» till
®‘i* ^Jortlanh (Observer
May 23, 2012
O pinion ________________
Put Aside the Politics and Celebrate
Obama is right
on gay marriage
by
M ichael N euroth
President O bam a sent the m edia and
public “a-tw itter” w ith his public support
fo r gay m arriage earlie r this m onth.
N ew spapers, blogs and social n etw ork
ing sites have been buzzing with opinions
and articles regarding the im plications o f
this announcem ent.
In his interview on A B C new s on M ay
9, O bam a stated unequivocally, “ I've ju st
co n clu d ed that — for me personally, it is
im portant for m e to go ahead and affirm
that— I think sam e-sex couples should
be able to get m arried.”
M any U nited C hurch o f C hrist friends
celebrated this m om ent on Facebook
and the U C C ’s G eneral M inister and
President, Rev. G eoffrey B lack, issued
a pow erful affirm ation o f O b a m a ’s state
m ent attesting to the “countless testim o
nies” o f sam e gender couples in the
U C C w ho live the “vocation o f m ar
riag e ” as w ell as anyone.
A s a m em ber o f H ope U nited C hurch
o f C hrist, an O pen and A ffirm ing U C C
church w ith several sam e gender couples,
I ex perience this truth as well.
N ot surprisingly, though, not everyone
is celebrating this m om ent. A s I found
not reflect m y opinion and it m ight be
hurtful to those for w hom this m om ent is
one o f deep celebration. T his co m m en t,
though, cau sed m e to think and w restle
w ith this q u estio n the past few days.
N o doubt w h atev er a P resident does
...polls have shown that despite a slim 51 percent
public support fo r Obama’s position, those states
expected to be close in the presidential election
have laws or constitutional provisions that prohibit
same-sex marriage.
on my ow n Facebook w all, m any o f my
friends are d ivided on the issue.
A m idst a flurry o f co m m en ts c e l
e b r a tin g th is m o m e n t, o n e f r ie n d
d ism issively suggested that it w as “ju st
po litics.” R eally? He d ism issed this as
a historic m om ent for civil rights because
o f his b e lief that the P re sid e n t’s state
m ent w as politically m otivated. I re
m oved this com m ent know ing that it did
d uring an election y ear can easily be
broken dow n, polled, and assessed for its
political im pact. Y et o v er the past few
days polls have show n that despite a slim
51 percent public support fo r O b a m a ’s
p o sitio n , th o se states ex p ected to be
close in the p resid en tial electio n have
law s or constitutional provisions that p ro
hibit sam e-sex m arriage. In these states,
the P resid en t’s statem ent m ay hurt his
ch an ces in the election. A nd he d id this
fo r pure political g ain ?
I ’d like to think that O b a m a ’s “e v o lu
tio n ” on the topic o f gay m arriag e had
so m eth in g to do w ith the fact that he
spent o v er 20 years in a U nited C hurch
o f C h rist co n g reg atio n . T he U n ited
C h u rch o f C hrist has a long history o f
affirm in g and w orking for equal rights
fo r L G B T Q persons.
I know fo r m e, m y ow n p ersp ectiv e
w as sh ap ed through ex p erien cin g the
g en u in e love I saw in sam e-g en d er rela
tio n sh ip s o f my friends and co lleag u es in
sem inary. W h atev er O b a m a ’s m o tiv a
tion to declare his support fo r sam e-sex
m arriage, there are m om ents w hen w e
m ust put aside politics and celebrate.
T his is one o f those m om ents. L e t’s
celeb rate this historic point fo r o u r co u n
try. A nd even m ore im portantly, le t’s
celeb rate this p ro fo u n d m om ent fo r the
m illions o f sam e gen d er loving couples in
o u r ch u rch es and co m m u n ities.
Michael Neuroth is a policy advo
cate fo r international issues in the
United Church o f Christ.
Look What Law and Order Has Wrought
by
W illiam R eed
D o n ’t you think
that it’s tim e to re
f o r m A m e r i c a ’s
crim inal ju stice sys
tem ? It’s an unfair,
racist and d ishonest system in
need o f abandonm ent.
