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Ald. Jeffrey Boyd got a belated Christmas gift from the St. Louis Election Board today when Board Chairman Ed Martin, a Republican, announced that the recall petition submitted against Boyd fell short of the required number of valid signature.
What's more, Martin announced that even more forged signatures of dead voters or voters who have stated that they never signed the petition have been found. He said that it appears that deliberate fraud has been committed and after the Board concludes its investigation, the matter will be turned over to local and federal prosecutors.
The recall attempt had been led by Boyd's chief political foes, former Aldermen Kenny Jones and Jay Ozier. In any criminal case to follow, it is likely that both will at least be called to testify to their knowledge of the fraudulent activities.
The AP is reporting the top priorities for 2006 for members of Missouri's congressional delegation. Here are some highlights.
Sen. Kit Bond, Republican:
"My top priority is to see that Missouri gets its fair share of federal resources. As an Appropriations Subcommittee chairman, I want to make sure next years transportation and housing appropriations bill provides Missouri and the nation with the resources we need in key programs."
Will work to reform intelligence operations, strengthen collection and analysis of threats and streamline the sharing of intelligence.
Will revive a measure that would upgrade locks to speed barge traffic on the upper Mississippi River. "These improvements are long past due. The current water transportation system, designed for paddlewheel boats and to last 50 years, is nearly 70 years old."
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Sen. Jim Talent, Republican
Will work to prevent planned cuts in defense spending. "I certainly don't want us to reduce defense spending because of a budget decision rather that a military analysis."
Will continue to back a measure to combat methamphetamine abuse by restricting the sale of over-the-counter cold medicines used to make the drug. "I think at some point a version of the Patriot Act must pass. When that happens, we'll get the methamphetamine bill."
Will promote a measure to allow small businesses to band together in nationwide insurance groups called Association Health Plans, with the goal of reducing premiums, boosting the quality of coverage and, ultimately, insuring more Americans.
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Rep. William Lacy Clay, Democrat, 1st District, St. Louis
Working on legislation to curb predatory lending and address privacy concerns with digital health care records.
Pressing to extend the voting rights act and raise the minimum wage.
Continuing to work for funding to support major public projects in the St. Louis region.
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Rep. Todd Akin, Republican, 2nd District, St. Louis
Will work toward permanent repeal of the estate tax.
Will work on tax simplification, such as a national sales tax or a flat tax. "I think a lot of people realize that we have something that's tremendously complicated and there's some benefits to simplifying it."
Will promote legislation to reform immigration law and improve border security.
Pushing legislation to define impeachable offenses for federal judges. One such offense would be reaching decisions based on foreign legal opinions or those not grounded in the U.S. Constitution.
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Rep. Russ Carnahan, Democrat, 3rd District, St. Louis
Will work to advances stem-cell research by supporting a bill to open research lines beyond President Bush's limits and include national standards for the research.
Will work to protect Medicaid programs and help constituents sort through confusion over the new Medicare drug plan.
Will push to renew key provisions of the anti-terrorism Patriot Act without compromising on civil liberties protection.
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Rep. Ike Skelton, Democrat, 4th District, central and western Missouri
"I hope to pass the security of Iraq over to the Iraqi forces and redeploy our forces, having left behind a secure and stable Iraqi parliament."
Will work on legislation to protect farmers whose federal crop insurance won't cover flood losses from a man-made spring rise on the Missouri River.
Will seek more relief for farmers who suffered from the drought in 2005.
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Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, Democrat, 5th District, Kansas City
"All my priorities for 2006, whether health care or education, hinge on improving the civility in Congress. Relationships are everything here. The acrimony and bitterness that fill the halls of Congress does not serve our constituents. We can disagree without being disagreeable. We can work together. If I can help bridge some of the differences in 2006, if I can get people to sit down and listen, I will feel very good about the new year."
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Rep. Sam Graves, Republican, 6th District, northwest Missouri
"I want to find a simpler and fairer way to tax Americans. With over 54,000 pages and 2.8 million words, our current tax code is confusing and complex. I believe that we can do better, and it may mean starting over with a blank piece of paper."
Will continue to push legislation that protects U.S. troops from predatory lenders by capping the annual percentage rate lenders can charge to members of the military.
"I have offered the only solution in Congress that reduces natural gas prices in the short term. The House has passed the ... bill, and I will continue to press the Senate to approve this legislation."
