From the office of Del. Rick Impallaria:
All my life I have watched and learned about famous marches and demonstrations at our nation’s capital — from the Bonus Army of World War I veterans during the Depression demanding benefits from the government (a march which went horribly wrong) to the civil rights marches, the anti-war marches, and the pro-life marches — always wondering what it would be like to participate in our God-given right to peacefully petition our government to listen to our demands and carry out the will of the people.
Saturday I finally got that opportunity, boarding one of twelve buses from Bel Air, fully loaded with some people I know and many more I was meeting for the first time. Dave Pridgeon, one of the organizers, talked about how in his younger days he participated in the anti-war marches, and how this opportunity gave him the chance to return to Washington for a different cause. 35 years later his political opinions have drastically changed. The other side of the spectrum are people who were never politically active and never dreamed of participating in such an event — at 70 years old, they felt it was important to go and voice their opinion, not so much for themselves, but for their children and grandchildren and for the Constitution they respect and love. The National Park Service estimated the crowd at 2.5 million, according to the UK Daily Mail, but being in the middle of it made it impossible for me to guess how many people were there.
We arrived at 8:30, and large crowds were already there. When I started making my way back at 1:45 from the reviewing stand, I could see that the number of people had increased ten-fold. On my way to the bus around 2:30 I was shocked to see people carrying signs were still arriving. I guess that’s the best description I can give you of how well attended the event was.
It was amazing how all states — all 50 — were represented — even Alaska and Hawaii. They came by plane, bus, car, train. Most notable to me was a large group from Ohio, one of the states most hard hit by the bad economy, mostly due to their large manufacturing base and coal mining. The Ohio flag, which is strikingly attractive, outnumbered all other state flags. A large number of the Ohioans were coal miners wearing their mining gear, and were, it seemed, strongly opposed to Obama’s “cap and trade” legislation, which will bring economic destruction not only to the country as a whole, but to Ohio in particular, with their dependence on coal for industry and for utilities.
There were some media reports of the “mob mentality” and people carrying Confederate flags. I guess this is true, because a mob can be described as a group of people moving forward with one cause and a plan to get results. There were three groups of people carrying the Stars and Bars — the Confederate battle flag.
The first group was from the State of Mississippi. The Stars and Bars is part of their state flag — “how dare they carry their state flag!”
The second group, from South Carolina, carried a double flag — the blue flag with the palmetto and their old state flag, the Stars and Bars. Standing under the Stars and Bars was a large contingent of South Carolinians, African-Americans displaying their pride in their home state and in being in the march.
The third group, and little known to those who do not know history, was the Maryland contingent. While, yes, the white and red cross and the black and gold field are the coats of arms of Maryland’s founding families, the red and white cross is the Maryland Confederate battle flag, and the black and gold field is the Maryland Unionist battle flag. The Maryland state flag was created in a compromise to give equal prominence to each side’s colors, much like the S. Carolina flag. Proudly standing under the Maryland flag were myself and Corrigan Vaughn, a candidate for U. S. Senate (and it seems to me that Mr. Vaughn is an African-American).
It was without doubt one of the most peaceful, controlled marches that Washington, DC has ever seen. I heard no foul language, saw no disrespect. People carried some of the most creative handmade signs you could ever see. My favorite was a picture of a new-born baby with the caption, “I owe HOW MUCH money to the government??”
From wheelchairs to baby strollers and all ages in between this march was an amazing thing to witness and be part of. At the end of the day, the crowd created the theme — We are going to take back our country — We are going to defend and protect our Constitution — It is time for the government to get out of our pockets and out of our lives and to allow the American dream to be unimpeded.
A quick overview of the issues on signs — cap and trade, Obama health care bill, out-of-control spending, out-of-control taxing, disapproval of czars, opposition to amnesty for illegals, opposition to weak positions on terrorism, the closing of Gitmo and the President apologizing for America, the failure of bailouts, unconstitutional cash for clunkers, support of gun rights, support of the pro-life movement, all things constitutional.
This event without a doubt was the largest, most patriotic event on a large range of issues concerning our country, unlike previous marches on a single issue. It was absolutely a privilege to have participated in it. I come away absolutely assured that this will not be the last freedom-for-all march on our nation’s capital.
Thanks to all who supported us but were unable to make the trip. I was sent a link to a website of many photos taken at the march. The shots include Penna. Ave. filled with people. A sight to see.http://gallery.me.com/bhauchter#100270&view=grid&bgcolor=black&sel=152
Rick Impallaria
Delegate, District 7
rick.impallaria@house.state.md.us
Not quite 2.5 million:
“The demonstrators numbered well into the tens of thousands, though the police declined to estimate the size of the crowd.”
The Park Police stopped estimating crowds after the Million Man March fiasco.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-01-19-crowd_N.htm
Looks like they made an exception then. Usually they do not.
Right. I see no way that anyone would think 2.5 million people were there, though! Impallaria’s claims make him seem like he’s compensating for something!
” Conservative activists, who organized a march on the U.S. Capitol today in protest of the Obama administration’s health care agenda and government spending, erroneously attributed reports on the size of the crowds to ABC News.
Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks, the group that organized the event, said on stage at the rally that ABC News was reporting that 1 million to 1.5 million people were in attendance.
At no time did ABC News, or its affiliates, report a number anywhere near as large. ABCNews.com reported an approximate figure of 60,000 to 70,000 protesters, attributed to the Washington, D.C., fire department. In its reports, ABC News Radio described the crowd as “tens of thousands.”
Brendan Steinhauser, spokesman for FreedomWorks, said he did not know why Kibbe cited ABC News as a source.
As a result of Kibbe’s erroneous attribution, several bloggers and commenters repeated the misinformation. “
That is exatctly why the Park Service stopped making estimates for everything. If they are mathmaticlly sound they get blasted by one side and if they err the other way then they get blasted from the other.
I’m sure many, or even most, were polite, or at least not profane, but your description is perhaps a bit disingenuous.
“But as they sang verse after verse of patriotic hymns like “God Bless America,” sharp words of profane and political criticism were aimed at Mr. Obama and Congress.”
“The atmosphere was rowdy at times, with signs and images casting Mr. Obama in a demeaning light. One sign called him the “parasite in chief.” Others likened him to Hitler. Several people held up preprinted signs saying, “Bury Obama Care with Kennedy,” a reference to the Massachusetts senator whose body passed by the Capitol two weeks earlier to be memorialized.”
I agree from my view in DC that day at a Mueseum. That most where great but The post caried a photo on sunday and I saw a few tasteless signs. But all in all this was low key but made a point.
