By Biko Baker

Are you patriotic? There are a lot of things to be happy about in this country, but there a lot of things that need to be worked out too.

I mean just look at hip-hop. Rap music has made more people of color millionaires than was ever imagined.  But when you listen to the music of folks like Lil’ Boosie, Lil’ Wayne or Young Jeezy (when did it become cool to be "lil") you can still hear the pain that exists in our communities.

In this video above Obama tried to silence his critics who said that he isn’t patriotic enough to be president.  I mean, I think he did a good job, but sometimes I wonder if he is giving up some of his swag.  Most people, regardless of their background, feel that there is something inherently wrong with the leadership of this country. He needs to stop trying to defend himself for being critical of the backward policies of the United States.   Not to sound like a patriotic nut, but the reason why the USA exists is because a group of strong minded individuals had enough moxy to challenge their era’s traditional leaders.