Oprah Steals The Show With Stirring Speech
The 75th Annual Golden Globes Awards was not just about the best in television and motion picture excellence in 2017. Art often imitates life, but, in this case it showed us the day. In this world where sexual abuse and harassment in the work place is becoming the issue of the day, it is a time when a line has been drawn in the sand in many places. People of note are declaring this painful practice will happen no more.
African American women were often victimized because predators surmised that victims would not risk the chance of being labeled trouble-makers, and that this would be enough to secure their silence. It was true enough for women of every color.
Today is much different as women are coming forward to report disturbing acts of abuse. It started in Hollywood and spread to politics, business, education and sports. Oprah Winfrey was awarded the Cecile B. Demille award for her contributions to entertainment. Out of the daily limelight of her hugely popular show, she remains a powerful voice for change. Using the platform of the award, Winfrey used her time to speak out against sexual harassment and the deep wounds it has left in women everywhere.
The “Me Too” and “Times Up” movements were augmented by most of the women dressed in black Sunday night for the awards. There will be industry changes to keep the “casting couch” a relic of a painful time in an industry where men took advantage of their position to prey on vulnerable women. Winfrey brought the house down with her powerful call for change and to remember those who never experienced justice. “Me Too” started the movement, now Times Up seems to be the next step toward healing the wounds of abuse.
Big Games Reveal Racism And Opposition To Trump
President Donald Trump will attend the National Championship Football game that will pit the Alabama Rolling Crimson Tide against the Georgia Bulldogs. However, it also pits the President against the NAACP. There will be protest, signs, and supporters of the protest will wear white in response to Trump’s mocking of those who support progressive politics as “snowflakes.”
The Monday game will show us America still has a long way to go before the notion of an equality is realized. Other planned protests involve the players themselves who will take a knee to show their solidarity with the action to protest police brutality and the all too frequent shooting of Black citizens. Trump has been vocal of NFL players taking a knee saying it disrespects the flag. The sight of football heroes taking a knee in the face of the President is a powerful message.
Race also showed up in pro football; not during the National Anthem, but during the hard-fought game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills. Jaguar defensive star Yannick Ngakoue says Buffalo Bill’s guard Richie Incognito used racial slurs during the game. This wasn’t the first time Incognito has had a problem with the use of hate speech. When Incognito played forthe Miami Dolphins, he was accused of bullying African American teammate Johnathan Martin and uttering racial slurs. That led to Incognito being removed from the team after an extensive investigation.
It was not a mild form of bullying and including shaking down Martin for $15,000 and threatening his life. Rather surprising, no matter how talented Incognito is, should he be playing in the NFL? Incognito a public supporter of Trump might not appreciate the protest against the President. These are all examples of politics touching every part of society, good and bad.
Frigid Classrooms Often Are Full Of Black Students
The arctic blast, winter vortex or snowzilla, which covered much of the nation seemed to hit many of the northeast major cities. The inner cities have long suffered from being ignored and underfunded. Too often it’s assumed it is just that way, however, shouldn’t it be asked why is this the case year after year? And why is it okay for most of those longsuffering schools be full of students of color? Perhaps it’s a situation where there is joint responsibility and acceptance that is starting to harm students more and more each day. One could make the argument that global warming is making matters worse and changing weather patterns. The issue here is why students are sitting in classrooms that are not heated, and are basically unhealthy houses of neglect. The teachers’ union in Baltimore describes the conditions there as “unfair and inhumane.”
Like in Oklahoma, Baltimore’s innercity schools are not the recipient of a stable revenue stream to properly educate students. Some liken the current system as a part of the new Jim Crow laws where the system is designed to under educate students of color and create a walkway into prison and grinding poverty. Accordingly, the problem is not just properly educating students. It is stopping the war on people of color in the drug courts, and filling prisons full of black men and women.
Frigid classrooms are the symptom of that on-going system of neglect and a failed drug policy. Baltimore inner city schools were so cold they were closed. They are also closed in the summer because there is no air conditioning. There are no drinking fountains because of fear of lead poisoning. Cockroaches and other vermin scurry across classroom floors while students try to learn.
The school is ultimately punished for failing test scores. To be sure, the problems of educating inner city schools is expensive. Solving the problems associated with properly educating all children in a system supposedly equal under the constitution and civil rights laws needs more than just money. Change will require law makers to not only address the glaring symptoms but the core problems of poor education and other factors that create schools that are more like freezers than halls of learning.
