America on the Brink: A Congress in Crisis

By Mildred Robertson

Our government is comprised of three distinct co-equal branches of government intended to bring balance to our nation’s governance.  It is sometimes referred to as a “Three Legged Stool”. It is necessary for each branch to carry out its function to maintain a stable government. The unorthodox presidency of Donald J. Trump appears to threaten that stability; and the “stool,” which represents our government, is in danger of toppling.  We have arrived at this juncture, due in large part to the failure of Congress to carry out its duty to perform oversight and represent the people who elected them.

As envisioned by our Founders, Congress is called upon to “share” power with the president and Supreme Court. But the Trump presidency has challenged this convention by power grabs that have gone unchallenged by the Republican-led Congress.  To date, only the courts have challenged the immoral, unlawful and/or unconstitutional acts of the Trump presidency. The impotency of the 115^th United States Congress has placed this nation on the brink of a Constitutional crisis.

After two years under this administration we have seen unprecedented attacks on the values, mores and legal precedents that have made America a unique world leader. As the 45^th president attempts to unilaterally govern, we find ourselves plummeting toward an autocracy that devalues women, discriminates against minorities, is oblivious to sound fiduciary policy, and promotes factless policy. Under Trump’s soulless leadership, the worst tendencies of the most depraved of our society have been amplified.  

As the nation whirls in a downward spiral, those who could regulate this run-away presidency stand silent and complicit. U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan was all but invisible throughout his tenure as Speaker of the House; allowing House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes to corrupt the investigations of wrong-doings by the Trump administration while passing a deficit-busting tax cut for the rich.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has blocked all efforts to legislatively circumvent Trump’s overreach regarding presidential powers. He stands silently now as the president holds the nation hostage over an ill-conceived wall that is both useless and costly. Thousands of Americans are in danger of losing everything in the wake of a government shutdown devised to save face for the president’s failure to deliver on a campaign promise.  Still, McConnell stands silent.

The president has threatened to invoke emergency powers for no reason other than to get his way.   With two legs of the proverbial stool severely compromised, its ability to stand is in question.

We are in crisis, but it is a crisis that can be averted. Now that Nancy Pelosi has replaced Ryan as Speaker of the House, there is hope that Congress may once again begin to exert some power over this run-away presidency. But she cannot do it alone…the Democrats in the House cannot do it alone.

The Republicans in the Senate must rise above party and tend to the needs of the country. They will either step up or watch this nation devolve. They must embrace their oversight role and block this president’s attempts at authoritarianism. They will have to do it without any assistance from McConnell.

 It is my prayer that the vow Congressional Republicans made to the Constitution and the American people will override their loyalty to the Republican Party. Otherwise, this president will continue to destroy our nation, and we will plunge headlong over the brink.

Death at the Border: America's Nightmare

By Mildred Robertson

The Trump administration’s wanton disregard for human life is evidenced by the death of two young children taken into custody at the border; sacrificed on the altar of border security. I am fairly certain that these losses do not weigh heavily on the conscience of Donald Trump; but I wonder does Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, or other Trump administration officials who have implemented these dastardly immigration processes and procedures have night visitations by these young innocents. I wonder are they haunted by the faces of these children whose only crime was to be born to parents fleeing oppression and persecution.

America was founded on the premise that we are a nation of immigrants, welcoming all who dream of liberty and prosperity and are willing to work for it. That is what these migrants represent. They, like our founders, are fleeing oppression and will face whatever peril awaits them for the opportunity to breathe free.

The Trump administration has stifled their attempts to find a better life with immoral policies and procedures that put lives at risk and corrupt our national legacy of equal justice and compassion for the poor and disenfranchised. Rather we have become the epitome of the “Ugly Americans,” who show disdain for the rest of the world; hoarding their wealth and shutting themselves off from everyone else.

How immoral is it to dump water in the desert to deny migrants a life-saving drink?  How depraved is it to jail children in freezing cages while denying them the comfort of a mother’s or father’s embrace. How morally bankrupt is it to deny a sick child food, water and basic medical attention? How pitiful is it to let children die in your care simply because they are poor and brown…and then say that it is their fault for daring to make the journey?

We often paint America with vibrant colors, leaving out all the darkness that is our heritage. But in order to see the real vision of who we are, we must include the darkness that is the “Trial of Tears,” the belly of the slave ship, the strips laid by the master’s overseer, the redlining of our neighborhoods, the inequitable justice system and the belief that somehow, white people are more entitled to the liberties offered by our constitution. Despite the incongruity of the lives they led and the words they spoke, the Founders said “All men are created equal.” It is a legacy that we declare we live by.

