Big thanks go out to Amy Morton,www.georgiawomenvote.blogspot.com, James Rockfeller, http://www.rockefeller-law.com/, and The Boston Law Firm for coordinating and sponsoring the Lunch and Politics Luncheon today at the Macon City Club. The Macon City Club presented a great luncheon and the staff was very helpful and gracious. I was pleased to see the luncheon was very well attended and full of concerned citizens including representatives of The Center for Racial Understanding , the City Attorney's Office, Kristina Simms and members of Georgia Federation of Democratic Women, http://gfdw.blogspot.com, several local attorneys, business owners, and a host of concerned citizens. Mayor Reichert, the guest speaker, was introduced by Reverend Bumpus of Tremont Temple Baptist Church, Nancy Terrell of Mercer Law School and local attorney Daryl Morton. Mayor Reichert gave an engaging and enthusiastic talk on his annexation plan. Quite frankly, if I did not live in the proposed annexed area, I would probably support his proposal. In support of his plan, the Mayor spoke on eliminating redundant services, increasing the tax base of the City and increasing the population of the City in time for the next Census. There are two major flaws with the Mayor's plan (1) it is extremely unpopular in the affected areas and these areas have the resources and the conviction to fight the plan with vigor and conviction and (2) the residents living in the annexed area already have the services that the City of Macon is offering and the services are better than what the City can offer. This pretty much leaves the City of Macon with nothing to offer except a warm feeling of community, however since most of the people living in the affected areas intentionally moved outside the City limits this argument doesn't stir any greater appetite for annexation. Although, I do not agree with the Mayor's annexation plan, I do appreciate his clear desire to improve the future of the City of Macon. The Mayor went on to describe his plan to either rehab or demolish blighted housing. Now this was a plan that I could get behind. Vacant and dilapidated houses depress neighborhoods and feed crime. Aggressive action in cleaning up the City and bringing the City back to a state of fiscal responsibility will go a long way to improving the City of Macon and who knows it may even change my views on annexation.
Sphere: Related ContentFriday, March 28, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
When is enough, enough?
The race for the Democratic nomination has become a bloodsport unlike anything that has been seen since the days of the gladiator. Quite frankly, although I support Senator Obama, I have not been happy with either campaign this week. I grew up in Pensacola, Florida, a Navy town, in a Navy family and in military housing. I am a patriot and I believe that both a former and a current President of these United States deserves some baseline respect and the benefit of the doubt. Consequently, I did not agree with former President Clinton being compared to McCarthy. On the reverse side, I believe that former President Bill Clinton should remain presidential and above the fray and implying that another American is unpatriotic is definitely not presidential. I would love to see him retire from the campaign trail and preserve his legacy. There is something important about being dignified and preserving your legacy.
I also found the comments about the stains on the blue dress to be in such bad taste. It is not as if those were Senator Clinton's stains. I believe that Chelsey Clinton was completely right to decline to answer questions on this issue during her question and answer session at a college campus. Can't we maintain some modicum of respect and by the way it is still appropriate to call people by their title. Senator Clinton, Senator Obama, Senator McCain, these people have earned that respect and I think calling them by their first name alone is disrespectful.
And just when you thought things could not get any more bizarre, we have Senator Clinton lying about her experience in Bosnia. I know there are those who would call these a mistake or a simple embellishment, but every college student who has beefed up their resume to get a job knows that this was an outright lie. Getting shot at by snipers is not something you forget. The thing that makes this particularly sad is that Senator Clinton is an undeniably accomplished woman. She redefined the image of the First Lady from being just pretty decoration and instead blazed a trail that proved that women could be smart and independent in their own right. This is the perfect example of "why tell a lie when the truth will do".
I hate to leave Senator McCain out of the discussion. He took a campaign trip on taxpayer money and then took along a few of his friends to sell us on the story that this was official Senate business. Then he came home and gave a truly awful speech on the economy. The upside for him is that the Democrats are capturing so much of the headlines (and not in the good way) that by the time anyone pays any attention to him, he may have actually have figured out what he should be saying about the economy.
