Break It Down!: October 2014

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

#TURNOUTFORWHAT?

It's time to Break It Down!

Let me begin by stipulating one indisputable certainty. If you are eligible to vote and you do not; YOU…are part of the problem!

Occasionally, I believe a post is so time-sensitive; I follow it up with a discussion or expansion of the same topic, from one week to the next. Voting is that kind of compelling issue.

Without a doubt, I laid the framework for defining this conversation in last week’s post. And, just as with last week, this post is a directive, not simply a narrative. The instruction is still simple. The 2014 General Election Day is Tuesday, November 4^th. In North Carolina, Early Voting began Thursday, October 23^rd, and extends until this Saturday, November 1^stat 1:00 p.m. There are four (3½) days left to vote early. But remember, if for some reason, you miss every opportunity to vote early, you may, and should still do so on Election Day. So, dear readers, your mission, and hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians have already accepted it, is, GO VOTE! It’s just that simple.

Historically speaking, in midterm elections, such as this one, voting levels drop off appreciably. This trend goes back at least as far as 1840. In looking at recent elections, in 2008, a Presidential Election year, 57.1% of the voting age population cast ballots. That number was actually the highest in four decades. However, just two years later, in 2010, only 36.9% voted, a decrease of more than 20 percentage points. In 2012, the turnout rebounded by nearly 17 percentage points to 53.7%. Obviously, these vacillating numbers resulted in generating significant public policy implications.

In 2008, President Obama shocked the world and became the nation’s first African American President. Just two years hence, in 2010, in the aftermath of a low turnout election, Republicans displaced Democrats as the Majority in the House of Representatives. That change led to one Chamber of Congress alternating between reluctance to negotiate with or support the President to acting straight up intransigently, and openly working to deny any policy initiative put forth by this President.

The inside baseball discussion related to this election revolves around whether the GOP will be able to impose Double-Jeopardy on President Obama by supplanting Democrats as a Majority in the U.S. Senate. Numerous polls have suggested that such an outcome is indeed the most likely one. I don’t have a Crystal Ball, and I am certainly not taking bets on the outcome. What I will say is, in a Country in which Democrats outnumber Republicans in most states, the outcome will depend upon turnout.

In 2008, and again in 2012, Senator, and then President Obama executed flawless Get Out The Vote (GOTV) campaigns. There can be no doubting the skill or facility of the operation. Nonetheless, in 2010, that apparatus remained largely on the sidelines, and Democrats suffered a huge setback. Much has been made of the President’s low poll numbers during much of his second term, up to and including this very moment. Partly as a result of his anemic polling, the President, arguably the Party’s biggest asset, has been reduced to fundraising in “safe” states, and a few campaign appearances in places where the contending Democrats have no doubts about getting elected.

That begs the question, “Will the turnout machinery work on auto-pilot?” After today, we have roughly six days, four for voting, to find out. Here in North Carolina, Early Voting has been attracting a brisk pace. Early indications are Democrats are turning out at a higher rate that Republicans. Given that trend, it is likely to come down to turnout on Election Day. To that end, somewhat akin to the adage, “The job is not complete until the paperwork is done.” This job will not be complete until everyone who is going to vote today through Saturday, and on Tuesday, November 4^th, has done so, and the ballots are counted.

I voted last Thursday afternoon during the first Day of Early Voting. I have checked-in with countless friends to ensure they have, or that they at least have doing so on their schedules and/or calendars. As for you, if you are registered and you have not voted already, I implore you to vote too. It doesn’t have to be today, but if you can, why not? And while you are at it, remind, encourage, and do whatever you can to persuade as many others as you can to vote, as well. In 2008, and again in 2012, Americans responded as though it were a Presidential Election year…because it was. This year is not, but if you vote like it is, it could change everything! We are facing a grave challenge today. How will you respond?

There are many reasons to vote. A few of the ones I care about include, in no particular order:

· The Environment

· Education

· Healthcare

· Reproductive Rights

· Marriage Equality

· Racial Equality

· Human Rights

· Prison Reform

· Women’s Rights

· Global Warming Awareness

· Immigration Reform

· Gun Law Reform

· Student Loan Reform

· Drug Law Reform

· Worker’s Rights

· Voting Rights

· Fairer Sentencing

· Increasing the Minimum Wage

· Reduction of Police Brutality

· Elimination of Gridlock in Washington

I am herewith urging you to Rock The Vote. If anyone happens to ask you, why, or #TURNOUTFORWHAT? Refer them to the list above, or…urge them to pick their own reason.

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com. Find a new post each Wednesday.

To subscribe, click on Follow in the bottom right hand corner of my Home Page at http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com; enter your e-mail address in the designated space, and click on “Sign me up.” Subsequent editions of “Break It Down” will be mailed to your in-box.

