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Editorials/Columns
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The Real Roseanne
hen the story sur-
rounding the text sent by comedian Roseanne Barr, that de- scribed President Barack Obama’s former adviser Valerie Jarrett as a cross between The Muslim Broth- erhood and The Planet Of The Apes, broke earlier this week the first thing that crossed my mind was, “so what else is new?” It wasn’t the first time that a Black person was referred to as a monkey by a white person. And I doubt that it will be the
last.
I didn’t get upset because,
by now, I’ve come to expect this level of ignorance from members of certain seg- ments in this society, much in the same way that I know it’s part of a rooster’s DNA to crow at dawn or a dog’s to howl at sirens. Like those simple-minded creatures, Roseanne’s offensive be- havior is simply something that comes naturally.
In fact, I don’t think it’s shocking to most Black peo- ple that someone like Roseanne would spew such vulgarities about an African American woman. The only thing that is truly surprising is that she was dumb enough
to do it while her career was on an enormous upward tra- jectory.
Before Tuesday, Rose- anne Barr was one of the hottest stars on television with the number one rated sitcom in the country. Now, that her incendiary remarks have caused her show to be cancelled, and turned her into a pariah in the enter- tainment industry, she’s probably realizing that let- ting her inner bigot loose in such a spectacular fashion doesn’t typically work well for anyone not named Don- ald J. Trump.
I guess you can give ABC some credit for acting swiftly and firing Roseanne as soon as the controversy erupted. But, then again, I can’t help but wonder what made them take a chance with her in the first place?
After all, this isn’t Roseanne’s first trip to the racist rodeo. She has a his- tory of this kind of de- plorable nonsense.
She was quick to join the so-called “birther” move- ment when President Obama was elected, claim- ing he wasn’t born in this country. She once described Obama cabinet member
Susan Rice as an “ape” as well. And who could ever for- get the picture of her posing with a pan of, what she called, “Jew cookies” that had been burned in an oven?
You have to believe that the executives at ABC (par- ticularly the president of the company Channing Dungey, who is Black) knew Roseanne’s back- ground before they decided to work with her. Now I imagine they’ve learned the hard way what happens when you forget that a snake is still a snake regardless of how old and tame it appears.
It will be interesting to see where Roseanne goes from here? With her career in shambles maybe she’ll go full bore Klan member and use the following she’s amassed to further promote Trump’s white supremacy leaning “Make America Great Again” agenda.
But, regardless of what the future holds for her, Roseanne’s comments will go down in history as just the latest example of the times in which we live. It would be nice if the mentality of the people in this world matched the date on the calendar. But unfortunately, it seems as though, there are plenty of individuals out there who still have a lot of catching up to do.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Com- pany. You can contact Mr. Barr at: cbar- ronice@gmail.com.
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STEM Jobs Are The Answer For Our Young,
And Unemployed
aving witnessed thousands of seniors graduate
this year, we wondered how many of them actu- ally know what their future plans are? And if not, what can be done now, to change that scenario for future graduating classes?
It must begin with parents, school districts and eco- nomic policy makers being familiar with workforce facts. Next, it must lie with the young people and adults looking for jobs, using these facts to help themselves find jobs.
For instance, are job seekers seeking training in the fastest growing jobs – home health aides, occupational therapists, medical sonographers, brick masonry, tile and marble setters?
Are school counselors encouraging students to seek skills to have professions as physical therapists, inter- preters, mechanical insulation workers, personal care assistants, registered nurses, software developers, cus- tomer service representatives, medical secretaries, and STEM related careers (science, technology, engi- neering, and mathematics)?
We suggest no child should graduate from high school without being exposed to or trained for a skilled job.
According to reports, there are 6.2 million job open- ings, and 7 million unemployed in America. Sadly, those people who are unemployed don’t possess the skills needed to fill the jobs that are available.
Over 40 percent of the available jobs pay less than $15.50 per hour, but more than 6 percent of those jobs are STEM jobs and are continuing to grow.
This means that we need to start pushing for more STEM and career-oriented training in urban public schools to expose young people to the new wave of jobs early in their lives.
We can break the cycle of poverty if we plan to steer our children into training programs to fill high paying jobs.
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