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Over the weekend one of my friends posted on facebook: I am curious: Why are people surprised, amazed, and/or shocked when a black man and/or a woman is a Republican? I vote every year but I've never voted Republican. I had to really think about his question and posted this response: ....I think that as a people we have become so disenchanted with the Republican agenda that we cannot accept "one of our own" being Republican. I can understand that but the other side of the equation is that we risk blindly following the Democrats. I'm sure that there are good Republicans just as much as I'm sure there are bad Democrats. We as a people need to challenge everything, question everything, and validate everything.
We're sharing this very informative video created by the Center for Constitutional Rights as part of their Stop and Frisk project. New York City is not the only place to have such programs, it happens to be the one that gets the most attention. Brown, Black, and Blue: "The Stop & Frisk Policy of the NYPD" examines the NYPD's stop and frisk policy in depth, highlighting issues of discrimination, constitutional concerns and the policy's impact on individuals' lives.
 It seems like wherever I turn I'm hearing about the fiscal cliff. I feel as if the media has made this into our country's version of Armageddon. Let's be clear, there are some serious issues if the budget issue is not resolved but is it the end of our country as we know it? The day after the election I posted an Open Letter to Congress. I wrote: "It's time for you to put partisan politics aside and focus on working together to solve the challenges facing America. Now is not the time to put ideological differences above practical solutions. Now is not the time to toe the party line for fear of retribution within your respective parties. Now is the time for you to be bold and daring. You have been entrusted with the future of our nation. It's time for you to live up to our expectations and figure out a way to get it done." Obviously no one is paying attention to what we as citizens expect our politicians to be doing considering they are being paid by our hard earned tax dollars. They have chosen to fight this out in the media instead of going behind closed doors and not coming out until they come up with an equitable solution. They have again chosen politics over people, ideology over practical solutions. Anyone with a modicum of common sense knows that two things have to occur simultaneously to significantly reduce debt, increase revenue and cut expenses.
 Here's one of the arguments opposing Affirmative Action: as long as we continue to discuss race and make race an issue we'll never be able to put race behind us. Some opponents of Affirmative Action feel that we need to move beyond it. The battle is over. This goes for gender equality also. The issue at hand is not if there is a need for Affirmative Action but if it's still constitutionally relevant, after all we do have an African American president. Taking this one step further, if AA is constitutionally relevant, does a State have the right to ban it? There's a push for these decisions to be made at the state level. California, Oklahoma, and Michigan passed legislation to ban AA, Michigan's law was overturned. In a Los Angeles Times editorial entitled "Affirmative action and the law" the writer states: "Instead of asking courts to roll back unfavorable referendums, advocates of affirmative action in Michigan, California and elsewhere need to make their case to the public the way Ward Connerly and his allies made theirs." |
EditorErnest R. Heyward is the Founder and President of the Marketplace for Social Awareness and Social Responsibility Inc. 
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June 2020
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