Obfuscate
A Sunday editorial in the Plain Dealer was a masterpiece of obfuscation. It concerned a rift within the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, and admonished party loyalists to play nice together in the political sandbox. The problem is, the editorial was completely one-sided.
The writer of the editorial took issue with a black east-side politician doing something that white west-side politicians have done for years and years: Corralling votes along racial lines — in other words, playing the name game.
The glaring example of how it’s played is the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Bench where 31 of the 33 judges are white, in spite of the fact one-third of the residents of the county are other than white. How does this happen, election after election?
Block voting by west-siders, primarily Irish, is the culprit. While blacks regularly invite whites into their community events, churches, block and ward club meetings and give them support, for the most part that kind of behavior hasn’t been reciprocated.
In spite of white west-side Democrats giving lip service to diversity, the fact remains that when it comes down to endorsing and supporting black candidates — judicial and otherwise — their track record is horrible. Yet the PD never takes them to task for their shortcomings.
If a black east-side politician (who actually is a Republicrat, not a Democrat) gets endorsers to vote along racial lines, one has to wonder how he learned to do that. Blacks, no matter how much we might complain or shine a spotlight on the problem, cannot bring about change; white Democrats have to live up to the ideals their party publically espouses.
Ignore
For the last couple of years there’s been an uptick in the number of white organizations around town putting on Black History Month events, and on the surface I’d say that’s fantastic. But please, while I don’t pretend to be a spokesperson for all blacks, quite a few people I’ve spoken with would rather these organizations simply ignore us and not attempt to do February events celebrating black accomplishments if they are going to be done so haphazardly and on the cheap.
It seems as if these organizations are simply attempting to throw something together so they can check off a box, to be able to say “Yes” if anyone questions them about doing such events. If these organizations and institutions don’t have a qualified black person on staff — and a few don’t have any blacks at all on staff — and they still want to honor blacks in February, there are a number of local, black-owned events and marketing outfits that can assist them in putting together something that everyone can be proud of — something that doesn’t come off quite so cheesy. I can provide names.
Switzerland Has a Better Idea
In the U.S., where addicts are forced into back alleys where they have to purchase drugs of unknown purity or power, the death toll continues to mount annually and now stands at 64,000 for 2016. Contrast that to Switzerland, where addicts can go to safe injection sites and be provided with controlled amounts of pure drugs, and the annual death toll is zero — as in zilch, none. And just in case you haven’t noticed, Switzerland hasn’t devolved into Sodom and Gomorrah simply because it engages in “harm reduction”, a policy that places the lives of individuals above the desire of the state to punish. Fortunately, in states where marijuana is legal, the death rate is falling.
From CoolCleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author at http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.