Same Issue. Different Perspective!

WYBC interview on The Electric Drum (1-7-12)

2012-01-07T22:46:00.001-05:00

Interview in four parts. I forgot it was on this morning so was not prepared to tape it. When I realized it was on I taped it with a program that tapes in five minute segments. Most of the interview is there but there are small gaps. The first 20 seconds or so has a loud ambient background sound FYI:

2012-01-02T17:58:00.000-05:00

My Videos (Best of 2011)

2011-12-31T15:58:00.001-05:00

Education Not Opposition

2011-12-28T21:31:00.002-05:00

Even among legislators in Connecticut the revelation that I am not a member of the Education Committee is often met with shock. I do admit that my involvement in education policy is perhaps more visible than usual for a legislator not on the committee. So, when Rishawn Biddle, writing for Dropout Nation describes me as the co-chair of the education committee it is really not all that much of a surprise:

Whether or not any of his proposals come to fruition is a different story. For one, Malloy is squabbling with fellow Democrats who control the state’s legislature; some aren’t exactly too pleased with some of Malloy’s plans, including the consolidation of the state’s community colleges into one system akin to those in Indiana, and are even less pleased with Malloy’s success in gaining more authority to cut the state’s budget. Malloy is having particular trouble with Gary Holder-Winfield — who co-chairs the legislature’s education committee — and Roberta Willis (Holder-Winfield’s counterpart on the higher education panel); this will make it difficult for Malloy to pass any school reform legislation...read the article

Much has been made of my relationship with Governor Malloy of late. Questions began when I voted against extending extra rescission authority to the governor and my public stance that the jobs session did not adequately address the issue in the state only added fuel to the growing fire. By the time my thinking on early childhood education was made public and seemed to contradict Malloy's some were asking why I was working against the governor. With the printing of Ted Mann's series on Malloy in some people's mind it was solidified that I was a full fledged enemy of the state (the retelling of the story therein is not quite accurate but those are the hazards of being a public figure). The truth though is that I have no general opposition to this governor or any other.

My position is that the legislature has a role to play and must act as an independent branch of government not an extension of the Executive branch. There is a reason the system is designed as it is. I am not given to opposing the governor's education reform unless it seems to be bad policy. As stated in the Biddle piece what we have at this point from the Malloy administration is really just the broad outline of his education reform plan. Opposing that really makes little sense at this point. I will wait until I can see what the meat on the bone looks like before taking a position for or against the proposal. In the meantime I have engaged Malloy's education commissioner Stefan Pryor to see where we can work together to change education in the state for the better. Ultimately this should be about education not opposition.

Education Not Opposition

2011-12-28T21:31:00.000-05:00

Even among legislators in Connecticut the revelation that I am not a member of the Education Committee is often met with shock. I do admit that my involvement in education policy is perhaps more visible than usual for a legislator not on the committee. So, when Rishawn Biddle writing for Dropout Nation describes me as the co-chair of the education committee it is really not all that much of a surprise:

Whether or not any of his proposals come to fruition is a different story. For one, Malloy is squabbling with fellow Democrats who control the state’s legislature; some aren’t exactly too pleased with some of Malloy’s plans, including the consolidation of the state’s community colleges into one system akin to those in Indiana, and are even less pleased with Malloy’s success in gaining more authority to cut the state’s budget. Malloy is having particular trouble with Gary Holder-Winfield — who co-chairs the legislature’s education committee — and Roberta Willis (Holder-Winfield’s counterpart on the higher education panel); this will make it difficult for Malloy to pass any school reform legislation...read the article

Much has been made of my relationship with Governor Malloy of late. Questions began when I voted against extending extra rescission authority to the governor and my public stance that the jobs session did not adequately address the issue in the state only added fuel to the growing fire. By the time my thinking on early childhood education was made public and seemed to contradict Malloy's some were asking why I was working against the governor. With the printing of Ted Mann's series on Malloy in some people's mind it was solidified that I was a full fledged enemy of the state (the retelling of the story therein is not quite accurate but those are the hazards of being a public figure). The truth though is that I have no general opposition to this governor or any other.

My position is that the legislature has a role to play and must act as an independent branch of government not an extension of the Executive branch. There is a reason the system is designed as it is. I am not given to opposing the governor's education reform unless it seems to be bad policy. As stated in the Biddle piece what we have at this point from the Malloy administration is really just the broad outline of his education reform plan. Opposing that really makes little sense at this point. I will wait until I can see what the meat on the bone looks like before taking a position for or against the proposal. In the meantime I have engaged Malloy's education commissioner Stefan Pryor to see where we can work together to change education in the state for the better. Ultimately this should be about education not opposition.

We Will Abolish The Death Penalty

2011-12-18T10:22:00.001-05:00

Last week Sunday in the Hartford Courant an editorial I wrote ran. If you missed it you can find it linked here

Two recent attempts by the Connecticut General Assembly to pass a bill to abolish the death penalty have been rebuffed. First, former Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed a bill that had passed the legislature. Then, when another bill was raised, relatives of murder victims were able to persuade legislators to change their positions, which led to the measure's defeat.

Despite these setbacks and strong public sentiment stirred by the trials of Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes for the terrible murders in Cheshire, I will again seek to pass an abolition bill in 2012...read more

Strung Out On Compliments and Overdosed On Confidence, Indeed

2011-12-01T06:40:00.002-05:00

Just because I put my garbage in one of those scented bags doesn't mean that I suddenly become unaware that it stinks or that it is still in fact garbage.

