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5A OPINIONS/Charlotte Thursday, July 6, 2006 Ron Walters Why blacks don’t vote Republican The recent votes in the House of Representatives to block reauthorization of the Voting R%hts Act and in the Senate to reject an increase in the Minimum. Wage, give powerful voice to the reason why blacks respond by saying no to Republican candidates. In this case, we see clearly the pol itics of the economic and social wings of the party at play The current Republican Party was created in the Nixon landslide of 1972 when a substantial portion of the South joined it, adding to its growing economic conservatism a group that was deeply conservative on social values. In combined form, it constituted a political rejection of the government's values and spending at that time which produced the War on Poverty, the Great Society program and the chains wrought on sodely by the dvil rights move- ■,..... • ^ ment. jfM The Voting Ri^ts Act was perhaps the most successful and important piece of dvil rights le^slation the country has prodticed by its empowering affects on the Black community's right to vote. The Southern states enacted and practiced the most oppressive measures that limited that right, and the passage of thatActcreatedapowerful incen tive for the White political leadership in the South to switch parties and to fight to regain their ability to rearrange access to the fi'anchise in ways that would have radally discriminatory outcomes. A recently-released book, ‘’Stealing Democracy” by George Washington University Law professor Spencer Overton, indicates that in state after state in the South where Republicans are mostly in political control, they have attempted to enact election requirements that dis proportionately reduces the access of blacks to the ballot box. Arecent example is the passage of onerous ID require ments to register and to vote, but there are many others. Althou^ the South is by no means the only region where there is an attempt to limit the right of blacks and Ihspanics, in particular, to vote, the ferodty of the opposi tion to the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act in the House Republican Caucus is led by politidans from that region. Ihis speaks volumes about the deep and brooding attitudes toward blacks that persist in the South that are a carry over from that region’s dominant partidpation in slavery despite the daim that such attitudes no longa- exist in the ‘"New South” The conservative economic wir^ of the marriage that led to the modem Republican party is vexed over the demand by Democrats in the Senate to increase the minimum wage fiism $5.15 to $7.25, while demandit^ that the poor work, reducing its real sodal benefit. The current mini mum w^e has not been adjusted for nine years, meaning that it now produces $10,712 of income, raisir^ a prason just $900 over the poverty level, but a family wilh two chil dren falls $5,900 bdow it. In the same period, Congress has voted itsdf annual increases amounting to $31,600, and the average CEO makes 821 times that level of wages. The rejection of the economic wing of the party is based on the canard that if a small business has to pay the min imum wsge, it will work to the disadvantage of poor work ers because fewer of them wili be hired or retained. But there is credible research that rejects that proposition. In this game of “’choose your economist,” it turns out that you choose a conservative one, the highest rate of job losses attributable to the miniTmim. wage has been calculated at just 2 percent. But this should be calculated against the enormous off-the-book profits paid on the backs of illegal immigrants. At a recent convention in Gary Ind. on the economic con dition of the black cammvmity there was strong support ejqjreesed for an increase in the minimum wage. It has been a staple of the demands by groups such as the Coalition of Black Ttade Unionists, its partner the AFL- CIO, the civil ri^ts community and others. Why siiould blacks vote for a party that rejects legisla tion that would improve their economic condition and sub stitute gay-marriage in its place? Blacks have been unusu ally reliant on measures like the minumum wage and the earned income tax credit because it is a community that is disproportionately poor. TheRepubHcanPartyis approaching another moment of truth in its positioning toward groups that need a fair dis tribution of national opportunity and resoiorces that makes it real. Thinking people should understand that the Southern wing’s effect on the Republican Party’s decision to reauthorize the Voting Ri^ts Act and their politically powerful small business wing’s amtinued rejection of an increase the minimum wage, makes a mockery of party chairman Ken Mehlman’s so-called “’outreach” prc^am to minorities. Moreover, if these