While not participating I went to my folks and took my niece to a few Smithsonians that day. Most of the participants where well behaved and respectful. However a few tasteless signs and mob like people could be used, like the Post did on Sunday, to give the group a bad image.
I have a problem with people identifying parts of the Maryland flag as a Confederate battle flag. There is a HUGE difference between the flags of old South Carolina and Mississippi… those flags were modified AFTER the civil war with the express intent of integrating racism and rebel ideals into the institution of their state. The Maryland flag existed well before the Civil War, and like many states parts or the entire state flag was used or modified for individual units in the war.
At no time was the Maryland flag in any way used as a symbol of the Confederacy or rebellion, rather units that fought in the Confederate armies as Maryland regiments used a portion of the state flag to identify themselves (an important process when maneuvering on a battlefield without modern technology, especially when moving in lines of battle). Units from most states had flags that incorporated all or parts of their state’s flag.
Delegate Impallaria should be careful when he tries to defend the Confederate battle flag… it is completely a sign of southern aggression and racism (the Maryland flag is not). Any movement on his part to suggest otherwise is an intentional bastardization of the meaning of both flags. Despite his attempts to hide his feelings by suggesting that African Americans were part of the parade and carrying Confederate battle flags (I am sure there were a 100 or so minorities there… maybe), the attempt to rationalize the Confederate battle flag is an old one, and one that is steeped in racism and segregation, and I would hope that all elected representatives in Maryland would recognize such and never, in any way, make any attempt to suggest that the flag is acceptable anywhere but in a Civil War reenactment.
Proud Democrat – Thank you so much your comments regarding Del. Impallaria’s remarks about justifying Confederate flag waving by comparing it to the Maryland flag. I was genuinely heartsick when I read his comments about our flag. I had to go check his facts because I just could not believe it was true. You put it back into perspective. When viewing the Confederate flag in a historical context, all I see is a very ugly and sad time in our nation’s history that should never be repeated. Today, when I see it flown on the back of pick-ups up and down Main Street in Bel Air, all I see is hate.
That’s stupid. It’s history. People in the South didn’t want to be told what they should or shouldn’t do, and so they decided to break away from the Union. People should celebrate the strength required to do that, where brothers were fighting brothers. It shouldn’t represent hate or racism, but the underlying belief that the Union is second to the States, per the 10th amendment.
Please tell me you are kidding… the idea that the south seceded due to ‘states rights’ if obnoxious. Actually I take that back; the southern states did secede due to states rights, that is the right to maintain the institution of slavery. How any American that believes in any aspect of our founding ideals can defend what the southern states did is beyond me. To actually defend them ‘Join Us’ is paramount to saying ‘sure, slavery was an okay thing’. Plus secession from the union is in itself unconstitutional, therefore any attempt to defend secession by somebody who claims to be a strict constitutionalist must be taken with a grain of salt.
On a separate note, I was incorrect about the design of the Maryland flag… it actually was a post-civil war design (according the Maryland Office of the State website), and indeed incorporates what was used as a regimental flag for Confederate units in the civil war. I still contend however that there is a big difference between a regimental color flag and a symbol of the rebellion as a whole, and that the realities of what the Confederate battle flag has come to mean in society alone should be enough to prompt concerned citizens to avoid using it except in places where warranted, such as reenactments and such.
I should clarify that the two symbols in the state flag both existed long before the civil war, and both were utilized as state symbols. They did not get put together in common practice however until afterwards (our state flag was adopted in 1904). Thus, the idea that any portion of the state flag by itself represents secession or approval of slavery is wrong (the Confederate battle flag clearly does both), even thought Maryland regiments in the Civil War used the red/white symbol as regimental colors.
You are correct in saying the Southern states did not want to be told what to do, but the issue they refused to reject was slavery. No one should celebrate that and anyone that considers it a strength is a fool.
It absolutely represents racism to most people. To be aware of that and continue to display the flag on your pick up truck, porch or t-shirt is to communicate that you continue to have your head firmly up your backside.
Join Us –
History is not on your side. There is no question that the root issue of the Civil War was slavery and the South’s justification was “State’s Rights” which was the right of slave states to decide to continue or discontinue the practice of slavery.
Furthermore, it does not bolster the position of Tea Party movement to use representations of the Confederacy or comparisons of liberals to Hitler and Nazism.
Especially when there are so many other more cogent arguments. And yes I know that some liberals and some in the left have used and still use similar and worse invective in their rhetoric. The foolish and the extremes on both sides are usually wrong and sometimes evil.
My recommendation to you is to put the shovel down and back away from the hole.
Joe
JC, I cannot believe it but I agree with nearly everything you have said! It is going to snow! That being said, other than some (quite rare) crackpots out there, I do not see extremists on the left side. On the other side (particularly in Harford County) the extremists are quite visible, and for some reason seem to be acceptable (even if carrying obnoxious signs that deface the President’s image or straight-face lie about legislation).
Do you feel that those arguing for a public health-insurance option (clearly the big issue against which the tea-partiers are now fighting) are extremists? This country has become so conservative, that even centrist ideas like the ‘public insurance option’ are bantered about as radical and extreme. This is a by-product of Reagan’s ill-advised rhetoric combined with the likes of RL, SH, GB, and other nutbags on radio and TV, not to mention the nowhere near ‘fair and balanced’ Fox news.
Proud Democrat,
I think the people protesting about national healthcare, socialized medicine or whatever you want to call it are no more radical than when the left protest against something they do not believe in or want to support.
You mention carrting signs that deface the President’s image but when it was done to President Bush, I do not recall the people on the left being offended that their President’s image was being defaced. Vanity Fair magazine put a picture of Bush on the cover and that was ok. Why is ot so offensive now? Tit for tat.
You are right on one count, Fox News is not “fair and Balanced” neither is ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR, CNN, MSNBC or the rest of the left leaning news programs. The mainstream media (most newspapers and news programs are liberal – there is no denying it) is liberal, so Fox isn’t, so what?
Just a side note. I believe that it is extrememly unfair to judge our ancestors of yesterday based on the morals of today. I’d prefer to credit the progressives of those days with aggresively pushing forward their belief that slavery was not an acceptable practice rather than characterize those who participated in what was a perfectly legal activity pre-dating the industrial revolution as being immoral or evil. That being said, the Rebel Battle Flag should not be mischaracterized as it is today to represent good, wholesome southern tradition.
I hope our decendants in the future will be as gracious when it comes to analyzing our numerous faults of today.
