Election 2016 – Hard Choices

Let’s be adult – it’s not about marbles

By Mildred Robertson

I am a Hillary supporter. I believe, that with all her knots and bruises, she is the best person in the field to follow the path President Obama has so appropriately charted for America. Hillary believes what I believe. It is not something that I have to turn to the media pundits to figure out.

She believes in universal health care.  I know that, because I heard her voice call for it, first, long and loud, back when her husband first took office.  Her record will show that she has an understanding of the impact of things like child care, pay equality and paid leave on not just the women of our nation, but our entire economy.

She believes a woman should have sovereignty over her own body, and that every human being in this country should be treated with respect.  She knows the Black community often doesn’t get a fair shake when it comes to the legal system, employment, education, and a myriad of other factors that help to continue and widen the economic gap between people of color and the rest of America and she wants to do something about it. She knows that Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid are not charity, but an essential part of what makes us a civilized nation and provides an essential safety net for countless Americans who otherwise would languish in utter poverty.

She knows what it takes to lead. She has done it in the chambers of Congress and in the board rooms of countless heads of state world-wide. Whether it is foreign policy, health-care,  the support of historically black colleges and universities, voting rights, or sensible gun laws, Hillary and I agree on many things.

She is Hillary, not Bill. She did not sleep with Monica Lewinsky.

She is Hillary, not Bill, she did not institute the current prison system. 

Does she always tell the truth?  I don’t know.  Do you?  Does she get paid well for what she does? Certainly! Isn’t that your goal in life as well?

I do know that if the media dug around in my past as they have hers, they would probably come up with a thing or two that would make me look somewhat unattractive. I do not always make the right choice. Sometimes, over a 30-year span, I get new information or a new perspective, and sometimes I simply change my mind. How about you?

I want to vote for Hillary in November. That doesn’t mean that I think she is perfect, but I believe she is the best prepared and positioned candidate to be the 2016 standard bearer for Americans who want to move this country forward.

However, if Hillary does not win the Democratic nomination…if Bernie Sanders comes out victorious in July and successfully captures the nomination, I will NOT take my marbles and go home.  I will gladly walk into the voting booth on November 8 and cast my vote for Bernie Sanders.

I understand that Sanders speaks to many Progressives in a way he does not speak to me. I understand the fervor. After all, I was a die-hard Obama fan when folks were saying “Obama who?” I know what it means to see something in a candidate that no one else sees, and to passionately believe that the person can make a difference. So I get it.

What I don’t get, is the decision by many Sanders supporters to vote for Sanders or no one. When you look at it up close, you could change all the “she believes” in my previous statements, and write “he believes” and there would be very little daylight between the two.

The opposition is another story entirely. Any Republican candidate put forth thus far spells disaster for this country and every part of the Progressive agenda. For any Progressive supporter to opt out of this election because his or her preferred candidate fails to gain the Party nomination is immature, short-sighted and dangerous. 

Remain in play.  

Defeat the REAL enemy. 

That enemy’s name is neither Bernie nor Hillary.

Donald Trump…Bullying his Way to the White House

By Mildred Robertson

This election season has been nothing, if not entertaining, as we watch Donald Trump bully his way to the White House. It is disturbing to think that such a flawed character could claw his way to the top of the Republican heap, and even more disturbing that the media and, apparently, millions of Americans have allowed him to do so.  His cheap theatrics have made him a media darling and the late night show’s punch line.

That is all well and good if we are talking about the fall television line up.  But folks, we are talking about a clearly troubled personality’s possible ascendance to the highest office in the world. To place the delicate negotiations of U.S. foreign policy, the sensitive issues of personal freedom vs. social good, or the pressing issues of economic stability in the hands of a megalomaniac is unthinkable.

It appears, however, that it is something that every American must think about. Because in November of 2016 a man who has no respect for women, minorities, the poor, and effectually, anyone who is not him, may well take the reins of this great nation and have the opportunity to drive us into the ground.

When we examine this situation, several questions immediately come to mind: How did we get here?  Who is at fault? What can be done about it? And if he wins; “What next.”

Let’s first play the blame game. Clearly, Donald Trump is a creation of the media. It is my belief that he started this journey as a publicity stunt; his goal, to raise his visibility and embellish his brand. But once he began the process and garnered millions in free publicity and an equal number of dissatisfied voters (idiots) who were willing to support him, I believe Trump realized that the presidency might possibly be within his reach. Once having reached that conclusion, he began to make more and more outrageous statements, filling the 24-hour news cycle with Trumpisms. His followers also fed the media machine by being thugs and beating up any who dared to protest Trump’s racist, sexist rants.

