September 22, 2012 - September 28, 2012, The Afro-American
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Opinion Color at the RNC Mostly Limited to the Lectern Are mainstream media outlets doing enough to expose the hypocrisy of the Republican Party with regard to people of color and issues they care about? Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and former Alabama Rep. Artur Davis were among the long list of minority politicians featured at the 2012 Republican National Nadra Kareem Convention in August. While Nittle those who spoke there were markedly diverse, the RNC delegates were overwhelmingly White. Some media outlets reported on this racial disconnect, noting that just two percent of Republican delegates were African-American. People of color expressed concern about the GOP’s array of minority speakers even as some policies that conservatives tout are widely regarded as detrimental to minorities. Political analysts said news coverage should have noted that Republicans of color featured at the convention don’t generally represent the political views of American minority groups. Also missing in the coverage, they said, was whether minorities have influential positions in Mitt Romney’s campaign. Viviana Hurtado, the nonpartisan political writer behind The
Wise Latina Club blog, covered both conventions. Her take on seeing Latino Republicans such as Rubio was that the “face doesn’t match the base.” “There in Tampa, I didn’t see Latino representation…,” Hurtado said. Latino Republicans have won gubernatorial and congressional offices, and the GOP did discuss how Romney’s economic platform would benefit Latinos. But Hurtado says the GOP failed to address the “elefante” (elephant) in the room—immigration. Latinos are reluctant to trust the GOP on immigration given that prominent Republicans like Kris Kobach of Kansas have devised controversial legislation to crack down on unauthorized immigration. Romney has urged undocumented immigrants to “self-deport.” The mainstream media hasn’t pressured Romney to spell out his plan on immigration and didn’t stress his failure to do so during coverage of the convention. If more Latinos held positions of power in mainstream media, coverage may have highlighted that fact, Hurtado said. Republican political consultant Raynard Jackson criticized both parties. He says the GOP is unlikely to attract voters of color by featuring diverse convention speakers. “It was a stupid strategy,” he says. “It’s not going to provide any dividends. It’s insulting.” Jackson says the media should have examined how many people of color hold influential positions in Romney’s campaign. The candidate has no people of color controlling his campaign budget or exercising authority over others. During the GOP convention, Republicans also featured people from different religious faiths. A Sikh was invited to deliver a prayer, a seeming show of solidarity after Wade
Michael Page, an Army veteran with White supremacist ties, killed six Sikhs at a Wisconsin temple in August. His motive remains unclear, but it has been speculated that he mistook the Sikhs for Muslims.Corey Saylor, legislative director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington, said Republicans must be held accountable for anti-Muslim legislation and rhetoric. In 2000, the media highlighted then-presidential candidate George W. Bush’s appearance at Bob Jones University, a Christian school in Greenville, S.C., that then banned interracial dating. Under political pressure because of news coverage, Bush expressed regret for not criticizing the policy, and the ban was eventually dropped. “We need journalists of color at the highest levels, not just out front anchoring and reporting but also at the management level,” Hurtado says. “When you don’t have journalists of color, what’s going to be absent is context.” Nittle writes media critiques for the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.
Same-Sex Marriage is Not a Civil Right As executive director of the Maryland Marriage Alliance, I am compelled to address Julian Bond’s recent opinion editorial featured in the AFRO on Sept. 5. I have a great deal of respect for Mr. Bond. He holds an honored place in the Civil Rights movement. In his role as chairman emeritus of the NAACP, he continues to speak out with passion and conviction on issues of civil rights. However, by equating the same-sex marriage movement to the Derek McCoy civil rights movement, Mr. Bond is simply wrong. During the civil rights movement, thousands of Americans, both black and white, were literally being murdered in the struggle to give African Americans basic freedoms. What
were those freedoms? They were fighting for access to education, access to health care, access to jobs, access to decent housing. They were literally fighting for the freedom to be able to move around in their own country. Gays and lesbians who want to redefine marriage have no such struggle. They are protesting because they are not able to call a relationship what it is not. The definition of marriage predates me, Julian Bond, the state of Maryland and the United States of America. If we agree that it is an arbitrary definition that can change today to be a loving relationship between any pair of adults, regardless of gender, who is to say that in 10 years it cannot be arbitrarily changed again. Our work across the state shows that Marylanders do not believe that the definition of marriage should change. Even after the president and the NAACP threw their weight behind same-sex marriage, our alliance garnered over 200,000 signatures for a petition to protect the definition of marriage. This number was more than three times the number required, so many that the Maryland State Board of Elections stopped counting. In 32 states American families have considered this issue around the dinner table and in 32 states they have seen the
great value in upholding the definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Mr. Bond, like many who wish to redefine marriage, attempts to cast people who oppose them as homophobic and bent on forcing gays and lesbians into some sort of pre-civil rights movement second-class citizenship. Supporters of the Maryland Marriage Alliance who believe that marriage should not be redefined have no overt or covert design. Upholding marriage as a union between one man and one woman does not sanction abusive behavior toward gays and lesbians in employment, education, health care, housing or any other area. What the referendum does is affirm that “marriage,” the one relationship that transcends the ages and is critical for the very survival of human kind, is the unique relationship between one man and one woman. Like Mr. Bond, most of us have people in our family and associations for whom we care deeply who happened to be gay or lesbian. They have every right to live as they choose, but to redefine marriage for everyone is not acceptable. Mr. McCoy is chairman of the Maryland Marriage Alliance.
