“Our only hope is to control the vote.” Medgar Evers, 1963
Much talk after the elections this year and the “new” Progressive movement takeover. I’m leery of labels generally but crazy about them in political conversation. Really when it comes down to a Conservative, Liberal or Independent, female or male, Black or White they all worship the god called money. Was Cory Booker as Mayor of Newark making a difference for the majority underclass of the city, or just the elite and outside deep pockets that steered him into the Senate? A Clinton rainmaker is now Governor of Virginia. Does this Democratic win only setup the state for Hillary 2016 or will Terry McAuliffe govern for the masses?
Let’s keep it real most reasonable people understood, during his two terms, Bill Clinton wasn’t the first Black president regardless of what comedian Chris Tucker said. Unfortunately it took Clinton’s welfare reform and terrible concessions to the financial industry before folks ears started to ring. Likewise, the sprint to label America post racial the day after President Obama’s 2008 victory was both premature and dangerous.
I felt deja-vu after hearing a report that Ken Burns, the film maker, said the newly elected “progressive” mayor of New York Bill de Blasio would settle the long running city disrespect of those young men wrongly accused in The Central Park Five case. Burns certainly has invested in this possibility with his wonderful documentary on the subject but only de Blasio’s moral compass will prove out in the end. He knows what should be done and if a settlement does not include punishing those who profited from the travesty than no matter the monetary judgement, it would be a shallow victory for the people.
So the Home of the Free continues to be dominated by a two-party system in which the majority of people eligible to participate do not (some precincts reported a less than 40% turnout). In Westchester County New York District Attorney Janet DiFiore ran unopposed even after her office dismissed at least two cases of suspect police killings. She ran on the Democratic, CONSERVATIVE, and Working Family lines. All this after switching from the Republican Party to the Democrat Party in 2007.
Besides their history you can tell a lot about a politician by who they hang out with. President Obama foretold his policy making at the time his cabinet was selected. After meeting with Bloomberg word is the mayor-elect believes mayoral control of the NYC Department of Education should continue.
What defines a progressive agenda? Will the promise of ending Stop & Frisk be fulfilled? Who will be tapped as the Chancellor of Education and does it make a difference?
The next Police Commissioner of New York City? Surely a person with fresh ideas and without biases can be found but is such a search even possible?
Now that appointment will speak volumes.
“Signed…An Educated Brother!”
aneducatedbrother 