attitudes don’t change, the record number of blacks competing statewide on the GOP ticket will go down in defeat. RON WALTERS is the Distinguished Leadership Scholar, Director of the African American Leadership Institute, Professor of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland College Park. Aren’t you proud to be black today? You know, sometimes it pays to take a little time to reflect on just who we are. From time to time, we should think about our relatives, and our people in general, and reflect on the contributions they have made to this world and, most especially, to this cormtry We should take time out to give ourselves credit for being, as Ed Robinson,( author of “Journey of the Soi^ai People,” calls us, “The fittest of the fittest of the fittest” blade people on the face of the earth. Don’t you think we deserve kudos for not only surviving but thriving in this land we call America? 1 do. So, let’s begin. If you had the privilege of knowing your grand and great grand parents, you were probably witness to some of their amariug taloits and abilities. You also had access to their knowledge and wisdom, althou^ many of us didn’t learn fix>m it. We saw our rela tives build houses without architectural drawings, cure diseases without doctors and prescriptions, stop bleeding with cobwebs, raise enoii^ food for their families and two or three others, cure meat in a smokehouse, dig wdls, and draw pedson out of a cut with a piece of fatback Our relatives could make a meal out of what we thought was nothing; they could sew up the holes in our socks, patch our jeans, and put cardboard in our sho^ to make them last just a little while longer. They could deliver babies, as my great grandmother did for the birth of my brother and me. They helped one another with whatever they had, and it was dinner time at all the nfiighbora’ hous^ anytime we wanted to stop by Remember the hambone, checkers, homemade ice cream you had to churn, a pot ofbeans and some cornbread all week long, and that nasty greasy slimy castor oil? How about having to take cod liver oil every morning, and cold oil and sxagar, goose grease, rock candy and whiskey, and that stinking little bag some of us had to wear aroimd our necks when we were sick? Our relatives knew their stuff, didn’t they? ’ The music they made was unbelievable. Their voices and their mastery of musical instruments, even without the benefit of for mal training, was somethir^ to behold. OUr folks w^e some piano- playin’, guitar-pluckin’, drum-beatin’, hom-blowin’, h^i-steppin’, sangin’brothers andsisters —andtheystill are. Doesn’t that make you proud? And then there were the economic collectives they established to help take care of burials and other critical isscies. Our people knew they had to pool their resources, and they knew they had to take care of themselves. Maybe that’s why they knew how to do so manythings with their hands. Asllookbackatmygrandparents, aunts, and mcies, I am amazed at what they did during what were pretty rough times, at least socially They established their own business enclaves all over this coun try, places like Greenwood in TVilsa and Hayti in Durham. They amassed wealth beyond imagination and, comparatively speaking, far beyond what most of us have today Prohibited fix)m partici pating in the general marketplace and without the government subsidies handed out to white-owned corporations, they started businesses and eventually created AG. Gaston Enterprises, S.B. Fuller Company, Madame C.J. Walker’s hair products, Johnson Publishing Company, and Motown Records. What strength and determination they had. Aren’t youproudofwho you are, where you came from, and what your relatives did to make sure you had food ori tire table, dothes on your back, and a roof over your head? We should celebrate our Blackness and always cherish our culture. As Claud Anderson teaches, we should be proud to be black because God made us first, in His image; and He fdaced us in a perfect place, on land that con tained every vital mineral and natural resource necessary for growth and prosperity He gave us enoi^i wisdom to share with the world and bring otiiers out of the darkness into the light of knowledge. We are His spedal people. So with all of that goir^ for us, why wouldn’t we be proud of who we are? A lack of pride and love for oursdves would be an affient to God, like slapping Him in His face and saying, “I don’t hke what You did. Yes, you made me first, you made me special, you gave me wisdom, you gave me the richest land on earth, and you made me the strongest among men but, God, you also made me black, and I don’t want to be black. It’s too hard being black; it’s too stressful being black, God. And if you want to know the real truth, God, I am ashamed of being black.” Can you imagine some of our people thinking that way? I know we