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Rep. Roy Blunt, Republican, 7th District, southwest Missouri
"I would start with extension of tax policies that I believe have brought us significant economic recovery and opportunity."
Will push for final passage of legislation to protect company pension plans and move forward with immigration reform and border security legislation.
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Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, Republican, 8th District, southeast Missouri
Will focus on earthquake preparedness along the New Madrid fault, working with lawmakers from Missouri and five states that could be affected.
Will work to reduce the price of prescription drugs by allowing imports of cheaper medicines from Canada and closing loopholes to let generics be sold more quickly. "I'm never going to give up the fight on reimportation, because the prices that we pay for prescription drugs are outrageous."
Will work on flood protection for farmers concerned about a planned "spring rise" for the Missouri River.
Will work to expand the use of renewable fuels, including increased funding for biodiesel.
Will focus on expanding access to quality health care in rural areas, such as promoting the use of electronic tools to put patients in remote locations in touch with doctors and nurses in larger communities.
Will work toward permanent repeal of the estate tax.
Nasheed wishes voters a happy holiday in recorded message
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Tuesday, December 27 at 5:32 AM
In the days before Christmas, some voters in the 60th District received phone calls from Jamilah Nasheed, candidate for state rep. In the recorded message, Nasheed wished a "happy holiday and a prosperous new year" to voters and delivered the candidate's hope to see them on the campaign trail in 2006.
Nasheed can be spotted around town in her pimped-out Ford Focus station wagon with her enlarged photo wrapped onto it. Some may recognize the Nasheedmobile as the former El-Aminmobile during the past campaigns of Nasheed's political ally State Rep. Yaphett El-Amin.
Nasheed is seeking to replace term-limited State Rep. Amber Boykins. Boykins and El-Amin are two of four announced candidates to replace term-limited State Sen. Pat Dougherty.
Post wins case to open juvenile trial to the media
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Friday, December 23 at 10:47 AM
The Missouri Supreme Court has ruled in the case of St. Louis Post-Dispatch v. The Honorable John F. Garvey. The case involved a media challenge to the closing of proceedings in a juvenile case. It was argued Tuesday, October 18, 2005.
In a unanimous per curiam decision that cannot be attributed to any particular judge, the Court ordered a peremptory (final) writ of prohibition to issue that requires the juvenile division to open the proceeding except as otherwise provided by law. Judges Richard Teitelman and Ronnie White wrote concurring opinions.
The Post-Dispatch is reporting that the St. Louis City elections board has gone with Diebold as its new supplier of electronic voting equipment.
The selection of Diebold is somewhat controversial. The company's machines have been thrown out of Leon and Volusia Counties in Florida after a Finnish security expert showed elections officials how easy it was to falsify results despite Diebold's "unhackable technology."
The company is also being sued by shareholders for making misleading comments about its electronic voting machine business that led to artificially high share prices. The Boston Globe reports that the lawsuit also claims that Diebold tried to conceal problems with its voting machines and was "unable to assure the quality and working order of its voting machine products."
Diebold's controversial CEO resigned last week. According to The Anchorage Daily News, Walden "Wally" O'Dell, a large Republican donor, was criticized for inviting people in 2003 to a fundraiser for President Bush with a letter stating he planned to help "Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president."
An article in the March 5, 2004 edition of Mother Jones reported that one of the longest-serving Diebold directors, W.R. "Tim" Timken, also a Republican loyalist and a major contributor to GOP candidates, gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to George W. Bush's re-election campaign. "Since 1991 the Timken Company and members of the Timken family have contributed more than a million dollars to the Republican Party and to GOP presidential candidates...Between 2000 and 2002 alone, Timken's Canton-based bearing and steel company gave more than $350,000 to Republican causes, while Timken himself gave more than $120,000."
Jo Mannes of the Post reports that the governor-appointed, Republican-controlled (2-1) St. Louis Board of Elections selected Diebold unanimously. Kansas City also chose the firm earlier this month. St. Louis County will announce their selection this week.
I'll be chatting it up tonight on Collateral Damage with hosts DJ Wilson and Fred Hessel at 7:00 on KDHX 88.1 FM. I'll be joining Steve Patterson from UrbanReviewSTL.com to discuss the latest happenings in local news, politics, and culture.
Don't miss it. But if you do, it'll be available as a podcast in the next day or so on the show's website.
