It's been a relatively good and historic week for Black and LGBT people in America. After all this was the week that President Obama signed an expansion of the hate crimes law named after Mathew Shepard and James Byrd....
Shepard the young gay man brutalized and left to die by two homophobic neanderthals tied to a fence..James Byrd the black man tied alive to the back of a pick up truck by racist white men and dragged until his body was strewn in pieces all along the roadway..
The expansion, which was opposed by every Republican in Congress added gender and sexual orientation to the protected status for Americans. In other words, you can't attack someone who you believe is gay or lesbian just because you feel like it.
Gay bashing is no longer a sport in America...
Obama also signaled his intention to repeal the bigoted travel ban on HIV/AIDS positive people, that prevented them from coming into this country....
And Health and Human Services is creating a resource center designed to help elderly gay and lesbian people...this announced by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius...
This was the good stuff....However there was a not so good thing that happened this week as well..
I will tell you upfront that I'm making a judgment call based on past actions...Bernice King...the youngest daughter of MartinLuther and Coretta Scott King has become the first woman elected to preside over the Southern Christian Leadership Conference...her father's historic organization..
While her election is a history making event for women...it is not a good thing for the Black LGBT community.
King has been very outspoken in her hatred of the gay community all the while cloaking her bigotry in religion.. She has been very outspoken against LGBT equality, leading marches and protests against same sex marriage.
“I know in my sanctified soul that he (Dr. King) did not take a bullet for same-sex marriage.”
-Bernice King
Talking about her father and same sex marriage....When both Dr. King and her mother Coretta Scott King were known for their support of the LGBT community...contrary to the words of their daughter.
In a time when Black civil rights organizations and the Black church need to step forward and lead the fight against the problems within the Black community...I fear she will feed the fires of hatred, further alienating Black gays and lesbians sending them deeper into the closet...
And this is not the time to be in the closet considering how many within the Black community are infected with and dying as a result of the HIV virus. AIDS is killing straight Black people..not just lesbians and gays....
Black women are the most victimized...by men sleeping with other men and refusing to acknowledge their sexuality and by an uncaring system of neglect from the government, from the Black church, and from Black civil rights organizations, which remain silent....
I take no joy in seeing Bernice King ascend to the presidency of the SCLC because I believe that based on her past words and actions the Southern Christian Leadship Conference is about to become a cudgel wielded against the Black gay and lesbian community by another homophobic bigot this one of magnificent lineage and a bigger than life name... who routinely wraps her hatred in religion in order to make it more palatable to the masses..
Rambling opinionations from a vertically challenged, butterscotch shaded, newly minted senior citizen.
10.31.2009
10.29.2009
Cincinnati Race for Mayor
Avondale the Forgotten Territory
“This week, Wenstrup's campaign blanketed Cincinnati with two mailings - one that goes after Mallory for his many trips around the country and the world and another that challenges Mallory's assertion that Cincinnati is a safer city than it was when he took office nearly four years ago. “
Blanketed Cincinnati with two mailings....Really?!
I live in Cincinnati...I wasn't blanketed....Okay maybe my mail person took one day off...it happens...
Or maybe the “blanket” came on the day the mail guy who is afraid of my dogs and won't deliver when he hears them bark from inside my house, was working....He apparently thinks my dogs can unbolt two locks, as well as unchain the screen door to get to him on the porch...
that would explain missing one of the “blanket mailings.”
However...I don't think the mail person took both days off...and I missed BOTH mailings...I know the Post Office is cutting back.
But missing two mailings.....Hmmmmmmmmmmm....Don't think so...
You know what....it's me....My bad...
I keep forgetting.....I live in Avondale....and many, many people down at City Hall, as well as many of those who want to be at City Hall...
Oh, they remember us when talking about crime in the city. And how dangerous it is to live in Cincinnati despite national statistics to the contrary.....or when they need to prove to the Feds that there are Black people living in Cincinnati...we're good at bolstering their Census cred...
And we have plenty of baby mamas to draw all the federal funds they need to fill their coffers on Plum Street.
But asking us to vote them into office...coming onto our turf to find out what we Avondale residents may be thinking....nah!
You'd think a trip down Reading Road, over Gilbert Avenue or up Victory Parkway, was like traversing a dangerous foreign country....like Over the Rhine...or the West End....
The last time I saw a politician on my door step was a Black guy asking me to vote for Steve Chabot..
I know a lot of political mailing is going on....I get stuff from Qualls...I get stuff from Winburn...I get stuff from Harris...and Mallory.....and Crowley....and even Ted Strickland.....
But Brad Wenstrup.....If I hadn't taken a bus trip through Pleasant Ridge a few days ago and seen the yard signs....I would not have known that Mallory was being challenged for his seat..
But seriously Dr. Wenstrup...If you're running for mayor...you need to understand that you will represent all of us if elected...not just the westside and some of the neighborhoods on the east side....like Hyde Park, East Walnut Hills, or Mt. Adams...
Cincinnati is a very diverse city and really not as dangerous as you would believe...or have the rest of the world believe....
You would know that...if you really had the courage to campaign as a man who really, really wants to represent all of us residents of the Queen City...
C-ya on election day!
10.26.2009
Issues on Cincinnati November 3rd Ballot
Issue 7- Library Issue
Our libraries need more money because of a cut in funding from the State. State statistics show that Ohio libraries are loaning more videos and DVD movies than books, leading some critics to call them Blockbuster juniors.
Tom Brinkman is a critic...he is a founder of COAST...the anti everything people who want to destroy Cincinnati....In addition to killing public light rail...he wants to kill the libraries, too.
They won't shut down in his neighborhood, but they will be shutdown in mine...if the levy fails...
I live in Avondale, where state stats show that most people borrowing from the library are borrowing movies instead of books. In fact, most of the libraries that show this trend are lower income, urban neighborhoods with smaller libraries.
Regardless of what they may take home, I am not in favor of closing libraries, which is what will happen if this levy does not pass.
I spend time in my local library and it is always filled with young people, who may not be checking out books...However they are sitting there, reading and discussing books or doing homework in a quiet and drama free atmosphere...
For many of them this is the location of the only computer to which they have access...
And it's like that every time I go, no matter what day I go. Because of the internet, I rarely check out books either these days......I sometimes take my laptop to the library just to work...
I don't know the kids there, but they are fascinated seeing me write and will approach me to ask questions about what I do and what they are reading...Usually the questions concern..pronunciation of a word in a book or on its cover....like “chrysanthemum.”
It is a safe haven for these youngsters trying to make sense of the chaos in which they live...The libraries have already been forced to cut hours...
