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Editorials
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Let The Games Begin
ell, we've finally
made it to the main event. The showdown between a woman hardly anyone likes and a man who many consider to be a damn fool. Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump. This has to be a television network executive's biggest dream, being able to broadcast a presidential contest that in- volves the first woman ever nominated by one of the two major political parties going head-to-head with a man who's hated by almost every female in the U. S. population --- feminism against male chauvinism on the highest
level.
It is a story so unlikely to
transpire that usually, you would have to visit your local movie theater to see it unfold on the big screen. But this isn't a Hollywood production. This
is actually happening and we all have front row seats.
I predict that the next 6 months are going to be insane. With the bad blood that exists between these two candidates (at least that appears to be the image they're giving off to us), and Trump's penchant for delivering over-the-top insults on a regular basis, I see this race for the White House be- coming one of the ugliest in the history of politics.
I mean Trump has already engaged in making inappropri- ate remarks about the faces, wives and fathers of his previ- ous opponents. You have to believe that there's a "yo mama" joke up his sleeve somewhere he just can't wait to unleash.
Even though I'm pretty sure Mrs. Clinton has this one in the bag already, I plan
on watching all of the news coverage I can until November solely for the circus type at- mosphere Trump brings to the table. Where else can you find this kind of comic relief on a daily basis?
I know that the battle for the presidency isn't supposed to be taken as a joke. But Trump's buffoonery makes it this way. And if he can't take himself serious, why should we?
With a number of top Re- publicans from across the country now coming out and saying that they'll either vote for Hillary or sit this election out, I don't think an easier path could have been created for Mrs. Clinton to take con- trol of the Oval Office.
Of course, anything can happen between now and the next Super Tuesday. But some- thing tells me, with everything aligning so perfectly for the former Senator from New York, the outcome to what we're seeing now is already predetermined.
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Impact Of 2016 Presidential Campaign On Children
recent Southern Poverty Law Center survey of ap- proximately 2,000 school teachers reports the 2016 presidential campaign has had a negative impact on school children. Though the online survey was not considered sci- entific, teachers reported “the campaign is producing an alarming level of fear and anxiety among children of color and [is] inflaming racial and ethnic tensions in the class- room. [In addition,] many students worry about being de-
ported.”
According to the survey, “teachers also observed an in-
crease in the bullying, harassment, and intimidation of stu- dents whose races, religions or nationalities have been the verbal targets of certain candidates.”
More than 5,000 comments from educators reflect a deep concern in schools with high concentrations of minor- ity children. More than 66% of the teachers said “mainly im- migrants, children of immigrants, and Muslims” expressed concern or fear about what might happen to them or their families after the election. More than 50% of the teachers have seen an increase in uncivil political conversations, and more than 33% of them have observed an increase in anti- Muslim or anti-immigrant sentiments.
Words such as “fear,” “scared,” “afraid,” “anxious,” or “terrified” were used to describe the campaign’s impact on minority students while more than half of the teachers men- tioned fear of Donald Trump by name in comments made by students about deportation, building a wall, and the taunt- ing of Muslim and Latino children.
We must make sure our children feel safe while at school. We can do this by voting and making sure everyone we know also votes. Our actions must be our best teachers.
Is Section 8 Still Section 8?
ome 50 years ago, Hills-
borough County and the City of Tampa had a magnifi- cent housing program. It was called Section 8. The mass housing program was de- signed to help those who could not pay their rent, or who could not pay all of it, or in some cases, those with some other circumstances.
The Section 8 Program had rigid requirements for the pro- gram. They were really tough. First, you completed an appli- cation and provided several references. If you were ap- proved, then you were dis- cussed and provided a list of rules and regulations that must be followed. Any viola- tion would result in either sus- pension or eviction. Workers from the housing program would make visits to make sure the rules were being fol- lowed and the property was being taken care of.
The Section 8 Program I am talking about is the same one a lot of people wonder if it still exists. To the wonders I say yes. Section 8 exists, but it is not the same.
Entire neighborhoods are saying it isn’t the same. Ten- ants no longer love their prop-
erty as if it was their own. They understand that there is a need for a program that provides the services that Section 8 Pro- gram provides. They support it and want it to continue.
This does not apply in all cases. People are saying they can tell a Section 8 tenant in two weeks. They say at first, a young lady and her children move in. The next thing you know a bunch of young people show up to house. Usually they are shirtless, their pants hung below their butts, they sit on the porch or in the yard for most of the day and night.
They keep from getting bored by playing very loud and vulgar music. This goes on every day. They are unem- ployed or they dropped out of school. They don’t have a job and they aren’t looking for one.
You can tell this is the case because they are at the house all of the time. They run in and out of the house. You don’t know who lives at the house because they are there when you go to bed and they are there when you wake up.
The neighborhood is creat- ing an unwholesome and scary situation.
Residents say that they don’t want to get into a con- frontation with these lost souls, but sometimes they have to.
Residents say they stroll through the neighborhoods holding up their pants by the crotch with the back hanging below their butts. Neighbors say while they stroll with their vulgar music blasting, they al- ways litter and sometimes cause damages.
Two other things residents told me is they basically live out of fast food restaurants and whatever they can steal.
He went on to say this exact picture is how every neighborhood looks that has a Section 8 house with uncaring tenants.
If all the accusations against the program are a real problem, then it deserves look- ing into. If these accusations are true, then the answer to the question, ‘Is Section 8 Still Section 8?’ is no longer the Section 8 we used to know.
Section 8 is too important to many wonderful tenants to be labeled by these accusa- tions. The Authority should do inspections and identify the nuisance tenants and throw them out.
Tenants who don’t obey rules and regulations, or who are neighborhood brats don’t have any respect for the pro- gram.
Black Women Voters And The Democratic Party: The Cinderella Secret For 2016
L ess than a heartbeat before CNN cut to the Indiana Pri- mary’s Republican candidate’s victory speech, political commentator Van Jones made a comment that was so star- tling as to have been completely ignored by most everyone who heard it. He said, “If the Democrats win [the 2016 Pres- idential Election], it will be because of African American
women [voters].”
It immediately reminded us of Langston Hughes’ “I, Too”
poem, which proclaimed, “I, Too, sing America. I am the darker [sister]. They send me to the kitchen / When com- pany comes,/ But I laugh, and eat well, and grow strong./ To- morrow, I’ll be at the table when company comes/ Nobody’ll dare say to me, ‘Eat in the kitchen, then.’
We thought about that when we discovered “the number of Black women who turn out to vote is higher than any other demographic group in America at an astounding 70% in 2012.”
Furthermore, “no group votes more consistently Demo- cratic than do Black women.” But that’s not all.
According to political observers, “Black women (at 26.9 million eligible voters) sit at the intersection of a highly di-
verse political movement, representing at least 115 million eligible and eager Democratic bal- loters.
Writes activist Jamia Wilson, “Sisters are going to represent. [For,] in a time of urgency, we need to take urgent action.” (Hello, Beyoncé!)
By now, we all know the outcome of the Indiana Primary. But thanks to Van Jones’ wake- up-call, and Langston Hughes’ “I, Too” poem, we wait eagerly, faithfully for a sleeping Cin- derella to rise up and redeem our nation.
“Besides, they’ll see how beautiful you are and be ashamed,” because, Black Women Dem- ocratic voters, you, too, are America.
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PAGE 6-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2016