In the spirit of self-preservation: Alderman pass recall reform, Voters must approve
By Antonio D. French
The St. Louis Board of Aldermen voted Friday to pass a bill that aims to make it more difficult to recall city officials.
Board Bill #310, sponsored by Aldermen Jennifer Florida and Ken Ortmann, proposes new language for Section 9 of Article 3 of the City's Charter. It would add provisions that would severely limit when a recall could be done.
This is not the first time aldermen tried to make it harder to fire them. In 1989, the city's voters twice rejected attempts to change Article 3 as it pertained to the number of signatures required to recall officials and the time allowed for a recall effort.
Under the current proposal, within the 48-month term of an alderman, a recall could not be carried out in the first 6 months, last 6 months, or within 18 months of a previous attempt. And all recall attempts would be limited to 180-days from the day the petitions are picked up from the Board of Elections to the day they are turned in.
The bill would also require the election board to develop a uniform recall petition and to notify the official that is the target of the recall effort.
The bill does not include a provision that would prevent a recalled official from immediately running for the office again, as some critics of the bill had suggested.
To become law, voters must approve the measure by 60% or greater.
December 15, 2005 -- Congressman William Lacy Clay (D-MO) joined his collegue Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) to introduce legislation to abolish the federal death penalty yesterday.
Kucinich's bill, The Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2005, is currently co-sponsored by 39 Members of Congress and will put an immediate halt to executions and forbid the imposition of the death penalty as a sentence for violations of federal law.
Locally, there is an event scheduled for tonight to support efforts to prevent the impending execution of Reggie Clemons, who was convicted in 1991 for his part in the "Chain of Rocks Murders." His co-defendant in the case, Marlin Gray, was executed last month.
The Justice 4 Reggie event will take place on Thursday, December 15 at 7 pm at Legacy Books and Cafe, 5249 Delmar Blvd.
Obama: fine illegal immigrants, grant them interim legal status
By Antonio D. French
In case you missed it, below is an op-ed by Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Mel Martinez (R-FL) on comprehensive immigration reform. The op-ed ran in today’s (Dec-15) Wall Street Journal, Page A18.
Like millions of Americans, the immigrant story is our story. We understand the allure of freedom and opportunity in the U.S. From this very personal vantage point, and because millions of immigrants live and work in Illinois and Florida, we take a special interest in the current debate on the reform of our immigration policies.
When Congress last addressed this issue comprehensively in 1986, there were approximately four million illegal immigrants living here. Today, it is estimated there are more than 11 million. We are a generous and welcoming people, but those who enter our country illegally, and those who employ them, disrespect the rule of law. And because we live in an age where terrorists are challenging our borders, we simply cannot allow people to pour into the U.S. undetected, undocumented and unchecked. Americans are right to demand better border security and better enforcement of the immigration laws.
To begin with, the agencies charged with border security require new technology, new facilities and more people to stop, process and deport illegal immigrants. But while security might start at our borders, it doesn't end there. Millions of illegal immigrants live and work here without our knowing their identity or background. That's why we need a guest-worker program to replace the flood of illegals with a regulated stream of legals who enter the U.S. after checks and with access to labor rights. This would enhance our security, raise wages and improve working conditions for all Americans.
American employers also need to take responsibility. Too often illegal immigrants are lured here with the promise of a job, only to receive unconscionably low wages. In the interest of cheap labor, unscrupulous employers look the other way when employees provide fraudulent U.S. citizenship documents. These acts hurt both American workers and immigrants whose sole aim is to work hard and get ahead. That's why we need a simple, foolproof and mandatory mechanism for all employers to check the legal status of new hires.
If we hope to bring the 11 million undocumented immigrants out into the open, we must give them a reason. This means granting them an interim legal status to work with the opportunity to eventually earn citizenship. We can do this, without amnesty, by imposing a hefty fine for having illegally entered our country, and by forcing the undocumented to go to the back of the line in their pursuit of citizenship. The interim status should only apply to those already here, so as not to open the door for others.
We simply cannot claim to have dealt with the problems of illegal immigration if we ignore the illegal resident population or pretend that they will leave voluntarily. Some of the proposed ideas in Congress provide a temporary legal status and call for deportation, but fail to answer how the government would deport 11 million people. If temporary legal status is granted but the policy says these immigrants are never good enough to become Americans, then the policy makes little sense.
