The 2016 Circus Has Begun!!!!

Ted Cruz for President

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas

I watched in stunned and begrudging admiration today as Ted Cruz launched his run for the 2016 presidential nomination.  From my perspective as an African-American, Christian woman who believes in the freedom of speech and expression just as much as the next person, and even more than some, I am truly amazed and I can’t help but wonder at the consequences of a Ted Cruz win.  He coined the slogan “Imagine” numerous times in his speech.  

He artfully choreographed a speech targeted at a red-meat , ultra-conservative crowd, that was in many ways acutely tuned into all the catch-phrases and  rhetoric that is aimed at raising their collective ire getting rid of the guy in the White House. 

Indeed, I too echo the term Imagine in response to his call for support!  Imagine a country where Ted Cruz was our president.  A country where compromise and cooperation were despised, where no rules or traditions applied except winning the next election!  Where political one-ups-man-ship comes first always!  Where opposition to thoughts other than your own are opposed at all costs to the jeopardy of the common man-citizen.  Where no pain is too great for the country to suffer through as long as it opposes the person in the White House who is deemed inappropriate because of his skin color, belief systems, or political party, and who is demeaned at every turn., for any public position.   Imagine a country where the most vulnerable are forced to suffer just so a political party can make a point.  Imagine a country where the national parks and other federal services are arbitrarily shut down based on the political whim of politicians wanting to force budget issues. 

Imagine a country where there is no respect for duly elected authority.  Imagine a country where open, traitorous practices are tolerated based solely on the unacceptable race or ethnicity of the President.  Imagine a country where unprecedented rudeness at the SOTU is not only allowed but anticipated.  Imagine a country where the EPA, the Post Office, the Department of Labor, and any other federal agencies that are geared to protect our human rights and the environment, are targeted for destruction. 

Imagine a country where you can freely and actively undermine the strategies of the sitting US government and the legitimately elected President of the U.S.,  without waiting for your elected turn to impose your will on not only the country but the world.    Where you can say any racist thing about your president or colleagues with no consequences, either ethically or politically.  Imagine that country and tell me it is better that what we have now!  Imagine that country and tell me you would like it!  If so, then enthusiastically go and vote for Ted Cruz.

Violence and disrespect

The Modeling Starts at the Top!

Everyone does it!

Why are we shocked at the violence in our society and the blatant disrespect for any level of authority (fellow citizens, police, the President).  The kids learn it from their elders and I do mean their elders – the elder statesmen who are elected to run our country for the good of all it’s citizens.  There is no indecency that is out of bounds today to demean the president and his office.  The elders in Washington lead the way, where everything is about politics and one-ups-man-ship and anything to win.  No decisions are made these days with you and I in mind.  When politicians overtly work to overturn the policies that the president feels will work to benefit not only our country, but the world.  When politicians overtly delay the next cabinet nomination without just cause and no legitimate dissent.  When politicians overtly call the president a liar.  When politicians overtly write letters to other nations undermining the work of our state department.  When politicians overtly invite foreign leaders to come to speak to the governing houses of this nation in order to undermine a deal that neither they, or none of us really know anything about.  When politicians overtly vote 50 + times to overturn a healthcare law that is the law of the land instead of working vigorously to make it better! 

When politicians overtly seek to go back to a time when voting rights were challenged, women aren’t smart enough to make their own decisions and they don’t remember that there is indeed separation of church and state.  When politicians govern by deadline, blackmail and hijacking. 

I have not always liked or admired every president during my lifetime, but I always respected his office and position.  I was an educator for 30 years and today I feel that the ideals and platitudes I espoused to my thousands of students (a large number of whom were Arican-American, Asian and Hispanic) over the years were really untruths.  I remember saying repeatedly, year after year, "What a wonderful country we live in!   If you do well in school and work hard you can do anything you want to do in the US – even be president.”  I believe in free speech and freedom of expression just as much as the next person, but this current version is not the America I have loved and admired.  It is indeed becoming a lot like a circus, to be polite.

Surviving Being Black in America

There is something wrong in America!  I was actually born a flag waving patriotic baby!  I love the United States of America.  I was taught from birth to love and revere the country I was born in.  This was taught to me by my parents.  I literally spent 1/7th of my first two years at Sawtelle Veterans Hospital in the Westwood section of Los Angeles.    Every Sunday was spent there visiting my Uncle, Eddie DeQuir, a veteran of WW1.  Uncle Eddie was a French speaking Louisianan, who had been gassed in the trenches of France where he served as an infantryman and interpreter.  This service to his country had left him broken as well as leaving his body riddled with rheumatism.  He never fully recovered.  We went to see him every Sunday of the first two years of my life and continued to do so on a regular basis until he died in 1965.  Our family thought of Uncle Eddie as a war hero.  But I forget, he was black, so that can't be!

I spent three decades as an educator teaching students and even other educators the importance of believing that the American Dream lives on and must be inherent in every child's life and mind so that we could encourage them to do their best to try to achieve at their highest level.  But I forget, some of those children were black, so that can't really be.  There is something wrong in America.  