Completely shutting their doors would be a travesty....
Issue 7 needs to pass
-0-
Issue 3- Casino in Cincinnati
Issue 3 is one of those issues that is going to come down to who shows up at the polls to vote. Well, this is no time to support the issue and not take the time to vote for the issue...Casinos and gambling have been voted down six times prior to this....
It is one of those issues where opponents are again attempting to legislate morality...people are going to gamble....whether they do it in state or out....
Because of Ohio's financial situation....they should gamble closer to home...Keep the money and jobs in Cincinnati and Ohio..
Issue 3 needs to pass
-0-
Issue 9-Restriction on Light Rail
Issue 9 Hamstrings the city of Cincinnati. It is not just a matter of taking an issue to the people for a vote. It is a blatant attempt to block progress in the city and keep it in the dark ages.
Issue 9 is being sold as a way to keep City Council from arrogantly going against the will of the people and passing a plan to build a budget busting street car system that benefits only a few people downtown...
The proponents of issue 9 says these types of things should be put before the voters...because that what you do in a democracy....
Word to the people....America is not a democracy...it is a Republic....where the people elect people to look at the issues and handle them for us....We already have a way to handle out of control officials...we vote them out of office...
Issue 9 is flim flam from flim flam artists who egotistically think they are smarter than the rest of us..
The truth of the matter is the creators of Issue 9 have written a convoluted amendment that will block all attempts at putting light rail anywhere in the area...
Obama has already said he wants to build bullet trains like they have in Europe and Asia..Issue 9 would prevent this in Cincinnati....
We would be left out of the loop......in a similar fashion as when then Mayor Roxanne Qualls went to Europe to bring restaurants to Cincinnati....and because of the backwardness of this city...the restaurants ended up in Covington and Newport after she left office....
Northern Kentucky continues to benefit from the neanderthal thinking of many in this city..such as those opposed to light rail....
And I'm sure if Cincinnati drops the ball again....Northern Kentucky will figure out a way to pick it up....
Issue 9 should be voted down..
-0-
Issue 8-Cincinnati Water
This issue is yet another badly written proposed amendment brought to you by the backward looking cabal of COAST and it's boy Chris Smitherman and his gang of mini me's...
This issue is another attempt to micromanage the system.....Again...America is a republic...not a democracy....and in a republic...we elect officials to handle the issues....We vote for the officials...we have public hearings to tell them how we want to vote.....
This issue is not about privatizing the water...it is about hamstringing our legally elected officials..
Make no mistake about it.....I am totally against privatizing water.....and will happily lead the march on City Hall...if they ever consider it.......
But this issue is something else....it is not what was sold to the people who signed the petitions....
They lied to the petition signers...they....meaning COAST and the NAACP are attempting to manipulate voters...
This is another one that will come down to who shows up at the polls....
If COAST and company wanted to do something positive...they would have written an amendment that honestly states what it does....in other words....they should have written....” ban privatizing water in Cincinnati”......simple.....no confusion....
Issue 8 needs to be voted down...
-0-
State Issue 2-Livestock Board
After reading this issue it looks as if Big Agra is attempting a coup...trying to take over the livestock control in Ohio....Their supporters are trying to create a board to control farming and farm animals in Ohio...
Most other states are moving in the opposite direction....
We are living through an economic situation, wholly created by corporate America and their bought and paid for politicians who allow the corporations to Self Regulate....meaning they operate with no control or anyone looking over their shoulder...
Issue 2 is setting up yet another useless board of paid bureaucrats that looks like its doing something when in actuality it is just another puppet organization of Big business..
Issue 2 should be voted down..
-0-
Issue 6- Union Terminal
This is an issue to maintain the Union Terminal...Cincinnati needs to keep this building in good repair...
It can never be rebuilt....so it should be taken care of....doing repairs as needed..
Issue 6 should be approved
-0-
Issue 5- MRDD
This is a renewal to continue funding the county to enable it to keep helping the mentally and developmentally challenged residents become more self sufficient..
Issue 5 should be approved.
-0-
Whatever you decide....you should vote on November 3rd....
UPDATE.....Even after writing a post, I continue to look at the issue at hand, continue to learn and to tweak my knowledge, so to speak....Sometimes....my first judgment and pronouncement is wrong....and I will admit that.... I was wrong for saying that I will vote for Kevin Flynn...
I will not....Even though he is endorsed by the Charter Party....His endorsement by Right to Life made me look closer......He's just not my kind of guy...because he chooses to relegate me and other women to second class citizenship....We are not equal in the eyes of Mr Flynn when it comes to making decisions that impact our lives as human beings....
Since he won't recognize female cognitive abilities....He cannot represent me in government or anything else for that matter...... So I'm sorry......My bad.....I ain't votin' him...not never.....not nohow.....
My new revised list is...
Qualls.....Young....Quinlivan.....Fischer.....Bortz.....Berding?.....
Watson.....Thomas...and Greg Harris
******************************************************************************
Our libraries need more money because of a cut in funding from the State. State statistics show that Ohio libraries are loaning more videos and DVD movies than books, leading some critics to call them Blockbuster juniors.
Tom Brinkman is a critic...he is a founder of COAST...the anti everything people who want to destroy Cincinnati....In addition to killing public light rail...he wants to kill the libraries, too.
They won't shut down in his neighborhood, but they will be shutdown in mine...if the levy fails...
I live in Avondale, where state stats show that most people borrowing from the library are borrowing movies instead of books. In fact, most of the libraries that show this trend are lower income, urban neighborhoods with smaller libraries.
Regardless of what they may take home, I am not in favor of closing libraries, which is what will happen if this levy does not pass.
I spend time in my local library and it is always filled with young people, who may not be checking out books...However they are sitting there, reading and discussing books or doing homework in a quiet and drama free atmosphere...
For many of them this is the location of the only computer to which they have access...
And it's like that every time I go, no matter what day I go. Because of the internet, I rarely check out books either these days......I sometimes take my laptop to the library just to work...
I don't know the kids there, but they are fascinated seeing me write and will approach me to ask questions about what I do and what they are reading...Usually the questions concern..pronunciation of a word in a book or on its cover....like “chrysanthemum.”
It is a safe haven for these youngsters trying to make sense of the chaos in which they live...The libraries have already been forced to cut hours...
Completely shutting their doors would be a travesty....
Issue 7 needs to pass
-0-
Issue 3- Casino in Cincinnati
Issue 3 is one of those issues that is going to come down to who shows up at the polls to vote. Well, this is no time to support the issue and not take the time to vote for the issue...Casinos and gambling have been voted down six times prior to this....
