Geee Posted May 24, 2010 Share Posted May 24, 2010 TownHall:A New, Emerging Black Leadershipby Star ParkerThe race issue refuses to disappear from American politics because problems tied to race persist.Just as children are often the best witnesses to the shortcomings of parents, so the ill treated are often testimony to a nation’s shortcomings.The civil rights movement showed that in a nation which is free, civil, and moral, a few can create a non-violent revolution and change the world when their claims are just and moral, and when they are willing to fight and persist.Just as that movement, starting with a few black leaders in the 1960’s, showed that our nation was sick and needed to be healed, the same thing is happening today.A superb example is the remarkable leadership of Rev. James Meeks in Chicago.Pastor Meeks, the spiritual leader of one of Chicago’s largest black churches, is also a Democrat senator in the state legislature. Working with both Democrats and Republicans, and with the help of a free market think tank in Illinois, Meeks put together legislation to provide vouchers for kids in Chicago’s worst public schools to escape and attend a private school.Increasingly, school choice initiatives around the country are being championed at the grass roots by local black leaders, often Democrats, for whom the truth is too straightforward to deny.In the case of Chicago, home town of our current Secretary of Education Duncan, the picture is bleak. Thirteen percent of 8th graders in Chicago public schools are proficient in math and 17 percent proficient in reading. The high school graduation rate is barely over 50% and 6% of kids in Chicago’s public schools go on to get college degrees.Pastor Meeks’ remarks to the Wall Street Journal were on target: “To me education is a moral issue…..it’s a moral tragedy to see three generations of Chicago children go without an education.”But this is also a disproportionately black problem. These kids in Chicago are largely black. And, similarly, around the country, it’s black kids in failing schools and black kids that go generation after generation without gaining the essential knowledge and skills for living free and prospering.Pastor Meeks is right. This is a moral problem. So, like in the 1960’s, the nation is sick and problems in black America are symptoms of the disease.The disease today is moral relativism. Continued... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casino67 Posted May 24, 2010 Share Posted May 24, 2010 I wish Star had said why Republicans were responsible for blocking Meeks' bill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argyle58 Posted May 24, 2010 Share Posted May 24, 2010 I wish Star had said why Republicans were responsible for blocking Meeks' bill. It was not so much that the Republicans blocked the bill, they just didn't support it. The bill was widely opposed by the Teacher's Unions, so it was no big surprise that the Dims came out against it. However, many Republicans hold state offices in districts that union support is a necessity to win and hold an office. No doubt many were thinking of re-election. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SrWoodchuck Posted May 24, 2010 Share Posted May 24, 2010 While I'm sorry that Rev. Meeks received no support for something that makes common sense [which is why the Obamunist's quashed vouchers- exception for Obama children]; I find it equally disgusting to kowtow [need example-see Obama & any foreign head of state] to a union that will bankrupt cities, states & this nation with their arcane tenure protection, wage abuse & staggering legacy costs. I thought this topic was different.....and about emerging black leaders, like LTC [ret.] Allen West, and Alabama's Les Phillips-himself an immigrant from Trinidad-Tobago, US citizen since 1978, US Naval Academy graduate & veteran Naval aviator.....and an outspoken conservative from Alabama's 5th District. These men will mean an end to racial division in America......unlike our Race Baiter-in Chief. BTW-Here's an enlightening romp around which is worse....an A-bomb or Liberal black Democratic government? [Love the songs, too.] More Destructive: A-Bomb or Liberal Democrat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casino67 Posted May 24, 2010 Share Posted May 24, 2010 (Funny how politicians always put the children ahead of themselves. )sarcasm A really admirable trait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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