We have a president who is half African-American, and that mere fact has caused a an elected body of legislators to literally stop governing and instead concentrate all their efforts to put up resistance to any and everything this president proposes or even suggests.  Overt racism and discrimination has taken the cover of the new Jim Crow symbolized by the actions of groups like Alec, sponsored the Koch brothers, and the Republican secretaries of state who have brought back voter discrimination laws in their many not so well disguised laws.  It is back in the words of the Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts who said in his ruling that America has changed.  It indeed has, but why.  Because there were laws written to ensure that this discrimination could be identified and prosecuted.  But I forgot, the victims of the discrimination are black or Hispanic, so that can't really count can it?

A seventeen year old boy in Florida is shot while walking in his Dad's neighborhood.  He is unarmed and doing nothing wrong.  He is walking in the rain, going home.  He looks suspicious because he is African-American and wearing a dark colored hoodie.  Somehow, this makes him look like a suspect to a man who sees him as he is driving by.  Unfortunately for the seventeen year old, this man is head of the neighborhood watch program and he is armed with a 9mm gun, fully loaded and has one in the chamber.   His skin is black and he certainly has no right to be there in the Retreat at Twin Lakes.  Right?  The man has a driving desire to protect his community.  Even though he  has called the police to alert them and he has been told not to follow the 'suspect',  he and his gun get out of his car and at some point confronts the seventeen year old.  By his own admission the man never identifies himself as a member of neighborhood watch.  Subsequently, the man shoots and kills the seventeen year old boy.   This all happened 17 months ago in Seminole County Florida.  The case came to national attention when four months had passed before the shooter was actually taken into custody and charged with anything.  President Barack Obama commented publicly that if he had a son, he would look like the seventeen year old boy.  The whole country has been watching to see what the outcome would be.  Again, the observers are mostly separated along racial lines.  The seventeen year old boy and his reputation has been demonized and depicted as a criminal thug by the defense.  The last person who was speaking with the seventeen year old boy just before he died, has been demeaned and depicted as dumb by one of the defense attorneys both in the court room and on twitter along with his two daughters.  There is something wrong in America!

The case has been adjudicated and six women (all white) found enough reasonable doubt that allowed them to to find the man not guilty.  Not innocent, but not guilty.  I don't believe the criminal justice system failed the seventeen year old boy and his family.  I think it did it's best under the circumstances.

The circumstances were brought home to me vividly when I received the following e-mail from someone I consider a friend.  We are totally different in our political orientation (he is ultra conservative, and I am God-fearing liberal, almost sometimes to the point of being radical).  We like and respect each other and have a love of photography in common.  I want you to see the email (see below) and tell me what you think.  Tell me what I should think.  With this kind of thinking from people I had considered rationale, how do you Survive being Black in America.  I welcome your comments!!!
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Unfortunnately, I had to remove the e-mail and photo because it had been desecrated!!!!!
..............................

Lies

Everyone abhors lies and liars right?  Everyone lies?  Even if they set out to be totally honest in their interactions with others, at some point individuals will inadvertently tell a lie, either through carelessness, misunderstanding or by the convenient omission of the truth.

In my own personal life I strive to always tell the truth because I really never want to be found to be incorrect when spouting off my opinion or facts that I have somehow ascertained.  I expect people I deal with in business and my personal life to be equally honest and truthful.    I especially hope that our elected official and candidates for office will be truthful and honest and display the highest level in integrity in their communications with their constituents.  I know some of them have proven to be more than humanly fallible and failed the American people miserably (i.e. Richard Nixon, John Edwards, Bill Clinton, Sarah Palin, etc.,). 

So, I have a question for you.  How can it be that one of the leading candidates currently campaigning to lead our country is found and proved to be lying every single day of the campaign?  I recently read a great article sent to me by my friend Holly, written by Michael Cohen who writes on guardian.co.uk.  He meticulously spells out the pattern of lies that Mitt repeats daily, despite being disproved or disavowed by credible authorities.  It hasn’t stopped Mitt one little bit.  To read the entire (rather lengthy ) article go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/21/mendacious-mitt-romney-bid-liar-in-chief?INTCMP=SRCH

Also see Rachel Maddow’s blog community page and compare the data compiled by Steve Benen, a blogger and producer. http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/01/12010806-chronicling-mitts-mendacity-vol-xx?lite

When asked how he gets away with it, Benen replies, "Romney gets away with it because he and his team realize contemporary political journalism isn't equipped to deal with a candidate who lies this much, about so many topics, so often."

Romney is charting new and untraveled waters in American politics. In the process, he is cynically eroding the fragile sense of trust that exists between voters and politicians. It's almost enough to make one pine for the days when Sarah Palin lied about "the Bridge to Nowhere".

How long will the media give Romney a pass?  How long will he go against the very standards of his own church that purportedly values honesty?  Is the church expendable as long as he gets the presidency that he feels so entitled to?   How long will his nose actually get?

Too Much!!!!

When is too much too much?  When is it way over the top?   Where did the respect go?  Respect for our fellow citizens, for each other, for elected officials, for the Office of the President of the United States?