It is one of those issues where opponents are again attempting to legislate morality...people are going to gamble....whether they do it in state or out....
Because of Ohio's financial situation....they should gamble closer to home...Keep the money and jobs in Cincinnati and Ohio..
Issue 3 needs to pass
-0-
Issue 9-Restriction on Light Rail
Issue 9 Hamstrings the city of Cincinnati. It is not just a matter of taking an issue to the people for a vote. It is a blatant attempt to block progress in the city and keep it in the dark ages.
Issue 9 is being sold as a way to keep City Council from arrogantly going against the will of the people and passing a plan to build a budget busting street car system that benefits only a few people downtown...
The proponents of issue 9 says these types of things should be put before the voters...because that what you do in a democracy....
Word to the people....America is not a democracy...it is a Republic....where the people elect people to look at the issues and handle them for us....We already have a way to handle out of control officials...we vote them out of office...
Issue 9 is flim flam from flim flam artists who egotistically think they are smarter than the rest of us..
The truth of the matter is the creators of Issue 9 have written a convoluted amendment that will block all attempts at putting light rail anywhere in the area...
Obama has already said he wants to build bullet trains like they have in Europe and Asia..Issue 9 would prevent this in Cincinnati....
We would be left out of the loop......in a similar fashion as when then Mayor Roxanne Qualls went to Europe to bring restaurants to Cincinnati....and because of the backwardness of this city...the restaurants ended up in Covington and Newport after she left office....
Northern Kentucky continues to benefit from the neanderthal thinking of many in this city..such as those opposed to light rail....
And I'm sure if Cincinnati drops the ball again....Northern Kentucky will figure out a way to pick it up....
Issue 9 should be voted down..
-0-
Issue 8-Cincinnati Water
This issue is yet another badly written proposed amendment brought to you by the backward looking cabal of COAST and it's boy Chris Smitherman and his gang of mini me's...
This issue is another attempt to micromanage the system.....Again...America is a republic...not a democracy....and in a republic...we elect officials to handle the issues....We vote for the officials...we have public hearings to tell them how we want to vote.....
This issue is not about privatizing the water...it is about hamstringing our legally elected officials..
Make no mistake about it.....I am totally against privatizing water.....and will happily lead the march on City Hall...if they ever consider it.......
But this issue is something else....it is not what was sold to the people who signed the petitions....
They lied to the petition signers...they....meaning COAST and the NAACP are attempting to manipulate voters...
This is another one that will come down to who shows up at the polls....
If COAST and company wanted to do something positive...they would have written an amendment that honestly states what it does....in other words....they should have written....” ban privatizing water in Cincinnati”......simple.....no confusion....
Issue 8 needs to be voted down...
-0-
State Issue 2-Livestock Board
After reading this issue it looks as if Big Agra is attempting a coup...trying to take over the livestock control in Ohio....Their supporters are trying to create a board to control farming and farm animals in Ohio...
Most other states are moving in the opposite direction....
We are living through an economic situation, wholly created by corporate America and their bought and paid for politicians who allow the corporations to Self Regulate....meaning they operate with no control or anyone looking over their shoulder...
Issue 2 is setting up yet another useless board of paid bureaucrats that looks like its doing something when in actuality it is just another puppet organization of Big business..
Issue 2 should be voted down..
-0-
Issue 6- Union Terminal
This is an issue to maintain the Union Terminal...Cincinnati needs to keep this building in good repair...
It can never be rebuilt....so it should be taken care of....doing repairs as needed..
Issue 6 should be approved
-0-
Issue 5- MRDD
This is a renewal to continue funding the county to enable it to keep helping the mentally and developmentally challenged residents become more self sufficient..
Issue 5 should be approved.
-0-
Whatever you decide....you should vote on November 3rd....
UPDATE.....Even after writing a post, I continue to look at the issue at hand, continue to learn and to tweak my knowledge, so to speak....Sometimes....my first judgment and pronouncement is wrong....and I will admit that.... I was wrong for saying that I will vote for Kevin Flynn...
I will not....Even though he is endorsed by the Charter Party....His endorsement by Right to Life made me look closer......He's just not my kind of guy...because he chooses to relegate me and other women to second class citizenship....We are not equal in the eyes of Mr Flynn when it comes to making decisions that impact our lives as human beings....
Since he won't recognize female cognitive abilities....He cannot represent me in government or anything else for that matter...... So I'm sorry......My bad.....I ain't votin' him...not never.....not nohow.....
My new revised list is...
Qualls.....Young....Quinlivan.....Fischer.....Bortz.....Berding?.....
Watson.....Thomas...and Greg Harris
******************************************************************************
10.22.2009
Friday Rap
So, tell me again why we're in Afghanistan and why we need to send in more troops?
How about bringing home the troops and turning Special Ops forces loose on Pakistan and what's left of Al Qaeda in the mountains along the border....
I'm sayin' let the dogs out and let em do what they been trained to do, which is kill our enemies...neutralize their followers and come home...
Let the troops who kill Bin Laden split the 25 million dollar bounty on his head..
-0-
Olympia Snowe....looks like she's gonna bail if Health Care Reform contains a public option...Word today is that the Democrats in the Senate don't need her vote....
Good!
I will say it again.....Health Care Reform WITHOUT a public option is merely another subsidy for the insurance/health industry...
-0-
Wall Street's pissed off that Obama wants to take away their bonuses and halve their salaries......They say the people are going to suffer since They can't make all the money......
I'll take my chances.....The middle class is disappearing because of all that money at the top...that is not trickling down....
We bailed them out with our taxes....they are hoarding what we gave them...refusing to lend it out and make it work for the country....
And they still want to make mega million bonuses...so they can buy yachts while the rest of the starve...
Sounds like Marie Antoinette...let them eat cake syndrome....And you know what happened to her and the other aristocrats of the era...
I say we dust off the guillotine....
-0-
A question of civil liberties..... man gets up at 5:30 in the morning....goes downstairs and makes a cup of coffee in his kitchen and gets arrested for public indecency.....He was nekkid in his own house...in his own kitchen and it was still dark outside....
Yet....a cop's wife said she was walking her kid to school and saw him...in his kitchen...drinking coffee....nekkid.......
Who's at fault here....the guy inside his house.....or the peeping tom who called police......
Happened Monday in Virginia..
-0-
The expanded Hate Crimes Bill has now passed the Senate...All Obama has to do is sign it to make it official.....Or...he can leave it on his desk for ten days and it becomes law...
either way....We win...
-0-
Note to Michael Jordan's son Marcus......Baby...it's not about you or the shoes....It was about your Dad....
