After the recent debacle in the House of Representatives,
and the priorities of many of our Republican lawmakers in both chambers, and in
statehouses across the nation, the following words from the late Julian Bond
apply. In a 1995 speech concerning the
prior year's election, Newt Gingrich's "Contract for America," and
the devastating effects of the Reagan and Bush administrations, Bond spoke in
terms relevant to today:
“Now the forces of evil threaten America again. Will we turn back the clock to the days when
the poor paid more taxes than the rich?
That's what they've promised to do.
Will we go back to the days when the Department of Justice
was the Department for Defending White Privilege? That's what they've promised to do.
Will we go back to the days when the deficit grew and the
dollar shrank, when the people were jobless and the banks were failing, when
the rich got richer and the poor got poorer?
That's what they've promised to do.
Will we go back to the days when division was celebrated
and diversity was denied, when blacks and browns and women had to sit in the
kitchen if they sat down at all, when voices of hatred drowned out the voices
of hope? That's what they've promised to
do.
Or are we going forward as a nation, forward to fight
against despair, to fight against those who want to take us back to an imaginary
yesterday before people like you and I came along?
Much of the choice is ours, not theirs. There are things we must do, things we should
have been doing, daily, long before this awful election smashed hopes and
dreams and replaced them with nightmares.
We need to fight and smash white supremacy wherever it
appears. We need to revive and
strengthen existing organizations that have carried the banner for freedom for
so many years. We need to seize the
public forum, to stop letting others set agendas and define debate. We need to put forward and argue for
alternative public policies. We need to
expose the bankruptcy of the new order.
We need to build and strengthen alliances and coalitions. We need to continue past successful
strategies and tactics. We need to
involve every segment of our community from top to bottom in the daily
struggle.
When I entered the labor force more than three decades ago,
there were five workers making contributions into the Social Security System
for every retiree.
Their names were probably Carl, Ralph, Bob, Steve and Bill.
When I retire, there will be only three workers paying into
the system for every retiree - their names may well be Kwanza, Maria and Jose.
We need to insure they have the best futures, the best education, the best jobs and schools we possibly can.”