Under the guise of journalism, the media hung on his every word, noting that now Trump was the legitimate front-runner in the Republican Primary. Even though the media now timidly accepts its role in Trump’s ascendancy, there is little it can do. The genii always refuses to go back in the bottle.

Well, now that we know how we got here, and who to blame, what can we do to stop Trump’s rise to power. First, Americans are going to have to stop acting like spoiled children who must have their way despite the consequences, and take a good, serious look at our country. Between the gloom and doom the Republicans have been preaching since America elected a black president and the media’s proclivity to only tell the bad news, Americans have come to believe that we are in dire circumstances and about to teeter over the brink of disaster.

The facts simply don’t bear that out.

Under this administration businesses have added 13.7 million new jobs, unemployment has fallen to 5%, and 17.6 million Americans have gained health insurance…all accomplished with a congress that fought these policies tooth and nail[i]. And that’s just a short list of accomplishments.

That is not to say that there are not critical issues that still need to be addressed. But all-in-all, America is on a much more solid footing than when Obama took office 8 years ago.

So be dissatisfied if you must, but also be realistic about the basis of your dissatisfaction. The unease felt by millions of Americans has much more to do with race than it has to do with social, economic and political progress. And that is what Trump is tapping into.

So I challenge Trump supporters to be honest. Are your racist roots so deep that you would allow them to strangle common sense and hand over the White House to a power-crazed despot such as Trump?

As Americans we must stop the name calling, the racist and sexist epithets and concentrate on what it really means to make (keep) America great.  Although the Founding Fathers were also flawed human beings who apparently did not clearly understand the words they penned… “All men (people) are created equal.” We each do have inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Our country was founded upon the belief that people with differing opinions…lifestyles…life choices…religious beliefs could live together under the rule of law; each maintaining the purity of his or her personhood while supporting our nationhood.

I believe that to be a fact. I implore each American citizen who walks into that ballot box in November to lay aside petty differences and concentrate on what will truly make America strong.  Failure to do so will result in unrest, anarchy, and possibly the demise of our nation as we know it.  This November can mark a beginning, but regrettably, it may also mark the end.

A post Donald Trump America is not one I wish to envision, much less experience.

 

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[i] www.cbsnews.com/news/obamas-top-10-accomplishments

American Dream Hijacked by Hatred

By Mildred Robertson

I am undone by the times in which we live.

The other day as I lay on a massage table the Masseuse said the muscles in my back were extraordinarily tight, and asked me what the source of my stress was.  I chuckled to myself as I thought about my life and the times we live in.

I thought about my inbox full of political campaign propaganda, all asserting that their respective candidate is the answer to my prayers.  None of them are.

I thought about the nightly news and the ridiculous Republican campaign that is so absurd it would be practically laughable, were it not so frightening.

I thought about a Facebook post that compared the vitriolic Hitler with Republic front-runner Donald Trump. I shuddered at the comparison because it rang true. It occurred to me that this man, like Hitler may rise to power, fueled by blind hatred and misdirected anger; a hatred and anger that will surely result in the downfall of our nation if it is allowed to run rampant.

I am undone by the times in which we live.

It appears to me that the entire nation is red-faced and belligerent, just like Donald Trump. That is why he has been able to gain traction, because so many look in his face and see themselves…even though the majority of Americans are nothing like Trump…except for the hate.

America hated the Indians. Their sin…they stood between the European immigrants and the land that they wanted to claim as their own.

America hated the African. Why… to justify the injustice done to that mighty race by snatching its future from its shores, raping its women, emasculating its men, destroying its family structure, obliterating its culture, denying its humanity and building an empire upon the back of its labor.

America hated the Hispanics.  Why…because they came and worked jobs Americans would not, took pay that Americans refused, and then had the audacity to attempt to reap the benefits of their labor by becoming a part of the American society.

I am dismayed that a performance by Beyonce elicits a nationwide backlash, but what appears to be the lifeless body of Sandra Bland hanging in a jail cell is not cause for alarm.

Our nation has been hijacked, not by Blacks, or Hispanics or any other minority, but by a group of unthinking, racist, self-centered and miserable human beings who believe that the bounty this land has to offer is not enough to go around. We are being held hostage by a small group of powerful men who are manipulating the mindless masses to destroy opportunity for all except for the few of them. And the masses do not even know that they will be left standing outside the gate with the Blacks, the Hispanics, the Asians and all others not born to privilege and wealth. You cannot reason with a man who has no reason.