Apparently a scented bag is all it takes to convince some of us to hold onto as opposed to dumping our trash.

I took to Twitter on Tuesday to say the Drake's 'Make Me Proud' is a steaming pile of crap and that I had plans to go in on him (and that song) like, to borrow from another Young Money rapper, somebody bout to bury me*. No sooner had I announced as much had the defenses of Drake begun to roll in even before people knew what the issue was.

'Cause you know, Drake...Drake is different.

...he's the alternative...just look at him (yes they said that)
...he's the alternative...his music doesn't sound like that other stuff (uh huh they said that too)
...he's the alternative...he makes songs for women (yeah just the one I was waiting for).

And, that's what this is about Drake's woman songs particularly 'Make Me Proud'.

Driving along content to bob my head and ignore the words to half of the garbage that clutters the airwaves I am smacked across the face - hard - when I hear:

Sounds so smart, like you graduated college
Like you went to Yale, but you probably went to Howard

It's one of those record scratching, wait a minute, what the (choose your own expletive) did he say moments. Oh no he di' 'int! I'm sitting in the car like, I know this fool... didn't just spit... what I think he did. There is just so much wrong with the line and if you just look at his usage of the word like you will understand that essentially what he is spitting directly into your subconscious over a hypnotic beat is the resuscitation and reinforcement of the notion of the inferiority of the HBCU.

By the way, why is it that she probably went to Howard anyway?

As if this wasn't enough to classify this song as garbage (it is) I then became curious and decided to pay attention to the rest of the words of the song - why did I do that

Drake begins by describing what he likes telling us that a little attitude problem is all good because it will make it last. When he describes the woman's attitude however one has to wonder why it's a problem. According to his lyrics her attitude is one of dedication to her health, accumulation of knowledge and respect for the value of her body. That's a problem for whom exactly?!?

The attitude problem is really revealed in Drake's final words to his muse:

You said niggas coming on too strong girl

They want you in their life as a wife

That's why you wanna have no sex, why you wanna protest

Why you wanna fight for your right

Cause you don't love them boys

Pussy run everything, fuck that noise

Is the withholding of sex really Drake's understanding of a woman's ability to evince she values herself. Would that it were a man - his muse - that this even be considered? What if she chooses to have sex. What if she chooses to have sex with men who see her real value? And, what the hell does that have to do with anything necessarily anyway?

I am just gonna let that marinate while I move on to Nicki Minaj and the problem she presents for this song. Minaj plays the role of the muse who Drake is oh so proud of. Here she answers back giving her perspective and when she does lost are all of the trite references to salad eating, going to college or even witholding sex. Nicki of the protuberant pudendum a la Lil' Kim once again thrusts her sex at us once she hits the track*:

But I never mention everything I dabble in

And I always ride slow when I'm straddlin'

And my shit's so wet you gotta paddle in

Gotta ro-ro-row, gotta row ya boat

It's Pink Friday records and OVO

Minaj's sexuality is actually played down on this track as the focus is mainly on her acquisition of the material. What is sad for me is that unlike many people I know I think Nicki is a talent that is confined by her image as much as it is supposed to be what allows her freedom. Many women use that which is supposed to box them in such a way that it becomes a strength the problem with Minaj's attempt at this is that to this point I don't believe it has worked. While she and Kim have issues Kim is a good study how this might be accomplished in the rap game (although there are many issues there too). But I digress...

What Nicki Minaj does here is demonstrate that Drake is full of crap. There is no way that he could believe what he spits and be happy that the verse she adds to the song pushes the concept forward. No, what you see here is the pealing back of the facade to reveal the actor Aubrey peaking through the character Drake. It's like watching (and I know I am going to catch hell for this) Denzel Washington in a movie no matter how good he is there are always these little ticks that are distinctly Denzel which if you watch closely shine through.

But let me not put on Drake my assumptions let's have him speak for himself (read the last two questions and answers).

In the first 14 seconds the beat has you and the words don't matter when he begins rapping. It's a song, like his others, designed to move units and or increase spins by getting you to bob your head and think - oh that's my song - I get that but it really is a steaming pile.

Oh, and stop telling me about how you went to Howard and like the song or know some women who like it. So what! As if co-signing makes it any less paternalistic, derogatory or just plain inane. You like it good...

...still garbage

...sorry

Anyway, I gotta go I think my garbage needs to be taken out.

Gotta Get Motivated

2011-11-21T07:17:00.003-05:00

I woke up this morning at 3:30 which isn't all that unusual for me. I go to sleep late and wake up early. It's what I do. People ask how I get so many things done and I tell them it's simple...my day has more hours than most. This morning however, I wasn't feeling motivated. Yeah, I was up at 3:30 but I wasn't feeling like going to the gym, reading a bunch of newspapers and blogs as per usual. I wasn't feeling motivated.

It happens.

I rolled over and decided to just lay in bed for a while but that just made me feel, well, like crap. I picked up my computer (which was on...I never shut it down. When I wake up I can just go immediately) and went to YouTube to a video I am familiar with:

When I was done watching the video I got up and went to the gym. And, I found in the gym something that has been missing there for a long time - focus. When I was younger I went through workout partners like a warm knife through butter. My focus was very intense and being my workout partner was unpleasant and hard on the body. This morning I was in that zone again (though realistically I cannot lift nearly as heavy as I did then). When I left the gym I had to sit in the car for a few minutes before I could drive it because my arms were fried.

