From My Corner: July 1, 2018

What’s wrong with society?

Zora Neale Hurston once said, “If you are silent about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it.”

That pretty much applies to the residents of Lawrence. Things continue to happen and there is silence from all of us. I am very concerned being an election year that the fix is in and we’ll wake up and raise our voices (on the radio only) the day after Election Day.

For several years now, the Human Rights Commission has been dead and now the Commission on Disability, both for the same reason. Year after year, the mayor refuses to appoint members to their boards and they could not meet for lack of quorum, even though the demand for services is always there. We silently put up with it and just abide by the wishes of the dictator.

Since January, the position of Bilingual Election Coordinator has been vacant and the mayor has not made an effort to fill it. With an election just two months away, they are either going to be shorthanded or have a new employee who has no time to be trained on something complicated and vital. When we begin to hear what went wrong at the polls, it will be easy to blame the Election Department workers or the City Clerk.

We heard complaints about “irregularities” just a few months ago; get ready to hear them again, and this time more elaborate.

I don’t advocate for violence but expressing our needs in a forceful way is often called for. The radio is supposed to be for entertainment, educational and informational purposes; instead, we use it to gossip about things that help nobody or complain among ourselves, not directing our pain to those responsible for its cause.

For many years we have been hearing the word “tolerance” when dealing with racism or gay rights. We learn to behave and things have been working out on those two fronts. But lately, there is no tolerance when it comes to politics. University students interrupt with chants and scream at a speaker when they disagree with the message. In the past, we just listen to see if we learned something new or just stayed away and allow the audience to be made up of similar minds.

Today, they are not allowed to speak or anyone else to listen. It’s my way or the highway!

Sarah Huckabee Sanders was kicked out of a restaurant just because she works for the president. The funny part about it is that her family members accompanying her, are liberals who dislike Trump and they got kicked out, too.

Stephanie Wilkinson, owner of The Red Hen in Virginia, explained to Sanders that they have certain standards to uphold, such as honesty, and compassion. These are the same people who have made a martyr out of adult film star Stormy Daniels.

The Secretary of Health and Human Services Kirstjen Nielsen had to leave a Mexican restaurant when a mob came in and began yelling, blaming her for the separation of children and parents at the border. She is now being harassed in her own home.

And now Democrat Maxine Waters is calling for more harassment of the Silent Majority. The Left is trying to bully and buy their way back into power. That’s not the way it’s done in a democracy.

Remember the controversy when a baker refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple? The pharmacist who refused to fill a prescription because he has a moral objection to its medical use? Or the florist who refused making flower arrangements for a gay wedding?

Now the attacks are based on the way we think. No one is affected by the way we think but we are no longer allowed to think unless it is to agree with them.

Stay silent. Continue allowing the abuse to take place. It will only get worse.

Elections are coming!

In the next couple of months, take the time to ask about all the candidates you will be selecting in September and again in November.

Educate yourself by questioning them and find out what are the responsibilities of the office that he or she plans to occupy – and I mean ALL of them.

Don’t be fooled by empty promises such as bring jobs, better housing, public safety, etc. Keep in mind that rent control is against the law and no politician will be able to do anything about it. Also, the schools are under the state control indefinitely and no candidate should be mentioning that.