The Sojourner's Passport Site Has Launched!

I'm delighted to announce that The Sojourner's Passport site has launched! You can visit it at http://www.sojournerspassport.com/.

Everyone, I can't thank you enough for your ongoing encouragement and support; I truly appreciate it. Your support is what made this possible. And here's a special shout-out to my web designers at Educo Web Design. They're nice people to deal with, and they do outstanding work!

Peace and blessings,
Khadija Nassif

Watch the Book Trailer, Buy the Book!

I'm delighted to announce that the book and its book trailer are finally out! You can watch the book trailer here and buy the book here

Everyone, I can't thank you enough for your ongoing encouragement and support; I truly appreciate it. Your support is what made this possible. And here's a special shout-out to my web designers at Educo Web Design. They're nice people to deal with, and they do outstanding work!

Once the new blog site is up and running (which will be soon, hopefully), it will have a special, downloadable excerpt from my next book exclusively for readers who have bought The Sojourner's Passport. I can't wait!

A View From Across The Ocean: A Reader's Money Quote From JaliliMaster

The Reader's Money Quote is a statement that is of such insight and importance that it merits frequent and loud repetition. These Reader's Money Quotes are from an astute UK-based African reader named JaliliMaster (actually, I think of her as one of the international "news correspondents" that this blog has been blessed to have). She said the following in response to the From the "I Told You So" Department-Pres. Obama Watch Division post (my responses are in bold italics):

I agree re: the extended readers money quote regarding dominance. Other ethnicities are doing it and excluding blacks. This is not unique to America, so folks should not think that if they go to another country, they won't face this same type of discrimination. This is the same attitude that allowed these other 'ethnics' to trick AA's in the first place. They thought that other people of colour would have solidarity with them when it came to whites. Turns out, they will stand with you as far as you are needed then you get dropped. [Khadija: This phrase, "they will stand with you as far as you are needed then you get dropped," should be painted on most African-Americans' foreheads. Starting with our gullible, idiotic (mis)leaders.]

In the UK, a Tamil man was taken to court for racially-motivated firing of black employees. Now if anyone knows about the Tamils, they are Sri-Lankan minorities who have been at war for years and are at the bottom of the country socially, economically etc. Yet, he got to britain and used all his money to buy a petrol station service shop. The first thing he did was to fire the employees one-by-one, who were all black Africans, then he hired new supervisors, all Tamil. [Khadija: It's normal human nature to take care of folks in this order: self, family, clan, ethnic group. With many people in many countries, "nation" isn't even on that list. With most people across the board, outsiders are almost NEVER on the "take care of them" list. People who are in touch with reality understand this; and are therefore not depending on others to so-called "do right by them" by taking care of them.]

This man was then taken to court by the employees. He was ordered by the judge to re-employ them or face fines. He chose to pay compensation to these employees than have them working for him. [Khadija: Right, that's to be expected. It's very difficult to bumrush your way onto somebody else's "take care of them" list.]

He was asked how he could be so okay with his racism, he felt there was nothing wrong with it as it was his business. [Khadija: To even ask that question is show how naive one is. {shaking my head}] The man who was interviewing him is some black actor(or other personality) who was doing a documentary. He was the kumbaya type of negro, questioning why people of colour cannot just 'work together'. [Khadija: Oh, puh-leeze.]

I remember he went into Asian communities(Pakistani, Indian etc), and exposed the entrenched racism towards blacks. [Khadija: Then I'm sure this foolish Negro got an earful from those South Asians. From what I've observed of them in the US, they discriminate among themselves based on color. The (arranged) marriage ads that Indians and Pakistanis put in "Muslim" publications openly state that the parent placing the ad is looking to marry their child to persons with "fair complexions." They're certainly not interested in cuddling up with folks who are of African descent and therefore "officially" Black.]

This silly negro started pontificating on camera, even as one Indian man boasted and even mocked that if blacks are so good, how come all the businesses in black communities are owned by Asians?! This negro started wailing that the Asians should be 'fair' and hire blacks. [Khadija: {chuckling}] It never occured to him to question why blacks: (1)Refuse to open their businesses AND manage it properly, and (2) why negroes would rather patronise any other business than a black-owned one!