O’Malley’s March Backwards: Governor Refuses to Lead on Youth Jail During the recent Democratic National Convention before a raucous crowd and a national audience, Maryland Governor and Democratic Governors Association President, Martin O’Malley stood to deliver his best argument as to why President Barack Obama deserved a second presidential term. As O’Malley touted the president’s activities and accomplishments, his speech Rev. Heber Brown, took on a cadence that invited III a call-and-response chant throughout the convention center in Charlotte. He peppered his prepared remarks with the line: “Together with President Obama, we are moving America forward, not back!” The crowd caught the hint and joined in with O’Malley time and time again as the moment took on a pep-rally character. The irony of this scene, however, was not lost on those of us in Maryland who have been working relentlessly to halt the construction of a multi-million dollar youth jail in East Baltimore. It was befuddling to hear the governor’s pitch for progressive, forward-thinking politics when his own plans as it relates to juvenile justice in Maryland are draconian and backward-looking. Since the Ehrlich administration, the state has been working to expand the Prison Industrial Complex by building what was initially slated to be a 230-bed capacity jail for youth charged as adults in Baltimore. Currently, youth in this category are housed in their own section of the Baltimore City Detention Center (BCDC) – a facility designed for adult inmates. There is little disagreement that youth at BCDC have no business there. Having witnessed first-hand the deplorable conditions of the juvenile wing of this facility while serving in a mentoring program, I’m a witness that a new plan is needed. However, there is much debate on which direction should
be taken to rectify this situation. While O’Malley administration officials have committed to the knee-jerk public safety response of proposing the construction of a new jail as the ultimate solution to current conditions, I and many others have urged elected officials to give attention to other potential indicators of where we can go from here. According to the Campaign for Youth Justice, states across the country, including neighboring states like Pennsylvania and Virginia are successfully housing youth charged as adults in juvenile detention facilities with no increase in crime or delinquency. National trends are pointing the way for Governor O’Malley and a bevy of research-based reports against the Youth Jail are piling up on his desk. The Just Kids Partnership “Baltimore Youth In The Adult Criminal Justice System” Report (October 2010), the National Council on Crime and Delinquency “Bed Space Forecast For Baltimore Youth Detention Facility” Report (May 2011), and the Stop The Youth Jail Alliance’s “Proposed Alternative Action Plan For The Construction Of A Youth Jail In Baltimore City” (August 2011) all indicate that new policies and not a multi-million dollar youth jail is needed. It has become more and more difficult to ignore the red flags flapping in the wind in relation to the youth jail proposal, but somehow Gov. O’Malley is finding a way to do it. Multiple alternative avenues have been proposed and countless ideas have been offered up as to how the capital and operating funds slated for youth incarceration can be used for positive youth and community development. There are no more viable excuses as to why these options cannot be explored in earnest. All that is needed is some gubernatorial leadership and the community is waiting and if need be willing to push the governor to provide it. With few notable exceptions, most democratic lawmakers both in Annapolis and in Baltimore are following the script of the governor. They are regurgitating rational-sounding defenses for the youth jail project that only make sense in the minds of those who have not been paying attention. Most of the lawmakers at City Hall and in the State Legislature will be obedient to O’Malley. He provides their talking points. He tells them what “we” think. Using his “bully pulpit,” he
defines state priorities and creates a sense of urgency on issues that he wants to saturate local media and to dominate public discourse. Concerning the youth jail plan, academics have had their say. Nonprofit leaders have contributed their insightful resources. Grassroots activists have made their point with clarity. Clergy have weighed in with profound moral arguments. Youth have spoken out with passion and all we’re waiting on now is for Gov. Martin O’Malley to join in and provide the leadership unique to his office. A posture of convenient silence is not acceptable even when building platforms for higher office. A broad coalition of residents and even national stakeholders has spoken. We don’t want the state of Maryland to finance another multi-million dollar youth jail in Baltimore City! In a day when schools, recreation centers, and pools are on the edge of closure because of alleged state and municipal funding restrictions, it’s time for Gov. Martin O’Malley to work with us to move Maryland forward not back! In a day when the criminalization of youth runs rampant and they are regularly framed as “problems to be solved” rather than gifts to be nurtured and heeded, it’s time for Gov. Martin O’Malley to work with us to move Maryland forward not back! In a day when the Black Community is demanding the right to control the politics of their own communities and courageously confronting the vestiges of institutional racism that have for far too long enslaved them, it’s time for Gov. Martin O’Malley to work with us to move Maryland forward not back! Our resolve and convictions are unwavering. We are marching toward a future for Maryland’s youth – and particularly Baltimore’s Black youth that invests more energy and resources to lifting them up and not locking them up. The only question that remains now is in which direction will O’Malley march? Rev. Heber Brown, III is an activist, writer, and pastor of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in North Baltimore City. For more information on the campaign to stop the Youth Jail or to get involved email Rev. Brown at pastor@pleasanthope.org.