We believe successful, comprehensive immigration reform can be achieved by combining the strongest elements of Chuck Hagel's border-security proposals with the realistic workplace and earned-citizenship program proposed by John McCain and Ted Kennedy. We will work on both sides of the aisle to ensure that both are incorporated into the reform process, and we welcome new voices and new ideas in the debate.
As FDR reminded the nation at the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty, those who landed at Ellis Island "were the men and women who had the supreme courage to strike out for themselves, to abandon language and relatives, to start at the bottom without influence, without money, and without knowledge of life in a very young civilization." Today's immigrants seek to follow in that tradition. We do ourselves and them a disservice if we do not recognize the contributions of these individuals. And we fail to protect our children if we do not regain control over our immigration system immediately.
Mr. Obama is a Democratic senator from Illinois whose father was from Kenya. Mr. Martinez is a Republican senator from Florida and an immigrant from Cuba.
The St. Louis Schools Watch is reporting that the St. Louis Board of Education gave the go ahead last night to Superintendent Creg Williams' plan to revamp high schools and middle schools in St. Louis.
Williams plans to create up to four new small high schools for the next year, and split Vashon into two schools within the same building.
Carnahan, Northwest, and Blewett Middle Schools will start a transition to becoming high schools with fewer than 500 students each. Carnahan and Northwest, which have seventh and eighth grades this year, will go to eighth and ninth grades next year, ninth and tenth grades in 2007, and then add one grade a year in each of the following years. Blewett, which has sixth, seventh, and eighth grades this year, will go to... CONTINUE READING
There was no comeback in the cards for former alderman Tom Bauer. The not-too-long-ago recalled Bauer was unsuccessful in his attempt to get his old job back yesterday when more than half of the voters in the 24th Ward selected Democrat William Waterhouse.
Though the St. Louis board of Elections still does not have yesterday's results posted on its website (every media website in the city usually posts election results before the board of election, which typically takes days), it has been reported that Bauer came in a distant second with Republican Sharon Barnes in last place.
Last Friday, Mayor Francis Slay and Congressman Russ Carnahan were at the Adam's Mark Hotel downtown for a meeting on the possible threat of New Orleans-like flooding from the Mississippi River.
Representatives from the Wood River Drainage and Levee District and the Metro East Sanitary District discussed the need for a total renovation of the levee systems, a project that could cost upwards of $30 million. According to Leroy Emerick, a Wood River commissioner, 65% of the funding might come from the federal government with local governments putting up the rest.
The Associated Press is reporting that the body of David Exposito, 64, was found in a street in the northeast side of Kansas City, Kansas yesterday afternoon.
According to the AP, police would not discuss details, except to say the preliminary theory is that Exposito was in a car when he was shot, then thrown onto the street from the vehicle.
In a written statement to the press, State Auditor Claire McCaskill, who is currently in a heated race to unseat Sen. Jim Talent, confirmed the man was her ex-husband and the father of her children.
"Obviously, this is an incredibly difficult time for me and my children, as they grieve the loss of their father," she said. "I will be spending time with my children to help them through this terrible loss, and I know others will respect my family's privacy at this tragic time."
Peter Downs, publisher of St. Louis Schools Watch and a parent of SLPS students, will be announcing his candidacy for a seat on the St. Louis School Board on Saturday, Dec. 10.
Downs' supporters hope the third time's the charm for Peter. In April, he fell just 600 votes shy of winning a seat on the board. Downs would have been the only member of the board with children attending school in the district. He also ran in 2003.
Downs and his supporters will hold a press conference at the old Waring School site on Compton and Laclede at 10:00 a.m.
Also announcing his candidacy is past school board member and perennial mayoral candidate Bill Haas. Haas is planning to formally announce his intentions to return to the board on Tuesday, Dec. 13, at 10 a.m. outside the St. Louis Board of Elections office on Tucker, then again later that evening at 6 p.m. before the regular school board meeting at Carr Lane School.
During his last campaign for mayor, Haas publicly announced his struggle with depression and thoughts of suicide. Click here to download that story as a PDF.
Alderman Dionne Flowers (D-2nd Ward) will be hosting a summit on crime on Thursday, Dec. 15. It will take place at 7:00 p.m. at Northpark United Methodist Church, 1525 Orchid Ave. Police Chief Joe Mokwa and representatives of the police gang task force are scheduled to be on hand.