Routine

Alternating DB Curls: 25lbs ...20 reps per arm, 35lbs 15reps per arm, 45lbs 10 reps per arm

no rest

Overhead DB Triceps: 20lbs ...25 reps per arm, 30lbs 15 reps per arm, 40lbs 12 reps per arm

no rest

Hammer Curls (DB): 70lbs...10 reps per arm, 50lbs 15 reps per arm, 30 lbs 15 reps per arm, 10 lbs to failure

1 minute rest

Overhead Triceps extensions: 70lbs...25 reps, 100 lbs...12 reps, 130lbs...10 reps, 160 lbs to failure

no rest

21's from Hell: set of 21's with 60lbs (ez-curl bar), set of 21's with 50lbs, set with 40lbs, switch to db's set with 10lb db's and set with 5lb db...then...use the 5lb dbs to pump out as many curls until complete failure

I don't spend forever in the gym. I get in, get focused, and keep it moving.

Guess what's next!!! Insanity tonight.

Jobs?

2011-10-17T15:25:00.001-04:00

For whom?

Thinking about the upcoming ~~business~~ jobs session and how we are maintaining (or not) this as an approach to policy. I wrote this in preparation for a meeting between the governor elect and the Caucus

Reframing Our Approach

(A Non-Majority Centered Approach to policy)

A Discussion with Gov-Elect Malloy and the Legislative Black and Puerto-Rican Caucus

If the projections are to be believed the Malloy administration is uniquely situated to preside over a state that at once envisions itself and is majority White and at the same time is becoming and will become (if the administration serves two terms) less and less so particularly where the incoming (educated) workforce is concerned. Political leaders have been wrestling with this reality for a while now while still crafting policy for a state that has yet to recognize how a historical approach (to policy) that is largely exclusive of Black and Latino peoples has brought us towards the bottom of the nation as it relates to educational achievement which by extension means that the near future workforce is not and will not barring a change in approach, be prepared for the job market.

Multiple reports have indicated that somewhere around the year 2020 the CT workforce age 25-29 will be half Black and Latino. Serious consideration of the issues that stand as bars to success for these communities necessarily must be given if CT is to prosper. The Malloy administration begins at a time when the framing of policy conversations to include an approach that lifts these populations is just as important as the discussions that are taking place about the (majority population) economy. In short, there are truly two Connecticut’s and allowing that to remain the case will prove devastating to both of them.

The Legislative Black and Puerto Rican Caucus is seeking engagement with the Malloy administration because as an entity it is particularly suited to help frame and think through approaches that incorporate the non majority Connecticut in policy in a manner beneficial to both of the “two Connecticuts”.

While wrestling with the issues of budgets and such which are universally acknowledged the Malloy administration also must lead the state towards this change in approach. To that end the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus has begun looking at policy in order to make suggestions for approach to the Governor-Elect and his administration. The first discussion with the Governor-Elect takes place on Wednesday December 15 and will focus on broad categories. Those categories are:

1.) Unemployment/Job Creation

2.) The Social Safety Net/ Human Services

3.) Education

4.) Municipalities in this recession/alternative sources of revenue

Unemployment/Job Creation

Discussion concerning unemployment and the creation of jobs has typically been majority centric. This approach means that when the unemployment rates based on the majority population reach acceptable levels (there is always some level of unemployment) the need to address the issue evaporates. This type of approach means that the employment gap between majority and non-majority populations is never addressed save the rumblings of legislators who represent (generally) Connecticut’s urban enclaves. This sets up a scenario wherein that rumbling is characterized as typical and is easily dismissed.

Leadership from the executive branch will go a long way towards fomenting the necessary conversation. That leadership should therefore speak to this set of issues not only in terms of how we court businesses and create a policy landscape that is ‘business friendly’ but also how we create an environment that grows opportunity for members of Connecticut’s non-majority population.

The Social Safety Net/ Human Services

Discussion amongst members of the caucus has led to an approach to discussing the social safety net/human services that takes into account that while a part of relatively common parlance an actual understanding of what the safety net really is may not be widespread. Further, individuals and communities with the most persistent needs fall too far before the net ‘catches’ them increasing the needs. An approach that looks towards ensuring that the net is in place but operates not only to catch those falling off the cliff but to act as a platform from which to climb back up the cliff. Our net largely does not do this. The CAP agencies (at least discussion with New Haven’s Community Action Agency indicates as much – it must be the case with others) have begun moving from an approach that is based on an evidenced particular issue towards one of systemic approach to poverty. This approach, if successful, means that the state will in the long term have less outlay in effect repairing broken lives and communities while costing less.

A systemic approach is necessarily needed to deal with these issues and yet we have undervalued these partners such that the futures of many are currently on shaky ground due to relatively small debt commitments. To use CAANH again in a meeting with DSS discussion took place of debt of 1.4 million dollars potentially destroying the current agency while if the agency is able to operate under its new direction to prevent 50 incarcerations in a year the cost savings to the state equals the debt owed.

The state must look at this as a systemic issue requiring a systemic approach towards resolution.

