OPINION
Chronicle ?
Ernest H. Pitt PuWisher/GvFoundcr
Elaine Pitt Business Manager
0
Michael A. Pitt Marketing
T. Kevin Walker Managing Editor
*ort* Carolina
Press Association
Both Personal
and Collective
Responsibility
Ron
Walters
Guest
Columnist
Lou Dobbs of CNN prod*
tied his panel the other night
to explain what was under
neath the awful image of cas
tration used by Rev. Jesse
Jackson, Sr.. in voicing his
frustration with Barack
Obama.
His panel completely
missed the lively underground
disappointment among some
Blacks who support Obama,
reflected in these two head
lines: "Obama Calls For More
Responsibility for Black
Fathers," reflecting his
speeches recently to large
Blaek audiences such as the
Apostolic Church in Chicago
and the AME Convention;
then another headline,
'Obama Brings Economic
Message to N. Virginia" in
which ? before a largely
White audience of 10.000 -'he
proposed legislation to ensure
equal pay for women, expand
< ed paid family and medical
leave, child-care services and
pre school programs, all paid
for by reducing the Iraq War
funding
The rhetoric of the moral
failure of Black men has
helped to nationalize an image
of their inferiority. But after
serving on a Commission on
the Black Male, I have
become sensitive to the facts
that Black families fall apart ?
or are never consummated -
most often because Black men
lack education and or money,
and therefore. Black women
do not see them as viable part
ners. Part of the pressure to
get money in the absence of
an education pushes Black
men into bad choices that
result in their disproportionate
incarceration or other condi
tions. So they are often not
available as fathers to provide
for their families.
This imtfge of the mass
irresponsibility of Black
males also gives a pass to the
difficulty for anyone to accept
responsibility for a family'
where access to the economic
resources are difficult and
they are often blocked by
racism. Research shows that
Black children arrive at most
schools three to four years
already behind White chil
dren. and their disproportion
ate poverty places them in
schools that do not have the
resources - in fact, there they
need much greater resources
than average - just to educate
them on an equal basis. The
50 percent drop-out rate man
ifests this result and so, they
become fuel for the streets.
They also become fuel for
a racist public policy that
sweeps them up by racial pro
filing, targeted neighborhood
policing and long sentences
into prison, even though 80
percent of them are there for
non-violent, petty drug
offenses. Where is the outcry
for the collective responsibili
ty of government that put
them there and therefore, is
implicated in their inability to
support their families? Where
are the bridging programs that
effectively connect them to
their families while they are
in prison?
Rep. Danny Davis of
Chicago should be applauded
,for passage of his Second
Chance Act that promises to
build a foundation for those
just leavijig prison, but my
discussion with him reveals
that it has not been funded.
Barack Obama should be
applauded for proposing to
create a White House Office
on Urban Policy because
when Black males go to the
street for their livelihood,
they will find few positive
options because urban policy
has been on the back-burner
of public policy for nearly 30
years now.
How did that happen?
Ronald Reagan was able to
sell America on "personal
responsibility" rather than
government assistance to
blunt charges of racism as
implicated in Black progress. ?
With that support, he was
able to take billions of dollars
from cities to give to the sub
urbs, private corporations and
the Defense establishment.
Therefore, the sensitivity
of Blacks to the principle of
"personal responsibility" is
the awareness of its danger; it
has been elevated from a nat
ural act of virtue that blacks
have consistently performed
to a powerful political ideolo
gy of the Right that marginal
ized the image of blacks and
supported the dramatic shift
of government resources out
of urban areas. So that, today
even a new "urban policy"
must be targeted to achieve
? results.
, The sensitivity to the ide
ology of personal responsibil
ity also reflects the intellectu
al awareness that in the
absence of balanced proposals
that also privilege a robust
version of the collective
responsibility of government,
the large structural problems
that are faced by the Black
community will not be
addressed. These problems
that ravage cities and their
Black neighborhoods now
include: the home foreclosure
crisis, globalization of the
economy and jobs, competi
tion for low-wage employ
ment, depression level unem
ployment rates, the persist
ence of poverty and under
education and crumbling
infrastructure of urban institu
tions and places.
This debate should result
in both presidential candi
dates speaking to those needs,
giving concrete public policy
answers to the question of
how they would address them,
especially at venues where
JSlack audiences are gathered.
Dr. Ron Wallers is the
Distinguished Leadership
Scholar, Director of the
African American Leadership
Center, and Professor of
Government and Politics at
the University of Maryland
College Park. His latest book
is: "The Price of Racial
Reconciliation " ( University
of Michigan Press.
PRESIDENT
ROBERT MUGABE
(jJolcomxA you
| Letter to the Editor
''Black In America"
discussion, viewing
x- ?? .
To the Editor:
*
A local coalition effort is
being organized to encourage
the citizens of our community to
watch CNN's documentary,
"Black In America" scheduled
to air July 23 - 24:
A community viewing will be at
the Forsyth County Democratic
Headquarters, located at 1128
Burke Street (off West 4th Street
downtown) on Wednesday, July
23 and Thursday, July 24 at 9
p.m.
According to CNN, "Black
In America" examines the com
plex issues, success and strug
gles of black men, women and
families. "As a community,
there is an ongoing need to
access our progress and plan for
our future. It is imperative that
the community remembers that
Anchor Soledad O'Brien will host the report.
all politics are local," states
Fleming El-Amin, chair of the
Forsyth County Democratic
Party. "This CNN documentary
serves as a springboard for dia
logue and provides an ideal time
to have courageous conversa
tions about its impact on the
Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
community."