Until you deserve to wear his shoes....you shouldn't.....lace up the Addidas, shut the F*** up and keep your spoiled ass in school.....
-0-
More balloon boy...stuff....
Seems Falcon and his brother mixed up a bowl of booger laced soup for their mother....I can just see me doing something like when I was young.....
My mother would have made eat every bit and then whupped my ass...all the while telling me to respect my elders or die in the process.....
-0-
Just say no......
I'm still trying to understand this sweat lodge thing where three people have now died.....I can't understand how grown people can let someone convince them to continue doing something that is obviously killing them....
This was not a Jim Jones kool aid moment when folks didn't know that the kool aid was laced with cyanide....this was adults refusing to look after themselves...bowing to the whims of yet another false prophet....
Hope they got their money back for the fiasco....
I hope the families of the dead sue the charlatan for every cent he's got...
People search and search looking for God...when the truth is that God is...and you don't need anyone else to talk for you....no middleman necessary...
10.17.2009
Cincinnati City Council Endorsements
UPDATE.....Even after writing a post, I continue to look at the issue at hand, continue to learn and to tweak my knowledge, so to speak....Sometimes....my first judgment and pronouncement is wrong....and I will admit that....
I was wrong for saying that I will vote for Kevin Flynn....I will not....Even though he is endorsed by the Charter Party....His endorsement by Right to Life made me look closer......He's just not my kind of guy...because he chooses to relegate me and other women to second class citizenship....We are not equal in the eyes of Mr Flynn when it comes to making decisions that impact our lives as human beings....
Since he won't recognize female cognitive abilities....He cannot represent me in government or anything else for that matter......
So I'm sorry......My bad.....I ain't votin' him...not never.....not no how.....
My new revised list is....
Qualls...Greg Harris.....Young....Quinlivan.....Fischer.....Bortz
Berding?.....Watson.....Thomas...
************************************************************************************
The Cincinnati Enquirer has issued its endorsements for City Council and many of them are no surprise. You can read about them here.
Jeff Berding
Roxanne Qualls
Chris Bortz
Leslie Ghiz
Nickolas Hollan
Cecil Thomas
Kevin Flynn
Amy Murray
Charles Winburn
Having an endorsement from the Cincinnati Enquirer is enough to usually make me NOT want to vote for any of them, but I have to admit that this perennially right leaning poor excuse for a newspaper gets it right sometimes...
Like with Roxanne Qualls, Cecil Thomas and Kevin Flynn....
I think they were correct in not endorsing Laketa Cole and Chris Monzel...I would sideline Leslie Ghiz for the same reason as I sideline Laketa Cole...
Both show tremendous immaturity and a lack of common sense...Ghiz....Little more than a Midwestern version of Sarah Palin..exhibits little class...fewer smarts.....twittering during Council or Committee sessions is the kind of behavior that I expect from my 13 year old niece..not my city government representatives.....
Cole needs to grow up...plain and simple....taking the Black vote for granted is the height of arrogance....and the mark of a bad politician...
Charlie Winburn is anachronistic at best....On his best days...he can't think or function past the 19th century......He's the monkey wrench who would be thrown into the machinery that is slowly pulling Cincinnati kicking and screaming into the 21st century...bringing it to a grinding halt...
Chris Monzel is a white Charlie Winburn....but not as smart...
I want to see this city move forward so to the mix of Qualls, Thomas and Flynn....I would add
Wendell Young
Laurie Quinlivan
Greg Fischer
Chris Bortz
Jeff Berding
Bernadette Watson
Let me say this about Berding....I haven't liked him since he spearheaded the Stadium vote several years ago...But I respect him for sticking to his guns...... I think dissent is sometimes a good thing...I disagreed with the Democratic Party pulling his endorsement....I would rather not see him on Council and I honestly don't know if I'm gonna vote for him...but given the choices...he may wind up holding onto his seat...
Also messing up progress is Issue 9...It needs to be voted down.... COAST and their boy Chris Smitherman are insidious...and very bad for Cincinnati...Smitherman is bad for the Black Community....
Issue 9 is wrong for the City...period...
Ohio Issue 3....the casino issue is an issue whose time is now....we need the Casinos..
Mayor Mark Mallory needs to be re elected.
Regardless of who you choose....the important thing is to vote in November
I was wrong for saying that I will vote for Kevin Flynn....I will not....Even though he is endorsed by the Charter Party....His endorsement by Right to Life made me look closer......He's just not my kind of guy...because he chooses to relegate me and other women to second class citizenship....We are not equal in the eyes of Mr Flynn when it comes to making decisions that impact our lives as human beings....
Since he won't recognize female cognitive abilities....He cannot represent me in government or anything else for that matter......
So I'm sorry......My bad.....I ain't votin' him...not never.....not no how.....
My new revised list is....
Qualls...Greg Harris.....Young....Quinlivan.....Fischer.....Bortz
Berding?.....Watson.....Thomas...
************************************************************************************
The Cincinnati Enquirer has issued its endorsements for City Council and many of them are no surprise. You can read about them here.
Jeff Berding
Roxanne Qualls
Chris Bortz
Leslie Ghiz
Nickolas Hollan
Cecil Thomas
Kevin Flynn
Amy Murray
Charles Winburn
Having an endorsement from the Cincinnati Enquirer is enough to usually make me NOT want to vote for any of them, but I have to admit that this perennially right leaning poor excuse for a newspaper gets it right sometimes...
Like with Roxanne Qualls, Cecil Thomas and Kevin Flynn....
I think they were correct in not endorsing Laketa Cole and Chris Monzel...I would sideline Leslie Ghiz for the same reason as I sideline Laketa Cole...
Both show tremendous immaturity and a lack of common sense...Ghiz....Little more than a Midwestern version of Sarah Palin..exhibits little class...fewer smarts.....twittering during Council or Committee sessions is the kind of behavior that I expect from my 13 year old niece..not my city government representatives.....
Cole needs to grow up...plain and simple....taking the Black vote for granted is the height of arrogance....and the mark of a bad politician...
Charlie Winburn is anachronistic at best....On his best days...he can't think or function past the 19th century......He's the monkey wrench who would be thrown into the machinery that is slowly pulling Cincinnati kicking and screaming into the 21st century...bringing it to a grinding halt...
Chris Monzel is a white Charlie Winburn....but not as smart...