If we did that the Catholic church would be uneducated and stupid as they believed the world was flat and the center of the universe.
But, DJ, you have to keep in mind that even using your argument to judge based on the morals of the time slavery was still not acceptable. Most of the world had abolished the practice the slavery at the time as being inhumane and immoral. There is no way to justify the subjugation of any person as being inferior to another based on his race, religion, sex or any other aspect you can come up with. We are all human and deserve to be treated as humans and not chattel – whether now, in 1850 America, 1600 Europe or whenever or wherever. This is not an area where it is acceptable to say it was ok for the times or the culture. There are some moral absolutes. Like the right to life and liberty which includes fair and equal access to healthcare that does not financially ruin a family.
Kim McCarthy –
There is no nexus between slavery and health care.
Joe
Then, Kim, I’ll ask you what your opinion of our founding fathers is? Do you loathe each and every slave owner and legislator during the formation of this country? It’s a hard mindset to understand…I certainly can’t understand it, but it was a mindset that existed to the point that it was accepted by the country and our founding fathers at the time. Again, you have to credit those that were able to change that mindset to realize that it needed to end for the good of mankind. A no brainer for us today, granted. Must not have been such a no brainer for those who had agricultural lands that required tending without the luxury of mechanized equipment. I can’t speak on their behalf, nor am I willing to judge them against my particular disdain for slavery.
We very much SHOULD recognize and to some extent judge our founding fathers with respect to slavery, without question. So often in society we try to put things in nice neat boxes; well in most things that just does not work. For all the good that Washington, Jefferson, and Madison did for our country, it haunts my mind that the acts they did and the words they wrote are stained by the realities that surround them. So often our modern America tries to hide this along with the truths about the religiosity of these same men.
Interestingly, the least credited of the major ‘founding fathers’, John Adams, fought quite hard against the scourge of slavery, but was in Europe representing our interests abroad when the constitution was written (as was Jefferson, Madison was the primary author of the constitution).
I cannot imagine any study of the history of our country without realizing that many of the men that wrote and fought for the founding of the ‘land of the free’ in fact owned slaves. Life is not simple, and we should not sugarcoat it to make things simpler (and to make us Americans happier with our history).
I often think that conservative religion and politics strive to make us simpleton Americans believe these easy truths so that we do not think critically and question our beliefs. Nowhere does this seem to be more apparent than the facts surrounding slavery and the religiosity of our founding fathers. An additional note: slavery was abolished in England proper in 1701… how sad that the colonialists did not learn from their relatives back home. It should also not be overlooked that the abolishment of slavery in colonies was likely not far off, which perhaps may even have fed the revolutionary spirit in the south. At the same time England shares some blame… one wonders how Parliament allowed the colonies to hold slaves to begin with, especially after the 1701 and 1705 English court cases.
DJ
Loathe is a strong word but I do not venerate them as some do. That this country was built on the backs of slaves, on a moral crime, is one reason for some tempered restraint when crowing about the superiority of this country. That this country began with the genocide of native americans is another. It is one of the reasons jingoism is damaging to how we are perceived by the rest of the world.
Good points Tami; plus to add to what I said earlier, the founding fathers also wrote about their ownership of slaves, and they did recognize the horrors is caused (and this is the worst part of it): YET THEY KEPT ON DOING IT! Washington upon his death (actually his wife’s) freed many of his slaves, but he refused to do so when alive. No legislation was brought through Congress on the subject for decades after our founding. They knew what there were doing, and they did it anyway. Do not forgive them for it…
Tami,
For the record, our country was not built on the backs of slaves. In fact, historically the poorest states were in the south where slavery flourished and the richest states were northern free states. Slavery was an embarrassing chapter in our country’s history but let’s keep the facts straight.
The Civil War was about states rights, including slavery, limitations of the federal governments powers and the economic differences between the northern and southern states. The northern states were industrial with factories and the south was farming.
I will tell you, when I see the confederate flag, I know some people call it heritage but all I see is bigotry and hate.
The MD flag has been the coat of arms of the two founding families of this state and is not the confederate battle flag. Mor accurately part of the MD flag was used to identify the regiments from half of this state which fought for the CSA!
Rocco writes – “reparations” and “Black man is in charge now, you need to sit down and shut up.”
My response – Poop.
Joe
joe,
Poop? Is that what you your opinion of slavery? or that of the suffering inflicted to slaves? Poop!!!.
Good one Joe, I see how smart your are.
folks- without an activist Superme Court, Brown vs. Board of Education would have been allowed to continue. Separate but equal was another sad chapter of our past.
In the present we still have some ways to go. Health care reform is part of that redistribution on national resources to those maligned and left out of the american dream. Inmigrants, descendants of slaves, and women did not get a mule and forty acres….time for reparations is coming and have the have nots share in the opportunities that this country afforded Europeans.
reparations may not happen in terms of $$$, but it will happen by allowing the poor middle class to access affordable health care and access to education and housing that is safe and decent. Any country worth its salt should make sure that everyone has the opportunity to succeed.
Those in the majority can not only afford to do it, but they have the moral obligation to repair and compensate the descendants of those whom paid the price of the wealth of “european americans”.
My grandfather worked at Bethlahem Steel as a laborer for many years, and could not become a skilled worker, and had to assist european americans even if they were just hired right out of high school. How fair was that? where is the compensation to his kids, grandkids with the denial of economic opportunity to mine, so that yours could move ahead.
Black man is in charge now, you need to sit down and shut up.
rocco, thank you for the pathetic, racist post.
Hmmm… “redistribution on national resources”, “time for reparations is coming”, “those whom (sic) paid the price of the wealth of european americans”, etc.
And let’s go ahead and lump all the Europeans together. My immigrant grandfathers had a ball working in the coal mines. Party time! Thank God they had everything handed to them like all Europeans. And how about those Irish – and the Italians, too! Easy street from the day they arrived.
Let’s see… there’s a word for a person who groups people together and stereotypes them based on their ethnic heritage… I think it begins with B and rhymes with spigot.
But ANY valid points you may have hidden in the drivel are all wiped out by one simple line:
“Black man is in charge now, you need to sit down and shut up.”
Why? Simply because of the color of my skin?
Forget about the people protesting the President. Here’s your racist.
I hardly think your grandparents had their spouses, children raped and impregated without their permission and were sold as a mere commodity. I know that other people did not have it easy, but a great part of mainstream americans benefited either directly or indirectly from the trade of slaves, their work and their flesh. I don’t think any other ethic group can claim any such abuse and inhumane treatment.
