Blacksmythe

Earlier, I had some strong criticisms of Obama. I didn’t really care about the “he ain’t black” stuff–that’s for the birds.

Today I was taping for The Barbershop, and one of the bits was about Johns Edwards’ poverty tour. I originally planned to compare Edwards’ platform on poverty to the non-existent platforms of Obama and Clinton, and wanted to double check just to be sure.

Obama has definitely stepped his game up. Here is his poverty platform. He’s cribbed some ideas from Edwards–his battle against mortgage loan sharks was presaged by Edwards for example. But he’s got some interesting ones of his own. The idea of giving environmental jobs to people in cities who needs work is a great one and one likely taken from the folks at worldchanging. This is the type of idea exchange/sampling/biting that I can roll with.

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We all know that black people die sooner, are more likely to be afflicted with a range of ills, and less likely to get care. Some of this is pure economics. But this dynamic goes up the socio-economic scale, indicating that this is not just “class” by another name.My own research looks at the degree to which media narratives about black people make them less likely to mobilize to combat some of these disparities–HIV/AIDS for example.Today I go to Houston to present my research at the MD Anderson Center for Research in Minority Health. I conducted an experiment manipulating stories about male HIV/AIDS to see what type of effect “down-low narratives” had on people exposed to them.The results?The stories generated significant antagonism towards black men, and in some cases made people less likely to want to mobilize politically to deal with the disease.It should be available on video later, and I’ll send a link to it. If you by chance are in the Houston area and want to holler please feel free to do so as I’m available through email.If not? Look out for Prometheus6 and others at tomorrow evening’s Democratic debates.

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This year’s top 25 censored stories of 2007 includes this interesting tidbit:

Special Counsel Scott Bloch, appointed by President Bush in 2004, is overseeing the virtual elimination of federal whistleblower rights in the U.S. government.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC), the agency that is supposed to protect federal employees who blow the whistle on waste, fraud, and abuse is dismissing hundreds of cases while advancing almost none. According to the Annual Report for 2004 (which was not released until the end of first quarter fiscal year 2006) less than 1.5 percent of whistleblower claims were referred for investigation while more than 1000 reports were closed before they were even opened. Only eight claims were found to be substantiated, and one of those included the theft of a desk, while another included attendance violations. Favorable outcomes have declined 24 percent overall, and this is all in the first year that the new special counsel, Scott Bloch, has been in office.

And out of 25 censored stories, that’s just number 6. Yep. This snitching sh*t has got to stop!

(edited to add: Check out blackprof.com for a richer take on this.)

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I guess “the new poor” is better than “the underclass”. But just as no one who is considered a member of “the underclass” would actually claim the moniker, I’m not sure how many people would claim being part of “the new poor” either. Unfortunately though, unlike “the underclass”–whose defining traits slip and slide from scholar to scholar–the makeup of the new poor is remarkably clear. Last week I wrote about the bank robber who got off light?

He’s part of the new poor.

Note in the article how stable Detroit’s needs are through the ongoing crisis. It’s because they hit the ceiling long ago. The numbers in the surrounding suburbs are going to rise, the demand for services are going to skyrocket. And given that the state can’t provide these services because their coffers are low as well, what we’re looking at are the components for a significant shift in ideas about government. In some ways it is unfortunate that whites have to suffer for people to begin to think maybe poverty isn’t solely the consequence of individual failures.

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Felons who have completed their sentences will be able to register to vote in Maryland under a new law signed by Gov. Martin O’Malley yesterday.

The law, which takes effect July 1, was one of 178 measures the governor signed, including legislation to require stricter emissions limits on new cars and protect the diamondback terrapin.

Advocates say more than 50,000 Marylanders will be eligible to vote as a result of the legislation. Thirty-eight other states allow ex-convicts who have completed their sentences - including any parole or probation - to vote. But the Maryland legislation was among the most hotly debated bills in the recent General Assembly session.

“It certainly doesn’t mean the floodgates are going to open, but this underscores the full meaning of citizenship,” said Sen. Gwendolyn T. Britt, a Prince George’s County Democrat who was a sponsor of the measure. “When you have paid your debt to society … you should be free to register to vote.”

Amen.

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