I don't feel safe yet
We have passed the five year marker of the war in Iraq and we mourn the loss of the lives of 4,000 brave Americans on foreign soil. At this sad point in American history, I am forced to ask myself, do I feel safe yet? This was the war post-911 that was supposed to make me feel safer, but just like the weapons of mass destruction that never materialized that feeling of security has yet to show up either.
This past week we have discovered that all of the presidential candidates have had their passport files snooped into. Regardless, of which canidate you are cheering for, one of these people will be the next President of the United States! Not to mention that one of the alleged snoopers was a new employee..ie..a low level employee. If I hear the phrase low level employee one more time I might just scream. I can't figure out how every low level employee in these political campaigns and in governmental agencies has such free reign and access to secure information. When I was a low level employee I was stuck guarding the stapler and the copy machine. I guess times have changed, and consequently,I am seriously considering quitting my current occupation and becoming a low level employee, because obviously the perks are much better. Forgive me if I am wrong, but if our government can't protect passport information I believe that I am entitled to feel a certain lack of confidence that the war in Iraq is going to protect my life and make my children safer.
Moreover, rather than keeping weapons out of the hands of other countries, today came the revelation that we have shipped missile parts to Taiwan. President Bush and Senator McCain keep telling me that we can't leave Iraq until we have won the war, but when I looked at my children hunting for Easter eggs on Easter Sunday and then went into my house to be confronted by images of Iraqi mothers cradling their children wounded by landmines, I just could not conjure up the feeling that we are winning. Maybe I am just not that bright, but I would love to have the current administration explain to me when I will know when we have won this war. Where exactly is the finish line? Maybe, it is hiding out with those weapons of mass destruction?
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Internship Opportunity
Here is a great opportunity for college students to get academic credit and some unique experience by interning at the Democratic National Convention to be hosted in Denver, Colorado ii August. The deadline is coming up fairly quickly on March 31, 2008, so if you are interested get your applications in asap.
http://www.denverconvention2008.com/files/internapp.pdf
Thursday, March 20, 2008
"A More Perfect Union"
"A More Perfect Union"
Remarks of Senator Barack Obama
Constitution Center
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
As Prepared for Delivery
"We the people, in order to form a more perfect union."
Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.
The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.
Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution – a Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.
And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part – through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.
This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign – to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together – unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction – towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren.
This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. But it also comes from my own American story.
I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I've gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world's poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners – an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.
It's a story that hasn't made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts – that out of many, we are truly one.
Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how hungry the American people were for this message of unity. Despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white Americans.
This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either "too black" or "not black enough." We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well.
And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn.
On one end of the spectrum, we've heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it's based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we've heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.
I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.
But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country – a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.
As such, Reverend Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems – two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.
Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way
But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's work here on Earth – by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:
"People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend's voice up into the rafters….And in that single note – hope! – I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones. Those stories – of survival, and freedom, and hope – became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn't need to feel shame about…memories that all people might study and cherish – and with which we could start to rebuild."
That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety – the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.
And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions – the good and the bad – of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.
I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.
Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.
But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America – to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.
The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through – a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.
Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, "The past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even past." We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.
Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today's black and white students.
Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments – meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today's urban and rural communities.
A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family, contributed to the erosion of black families – a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods – parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement – all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.
This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted. What's remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.
But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn't make it – those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations – those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician's own failings.
And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.
In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience – as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.
Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren't always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.
Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze – a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns – this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.
This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy – particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.
But I have asserted a firm conviction – a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people – that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.
For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances – for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives – by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.
Ironically, this quintessentially American – and yes, conservative – notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright's sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.
The profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country – a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know -- what we have seen – is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope – the audacity to hope – for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds – by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.
In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world's great religions demand – that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother's keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister's keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.
For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle – as we did in the OJ trial – or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.
We can do that.
But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.
That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time." This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.
This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.
This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.
This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should've been authorized and never should've been waged, and we want to talk about how we'll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.
I would not be running for President if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation – the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.
There is one story in particularly that I'd like to leave you with today – a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King's birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.
There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.
And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.
She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.
She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.
Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother's problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn't. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.
Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."
"I'm here because of Ashley." By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.
But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.