Education

Our Children have not always been ‘Our Children.’ Those at the bottom of the cliff where the gap in achievement is concerned are those on the lower end of the class scale and minorities. For too long the ability to see those affected as of minority communities has allowed for a gradual if at all approach to resolving the issue which is why on the two measures of economics and race Connecticut is either second (sometimes actually at the bottom) or fourth from the bottom. With the move towards a S.T.E.M. based economy the notion that these neglected populations will be a significant portion of the workforce has caused a shift in approach. Even with that shift many important factors are being forgotten.

In the report card issued by LPRAC for 2009 the myriad issues in overcoming the achievement gap are laid out (many are the same amongst Blacks). The LPRAC website has on it a report from the National Conference of State Legislatures which discusses Engaging Latino Communities for Education (based on the ENLACE report) which mirrors the work done by the Legislative Black and Puerto Rican caucus in late 2009 and early 2010 of engaging communities across CT in a discussion about the achievement gap.

Much of what comes out of these reports and other efforts are things we have known for over three decades but have not put into effect. Schools replicate the distribution as seen in the world outside their walls and thus reinforce notions that what is seen is deserved. Understanding the development of children is of major importance to being able to educate in spite of this.

A model of education that incorporates into it a developmental approach is needed. Children while being made to learn cannot experience the dissonance of being separated from their identity and be expected to learn. This is true whether it is the devaluing of ones native tongue as is the case for many of our growing population of English Language Learners (ELL’s) or the community in which one lives. The issues brought to the school should be acknowledged and at the same time not seen as barriers that are insurmountable. A state that produces teachers who are not required to understand child development is prone to find itself in such a situation. Childhood development courses should be a standard part of the requirements to teach in the state of Connecticut.

6 Years Later (As We Await Troy Davis' Fate Reflections on the Death Penalty)

2011-09-19T14:34:00.000-04:00

6 years ago in the days leading to the execution of Tookie Williams I put pen to paper to express my thinking. Having revisited that post this morning while thinking about the Troy Davis case I decided to repost it in whole. Some of my thinking hasaltered slightly and these are certainly different cases but even now the main point still resonates with me:

Save Tookie?

There are situations for which no quick decision comes to mind. Actually, in my case that is true of most situations. However, sometimes there are subjects for which I find myself of two minds, like a tortured soul, unable even to commit pen to paper much less write intelligibly on the subject.

The case of Stanley Tookie Williams is one such subject.

As I write this, now my impetus to overcome the inertia of my thoughts is that soon they may not matter at all.

I am of two minds, even as I am opposed to the death penalty - into whose waiting mouth so much strange fruit is fed. In all honesty, my opposition is born more of fear than moral opprobrium. Mistakes happen and having grown up Black in this country, I do not need numbers to know that a noose is sometimes replaced with a needle.

Of two minds am I. I believe in Law knowing that law is not always connected to justice. It is either that or Justice, here, in America, is not always Just as she peeks from behind her blindfold, chooses which way her scales will tip, and raises her sword against some of us, Brown and Black, against…me. But we need law. Law is the bulwark of order.

For me it must be opposition, not to extinguishing Williams’ flame but to the death penalty. I wish I could come down so easily, as the rabid conservative talking heads almost foaming at the mouth that Tookie should die or the liberals with their latest cause celebre shouting save Tookie save Tookie! For me however Wednesday morning will not be another day in the unreality of Hollywood –Tookie who? It will not be a new day with a new show and a new topic at which to spew venom. For me Wednesday will be the day after another man’s life is taken or the first day that I ask myself why. Why did we save Tookie, what made him different, and if I ever become so much fodder for the machine will I be able to write my way out of its grasp.

Because if we do not want Williams released because of innocence then our opposition must be to the death penalty Wednesday will be the first day I ask where the sociological explanations, the signs, the celebrities are.

Perhaps some fruit is just too strange.

Tuesday Morning Reading

2011-08-23T06:42:00.000-04:00

Some of what I am reading this morning:

King Memorial unveiling cheers and controversy.
Questions for Michelle Rhee
Can Warren raise money?
Conservatives looking for a hero.
Why do they always create a fake Black guy?
Just what I thought about the ending. I will be writing about that.
Self created? I think not.
Feminine and feminist are not mutually exclusive.
Merit pay?

Sunday Morning Reading

2011-08-21T08:46:00.000-04:00

Here are some of the things informing me this morning:

Dowd on Obama
Moser on Perry.
Washington Post on deportation.
Bernstein on presidential power

With Friends Like These...

2011-08-19T10:44:00.001-04:00

This is Obama's friend?

Ok, first read this:

“No, I don’t… He’s a very bright man. But think about his life. And think about what he was exposed to and what he saw in America. He’s only relating what his experience in life was…
“His intent isn’t to destroy. It’s to create dependency because it worked so well for him. I don’t say that critically. Look at people for what they are. Don’t assume ulterior motives. I don’t think he doesn’t love our country. I think he does.
“As an African American male, coming through the progress of everything he experienced, he got tremendous benefit through a lot of these programs. So he believes in them. I just don’t believe they work overall and in the long run they don’t help our country. But he doesn’t know that because his life experience is something different. So it’s very important not to get mad at the man. And I understand, his philosophy — there’s nothing wrong with his philosophy other than it’s goofy and wrong — but that doesn’t make him a bad person.”

Now read this:

So this is a statement by Tom Coburn telling us why Obama is such a believer in governmental programs. There are a lot of words there but just for clarity let me distill it down to it's essence - he's Black.