I want to see this city move forward so to the mix of Qualls, Thomas and Flynn....I would add
Wendell Young
Laurie Quinlivan
Greg Fischer
Chris Bortz
Jeff Berding
Bernadette Watson
Let me say this about Berding....I haven't liked him since he spearheaded the Stadium vote several years ago...But I respect him for sticking to his guns...... I think dissent is sometimes a good thing...I disagreed with the Democratic Party pulling his endorsement....I would rather not see him on Council and I honestly don't know if I'm gonna vote for him...but given the choices...he may wind up holding onto his seat...
Also messing up progress is Issue 9...It needs to be voted down.... COAST and their boy Chris Smitherman are insidious...and very bad for Cincinnati...Smitherman is bad for the Black Community....
Issue 9 is wrong for the City...period...
Ohio Issue 3....the casino issue is an issue whose time is now....we need the Casinos..
Mayor Mark Mallory needs to be re elected.
Regardless of who you choose....the important thing is to vote in November
10.14.2009
Woman's Work
My mom has a saying about my dad....one of many since they've been together 59 years...this one refers to how he fixes things...
Now...he can fix anything...and I do mean anything...He is the reason that I love working on stuff...that gene comes from him and my mother's father...my granddad....
Their ability to put things back together when broken..warped my thinking about men for a long time...because I grew up thinking that all men could fix anything...just give them a screw driver, some nails and a hammer...and BAM.....fixed and functioning...
Imagine my surprise when I grew up and found that most men don't know which end of the screw driver to use.....can't tell channel locks from pliers or a socket wrench from a pipe wrench...
I was absolutely shocked when one of my best buddies pulled me aside one night after we were talking with a group of people during which I referred to a stick shift car....he didn't know what I was talking about...so he asked me privately to keep his man cred in tact...
Anyway....my mom has always said about my dad that he always does things twice...he fixes it...then he fixes it right....she says I'm the same way....
I disagree with that statement, since I do read the instructions first....My dad does too...but don't tell anyone because he wants to keep his man cred in tact too...
We have a whole government full of men who can't fix anything.....and refuse to read the directions, scan the public opinion polls or face the reality of which way the wind is blowing....
They've spent their entire congressional careers faking their concern for the American people as they laugh all the way to the bank, after pocketing the money thrown at them by slimy lobbyists.
Which brings me around to my topic....Maybe the men of the GOP need to step aside...while their man cred is still in one piece, albeit hanging by a thread... and let the women of the GOP take over..
I'm not talking Sarah or the Cheney siblings...I'm talking Olympia...
Olympia Snowe grabbed the reins yesterday in the Health Care Reform act....It wasn't a republican thing...it wasn't a democratic thing.....
It was a woman thing that she did, in looking out for others...
Possibly at the sacrifice of her politics.....I don't think she will lose her seat....but the good ole boys of the GOP....jealous at being disobeyed and upstaged by one of their women...will probably make her life miserable for this one vote...
I''m sure they're grumbling that she should have stayed quietly in her place ....like where they want to put Nancy Pelosi....
“How dare those women talk back to us!”
With one vote, she moved the conversation forward...closer to conclusion....It's not done yet...but it's no longer stuck in neutral.....
The process will continue to work...thanks to Olympia Snowe...who remembers why she was sent to Congress....as well as who she really works for...
10.12.2009
Sellin' Wolf Tickets...
Old ghetto saying.....”don't let your mouth get your ass in trouble!”
Insurance companies say they will raise rates if health care reform passes...
The big health care companies say they will be forced to hike rates if the Obama Administration pushes through health care reform for citizens.
Do we need anymore arguments in favor of a public option? Sounds to me like they are calling our bluff.
Here is what they are saying:
It's kind of like that scene in the movie the Ten Commandments where Moses played by Charleton Heston is in the throne room talking to his pretend brother Ramses played in all his bald sexy splendor by Yul Brenner.....Where Moses tells Ramses the next curse to reign down on Egypt will come from Ramses lips....and Ramses struts and fumes and parades his half naked self around and tells Moses, to get the f*** out of his house or he is gonna kill him for real....
Moses says okay and saunters out the door to go to his mother's house to drink wine, and eat bitter herbs and unleaven bread...thereby creating the Passover observance....Ramses still cussing and still not listening to what his pretend brother had just told him...tells his generals to go kill all the first born Hebrew babies and thereby seals the fate of his own son....
Big insurance isn't listening.....they still think they can run game on us....threaten us with higher premiums....telling us.....we will have to pay more money for their shitty service....those of you who can afford their shitty service......I'm one of those they won't insure....
They would have us believe that if the government sets up competition....in other words....gives citizens another option...that the competition will force them into a rate hike....I thought competition always drove down prices....not up....but then again...the GOP has spent the last 9 years telling the American people that up was down, round was flat, black was white and so forth and so on....I guess the insurance companies must be thinking...well it worked for them....no it didn't.....
We must all collectively have “STUPID” stenciled on our foreheads...Just ask the grocery stores...are people buying the really expensive name brands these days.....or are they buying the just as good store brand generic........hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?
Let the Insurance Industry go ahead and raise its rates after health reform becomes law....Even Republicans and wingnuts fighting tooth and nail against health care won't stay with an insurance company that raises its rates, and the government has a public option in place...
You know it's true.....don't believe me....how many Congressmen are giving back their government health plans now...fearing we're drifting into “socialism” as they say....
How many wingnuts do you see talking about tearing up their medicare/medicaid government health care or resigning from the government program to help out the insurance giants by signing up for their programs.....
None.....Nada.......Nyet!
And who gives a rat's ass if no GOP member of Congress refuses to sign onto the bill....I don't...
Public Option is the only option...anything less is merely a subsidy for the Insurance Industry..
Or...
Take the age limits off medicare....then there is no need for insurance companies at all...and everyone has insurance.....
Easy...problem solved...
Insurance companies say they will raise rates if health care reform passes...
The big health care companies say they will be forced to hike rates if the Obama Administration pushes through health care reform for citizens.
Do we need anymore arguments in favor of a public option? Sounds to me like they are calling our bluff.
Here is what they are saying:
It's kind of like that scene in the movie the Ten Commandments where Moses played by Charleton Heston is in the throne room talking to his pretend brother Ramses played in all his bald sexy splendor by Yul Brenner.....Where Moses tells Ramses the next curse to reign down on Egypt will come from Ramses lips....and Ramses struts and fumes and parades his half naked self around and tells Moses, to get the f*** out of his house or he is gonna kill him for real....
Moses says okay and saunters out the door to go to his mother's house to drink wine, and eat bitter herbs and unleaven bread...thereby creating the Passover observance....Ramses still cussing and still not listening to what his pretend brother had just told him...tells his generals to go kill all the first born Hebrew babies and thereby seals the fate of his own son....
