[Letters] Vol. 6, No. 35

May 13, 2008

Uneducated Black Boys
“If I were mayor, I’d have their (young black male) asses hanging from every tree limb on the lawn at City Hall. I am 59 years old, and like the majority of older black citizens of Jackson and across this country, I hate young black males because they do not appreciate what has been done (the civil rights struggle) for them. All black people should exhibit dignity because God has truly been on our side.”—July 2006 letter from George Lambus.

I am a 61-year-old black man who will graduate May 10, 2008, from JSU with a B.S. in criminal justice. I am not a whacked-out “lefty” nor a conservative moron.

As a teenager in the early and mid-1960s, I would observe three or four rednecks riding around Jackson and I knew they were up to something—violence against blacks. I see three or four young black males today riding around in Jackson and I know they are up to something—a crime against whites or blacks.

As a 16-year-old in 1963, I was an inmate in the Missouri State Penitentiary. I will not go into details. I can be objective about crime—from the incarcerated, to the incarcerator’s point of view. I am passionate about deterring crime!

There is a generation of black males coming up now who will be uneducated, unable to find employment, unfit to be married, etc., and their only way to survive will be robbery, rape and murder. I am hard on blacks because God has been so wonderful to us and we as a race should be humble and caring. Yes, we can lay the blame for many of our troubles on whites, but no one can really make you inferior without your consent.

I ran for the state Senate in 1983 against Doug Anderson and did quite well, and I ran for a seat on the Jackson City Council in 1985, against Doris Smith. If I had won either seat, I would have used it for my politics: the politics of upheaval.

George Lambus
Jackson


Show Me Your Papers
What do you do when you show up to your polling place in November, and the poll worker asks you for proof of citizenship? That’s right, not your driver's license or state issued ID, but proof that you are a citizen of the United States. Got a copy of that document on you?

That is the latest obstacle that voter ID proponents are trying to throw at you in order to keep up the time-honored tradition of voter suppression. On outward appearances, they say it is to cut down on the illegal immigrant vote, but it is really just another in a long line of methods to suppress voter turnout by conservatives in hopes of getting more Republicans in office.

Nineteen state Legislatures have bills pending that would make this type of identification hoop-jumping a law. This is what “voter fraud” has always been about: making the voting process such a hassle that voters will figure it isn’t worth the trouble or don’t feel like being treated like dirt by officials who suspect them of being criminals on the basis of their ethnicity. I would imagine that there are a whole lot of older people who’ve never had to prove their citizenship in their lives and wouldn’t have a clue about how to go about doing it.

The whittling away at your right to vote will be one of the greatest accomplishments of the conservative movement when all is said and done. They simply don’t believe in the democratic concept of one person, one vote. Never have.

If you have not done so, go out and register to vote, and then do so. Let’s vote some people into office who will change the political landscape into something we can be proud of and not fear the voting booth and the rights you possess.

Brian Essex
Jackson

 
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posted by L.W. on 05/16/08 at 11:19 AM

posted by golden eagle on 05/16/08 at 12:55 PM