Sen. Coburn wants you to know that Obama isn't evil, he doesn't hate America, he just operates under the mistaken impression that governmental programs which create dependency (which Coburn links to Obama's success) also may lead to success. In Coburn's words this is just goofy and wrong.

What Coburn gets wrong here are two things:

1) If we are to accept the premise that Obama's experience is what makes him sympathetic to these programs then we need remember that it Obama's white mother's usage of these programs that is the genesis for his thinking. It is not, in fact, that Obama is "Black" which gives rise to this worldview.

2) The notion that programs to help people that are sponsored by the government don't work is just innacurate. Many of those who rail against governmental programs would be nowhere without a governmental program and intervention such as:

1790 Naturalization Act

Indian Removal Act

Homestead Act

Headrights System

Social Security Act

Federal Housing Administration

GI Bill
and on and on

These programs weren't designed for Black or Brown people shocking as that might be to the good senator.

And yes, there is welfare, another program which has been largely accessed by White women and benefits them and their families and over time became a politically useful target (gotta do something about all those Black welfare queens) which when stripped of context becomes a campaign tool used to divide people and direct votes.

But history and logic have no place in our political discourse today.

You can carry on now.

Of Course There Are More Pressing Issues But...

2011-08-15T15:42:00.000-04:00

I had to turn off ‘Meet the Press’ yesterday.

It was Michele Bachmann’s appearance that drove me to break with my Sunday morning routine. Sure, some find her entertaining, even fascinating – I do not. I am no stick in the mud and like others I, despite the admonitions of my mother, take part in the pass time of enjoying a hearty laugh at the expense of others (Bachmann has certainly offered some jewels).

But, I don't want to laugh at her.

I…

just…

want…

her…

to…

go away!

My friends who think an Obama/Bachmann match-up would be wonderful haven't been paying attention and/or have a level of faith that people will "make the right choice" I do not. I recognize the talking heads have poo-poo'd Bachmann's chances but what do they know anyway - it's not like being correct or particularly insightful are necessarily requirements for the job. If there is anything that the fly you just can't swat that is Sarah Palin has demonstrated it's that if you are in it you might win it (I know ~~she~~ McCain lost).

Bachmann is in it with every intention of winning it.

You know people are serious about a thing when they become willing to compromise principled positions for that things attainment. David Gregory's and Michele Bachmann's non answers regarding her thoughts on same sex marriage say as much. Bachmann has staked out a principled position here, one with which you may or may not agree, calling opposition to same sex marriage a defining position. When questioned about this and other statements pertaining to homosexuals the stridency with which she previously advocated her position is noticeably absent. In fact her position in whole is absent. taking Bachman at her word that these are in fact principled positions derivative of her faith and not generated in a kind of populism designed to get votes it is troubling. Bachmann suddenly seems to care a whole lot about what people think.

What's that she was saying about Obama and leadership*

I don't want someone who has a finger to the wind, a false sense of history and an inability to deviate from talking points as my president. I want the Republican candidate to be someone with whom I might disagree but could sleep at night knowing that he or she can steer the ship. Does this mean it would be harder for Obama to win again? Of course! But, I would prefer that we have someone in the race who everyone knows can win but loses than someone who no one thinks can win and they win.

Because if you are in it you might win it.

Michele Bachman on Meet the Press:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Obama's position on same sex marriage leaves a lot to be desired but he has not offered his as a principled position.

To Dem Or Not To Dem

2011-08-10T19:05:00.004-04:00

Recently I haven't weighed in as much as I used to at the New Haven Independent. Since my name and initial race for state representative were invoked in the discussion about candidates running in both primary and general election races during the same cycle I will offer my take on the subject.

In my own race for state representative my own course of action was decided early in the process. Having run against Bitsie Clark in '03 in her first run for Alder-person I was intimately aware of the difficulty of navigating the system. After becoming ward co-chair for ward seven in '04 I curried no favor for myself by penning a piece in the Register decrying the mechanics of the system and using the name of Boss Tweed to illustrate my point. With maneuvers such as that it is not difficult to see I was not long for the position.

Looking to the '08 race my mind was set that I would run in the primary and, should I lose, accept that as the end of the road. Here the '06 Lamont/Lieberman race affected my thinking. A supporter of Lamont from the beginning I was disgusted by Lieberman's response to his loss (particularly because he was the insider). Even had Lieberman not pulled that move I think my sense of how to operate would have directed me to choose either the primary or the general election -not both and.

But that's me.

I was prepared to stop because of my sense of the right thing to do and because before I entered the race I had developed a plan for winning so, if I calculated correctly none of that would matter and if I lost...well...maybe I should stop anyway.

To me there is a distinction between the race for mayor and alderperson though. The size of the race provides for the difference. My belief is that the race for alderperson is small and localized enough that there is little that convinces me that a run in the general, should a candidate lose the primary, is a good idea.

The scale of the race for mayor is something altogether different. While if I were ever to run, I think the same calculus I used in my state rep race would apply, but I can understand the candidate who has existed outside the process choosing to do differently. Well, that is if the candidate actually came close in the primary election.

Look, there is a certain rhythm and momentum that a campaign develops as it goes along. If you step back and pay attention it becomes clear -- you can hear it -- you can feel it. For a contender who shows well, is within striking distance and honestly has the momentum...I get it. It probably isn't what I choose but I get it.