Big insurance isn't listening.....they still think they can run game on us....threaten us with higher premiums....telling us.....we will have to pay more money for their shitty service....those of you who can afford their shitty service......I'm one of those they won't insure....
They would have us believe that if the government sets up competition....in other words....gives citizens another option...that the competition will force them into a rate hike....I thought competition always drove down prices....not up....but then again...the GOP has spent the last 9 years telling the American people that up was down, round was flat, black was white and so forth and so on....I guess the insurance companies must be thinking...well it worked for them....no it didn't.....
We must all collectively have “STUPID” stenciled on our foreheads...Just ask the grocery stores...are people buying the really expensive name brands these days.....or are they buying the just as good store brand generic........hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?
Let the Insurance Industry go ahead and raise its rates after health reform becomes law....Even Republicans and wingnuts fighting tooth and nail against health care won't stay with an insurance company that raises its rates, and the government has a public option in place...
You know it's true.....don't believe me....how many Congressmen are giving back their government health plans now...fearing we're drifting into “socialism” as they say....
How many wingnuts do you see talking about tearing up their medicare/medicaid government health care or resigning from the government program to help out the insurance giants by signing up for their programs.....
None.....Nada.......Nyet!
And who gives a rat's ass if no GOP member of Congress refuses to sign onto the bill....I don't...
Public Option is the only option...anything less is merely a subsidy for the Insurance Industry..
Or...
Take the age limits off medicare....then there is no need for insurance companies at all...and everyone has insurance.....
Easy...problem solved...
10.09.2009
Bible Study
To quote one of Sarah Palin's favorite passages from her Bible...”When the Lord shuts a door....he opens a window somewhere else..” She used that phrase as part of her justification for abandoning her governorship.
It is an apt description of Obama's week as well...
Just a few days ago, the rabid right was celebrating Chicago's loss of the 2016 Olympic games despite the best efforts of America's holy trinity of BO, MO and O....
The Big 3 got what was coming to them...put back in their place, where uppity folks belong...they crowed...
But then comes Friday and Obama is awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace...to everyone's surprise..
Lord may have slammed the door shut on Saturday...but threw open the window on Friday and yelled...”let's get some air in here...it stinks!”
Crazies went apoplectic with anger. No matter what happens, it seems the man always manages to come up smelling like rose...
they griped and ranted and fumed and fussed....
But Karma is, what it is.... and the rule is simple.....you get what you give....
If you give out hate and anger and dishonesty and hypocrisy....you will receive hate, and anger and dishonesty and hypocrisy in return....
It's not climate change....it's Karma...a universal law...In Sarah's Bible the phrase is....”What goes around....comes around.”
Maybe these alleged christian conservative patriots in name only...should do more Bible study..they might come to understand what is happening in the world...
I can think of another phrase in their Bible.....something about....
the meek shall inherit the earth..
But will that come before, or after he throws the heretics out of the temple....
10.08.2009
Friday Rap
You may not know the name Floyd Brown, but I guarantee that you know his work...
This is the GOP dirty trickster who created the virulently racist Willie Horton Campaign that tanked the Presidential aspirations of Mike Dukakis, back in the day..
Now this fool has Obama in his sights saying he should be impeached because he harbors “malevolence toward the United States of America”
According to Brown....this satisfies the “high crimes and misdemeanors” clause as written into the Constitution by the Founding Fathers...
WTF?
The last time I looked...that clause referred to criminal activity...A crime committed, in other words..like...oh...lying to the American people about going to war against another country....or...giving all your business buddies no bid multi billion dollar contracts to literally rape the country and treat it like their own personal piggyback....while young soldiers.....children of your supporters, by the way... give their lives defending an illegal police action......while your own offspring flaunt their specialness...just because they can....
Oh No....says Brown...The Founding Fathers meant that phrase to mean....gross incompetence...negligence and distasteful behavior....on the part of the President as grounds for removing him from office....
In Ghettoese...Brown is saying the nigra in the White House is pissing us off and we want him gone...by any means necessary...
-0-
Speaking of revisions....Have you heard that a conservative group has formed to rewrite the Bible to make it less liberal? Less liberal?
Does that mean that me and my kind are going to be fitted for leg irons and shackles in the near future?
Wonder if they're going to consult with Mel Gibson on this...
-0-
Meantime....down in the Great State of Texas....you know where they want to secede from the Union, again....
They meant it too....All of their congressmen voted against the stimulus...Their governor said he wasn't going to take the money.....but that was before his mansion burned down...
He's already quietly asked for funds to rebuild his house...
Now comes word that the Texas Congressmen....all of em...have gone shuffling with hat in hand to the White House to quietly ask for some money... you know...to tide them over until payday...
You how it is....um hmmmmmmm!
-0-
Katrina...Katrina...Katrina....still working people's nerves down in Louisiana...
One parish down there is taking advantage of the situation to make sure all their Black residents don't come back....
First off..they're not helping Black and Jewish folks rebuild their homes...
And to keep them from moving back and renting until they can rebuild their houses....The city fathers passed an ordinance that says you can't rent property...houses or apartments to anyone who is NOT RELATED TO YOU BY BLOOD...
The parish is 85% white.....
And, this parish is also not allowing anyone to rebuild multi family units inside the parish, either...
But it ain't about race.....just like those cops on the bridge shooting at Blacks to keep them from crossing the bridge and away from danger of the hurricane...ain't about race...no sir!
This parish has some big named friends, who are helping it to rebuild.....I hope somebody who knows somebody who can pull Oprah's and Alice Walker's coat tails...and hip them to what's going down inside their latest little charity project...
-0-
Oklahoma....has a new law set to take effect on November 1th....This law is going to put personal information about any woman who has had an abortion in this state online....
The law requires Doctors to publicly post the following information...
Date of abortion
2) County in which abortion is performed
3) Age of mother
4) Marital status of mother
5) Race of mother
6) Years of education of mother
7) State or foreign country of residence of mother
8) Total number of previous pregnancies of the mother
This is intimidation...plain and simple....There is no law in this country that demeans men in the way this law demeans women....
This goes hand in hand with insurance company policies that view pregnancy as a pre-existing condition for denying coverage...
This while offering to drive guys to the pharmacy so they can buy their little viagra pills, so the old farts can have sex with their 19 year old girlfriends...
-0-
GOP lawmakers showed their colors today when they voted in lockstep against a must have defense bill to supply the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan...
The measure had an amendment expanding the national hate crimes law to protect the LGBT community...
The GOP would rather gay bash, then fund the troops fighting their war...
