have encouraged their parishioners not to vote.” Bryant, who opposes gay marriage, said the president’s position on marriage is “at the heart” of the problem.

Bryant was traveling and could not be reached for additional comment, his spokeswoman said.

The circumstances of the 2012 campaign have led to complex conversations about faith, politics and voting.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/black-pastors-telling-flocks-stay-home-election-day-article-1.1161290#ixzz26kb5dNMr

STUPID STUPID STUPID. This is why I ABSOLUTELY HATE RELIGION! When you cast your ballot in public election (NOT PICKING WHO WILL BE THE NEXT PASTOR OF THE CHURCH), you are picking someone who has the best vision for your neighborhood, state, or COUNTRY.  When you go to vote, you don’t only vote as a black, or white, or man, or woman… so why the hell would you tell your congregation to ONLY vote with their christian values in mind? I am a man… I can’t ever need or want and abortion for whatever reason… but I vote believing we should let a woman figure out what she wants to do with her body. So church goers… don’t like gays? DON’T BE GAY (holds church fan and bats eye lashes like I’ve seen so many male church goers in my life) Don’t like gay marriage? DON’T GET GAY MARRIED. But if you, think we should make it easier for people to pay for college….if you think women should get paid the same as men… if you think you shouldn’t go bankrupt because you are sick… if you think men and women who serve should be taken care of… if you think we should hop into a full fledge war every time some country stops being our friends… if you think we should try to find alternative energy sources…. if you think kids shouldn’t suffer from childhood obesity (WHERE IS THE CHURCH ON THIS)… then VOTE. VOTE like your LIFE… your children’s life… your grandparents’ depends on it.