Dear Mr. President,
For the first time in my 67 years on this planet I’m afraid
for this country, and I’m starting to be afraid of the people in this country.
I’m afraid that the horrific upswing in blatant racism toward you, will take
this country back to the early 60’s.
Yesterday my husband and I went to see Lee Daniels’ The Butler, it was an excellent film in every
way, in fact, most of the people in the theater applauded at the end… it was
that powerful.
With the 50th Anniversary of Dr. Kings “I Have a
Dream” speech, I see his dream coming apart piece by piece, vote by vote, gun
by gun, and law by law. When this country elected you I thought, ‘at last’ we
would finally see the end of racism in America… that having an African American
in the White House would unite us ‘at last’. But it seems that quite the
opposite has happened, we are more divided, and more divisive than ever before
in my memory. It seems that racism has only lain dormant during that time, and
your election, instead of reigniting the dream, has brought the Confederacy
back to life with all of it’s ugly symbolism using tea bags instead of white
sheets and pointed hats.
I’m not alone in feeling this way, I read more and more
people expressing utter dismay at the things we are witnessing… Citizens United saying that
corporations are people, median income a full 6% lower than its peak in 2007,
literally hundreds of bills introduce that restrict a woman’s right to choose
and mandate unreasonable intrusive reproductive screenings, Stand Your Ground
laws that allow a person to shoot an unarmed teen, the Supreme Court striking
down a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and over 80 measures to
restrict voting rights in 31 states, in 2013 alone. The reduction in early
voting, the elimination of same-day voter registration, and the repeal of high
school voter registration drives. Texas Republicans even pushed through a bill
that would allow a concealed-carry gun permit to be used as voter
identification but not a student ID. Now you have to prove that the laws are
discriminatory rather than the state having to show they are not before
implementing them. All of these things are outrageous and unacceptable.
I was heartened and surprised to see the ACA passed, but in
the short time since and even before full implementation the Republicans have
voted 40 times to overturn it in part or in whole. Why? I know you have asked
this Congress to pass the Jobs Act on numerous occasions, but they have failed
to pass a single piece of legislation regarding jobs, and all the while we see
peoples income declining. Why? Just maybe if a Jobs Act had been passed then
the three teenage boys would have had jobs instead of being so bored that shot
and killed an innocent Australian man while he was jogging. Why? Where is the
Dream that MLK talked about almost 50 years ago?
In a recent poll for the Pew Research Center, titled “King’s
Dream Remains an Elusive Goal,” only 26% of African Americans said the
situation for black people has improved and 21% said that things have gotten
worse. Things are going backwards.
I don’t know what else you can
do that you have not already tried. Your positivity in the face of immense
adversity is laudable even if it goes unnoticed and unappreciated.
The big question is; how do we
reignite Dr. King’s Dream? How did we let a minority of haters wield a bigger
stick than the majority of people who want to move this country forward? How do
we reverse this insidious trend to destroy this country just to see your
Presidency fail, because that seems to be the GOP agenda?
We can all
do it just like Dr. King did back in the 60’s… by speaking up, by calling
people out when they lie or misrepresent the truth, or try to suppress and
alter the facts. YOU, Mr. President must lead the way… you can no longer afford
to let the radical right-wingers get away with maligning you with impunity, and
threats of impeachment. Because every time you let them get away with it by not
speaking up, it emboldens them to continue and signals to those listening that
it may be the truth. We need all elected Democrats to push back against any and
all falsehoods with swiftness and conviction. You, and other Democrats can take
a lesson from Kentucky Governor, Steve Beshear when he spoke about the ACA at a
fundraising breakfast attended by both Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul.
Beshear
said,"it's no fun" hoping and praying you don't get sick, or choosing
whether to pay for food or medicine. He also said Kentucky is at or near the
top of the charts on bad-health indicators, including heart disease, diabetes,
cancer deaths, and preventable hospitalizations. He said all that affects
everything from productivity and school attendance to health costs and the
state's image.
"We've
ranked that bad for a long, long time," he said. "The Affordable Care
Act is our historic opportunity to address this weakness and to change the
course of the future of the commonwealth. We're going to make insurance
available for the very first time in our history to every single citizen of the
commonwealth of Kentucky."
This is what
all Democrats should be doing and saying because if we don’t start pushing back now, and
pushing back unapologetically, then the 2014 elections will be another mid-term
disaster. We can’t let that happen, you can’t let that happen. We need you to
be the fearless leader we saw during your campaigns, you’ve got nothing to lose
at this point and everything to gain… now LIGHT THAT FIRE!
Most
Respectfully,
Marcia
Reimers,
Your Gadfly
Granny
No comments:
Post a Comment