AFAM Newsbits – February 2015

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OTHERS’ BITS

“You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may tread me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

“Still I Rise” By Maya Angelou

      ***

“If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”

Origin in dispute. Some say Alexander Hamilton. I say Malcolm X.

      ***

“The old order changeth, yielding place to new,

And God fulfils himself in many ways,

Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.

Comfort thyself: what comfort is in me? I have lived my life, and that which I have done

May He within himself make pure!

Idylls of the King: The Passing of Arthur by Alfred Lord Tennyson

      ***

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ON RACE

Minorities want to know the actions of justice and law enforcement are not poisoned by institutional bigotry. This is an explosive moment in American race relations, made worse by irresponsible comments on both sides of the divide. America must confront the danger of “two Americas,” living separately and in mistrust of one another, and they must confront it now.” (The Wall Street Journal, January 7, 2015)

 

THE BROWN INJUSTICE KEEPS GROWING

It seems increasingly clear that Missouri prosecutor Robert McCulloch should be investigated by the Office of Missouri Chief Disciplinary Council (OFCDC) for the strange and irregular manner in which he conducted himself in the Darin Wilson case in which the White police officer fired twelve bullets at the surrendering Michael Brown. The OFCDC is an agency of the Missouri Supreme Court and is responsible for investigating allegations of misconduct by lawyers prosecuting cases, “where a lawyer’s misconduct poses a threat to the public OR TO THE INTEGRITY OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION (emphasis added)….” Its role is similar to the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers. Chapter 5 of the enabling Missouri law states: “When lawyers enter the practice of law in Missouri, they obligate themselves to uphold the law and to abide by the Rules of Professional Conduct governing members of The Missouri Bar. The purpose of attorney discipline is to protect the public and the administration of justice from attorneys who have not discharged their professional duties to clients, the public, the legal system, and the legal profession.” At best, McCulloch should be investigated for not recusing himself from the case because of the appearance of bias and, at worst, he should be investigated for actual bias as reflected in the irregular manner in which he guided the grand jury to the conclusion that he wanted that may or may not have been merited by the facts. It will be interesting to hear what the juror who is suing to speak has to say about what happened in the grand jury room. One thing we already know from her filing is that McCulloch lied when he said the refusal to indict Officer Wilson had the unanimous support of grand jury members. The public needs to know what else he is hiding behind the Missouri law that holds grand jurors to silence except for under certain exceptional circumstances?

 

GET OVER IT!

The movie, “Selma,” is admirable for its historical accuracy. But it is a movie and not a documentary. And it is a rare movie that doesn’t take poetic license. Selma is far more accurate than most of its type. So media folks who are whining that Lyndon Johnson got short shrift because he was portrayed as resisting Martin Luther King’s requests for government support, should be happy Johnson got the attention he did along with a big share of the final credit for passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voter Rights Act. Poetic license has been the mainstay of historical movies since movies were invented. Like the movies that omit George Washington’s slave holdings or Lincoln’s racism or Kennedy’s wishes that the Civil Rights movement would just go away or, for that matter, his philandering. And what about all the movies, past and present, that minimize the role of Black folks in America’s wars and make most cavalry who settled the West white, while minimizing the substantial role of the Black Buffalo soldiers? And those movies that omitted, and continue to omit, the role of the Black cowboy and Black contributions to all manner of American life, including the sciences, education, architecture, medicine and much more, and the false portrayal in movies of the substantial role of the New England states (Massachusetts included) in the slave trade long after slavery was banned in New England. Most historical movies about slavery portray it as a White southern phenomenon and “whitewash” the role of northerners and the prominent northeastern universities that were born out of their profits. So it is ludicrous for White media folks to express dismay at the fact that the movie “Selma” portrayed Martin Luther King as the primary hero instead of former president Lyndon Johnson. Of course King had help. And so didn’t George Washington, who didn’t come close to doing as much as he is credited for. But he did enough to deserve to be in the front seat of history. The same with Thomas Jefferson who wasn’t even in the country when the Revolutionary War was fought and when the Constitution was written. And he had very little hands-on role in the constitution’s production and in the lengthy debate that Madison and Hamilton deserve so much credit for even though both take a back seat in history to Jefferson. That’s how we do things in America. So when I see journalists like Ban K. Thomasson bemoaning the fact of the prominent role in history that the movie, “Selma,” affords such a great American martyr as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I laugh and feel no pain for him and his ilk. “Those who lived and worked in journalism through the turbulent ‘60s know full well that King couldn’t have done it alone and his most important partner in seeking fairness for his beleaguered race was Johnson…,” Thomasson opined. Well, “boo, hoo, hoo,” Thomasson. Martin Luther King earned his front seat in history and that’s the way it is. And by the way, your comment that “The director of this film, an African-American woman, should have taken all this into consideration” misses her point because she obviously did…and to the great pleasure of those of us who are familiar with American history and film.

 

LESSER IS MORE 

He said he was going to be an impact player if we elected him to the State Senate and less than two weeks after being sworn in as state Senator, Eric P. Lesser has filed four bills aimed at improving quality of life and stimulating economic growth in western Massachusetts. The first bill, “An Act to study the feasibility of high-speed rail access between Springfield and Boston,” requires the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to conduct a study on the feasibility of high-speed rail access between the city of Springfield and the city of Boston. The second bill, “An Act to promote high-tech job growth in Gateway Cities,” creates a tax credit for investments in high-tech businesses located in Gateway Cities, including Springfield and Chicopee. The third bill, “An Act preventing prescription drug abuse by closing the pharmacy shopping loophole,” calls for pharmacies to report any schedule II through V substances distributed as a prescription within 24 hours, as part of the Massachusetts Prescription Monitoring Program. The fourth bill, “An Act to improve the accessibility and affordability of naloxone and other pharmaceutical drugs of public health concern,” creates a special commission to examine the possibility of establishing a system for the bulk purchasing and distribution of naloxone (sold under the name Narcan), an anti-overdose medication widely used in heroin overdose situations, as well as other pharmaceutical products with a significant public health benefit and the potential for significant health care cost savings if purchased in bulk. And to top his spectacular initiation off, Lesser also was appointed to Chair of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development and he will serve as the Vice Chair of the Joint Committee on Financial Services, which considers matters concerning banks, financial institutions, credit unions, insurance companies, and small loans and as a member of the Joint Committee on Transportation, where he will continue his ongoing efforts to establish high-speed rail service between Springfield and Boston. And it doesn’t end there. Lesser was also appointed to several other influential committees, including the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, where he will work to grow the high-tech manufacturing sector; the Joint Committee on Public Health, where he will focus on combating the opiate epidemic; the Committee on Revenue, where he will help with matters related to federal financial assistance and other matters related to the Commonwealth’s tax-generated revenue; the Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs; and the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs, where he will help support senior centers and nursing facilities. Senator Eric Lesser is going to be a busy man on Beacon Hill and that’s a good thing for western Massachusetts. ■

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