Should We or Should We Not Vote for Hillary Clinton
By Christian Pierre
This upcoming Presidential Campaign has drawn more attention, due to its fierce candidates, in the Primaries than arguably and election in decades. With all the flashy rhetoric and campaign promises it can be hard to figure out how these men & women fair on the issues facing this country. People of color, like others, will be catered to and targeted for support and they must decide what candidate they will trust. The candidate for subject here is Senator Hillary R. Clinton and whether she should or should not be the next President of the United States.
One could go to www.hillaryclinton.com or www.ontheissues.org and find where Clinton stands on all major issues presented in this election. She wants and will fight for: universal health care, ending the war in Iraq, better energy conservation with more oil substitutes, restoring America’s place in the world, more equal opportunity for women, or course women’s rights, more jobs for American’s, and working on the budget deficit. It is not misleading to say Hillary is running a campaign and has an agenda that is very similar to that of her husband, former President Bill Clinton.
For just American’s she has a social domestic and foreign agenda topped with the boldness to achieve and fight for whatever she wants for this country. After the 2007 State of the Union Address the Senator was on several broadcasts stating that “America is neither respected nor feared in the world, this must change immediately”. Senator Clinton has already been in the White House and she was a key part of her husband’s administration.
For the average American, that is a democrat, the Senator has basically addressed most if not all of the issues that are important to the viability of this country. However, if you are African American she is just another candidate and the issues that polarize us are NEVER mentioned by her or no other candidate. It would be interesting to hear the Senator’s position on the Industrial Prison Complex, or the freeing of Political Prisoners, or the freedom to express and organize without being polarized.
Senator Clinton is not the best candidate for African Americans because our needs and struggle shall not be directly addressed and we are simply used around this time for votes.
Once the election is over our people will continue to be mistreated by the legal justice system, we will continue to be targets should we want to educate ad better our people, we will still have to face poverty and ill equipped education in many of our communities, we shall continue to face discrimination in employment and level of pay, we will still have to fight for the basic concepts of freedom, and we will still have to look within ourselves and to each other for social action and change.
Senator Clinton’s election does not cater to our people and we shall have her attention now, and if elected we shall see that promises are always broken. She may make a good President for AMERICA, but we are often separated from that group by other nationalities and by this countries leadership.
Brothers and Sisters, I can not tell you how to vote but one should search their conscious and these issues to make a decision about the candidates or whether or not we should be voting at all or fighting about the concept of voting, seeing that the Electoral College can and will overrule the people if they so chose. All I can present to you is what the Senator can or will try to accomplish and what she can not or will not try to address.
I personally will not be voting for Senator Clinton because I understand, based on the above information and the issues she lacks our people are not a priority, and she does not address the issues that are important to me. The question is will you support Senator Clinton?
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The American Literary Canon
By Jasmin Vann
When considering who I should write about as an African American author who should be included in the American canon, one question that continued to resonate in my mind is the fact that “American” is supposed to encompass all nationalities, right?
Has not our country been compared to a melting pot or more recently a tossed salad—where each group maintains its personal identity and collective culture under the umbrella of American culture?
But even as I continued pondering, I considered the fact that in 2008, American is still synonymous with white. Consider the mental evoked images when one hears the “All-American girl” or the “All-American guy”. Is there color?
More than likely not. But back to the question at hand, there is not one single African American author who should be included in the American canon because there are a number of authors. Several of which I have discussed in previous articles.
For instance, Patricia Hill Collins for her insight about black feminism, Randall Robinson for giving voice to truth, bell hooks for her unconventional way of dismantling white male patriarchy, Eric Michael Dyson for his discussions ranging from black love to the black family and the list certainly goes on.
Truthfully, what is sad is that, and by no means am I taking away from their accomplishment, too many of our authors are recognized for writing within the limited confines of erotica, literature that further fuels the prevailing stereotypes about black men and women as hyper sexualized.
As socially aware people and despite the fact that many of our authors are not canonized, we must give more than a listening ear, but rather a receptive and responsive one that encourages us to focus on literature that is truly for, by, and about us.
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The Presidential Olympics
By: Joshua W. Delano
What can I say about the Presidential Olympics that are going on in the Democratic and Republican primaries, or what can I not say?
Not since Truman has the United States seen such a wide open campaign in the nominating process to see who gets to be the next leader of the free world. Several candidates began the nominating process on both sides of the political coin and only a few are still reaching for the chance after many of the pretenders have fallen off. Now for the contenders.
On the Democratic side we have (D-N.Y ) Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton who has all the name recognition one could ask for and is the first woman with any real chance not only of gaining the nomination but likewise of actually becoming president. Bill is doing all he can to get back into the White House,… I mean to get Hillary into the White House.
Then there is (D-Ill.) Senator Barack Obama who has the chance of becoming the first African American President elected. Senator Obama and his wife Michelle have been working tirelessly to match the fundraising of the Clinton machine.
The third candidate is former North Carolina Senator John Edwards. Edwards is a former trail lawyer and can’t seem to keep up with the fundraising empires that the other two frontrunners have build, likely because he refuses to take money from D.C. lobbyists and special interest PACs.
On the Republican side there is a whole slew of candidates from former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, to (R-AZ) Senator John McCain, to former Massacusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Oh yeah, don’t forget (R-TX) Congressman Ron Paul and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.
Likely McCain will get the nod from the GOP because it’s his turn. Romney has the money, Huck has the evangelicals, and Rudy, well he doesn’t have a chance since he’s been in Florida for a month and is currently polling between 3rd and 4th.
My take is that it’s going to be Clinton v. McCain simply because of the party politics at hand. This will be a contest of gutter politics and also a that of a who can dig up more information about the other.
Turnout has never been higher in most of the primary states and Super Tuesday on February 5th is slated to be the same. Senator Obama could still pull it out, and I hope he does, but the Clinton fundraising machine may be insurmountable.
Here are the angles the parties and candidates will likely try to exploit: if Obama then it will be inexperience and there may also be some kind of insinuation that he isn’t really black since many black leaders have said he is more African than African American. (that’s baloney) Hillary will be painted as phony and shrill, which I think she is and likewise people will constantly pose the question, “if she is an independent woman why does she need Bill to get her elected, and can she stand alone.” Many Republicans also don’t want Bill back in the White House in any way shape or form. (I do)
On the Republican side, since McCain will be the nominee, he will be an easy target for those who will use his age to say that he is out of touch. Likewise many party regulars will say that he isn’t really a Republican since he goes against his party so much.
Time will be the true test of the election and all we can do is be a part of the process. I hope and look forward to having the highest turnout in history and being part of the Democratic process. So go and vote, but be informed and do what you know in your heart to be right for you, your family, and your country.
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