The Black Community Would Do Better With Less Christmas

As a kid, no one enjoyed Christmas more than I did.  In a large family with dad the only real income and mom going to school, we really didn’t have a lot of disposable income.  Money was extremely tight.  But somehow, mom and dad worked a miracle and provided a booming Christmas morning.  The tree would go up a week or two in advance, and a few gifts would always go under the tree.  These gifts were the handful of items from the kids to the parents or to each other.  But on the eve of Christmas, after the kids go to sleep, mom and dad pull out the gifts they’ve been buying all year long and hiding all around the house in places they knew we would never have the balls to venture, like the attic or in their personal closet, and spread them out on the floor around the tree.  They must’ve worked all night because on Christmas day we would wake up to a sea of gifts that buried the living room floor and spilled over into the dining room and the entry.  And from a very early age, I learned to associate Christmas with the ultimate in materialism.

Like I said, back then, mom and dad worked all year to provide us with the best Christmas possible without going broke.  These days, I don’t think many people have the discipline to buy gifts, pack them away, and spring them on the kids for Christmas.  Personally, when I buy someone a gift, I like to give it to them without delay.  Saving presents for Christmas is one of those DNA traits that I simply did not inherent from my parents.  But then again, my parent’s appreciation for Christmas is something else that I didn’t inherent.

While I enjoyed the materialism of Christmas as much as anyone else, I like to think that I developed a vigilant perspective for the non material characteristic of the holiday that gets more lost with each and every passing year.  Right after we swallow the last bite of that Thanksgiving turkey and put our knives and forks down, we head to our favorite shopping hangout to await the Black Friday sales of well hyped incredible offers and kick our consumption of all things material into high gear.  If left to our own devices, some of us will literally kill anyone who stands between us and what we think might be a good sale.  And if the store is opening at five in the morning, then there must be something good to buy inside.  Our need for immediate gratification through consumption is more addictive than crack and the corporate retailers are nothing more than pushers pimping materialism.  And like a drugged out junkie we are ready to sell our futures in order to get the credit necessary to get our next hit, trying to recapture that euphoria we all had as children when we got the goods from under the Christmas tree.  This is what Christmas has morphed into.

As the corporate world moves ever closer to redefine the meaning of Christmas in terms of dollars and cents, retailers rely more and more on the holiday of ultimate consumption for their profits.  Like fictitious vampires, corporate retailers cannot hurt us until we invite them into our lives to suck our wallets dry.  And yet, we the people cannot help but go glassy eyed when we hear no money down and no payments until hell freezes over, ready to sign our lives away for a few dollars.  And for what will it benefit us?

People should stop and ask what does such über consumerism mean for our individual communities.  I know when I go home to my predominantly black urban neighborhood no one is doing their Christmas shopping there.  Everybody in my neighborhood has to do their shopping in places that would more likely prefer the black patrons do their business, spend their money, and then get the hell out   We all have seen the story of how some stupid black criminal will shoplift or buy things with a stolen credit card, and many people are more than ready to make the connection that if one black person did it all black people do it.  So when black people walk into the retailer, chances are pretty good we’re the ones getting the security camera escort.

Every dime we spend outside of our community is a drain on our community’s resources.  The people who own the mega retail stores and promise that our lives will be better with the latest consumer gadget could not care any less about the many lives in the black community.  The handful of employees from the black community who earn just above minimum wage pales in comparison to the number of dollars that pour into these businesses from the black community.  We actually become coconspirators helping these companies to become ever larger and stronger and so much more profitable, only to have these companies take our money to help enrich the neighborhoods where they reside while the urban black community does without.  So why would we want to feed into this frenzy that continues to keep us on the fringe of an economy already ailing?

The holiday of Christmas is no good thing to the black community.  The tradition of Christmas has become little more than a celebration of the transfer of wealth from the community to the corporation.  And the black community isn’t even close to being a player in this game.  There are no black retailers that can compete with the dominant community retailers.  The transfer of wealth from the consumer to the retailer is a virtual duplicate of the process of wealth going from the black community to the white community.  So why should we participate in this game?

From a very early age I learned to love materialism as much as the next guy.  Some of my fondest holiday memories are of the toys and clothes I found under the Christmas tree.  But now that I’m a little older and a little wiser I realize that the love of materialism should take a backseat to the love of community and for family and a hope for a better future.  Black people need to learn that as a community collective we can’t provide for our future by hocking it away for a more immediate form of gratification in the now.  This modern version of Christmas defined by corporate America only magnifies the problems between the black community and the rest of America.

Quick Notes 200912

Thursday, December 31, 2009
Rush Hospitalized

Conservative talk show personality Rush Limbaugh was taken to hospital because he was complaining of chest pains. It looks like 2009 is closing on a high note.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Avatar

James Cameron’s Avatar, the $330 million dollar 3-D phenomenon, is the number one hit at the theaters this holiday season. What a surprise!