But that legacy is once again being tainted by the darkness of our weaker, meaner, more selfish selves. No child should be put at peril while in our care. No mother should experience the terror of having her child ripped from her arms with no assurance that she will ever see him or her again. No person that attempts the lawful act of immigrating to this country should be criminalized, victimized, and left for dead.

I do not know how Kirstjen Nielsen sleeps at night. I know that I do not sleep well. I know that I fall asleep at night, and wake in the morning wondering how we can redeem the soul of this nation.  We are trapped in a national nightmare. When we will awaken?

NC NAACP Urges Governor to Veto Voter ID Legislation

By Mildred Robertson

The North Carolina NAACP Conference has called on North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper to veto lame duck legislation recently pushed through by the GOP. The organization says it believes Senate Bill 824, “Implementation of Voter ID Constitutional Amendment,” will negatively impact minority voters in the state. 

The NAACP has drafted a letter, dated December 12, 2018, that outlines in great detail why the legislation is bad for the citizens of North Carolina. The letter further details that the  U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has already struck down North Carolina General Assembly’s previous attempt to enact a photo voter ID requirement in the 2013 omnibus voter restriction and photo voter ID law. The Court found that the voter ID legislation targets African-Americans "with almost surgical precision.” It further found that the legislation was “enacted with racially discriminatory intent,” and that it imposed cures for problems that did not exist.

Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman, president of the North Carolina NAACP Conference, states that there is no new justification for the implementation of this law and that it provides no additional safeguards for the voting process in the state. This legislation, he says, is simply evidence of the General Assembly’s “improper motivations.”

To read the letter in its entirety follow this link: LETTER

The Myth of Equal Justice

By Mildred Robertson

Cyntoia Brown killed a man. She will spend at least 51 years in prison if her sentence stands. It’s a familiar story…a troubled youth suffering from lack of parental support, trapped in the sex trade with no hope of escape. Brown says that she feared that the 43-year-old man that purchased her for sex would kill her. Prosecutors argued that she only wanted to rob him and chose to charge her as an adult with first degree felony murder and aggravated robbery. She got two concurrent life sentences. She was 16 years old. 

While there are many reasons why Cyntoia should not have been tried as an adult, including the fact that she was an underage victim of abuse, sex trafficking and suffered from a fetal alcohol disorder due to an alcoholic mother who abandoned her, her case is representative of the unequal balance of justice in our country.

According to a report submitted by “The Sentencing Project to the United Nations in April 2018, African Americans are more likely than white Americans to be arrested. Once arrested they are more likely to be convicted and to experience lengthy prison sentences.

It is conceivable that, had Cyntoia, been prep-school Becky from Manhattan, the courts would have viewed her differently. Her tragic life would likely have engendered sympathy and she would have been viewed as a victim rather than a predator. This is evidenced by numerous cases where the courts have shown leniency to young people who have committed crimes.

While Brown languishes in jail for killing her molester, Jacob Anderson, a former Baylor University fraternity president accused of raping a woman at a fraternity party avoided jail time as a Texas judge accepted a plea bargain that allowed 23-year-old Anderson to plead no contest to the lesser charge of unlawful restraint. By pleading no-contest Anderson did not have to admit guilt nor offer a defense.  

In a similar case, a California judge sentenced a former Stanford University swimmer to a six-month jail sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. Prosecutors had asked for six years for 20-year old Brock Turner. Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky said that Turner's age and lack of criminal history made him feel that imposing a six-month jail sentence with probation was appropriate. “A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him," Persky said.

It seems that the judicial system is comfortable looking the other way when white, middle and upper-middle class white men commit crimes, but find it difficult to find compassion for people of color who run afoul of the law. In 2016 Black youth accounted for 15% of all U.S. children yet made up 35% of juvenile arrests in that year.

The Sentencing Project found that one out of every three black boys born in 2001 could expect to go to prison in his lifetime. For Latinos it is one of every six, compared to just one out of 17 white boys in the same category. While ethnic disparities among women was found to be less substantial, they remain relevant.

The project determined that the United States has developed two distinct criminal justice systems…one for wealthy people and another for poor people and people of color. While America says that Lady Liberty is fair and balanced, minorities and the poor commonly don’t have access to the best lawyers who can defend their constitutional rights. This is evidenced by the overwhelmingly disproportionate incarceration of the poor and people of color.

Cyntoia’s case has gained attention because of several celebrities that have come to her defense. It is possible that the governor of Tennessee may pardon her. Let’s hope that happens. But that will not mitigate the myriad number of people incarcerated wrongly, or who suffer under overly harsh sentences because they are poor or black. It seems that justice is neither blind nor balanced in the United States. It appears that equal justice is a myth.