The big boys and girls - incumbent mayors, state reps and state senators - can handle it. And, maybe if the contender is more than a "nuisance" candidate we ought not breath so easy because we escaped defeat by the skin of our teeth.

Then again, as is always possible, who knows I could just be way off base.

This was written based on comments made in the linked article on the New Haven Independent

Appropriations Hearing on School Finance Reform

2011-03-25T16:07:00.002-04:00

Thinking a Little More Deeply

2010-03-28T12:15:00.003-04:00

Often I will find myself watching the coverage of something we do in the General Assembly wishing that the issue were as simple as it appears in the coverage it gets. This past week we heard many bills as is usual but one bill which prompted a lot of discussion was not as simple as it might seem.

HB 5486, AN ACT CONCERNING RESIDENCY RESTRICTIONS FOR REGISTERED SEXUAL OFFENDERS, seemed on the surface a good idea to many but some of the urban legislators Rep. Walker and I included pointed out some areas of concern with the legislation. Much of the substance of our concerns can be seen in the exchange with Rep. Rebimbas a proponent of the bill. A careful review of the video evidences one of my major concerns with some of the legislation that appears before us.

For a while now I have been concerned that the name of a bill or the concept of the bill may in fact preclude deeper analysis of that piece of legislation. I have come to believe that even when presented with questions that should give one moment to pause or facts that disagree with their position proponents are sometimes so married to an idea that none of that matters. Opinion trumps fact. Momentum trumps all.

I do not question anyone’s motivation or intention I simply point out my concern here and how my concern if correct is partially responsible for the passage of bad law.

Wherever one comes down on this issue though, it is important to listen to the words of the mother in the second video because they have real importance. We can disagree on the merits of the bill before us but her words should cause us to remember that we can agree that her concerns are valid and there is something that we should be able to come together to do for her and her son.

Highlights from 2010 Democracy Matters Speech

2010-01-30T19:06:00.002-05:00

The Gap is about more than numbers

2010-01-22T16:45:00.000-05:00

The achievement gap is measured with numbers but it is not about numbers. The gap is about children in neighborhoods like the one I live in who if they learn no other lesson in their formative years learn that there really is not much hope. The gap is about those names which never attach to the never ceasing police alerts I read about shootings. In short, while we talk about the numbers the achievement gap is about lives.

We did not wake up this morning with the achievement gap having formed over night. Brick by brick we have built the barrier that is called the achievement gap. Putting the bricks on the wall has taken effort and time and tearing it down will take at least as much effort and a whole lot of time as well. But tear it down we must do.

The Black and Puerto Rican Caucus of the state legislature has partnered with CT BAEO (Black Alliance for Educational Options) to conduct town halls across the state of Connecticut to bring into the discussion educators, businesspeople, parents and students. We have been looking to find out what the achievement gap looks like in the life of the people of Connecticut so that we can move towards a policy prescription that addresses those realities and not just data points.

This effort only works if there is as much input from as many varied experiences as possible. Ours is not to worry that some have a specific agenda, we know this to be the case. We must however realize that this is all the more impetus for joining the conversation. For too long the conversation hass been one of heat and not light, of school reform and not eliminating the achievement gap, of numbers and not lives.

Now is time to work at pulling bricks off the wall. Please join us in this conversation.

Event Saturday January 23, 2010

Pre-Event Town Hall on the Achievement Gap: A conversation with the New Haven Delegation of the CT General Assembly’s Black and Puerto Rican Caucus.

Yale Law School, Room 128 - 3:00-4:30PM

Doors open at 2:00PM

Keynote Panel: Dr. Steve Perry, Dr. Howard Fuller, Dr. Deborah McGriff, and Anthony Colon

Yale Law School Auditorium - 5:00-7:00PM

Doors open at 4:00PM

Lawyers for Haiti

2010-01-21T22:21:00.000-05:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Dan Uhlinger
January 21,2010 860-240-8575

State Representative Gary A. Holder-Winfield (D-New Haven) and a group of lawyers who practice immigration law will discuss free law assistance clinics that are being offered around the state to Haitians during a press conference Monday at the Legislative Office Building (LOB) in Hartford.

Rep. Holder-Winfield said members of Connecticut Lawyers for Haiti will talk about the free assistance they are offering to undocumented Haitians who are living without legal status in the United States and who want to apply for a federally approved temporary protective status. The press conference will be at noon, Monday, Jan. 25, in Room 1C in the LOB.

“These attorneys are helping Haitians simply out of the goodness of their hearts,” Rep. Holder-Winfield said. “The act of doing work for the good of people is why I entered public service and I am very happy to play a small part in spreading the word of what these lawyers are doing for people in dire need.”

The Obama Administration has announced that undocumented Haitians living in the United States since before the Jan. 12 earthquake may apply for 18 months of temporary protective status. The status protects them from deportation and allows them to work and apply for driver’s licenses.

Calling the aftermath of the earthquake “a disaster of historic proportions,” the secretary of homeland security, Janet Napolitano, said she granted the designation for Haitian immigrants because their safety would be at risk if they were deported.

The Obama Administration’s decision followed widespread calls for the temporary status from about 100 Democratic and Republican representatives and senators across the country.

Rep. Holder-Winfield represents the 94th Assembly District, which includes New Haven. He is a member of the Appropriations, Human Services and Judiciary Committees.