On a final note, the whole kool-aid(I hate using that term) drunk by black folks in relation to Obama is symptomatic of how blacks, and in particular AA's, refuse to properly vet those that claim to represent them. I've seen many AA's talk about thier 'African Brothers' and 'hang' with them in solidarity, but never make any effort to engage in economic and other financial projects that could be to their benefit. They'd stand by as these African negroes do business with whites, and the whites exclude them(AA's) from being able to partake, in many cases, with the Africans knowledge. No offense, but AA's need to stop being fools. Alot of you seem to have this view that these African 'leaders/reps' would always have your backs, when they don't even have the backs of their fellow country men. [Khadija: JaliliMaster, THANK YOU for the courtesy of telling THE TRUTH. And doing so in the spirit of seeing African-Americans wake up and do better. You already know this, but let me point this out to my fellow African-Americans: We have the deadly mental habit of assuming that other people view the world the same way we do, and that they think the same way we do. They DON'T.

For one of many examples, most African-Americans have the "take care of them" list backwards compared to every other group of people. We put outsiders first and put ourselves last. African-American women put themselves DEAD LAST on the "must be taken care of" list. Nobody else thinks like this.]

The same thing is done with AA leaders, where having the black skin is enough. I've noticed the British governments habits (and the American too), of sending black faces to represent them in African countries when it comes to political issues (say negotiations in Zimbabwe, Sudan etc), because they think they would be better able to trick them with a black face, but then send white faces when it comes to financial issues, because they don't want black folks to be the link to their source of income. Folks need to understand that money is always going to be made, it's all about who makes it. With the recession, it is the smartest that will come out ontop, get with it!

Okay, I tried posting my comments, but it was too long so I'll break them down:

Obama is weak. That is the plain truth. In the case of Bush, only a select few were allowed to speak. With Obama, he allows many to air their views, but only takes the views of a select few into account. What he doesn't realise is that that is no different from Bush. I'm surprised that many could not see Obamas weakness till now. [Khadija: From what I observe, most African-Americans still can't see Obama's weakness. As a friend mentioned to me earlier this morning, most African-Americans will hypnotically cling to (and fall with) Obama to the bitter end. Even after it's all over, they still won't understand what happened, or why.]

Ignoring the fact that alot of the criticism from the right is racially motivated, there are some instances where he should listen. Him bowing to foreign leaders is one of them. Obama seems pretty convinced that he is this all-knowing, world-travelled man, because he lived in God knows where when he was a child. He thinks that he knows more than anybody else about other cultures. That is why he insists on doing nonsense like bowing to other heads of state. In these countries, bowing (or kneeling/bending the knee etc) is used as a sign of respect. But thats where Obamas knowledge stops. It is used as a sign of respect to those who one considers to be above them. [In Obama's case, since he's not actually African-American--he's half continental African and half-White---this is a case of him succumbing to the general (ignorant) American assumption that other people think the way Americans do. In this case, believing that other people subscribe to the "people are people, and people are the same all over, and everybody is as informal as Americans" nonsense. Umm . . . NO.

People are NOT just people in other places. Many other cultures have much more rigidly observed hierarchies. This is reflected in many languages even by "little" things, such as using much more formal forms of address when speaking to people who are in any way "above" you (more educated, older, wealthier, etc.). In many other cultures, everybody has a commonly understood and accepted "place."]

It is the reason the when Laura Bush met the Queen of England, rather than curtsying, she only gave a very slight tip of the head. Why? Her husband was the head of state. She assumes his same level. Therefore, all heads of state are of the same level. The Queen is the head of state, and secondly, Laura is not a British subject, and therefore doesn't bow. [Khadija: That's right.]

I don't know whether or not Michelle had the common sense to do the same thing, although reports said that when they first met, away from cameras, she gave a little curtsey. Try paying attention to foreign media for once, one would see a difference between that and what passes for 'news' in this part of the world. I remember when he went to Saudi Arabia, the moment he bowed, the entire Saudi media went ecstatic, because they felt he was 'submitting'. [Khadija: That's right. Obama was silly enough to think that he was ingratiating himself with these people by doing that. Instead, he was inviting them to hold him in contempt.] That had NEVER been done by any American president before. Now, wherever he goes, this president, supposedly the most powerful man in the world, is actually expected to bow and 'submit'. They expected it in China, they got it. He did the same in other places. It's not lost on me that it is this first 'black' president that is expected to 'submit'. [Khadija: This is a disgrace.]