A forum discussion about
the issues presented in the docu
mentary will be held at
Emmanuel Baptist Church on
Tuesday, July 29th at 6:30 p.m.
A local panel of community
leaders will have a town hall
conversation about the impact
of these issues on our local com
munity. We invite the public to
attend both of these events.
There will be an opportunity for
the general public to enter their
commentary on a blog site and
list their questions after watch
ing each segment of the docu
mentary. There will also be live
opinion polls. It's time to have
a frank, honest discussion about
us for us.
To reserve a seat at the view
ing or for more information,
contact Cheryl Harry at 336
793-7462 or Fleming El-Amin
at Ntv754@yahoo.com.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Harry
Winston-Salem
Don't ignore voices of ex-felons
Henrie
Treadwell
Guest
Columnist
When Election Day arrives
in November, the state of
Virginia will likely play a huge
role in determining whether
Democrat Barack Obama or
Republican John McCain is the
next President of the United
States. Unfortunately, the vote
tally from the Old Dominion
will be illegitimate because the
state will disenfranchise nearly
350,000 individuals who are
barred from voting because of
felony convictions.
Across the country, Obama's
unique ability to energize
young, African American and
independent voters is turning
traditional "Red States," such as
Virginia, into potential
Democratic pick-ups. But as
attention shifts to these new
swing states it also raises aware
ness of the restrictive voting eli
gibility laws that will dispropor
tionately prevent many blacks
from participating in the elec
tion.
Nationwide there are several
million people who are ineligi
ble to vote because of various
state laws that restrict voting by
ex-felons released from prison.
If those currently serving time
for felony convictions are added
to ex-felons released from
prison a total of 5.3 million peo
ple won't be allowed to vote.
Clearly, this disenfranchisement
could impact the outcome of the
election since the vote in swing
states will W close. This could
hurt Obama because a dispro
portionate number of ex-felons
are African Americans and
blacks have overwhelmingly
supported his campaign.
Virginia, for instance, is one
of two states (Kentucky being
the other) that does not allow
ex-felons to vote under any cir
cumstances. Currently, there are
340,522 people living in
Virginia communities and pay
ing taxes, who cannot vote,
according to The Sentencing
Project, a national organization
seeking criminal justice
reforms. Some states allow ex
felons to vote, but disqualify
those on probation or parole. In
total, 48 out of the 50 states have
felon disenfranchisement laws.
Moreover, while health
experts have identified prison
inmates and ex-convicts return
ing to their communities as peo
ple often facing major health
problems, many will not be able
to vote even as creating a new
health policy in America looms
as one of the most important
issues in the presidential cam
paign.
Mark Mauer, executive
director of the Sentencing
Project, emphasized that point:
"The main problem is that we
have a very important election
coming up and 5 million people
won't be able to vote because of
previous or current convictions.
They legally cannot vote."
In Florida, another key state
in November, 1,089,911 people
can't vote because the state
places voting restrictions on ex
felons released from prison, as
well as those on probation and
parole. There are also a number
of disenfranchised ex-felons in
other key states, such as: New
Jersey (99,136), North Carolina
(37,352), Georgia (232,972),
Louisiana (59,971), New
Mexico (10,955), Colorado
(6,920), Missouri (60.428) and
Nevada (32,440).
Despite voting rights legisla
tion that was designed to ensure
that minorities can vote, the
felony disenfranchisement laws
remain as a potent example of
structural racism.
While felon disenfranchise
ment laws were on the books
prior to the Civil War. once the
15th Amendment allowed
blacks to vote the laws were
updated to include the types of
crimes most often committed by
blacks back then, such as rob
bery and vagrancy. Today, the
felony disenfranchisement laws
have re-emerged as the largest
suppresser of minority voting^
One major misconception is
the belief that people of color
are impacted more because they
commit more crimes. The reali
ty, however, is that the nation's
criminal justice system arrests
and prosecutes people of color
at higher rates than whites, and
minorities receive longer prison
sentences after convictions for
the same crimes as whites. For
instance, African Americans
make up 14 percent of the
nation's drug users, yet our state
prisons are filled with blacks
convicted of drug related
crimes. According to the
Americans Civil Liberties
Union (ACLU) - blacks are 56
percent of those in state prisons
for drug crimes. e
Another issue is that the def
inition of a felony varies from
state to state, and in some
places, such as Mississippi,
writing a bad check is classified
as a felony, and can prevent
someone from being eligible to
vote.
Still, there has been some
progress. Florida Gov. Charlie
Christ enacted rules last year
that made it easier for more than
100,000 former prisoners to
regain their voting rights, but
the state still has a million felons
who are unable to vote. In
Virginia. Gov. Tim Kaine is
seeking to restore voting rights
for ex-convicts, and other efforts
are underway across the coun
try.
Supporters of the disenfran
chisement laws have never pre
sented any evidence that
restricting the right to vote
deters crime in any way. It is an
undemocratic practice that is
followed by few other democra
cies in the world. Throughout
Europe, most nations allow
criminals to vote while they are
incarcerated and for those that
don't, voting rights are usually
fully restore upon release.
As voters express their
desire for change in America's
presidential campaign, part of
the change should be ensuring
that all Americans can execute
their constitutional right to vote.
Dr. Henrie M. Treadwell,
associate director of
Development at the National
Center for Primary Care at
Morehouse School of Medicine,
is also director of Community
Voices, a non-profit working to
improve health services, and
health-care access, for all
Americans.