In the last 4 0-years an in sid i
ous prison industrial com plex has
d ev elo p ed to the detrim ent o f
A frican -A m erican m ales. It a p
pears that politicians o f all stripes
are m ore interested in sending
A fric a n A m e ric a n s to p riso n
than to college. I f s tim e to sound
th e a la rm on th e h a rm th e
c o u n try ’s prison industrial c o m
plex is causing.
H ow is it that A frican A m eri
cans are so d ism issive o f the
m ass in c a rc e ra tio n o f o u r
m ale pop u latio n ? It’s tim e to
publicly scrutinize the dispro
portionate prison population
num bers. G oing to prison rep
resents lifelong exclusion from
“pro p er society” including jo b
discrim ination, elim ination from
ju rie s and vo ter rolls, and d is
qualification from access to food
stam ps, public housing and stu
dent loans. B lack leaders need
to address the devastating e f
fect o f the w ar on drugs on our
com m unities.
T he A m erican ju stic e system
is racist, outm o d ed and d eserv
ing o f public scorn. T oday, black
m ales are the c o u n try ’s m ost
socially d isen fran ch ised group.
It should be o f m ajo r concern
that 10.4 percen t o f the A frican-
A m erican m ale p o p ulation ages
25 to 29 is incarcerated. W e all
know so m eo n e “ in tro u b le.”
M ore th an 3 m illion b lack
j
I
J
I
generates, but su ffer the m ost in
law en fo rcem en t and the legal
system . A p p ro x im ately 13 m il
lion A m erican s buy o r sell, c o
cain e, E cstasy o r w eed on a
reg u lar basis. W h eth er it’s for
recreational use o r for profit,
th e y ’re not the o n es w ho go to
jail for drug crim es. A m erican
drug sales and th eir huge profits
exist outside B lack co m m u n i
ties. It’s estim ated that $ 1 0 to
$30 billion in d ru g profits goes
are w ealthy bankers w ho lau n
d er m oney, land o w n ers w ho
g ro w and ex p o rt p ro d u ct, and
W all Street in v esto rs and b u si
ness folk w ho profit from d e
signing, building, supplying and
m anaging prisons.
C an d id ate R on P aul is the
only one w illing to say: “T he true
racial p ro b lem s in this co u n try
involve drug law en fo rcem en t.
T he drug w ar is out o f c o n tr o l...
and und erm in es o u r civil lib er
ties. It m agnifies o u r p ro b lem s
on the borders. W e spent, over
the last 4 0 years, $1 trillio n on
this w a r ... It ju st h asn 't w orked.
It has to do w ith en fo rcin g the
drug law s.”
W e m ust take m ore a g g res
sive political p o sitio n s to rid our
people o f this crim inal ju stic e
and prison system . Stop the geno
cide. People o f co n scien ce m ust
let o u r elected o fficials know
that w e w ant to d ecrim in alize
cocaine, heroin and m ariju an a in
o rd er to clo se the do o rs o n d ia
bolical p riso n s and policies.
south to C o lo m b ia and M exico
each year. T he real b en eficia
ries o f the A m erican drug trade
William Reed is publisher o f
Who's Who in Black Corpo
rate America.
The true racial problems in this country
involve drug law enforcement. The drug
war is out o f control... and undermines our
civil liberties. It magnifies our problems on
the borders.
_ ROn Paul, presidential candidate
hou seh o ld s have a close relative
currently o r p reviously on parole
o r probation. T he nu m b ers have
grow n to the po in t that m ore
A frican -A m erican m en are in
503-"88^0037"” | ja il than in college. Since the
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Isn ’t it tim e to take elected
p —— — — — — — — — — —■
■ S u b s c rib e
officials to task fo r the law s they
helped to design, w rite and leg is
late? T o allow these law s and
law m akers to rem ain in o ffice is
a crim e.
B lacks receiv e little o f the
$321.6 billion the global drug trade