Henry Louis Gates on Senator Obama's Speech
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq_TsHadYx0
Sphere: Related ContentHappy 100th Day Mr. Mayor
Today marks Macon Mayor Reichert's, 100th day in office and he remains an exceedingly popular may except for my favorite rant...annexation. For those of you who are not from around here, you may ask yourself..how much could one mes up in the first 100 days?! Trust me, we Maconites have stories we can tell, hmmm I guess you can ask the people of New York too. Overall, I have been happy with Mayor Reichert and if he would just drop the annexation plan, I might even join his fan club.
So, Happy 100th Day, Mr. Mayor
Huckebee Stands by Obama..Who Would have Guessed
Thanks to the Huffingonton Post:
An assist from an unexpected quarter:
"[Y]ou can't hold the candidate responsible for everything that people around him may say or do," Huckabee says. "It's interesting to me that there are some people on the left who are having to be very uncomfortable with what ... Wright said, when they all were all over a Jerry Falwell, or anyone on the right who said things that they found very awkward and uncomfortable, years ago. Many times those were statements lifted out of the context of a larger sermon. Sermons, after all, are rarely written word for word by pastors like Rev. Wright, who are delivering them extemporaneously, and caught up in the emotion of the moment. There are things that sometimes get said, that if you put them on paper and looked at them in print, you'd say 'Well, I didn't mean to say it quite like that.'"
Later, he defended Wright's anger, too:
"As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say 'That's a terrible statement!' ... I grew up in a very segregated South. And I think that you have to cut some slack — and I'm gonna be probably the only conservative in America who's gonna say something like this, but I'm just tellin' you — we've gotta cut some slack to people who grew up being called names..."
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0308/Huck_defends_Wright.html
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
The Birth of the Black Republican
Okay I will be the first to admit that among a vast majority of African Americans proclaiming oneself a Republican would be the 11th deadly sin. However, I think that this election cycle has created a unique set of circumstances which could prove to be fertile ground to nurture and give birth to the Black Republican. Now two things would have to happen for this to occur: first the Democratic Party would have to remain on the self destructive and divisive path that the campaign has taken in recent weeks and second, and much more difficult, the Republican Party would have actually have to take steps to encourage African Americans to join and convince African Americans that the Republican Party has found the desire to be a party of inclusion, while this may be difficult it is not impossible. They could start by actually have something other than old guys standing behind their canidate at press conferences. If an African American is too big of a leap, we could start with a few women, maybe even a few Hispanic men.
You might ask what the Republican Party and black people have in common. Well, African Americans are by nature conservative on most issues except social ones, this puts black voters on very common ground with moderate and liberal Republicans. I have quite of number of friends who I tease as being undercover Republicans. I will not mention there names here to in the interest of protecting the guilty. These are black people who will vote for a moderate Republican in a local or even statewide election but would never admit that to a pollster. I was even more surprised though to find that some of them were actually undercover Regan Democrats!!! I actually think that it would be a good thing for our country for both parties to become more diverse not only ethnically but ideologically. Who would have thought that you would see a day when the most heated competition was for the white male vote and we all understand that competiton for your vote means at least lipservice to your concerns. Many African Americans had already begun to feel that the Democratic Party took our vote for granted and that has been ramped up during the course of this election. Conversely, I believe that if the Democratic Party could find a way to really pay attention to the concerns of Latino voters and make real strides to addressing those concerns that we would see more Latino Democrats. If anything this race has shown us that you cannot paint any group of people with one paint brush. Latino's may not have had their agenda pushed forward as much as they would have liked by the attention that the primaries in California and Texas garnered. The one thing that country now knows is that the concerns of Latino's in Miami and Texas and California are not the same, moreover the young generation of Latino voters think differently than their parents. The same is true of African Americans, we may share a common ancestry but we have divergent concerns and issues. I would love for our vote to not be taken for granted and actually have issues that concerns us directly listened too. Maybe if a few more of those undercover Black Republicans came out of the closet, the DNC would do more to heal this race/gender divide that is opening up. I know that if I was a Democratic Party leader the fear of a mass migration of either women or African Americans to another party would keep me up at night. Lately, I have heard Libertarians making pitches which could definitely appeal to some of the people who may feel wounded after the DNC convention. Their first challenge is having someone other than Ralph Nader represent them. This is were I take a stroll down memory lane, in a movie this would be the memory flashback. Ralph spoke at my law school graduation from Tulane University. This is only memorable because he railed on for almost two hours about the over concentration of lawyers in the world and the evils of the legal system. There may in fact have been some good points in the midst of that mess of a speech but quite frankly on the biggest day of your life you don't want to hear that stuff (read****). So due to my personal post traumatic stress syndrome that I associate with Ralph I may not have the ability to be impartial.