Consult the links below for more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rijpU5yD55I

http://vote.forwardnc.com/?voteEarly

http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/10/27/4270185_democrats-up-in-ncs-early-voting.html?rh=1

http://vote.forwardnc.com/?voteEarly

http://www.ncvoterguide.org

http://ncelectionconnection.com/voting-in-nc/

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/10/28/1339821/-North-Carolina-turns-blue-Early-voting-data-deep-dive-10-27-Edition#

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/10/28/both-parties-are-happy-with-early-vote-data-theyre-worried-too/

http://www.jdnews.com/news/local/early-voting-continues-through-nov-1-for-registered-voters-in-north-carolina-1.391379

http://www.wncn.com/story/27024591/nearly-400000-early-votes-already-cast-in-nc

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-29766398

http://elections.mytimetovote.com/dates/north_carolina.html

http://www.wcnc.com/story/news/politics/2014/10/24/dems-dominate-day-1-of-early-voting-in-nc/17860349/

http://www.hpe.com/news/x532298771/Early-voting-at-fast-pace-so-far

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

"North Carolina Raise Up:" Early Voting Begins Tomorrow

It's time to Break It Down!

This post is a straightforward matter. It will be brief.

While most weeks I endeavor to tell a story though the blog, today’s edition is really more of a directive than a than a narrative. The instruction is quite simple. The 2014 General Election Day is Tuesday, November 4^th. In North Carolina, Early Voting begins tomorrow and extends until November 1^st. Absentee Ballots may be requested by mail until Tuesday, October 28^th. Your mission, and I know you will choose to accept it, is, GO VOTE! It’s really that simple.

The deadline for registration for the November Election was October 10^th. So, if you’ve yet to register, you’re too late for this election. However, as I like to say, if you ARE eligible, and do not vote, YOU, my friend, are part of the problem.

I am reminded of the expression, “Think globally; act locally.” In a very real sense, we can apply that sagacious advice to voting. We all want our world to be a better place. Often in contemplating that wanting, we think of all the faraway implications of that desire. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. However, most people’s truth is, it is controlling the nearby, mundane, and readily manageable details that make the greatest impact on our lives, and the lives of those we love and care about most.

Voting is like that. For sure, it is important to ponder for whom you will cast your ballot. Moreover, in the best-case scenario, you’ll learn what they stand for, and the kinds of things for which you can…and should…hold them accountable.

Here in Charlotte, my ballot will include a seat for the U.S. Senate, a seat for the U.S. House of Representatives, a NC State Senate seat, a NC House of Representatives seat, a District Attorney seat, three at-large seats and one District seat for the Board of County Commissioners, a seat for County Sheriff, three seats for Associate Justice of the NC Supreme Court and one for Chief Justice of the NC Supreme Court, four seats for the NC Court of Appeals, two seats for NC Superior Court, eight seats for NC District Court, two seats for Soil & Water Conservation District, and Referenda on: a Constitutional Amendment to allow any person accused of a crime in a non Death Penalty case to forego a jury trial, a local sales tax of .25%, Public Improvement Bonds, Housing Bonds, and Neighborhood Improvement Bonds. There you have it; local infrastructure, and elected officials who will make policy that will affect matters in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Raleigh/Statewide, and Washington/the Nation/and the world.

Your and my local actions will have repercussions all the way to global boundaries, as in when our U.S. Senator potentially exercises his vote on our next war. I will not tell you for whom to vote. What I will say is there is one Party that has systematically tamped down, some say suppressed, voting opportunities. That same Party has opposed healthcare reform, defeated an attempt to increase the minimum wage, and refused allow an extension of unemployment benefits, as well as consistently opposed a number of other matters generally deemed to be progressive public policy. I will not be voting for individuals in that Party!

As for you, I implore you to vote. It doesn’t have to be tomorrow, but if you can, why not? And while you are at it, remind, encourage, and do whatever you can to persuade as many others as you can to vote, as well. In 2012, Americans responded enthusiastically to the challenge posed by those who attempted to discourage voting. We are facing a similar challenge today. How will you respond?

I say, “North Carolina Raise Up:” Early VotingStarts Tomorrow!

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com. Find a new post each Wednesday.

Consult the links below for more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHnA94-hTC8&sns=em

http://charmeck.org/mecklenburg/county/BOE/voter/Pages/Voting-Info-Lookup.aspx

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Early+Voting+in+Mecklenburg+County&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/midterms-Democrats-Senate-black-voters/2014/10/20/id/601773/

http://www.ncvoterguide.org

http://charmeck.org/mecklenburg/county/BOE/Pages/default.aspx

http://charmeck.org/mecklenburg/county/BOE/Documents/G14%20early%20voting.pdf

http://ncelectionconnection.com/voting-in-nc/

http://ballotpedia.org/North_Carolina_elections,_2014

http://www.ncvotered.com

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

A Look Back at the MMM: My Generation's March on Washington

It's time to Break It Down!

