Will Blacks Regain Respect in the Wake of President-Elect Barrack Obama?

In the wake of the historical United States Presidential Election of Barrack Obama, America's first Black President, will Black people regain respect? Will we regain respect in America and around the world? Most importantly will we regain respect for one another.

Just as America has been synonymous with racism, Black culture in America has been synonymous with perseverance. However, the new black generation, the pre-civil rights generation has adopted a culture of misogyny, crime, violence, drugs, over-spending and overall disrespect. The leaders in the Black community have been relegated to Artist and Athletes who degrade one another, degrade women, degrade our communities and exploit our people.

There are many academic debates on the issue of how and why we have embraced such a violent and destructive culture. The blame list could be endless. Of course 400 years of oppression cannot go unnoticed. But now we have to embrace change. We have to be accountable for our actions in our community.

It is time that we get back to the foundation that was laid by our ancestors. President-Elect Obama has given many hope of retrieving that lost dream. Voter turnout in Black communities across America reached upwards of 90% in some precints. Adults who have never voted in the past turned out in record numbers.

So how do we accomplish this feat? How do we embrace that dream that seemed deferred for so many years? It has to start from within. We have to begin to demand respect for ourselves. We must not support artist who degrade our culture. We must demand that all elected official, not just Black elected officials, support legislation that supports the Black Agenda. We must spend money in stores and with businesses that support Black people. Our actions should not be limited to a laundry list but we have to begin somewhere and that somewhere is to respect ourselves before the world will once again respect us.