And so, I am stressed. I do not see an answer. I am undone by the times in which we live.

Super Bowl Excesses

Super Bowl Excesses Demonstrates Nation's Misaligned Priorities

By Mildred Robertson

Before I start my rant about Super Bowl excesses, let me give full disclosure. I am not an avid sports fan. My brother was a jock, and my father was an enthusiast, and, back in the day, there was only one TV in the house…you get my drift. Sports all day, every day.

So it is not unusual that, when given access to four televisions in my home, not one is tuned to an athletic channel. So much for the entertainment desert that was my youth.

Even if I had not been sports traumatized as a youth, I nevertheless would be appalled at the Super Bowl fervor that engulfs our nation every year. At first it was just the advertising budget.

I get that Super Bowl exposure can launch a company into the stratosphere, but millions being spent on 60 second spots, no matter how dramatic or star-studded, just seems ridiculous to me.  Call me crazy, but Beyonce’s butt, or Bieber’s chest don’t’ figure into my decision to buy one product or another.

Then there is the price of the tickets. That someone would pay upwards of $5000 to $10,000 for a weekend of entertainment is patently ludicrous. Particularly in light of some of the social challenges our world faces.

If everyone caught up in this Super Bowl fervor were to expend just $1 in a collective fund, how many hungry children could we feed or clothed; how many homeless might we house; how many underprivileged kids could we send to college? How many Flint Michigan residents could we give water filtration systems?  I am a humanities major…someone do the math.

I am not knocking football, sports or entertainment. I just think we have our priorities mixed up when we choose to expend so much of our resources on so frivolous a pursuit when there are so many pressing social and domestic challenges that go sorely underfunded.

Watch the Super Bowl. Enjoy the half-time activities. Wear your favorite team colors. Eat, drink and be merry. There is nothing wrong with that.

My question is this…can you bring that same kind of passion to everyday situations that require our attention?  Can you justify funding infrastructure or healthcare, or college tuition like you justify paying $5000 for one Super Bowl seat?

Just know that, where we lay our treasure…that is where our heart lies.

Slaying of African Americans by Police Require Federal Response

By Mildred Robertson

Eric Garner, Mike Brown, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland , and the list goes on and on and on.... So many lives snuffed out for no reason.

And no one is accountable.

The police officer who murdered Eric Garner used an “illegal” choke hold. That’s a violation of police policy, but not a prosecutable offense. The fact that Eric kept repeating, “I can’t breathe…I can’t breathe,” seems to be irrelevant. Clearly, the intent of the choke hold is to restrict the airway. And the fact that paramedics and police officers alike stood and watched this unarmed citizen suffer and eventually die, convicted of nothing and guilty of at most, being big, black and selling loose cigarettes,  does not appear to give authorities or many in the main-stream public pause.

Mike Brown was an obvious threat. Again, big and black, he had just robbed a corner store…right? The police officer was so in fear for his life that he shot a fleeing Brown in the middle of the street, leaving his body lying there for hours. It was almost like the days when they would leave black people strung up on a tree so that all could see what happens to bad Ni_ _ as.

The cop who shot Tamir Rice was probably given bad information, and assumed he was in danger. So it was okay for him to shoot the young boy playing with a toy gun. I mean, how was the officer to know Tamir wasn’t a grown man with a loaded weapon? And of course, it would be too much to ask that he take a moment to investigate the situation to determine the threat. I mean after all, Tamir was black, and he was male…obviously a potential threat.  And this officer had only about 2 seconds to determine whether Tamir was a boy or a man; whether it was a gun or a toy. In those 2 seconds, he snuffed out a young life, and society does not appear to believe he should be held accountable.

And then there is Sandra...Angry Black woman that she was. On her way to a new chapter in her life, her journey was interrupted by a traffic stop that went horribly wrong when Texas State Trooper Brian Encina pulled her over for failure to signal. Bland, who was initially accused of only a traffic violation, was later forcefully removed from her vehicle, threatened with a Taser, and manhandled because she refused to put out her cigarette. She was then arrested for battery on a police officer, and inexplicably died several days later in police custody. Suicide, they said. Sad, they say, but no one is responsible other than Sandra herself.

All these “Oops” moments have received a pass from those supposedly set in place to protect the public from abuse of authority. Grand juries have refused to hold any of the officers in these and numerous other murderous situations responsible; that is, even when a grand jury is convened.

The grand jury system, clearly flawed, seems to give undue weight to the perspective of the officer. The fact that you were murdered by a police officer makes you no less dead. And your right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is not diminished because it is a duly sworn officer who chooses to deprive you of these God-given rights codified in our Constitution. They must be held accountable.