It starts at the top when someone in authority or aspiring to power pretends not to hear a derogatory comment or they choose to interpret it as harmless and inconsequential.  When the so called leader refuses to refute or even repudiate a slur or accusation that is basically an out and out lie, they are in essence giving credence to the lie.  The enormous amount of race-baiting and racist inuendo in our country's politics is alarming.  "The president is a Muslim"; Black people want to just lounge on the safety net built by hard working White Citizens".  "Black youth are all strong and dangerous to White people in particular - you had better buy a gun to protect yourself when they inevitably will come to car-jack your vehicle.  You can always through the gun away later and claim self-defense."  These last words come from the writings of a current presidential candidate (Ron Paul).  "I don't want to take money away from hardworking white people and give it to Black people"- Rick Santorum.  When Chuck Grassley of Iowa calls the president stupid in Social media,  or Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina yells out 'You Lie' during the State of the Union speech in January 2009.

The loss of decency in our  civil discourse does indeed trickle down.  If people at the top don't need to refrain from derogatory comments about our leaders, then why do we as individual citizens need to do likewise?  It's open season on name-calling, lying through our teeth, and casting aspersions on the 'other side'.  The blatant disrespect shown by Joe Wilson was so enamored by gun lovers that the line has been commemorated on a line of AR-15 assault rifles by being etched on the metal plate.


As a former teacher, I recall all too clearly how name calling and bullying almost invariably lead to fisticuffs if not out and out violence on the playground.  Quite often it spilled out into the community following the dismissal of school.   My perspective today is that the harsh, vitriolic language being used at the higher echelons of our political rapport is rubbing off and spilling out on all of us as American,  and we have no one to hold us accountable because the leaders are so engrossed themselves in one-ups-manship in an effort to make the other guy or other side look bad, they can't restrain themselves long enough to caution us on the dangers of deriding and denigrating each other.  What is to really be won when in effect you will end up with a populace incapable of being governed peacefully or bi-partisanly?  Is our future to be based totally on who can call out the worst and loudest names or challenges.  Have the most derogatory commercials.  Tell the most lies.  On who can tarnish the reputation and character of the other guy the most?  


Have we totally forgotten how that diverse group of founding fathers worked together, sometimes against their own interests, to bring together a nation founded on ideals that would benefit all of it's citizens, not just the privileged or wealthy?  We haven't reached the pinnacle of that dream yet, and we never will if we can only look forward to name-calling and destructive dialogue, rather than holding our elected leaders accountable for being the best they can be, as well as doing what is best for all of their constituents.  

Decisions and Actions

Part 1

This is an exciting time in my life.  It gives me pause to reconsider many of the decision and actions I have taken over the course of 65-plus years.  I have so many regrettable decisions, but I also have a million good ones that I consider with awe. 

When you are eighteen and just leaving high school, you literally have the world ahead of you.  It's a big, unknown, scary world that you are going to be asked to navigate by yourself.  Forge the way for your future without the wise leadership of your wise parents (funny, how they didn’t always seem so wise in the not too distant past) and family?

So many questions…

·      What kind of job?

·      Should I still continue to go to school?

·      Should I get married soon, while I am still young?

·      Will I still stay in this community that has nurtured me?

·      Will my friends remain a part of my life?

·      Literally, where do I go from here?

·      Should I get married or not?

One thing seems obvious – you’re lucky enough to be in Southern California, Sooooo, let’s go to the beach!!!!  No problem.

Today, I approach decisions and actions from a totally new perspective.  Unfortunately, it still involves fear.  It is scary to contemplate the waning years of your life knowing that resources (mainly money) will be more and more limited, and that energy and enthusiasm can be sapped by the day-to-day problems of a senior citizen.  While individuals and agencies that provide for health care and social needs are still available, that too is had at an alarmingly increasing cost. 

The government and agencies that we used to trust and count on for their integrity and good will toward all American citizens no longer really exists nor represents the best interests of the citizenry as a whole; but only their own few vested interests.  Representatives only want to court corporations and entities that will fill their pockets and help them get re-elected.  Our courts are tainted by political affiliations and a lack of concern for true, balanced and fair decisions that will assure justice for years to come.

I never really anticipated feeling helpless or hopeless in my life and so far I still don’t.  I can see however, how some individuals who don’t have the modest financial security or familial support that I do, might feel an overwhelming sense of powerlessness.  I feel bad that you are considered a blight on society if you are old and are in need of assistance of some kind.   It is also true if you are in need because of bad decisions that you have made at some point in your life and are now suffering (living in the) consequences.  

I feel overwhelmed by the challenges that face us as individuals and as a country.  No one is given a pass as we make decisions that will impact our children and grandchildren’s future.  We should be afraid – very afraid that our way of life will soon disappear and we will become an Oligarchy where only the very rich and powerful have control and are able to live a good life.  The American Dream in severe jeopardy….  Oh dear, what more can I do?  What more can I say?  One thing seems obvious – although I’m not still living in Southern California, I still say, let’s go to the beach!!!!  However, please understand there will be problems and consequences if that is all we do.

March against the 'War on Women'

Joyce's Photo Essay

April 28, 2012 - Denver, CO