have be^ throi^h a lot in this coimtry and the stn^le con tinues, as they say but truth can never be destroyed; hold on to it. We are stOl here, still standing after all the blood, sweat, and tears of our people. Black people have pa:^vered, and we will continue to do so. Take a moment to give some credit to your people, tiiose who sur vived so you could be here today “the fittest of the fitt^t.” Give honor to those who have passed on and be proud of what they did. JAMES E. CUNGMAN is former editor of the Cincinnati Herald and founder of the Greater Cincinnati African American Chatnber of Commerce. Connect with ^OSt Send letters to The Charlotte Post, P.O. Box 30144 Charlotte, NC 28230 or e-mail editorial@thecharlottepost.cora. We edit for grammar, clarity and space. Include your name and daytime phone number. Letters and photos will not be returned by mil unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. D.G. Martin North Carolina books that bear closer review Here is a deal for you. I wfil give you some good ideas for your summer reading if you let me promote the upcoming season of North Carolina Bookwatdi. First, some good news. UNC-TV will broadcast Bookwatch during the next few months on Friday evenings at 9:30 in addition to its r^ular time at 5 on Sunday afternoon. Now, here are 10 books for you to consider/or your reading and for you to give to others during the vaca tion months. First of all, look at TOll Blythe’s memoir about his and his family’s passionate and seemin^y xmreason- ... sS3i>\ able fixation on the basketball rivalry j-, between Duke and Carolina. His book 'V 5 is notjust for basketball fans. It delves JKS. » into family relationships and touches 5 ' '• oil the drive so many of us have to “holler for our team.” “Tb Hate like This Is to Be Happy Forever” has been a b^tseller across the country Kristin Henderson’s “While They’re at War” reports the personal stories of families of ser vice men and women who serve during the war in Iraq. Many of these poignant stories are set at Fort Bragg and other parts of North Carolina. In “Mirror to America,” John Hope Franklin writes with both dignity and passion about the humiliations and triumphs he experienced as he became the lead ing historian of the Afiican American experience. Tbm Carlson’s “Hatteras Blues” takes us to the Outer Banks and into the lives of families who devel oped tile sports fishing business there. Anyone who loves our threatened coast will be moved by this story On the fiction side, there are several choices. Mystery fans will love two North Carolina “page turners.” John Hart’s first novd, “King of Lies,” a murder mystery set in Salisbury, is already a nation al best seller. It is so popular that the publishere already want another one set in Salisbury Ralei^’s Andrew Britton wrote “The American” while he was a student at UNC-Chapel Hill. This “terrorism thriller” gives us an inside look at Al- Quaeda and the CIA and takes us ail over the world chasing down a plot to kill the President. ' Two North Carolina books teU the story of young women who are crushed by the breakup of fiiend- ships, Sarah Dessen’s “Just Listen” focuses on the experiences of modem teenagers. Dessen’s earlier novels, a film based on two of her books, and her pop ular “blog” have made her a popular national person- ahty In Leah Stewart’s “The Myth of You and Me,” a broken friendship opens the door to a deep and com plex story of a your^ woman’s strug^e to make sense of her life. David Payne’s “Back to Wando Passo” got great reviews and is steadily rising on the bestseller list. Its stoiy is set both in the present day and in Civil War times. Like “Cold Mountain,” it is rich literary fiction and, perhaps, a classic. The new edition of “New Stories fix)m the South” won’t be available until the end of the summer. But it is worth waiting for. Famed author, Allan Gurganus, selected 20 short stories, each of which will both entertain and rattle our settled way of looking at things. Gurganus opens the collection with a stirring essay about the cnarrent place of Southern writing in American life. If you would like to hear more before you read any of these books, watch the authors talk about them on North Carolina Bookwatch, Fridays at 9:30 p.m. or Sundays at 5 p.m. D.G. MARTIN is the host of UNC-TV’s North Carolina Bookwatch, which airs Fridays at 9:30pm. and Sundays at 5 p.m. wwwnnctvarg/ncbookwatch/ In “Mirror To America,” John Hope Franklin writes with both dignity and passion about the humiliations and triuumphs he experienced as he became the leading historian of the African American experience. / I PiPtfr ^ kNOW PtOPli COULP TAM'.' YOU'Rt ACTUALLY BROKMCR I THAN KFORE!.' , /aNP YOU'RE PXMKCR'N THAN PEFORE. WT PONT SEE W MAkiN' A PIG PEAL APOOT iT, NOW 'v GO AWAY, SHOOOfi
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