My Take on DiMaio v. the Florida Democratic Pary and the DNC
I know that it won't make the traditional list of things to do in Atlanta, but if you are in Atlanta you should definitely make time to stroll through the halls of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals located at 56 Forsyth Street. The grandeur of the courtroom with it's moldings, massive windows, and carved ceilings is truly an impressive sight. Unfortunately, they do not allow cameras in the courtroom and I am too lazy to go browsing the Internet for photos. I was in the 11th Circuit to hear the oral arguments in the case of Victor DiMaio v. the Democratic National Committee and Florida Democratic Party. The guy (Appellant) who brought the appeal is an active democrat from Tampa, Florida, Hillsborough County, who filed his suit prior to the January 29, 2007 primary. I had the opportunity to speak to him and he was a nice guy who seemed to have sincere intentions. The District Court in Florida dismissed Mr. DiMaio's case with prejudice for lack of standing (basically he was the wrong person at the wrong time) which prevented him from refiling his case. To over simplify the issue: at the time that Mr. DiMaio's filed the case he had not suffered any harm or damage because the primary had not occurred yet and he had not voted. In my opinion the District Court should not have dismissed this case with prejudice because once the election had occured and the Appellant had actually voted then he would have had a better case evidencing damage and consequently standing. I believe that this techinical problem with the case is actually the most important issue, however, it is the underlying facts surrounding the possibility of the Florida delegates not being seated that has drawn the national spotlight. The Court comprised of Justice Tjoflat, Justice Marcus and Justice Vinson heard the case and Counsel's arguments on standing which were brief and quite frankly uncompelling. There was a rush to get to the sexy stuff, an Equal Protection Argument. The oversimplification of this argument is that the National Democratic Party treated the democratic voters of Florida differently than democratic voters in other states, but then came the first body blow. The Appellant had to admit that the Florida Democratic Party never went to the National Democratic Party and asked for permission to hold it's primary on January 29, 2007. Then there was the admission that at some point in 2007 the National DNC made an offer to the Florida party to run a caucus primary which the DNC would pay for, moreover this offer was not made to any other state, notably Michigan. Kinda makes the Equal Protection Argument fall a little flat. Oh and by the way the State of Florida was not a party to this suit, which left me feeling as if all the talk about the Republican lead Florida legislature creating the problem was mostly rhetoric to explain having started a small campfire and found yourself in the middle of a forest fire you can't control and now you need someone to blame because you can't go back to your friends and tell them you burned down their tents.
The Florida Democratic Party did not escape completely unscathed but the court noted about ten minutes into their argument that they had made their case. This left about 10 minutes on the clock which went unused, in the world of appellate argument, that is like calling the football game at half-time.
You would have to have a crystal ball to guess how the court will rule, but given that it will likely be 4 -5 weeks before the court makes a ruling, I don't know if it will even matter in time for this election. I would put my money on the 11th Circuit finding that the Appellant did not have standing but that the case should not have been dismissed with prejudice, but rather that the case should have been dismissed without prejudice. This would allow the Appellant to re-file his complaint. I also predict that the court will not rule on the merits of the case, but the political pundits have mostly been wrong all year so I will be in good company if I am to.
What's Good for the Goose is Good for the Gander
Today David Patterson, the new Governor of New York, after having completed just two whole days of service has had to convene a press conference of his own. After confessing to a number of affairs including one with a state employee, I was then my shocked and amazed that his wife then confessed to her own dalliances. I am searching for my indignation but I am lost as to where to direct it. My natural instinct is to see this as a small strike for gender equality, but ......................
Sphere: Related ContentLunch and Learn
I am providing this information as provided by www.georgiawomenvote.blogspot.com. Thanks
POLITICS AND LUNCH IS BACK!
