A quick serious moment for your reading pleasure: a number of groups are in Federal Court this week for a trial challenging portions of NCs voter ID law. Its very extensive and Im not going to cover all of it in a 2 minute typing session but I take issue with the people who say that the law requiring a voter to show ID discriminates against African Americans. I can maybe get with the argument that it is geared against college students who would like to register and vote in the city they go to school in or that it has the potential to be very very problematic for poor or uneducated people. But I have a serious problem with people making and argument with a straight face that as a whole black people arent smart enough to understand that a law has changed and it should be followed. What is it about being black that the plaintiffs believes makes me unable to follow the law? The worst part is that children hear this and get the impression that they based in nothing more than he color of their skin are unable to understand and follow the law and we as black people are allowing other black people to insult our intelligence in public under the guise of trying to be helpful. There is a statue in Illinois that was dedicated by former slaves that shows a freeman with his chains broken kneeling down in front of President Lincoln. Ive always looked at that image as saying that black people owe their freedom to their government as opposed to white Americans who owe their freedom to their creator as enshrined by the text of the Declaration of Independence. Thats the way we still act sometimes. We have to project the image that we as black Americans are on a whole equally Intelligent and capable of problem solving and critical thinking as anyone else and we have to expect more from ourselves. I believe that my children are brilliant and capable of accomplishing anything. I would hope that they dont believe it if someone says to them that they arent smart enough to understand that a law has changed and here is how they need to change their behavior to comply with it. There are some bone headed provisions of the new voting law in Nc that are clearly designed to favor republican candidates at the polls. But lets not allow ourselves to be used as victims when we have so much power. Rant over.
Posted on: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 13:26:13 +0000
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