The bill passed...by the way..no thanks to the GOP
-0-
Note to City Council Person...Laketa Cole...
I like my governmental representatives to display some common sense once in a while... I know you didn't pay for it...talking about the far away conference on the big island of Hawaii, this week.....
But that is not the point of this rant......Hawaii and that upcoming trip to Asia....can wait until after the election...
How arrogant to assume that the Black community is going to support you regardless of how you disregard us by leaving three weeks before a very important election..
Especially when the city is in such a financial crisis and you are chairman of the finance committee..
and your unions are pissed off...
How arrogant to assume that you have us in your back pocket to bail your ass out again....
You owe Cincinnati an apology for your blatant lack of smarts and shoddy behavior...
Perception is Reality...Ms Cole....Perception is Reality
10.07.2009
Franklin Delano Obama
Mr. President should stop channeling Abraham Lincoln and start giving us a little FDR
Various administration spokespersons keep trying to convince us that the recession is over...that the country has turned the corner.
However, I don't buy it and neither does anyone else for that matter, especially since unemployment continues to climb. The official number is just under 10% out of work.
In addition there has been an under count going on since the days of Ronald Reagan when he announced that the government was no longer going to count those he termed unemployable or chronically unemployed. That move by Reagan immediately cut the official unemployment figure in half, from 8% down to 4%, and made him look good in the eyes of the majority.
It was a quick way to hide the real story of minority unemployment or white refusal at the time to hire Blacks, specifically, Black men. Unemployment for Black men, then as now, hovers around 30-40%, putting the onus of breadwinner permanently onto the backs of Black women. That was 30 years ago and continues today.
So the real unemployment figure today is more like 25% of the population.
Today, recession fueled layoffs and furloughs have resulted in Black women being let go, losing the gains that they've made in the workforce. For us it's always been last hired and first fired. A cycle that we as a people still can't seem to break.
With nobody working it means nobody is paying bills, paying taxes, or buying goods to keep this consumer driven economy functioning.
That's why we need a stimulus for working people. It was a mistake to give it to Wall Street and the automakers. GM should have been allowed to fail. Wall Street, well, they are hoarding the money, refusing to use it to stimulate the economy. However, they are still stimulating themselves with massive bonuses.
This recession might have been over had the government just given every American about $30,000 to spend as they see fit. Talk about a stimulus! It wouldn't have cost as much as TARP either.
In lieu of money....we need jobs....right now....not next year...
States are failing....Cities are verging on bankruptcy....
Yes, America is deeply in debt..but at this point the government needs to spend a lot more money in order to put people back to work quickly.
On roads.....on highways....on bridges....on schools....on infrastructure.....on bullet trains and light rail....on alternative energy projects....
There is an old saying.....”study long....you study wrong”
Obama needs to stop studying, make a decision, and then get it done.
Swine Flu Affecting Blacks and Hispanics
Government so far silent on number of minorities affected by flu bug.
The Center for Disease Control says it will have a racial breakdown by the end of the week. However, early reports issued last month are showing that H1N1 is having a devastating effect on minority population, with more than 33% of all US deaths happening among Hispanics.
For instance, first reports are showing that in Boston, where blacks make up only a quarter of the overall population, 37% of all swine flu cases are Black. Check out the full story here.
Several schools have closed in the Greater Cincinnati area due to flu outbreaks, the latest being Zion Temple Christian Academy, which serves the Avondale neighborhood.
The Center for Disease Control says it will have a racial breakdown by the end of the week. However, early reports issued last month are showing that H1N1 is having a devastating effect on minority population, with more than 33% of all US deaths happening among Hispanics.
For instance, first reports are showing that in Boston, where blacks make up only a quarter of the overall population, 37% of all swine flu cases are Black. Check out the full story here.
Several schools have closed in the Greater Cincinnati area due to flu outbreaks, the latest being Zion Temple Christian Academy, which serves the Avondale neighborhood.
10.06.2009
Swine Flu Vaccine Ready
Still skeptical about Big Pharma-The 1976 fiasco.....2009 Problem
I will admit upfront, that I'm a total skeptic when it comes to government vaccination programs. Just like all Americans my age, I went through them as a kid. They didn't really hurt me or anything, but then my Mom was in charge. She said take them, I took them. I was only five years old after all.
As I have gotten older, I have come to learn that we don't really know what is in the medicines that we take.
A lot of the medicines on the market are there purely to make a profit for someone, at the expense of you and me.
I don't take the yearly flu vaccinations even though I'm considered high risk.
Having lived through the swine flu epidemic of 1976, I'm not sure if I will ever trust my government or the big drug companies to do the right thing.
Not the way it was set up then...and certainly not the way it is now. Because as bad as the drug companies were back then...
They are a hundred times worse now in their disregard for consumers, viewing them only as cannon fodder for their big profit money making machine.
If you think that is a misstatement or a wrong statement then check out what is really going on in Africa with the drugs that could save so many, but are being withheld by their makers in order to make greater profit.
This is done by simply not making the drugs available because the people cannot afford the price that the drug companies want to charge to support their profit scenario in Africa.
Back in 1976, the big drug companies demanded that the US government take the fall if the swine flu vaccine turned out bad, because they didn't want to get sued. It did. The government took the hit.
The same thing is going on today with health care reform and this so called developing flu vaccine. I have no proof, but my mature gut tells me that we, the people are being screwed again, despite the fact that Obama is in charge. But I will wait and reserve judgment until the reform bill is passed and we get through the flu season.
One of the big players in 1976 and today in 2009 is Roche, the big pharmaceutical company. Roche makes Tamiflu, which you may know, the United States government, as well as other governments, worldwide have stockpiled in recent years to combat Swine and Bird flu.
The US decided to stockpile Tamiflu after Bush elevated Donald Rumsfeld to Secretary of Defense. Rumsfeld made millions off the drug....He has stock in the company that created Tamiflu. Gilead Sciences sold Roche the rights to manufacture the drug.
Our government paid Roche $100 a dose to buy the drug...that works out to $2 billion dollars for useless meds.
Rumsfeld allegedly recused himself from all governmental decisions concerning the stockpiling of the drug. However, with the lies that are now coming to light...
Who knows what Rumsfeld did back in the day...
Rumsfeld and Bush just got the ball rolling. Tamiflu is held up as the treatment for the flu, which really it is not...
Tamiflu is only effective if taken at the first sign of the flu...It is not a cure...or vaccine....If you don't take it at onset....
In other words, if you don't have it in your house..then you're wasting your time.
And there are some nasty side effects to the drug, too...Deaths were reported in Japan to children given the drug, shortly after it came on the market.