“white man is in charge now, sit down and shut up” was a commonly used phrase in the south in slavery times….how much do you still have to learn about your own history!!!. Of course it sounds racist and demeaning, doesn’t it. But why are you bothered that I say it, but is just a part of history when europeans used it on blacks?
“how much do you still have to learn about your own history”?
My history? Because I’m white? It’s all about color with you, isn’t it? How much do YOU have to learn about YOUR history? (hint hint – MLK Jr. – I think maybe you just might be judging folks by the color of their skin)
Just stop with the racist crap already. My ancestors came to America long after slavery ended. I’m responsible for what other people did because those people were white? That makes it my history? Are you personally guilty for crimes committed by all black men? Is gangbanging and drug dealing your “history”? Not all black men are drug dealers and not all white men owned slaves. Stop the groupthink. Use your brain.
Phil –
I was surprised to discover that my Sicilian ancestors over centuries of foreign conquests of Sicily were enslaved by Romans, Arabs and Normans.
Joe
You said it yourself, we need to make sure that everyone has the “opportunity to succeed”. How can we ensure that? By providing a job, health care, and food to everyone for “free”?
You should see the sacrifice that your grandfather made and be proud that you don’t have to labor away all day, not try to reach a communist ideal.
Perhaps my grandparents were mean to each other. In this country, we have no class structure where that will translate to my family. We have no royalty, no poor because their parents were poor. It is possible for a young half-black man from hawaii to become president in this country.
It is possible to do anything with hard work in this country. How dare you try to take that away from my children. I am appalled that you say that that those who oppose you need to sit down and shut up because the ‘black man is in charge now’. Absolutely appalled. I thought we were over this race issue. Unless you think Obama was elected as reparations?
I never said anything should be for “free”. I spoke about having the opportunity to attain all those things, at a price that is fair and affordable.
Your descendants had no trouble taking from mine!!!. “how dare I take away from yours”…that by itself seems to me that you consider the resources of this country to be more yours than mine. Our country chooses to spend money in many ways, why can’t health care, housing and education be more important or just as important as other things? It really is a matter of national priorities. I don’t want it from you, but our govt needs to represent me too.
rocco writes “I never said anything should be for “free”. I spoke about having the opportunity to attain all those things, at a price that is fair and affordable.”
My response – I want affordable Lamborghini or Ferrari automobiles since they are way too expensive for most folks, so unfair.
Oh and I also say – More poop to you.
Joe
You confuse wants with needs.
Tami –
You confuse the pursuit of happiness with wealth redistribution.
Joe
phil
you don’t want to be judged on the color of your skin? Sadly, I know how that feels. I don’t think all europeans are racist, but there is a history of institutional discrimination that affects the economic well being of minorities even today. Your descendants had opportunities that mine didn’t and as a result I don’d have the same opportunities as you be it access to health care, housing, education and wealth. Your coal mining parents were able to gain economic freedom, wealth and opportunity. Mine were not allowed to do so.
A simple adknowledgement that inequity of the past has affected my present status. You can keep your health plan, but why should I not have that that you have? Because of the color of my skin?
rocco, it’s truly a shame that The Man is still keeping you down. Too bad that the highest level that you could strive to achieve these days is Supreme Court Justice (or doesn’t he count because he’s an Uncle Tom) or President of the United States.
Power to the People!
(unless you are white and conservative – then you’re just an angry racist mob)
phil
No one is keeping me down. I make money and pay my own bills, because I work hard for a living. My fate is unlike that of my descendants. I have the same rights as you and I have taken advantage of education and live a confortable life. I wish though that my parents, who had to endure segregation, separate but equal, lack of career advancement, redlining, housing discrimination, racial profiling, bigotry, and have they loyalty to their nation questioned simply because they were of a different color.
Sir, your status is determined by your willingness for hardwork. My education was paid for my hard work. Schools have been open and public for many years. Grants, scholarships and loans are/were available to all. You chose to follow a path, and I assume that you followed the one you chose. Why are you blaming race and not yourself? I think that the racist cries that are being bandied are from liberal progressive Democrats, and that the issues that the party is pushing are continuing to keep down the less aware groups by providing welfare, and all of its tentacles. The “you owe me” mentality is why so many folks feel entitled.
“white man is in charge” was used in slavery times. I simply changed the first word…somehow that’s racist, but the first phrase wasn’t..i get it, is only racism now, but it wasn’t back then, or is it when it happens to you and not to me?.
I think you guys need to read your country’s history, not just the white washed version you were given in school about our great forefathers and their great vision, one that only included landowners that were white.
“white washed version” – racist
Perhaps, but picture sitting in a history class , circa 1960, reading about Washngton, Jefferson etc, knowng they willingly subjugated others of your own race for their own personal profit. And you are being told to revere them. How alienating do you think that might be?
Phil
“white man in charge” is that racist or not?
I never said “white man in charge” and neither did any of my ancestors. I’m not responsible for what others say, regardless of their color. Are you?
and Tami – I was never told to revere Washington, Jefferson, etc., and people should be involved in their schools to make sure that students are taught facts and history, not who to worship (or things such as asking students to help a President meet his goals before explaining what those goals are).
However, I am surprised by all the people, both black and white, who revere Lincoln:
“My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause.” (August 22, 1862)
Should I go into the sham Emancipation Proclamation?
phil
you can’t or won’t answer the question. you are gutless. how quick you are to call me a racist even tough i pointed out FACTS about american history. Instead you choose to call me a racist when I just substituted white for black?
i know that you personally are not responsible for any of it. the american government is however responsible to remediate some of the wrongs committed.
you calling me a racist does not make me one, but you denying the wrongs and hurts of the past makes you at least insensitive to those who suffered, namely people of color and minorities, and to a certain extent also indentured slaves. Let’s not even forget about the native american indians.
Rocco –
Next you’ll be arguing for reparations.
Joe
joe
japanese americans got reparations for being incarcerated during WWII
Rocco – are you for slave reparations?
If paying slave reperations means that all Affirmative Action Prgrams at The Federal and State Level get cancelled then I would be for it.
But that won’t happen.
i would take that deal, because I don’t need affirmative action to make it in the labor force. Affirmative Action actually negates any hard earned promotion to well deserving minorities. I would take reparations instead of affirmative action anytime.
Who pays for these reparations? My family never owned slaves. My wife is from England so neither did her family.
Walter Willams wrote an interesting article on reparations, read on:
Walter E. Williams
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Last month, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed Senate Resolution 26 “Apologizing for the enslavement and racial segregation of African-Americans.” The resolution ends with: “Disclaimer. — Nothing in this resolution (a) authorizes or supports any claim against the United States; or (b) serves as a settlement of any claim against the United States.” That means Congress apologizes but is not going to pay reparations, as least for now.
