Image vs Reality

So I was just reading the article behind that satirical (racist) New Yorker magazine picture. But I had to stop so I could write this post. My question is where is the satire? I see no extremes and no call for change in the depiction as required to call something satire. I vote no. But that is not what this post is about. It is about (as the title suggests)…image versus reality. Lauryn Hill is the realest bitch I know. She was quoted as saying, "Fantasy is what people want, and Reality is what they need. I am trying to create reality" I might have misquoted that a bit. I am trying to educate. Then maybe you will educate your children and not hide from them the evils of this world. Then we can finally get a leg up in this world, we can stop being the victim, and since we are oh so good at entertaining, we can stop playing the part so well, and we can stop being oppressed and we can actually get our reparations. I hate when people flaunt their knowledge to show, that they have it instead of for the betterment of others. I want to educate for us. Therefore, I am putting this out here, and it is my hope that some of you can add insight. I am not saying that Bill Clinton was a horrible president, not even that he was a bad president, and not even that his bad deeds outweighed his good deeds. The truth is that we will never be completely satisfied with any candidate or president especially when they look so different from us. What I am saying though, is that, I want us to be able to realize that this world is full of players and even if you are not playing a game, it might be playing you. We must learn that people will put a veil in front of your face to mask the truth. Did we let Bill Clinton's veil/image shield us from the truth/reality? Did you know that more black men went to prison during the Clinton administration than any other besides the Reagan administration? Did you know that Clinton sent more jobs overseas during his administration than any other other administration besides the Reagan administration with his signing of the Outsourcing act into Law? He supported the practice of exploiting for Indian, Indonesian, Chinese families for their cheap labor, making/allowing them to work in deplorable conditions, at the risk of losing limbs, for extremely long, strenuous hours at a time. Little girls and boys who should be getting an education helping to support their families...Clinton let this continue. All the while, we had nothing to say about it. We loved him; we shucked and jived for him, when we should have been the ones that stood up, that spoke out that said something, anything! Instead, we invite him to our awards shows, and dub him "the first black president". Toni Morrison said that he would be closet we ever got to having a black president, besides the fact that she is eating her words right now, I would have hoped such a prominent figure in our community would see what this man was really doing to our community. Did you know that when Clinton won the presidency he abandoned his promises for universal health care and instead changed a 60 year tradition; federal guarantee of support for poor families and their children; a core provision of the Social Security Act and cut off aid to immigrant families, an action that he before called "particularly harsh" and "unjustifiable"?

Every president will have to make decisions that do line up with their promises and our maybe even their beliefs. However, do we have to stand by so idly and even support the man when he did so wrong?

Why was Clinton regarded as a black president? Usually, someone has to be in support of and protect our interests to be down. Nevertheless, not this time huh? We laughed with him about his sexual escapades while he laughed behind our backs. The joke was on us. Now there is nothing that we can do now, he is no longer our president. Maybe he was the best president that we have had thus far, though. Moreover, maybe somebody could prove me wrong. I am always open to learning more.