Saturday, December 26, 2009
Another Terrorist Attempt

Another terrorist attempt just when the airports are going to be at their busiest time of year. I hope somebody slapped the shit outta that guy.

Friday, December 25, 2009
Happy Holidays!!!

Happy Holidays!!!

Thursday, December 24, 2009
Health Reform Passes The Senate

Healthcare reform, with all its many flaws, passes in the Senate. It only took forever.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Michael Jordon Sues Grocery Stores

Michael Jordon sues Dominick’s Finer Foods and Jewel Food Stores under the contention that they took their congratulations to him a little too far in an issue of Sports Illustrated commemorating Mr. Jordan. I guess it would’ve been better if they told him to go to hell.

Monday, December 21, 2009
3 Hour Limit To Take Off

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said a three hour limit and other regulations are meant to send a message to airlines not to hold passengers hostage on stuck planes. The airline industry said it will comply with the regulations but promised…that is…predicted the result will be more inconvenience for passengers.

Sunday, December 20, 2009
Healthcare Reform Bill Passed Round One

The Democrats said they have the votes to pass the healthcare reform bill. According to the votes early this morning, it looks like it’s more than just a boast. It seems healthcare reform, despite its current weakened state, will happen.

Saturday, December 19, 2009
Healthcare Reform Bill Votes

The Democrats say they have the votes to pass the healthcare reform bill in its current form. We’ll see!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Howard Dean Says Kill The Bill

Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean argued that the health care overhaul bill taking shape in the Senate further empowers private insurers at the expense of consumer choice. Even Mr. Dean gets it.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Silvio Berlusconi

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Brokennosey!

Monday, December 14, 2009
Tiger’s Yacht Privacy

A Palm Beach County Sheriff’s boat patrols behind the 155-foot yacht ‘Privacy’, owned by Tiger Woods, before it is rechristened ‘Alimony’, owned by Elin Nordegren.

Sunday, December 13, 2009
No Suitable Story Line

Disney says that they made the prince in The Princess and the Frog from Maldonia because they couldn’t think of an appropriate story line to use a black prince. Maybe they should’ve talked to Eddie Murphy. I think he may have had an idea up his sleeve.

Friday, December 11, 2009
Tiger Leaves Golf

Tiger Woods says he’s taking an indefinite leave from golf. The good news is that the impact to the black community is minimal.

Thursday, December 10, 2009
Barack Obama Takes The Price

The man who turned his back on the black community with the words, pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and take responsibility, is given the peace prize. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., nor any other peace prize winner, ever used such callousness against the black community.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Barack Obama Wants To Focus On The Economy

Now that his poll numbers are slipping below 50%, Mr. Obama wants to put more focus on the economy. But knowing that he continues to have the support of the black community, Mr. Obama will more than likely continue to tell the black community to lift itself up by its collective bootstrap as he continues to create programs to help the more mainstream components of the economy.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Tiger Woods Is Up To Twelve

There is an avalanche of white women coming out of the woodwork claiming to have an affair with Tiger Woods. Someone said this morning that the number of women claiming to be a mistress now tops a dozen.  And I know some people don’t think it’s a big deal, but it should be noted that not one of them is obviously black.  This whole ordeal is more proof that Mr. Woods has no love for black people.

Monday, December 7, 2009
I-64 Opens Today

Interstate 64 opens today! My commute will be cut in half this morning! It’s a happy day in St. Louis!

Sunday, December 6, 2009
Whitney Snubbed

Whitney Houston claims she was snubbed by being shut out of any Grammy nominations. Like she really thought that rather mediocre stuff she sold as a comeback record was going to make her an automatic class act.

Friday, December 4, 2009
Elin Wants To Renegotiate The Prenuptial

This just in, Elin Nordegren wants to renegotiate her prenuptial agreement with hubby. It looks like the little misses is ready to leave and wants to take the Nike logo shirt off Tiger Woods’ back.

Thursday, December 3, 2009
The Salahis

Tareq and Michaele Salahi say they crashed the India state dinner at the White House because they didn’t get a phone call saying not to come. I didn’t get a phone call either but I knew I had better keep my black ass away.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Obama At West Point

President Barack Obama says he will send thirty thousand more troops to Afghanistan and vows to end an unpopular war and start a pullout in July 2011. Critics say this only emboldens our enemies. I guess these people think he should’ve promised that the US military would stay there forever.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Record Fine

Serena Williams was fined a record amount for her infamous tirade three months ago and has been placed on a two year probationary period at Grand Slam events. She had the audacity to think she can manifest anger like other tennis players.