If it has to be taken immediately...then wouldn't stockpiling be a waste of time, considering that the government can't get it to you in time to save you...they can't mobilize fast enough...
Think that's wrong...think Katrina....the only thing that's changed since the Katrina debacle is the President...the mechanism for saving American lives...is the same...
Obama has not changed the mechanism, yet. I love Barack Obama...He's like that Nia Long line from the movie The Best Man, while referring to the Terrance Howard character... (pretty M*****), and it's way too early to make any judgments....
But so far, all I'm seeing is same old, same old...lots of charisma and very little change...Just like Bill Clinton....Love em...however...they are both consummate politicians...
And as I've said before...if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck....you can finish...
The difference that I'm seeing between the last administration and the new one..is that one of them is giving us vaseline before telling us to bend over...
Back to this new developing vaccine in time for the coming flu season. As I said, I don't trust it. When they tried this in 1976, more people died from the vaccine then the so called epidemic.
In fact, in 1976, only one person died from the swine flu and he was the first one who contracted it..
He was patient zero, in other words.
It happened at Fort Dix and you can read the story here.
I can't tell you what to do for you and your children when the time comes to face this latest “flu bug.”
It is almost upon us and they are just beginning to test. Officials have already said it's going to take 3 shots.
The shots won't be effective until a couple of weeks after you take the second one...Given the roll out..that will be halfway through the school year..
If that is the case, what is the point of taking the drug...Seems to me your immune system is working effectively already.
What I'm hearing on the news does not sound confident...it sounds panicked...and that scares me..A panicky government is the last thing we need....
Here is how the Center for Disease Control “reflects on the situation."
Let's hope the government learned its lessons from 1976.
10.04.2009
ASALH Convention
The organization that created Black History Month-94 years and counting, meets in Cincinnati
I had never heard of the ASALH organization before getting an email from my cousin via Facebook. ASALH means the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. It is an organization founded by Carter G. Woodson, the noted historian. I knew who Dr. Woodson was, however I was not familiar with his organization or its long and illustrious history. The email that was sent out, was a forwarded message asking for volunteers for an upcoming convention to be held at the Netherland Hilton, here in town.
Now, if you've read me more than once or twice, you know how I feel about Black History Month. I have long voiced disapproval of Black History Month, not because I disagree with the concept. I don't like the fact that we, as a nation set aside only one month to talk about Black history when Black history is literally the foundation of this country. Slavery was our Holocaust. In other words, we built this country. Its foundation is forged from the blood of our ancestors, and we are still suffering from white denial. I am absolutely sure that Dr. Woodson did not envision this month becoming the white corporate mea culpa in place of reparations, that it has become.
But back to the convention. I liked what I read in the email, so I volunteered, eager to learn about the organization and to get away from my computer for a few days. Being a writer, I am chained to this particular piece of technology for the rest of my life in order to sustain my life and independence. Yet I am always open to putting it aside, if only for a little while, to engage with my fellow humans face to face, like we used to do back in the day, before advancing technology relegated us to shadowy fingers on keyboards, with invisible wireless contact to the outside world. We are swiftly losing our abilities to socialize and to interact civilly with one another, all in the name progress. To put it bluntly, I miss the ability to “conversate.” But I will save that conversation for another day.
What better way to engage with people then to attend a convention full of scholars and academes, whose expertise is one that is very close to my heart. Volunteering to work a convention makes you a fly on the wall, seen but not seen, talked at, but not talked to, hearing all and saying nothing, and smiling all the while. I loved it.
To quote one of my younger nephews, the staff who put on this convention, were “cool peeps.” They were easy to work with, and for, for the three days that I hung out. They had our backs and hopefully we had theirs. I also hope that we represented our city. I tend to rail against Cincinnati as only a native can. Being born and educated here, I have seen the changes, both good and bad and I want Cincinnati to always be good, despite what comes out of my mouth sometimes. I really wanted my city to step up and I tried to step up too, because this time we were dealing with our folks, and it is important to represent, as the young ones say. I think we did that.
There is always going to be some grumbling and we heard some. For instance, I got the feeling from one overheard conversation that the tour of Black history in Cincinnati was lacking. I'm sure it was probably done with the blessing and guidance of the Underground Freedom Center. But while the tour may have been Black history, it was not “our” history, and there is a difference. I didn't facilitate the tour, so I have no way of knowing if the tour stopped at Union Baptist Cemetery where one of only two Black Civil war recipients of the Medal of Honor is buried. Were these scholars allowed to see the gravesite of Sgt Powhatan Beaty or the 119 other Civil War Veterans buried there?
Or did they swing down Ezzard Charles Drive and gaze on the monument dedicated to the 267 women of the 6888 Central Postal Battalion of World War II. These women were the only Black women who served overseas during the great war. My great aunt, Sgt Bessie L. Robinson's name is carved on that marker. Was the tour allowed to look at the remaining copies of Wendell P. Dabney's Union Newspaper, the oldest negro newspaper in this area.
I don't know the answer to those questions. I just know that some on the tour wanted more color to their Black history. I don't fault the ASALH for this, but I do fault the city, for the slight. And I fault, “us” in particular because “we” haven't done enough to illustrate “our” history, either. The Underground Freedom Center is wonderful. However, it is only the beginning of the story. The rest of the story remains to be told and pulled together for future generations.
That is one message that I have taken away from this convention. The story will never be over, but much of it is quickly being forgotten and lost, because no one is stepping up to document and remember. ASALH is a Black organizaton that studies the history and lives of Black people. This organization connects the past with the present and the future, helping us to understand. This was very apparent by the choice of keynote speaker, Eugene Robinson, at the closing banquet last night.
Robinson is the Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for the Washington Post and regular commentator on MSNBC programs. I read him religiously. Robinson lived through and witnessed an event called the Orangeburg Massacre, that happened in 1968 in South Carolina. Three Black students were gunned down on the campus of South Carolina State College by police. They had bullet wounds in their backs and in the bottoms of their feet. This was two years before the shootings at Kent State, here in Ohio, where four young white students died, killed by the National Guard. They were eulogized by the legendary Jimi Hendrix in the song “Machine Gun" and by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, in "Four Dead in Ohio." The story of the Orangeburg Massacre has never been sung and the filmmakers have struggled for years, to find an audience for their telling.
Robinson, who can speak intimately of our President Barack Obama, was just as riveting with his personal story about those nights on the campus in South Carolina. This was just one indication of ASALH at its best, these past few days. They will be in Raleigh, North Carolina next year. I hope some day that they come back to Cincinnati. I for one, will welcome them with open arms.