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have expressed concerns about the disclaimer, thinking that it’s an attempt to stave off reparations claims from the descendants of slaves. Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Barbara Lee, D-Calif., said her organization is studying the language of the resolution and Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss, said “putting in a disclaimer takes away from the meaning of an apology. A number of us are prepared to vote against it in its present form. There are several members of the Progressive Caucus who feel the same way.”
It goes without saying that slavery was a gross violation of human rights. Justice would demand that all the perpetrators — that includes slave owners, and African and Arab slave sellers — make compensatory reparation payments to victims. Since slaves, slave owners and slave sellers are no longer with us, such compensation is beyond our reach and a matter to be settled in the world beyond.
Absent from the reparations debate is: Who pays? Don’t say the government because the government doesn’t have any money that it doesn’t first take from some American. So which Americans owe black people what? Reparations advocates don’t want that question asked but let’s you and I.
Are the millions of Europeans, Asians, and Latin Americans who immigrated to the U.S. in the 20th century responsible for slavery and should they be forced to cough up reparations money? What about descendants of Northern whites who fought and died in the name of freeing slaves? Should they cough up reparations money for black Americans? What about non-slave-owning Southern whites, a majority of whites; should they be made to pay reparations? And, by the way, would President Obama, whose father is Kenyan and mother white, be eligible for a reparations payment?
On black people’s side of the ledger, thorny issues also arise. Some blacks purchased other blacks as a means to free family members. But other blacks owned slaves for the same reason whites owned slaves — to work farms or plantations. Are descendants of these blacks eligible and deserving of reparations? There is no way that Europeans could have captured millions of Africans. They had African and Arab help. Should Congress haul representatives of Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Muslim states before them and demand they compensate American blacks because of their ancestors’ involvement in capturing and selling slaves?
Reparations advocates make the foolish unchallenged pronouncement that United States became rich on the backs of free black labor. That’s utter nonsense. Slavery has never had a very good record of producing wealth. Think about it. Slavery was all over the South. Buying into the reparations nonsense, you’d have to conclude that the antebellum South was rich and the slave-starved North was poor. The truth of the matter is just the opposite. In fact, the poorest states and regions of our country were places where slavery flourished: Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia while the richest states and regions were those where slavery was absent: Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts.
The Senate apology is nothing more than political theater but it could be a slick way to get the camel’s nose into the tent for future reparations. If the senators are motivated by white guilt, I have the cure. About 15 years ago I wrote a “Proclamation of Amnesty and Pardon Granted to All Persons of European Descent” that is available here.
Communicator:
The govt paid reparations to Japanese Americans that were put in concentration camps during WWII.
Rocco –
How would reparations work?
Joe
So, since the government paid reparations to Japanese Americans from WWII. I think this establishes a precedent.
Therefore, I hereby support the payment of one million dollars in reparations to any African American who was subjected to government-sanctioned slavery in the United States. All eligible persons must apply in person at the nearest US Federal Court House.
I can’t wait to see how many takers there are.
Hi Gene Pool
I’m sick of all this crap. My grandparents were immigrants from Poland and picked veggies for a living. My parents busted there butts and weathered hard times in the 70’s, barely scrapping enough money for food. They busted butt so that my brother and I could go to college.
John Conyers, the affirmative action crowd, and the entire slave reparations movement should give it a rest.
ed
were your grandparents sold off to the hightest bidder? and were your women impregnated and their children sold off as a mere commodity? were they linched? forced to go to inferior schools? were they only able to purchase homes is segregated areas? were they kept from attending the best schools?
Your descendants got a better shot at the american dream than blacks, native americans, or new inmigrants do today.
You don’t need reparations, you got your piece of the american dream, my people got the scraps that were left over.
Darn right reparations should be paid for all those things listed and health care is a step in that direction.
ed,
And as they used to say to us “if you don’t love american leave it” the same to you. If you don’t like the new american order you can go back to were your grandparents came from. that’s like a good kick in your “dupa”. If your polish, you should know what that means.
Rocco,
Thanks for making it clear where you stand on the reparations issue. We’ll see about your new American order. Get off your dupa and stop looking for hand-outs. If you want to lob insults in my direction then identify yourself.
ed
Hand outs? Your descendants got plenty of those, namely the opportunity to work and gain economic independence. What about my mule and forty acres for a people that have been Americans since the beginning, not just in the past 2 generations?
ted
the new order dictatest that you are not better than me just because of your race, name or color. the new order gives equal opportunity to all. is there something wrong with that, or you still need a leg up?
Slavery will be the bain of this country for a long time to come. We are still left cleaning up after it’s mess. Unlike parts of Africa today, we did abolish it and did try to do the right thing.
Just think what life would be like if slavery did not exist in this country over a century ago. If we did not import the Africans, we would not have the drug and violence problems in our cities today. We would not have perpetual cries of victimhood that we hear constantly today.
Ted r.
We’d still have a drug and violence problem and cries of victim-hood irrespective of slavery’s existence in the US and I think it is offensive for you to have made that foolish comment.
Joe
Actually it is very difficult to argue Ted’s conclusion if you are looking at poverty and drug-use rates in African American communities. JC you are right that we would still have such problems if slavery did not exist here, but the fact that African American frequency of drug use and poverty (the two always go hand in hand statistically) are so high is most certainly a result of slavery followed by a century of segregation, unequal education, unequal healthcare, and unequal job opportunities. So many things we see in modern black culture is a direct result of slavery (without any question the situation of matriarchal rule is a direct hand-me-down from slavery, and this status impacts the structure of the family unit in many black communities).
Ted is also correct that slavery is a stain that will persist far into the future. As long as we fight over healthcare and education, poor under-served communities will continue to be just that, and there is no question that the US policies toward blacks from its founding through the 1960s has kept this group of Americans from being able to compete fairly with other groups for resources. Imagine if there was the ability the centuries of American history for blacks to own land, maintain a stable family (without dad being sold), vote, and acquire wealth. African American society would be hugely different (would be equivalent to other groups that were given such opportunities).
We will deal with the disproportional rates of slavery in the African American community for some time as a direct result of slavery followed by ‘near-slavery’. Anybody who thinks otherwise has clearly got their head stuck in the sand, and either cannot or will not see reality.
