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Editorials/Columns
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It’s Just So Obvious
ftentimes when Black
people bring up the issue of race as it pertains to the treatment (mistreatment may be a more appropriate de- scription) they receive when dealing with businesses or members of law enforcement there is always a segment of the population that attempts to eliminate skin color or ethnic- ity as a factor in the equation. But, every once in a while, a sit- uation presents itself that places on full display how much differently American law enforcement handles a white problem as opposed to a Black one.
A prime example of this dis- parity transpired last weekend when a group of armed individ- uals decided to take over a fed- eral wildlife refuge building in Oregon. Apparently, the "mili- tants," as they're being de- scribed in the media, decided to occupy the structure as a show of support for local ranchers who they believed were deprived of land owner- ship by the U. S. government.
When the story first caught my attention last Saturday all I could think about was how the incident would eventually play
itself out? With the anxiety sur- rounding the threat of terror- ism at an all time high, I just knew that the feds and local au- thorities would have zero toler- ance for anyone taking this kind of aggressive action, espe- cially on federal property.
I mean these were "armed" extremists who, by all accounts, weren't preparing to go peace- fully. One of the occupiers who was interviewed even alluded to the level he was willing to go by telling a reporter, "I was born and raised in the outdoors of the country. I don't plan on spending the rest of my days inside of a concrete box."
Surely this type of aggression would prompt a response at least equivalent to what we wit- nessed in cities like Ferguson and Baltimore right? Wrong.
Instead of swooping in and swiftly dealing with the situa- tion as we've seen so many times before, the approach this time has been to engage in a peaceful standoff. The tank that we saw patrolling the streets among unarmed protesters in Missouri still hasn't made its way to the Pacific Northwest.
I can only assume that, the way they see it, a few white
guys with assault rifles taking over a piece of federal property and threatening violence on law enforcement personnel is still not as dangerous to the American way of life as any Black person who has the nerve to exercise his or her constitu- tional rights within the con- fines of the law.
The irony of this ordeal is in- escapable. And it becomes es- pecially disturbing when you consider that, if the situation involved a contingency of armed Black men pulling the same stunt, the saga would have ended the same day that it started with ATF agents storm- ing the premises, exchanging gunfire and killing a group of "gun-toting, radicalized, ISIS inspired, terrorist, thugs." At least that's how it would have been relayed through news services.
Of course, what we're seeing shouldn't be that much of a surprise. It just stands as fur- ther proof, for those who need it, that police officers actually are capable of restraining themselves from using exces- sive force. Which means, when they shoot and kill unarmed Black men or women without cause, they're doing exactly what they intended.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Company. Anyone wishing to contact Clarence Barr can email him at: realityonice@- yahoo.com.
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Increased Fairness In Retail Employment In 2016
little recognized 2015 NAACP report called atten- tion to the income disparity between Black Ameri- cans, Latin-Hispanic Americans and White Americans,
especially in the retail industry.
The report found that retail employers paid Black and
Latino full-time workers only 75 percent of the wages paid to white workers. In addition, Black and Latino workers were overrepresented in positions with the lowest pay and least stability. More specifically, Black and Latino workers were underrepresented in supervisory positions such as managers and first-line supervisors.
According to the NAACP, Black retail workers were found to be overrepresented in the lowest-paid jobs in the retail industry and were “more likely to be working poor than their white counterparts.”
We do not believe such disparities apply only to the re- tail industry, but are characteristic of many other labor groups. This workforce phenomenon can be rectified eas- ily and must become a priority of the retail industry throughout the nation in 2016. The term “Happy New Year” must be more than three words. In the retail indus- try, it must be a financial garment that fits all.
And The President Wept
hirty to forty years ago, every mischievous school-
child knew it by heart and if pressed by a teacher, could readily recite the shortest verse in the King James Version Bible: “Jesus wept.”
Here recently, more modern school-children may latch on to another equally economic quip when the teacher comes to call: “President Obama wept.” Though John 11:35 may be a far cry from The United States Constitu- tion, Second Amendment, the impassioned cry made by a grief-stricken-yet-ever-more-determined president im- ploring America to put down its guns.
But what happened after President Obama wiped tears from his eyes as he listed the sites and statistics of the greatest democracy in the world whose yearly record of gun-violence trumped the number of American dead dur- ing the Vietnam War?
What followed was enough to make any sane man or woman weep in disbelief.
For, no sooner had the President ended his speech, which included what America should do to heal itself from gun-poison, Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio announced that if he became president, he [Marco] would undo everything his predecessor had done . . . So said madman and leading contender Donald Trump as well as others in that long line of knee-jerk Conservatives, almost as if what caused their revulsion was not the com- plexion of Pres. Obama’s words, but was the color of his father.
Meanwhile, in the background of the President’s tears were the words of the late Rev. Dr. M. L. King, Jr., who the President quoted, “We need to feel the urgency of now.”
So, what does one do when the leader of the free world weeps for common sense and human safety? If we have any sense at all, we weep, too.
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