The Racial Inequity of Standing in Line!

Customers line up to buy new iPhones and other gadgets in Chicago on 9/21/2018
Image courtesy marketwatch.com

My friend Marquis sent me a couple of articles that addressed the furor that has developed over Popeye’s new chicken sandwich and people standing in line to get one.  Full disclosure:  I too have stood in line attempting to get the sandwich, but have left because it just wasn’t worth the wait to me. 

I am generally against the shaming of anyone, but was glad to see that the internet took Janelle Monae (and others) to task for asking whether the black people standing in lines at Popeye’s would be standing in similar lines at polling booths during elections.

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Ladies – Help Me Out. Why Are You Marching?

Image courtesy Women’s March on Washington official Eventbrite page

I haven’t blogged in ages, and I feel as though this particular blog could make me lose my women’s card (lol).  I need someone to explain to me the purpose of Saturday’s Women’s March on Washington.

 

I just visited the March’s Eventbrite page, looking for a plan; I was disappointed.  There is no set of steps to be taken AFTER the march.  So we march.  Then what?

I am probably being a little cynical (ok, maybe a lot), but I feel as though “marching” has become the latest “in” thing.  Don’t get me wrong.  Marching is great.  It brings attention to the cause.

But we can’t just march.

Change required sitting in at lunch counters.  It required moving from the back of the bus to the front.  It required desegregation of white schools.  It required doing something.

Are we going to elect more women to Congress?  (You do know that only 20% of our congress is made up of women, right?  Perhaps if there were more women in power, they might pass more laws that benefit women?)

Are we going to watch Jeff Sessions like a hawk to ensure the Justice Department protects women and minorities in our country?  Are we going to call our elected officials and let them know what it is we want them to do?

Are we going to teach our girls to love themselves and to stop the stupid competitiveness we women always seem to have amongst ourselves?

Or are we just going to march?

Logic & Reason: 1; Hashtags: 0

Source: Gustavo Frazao | dreamstime.com

After Tamir Rice was killed in Ohio, social media exploded with anger about the killing, as it explodes after every police shooting. In response, Governor John Kasich created committees to research police/community relations.  This led to the creation of new “use of excessive force” standards for the state of Ohio.  Fantastic, right? Not so much.

Here’s What I’m Gonna Do About Cops Killing Black People

I hope we have vented and cried about how upset we are about the recent shootings in Baton Rouge and Minnesota, and we’re now ready to DO something about it. Hashtags are not us doing something.

I heard Eric Garner’s mother make a powerful statement the day after the shooting:

“This [shooting of citizens by the police] is not a hashtag to me. This is my life. I will never see my son again.”

(I liberally paraphrased her, but you can find the actual quote if you Google it).

We can’t just hashtag our lives away. We have to DO something! So here’s what I do and will do.

Mr. Baker – Don’t Let the Cops Kill My Sons

source:  www.rushernbaker.com

July 8, 2016

Rushern Baker
County Executive, Prince George’s County
14741 Governor Oden Bowie Drive
Upper Marlboro, MD 20772

Dear Mr. Baker,

My name is Melissa Andrews. I live in the Perrywood community in Upper Marlboro. I have two sons, ages 8 and 5. The recent shooting of Alton Sterling has prompted me to write you.

My family has no plans to move from Prince George’s County. That means that my sons will grow up here. They will learn to drive here. Their first encounter with the police will most likely be in this county – a county that is still trying to overcome a reputation that includes a brutal police force. I have to tell you that I am terrified that my sons could be shot and killed during a stop with the police.

Extracurricular Activities

Today, I started the boys back in extracurricular activities. We’ve had them in various activities off and on, but I decided that I was not being a focused mom and needed to get my act together. Lol.  So Joshua went to swimming this evening and Jalen was supposed to start martial arts – however when he heard that Joshua was going swimming, he all of a sudden wanted to swim! I haven’t yet decided how I’m going to solve that. I really think the martial arts will help him to start concentrating more, but if he really wants to swim, why should I not let him do that? I’m not going to introduce two new activities yet though until I see how he handles having this new one added to his schedule. So we will decide tomorrow.

Both boys did swimming early. We went to “Mommy & Me” swim classes at Kids First Swim School. However, both boys “dropped out” of swimming school before their second birthday! :-(.

Time for a change?

from laapush.org

Though I normally avoid news, a story on CNN today caught my attention. Tomorrow (Wednesday), the Supreme Court will hear arguments about the constitutional validity of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. At first listen, I thought they were saying the Court was going to hear arguments about the validity of the *entire* Act. Just before I went into panic mode, I decided to Google it and see what was going on.

NPR had a good article on the issue, as did the Christian Science Monitor. In my mind, it boils down to a states’ rights issue. Section 5 requires some state and local governments (states which historically were ‘difficult’ about allowing blacks to vote) to obtain federal permission before making changes to local voting procedures.

Voting is still a sticky subject in this country. We have seen that legislations will re-district across political boundaries. Section 5, from my understanding, places no extra burden on the states, and, they can, if they want, remove themselves from the “list” by following certain procedures. Removing Section 5 makes it difficult to challenge irregularities (though they can still be challenged, with more burden on the plaintiff however, under Section 2 of the Act). I hope the SCOTUS decides to leave Section 5 in place. If it needs modification to help make it more “current”, let’s do that. I think we would be naive though, if we think that everyone will adhere to the rules, if the rules aren’t explicitly stated.

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