Friday, March 28th at NoonSPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER: MACON MAYOR ROBERT REICHERT
We’ve heard you. After taking three months off, Politics and Lunch is back and promises to be better than ever. Make plans NOW to be part of the special kick-off luncheon on Friday, March 28th at noon. We will be at a BRAND NEW location, The City Club of Macon, 355 First Street, Fourth Floor and Macon Mayor Robert Reichert will be our special guest speaker. As always, Politics and Lunch is a monthly “lunch and learn” event for all who are interested in how politics connects with public policy and quality of life in our community. There is no membership requirement and everyone is welcome to attend, but there are some important changes:
· We do need to know that you are coming, so RSVP to AmyMorton@aol.com by 3/26.· The cost for lunch, including an excellent buffet, non-alcoholic drink, tax and tip is now $15.00. All who attend will be expected to pay for lunch, so plan to come and enjoy a delicious meal.· NO CREDIT OR DEBIT CARDS. PLEASE bring correct change or plan to write a check to the City Club. The City Club is not set up to take individual payments, so local attorney Jim Rockefeller will be acting a treasurer and collecting the money for the group. Help Jim by having your correct change ready!Special thanks to The Boston Law Firm and Macon City Councilwomen Lauren Benedict for making it possible to have the luncheon this month at The City Club. Finding a great restaurant with enough space has been a challenge. This is a trial run this month at the City Club to see how we like it and how it works out for the Club. We can help make this the permanent home by giving the Club an accurate head count, so please be sure to send your RSVP to AmyMorton@aol.com or call (478) 741-1138. See you there!Lauren BenedictAmy MortonJim Rockefeller
Senator Clinton's Response
I think that Senator's Clinton response to Senator Obama's speech was measured and appropriate. She could have taken the moment to keep the fires burning, but I think that she showed a much appreciated grace. And she looked nice in her red suit. (Sorry I could not help the fashion commentary)
Sphere: Related ContentTuesday, March 18, 2008
The "Not Black Enough" and the Generational Divide in the Black Community
Today Senator Barack Obama spoke about race and politics. During the course of that speech he spoke of the ties that bind him to his Pastor as well as the differences in perspective that separate him from Reverend Wright. This is especially brave ground to tread upon for a black man because African-Americans have a deep cultural distaste for the airing of family business in the street. I often heard that refrain not only in my home but also at church. "Girl, don't wash your dirty laundry in the street". This was the sign to shut your mouth and remember that black issues were only discussed with and among black people. As I have grown into an adult I now know that maybe showing the world some of those fallacies is not a bad thing and maybe with open conversation we will find, that as Americans that we actually have more in common despite our cultural differences than we believe. One of those issues that we don't speak of often is the generational divide, that prompts one generation of African Americans to ask those of my generation...."are you black enough"? You see there is the generation that marched, were jailed, beaten and abused for their desire to be equal and then there is the generation that read about it all in a book.
We are the first generation to grow up totally in a integrated society. I have lost track of the times that someone has commented that I talked "like a white girl". I understand the disconnect. I went to college permed my hair, wore extensions, shaved my legs and the questions about assimilation doubled and underneath it all you know they are assessing whether or not you are Black enough.
I don't believe that Senator Obama could disown (or excommunicate) his pastor. The contradiction is that despite the disconnect we of the Next Generation are aware that we are standing on that Previous generations shoulders. We often disagree, but respect demands that we the blessed acknowledge that we are the beneficiaries of that generation that suffered. As a result of that generations struggles, I have had the opportunity to attend some of this country's finest institutions which each added a different flavor to my life. I attended Florida A&M University, a historically black university, Nelson Mandela was in prison and we were boycotting the gas companies that with their economic patronages supported apartheid. After a lifetime of being the only black person in a class, it was in this place of black pride and education that I learned to be comfortable in my skin. I think went to New Orleans and Tulane Law School over the protest of my parents who viewed Louisiana as a dangerous place for African Americans. At Tulane I met students from all over the world, from every religion, and with a variety of viewpoints. At Tulane I learned tolerance and to not only speak, but to listen. Then at the end of my educational journey I attended Wesleyan College, a women's college. At Wesleyan they were already having open, in-depth conversations about gender and race and putting that conversation in the context of not only the home but the workplace.
