Where Is My Safe Space?

President Obama's 2016 commencement speech at Howard University could not have been more offensive. So, I am offended and I am wondering where my "safe space" is so that I cannot be further offended.

The sound bites on television were offensive enough when President Obama said once again that those who were successful were just lucky. Not that people who succeeded got up everyday, worked really hard, took risks and built their success. They were somehow blessed or in his words, lucky.

That comment was only the tip of the iceberg. I had to find out more about his latest comments, especially because they were given to a vastly predominant black college graduating class.

Although Mr. Obama does say that African Americans in this country are better off than they have been in any previous period of our history, including his early years, he does prattle on about the injustices they still face. He ridicules the idea that he was supposed to be the post racial President. Does that mean his blackness holds sway over the Presidency. Isn't the Presidency to understand all the citizens problems and seek improvements for all. His comments lead one to believe that his own ethnic make up makes the black segment of the country more important to him.

Perpetuating the victim mentality is such a lame thing for a leader to do. It gives the people he is speaking to a reason to be bitter, to be angry, to feel put upon and to have an alibi when things don't go their way.

In the speech he recognizes certain successes - Michael Jordan from NBA star to NBA team owner - Harriet Taubman being placed on the twenty dollar bill - Beyonce's mega stardom but then goes on to extol the importance of Black Twitter and Black Live Matter.

He included the level of incarceration of black males as unjust because they went from school boys to inmates because they lacked opportunities. Let's ask Dr. Ben Carson about that. Let's ask Clarence Thomas about that. Let's ask Colin Powell about that. A very weak straw man argument to say the least.

Here are some other pearls from the speech, and I am sure he thought they were words of wisdom. "Be confident in you blackness" - what the heck does that mean? All blacks are bound by "our particular awareness of injustice and unfairness and struggle". Talking about relatives of the graduates -- "somehow got ground down by structures that are unfair and unjust". And one of my favorites, "Change requires more than righteous anger. It requires a program, and it requires action". That came right out of the community organizers hand book.

I could go on but I think you get the point. Our President when faced with an opportunity to elevate the discourse in the black community dropped the ball so miserably. He could not stay away from playing the race card. Granted it was a black audience and they have a distinct history, but to lean so heavily on race and not humanity is still poor advice.

For well over 60 years, since the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act were passed the barriers have fallen almost upon identification and opened main street America to the African American community.

Understanding history is to keep us from making the same mistakes over and over again. America has learned and is in a very different place today. Should our President continue to cement a victim foundation as these young smart students go out into the world to make their mark. Success is about ambition, identifying goals and achieving them. There is no excuse, no alibi when it comes to a work ethic, an active mind and ambition. Black, white, yellow, green it make no difference unless of course someone tells you the deck is still stacked against you.