The fact that a black life can be snuffed out for little or no reason, and this action can be deemed unfortunate, but “reasonable,” by institutions supposedly designed to protect citizens from corrupt governance is overwhelmingly disheartening. And the fact that there is no cohesive, organized government response to these actionable assaults on American citizens is blatantly outrageous.

Just as the Civil Rights Movement required a federal response to local assaults on its citizens, so does this current assault on the Black community by authorities sworn to protect and serve them. It is clear that many police departments and local municipalities have a symbiotic relationship that makes it difficult, if not impossible to bring to justice those officers too corrupt, biased or untrained to serve communities of color with fairness and objectivity. It is imperative that outside forces bring pressure to bear on these entities so that a general expectation of justice and fairness in the review and prosecution of police misconduct and/or criminal acts can be attained.  

Until such action is taken, people will continue to gather in the streets. Social media will continue to churn with accounts of injustice and inequality, and social unrest will continue to grow. Without a unified government response we will continue to be a divided nation catapulting toward anarchy.

That is a place where no one really is accountable.

Harvard Professor Promotes “Willie Lynch” Theory as Basis for Growth of Terrorist Organizations

By Mildred Robertson

In an essay published on LinkedIn on November 14, 2015, Harvard Professor Cass Sunstein wrote an essay titled, “Why They Hate Us.” Sunstein posits that terrorists are made, not born…and on that one point we agree. However, Sunstein goes on to say that terrorist organizations are born of the proclivity of like-minded people to come together in such groups. He believes that the group-think that occurs in these types of organizations pushes members toward a more radical and violent posture.

At first blush, his thoughts appear to be logical. But if we choose to dig a little deeper, we find that Sunstein has it backward. The fact is that acts of intolerance, prejudice, hatred, bigotry, cruelty, criminality, social and economic injustice, and other societal offenses endured by members of the group crystalize to a point that it appears the only solution is revolution. By sharing their individual struggles with societal ills, these individuals develop a collective resolve to make a change, even if that change requires violence or self-sacrifice.

This sense is heightened when those in power trivialize their complaints, protect and make excuses for perpetrators of acts perceived as offensive or unlawful by the group, refuse to provide due process to members of the group, and when the group itself is denigrated, ostracized, pursued and criminalized.

It is primarily the Willie Lynch theory, whereby open communication among oppressed people is prohibited to reduce the possibility of rebellion. In the not-to-distant past, it was illegal for groups of blacks to gather. The slave master knew that it was easier to manage slaves individually than collectively.

Right now on our own shores, “Black Lives Matter” is being treated thusly. Many in the media are demonizing the group and blaming them for social unrest in cities across the country. It would appear, from media coverage, that problems in our inner cities between Blacks and police are a result of folks in BLM stirring people up.

The fact of the matter is BLM is stirring the pot, but the ingredients are provided by a society that does not value Black Americans and other people of color.  It is automatically assumed that if a police officer pulled his or her gun, it was justified…that if an officer takes a shot, it is because he or she has no choice, if an officer tases a suspect, it was because he or she was in danger…and this, in the face of eyewitness accounts and video that testify otherwise.  It is assumed that, if a suspect has a criminal past, he or she is guilty of whatever the accusation, or that they somehow deserved whatever they got, even if the trespass for which they are gunned down turns out to be without merit.

It is this discrediting of worth, this indifference to humanity that strikes at the heart and soul of each Black person in America. How can a society support the shooting of a young boy playing in the park with a toy gun, the assassination of a man in handcuffs, or the choking of a man selling loose cigarettes on a street corner?  How can no one be accountable for such miscarriages of justice? How can the victim become the one that is demonized? 

As we look to the East to truly understand why they hate us, we must accept responsibility for our actions. True…terrorists are not born that way. It is our acts of indifference, prejudice, hatred and imperialism that provide fertile ground for the growth of unrest, dissatisfaction, and the desire to find someone…anyone who will listen to the horrors that have been witnessed; from the injustice that has been inflicted and the crimes that have been committed against marginalized people at home and abroad.

It is these acts that nurture hate and resentment, not the conversations of those who have been pushed to those extremes.

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Note: This essay in no way implies that terrorism is an acceptable method of creating social change. It is simply an observation that we as a society carry some responsibility in the creation of social unrest and the growth of terrorist organizations by both our action and our inaction.

Just Saying...: Dylann Roof - Troubled Youth or Domestic Terrorist...

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