I have had experiences that my parents could have never imagined. How does the black young professional with world view and a racially diverse set of friends, talk to a man or woman who remembers when they were arrested for trying to share a lunch counter with white people. The generational gap can seem cavernous and while I am speaking from a black experience, I suspect that there is a generation of white families who are suffering from the same generational divide. I believe that there are out there tonight Southern white people who grew up with sharecroppers and mammies and who heard from the pulpit that the separation of the races was ordained by God, those same people are now sharing a dinner table with a child or a grandchild that may have a black boyfriend or girlfriend and who listening to urban music and eating sushi, that new generation child or grandchild cannot begin to fathom the fear and concern that under lied those segregationist convictions that there grandparents held dear.
But times change and people change. Segregation was not a 100 years ago, it was just a few decades ago, but look at how our country has changed in a relatively short amount of time. It was the people that made that change possible. We are all a product of our times, a combination of our experiences and we are adaptable to new circumstances. This adaptability means that we can change. So rather than disown the misguided, I think that the intense desire of My Generation is to effect change not only in the lives of those who come after us but also in the lives of the ones that came before us. I love my country dearly and I hope that I am living in the day that my mother could only have dreamed of, a day when she knows that my country loves me back.
Can we talk about Race........Maybe
As I type this blog Senator Barack Obama is speaking in Pennsylvania about race and politics. This uniquely candid speach provides us within our homes, communities, churches and yes even our blogs to have similary candid conversations about race in this country. I only hope that those conversations can be as intelligent, and respectfully as Senator Obama's speech today.
Sphere: Related ContentSunday, March 16, 2008
Wisconsin Superdelegate backs Sen. Obama
In the spirit of full disclosure I should state that I fully support Senator Barack Obama and am in fact running to be a delegate for Senator Obama for the Georgia 8th congressional district. I believe that the Democratic Party needs a healing and I will support whoever ends up being the party's presidential nominee. I also believe that the American people more than anything need real answers and real solutions and no more partisianship politics that leave us all worse for the wear. That said on to the subject of this post. Wisconsin superdelegate Melissa Schroeder has pledged her support to Senator Obama. Ms. Schroeder is quoted as saying "After much consideration, I have decided to endorse Senator Barack Obama. My decision came down to electability and who I felt would do a better job of unifying this country for a common purpose. Obama's message of hope and change has touched millions of voters in a way that I haven't seen since the late 1960's. People from every walk of life, young and the not so young, Democrats, Independents and some Republicans, are all rallying around a belief that change can happen if we want it bad enough. With Obama as our nominee, I am confident that this November we will increase our majority in the House and Senate and elect a Democrat to the White House."
As many superdelegates remain in hiding waiting for a certain sign that they will be on the right side of history i.e. that they will have supported the person who will eventually sit in the Oval Office, I applaud Ms. Schroeder for her endorsement at a time when the winner of the primary race is still unclear.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
DiMaio v. Democratic National Committee and Florida Democratic Pary
On Monday, March 17, 2008 in Atlanta the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear the case of a Florida Activist, Victor DiMaio who brought a complaint against the DNC alleging that the DNC violated federal law or national party rules by deciding to take away Florida's vots in the national presidential nominating convention, as a result of the State moving its primary election up to January 29, 2008.
A wealth of information is available inclusing the briefs and other court documents at:
http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/litigation/DiMaiov.DemocraticNationalCommittee.php
I will hopefully make it into the courtroom to hear the oral arguments and will be able to blog about it later in the day.
