FOR THE AFRICAN IN AMERICA THE QUESTION IS: IS AMERICA STILL A DEMOCRACY? Respect for Constitutional rules and rulings of the Supreme Court, is going the way of both the Executive and Legislative Branches of the United States government. Increasingly we are witnessing all the signs of disregard for the rules of constitutional government. The Executive Branch completely ignores the 4th Amendment right of privacy, the Legislative Branches are subject to election by the highest bidders and the US Supreme Court has been reduced to ruling on issues based on partisan politics. All of these indicators point to serious attacks on the very integrity of true American Democracy. When we consider that Democracy is dependent upon the integrity of the systems and institutions that make it work. In this instance, except for appearance, Democracy in America is almost none existent. The fact that the negative impact is primarily directed at minorities, especially Africans-in-America, and the poor in general make these actions a clear case of Politicide. Politicide happens when the elite or dominate controlling group moves to decrease or eliminate the basic rights that provide protection, through constitutional and civil laws, for targeted ethnic or racial groups within a society. No one can argue with the impact racial discrimination in the criminal and civil courts have had on reducing the equal protection rights of African and Hispanic Americans in this country over the past 50 years. From racial profiling to an almost complete abandonment of minority civil rights gains of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, law enforcement and the judicial system has disenfranchised tens of millions of Africans in American and Hispanics from the American economic, political and social matrix. No one can argue that a criminal record is, literally, a stamp of approval for discrimination in employment, housing and otherwise upward mobility in American society. There is a reason Africans-in-America, who are descendants of slaves, referred to various locations in rural and urban areas as The Black Community. For well over a centuries locations in New York, like Harlem, Bed-Sty, Brownsville, etc. (and the same goes for Hispanic-Americans) were the sole province of people of color. However, the last two decades have seen a large and continuous influx of predominantly European-Americans. The same pattern is not taking place in areas associated with other racial and ethnic groups, such as Italian, Polish, Chinese, Jewish, Irish, etc. Gentrification is not restricted to New York City, but is taking place in the same pattern in large cities throughout the country. I make mention of this occurrence because the seizure of land is also a fundamental aspect of Politicide. According to many prominent scientist in the field of Civil conflict and war equate Politicide as an early stage of genocide. It may also be noted that Genocide does not have to take on the form of the barbaric execution of large groups of peoples, associated with the Nazi Germans during word war II. Imprisonment, Disease, hunger, stress, hopelessness, inner-racial suicide, mental illness and other physical, emotional and psychological conditions can be just as effective in causing widespread injury and death to the human organism. Being aware of the various potentials political, economic and social situations and conditions present for a given group of people is the most important aspect of group survival. Every ethnic and racial groups in the world have developed programs and institutions to monitor their on going status. Africans-in-America use to have them, the NAACP and Urban League to name two. The Urban League kept up with vital stats and the NAACP developed policy and organized social and political actions. However, since the death of the civil rights and black power movements (and the withdrawal of critical funding) both these institutions have loss focus and the sense of leadership they once commanded among both African European Americans has critically diminished. Without such institutions, usually supported by funding from groups members, the African-in-America is subject to any threat that effects the well being of the entire group. However, without the protects accorded Africans-in-America, by Democracy and respect for Constitutions government the danger to the collective potentially enormous. In short, without these institutions the African-in-America is like a boat up river without a paddle.
Posted on: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 00:34:31 +0000
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