###

Letter to Comissioner Department of Labor

2009-11-30T15:05:00.001-05:00

commissdol -

Campaign Learn Hartford Town Hall

2009-11-20T18:25:00.000-05:00

Tackling the Achievement Gap

2009-11-14T07:40:00.001-05:00

*** MEDIA ADVISORY ***

For IMMEDIATE Release Contact: David Bednarz
Monday, November 16, 2009 (860) 240-8503

LAWMAKERS & ADVOCATES ANNOUNCE CREATION OF LANDMARK COALITION TO CLOSE STATE’S ACHIEVEMENT GAP
Press conference Tuesday, 11/17 at 11 a.m. in LOB Room 1C

Lawmakers from the Connecticut General Assembly’s Black & Puerto Rican Caucus, led by State Representatives Jason Bartlett (D-Bethel, Danbury, Redding), Douglas McCrory (D-Hartford), Patricia Billie Miller (D-Stamford), and Gary Holder-Winfield (D-New Haven), will hold a press conference on Tuesday, November 17, to announce the creation of a new statewide campaign with the objective of uniting and engaging parents, community and faith leaders, and local elected officials across the state in the effort to close Connecticut’s achievement gap, which is the largest in the nation.

The lawmakers will be joined by a coalition of education and equal rights advocacy groups who are partners in Campaign LEARN (the Campaign for Leadership in Education, Achievement, and Reform Now). They will discuss the current condition of the achievement gap in Connecticut and also announce a series of town hall forums on the topic that will be held throughout Connecticut during the upcoming months. It is anticipated that information obtained by the lawmakers and advocacy groups during these town hall forums will impact education policy priorities of the General Assembly and lead to the introduction of key legislation during the 2010 legislative session that will address the achievement gap in a meaningful way.

Partners in Campaign LEARN scheduled to be represented at the press conference include: the General Assembly’s Black and Puerto Rican Legislative Caucus, the Connecticut Black Alliance for Educational Options (CT BAEO), the State of Black Connecticut Alliance (SBCT), the Connecticut Commission on Children, the Connecticut State Conference of NAACP Branches, the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN), the Connecticut Charter Schools Network, and the Yale Law School Education Adequacy Project Clinic.

WHAT: Coalition of state legislators, education and equal rights advocates hold news conference to announce major new statewide campaign to close Connecticut’s achievement gap

WHEN: Tuesday, November 17 at 11:00 a.m.

WHERE: Legislative Office Building, Room 1C, Hartford, CT

###

Video from the Housing Foreclosure Informational Forum

2009-10-29T05:43:00.004-04:00

Amos Smith Introduction

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Housing Foreclosure Informational Forum @ CAA

2009-10-29T05:35:00.001-04:00

State elected officials gathered in a large room at New Haven's Community Action Agency. Representatives from CHFA, HUD, Fannie Mae and other housing related agencies joined them. The combination was almost as large as the members of the community present. This was the second attempt at pulling off what was called the Housing Foreclosure Informational Forum.

"I think it's wonderful that Representative Walker and Amos Smith have done all of the heavy lifting to put this together," said Representative Pat Dillon speaking to the value of such a forum. Walker had just before the forum began noted her concern about turnout. She spoke about how she had sent out information by mail and contacted agencies and organizations that deal with a clientele affected by the issue. Turnout still was not what she would have liked it to be. Possible reasons for this were floated inclucive of the inclement weather but the most plausible reason came again from Representative Dillon. Speaking about her interaction with constituents affected by the issue Dillon explained "One of the first thing I learned was one of the first reactions was denial and panic."

The representatives from CHFA, Judicial Mediation, HUD and Fannie Mae then went on to discuss how community members could navigate their way through their housing issues.

Also in attendace were State Senator Toni Harp and State Representative Gary Holder-Winfield.
More video available here

New Haven School Reform Panel at Co-op on 10/26

2009-10-27T07:07:00.000-04:00

Recognizing the many members of the public who might be interested in what is happening in our town and state but not as fortunate as I in being able to attend the events taking place I carry a video camera to many events. On Monday October 26 I carried my video camera to the discussion about how New Haven got to where it is with school reform and what we are doing next. Video below:

New Haven School Reform Panel at Co-op Pt. 1

New Haven School Reform Panel at Co-op Pt. 2

New Haven School Reform Panel at Co-op Pt. 3

New Haven School Reform Panel at Co-op Pt. 4

New Haven School Reform Panel at Co-op Pt. 5

Health Justice Town Hall

2009-10-26T08:11:00.001-04:00

Video Below:

Part 1 (Sheryl Underwood)

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

final

Receiving The Champion of Liberty Award

2009-10-16T10:29:00.000-04:00

There will be a commentary piece that I am producing on the death penalty later this weekend - stay tuned...

Last night I was honored by the Connecticut Criminal Defense lawyers Association with the Champion of Liberty Award for 2009. I enjoyed myself immensely being in a room of individuals very much concerned about the inequities in our justice system. Below is a collection of snippets in one video from my acceptance speech:

Speaking to Students at Yale about the death Penalty

2009-09-30T09:30:00.000-04:00

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

The Circus Has Come to Town

2009-09-08T18:18:00.001-04:00

The circus has come to town

...and the clowns have taken over.

I guess that would be fine except these are the clowns that haunt little children's nightmares. Like them we think to laugh at their funny antics until they spin and reveal that they are not the funny big shoe clown but rather the crazy bug-eyed razor teethed nightmare clown.