I mistyped the first sentence in the last paragraph, should read ‘disproportional rates of poverty and drug use’.
ted
that is very Nazi like. Are you sure you are of Polish descent?
joe
Thanks Joe.
ted
the collective worth of african americans can’t just be measured by urban crime. there is a growing african american middle class that is professional and involved in their communities. People are surgeons, doctors, lawyers, engineers, millitary (a good percentage)police and fire, and all other professions within the spectrum of the labor market. To be sure the african american community needs to do more for itself as other minorities have done for their own.
I don’t know how you can “lump” african americans as the total cause and effect of crime and drug abuse. It would be the same as saying polish people are stupid….in this case you fit that description, but i would not assign it to all polish people.
Hahaha! This coming from the person who lumped all Europeans together to blame them for slavery! You are just too funny!
You really should write jokes for left-wing comedians like Al Franken, Janeane Garofalo, and Keith Olbermann.
phil:
europeans created the slavery trade system in the united states. namely dutch, english, french and spanish.
Mostly though i blame the our govt for allowing it to happen.
Keep writing, rocco. You just keep proving my point. Europeans as a group are responsible for slavery, not individuals? You reinforce your racism with every post.
Power to the (non-European) People!
phil
the facts don’t change because you don’t like them.
rocco,
Who sold the slaves to the Europeans? And who created the modern day slave trade in places like the Sudan that is harming millions today?
The first joke written for Al Franken…was wriiten by his doctor…..his birth cirtificate.
Go Dagger !
There are many good African Americans that make this country a better place. I would not disparage them in any way. But if you get right down to where the problems in our society are most prevalant and people are harmed the most by murder, drugs, and assualt, it is in the cities. That is where the African American populations are highest.
And as to being Polish, I am not. Before calling someone stupid rocco, know your facts. If you are ever confused about anything, please feel free to ask.
ted,
i am not confused about the facts.
Praieing on “white guilt” is used commonly now for political expediance. The comments of the last week have shown that clearly. Our country appears to be more racialy divided than it has been in the last 20 years. I beleive that this is just an appearance that is willingly promoted by the media and some politiko’s that need race to be an issue to promote certain agendas. The truth is most Americans dont see race as an issue and many try to confuse demographics and culture with racial disdain for absolutly political reasons.
To those who willingly skew this view I say …”grow up you race baiters”.
Go Dagger !
Praieing? Do you mean praying? And what a slime-ball comment. One must be blind to not see the role that race is playing here. There were probably less than 100 minority protesters in DC last week. People would not be ‘race baiters’ as you call them if the opposition to President Obama’s health insurance reforms were not so vicious in your rhetoric, and would actually talk and argue with data rather than turn town hall meetings into a sham. You teabaggers are all pathetic, unAmerican, unpatriotic, and ineffective in the long run. You are side-lining your far-leaning right-wing Repug party, and if the Democrats had any guts at all the only thing that will come out of this chapter in our country’s history (other than a very successful health-insurance reform package) is a knowledge of how sheep-like so many of the Fox-following, Rush-listening ditto-heads can be!
SadCrudeDemocrat –
Tea Party protesters are rightly and justly protesting President Obama’s policies.
And for your information SadCrudeDemocrat troll there is nothing more patriotic and quintessentially American than the peaceful protest movement by T.E.A. people in disagreement with their representatives.
Joe
P.S. Remember the next time you’re teabagging with your shiatsu that it is against the law.
With that PS… who in the heck are you to call anybody crude? You are so mislead it really is a waste of my time to reply, but for some reason I keep doing so (maybe I am getting as insane as the teabaggers????). The absolute fault in what you are saying is PEACEFUL. You may not be fighting physically, but there is NOTHING peaceful about what you are saying, what you are implying, and the way in which you handle your protests. Perhaps if the teabaggers dealt a bit with reason and cordial discussion, you may actually be taken seriously by the rest of the country. Instead, you are marginalizing yourselves by instilling hatred into everything you supposedly stand for.
The teabaggers are people that clearly have never thought twice about ‘sticks and stones’… sticks and stones may break our bones, but names hurt worse than both. Or maybe the phrase ‘more bees with honey than with vinegar’ applies. You and your kind are pushing people away from politics, and pushing politics into a tit-for-tat war of jabs that have nothing to do with reality, and is certainly not effective. What a crying shame that you are all too blinded by rage and too mislead by El-Rushbo to see it.
Aberdeen Dem –
Actually it is those on the left like you and SadCrudeDemocrat that have perfected vile crudity and ascended to great depths of depravity in your name-calling of honest Americans…TEA Party protesters, your neighbors and friends and for this you should be ashamed.
With regards your comment “you may actually be taken seriously by the rest of the country” the TEA Party movement is your worst nightmare since it is the rest of the country.
Joe
Like I said in a previous post:
And the namecalling continues. Are you a homophobe or just ignorant?
Ted, you really need to be careful with how you present these concepts. Yes, African American populations are higher in the city, and yes crime raters are higher in the city, and yes, crime rates are in fact higher among African American populations within the city. These data are clear. What is left out of these realities however is the impact that poverty has all of the above. The way you present your information leads to the conclusion that people are committing crimes because of the their race. But we know much better than that; internationally it has been shown time and time again that an impoverished and disenfranchised community always has higher crime rates than communities that have more resources.
How then do you stop the crime and downward spiral? PROVIDE RESOURCES! Education and Health Care in particular… solve the problem immediately, no. Over the long haul however it will go a long way.
Blaming race for things that are economic in nature is a common mistake made by many. The underclass has always, and will always, have higher rates of crime. As long as this country accepts the existance of an underclass we can expect what comes with it.
To continue to deny the racism behind some of the attacks on Obama is absurd. The following facts come from a NYTimes.com article by Bob Herbert.
An aide to a Republican state senator in TN sent out a mass email of a cartoon showing dignified portraits of the first 43 presidents and then the 44th as a spook, a cartoonish pair of white eyeys against a black background.
When a gorilla escaped from a zoo in Columbia, SC, a republican activist described it on his Facebook page as one of Michelle Obama’s ancestors.
Mark Williams, one of the leaders of the tea party movement, refers to our president as an Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug, and a racist in chief.
Mr. Herbert goes on to say that we need to take a stand and say we are better than this. The hatred that is expressed by so many of the anit-Obama crowd is frightening if only becasue it gives the nod to so much reprehensible conduct. The utter craziness of allowing armed protesters near the president is insane. The adrenaline charged groupthink actions of just one unstable and desperate for public affirmation individual could prove so tragic.
