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OP-ED: Enough Already

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“ A Democratic ticket is the clear ticket that we should be voting on, regardless of who said what or did this – that shouldn’t even come into the equation.” ~ First Lady Michelle Obama, TV One interview with Roland Martin

Exit polls showed that the proportion of black voters of the overall electorate for the 2014 election increased over the 2010 midterm elections. NBC News reported that black voters made up 12 percent of the 2014 electorate, compared with 11 percent in 2010 and 13 percent in 2012.

“Our community organizations and churches mobilized to encourage early voting opportunities with programs like Souls to the Polls. Black elected officials crisscrossed the country to discuss the urgency and the importance of this election. We phone banked, knocked on doors and held Get out the Vote rallies” said Congressional Black Caucus Chair Marcia Fudge.

Andthereward for this gargantuan voter drive effort is again NOTHING!

 

Why was President Obama’s press conference the day after the election silent on remedies for the black community? Again there was silence on education; crime; unemployment and the overall diminished opportunities for blacks in America.

Jennifer Oliver O’Connell stated, “the president has made sweeping executive orders to benefit gays, Hispanics and women, but beyond speechifying has done little for blacks.”

President Obama’s threat of unilateral executive action involves illegal immigration. Where are the solutions and problem solving ideas for black America?

Where is the Dream Act for black children, the highest demographic of the unemployed? The affects of illegal immigration has been cataclysmic to the black community.

Carol Swain, professor of law at Vanderbilt University and author of Debating Immigration states, “Illegal immigration hurts low-skilled, low-wage workers of all races, but blacks are harmed the most because they’re disproportionately low-skilled.”

Labor economists have concluded that undocumented workers have lowered the wages of U.S. adults without a high school diploma – 25 million of them — anywhere between .04 to 7.4 percent. A National Bureau of Economic Research paper found that immigration accounted for about a third of the decline in the employment rate of the least educated black men over the past decade.

 

The evidence of the damages of illegal immigration on the black community is beyond debate as I searched for a singular report to support the contrary and found none. At a time when the most fragile and hurting demographic in America is the black community, how can this president remain silent and refuse to help or offer remedy but would instead offer further injury to the black community. Shameful!

 

I strongly disagree with Michelle Obama, the things said and done should always enter into the equation when we consider how we are to cast our vote. The black community must refuse to continue to be the cheap date for the Democratic Party.

Let this be the last election that black Americans have given their vote away, let us join with the rest of Americans and make all politicians and all Parties EARN the black vote – what a concept.

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Oakland Post: Week of December 11 – 17, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of December 11 – 17, 2024

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Oakland Post: Week of December 4 – 10, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of December 4 – 10, 2024, 2024

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COMMENTARY: PEN Oakland Entices: When the News is Bad, Try Poetry

Strongman politics is not for the weak. Here in the U.S., Donald Trump is testing how strongman politics could work in the world’s model democracy.

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By Emil Guillermo

As the world falls apart, you need more poetry in your life.

I was convinced on Tuesday when a weak and unpopular president of South Korea — a free nation U.S. ally — tried to save himself by declaring martial law.

Was it a stunt? Maybe. But indicative of the South Korean president’s weakness, almost immediately, the parliament there voted down his declaration.

The takeaway: in politics, nothing quite works like it used to.

Strongman politics is not for the weak. Here in the U.S., Donald Trump is testing how strongman politics could work in the world’s model democracy.

Right now, we need more than a prayer.

NEWS ANTIDOTE? LITERATURE

As we prepare for another Trump administration, my advice: Take a deep breath, and read more poetry, essays and novels.

From “Poetry, Essays and Novels,” the acronym PEN is derived.

Which ones to read?

Register (tickets are limited) to join Tennessee Reed and myself as we host PEN OAKLAND’s award ceremony this Saturday on Zoom, in association with the Oakland Public Library.

Find out about what’s worth a read from local artists and writers like Cheryl Fabio, Jack Foley, Maw Shein Win, and Lucille Lang Day.

Hear from award winning writers like Henry Threadgill, Brent Hayes Edwards and Airea D. Matthews.

PEN Oakland is the local branch of the national PEN. Co-founded by the renowned Oakland writer, playwright, poet and novelist Ishmael Reed, Oakland PEN is special because it is a leader in fighting to include multicultural voices.

Reed is still writing. So is his wife Carla Blank, whose title essay in the new book, “A  Jew in  Ramallah, And Other Essays, (Baraka Books), provides an artist’s perspective on the conflict in Gaza.

Of all Reed’s work, it’s his poetry that I’ve found the most musical and inspiring.

It’s made me start writing and enjoying poetry more intentionally. This year, I was named poet laureate of my small San Joaquin rural town.

Now as a member of Oakland PEN, I can say, yes, I have written poetry and essays, but not a novel. One man shows I’ve written, so I have my own sub-group. My acronym: Oakland PEOMS.

Reed’s most recent book of poetry, “Why the Black Hole Sings the Blues, Poems 2007-2020” is one of my favorites. One poem especially captures the emerging xenophobia of the day. I offer you the first stanza of “The Banishment.”

We don’t want you here
Your crops grow better than ours
We don’t want you here
You’re not one of our kind
We’ll drive you out
As thou you were never here
Your names, family, and history
We’ll make them all disappear.

There’s more. But that stanza captures the anxiety many of us feel from the threat of mass deportations. The poem was written more than four years ago during the first Trump administration.

We’ve lived through all this before. And survived.

The news sometimes lulls us into acquiescence, but poetry strikes at the heart and forces us to see and feel more clearly.

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. Join him at www.patreon.com/emilamok

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