Page 5 - Florida Sentinel 4-8-16 Edition

Editorials/Columns
FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN
(USPS 202-140)
2207 21st Avenue, Tampa Florida 33605 • (813) 248-1921 Published Every Tuesday and Friday By
FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHING Co., Member of National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA)
S. KAY ANDREWS, PUBLISHER
C. BLYTHE ANDREWS III, PRESIDENT/CONTROLLER ALLISON WELLS-CLEBERT, CFO
GWEN HAYES, EDITOR
IRIS HOLTON, CITY EDITOR
BETTY DAWKINS, ADVERTISING DIRECTOR HAROLD ADAMS, CIRCULATION MANAGER TOYNETTA COBB, PRODUCTION MANAGER LAVORA EDWARDS, CLASSIFIED MANAGER
Subscriptions-$44.00-6 Months Both Editions: $87.00-Per Year Both Editions.
Opinions expressed on editorial pages of this newspaper by Columnists or Guest Writers, do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of The Florida Sentinel Bulletin or the Publisher.
Pres. Obama, It’s All Your Fault
ecently, some terror-
ists executed a plan to do some serious bombing in the country of Belgium. So heinous was the terrorist act until 34 people were killed and 270 were injured. These numbers are numbers that can be accounted for. Some of the injured are near death.
The bombings took place in the airport and a train sta- tion. The terrorist cell that did the terrible deed con- sisted of three men. There were two brothers who killed themselves in the blast. The third man ran away and his whereabouts are unknown at this time.
A cab driver who drove the death-struck animals and their bombs to their destina- tion was able to lead the po- lice to their house. And where were you Mr. Presi- dent? Yeah Mr. Barack Obama, I am talking to you. The Republicans told us all about you.
With all the death and de-
struction taking place, you were in Cuba watching a damn baseball game. The Republicans said you don’t even like baseball. Many of them said they would have rushed back here. I can imagine that the Republicans would have rushed off to Bel- gium and healed the sick, buried the dead, repaired the damage and captured every living soul connected to the evil act.
Then they would have put them on Air Force One and flew them to Guantanamo Bay. Once they got them there, they would torture them until they told on every terrorist they ever knew whether they were alive or dead. Then. They would hurry out and capture the live ones in a day or so.
The Republicans had done a fine job they would tell themselves
After a brief celebration, it was back to America for Generals McCain, Gra-
ham, Kasich, Trump and Cruz to await the next bombing.
Ha, ha, ha Mr. Obama, I bet you can’t do any of that. You should take a lesson from McCain and his crew. You know, they are always telling the world how you should handle the business of this country. You know those fellows already think you are a weak president when it comes down to for- eign affairs.
ISIS is much stronger, equipped, organized and more dangerous than the world had thought.
General Graham and the rest of his Republican presidential wannabes have a plan. They want to put troops on the ground to fight ISIS, but they are afraid you would drop a bomb on the troops.
Okay Republicans, wake up from your day dreams and realize that none of this is true. Republicans are thinking and talking like they always do, that is talking loud and saying nothing.
Mr. Obama, President Obama you were elected by the people to run this Country. Continue to run it and damn the anti-Obama Republicans.
POSTMASTER: Send Address Change To: Florida Sentinel Bulletin,
P.O. Box 3363 Tampa, FL 33601 Periodical Postage Paid At Tampa, FL
C. Blythe Andrews 1901-1977 (1945)
C. Blythe Andrews, Jr. 1930-2010 (1977)
Three Black Girls
f the three teenage girls who recently lost their lives at
the bottom of a St. Petersburg retention pond, a friend lamented, “The image they have set for the girls is not true.” Who is “they,” we wondered? And what was it that they were saying that seemed not to be true about three Black girls, two 15 and one 16, who decided one night to live dangerously, got picked up by a questionable character who stopped off at a Tampa Walmart while leaving his car running, only to return and discover that the trio had taken off with his vehicle?
So, what are “they” saying about Ashaunti Butler (15), Do- minique Battle (16), and Laniya Miller (15) that isn’t true? Are they saying the girls’ self-destruction was their own fault?
Remembers a friend, “They were actually very caring girls . . . They actually changed a whole lot and came a long way.” But just how long was the way they came, and how many were the life-stops they made? Laniya’s father said he was at a loss. “She was a good kid,” he said. “I just want to know what happened.” Regardless of the fact that each of the three girls had criminal records, came from broken homes, and often skipped school, their destiny was a mystery . . . really? How could we be so naïve?