On the issue of his political appointments, part of the reason that there have been quite a few social faux pas is because the person responsible for 'updating' the president on such issues is the Chief protocol officer. Guess who she is. A die-hard Shrillary nut. She was appointed by Clinton as the post is under the State Department, but she is situated in the white house. Although she is supposed to, she doesn't fly with the president and her office was moved to the State department (from what I understand, that had something to do with Michelle, as she didn't trust the woman when it came to loyalty). [Khadija: A small bit of common sense.]

She had good reason not to, as this woman was a very active member of the PUMA lot, who were virulently anti-Obama. This is another reason why I think giving Clinton the SOS role was a mistake. She insisted that she should have the power to hire and fire as she pleased, a power which should solely belong to the president. Now she stuffed the state department full with her cronies. [Khadija: That's to be expected from everybody except naive, gullible Obama. But then again, Obama doesn't have any cronies of his own--for the reasons that I've covered in previous posts.]

I'm also amused when I see people talking about Hillary running in 2012. People forget that she is inexperienced. There is a reason why all of a sudden, the secretary of states responsibilities have been carved up, with envoys to various regions(Iraq, N. Korea etc) that do not report to Clinton. Being married to the president does not count as experience, especially as up to the point of being given the secretary of state job, she, like Obama, had very little to show for her political career. The silly mistakes she has made with Russia and the Israel/Palestinian issue (too long to go into now) are just one of the many signs that she is a lightweight. [Khadija: Yes, but as we saw with Bush, the actual quality of one's performance is not what matters. What matters is how one's performance is "spun" and marketed.]

Another problem with her is that she seems to reward people (e.g with jobs/political appointments) because of loyalty as opposed to whether or not they are actually capable. This can be seen in alot of the people she had running her failed campaign (start with patty solis doyle).

On the whole Latino issue, the only black folks that can still be deceived with such BS are the ones that are negroes! I've seen many of the 'solutions' that have been put forward to counter the racial discrimination of these Latinos, the most common being to learn spanish. As always happens, the necessary qualifications keep on shifting as black folks meet the mark. After you learn spanish, you find out it's 'native speakers only'. The problem is that black folks are only able to see solutions to problems through the lens of how others can help. [Khadija: African-Americans have been indoctrinated into believing that everybody--except White men--is our "friend."] Instead of trying to figure out how to get these folks to 'do right' by blacks, think of how to make it for yourself. [Khadija: YES!]

I remember during the campaign, when Obama said that parents should make their kids learn other languages. I though..yeah, they should. He then added, "especially spanish". Latinos got so happy. Black folks couldn't see the implications of this. Latinos would not dare openly discriminate against whites, but you know they are more than happy to tell blacks to their face where to stick it. I know this will sound harsh, but people should stop patronising the non-black owned businesses. Whenever one says it, 'they' accuse you of racism, ignoring the fact that they themselves (be it whites, latinos, asians) don't patronise black-owned business. Also, if you are going to support a black owned business, make sure that it supports you. I don't think I need to explain what I mean by that. [Khadija: No, you shouldn't have to explain this, but reciprocity is still a mysterious concept for most African-Americans.]

JaliliMaster, thank you for providing these essential Reader's Money Quotes!

From the "I Told You So" Department-Pres. Obama Watch Division

I'm breaking my online semi-silence (until the new site launches) to give another warning and heads-up to those who will hear.

From the "I Told You So" Department-Pres. Obama Watch Division:

Those of you who have staked your futures on Pres. Obama and the “change” he promised, need to figure out what your Plan B will be when Pres. Obama completes the process of becoming a lame duck for the rest of this term. And also figure out what you'll do when he most likely fails to win reelection for a second term.

In “The Change That Never Came, Part 2,” I warned you about Pres. Obama in particular, and the general dangers inherent with Crossover Black politicians.
Here.

In “Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’ Versus Pres. Obama’s ‘Team of Rivals’ Cabinet,” I warned about the indications of Pres. Obama’s naïveté.

