Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Race and Politics: The Tipping Point

Race relations has been problematic in this country since its inception. With all of the dreadful history, lives lost and lives changed due to the fight for equality in this country it is atrocious that racial incendiary language and tactics being used by the GOP candidates is allowed. This dangerous and careless behavior can lead to a Tipping point come the fall election. Newt Gingrich uses the word Food Stamp as a coded attack to imply a certain connotation especially when he intertwines it with our President who is African American. Newt further insults the African American community by saying kids have no role models. They have African American teachers who are their role models in addition to other hardworking people in the Black Community. Remember we have to work because most of us did not inherited wealth like the elitist out of touch GOP is who is slinging this bile. Governor Chris Christie continues with his recent insanity saying that the Civil Rights movement should have been a referendum. This comment is just jaw dropping to say the least. Either he was race baiting like Newt or just plain ignorant. These type of tactics will only increase as these elections go on especially in the general election. The peoples reaction to this is unknown however we cannot be naive to think that there will be no significant and hostile reactions. The theory of crowd frenzy starts to take place at these rallies and peoples emotions get the best of them. This can be combustible come fall. The GOP Candidates need to take heed and be more responsible and less careless in their tactics. After they have ran the race the people are still in these communities with these emotions riled up based on these lies and deceptions used by these candidates to win an election. The media pundits need to diffuse these lies with the truth. People also need to educate themselves so they would not fall for this trickery. I am speaking Black and White as well every minority in this country. We have to really know the truth in order to combat the lies.

Monday, January 23, 2012

The Lack of Social Studies in Education

The essential element of any country is its citizens. In our country we have social studies in the educational curriculum but it is not being pushed as hard as the other disciplines specifically Math and Science. In the last 20 years there has been a race with other nations in Math and Science with our youth as it relates to test scores. Now I agree that we have to have great thinkers in Math and Science however basic knowledge and advance concepts in Social Studies promote better citizenship as well as active participation in the political process. If more citizens knew how this government worked there are a lot of things that would not have been allowed to happen such as Super Pacs. The so called Voter Id laws are unconstitutional but yet there is not enough public outcry about it. Of course people care but they do not know. Ignorance really is bliss but yet dangerous. The Political process of how to pass a Bill is something that the average American is aloof about. Long gone are the days of School House Rock, a Saturday Morning cartoon that showed the process of how a Bill is passed. It is not emphasized enough in school curricula. In some states it is not even tested like its Math and Science counterparts. The average American student does not know the name of the Vice President let alone who replaces the Vice President if something was to happen to the President and Vice President. This lack of knowledge of processes and information has caused an ignorance that has allowed political parties and candidates to run deceptive campaigns as it relates to the issues. It has also allowed unconstitutional implementation of laws such as the aforementioned Voter ID Laws. Candidates accusing the President of not passing Bills is slanderous because they know he needs the congress to pass the Bill. If more people knew this it would not work nor would it be used by these candidates. Parents have to be aware of this and push for better curriculum standards as it relates to Social Studies. I say start with the  parents because they are the tax payers and their kids are the investment. Citizens also have to make it their personal responsibility to become knowledgeable of how our country works as well as how to actively participate in it. The idea is Power to the People but the people have to be knowledgeable, well informed and active.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Poverty and Education

