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Editorials/Columns
FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN
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Mandatory Voting Worth A Good Try
ne of the most impor-
tant things we do in these United States is vote. We cast votes on a regular basis all over this nation. Voting did not come easy. So that every American citizen could have the right to vote, many people gave their lives for that privi- lege.
So many people don’t know about that hard fought fight for a right. Elections cost every branch of government a lot of time and money. It is embar- rassing when election results read 18, 19 or 20 percent of registered voters who actually voted. What happened to the other 80 percent?
What America must do is find a way to make voters take the process more serious and vote in large numbers.
President Barack Obama recently floated an idea for getting voters to go the polls and vote. His idea called for mandatory voting. Now that is a very good idea. All that is needed now is to come up with what is to be done as punishment for those who don’t vote. The President didn’t have an idea or at least he did not mention one.
I like the idea so well until I am going to suggest a punish- ment for failure to vote. Our government is suppose to be
one that’s by the people and for the people. Today, govern- ment is by the few for the many. The reason for govern- ment being this way is the ma- jority won’t vote. This won’t be an easy task, coming up with a means to punish non-voters.
I asked several of my polit- ical astute friends and they were at a loss for an answer.
Those people don’t register to vote or don’t go to the polls and vote should pay a fine. The fine should come from one of two places. The first place is government payouts. It mat- ters not whether it is income tax, retirement benefits or in- come disability insurance.
A second suggested source of fine is food stamps. I know that I might sound foolish to make that suggestion, but I am not. In other words, if you don’t vote, you pay a fine.’
Every eligible voter going to the polls will ensure more good candidates for office. Think about it.
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Babies Killing Babies Must Stop Now!
small crowd who gathered outside TPD headquar- ters to deliver the message “Stop the violence,” should have numbered in the thousands or tens of thou- sands. So numerous should it have been that no traffic could pass by police headquarters without police assis- tance. As it was, most people sat home and watched the
protest on the news if they watched it at all.
What sparked this recent protest was a situation so evil, unbelievable, and traditional that not even a Holly- wood scriptwriter could equal it. For, in the Southern city of Tampa, with its sleepy ways, another tradition was making itself known: the heritage of Black children
killing each other like cowboys and Indians.
Thus far, 15 have died. Among them was a 14-year-old boy who was gunned down by youngsters known or un- known who did their deed, then faded back into the crowd like seasoned assassins. But this wasn’t Zorro or Billy the Kid. This was urban terrorism at its worst. In- deed, the only concept kindred to what has been occur- ring on the streets of Tampa’s Black communities is the term “genocide,” except in this case, the death squads
wear their mothers’ faces.
Somebody knows who has committed these murders.
Yet, they either worship the jail-house law of “Don’t- snitch,” or they simply don’t want to get involved, assum- ing silence is safety.
But silence is only a wider invitation.
Police officers are not trained to be baby-sitters. Nei- ther are they soldiers. They need our help to protect and serve. So, parents, teachers, Pastors-on-Patrol, HOPE, NAACP, Free and Accepted Masons and Masonic organi- zations as well as Black fraternities, sororities, and yes, even the Longshoremen must cover the waterfront to stop our children from killing themselves and murdering our future.
His Last Name Says it All
et me start by asking this
one simple question. What was popular television evangelist Creflo Dollar thinking? I just want to know how he went about his thought process when he came up with the notion to ask his 200,000+ followers for $300 each so that he could buy a $65 million pri- vate jet?
The only thing I can imagine rolling around in his head at the time was that, "these suck- ers have already been foolish enough to help me purchase Bentleys, Rolls Royces and a few mansions. Why not hit them up for new G-650?"
This had to be what was going through his mind, right? I mean how else could you ex- plain a person, already swim- ming in cash, having the gall to ask individuals, significantly less wealthy, to finance such a substantial personal luxury item?
Church folks always criticize me when I compare preachers to pimps. But, honestly, I don't know of any two professions so similar in the way they believe they can trick people into giv- ing up money so easily.
The first thing I thought
when I heard this story was that he's fortunate I'm not a member of his congregation. If I was attending one of his serv- ices and heard him asking for airplane money in the middle of a sermon, before I could re- member where I was, I proba- bly would have blurted out something to the tune of, "This Negro has got to be trippin'."
For me, the upsetting part would have been the fact that he wasn't asking for $65 mil- lion to help a charitable cause. He wasn't asking for money to feed the hungry. He wasn't asking for donations to fund cancer research, to provide shelter for the homeless, to provide college scholarships for low-income youth or even build a bigger church. He was, basically, asking people to give away their hard earned money so that he could travel in style.
This is a prime example of the kind of over-the-top non- sense that has been turning people off from joining churches for years now. Though their behavior is not as reviling as a pedophile priest or the reverend who makes a habit of bedding all of the women in his church, pastors,
who serve their flamboyant self interests by fleecing their faithful flock, do just as much damage to the overall reputa- tion of the ministry.
When I was a kid attending Sunday School at New Salem Primitive Baptist, I remember one of the first lessons they consistently beat into my brain was that "it would be easier for a camel to fit into the eye of a needle than it would be for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God." Seeing how some of these mega-preachers shame- lessly flaunt the excesses they've garnered through tax- free means, that must be a parable that only applies to the rest of us.
When it's all said and done, I'm sure Creflo Dollar isn't a totally bad guy. He is just a hustler who's been in a sweet position so long that he could- n't help but try his hand.
While his actions revealed just how much he lacks in the scruples department, I don't think we can be mad at him. After all, when he came on the scene and told us his last name was "Dollar," we should have known that's what he was all about.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Com- pany. Anyone wishing to contact Clarence Barr can email him at: realityon- ice@yahoo.com.
Second Chance For Youth Felons
he recent Florida Supreme Court ruling that or-
dered new hearings for young men and women sen- tenced to life for felonies they committed when they were juveniles gives troubled youth an opportunity for a re- demptive second chance.
This time, complying with an earlier United States Supreme Court ruling that prohibited juveniles from being sent to prison for life if they hadn’t killed someone, the Florida Supreme Court’s decision will grant two years to appeal sentences for anyone who has committed crimes for which he or she has received a life sentence. ‘Sounds fair to us.’
Black youths will benefit greatly from the Supreme Court’s rule. Research shows adolescent brains are not fully matured and continue to develop until the mid- twenties.
Also, adolescent decision-making and thought pro-
cessing differ from those of adults. Because the majority of juveniles arrested are Black, yet compose only 16 percent of the American juvenile population, they are more likely to be sentenced to residential facilities at a rate 4 times that of their non-Black counterparts who have committed similar crimes.
One out of every 8 Black youths who is convicted of murder is sentenced to life without parole compared to one out of 13 whites. Racial disparities that characterize the Ameri- can juvenile criminal justice system, therefore, cause minority youth to be over-repre- sented at every stage of the system. Thus, the court ruling will benefit minority communities.
On behalf of Black Floridians and their children, we thank the Florida Supreme Court for its wisdom.
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