In short, I warned you not to stake your survival on Pres. Obama:

“Don't stake your (and your loved ones') survival on anything that Pres. Obama might do. First of all, there's no way of knowing whether or not his economic proposals will actually work. Second, there are MANY other parties that don't want any of his proposals to succeed. Including many individuals that are nominally on his "side."

Pres. Obama Does NOT Have His Own Posse. Nobody is Watching His Back. This Means That Anything He Does WILL Be Sabotaged. From the Inside-Out.

I can see that the masses of our people will be devastated (in many different ways) when various factions from within as well as outside the Democratic Party finally pull down the Obama-ssiah.

It doesn't matter how much Pres. Obama tries to appease these factions. The problem is that these various factions cannot be appeased. This is because they don't want to be appeased. What they want is to make sure that whatever efforts the Obama-ssiah makes fail, and he gets ALL of the blame, while they position themselves to reign. . . err, rule. . . err, govern. . . once he's been politically destroyed.

This illustrates another problem with most Black folks' concept of politics. We don't understand that the "ruler" is only as strong as his infrastructure (aka "posse"). In Chicago terms, his political "machine." Does Pres. Obama actually have a loyal, faithful, strong posse of his own? Or is he somebody who was loaned the use of other people's posses? We know the answer to this.

It looks like he didn't understand that these various "retainers" are only loyal to the people who actually own and created them. They are loyal to the individuals who loaned them to him. NOT to him. He didn't create any of these people. This is one of the unspoken consequences of Pres. Obama being a crossover candidate who did not come from any sort of organized Black movement or infrastructure.

Black voters simply hopped on the Obama-ssiah bandwagon after they saw that Whites in Iowa were willing to vote for him. Pres. Obama did not come from us. Not that our infrastructure or organizations are particularly solid, but Pres. Obama has NOTHING but thin air under his feet.

Pres. Obama's recent blindsided stumbles with several cabinet nominees should be a signal to you. The manner in which all of that went down made it quite apparent to me that he doesn't have anybody who is actually watching his back. He doesn't even have an old-school, Chicago political "machine" to watch his back. That's his own fault for being naive.

Machiavelli warned about the dangers of a prince being dependent upon mercenaries. Especially foreign ones. They have a nasty habit of abruptly abandoning the prince (at the worst possible moment) in favor of the highest bidder, and/or their previous employers.

For the love of God, don't rely on this one (naive) man for your survival.”

And now, with this recent election for Ted Kennedy's former Senate seat (and its most likely repercussions), you're beginning to see all of these things come to a head.

It should be clear to those who have been counting on them, that the Democratic leadership will continue to roll over and try to placate everybody except their core constituencies. African-Americans (along with gays and lesbians) will continue to be among the first core constituencies thrown under the bus by the Democratic leadership. The Democrats will keep trying to placate people who are implacable; namely, Republicans and their supporters.

It’s time for those folks who are politically-inclined to begin the long-term project of building a viable third party, and related infrastructure (think tanks and media outlets that will support a progressive platform).

**Addendum** A helpful reader sent me the following link It's a good recap of how many (if not most) African-Americans focus on symbols instead of substance. Which is why all it takes is to have "Black faces in high places" (Black people in prominent, visible places) to pacify us.

A Standing Ovation For Rainebeaux's Work As a Guest Blogger At "Black Women Deserve Better"

Various BWE (Black Women Empowerment) bloggers have been hosting ongoing, transformational conversations in support of abundant life for Black women. I'm always pleased to see African-American women add their voices to these conversations. I'm delighted whenever other Black women step out of the bystander role, and actively support this message by preaching the truth.

It can be intimidating to step up to the soapbox. That's why relatively few people do it. We often feel that we're not ready to preach the truth unless and until we feel as if we've "arrived." Meanwhile, a life's journey is never truly complete until death.

Rainebeaux's contributions have greatly added to the already-outstanding work that CW (blog host of Black Women Deserve Better) has been doing. So here's a standing ovation for Rainebeaux, who has been guestblogging over at Black Women Deserve Better. If you haven't already seen some of her posts, take a look at http://thecwexperience.wordpress.com/