Former Missouri Lt. Governor Harriett Woods will be discussing the process of elections and candidate-selection Wednesday, December 7.
Woods will be discussing ongoing Democratic recruitment efforts for challengers for both state House and Senate seats.
The former Lt. Governor, whose long political career included eight years as a city council member in University City; eight years as a Missouri state senator; two years as the first woman State Transportation and Highway Commissioner; and twice being the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in Missouri ('82 and '86), reflected on her life in her book "Stepping Up to Power: The Political Journey of American Women".
This event will be at The Corner Coffee House, 100 N. New Florissant Rd, in Ferguson. "Gathering time" is from 6:30-7 p.m. The meeting begins at 7:00 and is scheduled to last until 9 p.m.
Paul Begala, Democratic political strategist, President Bill Clinton's former campaign manager, and the former co-host of CNN's Crossfire, will be speaking at St. Louis University on Tuesday, December 6, at 7 p.m.
An Evening with Paul Begala: Politics in America will take place in the Busch Student Center ballroom. Parking is available in the Laclede Garage on the corner of Laclede and Grand. Admission is free and open to the public.
Percy Green, the legendary activist and Arch climber, has let it be known that new school board member Jim Buford will not be getting his vote next year. In a statement sent by e-mail, Green says that Buford "supports the same failed programs and decisions as that of former school board member Vince Schoemehl." Green also says that in order for St. Louis Public Schools to reverse course, it must break free from the control of Mayor Francis Slay and his "bandits."
The attempt to recall Ald. Jeffrey Boyd (D-22nd Ward) has stalled but not stopped. Boyd's foes, led by former Ald. Kenny Jones, fell a couple hundred signatures short of the magic number and have been given until Christmas week to turn them in. If Alderman Boyd was hoping for an X-Box 360 for Christmas, the folks at election board will likely have a very disappointing substitute.
Speaking of recalls, voters in the 24th Ward will be electing a new alderman next Tuesday and their old one has done everything he could do to confuse them. Ex-Alderman Tom Bauer, who was just recalled in September by more than 60% of those who voted, is running again -- this time as an independent after city Democrats selected William Waterhouse as their candidate. But that didn't stop ol' Tom from calling himself a "Independent Democrat" candidate.
That's not a new trick. Alderman Bennice Jones King (21st Ward) did the same thing in her last election. But this time, the city Democrats decided to sue and they won. So now Bauer has to change all his campaign literature and signage with just days left in the campaign.
With recall fever sweeping the city and temperatures rising on elected officials, members of the Board of Aldermen are looking to change the rules. Alderman Jennifer Florida's bill to make it harder to recall aldermen got its second reading last week. Some believe that Board Bill #310 would effectively limit recall efforts to just one per 4-year term.
Board Bill #310 does not limit aldermen from immediately running again after they have been recalled., although some observers believe that such added language would offer an attractive trade-off for city voters.
Even if it does pass the Board of Aldermen and is signed by the Mayor, it still requires approval by 60% of the voters to change the city's charter and become law.
Still No Exit Strategy, Still No Accountability on Iraq
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Sunday, December 4 at 7:44 AM
National opinion has finally turned on the Bush Administration. The Iraq War is now seen by most Americans as a failure and, perhaps more importantly, as unnecessary. The question is now being publicly debated whether President Bush and his aides misled the American public on whether Iraq really did pose a threat to the U.S. in the first place.
But while many Democrats and even some Republicans (both with the 2006 elections weighing heavy on their minds) appear willing to bring their criticisms close to Bush's inner circle to include Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, few are willing to place ultimate responsibility at the feet of Bush himself.
Today, Sen. John McCain appeared on Meet the Press and freely criticized Rumsfeld for underestimating the numbers of troops needed in Iraq at the beginning of the war and still today. But McCain would not say that that failure was shared by the President.
Democrats and Republicans, while attempting to appear to have grown a backbone since the days of blindly authorizing the President to take the nation to war for whatever reason he felt would "keep us safe", still are trying to play an unmanageable political game of intellectual dishonesty.
Senators McCain, John Kerry, and Hillary Clinton are very smart people. They know history, and if they forget, advisors surely remind them. Nations do not destroy and rebuild other nations overnight. It takes not years, but decades -- especially in a region like the present-day Middle East.