Mr. Herbert concludes his article by saying, “Think about the Oklahoma City bombing, and the assassinations of King and the Kennedys. On Nov 22, 1963, as they were preparing to fly to Dallas, a hotbed of political insanity, President Kennedy said to Mrs. Kennedy:” Were heading into nut country today.” ”
If that doesn’t give you a chill I have to wonder about you.
I agree poverty plays the largest role in crime in the cities. But for decades we have been pouring good money after bad into social programs to help the disadvataged and it only seems to get worse.
Teen pregnacy rates of African Americans are also a problem that continues the horrible situation. Providing resources does not always pan out into improved results. Per student spending in Baltimore is near the top if not the highest in the state.
I do have a question, if anyone can answer it. Why is it that with health care we are constantly told we need to cut cost, but with education, more money is a never-ending cry?
teen pregnacy would be just as high among whites, but they are able to get abortions and contraceptives because they have adecuate health insurance.
Garbage rocco.
The abortion rates among blacks are higher than whites. And if medicade does not cover abortion, tough.
Ted that addresses half but what say you to the contraceptive point?
The money we are spending on education is paltry compared to what we are spending on military and health care. I seriously question this idea that we are ‘throwing good and bad money’ at the city schools with no success, and therefore should stop throwing money at them! Bullcrap. Our schools cost much money to work. We have denied services (particularly capital) to the city schools for a LONG time, and we need to be spending more on them. There are mistakes that have been made to be sure (and having a chauffeur make 100k is obnoxious). But in the total budget of a school system, that is nothing.
Buildings need to be up-kept. Teachers need to get paid. Computers need to be replaced. Transportation needs to be provided. Most importantly classroom materials and textbooks need to be purchased. After-school opportunities, athletics, clubs, programs are more important than most realize, and must be funded. These things cost money. We spend WAY too little on education. It is not throwing money away in increase spending on our kids.
SadCrudeDemocratic –
Spending more money in a failing education system will not ensure better educational outcomes.
It is pure liberal/progressive folly to think throwing good money after bad will achieve an improved result.
Joe
Joe spending less money WILL cost more in prisons and social welfare!
The system of education that we as Americans finance is broken. The gov’t answer is to put more funds to it. The fix is more fundamental than that. I believe that if a child goes to school, he/she should be prepared to learn. If the parents can’t feed, clothe, bathe and teach the fundamental basic skills, manners, respect then the child ought not be in school. At this point, the school is both baby sitter and detention center. I believe that the responsiblilty is being dropped by parents.
Cdev writes – “Joe spending less money WILL cost more in prisons and social welfare!”
The above is a false premise. If you fix the fundamentals on how education is delivered you could enjoy both improved educational outcomes and lower costs. Again, the liberal/progressive mantras of tax more and spend more to solve problems with education are foolish and reckless.
Joe
Proud Democrat,
Look at the teacher to administrator ratio in the Baltimore City School system and there you will find the waste of money. They have built an empire of wasteful, postions in the name of giving the teachers a “career path”.
There is no correlation between spending and student success. However, you are quick to point out that $100,000 was wasted but it is “nothing” compared to the school budget. That is my biggest beef with the democrats. Because the money was not earned by you, it was collected through taxes (the hardwork of other) you are ok with pissing $100K away because it is not a lot of money “in the grand scheme of things.” In the same breath, you say you need more computers, books, transportation, etc. Yet you are ok wasting $100K. Unbelievable.
Bottom line, Baltimore city is broken. Until there is parental involvement and education is a priority in the city, and babies aren’t being born out of wedlock to 70 plus percent of the community, it doesn’t matter how much money is spent, it will be the equivilent of pissing in the ocean.
Spending money on the “kids” so everyone can sleep better at night is not the answer. Look at the private schools. They watch every dime (because they have to) and get the most for their money and their students succeed. If teachers do not “cut the mustard” they are replaced. The NEA has ruined American education and throwing money at the problem is not the answer.
Communicator please back up your assertion that there is no coelation between spending and preformance with a study!
Joe I agree with you and Peacnik that we need to fix the problem. That will involve spending more money but redirecting how it is spent. Unfunded federal mandates like NCLB that punish schools for socio-economic shortfalls of the ids only make the problem worse. I agree administrator spending in some school districts is being wasted but still we do not spend what we need to spend money on or enough to cover those costs. The idea to not send kids to school because they are in essence poor is illegal and will cost more money as it will condem them to stay in poverty and not even be half productive.
Cdev,
Back up your assertation that there IS a correlation between spending more money per student and the spending has attributed to the success of the students.
Does Spending More on Education Improve Academic Achievement?
by Dan Lips, Shanea Watkins, Ph.D. and John Fleming
Part of the study………
The evidence about education spending and achievement leads to the following important lessons:
American spending on public K–12 education is at an all-time high and is still rising. Polls show that many people believe that a lack of resources is a primary problem facing public schools. Yet spending on American K–12 public education is at an all-time high. Approximately $9,300 is spent per pupil. Real spending per student has increased by 23.5 percent over the past decade and by 49 percent over the past 20 years.
Continuous spending increases have not corresponded with equal improvement in American educational performance. Long-term measures of American students’ academic achievement, such as long-term NAEP reading scale scores and high school graduation rates, show that the performance of American students has not improved dramatically in recent decades, despite substantial spending increases. The lack of a correlation between long-term education spending and performance does not suggest that resources are not a factor in academic performance, but it does suggest that simply increasing spending is unlikely to improve educational performance.
Increasing federal funding on education has not been followed by similar gains in student achievement. Federal spending on elementary and secondary education has also increased significantly in recent decades. Since 1985, real federal spending on K–12 education has increased by 138 percent. On a per-student basis, federal spending on K–12 education has tripled since 1970. Yet, long-term measures of American students’ academic achievement have not seen similar increases. Long-term test scores among specific student populations, including ethnic minorities that have been a main focus of federal education policy, have improved some. However, the achievement gaps among white, black, and Hispanic students persist in test scores and graduation rates.
Education reform efforts should focus on improving resource allocation. Instead of simply increasing funding, efforts to improve education should focus on improving resource allocation. Chart 5 compares high graduation rates and per-student expenditures in the nation’s 50 largest cities. In many cities, spending per student exceeds $10,000 per year, yet graduation rates are below 50 percent. For example, in Detroit, per-student spending is approximately $11,100 per year, yet only 25 percent of Detroit’s students are graduating from high school according to a recent estimate.[21] In these communities and across the country, policymakers should focus on reforming policies and resource allocation to improve student achievement.
The high and increasing percentage of funding that is allocated to non-classroom expenditures is evidence of the need to improve resource allocation in the nation’s public schools. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, only 52 percent of public education expenditures are spent on instruction.[22] This percentage has been slowly decreasing over recent decades.