And what are “they” saying . . . the voices without faces who always say so much? They’re saying, “There go three more Black babies, dead before their prime . . . three more girls plowed under by a misguided sense of free-will. Who killed them? They killed themselves.
But though the voices weren’t there (or should we say be- cause the voices weren’t there) when the girls died, the voices (our voices) passed judgment. Indeed, their deaths remind us of a Czechoslovakian word “Litost,” which means “I will kill myself, and you will be sorry.”
A Banana In The Tailpipe
hen I first saw the
images in the news- paper of the African American themed sculptures, photos and paintings erected inside of the newly renovated Perry C. Harvey Sr. Park, I was very impressed. It wasn't hard to tell that the artists responsible for the exhibits instilled a tremendous amount of care
and love into their work.
I am sure that with its uniqueness the park will gar- ner a lot of attention from everyone who visits the city. But, while many people are viewing the creative architec- ture as a wonderful homage to the rich history of Blacks in Tampa, I can't help but visu- alize it as something else en- tirely..... a glib memorial to the community and culture that was destroyed for the
sake of "progress."
I know that what I'm about
to say probably won't be re- ceived very well by the indi- viduals who helped to make this new improved version of Harvey Park a reality. But, the
truth of the matter is that, what we perceive as a sincere dedication to our past is, more than likely, the result of a con- cession made by the develop- ers to help make sure the plan went through smoothly. A project that everyone involved believed was necessary to construct in order to lessen the sting and take attention away from the gentrification of the area.
Make no mistake about it, even though the park has an aesthetic quality that seems to speak to the people familiar with the neighborhood's background, the overall goal was to create something that the residents who are coming later will enjoy. Much in the same way that the YMCA on Palm Ave. wasn't opened for the population who initially called that section of town home.
The so called "yuppies," who will eventually be roller skating to and from work and walking to baseball and hockey games while occupy-
ing this valuable piece of east- ern downtown real estate in the next 15 years, won't hold Harvey Park in reverence. To them it will be something sim- ilar to a dinosaur museum, a place where they'll be fasci- nated by what they see, but also thankful that it no longer exists.
The biggest travesty of this fantastic redevelopment con being pulled on the people is that the individuals in the know, the ones who the com- munity trusts to play it straight with them, are actu- ally going along with the illu- sion. Making sure that nobody peep the trap doors and the props with the strings attached.
I suppose the fact that no one is being completely hon- est about what's really going on shouldn't be too surpris- ing. After all, when a billion dollars in contracts is being circulated, there exists a hell of an incentive for a person to keep his mouth shut and his eyes focused in a different di- rection.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Com- pany. Anyone wishing to contact Clarence Barr can email him at: thereal- cbarr2@ yahoo.com.
Spring Earth Alert
ince the winter alert, many things have happened to
our environment and revised warnings have been is- sued by environmental scientists and experts. For those of you who own waterfront property, revised predictions of ris- ing sea-levels indicate that oceans could rise as much as 3 or 4 feet by 2100. Already, our eastern coastal cities St. Augus- tine, Miami Beach, Washington, D. C., Cape May, N. J., Wilm- ington, N.C., etc. – face frequent tidal flooding as a result of climate change. By the year 2100, it is possible that many of our coastal cities will have to be abandoned.
For those of you who care about the future food supply for our children and grandchildren, global warming and evolu- tion are reshaping the bodies of some American bumblebees, a new study finds.
In essence, the tongues of several species of bumblebees have become 25 percent shorter “because flowers where the long tongue is required have dwindled.” Moreover, corn and wheat crop yields are slowing, food prices are raising, and fish catches in some areas are projected to fall by between 40 to 60 percent.
Toxic air pollution in China, India, France, and Britain have resulted in cities in these countries banning the use of cars and/ or closing manufacturing plants because of emis- sions. Considering the fact that carbon dioxide is increasing at a record rate (100 times faster than in past years), replac- ing burning of coal, oil, and gas with clean energy fuels has
reached a critical level.
Therefore, to our conservative colleagues who continue to suffer from “Ostrich-Fever”
(better known as “burying one’s head in the sand”), we have one piece of advice: Wake up and smell the coffee before it turns to crude oil.
FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 2016 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 5-A
R
O
S
W