Thursday, July 19, 2007

Pondering visitors...

A bitch is aware that the National Urban League is having their convention here in St. Louis.

C'mon now...I live here!

This bitch is also aware that many a Presidential hopeful will descend upon St. Louis to court the “black vote”.

Blink.

Well, at least the 10,000 potential black votes who will attend the convention (wink).

This bitch plans to hunt up Donna Brazile for a fan-based interview!

Anyhoo, longtime readers know that a bitch volunteers as a voter education teacher in my community. I developed a curriculum with the help of The League of Women Voters and added some spice from the United States Citizenship test. Each quarter I teach the class at the area shelters I support as a volunteer.

The Voter Education class began several years ago in response to a sassified comment tossed at this bitch in response to my inquiry as to whether a certain young shelter resident was registered to vote.

“Why? It don’t matter. Those people don’t mean anything to my life!”

Suffice it to say this bitch just about fell over!

After a quick verbal grilling it was clear that the young woman believed that…gasp...and thus a bitch’s Voter Education class was born.

Politics is local and government is personal as hell whether you know it or not. The young women I volunteer with feel the punch of governmental bullshit first and

Housing, education, whether their chil'ren will be sent to war...roads, jobs, food safety...the list goes on and on.

But politicians and interest groups don’t benefit from Voter Education.

Blink.

They benefit from a courtable group who will “ooh’ and “ahh” when fed well scripted sound bites and get misty of the eye when some candidate takes a 2 hour blue jean clad tour of the ‘hood.

Those who seek power do not want to answer real questions or provide real goals. They sure as shit don’t want to be boxed into a “what the fuck is your policy going to be, asshole” corner by the masses.

Mayhap that’s why political parties and interest groups are willing to pay for voter registrations but are not attracted to voter education.

Blink.

An educated voter is an empowered voter who knows the difference between a Representative and a Senator…who knows the role of the Judiciary and the role of the Executive…who knows how programs like Medicare are funded…and who knows her motherfucking rights.

And that’s a dangerous thing to those who benefit from perpetuating ignorance.

Cough.

Don’t get me wrong, this bitch is looking forward to the National urban League coming to town.

I plan to escort some of my students to the job fair, indulge in a few sessions and lecture-based gatherings, and listen to the candidates court the black vote.

It’ll be lights followed by camera followed by action up on that stage...and Lawd knows a bitch loves a good show.

4 comments:

billie said...

i come down squarely in agreement with you- these folks don't want a large group of educated voters. guess we'll have to vote out of spite then :) there are so many folks who don't believe in voting or don't think about voting- or that their vote doesn't count. i am glad that you are out there showing them the power of the vote!

proudprogressive said...

Thank YOU,Shark Fu. You give me hope, and well as a good chuckle. My first impression after reading this post, was I LOVE THIS WOMAN ! Yeah you are Angry, and yeah you put into constructive action - you are a role model for all of us. Your have lazer clear vision and a heart of a lioness. Anyhow - yep the personal sure is political.

One reason the MSM can get away with their lies and obfuscation is that most people do not know what a filabuster even is, and who is doing it to who and why? The parlimentary dance has too many steps..it is some complicated shit.

Right now there is that Education Access Bill on the Senate Floor - Its an excellent bill and would make the dream of college available to ALL the young peeps. It puts the people of the profits of the student load people. It rewards all public service, ie. social work, nursing, teachers etc. with debt forgiveness.And most importantly caps payback at 15% of a graduates total income.

Hearing Kennedy speak about it - gave me "mist of the eye", WE DO HAVE A DREAM.

Maya's Granny said...

De-amn I wish I could see you take your students to this event. I am so glad that you are there, seeing what needs to be done, and doing it.

The purpose of anger is to energize us to do things, and you certainly do use yours well.

Anonymous said...

Here I am, married to someone who isn't a born and bred American; and I am sad to report he probably knows more about our history and political system than some of us who were born here. Go on with your bad self, ABB. Your class is a necessity!

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