History twists cultural heritage in the politics of political profiteering

History twists cultural heritage in the politics of political profiteering 

By Derek Joy

     And so it is. . .

Another national holiday has come and gone. Real interesting how that holiday focus sheds light on murky waters, too.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day commemorates much more than his birth on Jan.15, 1929.  It is also a day given to honor his legacy of fighting against discrimination and other social injustices.

So, I thought about a few things that had been said to me a little while back.

It was the Rev. Dr. James Bush III, the former Florida State Representative. We talked about how the Florida Black Legislative Caucus had canceled a noon meeting with Republican Governor “Slick” Rick Scott.

Just so happens that meeting was scheduled for Jan. 15, in Tallahassee. Dr. King’s birthday. The obvious question would be: Why was that meeting scheduled on that day?

Ah! No matter.

Scandalous. Scurrilous. That best describes what Scott and the Republican dominated Florida State Legislature has done to projects and funding that would widely benefit Black Americans.

Pretty much what Republicans in Congress have done, too. Makes one consider that similar behavior in the private sector would be collusion, conspiracy, maybe worse.

“It’s not a sin for them to sit at the same table and talk,” said Bush, who is an associate minister at Antioch Baptist Church of Brownsville. “With the way they cut funding and reduce funding that would benefit Blacks should be looked at.

“What needs to happen is a Constitutional Amendment to prevent those kind of things from happening. That would change the way politicians  do things. They couldn’t discriminate like that.”

Sure wouldn’t. But they won’t allow any such Constitutional Amendments. That would reduce their power and political profiteering, force them to find other ways to stay out of prison.

They certainly would then be forced to find other ways to effect economic discrimination.  Would have to look for alter-native ways to continue a pattern of attempted gentrification.

“Why have a meeting to talk to him when he never acts on  any of the issues important to us?” asked Florida State Senator Oscar Braynon II (Dem., Miami Gardens). “Why should we let him use us for photo-ops on MLK Day?

“He (Scott) vetoed every one of my budget items except the one million for Hallandale. I had $800,000 budgeted to repair the water pipes in Miami Gardens.  He vetoed that. Now the city has to pay for it.”

That’s paying for the dam-ages, too. The damages caused when water pipes broke and flooded the homes in a Miami Gardens neighborhood. Even Miami Dade County was slow in responding.

Put any kind of spin on that you want to.  But it is clear that wouldn’t happen to Hispanic or White neighborhoods, especially those where mega bucks are raised for political campaigns.

Consequently, asked Bush to make use of his ministerial background. I asked could such acts be linked to “Sins of the father being visited on their son? as noted in Exodus 20:5.”

And Bush explained, “They were all sorts of wrong.”