“Politics vs Politricks”
Posted by caclarkfrieson on May 17, 2006
Early Wednesday morning, (May 10, 2006), I was driving along the highway listening attentively as Tom Joyner interviewed his special guest for that morning, Reverend Al Sharpton. Reverend Sharpton’s comments during the show really resonated with me. He spoke on the issue of “Politics vs Politricks.” Let me merely share my take on his comments.
There is no other group of citizens more vulnerable to “Politricks” than African American citizens. For this reason we must be ever so careful how we vote in this most important election.
Many of us tend to forget what we, (the African-American people as a whole) have endured to get to the point where we can now be considered a viable political force to be reckoned with. And, if we are not careful, we will allow “Politricks” to shatter those political gains.
What is “Politricks?” Rev. Sharpton described it as the antithesis of what most “thinking” black people would regard as politically sound and in the very best interest of the greatest number of African American people across the board.
“Politricks” is what our President pulled on us, when he led the country to believe that Iraq was really producing weapons of mass destruction and that engaging them in this war was the necessary and proper thing to do.
“Politricks” is what many candidates perpetrate when they use our love of The Lord, and reverence for God’s Word, to capture our attention and trick us by deflecting and diverting our attention from the real hard core issues, often grandstanding or hiding behind foolishness such as the politically trivial issues of Gay marriage, pro-choice, and other moral issues.
“Politricks” is tricky. And those of us who really have the best interest of the African American People at heart must be very careful in our evaluation of those who seek our support for public office.
I might even go a step further to define “Politricks” as the rhetoric, and the charismatic “mumbo-jumbo” about which we often hear politicians rattle on and on, but which hold no real meaning for us as a people. Empty words. Bull-Sh–. Something I don’t want to hear.
At election time, I get real selfish. My main question to any candidate running for office is simply this: What can you (or will you) do to make my life and the life of my people better? What can you (or will you) do to ease my burden? The burden of outrageous gasoline prices? The burden of oppressive utility prices? What can you (or will you) do to improve the outlook for social security? What will you do to make improvements in the community where I live? What will you do for the children in my neighborhood? And every voter needs to be. What can you do to improve the unfair judicial system that victimizes so many black men and boys? What plan do you have to make our government fairer? I’m from Missouri, Show me. Will you work to make it fairer? Just how hard are you willing to work? Real hard?
Does the candidate I’m considering share the same (or similar) views as I have about the causes that are important to me? For example, I will not be voting for any candidate who believes in the death penalty. I am bitterly against it, because I know that Alabama’s judicial system is horrible, and many a black man has been erroneously indicted and legally murdered at the behest of Alabama’s brand of “blind justice.” Many are rotting away in Alabama’s prisons because the “system” does not work the way it was designed to work. That’s it plain and simple. So, what I will be doing, is testing every candidate’s views on the death penalty, and at the end of the day, this will carry a lot of weight in terms of who I vote for.
Now is the time to get very well acquainted with each candidate running for office. After election will be too late. There are several individuals who are well worth investigating. I also encourage all African-American voters to take advantage of ballots that will be available through your black political Caucuses such as The ADC and New South Coalition.
At the end of the day, we have to remember that the decisions these people that we elect will be making will affect each and every one of our lives in terms of the conditions we’ll have to live with. How much money we can expect to receive from our Social Security. How difficult will it be to get my disability benefits in the event I become disabled? Will I have to have one foot in the grave before I can get it?
We also must remember that if WE CHOOES NOT TO VOTE, an undesirable candidate may just win by default. And it would be a dirty shame to have any undesirable candidate win an election because of our failure to vote.
I am quite adamant in my belief that my vote belongs to me. It is distinctively and exclusively mine. It is my power. It is my voice. It cannot be bought, baited or switched. It is my one opportunity to make a conscious choice about my own destiny. I am praying that everybody else who reads this takes the same stand.
Copyright 2006 by Charlotte A. Clark-Frieson
This article was composed and written by Charlotte A. Clark-Frieson, and appeared in the May 12, edition of The People’s Voice African American Weekly News (http://www.peoplesvoiceonline.com/). This article may be reprinted with permission from the author:
Charlotte A. Clark-Frieson
email: caclarkfrieson@msn.com
322 Wilkie Clark Drive
Roanoke, Alabama 36274
334-863-4885
334-338-1149