In case no-one told you...We are in a Recession
We can talk about prostitution, race, gender, politics, heaven forbid annexation( ok, that is my local soapbox which I am adamantly opposed to for the record), but our President just can't seem to bring himself to say the "R" word. Does he think that Americans have not noticed the vacant homes in their neighborhood that have been foreclosed on, or the shrinking job market or the rising costs of food or the price of gas? The truly ironic part of this is that this economic tunnel vision seems to be selective, because someone noticed pretty quickly when Bear Stearns let on that they were in tottering on the brink of financial ruin and the Calvary is riding in to the rescue them as I write this blog. In case you are not familiar with Bear Stearns they are a large Wall Street securities firm who found themselves suffering from a serious lack of cash(sounds like a page from my life), but unlike me, Bear Stearns got emergency funding on Friday from the United States Federal Reserve and JPMorgan in the largest government bailout of a US securities firm in history. The Fed acted to prevent the failure of the second-biggest underwriter of US mortgage bonds and forestall a potential market panic as losses by banks and brokers reached US$195 billion and stocks plunged last week. However, back on Main Street everyday Americans are struggling to hang onto at least one of their ends, because they have given up on the ends meeting. Why is there no cavalry for our friends, family, neighbors and people who work hard everyday. Oh yeah, I forgot it's not a recession, it's a $195 billion bump in the road. Governor Sonny Perdue (R. Ga) was quoted in the Macon Telegraph (3-11-2008) as saying "As we see the economic clouds gathering over the nation, I think we can expect these will not miss our state" Maybe it is just me (have you seen the Georgia foreclosure rate lately), but it seems that it is already raining in Georgia, Mr. Governor and in my humble opinion, it might be a good time to at least think about looking for a umbrella.
As an aside, with all due respect to Mayor Reichert, I believe that the City of Macon is using this same strategy to cure the financial ills of the city by annexing parts of Bibb County and Jones County. This is the "I can't pay my bills so I will annex some people to help me" strategy. Sorry, I digress.
Optimist Creed
I thought that the Optimist Creed was worthy of sharing
Promise Yourself
To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet
To make all your friends feel that there is something special in them
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true
To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and expect only the best
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear and
too happy to permit the presence of trouble
Macon Junior Olympics
Today I dragged myself out of bed at 8:00 on a Saturday morning so that my two kids could participate in the 29th Annual Junior Olympics which is put on by the Riverside Optimist Club and was held at Thompson Stadium. I first had to convince my 5year old and my 10year old that going outside to engage in athletic competition was really more fun than staying inside all day and playing video games and snacking. When we arrived at the track the event was well organized and the members of the Optimist Club were friendly and excited about the event. The kids from 5years old to 12 years old competed in the broad jump, softball throw, the 50 yard dash and the 100 yard dash. Trophies and medals were awarded to the winners. I was surprised at the number of different schools which were represented. Some of the schools were Alexander II, Jones County, Vineville, St. Peter Claver and at least one home schooled child. Please forgive me if I have missed the schools of any of the other participants but feel free to email me and I will be happy to write an update. Although my children did not win any awards I thought that it was important to teach them not only how one carries themselves win you win but how to behave when you don't and there is great courage in just participating in the challenge. It was also a wonderful opportunity for children who don't live near each other or go to school together to mingle and meet. My sincere thanks to the Riverside Optimist Club for that opportunity and to Mr. Bud Fletcher who was kind enough to invite me to the general meeting of the Club which are held at 7am on Monday mornings in the cafeteria at the Coliseum Hospital.
Sphere: Related ContentMonday, March 10, 2008
This Hissy Fit is For Gov. Spitzer's Wife
So the breaking news as we know it is that Governor Spitzer of New York has been caught with his more than just his hands in the very expensive cookie jar. While I must admit a certain naughty interest in what a woman can do to make her cookies so sought after at the rate of $1,000.00 per hour I won't digress down that road. (but feel free to let a sista in on the secret). If you happen to know a Southern woman she can explain the concept of a Hissy Fit and in fact Mary Kay Andrews wrote an adorable book about a woman having one. For those of you who may not be able to find a Southern woman to consult on the topic, I will offer my definition based on my personal experience. Hissy Fit: a state of being in which you feel yourself going through all of the stages of a psychotic break. You carefully contemplate the amount of time you might serve if you slap the offending party upside the head. Usually severe bodily harm while contemplated is not actually inflicted.
On behalf of Mrs. Spitzer I am having a hissy fit. I am so sick of these male public figures misbehaving in such shameful ways and then dragging their poor wives on to the stage to publicly support them. A prostitute!!! Did he give any thought to his family, to those four beautiful women waiting at home for him. What is the message that he was sending to his three daughter....I am such a powerful man that I can publicly humiliate your mother and it will be okay. I know Mrs.Spitzer wanted to slap her husband upside the head with that microphone and prepared press release and I for one was cheering for her. He didn't take her with him to sample the working girls treats, so why should she now be dragged along to help deflect his shame. Step out into that bright light of disgrace the same way you stepped into it....alone.