Don’t Worry – Vote

By Mildred Robertson

America is in turmoil; the kind of turmoil it has not experienced since the unrest experienced in the 60’s and 70’s. Our way of life appears to be teetering on the verge of collapse. All of the norms we have associated with good governance have been broken, and our nation is reeling. As I converse with friends and acquaintances, I have noted furrowed brows and hand-wringing as we discuss the most recent assault on democracy, social norms, women, minorities and myriad other groups that have normally looked to Washington D.C. for equal rights, safety and support. We wonder, individually and collectively, what is to become of our nation. Are we in the final throes of a devastating downfall experienced by many of the world’s most successful empires?

It is a frightening time. But we should not despair. Our Founding Fathers, despite their shortcomings and prejudices, did in fact create a process by which we can pull ourselves back from the brink. Our ability to shape this nation and the laws that govern us is both flawed and unique. Its flaws must be addressed at another time and space, but its uniqueness may very well save us.

Each individual…you, me, your next door neighbor; we have the power to impact our country’s direction. Each of us must vote. But many of us don’t.

During the 2014 Mid-Term election, only 44% of North Carolina's eligible voters turned out to vote. Less than half of our state’s electorate took the time to participate in the most important exercise of our civic life. Even in the 2016 Presidential election, less than 70% bothered to vote.

The result of this malaise among voters was not unique to North Carolina. Only 60% of the nation’s eligible voters turned out for the 2016 Presidential election. We HAVE to do better.

This year’s Mid-term election is perhaps the most important in my lifetime. Who would think that that could be said after we experienced the election of the nation’s first African American president? But it is true. The election of Barack Obama ushered in a new awareness of America’s promise. The election of Donald Trump unbound the suppressed hatefulness of our nation’s past.

We can decide whether we will return to the time when a man could be chattel, and a woman could be devalued, or we can move forward toward the promise of equality, freedom and prosperity for all who reside within our borders.

It is simple. Get up. Go to the poll. Vote!  That’s it.

That is all it takes to turn this nation around. That is all it takes for us to redirect our legislators and to reign in a presidency that may well drive us to destruction.

Are you worried?  I was; and then I voted!

Don't worry-Vote

VOTE “NO’’ ON NORTH CAROLINA CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

By Mildred Robertson

The North Carolina General Assembly is out of control. It has created voting districts meant to silence voters rather than give them a voice. They have determined that one kind of voter is more valuable than another, and they have sought to memorialize divisiveness by rewriting our state constitution to disenfranchise some North Carolina Citizens. While many progressive thinkers strive to increase the number of individuals who participate in elections, it seems that the General Assembly wishes to suppress participation by making it more difficult for some to vote. The restrictions appear to have the greatest impact on minorities and other people of color.

Among the amendments on this November’s ballot is yet another attempt to provide roadblocks to the ballot box for citizens whose right and responsibility it is to vote. The amendment tries to circumvent court opinions that struck down earlier attempts at voter suppression by placing voter ID laws in the state constitution itself. The law requires presentation of documentation that many times is unavailable or difficult to acquire for targeted groups. Therefore, under this law, many eligible citizens would be denied their right to vote.

On the other hand, statistics indicate that the voter ID laws are a solution looking for a problem. The state Board of Elections conducted an extensive, in-depth audit to see how many ineligible votes were cast in North Carolina in the 2016 election. According to an April 24, 2017 News Observer report, of the 4.8 million votes cast in North Carolina in November 2016, only one (1) vote was found that probably would have been avoided with a voter ID law. So clearly, the targeted individuals for voter ID laws are those folks who are entitled to vote, but who are not a desired constituency of those currently in the General Assembly.

The Voter ID law is only one of six Constitutional Amendments that will be on the November ballot. The other five are as equally divisive. Among them is an amendment that would change the elections board, decreasing the board from 9 to 8 which would remove the potentially tie-breaking vote. Further, it would transfer power to pick board members from the governor to the legislature. This is yet another power grab by the legislature and an attack on free and fair access to voting rights.

The main problem with the all six amendments is that the ramifications of their passage has not been well communicated to the public. The amendments are so problematic five former governors have campaigned against several of them. The bottom line is, if you don’t completely understand what impact an amendment will have, it is probably best to vote no. That is my recommendation.

It is imperative that we safeguard citizen’s access to the ballot box and that we vote to maintain the balance of power. Let’s check the General Assembly, and let them know we are paying attention. Vote “No” on, not just on the voter ID amendment…vote “No” on them all.