I was depressed after our IEA convention in Chicago a couple
of weekends ago. The mood was
pessimistic, and the enthusiasm was mixed.
Our pensions are being attacked by a group of billionaires out of
Chicago, and the only hope we have of stopping it is by making the public aware
that all middle-class and poor people are under attack by pernicious groups
like the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club out of Chicago. We have to spend money, money that we are
struggling to hold onto, to get the message out. Meanwhile, our ESPs that are in our
organization are fighting to gain merely a living wage, which most of its
memberships are not getting. If we
fight, we hurt those whom we need badly to be with us. I did not know where to go with these
emotions. I could not write convincingly
to address these issues.
Watching the Trayvon Martin debacle unfold has been tough to
follow. While groups like the Civic
Committee continue to attack with their ultra-conservative ideologies, racism
in the form of these “stand your ground” laws that were sanctioned and pushed
by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a right-wing group
(shockingly enough) are finally showing their ugly ramifications. The way the police have handled this is no
accident. This is what these laws were
designed to do: kill the ones who are
not whom we want them to be in the name of self-defense. If Trayvon had killed Zimmerman because
Zimmerman was stalking him, he would have been arrested instantly. We all know that. However, according to how the law was
written, Trayvon should have been not only exonerated for doing so, he should not
have even been processed. But because he
was African American, and, as Zimmerman put it,” they always get away with it,”
he was put down like a dog and left with no dignity. His killer walks free.
I was watching Chris Hayes’ show, and I was stunned when the
reporter for the New York Times said that he was encouraged by the social media
in helping to get the movement started that got this story to a point in which
the authorities in Florida are becoming more and more uncomfortable with the
public atmosphere. He was optimistic
with the direction this was taking. On
Lawrence O’Donnell’s show on Monday night (3/26/12 ), he was to talk to the lawyer of Zimmerman, but
the lawyer bolted minutes before the show started. What happened after that was a great
discussion of what questions should be asked of the cowardly lawyer and why
those questions were necessary to be addressed by Zimmerman and the
authorities. He also got on a reporter for the Orlando newspaper and slammed her for being a shill for the Sanford Police Department by posting false information as facts in her article. It was powerful stuff. I was getting my rage on again. I stopped moping and started focusing.
I will talk more later about this because this is pointing
to our problem as a profession and to our dilemma as public workers. However, the time has come to stop playing
nice. The right questions must be
asked. The right pressure must be applied. We must press for justice for ourselves.
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