WHY I CARE?

   
The question that I am so frequently asked by young Americans is "why should I care?", "why is me voting so important, my one vote is not going to count for anything." I'll tell you why your vote is so important but, I'll have to give you a little family history before I get to the point.

My great-grandmother was born in Crothersville, MO to barely literate, "negro" parents in 1934.I know that you are looking at the date and saying to yourself "your GREAT-grandmother was born in 1934?" Everyday my great-grandmother, Ula Mae, lacked basic necessities like shoes, food, and clothing. She was only able to receive a 3rd grade education because her family couldn't afford to allow her to go to school. Because of circumstances that were far beyond her control, she was denied a basic liberty and the empowerment that having an education brings. This would become the cycle that I have vowed my entire life to break; a cycle of unmarried, uneducated, young African-American mothers. Young mothers that because they lacked education and depended on welfare, section 8, WIC, and free and reduced lunch in order to get by. These young mothers worked several jobs but still needed the supplemental income to ensure the survival of their families. You can blame this indelible cycle on the chains that slavery put on the black community or the hindrances that Jim Crow put on the community from allowing uneducated Blacks from voting in their best interest or low self-esteem and self-worth on the parts of any number of these women. Either one of these factors can contribute.

My family is only a microcosm of the black community. This is the generational story of so many in my home time of Benton Harbor, MI. Benton Harbor, MI with the population of only 11,182 is about 90% African-American; and what is Benton Harbor know for besides being home to the Whirlpool Headquarters? Tiny Benton Harbor is number 2 in the NATION for the amount of single parent-households and has only of the highest illiteracy rates in the state of Michigan. These households consist of single mothers (and sometimes retired grandparents) raising their children in impossible circumstances and, what do these families depend on? ENTITLEMENT FUNDS!

     So when Governor Romney was secretly recorded saying, "There are 47 percent who are with him (Obama), who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it." I would like to say to the Governor that these people are victims. They are victims to circumstances! Because of where they were born they are denied decent education, or because of the environment that they were raised in the belief that they can in fact do better than their environment is not embedded in them. These people have also grown to depend on these funds because of a lack of jobs. When you have venture capitalist firms like Bain Capital that purchase American companies and harvest them for profit by shipping American jobs overseas towns like Benton Harbor, MI will never get out of the cycle of government dependence. Just because a job that an American will get paid $17 for can be done in China for $1 doesn't make it okay to send millions of Americans to the unemployment line. The Gordon Gekko mantra that "greed is good" is no longer acceptable and further more is the very definition of moral hazardous. . The truth is at end of the day all of us are either in the 47 percent or descendants from someone that benefited from these programs. If I could have one moment with the Governor Romney I would say to him, "You know that 47 percent of the country that you claim a leeching off of the rest of the country; that is the 47 percent that YOU built.”

            So to answer the initial question of “why should I care about voting”, the answer is because this is your future. Do we really want a president that doesn’t care about where the next meal is coming from for 47 percent of the country? Posting on facebook about “rocking the vote” isn’t enough. Get your butt off the couch and get to the polls because this affects all of us. You think that your one vote doesn't matter but in close elections such as these, your one vote means more than you could ever imagine. Do you know how many votes decided who the was in the 2000 presidental election between President Bush and then Vice- President Gore? 537 VOTES! 537 votes was the difference between Gore getting the 25 delegate votes in Florida and sealing the deal for the election. So to anyone who says to me, "my vote doesn't count", I have on number for them. 537!

Long Time No Blog?

So, I planned for this blog to be regulary and frequently updated. However, it's probably not the brightest idea to start a blog about all things political while moving to another state, starting school, and starting a new job. So as you can tell my life has been completely turned upside down in the last couple of months! I really want to make the blog a fixture in my life and a fixture in the lives of my readers (the very few that are out there... lol) Here is my promise to my readers: I promise, no matter how tired I am, to update my blog at least once a week! Hefty goal for a student/full-time employee/ new Louisville transplant but, that is my goal!

XOXO
The Dirt Truths

Legislation vs. the NRA: the out-funded and the out-dated

I decided to write this entry in response to the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado. For those of you who have not heard, on July 21, 2012, James Holmes attended a midnight showing of the long awaited movie, The Dark Knight Rises, with an evil agenda in mind. At some point, during the course of the movie, Holmes left the theater propping open the emergency exit. He later returned armed with an arsenal of weapons including an assault riffle, a 12-gauge shotgun, two glock handgun, two canisters of tear gas and 6000 rounds of ammo. Fully clothed in tactical gear and carrying an extended clip with the ability to spray 100 bullets per minute, Holmes began to unleash a spray of bullets on the crowd of stunned onlookers. At the end of the assault 10 were instantly killed, 58 were injured and, 2 later died at area hospitals. The victims ranged in ages from 6 to 51. Later, the suspect was found outside the theater and was arrested without incident; only to later reveal that he had booby-trapped his apparent with a variety of improvised explosive devices. Now that it has been a few days after the worst shooting in the history of the United States, we all ask ourselves, "How could this happen?", "Could decent gun control laws have stopped this horrible tragedy?" For years the National Rifle Association or, the NRA has presented themselves as the defenders of the second amendment. The well oiled machine that is the NRA raises approximately 200 million dollars a year. 4.3 million members strong, the NRA is widely considered by congressional staff members as the most influential lobbying group on the hill. It is very obvious why getting any legislation regrading gun control is an up hill battle with a political Goliath like the NRA against you. So back in 1994 when then President Clinton successfully passed the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act, also know as the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, banning the sell of all assault weapons, the NRA declared war on the congressman that aided in the passing of this bill. Closely coordinating with the Republican Party during the 1994 election cycle, the NRA proclaimed that they were single-handily responsible for the Democratic Party loosing control of Congress and the defeat of notable congressman Jack Brooks and Speaker of the House Tom Foley, the first Speaker of the House to lose a re-election bid since 1862. It is very easy to understand why on September 13, 2004, when the ban on assault weapons expired, there was hardly a whisper of protest. There have been efforts to renew the ban; however, no piece of legislation regarding this issue has even made it to the house floor for a vote. I end my very first blog with a call to action for my PAID elected officials, who are elected to serve the constituents of their districts faithfully and honestly, while putting aside any chance for their own personal advancement or personal monetary gain. To my elected officials I say: your deepest-most-heartfelt sympathies although greatly appreciated is not enough. American will no longer turn on, tune in, and drop out. We are sick of the Columbine's, the Virgina Tech's, the Tuscon's, and now the Aurora's of American. Our blood is on your hands.