The skanner., July 11, 2012, Page 5, Image 5

Opinion
Some Still Fighting The Civil War In America
W
ith the way some gover-
nors and congressional
people are reacting to
the United States Supreme Court
ruling that The Affordable Health
Care Act is constitutional indicates
to me that we are still fighting the
Civil War in this country. Those
individuals call it “Obama Care”
which I read as code for race. This
ruling came on the heels of an ear-
lier decision by the same court to
strike down parts of the State of
Arizona’s passage of a very
restrictive immigration law aimed
at our Latino brothers and sisters
in this country.
It has become crystal clear that
most Americans have come to
grips with these two issues and
agree that the court was correct in
both decisions. We all know that
our health care delivery system is
broken and must be corrected.
Even those who still say that they
want to repeal what the president,
congress, and the court has said is
legal say the system is broken and
needs repairing.
We all know people who need
care and cannot afford it. We all
B LACK V OICE N EWS
Hardy L. Brown
know families who have had to
remove children from their health
plan because of age before they
are established and the child can’t
get established. Your child comes
out of college in their early twen-
ties trying to get a job with bene-
fits but those jobs have been
outsourced to other countries. If
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan
had made us drop my son, Hardy
II before he had gotten estab-
lished, we would have gone to the
poor house when he broke his leg
and was hospitalized for a month.
He had just graduated from
Wilberforce University and not
employed when the accident hap-
pened near Cal State University,
San Bernardino. There is no way
we could have covered the finan-
cial cost of his excellent care at
Kaiser in Fontana.
Yet we have governors from the
poorest states in the country say-
ing they will reject the coverage
for the people in their state. These
states have high populations of
African Americans, Latinos and
people living below the poverty
level and sadly do not vote in high
numbers. I think these leaders
need to consult with their
providers of health care in their
Barack Obama is the law of the
land in America.
With the U. S. Supreme Court
taking the thunder out of the State
of Arizona’s Immigration Law in
essence saying that only the feder-
al government has the right to
make and enforce immigration
We have governors from the poorest
states in the country saying they will
reject the coverage for the people in
their state. These states have high
populations of African Americans,
Latinos and people living below the
poverty level and sadly do not vote in
high numbers
state and question the wisdom of
denying health coverage to their
citizens.
Regardless, the Affordable
Health Care Act passed by con-
gress and signed by President
laws, this did not sit well with
these same people.
Now I will admit something
needs to be done about people
coming into the country illegally,
it has become a complicated prob-
July 11, 2012
lem. I know a young lady that had
to be deported back to Mexico and
it is a horrible thing to see that
happen. She was a good college
student and involved in communi-
ty activities to assist children.
Then there are others that work in
agriculture on large farms to help
harvest the food we eat, while oth-
ers get legal visas and when they
expire never go back home. No
one political party or group of
people have an answer that will
satisfy everyone but we must treat
every group with respect while we
work toward a solution. We cannot
deny our neighbors basic human
rights if they are in need. We can
not stop and ask people for legal
papers and identification just
because we suspect they are here
illegally.
Yes the more things change the
more they stay the same and the
decisions by the United States
Supreme Court and the reactions
by some who vow to not abide by
the law, only highlights that. They
should ask themselves are they
still fighting the Civil War?
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