REGINA Some will view our front page as too personal. It certainly is personal. But the story about Regina is universal. A relatively young person who impacted so many lives in a positive way struck down at the height of her life by a disease that we know so little about how to cure. We don’t think it is “too personal” but for those who do, so be it. WE AIN’T IGNORANT AND WE AIN’T SCARED It was but a whisper in the mainstream press. To certain White folks it was quite a mess. Who would have thought that the Black vote in the 2012 presidential election would turn out to be the best? The mainstream media flunked the test both before and after an election that saw Republicans all over the country trying to suppress the Black vote while the mainstream media struggled to treat their repugnant behavior as the subject of some kind of legitimate debate. It was racism at its worse and not worthy of civil debate.  But the real story that has been muted in the mainstream press is that for the first time in election history, the ratio of Black voter turnout exceeded the White voter turnout, which should let the bigots know that today ain’t Mississippi in the 50s. We ain’t ignorant and we ain’t scared and we will protect our voter rights, misguided bigots notwithstanding. INDIANS NEXT? I see why the movie “Django” (I watched it last night) was snubbed by the Academy Awards and coolly received by the mainstream media. It carries a lot of genuine messages that had to have made a lot of White folks and submissive Black folks very uncomfortable by legitimizing their greatest fear: that angry Black folks will one day wreak violent revenge on them for their evil historical deeds.  Indians next? SHADES OF SPRINGFIELD, MASS. The State branch of the Connecticut NAACP has seized control of the Bridgeport branch to try to restore order after a dispute among members over money. It was not so long ago that the Springfield NAACP was seized for failure of performance. Springfield has regained control of its branch under the leadership of Rev. Talbert Swan, II and is doing quite well, thank you. Expect Bridgeport to do the same under new leadership yet to be determined. JOE KLEIN’S OBAMA “President Obama’s recent trip to the Middle East was so effective that many of his most relentless, and often haywire, detractors were struck dumb. Even John McCain didn’t go Vesuvius, for once. Obama rallied and reassured the Israeli people, propped up sagging Arab leaders in neighboring areas – like Palestine’s Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan’s King Abdullah – and, for good measure, nudged Israel and Turkey to re- establish some semblance of their alliance, an absolutely essential piece of the effort to contain the chaos coming in Syria. Obama’s speech to Israeli youth was one of the best of his presidency. He made the classic American position clear: As a matter of historic justice, we vehemently support the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state. As a matter of historic fairness, we oppose the expansion of Israeli settlements into Palestinian lands.” (Time, April 8, 2013)  WE WILL MISS YOU (1930-2013) Chinua Achebe (Things Fall Apart), we will miss you.  THE REPUBLICAN ALTERNATIVE “For decades, the Democratic Party has commanded the African-American vote. Yet, the Obama phenomenon aside, this dominance seems not to reflect love for the party so much as the fact that the Democrats are all that is left once the GOP has effectively removed itself from contention….But let the record show that, as (Ron) Paul had to reach back to 1909 to show solidarity with black folks, the Democrats themselves are still living on the 50-year-old fumes of Lyndon Johnson’s legacy. So there is no reason the GOP cannot command a portion of the black vote….To

do that, it must repudiate its own recent legacy of bigotry. Stop acting as if going to Howard University is like traveling into the rainforest (like Senator Ron Paul did). Stop trying to repeal the Voting Rights Act. Stop trying to repeal the 20th Century….And begin to provide much-needed leadership on issues urgent to African-American voters in the here and now.  For instance, mass incarceration, the failed drug war, the achievement gap and job discrimination….In a word: compete.” (Leonard Pitts, The Republican, April 23, 2013) I DIDN’T SAY IT TO MY WHITE FRIEND BUT I SHOULD HAVE When a White friend said to me that White folks don’t know who Black folks are, I thought about what Leonard Pitts wrote: “It is vaguely insulting this idea that there’s something about African-American life that makes it more impenetrable than others. There is not.” (The Republican, April 16, 2013)  (The entire article, which slams Brad Paisley for his “dumb” song “Accidental Racist,” is worth reading.) A MESSAGE A message to my son from Sophocles: “…every choice has its consequences…character is destiny…the exercise of power must always be measured by the health of the whole community.” A message to my brother from Sophocles: “…tragedy, when faced directly and bravely, leaves humans not diminished but ennobled.” (As summarized by James Carroll, The Boston Globe, April 23, 2013) JUAN WILLIAMS IS RIGHT “One thing you don’t hear much about in the discussions of guns: race. That is an astonishing omission, because race ought to be an inescapable part of the debate. Gun-related violence and murders are concentrated among blacks and Latinos in big cities. Murders with guns are the No. 1 cause of death for African-American men between the ages of 15 and 34. But talking about race in the context of guns would also mean taking on a subject that can’t be addressed by passing a law: the family-breakdown issues that lead too many minority children to find social status and power in guns. “I support gun control but speaking honestly about the combustible mix of race and guns may be more important to stopping the slaughter in minority communities than any new gun-control laws.”  (Juan Williams, The Wall Street Journal, March 27, 2013) THE FAMILY BREAKDOWN “Almost 50 years ago when the Civil Rights Act was passed, the national out-of-wedlock birthrate was 7%. Today it is over 40%. According to the CDC, the out-of- wedlock birthrate for white children was just 2% in the 1960s. Today it is 30%. Among black children, the out- of-wedlock birthrate has skyrocketed from 20% in the 1960s to a heartbreaking 72% today. The Hispanic out-of-wedlock rate, which has been measured for a much shorter period, was below 40% in 1990 and stands at more than 50% as of the 2010 census.” (Juan Williams, The Wall Street Journal, March 27, 2013) FALSE PROSECUTION The federal prosecution of former probation officer John (Jack) O’Brien on 17 charges of bribery in a 56 page indictment is so much legal nonsense. He was acquitted on similar state charges by a jury that understood that there was no distinction between what prosecutors called criminal and political business as usual for which the politicians who run the system got a free ride. O’Brien is the minion. The politicians set up the show and run the show. That doesn’t mean that political business as usual isn’t criminal. It simply means that it doesn’t take a genius to recognize that the real guilty parties have not been charged with crimes. Fundamental fairness dictates that the least culpable who are only following the political rules be acquitted. People aren’t stupid! ■