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Editorials/Columns
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Solutions Aren’t Easy
n prison you often hear
men, who have done a sig- nificant stretch of incarcera- tion, talk about how their entire lives were taken from them. Every time I lend an ear to this kind of “woe is me” con- versation I find myself remind- ing the individual that it's not exactly an accurate assessment of the situation.
The truth isn't that our lives were taken. For most of us it was more a matter of us giving our lives away.
I will be the first to admit that the cops didn't show up to my front door unannounced and demand that I go to prison. The minute I decided to break the law I, basically, gave them permission to take my freedom, my girlfriend, my house, my future plans and, since I was being so generous, I threw in the lives of my chil- dren as well. Of course, in ex- change for everything I had given them, they were kind enough to afford me years of pain and anguish.
On occasion I get asked to write about my personal expe- riences so that it could be used as a cautionary tale for young people, regardless of their eco- nomic upbringing, who find themselves lured to a life of
crime as a way to obtain quick cash. But even when I adhere to the request, much like I'm doing now, in the back of my mind I can't help but wonder, "what's really the point?"
I don't think that there's a man or woman locked up in an institution who didn't either see or hear about individuals who lived fast and fell hard while on the ever elusive chase for paper stacks. Yet, like my- self, they chose to engage in the same lifestyle anyway.
Most of them, I imagine, were persuaded by the five most misleading words to ever float inside of a person's mind.... "It can't happen to me."
The reality is that, because everyone thinks that they're smarter or more swift than everyone else, there isn't an ex- ample or story that anyone can relay that will make someone, who has already answered the call of the wild, hop back onto the porch.
Sadly, once they've chosen the path that inevitably leads to a privatized jail cell, only a severe bump to the head by a judge's gavel has the potential of knocking some sense back into them.
In a world that appears to
be hell bent on sexualizing our daughters and criminalizing our sons the only solution that I truly believe has a chance to prevent souls from being lost to the streets and, by exten- sion, save our communities, outside of allowing the court system to continue to adminis- ter their own form of disci- pline, involves every family incorporating this 4-part strat- egy: Incubate the young from the poisonous influences of pop culture, educate them on how to be financially stable from the time they are in pre- school, instill into them a sense of pride and knowledge of identity and, lastly, rinse their brains of the bleach that has whitewashed the thinking of the generations who have come before them.
If these measures seem too drastic or unrealistic, then I suggest that, going forward, we all stop complaining about the conditions we're facing and start factoring in bail money, multiple funeral costs and child care for our grandchil- dren into our annual budgets because doing anything less surely won't change a damn thing.
(Writer's note: Education is the key. Start by visit- ing www.hiddencolors- film.com).
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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C. Blythe Andrews 1901-1977 (1945)
C. Blythe Andrews, Jr. 1930-2010 (1977)
‘It’s The Right Thing To Do!’
ouring over the pages of President Barack Obama’s
most recent and final State of the Union Address, one is struck by the fact that his most compelling state- ment – a comment that he was to make again and again – seemed not to have been an official part of his printed speech. In steely-eyed repetition, at the end of every point of the plan, he said to friend and enemy alike, “It’s the right thing to do.”
When he addressed issues both global and domestic, on topics both humanitarian and technological, forever the great orator, President Obama hammered home his intention with the nail-statement, “It’s the right thing to do.”
Not only did America’s first Black Commander-In- Chief and 44th President continue to knock hard on the door of our nation’s subconscious with repeated state- ments aimed at its conscience, but he meekly compared himself to other great orators . . . voices like Lincoln, Roosevelt, King, and Kennedy, mixing not only their words, but the spirit of their visions until it seemed as if we listeners could feel the pulse of a majestic bloodline begun centuries ago during the prophecy of the First Continental Congress.
President Obama’s audience roared repeatedly, as he touched on issues specifically, despite hateful stares and stiff posture of some who could barely contain their anger. Yet, we Americans who had lived to see the glory of the prophecy of a president who would be young, gifted and Black, we sat glued to our television screens and promised ourselves to tell our grandchildren and great grandchildren of the years when History put a Black man in the White House . . . because it was the right thing to do.
Act Now To Make Anti-Poverty Tax Credits Permanent
he Earned Income Tax
Credit is the most effec- tive anti-poverty program in the United State. It both encour- ages and rewards work by al- lowing low-income workers to recoup money that otherwise would have gone to taxes. And since low-income people are more likely to spend their in- come than to save it out of ne- cessity, it is also an economic stimulus." – Alice Lieberman, Professor, University of Kansas School of Social Welfare.
With only a few weeks left in the year, Congress is debating a series of key issues for working families. One of the most im- portant is the fate of key parts of two tax credits that help millions of low-income working Ameri- cans.
The two credits — the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC) — are powerful tools that reduce
poverty and encourage and re- ward work. Together, they lift more children out of poverty than any other program, while also promoting greater mobility and opportunity for families. And, with four million African American children living in poverty today, the EITC and CTC make a critical difference in our communities.
In 2009, President Obama signed into law temporary im- provements to the credits that dramatically expand access to the CTC to very low income working families and provide additional help for some families receiving the EITC.
Although these very impor- tant improvements to both tax credits were extended in 2012, they will expire in 2017 unless Congress acts to make them per- manent.
This fall may be the best op- portunity that Congress has as it
debates legislation that could make some business tax breaks permanent. As the House and Senate consider this legislation, they cannot leave working fami- lies behind. They must make the improvements of the EITC and CTC permanent as well.
If they don’t, African Ameri- cans would be disproportion- ately harmed: two million working African American fam- ilies and 4 million children would lose an average of $1,200 per year. A single mother of two working full time at the federal minimum wage would lose every penny of her CTC.
“In many cases, these two measures are what allows work- ing families to stay in their homes,” said Don Cravins, Jr., Executive Director of National Urban League Washington Bu- reau. “The consequences of end- ing the credits would be nothing of devastating.”
In the course of these discus- sions, Congress also has a chance to address the plight of lower-income workers without kids, many of whom are left out of the EITC. Expanding the EITC to cover these workers has bipartisan support and would help promote work, could re- duce incarceration rates, and boost earnings.
Our People Need Help
nd this is what several of our staff writers saw, the
other day at a local supermarket. A car drove up in front of the store; the car door swung open (the car was a two-door coupe), out leaped a matronly woman who was obviously angry. Once out, she then demanded that a teenage girl – who seemed to have been her daughter – get out of the car.
Defensively, the teenager crawled out of the backseat to be followed by a little boy who began trembling as the older woman grabbed him by his arm as she continued yelling at him. In a rage, the older woman dragged the lit- tle boy around the front of the car, almost pushing him down to the driveway.
Finally, her daughter (?) spoke up in the little boy’s de- fense, and we were told by eye-witnesses that the older woman either struck or threatened to strike the young woman. Said our staff writers, ‘As we were leaving the parking lot, it seemed that the older woman was picking a fist fight with the one who seemed to be her daughter. Our stomachs churned.”
Just short of thievery or murder, what justification could there have been for the older woman’s loss of self- control? True, she could have had a tremendously bad day. Seeing adults behaving badly toward youngsters for whom they are supposed to be responsible is nothing new. But the fact that she was Black hurt just a little bit
more.
So, this New Year, in addition to dealing with gun-violence, millions of Black American
adults need to work on curing the cancer of personal violence. For, they are the real dan- ger to the future of an America that has forgotten anger-management. As one of our staff writers remarked as she rode slowly away from the supermarket parking lot, “Our people need help” (and Lord knows they need it now)!
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