After World War II, the task of rebuilding Germany and Japan took the combined efforts of several nations, and many years. It was done after fighting had stopped, unlike in Iraq where fighting continues to escalate. It was also done without the German and Japanese people being burdened with the high cost of maintaining a military in a potentially hostile region. That is impossible in Iraq. Iran and Syria pose a great threat to any democracy that would grow in Iraq. And even under those more ideal conditions, 60 years after the end of World War II, America still has a military presence in both Germany and Japan.
Today's debate should not be on the deceit that occured before the last election, but that which continues as we approach another. When Congress and the White House took America to war in Iraq, they committed our country to a decades-long mission.
We will likely see a small decrease in the numbers of U.S. troops in Iraq just ahead of the November elections. But when things flare up in the region, we will be forced to send troops back. And if things get worse -- and yes, they could get worse with all-out civil war, another attack on U.S. soil, or a crisis in some other part of the world -- voluntary recruitment efforts by the millitary may not be enough.
On Oct. 11, 2000, during a debate with then-Vice President Al Gore, Bush said: "I don't think our troops ought to be used for what's called nation-building. . . . I think what we need to do is convince people who live in the lands they live in to build the nations. Maybe I'm missing something here. I mean, we're going to have a kind of nation-building corps from America? Absolutely not."
That is exactly the task Bush and Congress have committed America to. And they continue to mislead the American public about it.
The White House will not deliver an exit strategy to the public because the timetable would lead to a complete turnover of Congress next year. Americans are not yet prepared for the reality of decades of Iraqi sponsorship.
December 1, 2005 -- At today's meeting of the Public Safety Committee of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, there was debate on the selection of members to a possible Civilian Review Board that would be charged with independently reviewing reports of police brutality.
Some members of the committee represented the view that members should be appointed to the board by either the mayor or the Board of Aldermen. Others leaned more towards selection by the people of the city through public elections. The sponsor of the bill, Ald. Terry Kennedy, called for a compromise with some members being appointed and some being elected. Kennedy called this approach "the best of both worlds."
December 1, 2005 -- Fifty years ago today, a 42-year-old Southern black woman made a decision to no longer be a party to her own disrespect. Rosa Parks said “no” to the question of her inferiority. She said “no” to her state-imposed invisibility. She said “no” to giving up her seat on a city bus, deciding that her own feelings of inconvenience and fatigue were no less valid than that of the white man that wanted her seat.
Today in St. Louis, buses will carry the message “Rosa Parks Day” to commemorate this woman’s inspiring act. Since her death a few weeks ago, the legend of Rosa Parks has grown to new levels with everyone from President George W. Bush to a group of disgruntled local contractors attempting to stand on the shoulders of this American icon.
But it is important to note, for the sake of completely understanding the nature of her act of defiance, that 2005 is not 1955, that “being a Rosa Parks” today means something very different in today’s America than it did for the actual woman.
“Being a Rosa Parks” today is done largely without the fear of lethal retribution that the actual woman must have feared in the South of 1955. Being the target of a deadly terrorist attack was something that Rosa Parks and her family must surely have feared, not in the detached, abstract way that we in St. Louis think about it, but in the manner of a people with fresh images of Emmett Till’s mutilated body burned into their minds.
Today in St. Louis, such a scenario involving the mistreatment of a large group of people by a bus service, or large corporation, or governmental entity, culminating in a single act of civil disobedience would likely be soon dispelled with a quiet undisclosed settlement to the individual and a cushy job offered to activist preacher or attorney that took up her cause.
Our Rev. Kings and Atty. Thurgood Marshalls are replaced by preachers that without apparent reservation accept gifts and jobs from the very wolves they are supposed to be defending their flock from. All the while, they claim the honor of “being a Rosa Parks.”
There was only one Rosa Parks. Any attempts to use her image in today’s political environment only acts to cheapen her act of inspirational defiance.
But that ship sailed decades ago and there is no calling it back.
The downside of lionizing people is that they soon become cartoons, symbols for larger issues and different agendas. We forget that Martin Luther King and Muhammad Ali were among the most hated men in America and they lived with the real threat of death or harm, not just to them but also to their families. We turn them into symbols for good and forget that doing the right thing comes with risk.
Without that full appreciation of risk and consequences, we accept false Rosas and forget what true leadership even looks like.
