Thoughts After Reading "Can My Children Be Friends with White People?"

My thoughts after reading Professor Ekow N. Yankah's  op-ed in the "New York Times":

Clinton-era politics led to the "three-strikes policy" which flooded our prisons with non-criminal drug possession convicts, many of whom were African-Americans and other minorities.  The Clinton Administration hurt the very people they were claiming to represent when elected.  This is a sad truth, and the blame needs to rest with those responsible for creating and enacting this failed policy.  Thankfully, the Justice Department under the Obama Administration began taking strong measures to rectify this situation and many drug possession convicts were released with time served.  Hopefully, the government also enacted programs designed to help these first-time offenders re-engage successfully within society once again. We owe them that much.  Furthermore, I see no indications that the Trump Administration plans to revert back to this failed policy of drug possession incarceration once again.  As for the Trump Administration's response to the current opioid epidemic, we have different leaders at the helm.  Our leaders today, in 2017, have clearly learned from past mistakes in dealing with drug epidemics.  I would venture that an ability to learn from our past mistakes is the reason for the differing approach to the current opioid drug problem.

What happened in Charlottesville VA, over the summer, was sad to be certain, but this single event of a small group of Neo-Nazi's exercising their right to free --albeit a misguided free-- speech was not indicative of the sentiment of racial equality held by the majority of Americans across this diverse nation.  The loss of an innocent life, Heather Heyer, at the hands of one crazy madman is unthinkable and incredibly tragic, but witness as a shining counter-point the hundreds of thousands of people who came out in support of counter-protests celebrating racial equality, across the nation, over the weekend following the Charlottesville tragedy.  At the end of the day, we are stronger together than we will ever be divided.

As for the election and "joblessness", I must have missed the statistics which prove conclusively it was only white people who were hurting, economically speaking, with low-stagnant wages and high unemployment?  Donald Trump spoke to all Americans who were hurting in this respect, not just the 'white ones'.  Witness the numbers which show that Trump received an 8% increase the African-American vote, the highest ever of any Republican Party candidate to date.

I have not heard President Trump say anything that was overtly racist, but that is my perception.  I can see how others might perceive some of what he says to be racist, but taking things a step further I do not see Trump's actions backing up this claim of 'racism'.  Witness, just today, how President Trump put his own neck on the line in order to call Chinese President Xi to ask him for a favor in releasing the three UCLA basketball players who had been arrested on shop-lifting charges (a charge that can carry up to a 10 year prison sentence in China).  Now, I may not like the way President Donald J. Trump says things, often blurting out the first --often unrefined-- thing that happens to chance across his mind, some of which can be perceived as hurtful and degrading, but I take heart in the notion that for the first time in well over a decade we seem to have transparency back in the White House once again.  That's truly incredible, to my way of thinking  [Not to mention crucial to getting America "back up on its feet once again", both economically as well as geo-politically speaking]!  With President Trump, like it or not:  What you See is What you Get.  Call me crazy, but I keep hope that once President Trump gets his sea-legs --keep in mind, Trump is NOT A POLITICIAN-- he'll work on curtailing some of the negative rhetoric in the way he chooses to convey his thoughts and ideas to the American people.  That being said, words aside, if jobs are coming back to America, energy costs are coming down, ISIS has been dealt a death-blow (no longer holding any of its former 'caliphate' territories or the oil revenue-generating fields) and the Congress is attempting to revamp an unfair, overly complex and outdated tax code in order to bring jobs back from overseas, encourage American job creation and investment in American businesses, as well as giving "we the [hard-working] people" a tax-cut, then I simply cannot subscribe to the narrative that America is going to "hell and a hand-basket."  Numbers don't lie???  Perceptions can be skewed, but not so the numbers.

As for police brutality and NFL protests, instead of searching for reasons to divide, why not be pro-active and use your 'celebrity' status to begin some meaningful conversations in your own hometowns? Why not hold a press conference explaining your protest? Hold a meeting with your local law enforcement to discuss issues and possible solutions. Maybe organize a pro-football ride-along with cops out on patrol in order to see things from another point of view.  Meaningful actions make a greater impact than mere symbolic gestures.

What is it my therapists so often say, "Regret and focusing on the negative aspects of the past is just the past continuing to control you and the choices you think you have in the present."  If we want things to truly change in this nation, with respect to perceptions surrounding racial equality, then at some point we absolutely have to find a way to keep the negative in our past from controlling us in the present.  Learning valuable lessons from our past is not to be mistaken with allowing the past to control or limit us in the choices we can make in the present moment.

No comments: