While it’s certainly true that the mere act of voting is its own good reason for everyone to exercise the franchise, blacks have to always keep in mind the heavy price in blood and treasure our ancestors sometimes had to pay to win us the right. And this election cycle the stakes are much higher than usual.
Yet some people, for reasons they only know, are being lazy about voting. I sincerely wish someone would tell me what those reasons are.
Most of the outrageous statements Trump makes, such as building a wall,or barring members of certain religious groups from entering the country, are just that: outrageous statements. Thank god our system of checks and balances precludes a madman from winning the highest office in the land and then setting about enacting policies that destroys the Republic.
But there are some things a president can do unilaterally that can have profound and deleterious effects on the nation. Take, for example, the Department of Justice (DOJ).
When George Bush took office in 2001 he immediately went about systematically dismantling the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ to the point where that branch of the agency was little more than a sign on a door — no one except a secretary to take complaints and do nothing with them was inside.
So what happened was that consent decree cases against police departments nationwide that had been initiated under President Clinton’s administration were brought to a screeching halt. One of the cases was right here in Cleveland.
Had that case (and others around the country) been allowed to go forth there’s an excellent chance that we would not be dealing with the deaths of so many unarmed black males today because police departments in America would have been forced to reform back at the turn of the century.
This brings me to the point of why Steve Loomis is backing Trump and saying that with his election, cops would “have a friend in the White House.” One of the first acts of a Trump administration probably would be to once again gut the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ, since many of the dastardly policies he would want to put into place would result in suits being filed by individual citizens concerning civil rights violations. But if there’s no one in the office to take the complaint, what happens? Nothing.
Cops would roundly applaud the dismantling of the Civil Rights Division since it’s often the only place where blacks and other minorities that have been wronged under color of authority can turn for redress. Most rogue cops already know they will not be held accountable by local prosecutors and trial juries, and if Trump clips the wings of federal prosecutors — you guessed it, more young blacks will end up dead in the streets.
All of the folks that are outraged over police shootings need to be at the front of the line when the polls open. Now, again, will someone please tell me why he or she is planning on not voting?
From Cool Cleveland 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 again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com