There has been an increase in child poverty in the United States and its affecting education. Whenever this topic is brought up some people like to point to the few examples of people who were blessed enough to make it. That is not the point. We know that people can succeed coming out of poverty but the sad fact remains that there are many who can't due to poverty and everything that comes along with it. Poverty is a real variable in the formula of attaining success through education. As an educator who has taught all over the United States in poverty stricken neighborhoods, I have witnessed some extreme poverty situations that put the kids at a serious disadvantage. When kids have to worry about where they are going to sleep at night and what they are going to eat after school, this can cause an inability to concentrate on the lesson of the day. I know of situations where a student and their siblings had to go and wait in a park after school for their parent to come and get them after she was finished at her domestic job. They did not have a house to go to. So of course this affects them doing their homework in a conducive environment.There are students whose only meals come when they are at school. You can use the day of the week to determine how a student in poverty would react. If its a Friday most kids are happy for the weekend but you will see some that are sad because they are not guaranteed to eat on Saturday and Sunday like they would have at school during the week. If its a Monday they are the ones happy to be back in some structure, warmth, and guaranteed meals.These are just a couple of examples from a myriad of thousands cases of poverty affecting education.
No candidate has addressed this correlation in their speeches and debates. These are the real issues affecting American Citizens all across America. According to the U.S. Census there are 1 in 4 children living in poverty. That is over 15 million people! This is an outrage and there should be public outcry. President Obama is the only one who addressed it by saying that we have to fight poverty from the bottom up starting with education and providing jobs for the parents of these kids. This question should have been explored in every Republican Debate but fails to surface. If this issue is not addressed it can destroy the future of our country. If children are the future how can we ignore the problems for our children in the present?

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Mitt Romney: Outsourcing American Jobs

Mitt Romney likes to tout that he is a good business man and a champion of the private sector but that can be debated. While with Bain Captial Romney outsourced jobs. Holson Burnes(a Bain owned company) in 1992 sold its company for 2.8 million dollars. After this the company manufactured nearly 75 % of its product overseas. This was job lost to workers in South Carolina. Workers in Rhode Island faced a similar fate when a clock making division sent work overseas. This is not what America needs. We have lost thousands of manufacturing jobs to outsourcing overseas. These so called American companies are making there profit with cheap overseas labor. This is also costing workers their jobs here in America leading to them losing their homes. There should be sanctions put on these companies. American voters need to be on alert of this possible trend if Mitt Romney is elected. He needs to held accountable on this by the news media as well as his opponents. The Obama campaign can use this against him in relentless fashion. I am sure the workers who lost their jobs will not let him forget. Romney has proved that he is not for the middle class. He does not care about the unemployed and cannot to expect to be President if he cannot truly identify with the people he is suppose to represent.

Obama Vs. The Republican Circus

The Republicans are obviously not happy with Mitt Romney. He is only getting 25% of the vote at best from his party. Big money wielders in the party are supposedly meeting in Texas to come up with an anti Mitt candidate to put money and resources behind. The other Republican candidates are not any better. The racist rants of Rick Santorum coupled with his sexist and other zany remarks is unbelievable. Ron Paul another known racist is on the fringe side of zany. Newt...well Newt is just Newt. The Obama administration and campaign has to be happy with this Republican circus. The Democrats who are running for office can also capitalize from this in their upcoming elections. The Republicans are in such disarray that President Obama may not only get the Independent vote but also some Republican voters. His plan going forward is what the people are asking for and even some polls suggest that a majority of Republicans agree. Lets look at some of the groups that President Obama has a lock on: The military men and women including their family members, veterans and wives that Michelle Obama has worked with, the workers in the auto industry that Obama revived, the workers and family members of McDonnell Douglas for getting the big contract, the domestic care workers who now will be paid overtime, the people who got unemployment insurance extensions, and the construction workers who want to go to work to rebuild the infrastructure. That is a major block of citizens across the country. This is a "no brainer" and its proving that the Republican party is the party with no brains.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Rick Santorum: Racist Rant

Rick Santorum has just showed who he is or either said some silliness to pander to the base of  Republicans who like this psycho talk. Rick Santorum went as far to say that he did not want to help Black people by giving them other peoples money. He was referring to welfare and food stamps hinting that there are more Blacks on food stamps when actually that is not true. According to USDA.Gov there are 34% Whites on food stamps. On the contrary there are only 22% of Blacks receiving food stamps and 17% Hispanic. So Who is he really hurting when he say this? The fact is that his perception did not have to be guessed because he stated "Black People" clearly in his racist rant. We cannot afford to have this country run by people who are clearly stating their agenda of hate. In the United States of America we expect a President who want to not only represent the entire spectrum of the population but also uphold the morals and values of helping those who cannot help themselves. This is simply one of the functions of government. This candidate is going against the very moral fiber of this country and its constitution.