Tomorrow will mark the 19^th Anniversary of the Million Man March (MMM). Before moving to the narrative, I know there are those who are disturbed that I would deign to conflate or equate The 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom; the March of A. Phillip Randolph, of Bayard Rustin, and of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I understand completely, and that is not what I’m doing.

On August 27^th and 28^th, 1963, I was nine years old. My participation came courtesy of my vantage point, seated in front of our 19-inch Black & White TV. It was informative, and inspiring, but it was not in-person (for me). Rustin, Randolph, King, and their co-participants and contemporaries, through their actions, reframed the trajectory of the landscape of American society, as we knew it. All of us are forever in their debt…each and every one of us. If you are an American today, whether you were born by then, or lived here at that time, if you are here now, you are obliged to credit, or blame if you choose, them for the country we have become.

By October 16, 1995, I was forty-something. I had been aware of the planning and development of the Million Man March from its early stages. From the outset, I was committed that this time, I would be fully present and accounted for. This time, timing was on my side. I actually had a job that made it not only acceptable, but also desirable to be there. I went, on my own aegis, not for work. But with a job title, Minority Affairs Director, I had no doubt; it was meant for me to be there.

Most of the rest of this post will be devoted to a verbatim recounting of an essay I wrote about my first person experience attending the March. The essay was one of three that appeared in the November 1995 Edition of OUTLOOK (Vol. 26 No. 11), the Newsmagazine for employees of Mecklenburg County, NC. All three were captured under the broad heading, “Reflections on the Million Man March.”

Here’s my essay:

For me, this event was at once a culmination and a commencement.

Nearly a year ago Minister Louis Farrakhan spoke here in Charlotte and announced plans for a Million Man March to be held in Washington, D.C. I left the Convention Center that evening committed to be at the March. My interest and enthusiasm culminated with my participation on Monday, October 16, 1995.

The March also was the point of commencement for the strategies and action to create positive and deeply rooted change in the social fabric of our individual communities and in the entire nation.

Though estimates of the actual attendance are in dispute, whether the number was 400,000 or more than a million, the turnout was epic. By the former measure, it is the largest civil rights rally in the history of this country; the latter would make it simply the largest gathering ever on the Washington Mall.

Being there was to be engulfed by the spirit of the moment; surrounded by a sea of positively focused humanity. It was an endeavor whose moment had come. It had to be done!

The day was characterized by its organizers as a time for collective atonement, reconciliation, responsibility, and absence: atonement for having been AWOL from familial responsibility; reconciliation to the women, children, families, and communities that had been abandoned; responsibility for our own actions and the consequences of those actions; and absence from normal daily employment and consumption (buying) patterns. These steps underscore the seriousness of our circumstances, and provide a vehicle to penetrate the nation’s consciousness. (Mission accomplished).

Minister Farrakhan and the Reverend Benjamin Chavis are correctly viewed as principal symbols of “The March.” They played central roles in conceiving and organizing the effort. In the final analysis however, “The March” belonged to THE PEOPLE. No one, two, or twenty individuals could adequately represent the total spectrum of this undertaking. It spanned wide ranges of economy, geography, religion, politics, ideology, age, gender, disability, and general point of view. African-Americans united to respond to the beleaguered condition of people…not against anyone.

Speaker after speaker – Maya Angelou, Charles Rangel, Kwaisi Mfume, Jesse Jackson, Rosa Parks, Jawanza Kunjufu, John Conyers, Stevie Wonder, Tynnetta Muhammad, Kurt Schmoke, Marion Berry, Benjamin Chavis, and Louis Farrakhan – in their own way, challenged and urged those in attendance, those watching at home (or at work) and those who would later hear about it, to work together to heal our society.

Minister Farrakhan specifically outlined several steps that participants should take, including:

1. Register to vote and actively work to make sure others do;

2. Affiliate with an organization(s) focused on improving the Black Community;

3. Join a church, synagogue, mosque, etc., and put your religion to work in the community;

4. Adopt one of the 25,000 black children waiting for adoption;

5. Develop a relationship with a prisoner and help that person in their transition to life after prison;

6. Establish a black United Fund to help our communities.

These steps alone will not alleviate all the problems we face. But if these measures are adopted, we will have taken one giant step forward.

Those of us assembled on the Mall on Monday, October 16, 1995 were prayerful, powerful, respectful, and reverent. More importantly, we were inspired by having been there, and we left committed to begin, continue, or accelerate our personal efforts to implement solutions to the trenchant social problems we face in our communities. I’m ready to do my part.

Peace!

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Arguably, a dozen years before I conceived and introduced The Sphinx of Charlotte/Break It Down, this essay was my very first blog. Who knew? Now, you do. I hope you enjoyed this narrative version of Throw Back Thursday (remember, tomorrow is the anniversary), brought to you on Wednesday. So there you have it, “A Look Back at theMMM: My Generation’s March on Washington!”

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com. Find a new post each Wednesday.