Political discrimination reveals the politics of political deceit
By Derek Joy
Check this out with more than one fleeting moment in time.
It was a bruising battle on Capitol Hill when the scurrilous scoundrels in Congress committed the dastardly deed of killing Gun Control Legislation.
Clear as a sunshiny, summer day in South Florida. They legislated for the NRA (National Rifle Association), theirs and other lobbyist and not the majority of those who vote and pay taxes.
Same things going on in Tallahassee, albeit with issues in the Florida State Legislature; Gov. Rick Scott is having a legislative ball with the Republican controlled State Legislature.
And so, a flash of interest to people of color; as well as all America, you see, there are never ending cries to have Black History incorporated in the curriculum of schools rather than a one month long celebration.
Such limitations really expose the Byzantine practices of legislated discrimination. A true look at simplistic acts designed to create complexities.
Just look at the Three Fifths Clause in the U. S. Constitution. Article I, Section 2, legalized slavery and indentured servitude. People of color were enslaved and counted as three fifths of a person. Slave owners were given three votes for every five slaves they owned.
Imagine that, stayed that way until the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, 1866. Oh, but devil got busy, instituted Jim Crow Laws poll taxes and more to deny people of color any semblance of equality, including the right to vote.
Any way, you pretty much know the rest.
Now, consider for a moment the Florida State Legislature enacted legislation that removed the $500 limit on contributions to Political Action Committees while handing out less than humane raises to state employees and teachers.
What’s worse is the talk of how staff members of Republican Legislators received higher raises than their Democratic colleagues.
That could be mere rumor or speculation, but the legislation putting limits on alimony payments isn’t rumor or speculation.
A confounding act without corresponding overhaul of the child support laws. Even more so since the U.S. Supreme Court long ago made rulings in paternity cases that are virtually ignored in Florida.
Those are just a few diversions before driving home the point of the introduction to the Three Fifths Clause in the U. S. Constitution.
At a time when Congress is doing little more than cursory talks on immigration reform, the Florida State Legislature weighed in with a bill to restrict interpreters at the polls.
Funny how an American citizen would even need an interpreter to perform civic duties. How do you become a naturalized citizen without speaking the dominate language of America – English?
One need only call how people of color were historically discriminated against in the work place and the overall socio-economic sphere of American life, simply because they didn’t speak English like the majority preferred.
And, isn’t it really reversing discrimination against people of color that is denied employment because they don’t speak a foreign language?
Surely it can very easily be perceived as double reverse discrimination against people of color who find themselves in the unemployment lines when immigrants who don’t speak English are gainfully employed?
So, you see, the legislated acts of slavery and discrimination are no less blatantly destructive as the Three Fifths Clause in the U. S. Constitution.