One promising way to improve resource allocation is to give parents the ability to use their children’s share of public education funding to choose the right school for their children. Children benefiting from school choice programs have higher test scores than their peers who do not benefit from school choice.[23] Moreover, public schools affected by school choice policies improve their performance in response to competition created by parents’ ability to choose alternative schools for their children.[24]
Nice Heritage Foundation Article. That said it appears they did no actual data collection and relied on self reporting and turned statistics into their own story.
Try this particularly the bottom of page 32 it actually had some statistical analysis done and accounted for the cost of inflation!
http://books.google.com/books?id=N3UIwF9P1WUC&lpg=PR16&ots=STEuSxlerf&dq=Does%20Spending%20More%20on%20Education%20Improve%20Academic%20Achievement%3F&lr=&pg=PR16#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Couldn’t link this but if you have access to jstor you can read it for free.
How Money Matters: The Effect of School District Spending on Academic Achievement
Harold Wenglinsky
Sociology of Education, Vol. 70, No. 3 (Jul., 1997), pp. 221-237
(article consists of 17 pages)
Published by: American Sociological Association
Both had actual data analysis done. Both do indicate that the money needs to go directly into the classroom to have the positive effect. Most stree that more teachers would cost the money.
Cdev,
You support my arguement. The amount of money that is being spent per pupil is high because of all of the administrators and crystal towers of the public school system. The money is not actually spent on the children.
Look at any private school and what they can accomplish with (in many cases, not all) lower spending per student vs. private schools and the academic success of the students.
The public school system is a mess, with out of control budgets and in many cases have classrooms filled with unmotivated teachers who are protected by tenure. They have too many administrators and too much buracracy. The NEA is not interested in educating the children; they are interest in growing their power.
If you want a sucessful public school system, the following must be done:
1 Eliminate tenure
2 raise the pay for teachers to attract the best and the brightest to teach
3 School vouchers so kids can go to any school they want. The vouchers can only be used for academic programs. All schools will have budgets for extra curricular and sport activites. Competition will make the schools compete for the $$$$ and the quality of education will improve.
I send my kids to private school and our school consistantly improves, introduces technology, hires better teachers and we are aware of these positive changes because the school knows we can spend our dollars elsewhere or send our kids to public school for free. so the threat of competition keeps the school proactive and consistantly improving the product they deliver. There is no reason this model will not or can’t work in the public school system.
A few points John Carroll costs more then the per pupil spending.
Second in our local school system we do not have this overflowing volume of administrators you think we do. The two most comparable counties are Fredrick and Howard. Fredrick has almost 2,000 more non-classroom based personell for about 1,000 less kids and Howard has about 5,000 more kids and 1,000 more non-classroom based personel.
I am with you on 2
1 I would revise to make it more difficult to get and require longer to get it. A teacher with no job security may be tempted to do things to appease people that are not sound.
3 I am against. Bussing kids to public schools all over creation and thus allowing them to select students will cause some to cherry pick the smart ones and dump the more needy children. Plus your transportation cost for the district will increase dramaticlly bussing those kids from one end of the county to another.
I have always said we need to spend more and that money needs to go into the classroom. Research indicates that spending more on schools when the money goes to the classroom results in better preformance.
Several years ago-and prior to any BRAC revelations, the issue on the table was over-crowded high schools north of I- 95. However the high schools south of 95 had excess capacity. Also it was revealed that at that time total school enrollment had increased slightly if it increased at all.
There were discussions regarding redistricting to make use of existing resources as a means to address the overcrowded schools. That meant that children north of I-95 would attend schools south of 95.
Many (not all) of the parents of children north of 95 were adamantly opposed to having their children redistricted to schools south of 95. In public they cited “housing values” south of 95 as the primary reason for not wanting their children to attend schools south of 95. And as a result of the protests from these parents Patterson Mill Middle/High was built. Could a reasonable person ask “What does the value of homes south of I-95 have to do with filling empty seats in a school? Might a reasonable person also reach the conclusion that the racial make-up of the schools south of I-95 was the reason for their objections?
It appears that the taxpayers of Harford County paid to build a new school simply to appease the parents of children attending schools north of 95, and at a time when we had more than enough school capacity in the county. I do not recall any protests from the Tax Rebellion Crowd then- But why not?
School officials, some political officials and some members of the tax rebellion crowd will attempt to defend the use of taxpayer’s money by using BRAC as a reason to build this new school. But remember this was before BRAC was even an issue. No one (myself included) said one word about this blatant use of taxpayer’s dollars to fund what appears to be a decision based upon discrimination-and not need.
Fast forward to this latest issue regarding President Obama’s speech. And remember information presented by the system (not the media).
First the Assistant Superintendent for Instruction stated that the school would not air the speech live-but that the speech would be reviewed for instructional content, and then presented to children at a later date.
Then the school leadership said that the reason for not airing the speech live was due to the limited bandwidth. This was followed by an elaborate presentation by the school system to try and justify their actions, and how well their plan actually worked. Recent information received from a number of sources reveals that the schools were permitted to watch the inauguration-live. If this information is correct-then we have a much more serious problem.
Would a reasonable person ask that if Bandwidth was the real reason-then why not say so from the outset? Could a reasonable person deny that race appears to be the primary factor in the above cited issues? I believe Dr. Wheeler to be a reasonable person. He has intimate knowledge of this and other issues that have occured in this county. And remember, how he wrestled with himself over the use of the word. So give Dr. Wheeler a break. He may be on to something.
Racism is defined as the belief that a particular race is superior or inferior to another, that a person’s social and moral traits are predetermined by his or her inborn biological characteristics. Racial separatism is the belief, most of the time based on racism, that different races should remain segregated and apart from one another”.
The question now is where do we go from here and more importantly how do we get there? That is why I have called for a County-Wide discussion about Race Relations (which some have rejected). Why-because scripture tell us that a house divided against it self will fall. And because we all loose when good people stand by and let evil persist. We have been blessed with something that many communities want-BRAC. If we continue to let Race divide us- then we lose the opportunity to take full advantage of what BRAC could bring to our community. We must not let those with alternative motives prevent this community from moving forward.
Nice way that you poisoned any rebuttal by branding any one who does not think that race played a part in the decision as an unreasonable person.
Gee, I wonder how your “County-Wide discussion about Race Relations” will turn out. Why don’t you save everyone the trouble of meeting and debating and just print your conclusions now, since you seem to have predetermined the motives of people who do not share your opinions.