Too many of us have acted as if the clowns we see in the media questioning the presidents citizenship, simultaneously calling him a fascist and a socialist (say what?!?), and just all around being disrespectful are harmless.

They are not.

RepHolder-Winfield :: The Circus Has Come to Town
Now we see that as the President is ready to deliver a speech later today on the importance of staying in school and working hard the big top is going full tilt. Bright colors and floppy shoes march in "It's indoctrination, it's indoctrination!" The speech is taped and the transcript is out. There is no danger.
My question is why is there even an issue? When did we ever question president's motives like this? Well, with "Bigtop Beck" and "Rush LimBozo" a real spectacle is underway. The ringmaster retort to our questions is that George Bush was opposed by the left.

Herein lays the difference. We were vocal vehemently expressing our opposition to President Bush's policy prescriptions, surely we were. Our voices were raised because we wanted the President to be successful and saw that his choices were taking us off course they are vocal because they want "our" President to fail. To them he is not their President - he could never be.

Moreover, the danger lies in the unspoken lesson. Coupled with the repeated refrain that Barack Obama for some reason (which ever they find today) is not legitimately the President these actors in the circus have sent a message to their children about this President and what respect he is afforded. Unlike what one may imagine the message divorces Barack Obama the man from the presidency. It goes something like this you should respect the office but not Obama. Since when have we split the man from the office like that? The right has gone absolutely apoplectic at the suggestion in the past that there could be that type of split. While I won't get into the discussions about race that surround this presidency you tell me what the difference is.

The circus has many rings and they can be distracting but we must focus. These clowns cannot be dealt with as if reason rules the day. Like the child's nightmare if you don't deal with these clowns early they will return again and again to haunt you. It is time to recognize this circus for what it really is.

The Fun Part of the Job

2009-03-09T12:42:00.002-04:00

Today I had the opportunity to do what I consider to be the fun part of the job I have as a state legislator - inspire young people. Not too long ago when reading the New Haven Independent I came across a story about the Book Bowl and saw that Lincoln Bassett School (in my district) had won the Book Bowl for the first time. I then looked for an article in the Register or a local TV news show but found none.

My thinking is that we must encourage our young people as much as posible and the lack of coverage struck me as strange considering that there is so much coverage of the peers of this same group when they do negative things. I then decided that if noone ever recognized them again I would use my position to show them that as adults we have not all forgotten about them. I wanted to show them that we are in fact proud and that they have done good work. So, this morning before heading to the Capitol I stoppedby Lincoln Basset and delivered a citation to each member of the team and one for the school and thanked them for doing such good work and putting a positive face on an oft maligned community.

Yes...I voted for Linda McMahon

2009-02-28T19:28:00.001-05:00

Yesterday at 7:23am

I did.

Early in the day the opponents of McMahon were moving through the chamber launching their offensive and when they came across me I told them that to me their arguments were unconvincing. One of the major arguments that day was: what kind of message were we sending to our children? My answer - none. I asked the people putting the argument forth how many kids in their cities or town knew who was on the BOE locally and they had to agree that few to none was the answer. Then I asked if that was true how many did they suspect knew who was on the state board and surprisingly most of the conversations ended there (ok I wasn't really surprised).
The other argument was that she didn't have a background in education to which I almost laughed. Seriously, isn't it those with a background in education who have brought us to this point?
Also, I suspect that had the appointment been made by a Democrat the opposition would have been more muted. And, I am not up for the whole D vs R thing just for the sake of it.

The reality is she could be terrible - she could. Or, she could be great. Nothing is permanent and I was willing to give her a chance. That simple.

2009-02-28T19:27:00.001-05:00

Thoughts on Judges and The Board of Pardons and Paroles
Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 9:40pmThere have been enough people who work within our justice system allowed to operate under the assumption that however they have acted they would be allowed to continue doing so. It is my opinion, based on observation, that this type of thinking is evinced in the actions of some judges, attorneys, wardens and members of the board of Pardons and Paroles.

I do not presume that I will be returning to my seat after the next election and similarly I do not believe that a judge or board member should operate under such a presumption. It is dangerous and to too large a degree allows these individuals to act with impunity. Because our justice system has acted for so long in a fashion to disproportionately incarcerate Blacks and Latinos it is they – no – we who feel the brunt of this sense of entitlement.

While I cannot speak for the other members of the judiciary committee I can say that for me this is what my no vote in the case of Judge Swords and now parole Board member Smayda has been about.

As I sat watching Representative Gonzales question Smayda it was apparent that while she spoke to reentry programs as if she had knowledge of them she did not. When Gonzales could not get her to state this I took over. We went back and forth and eventually she admitted that her opinion was not based in fact, not based on observation but simply upon assumptions she made out of nowhere. Her assumptions were about the character of the people she is tasked with paroling or not paroling. To me this is a problem. When peoples lives are in your hands you cannot afford to simply assume. But then I guess it is easier to be so nonchalant when you look at these people as prisoners to whom we ascribe their removal from society to a fundamental irreversible anti-social condition. It is easier but it is not accurate.

Anyway, I cannot operate under the assumption that anyone automatically gets a bench, seat on a board or commission, or even in the state legislature. When we begin to allow ourselves to think that way someone will be hurt because we have chosen not to be vigilant. That is not my type of government. No sir

Answering the question - who am I

2008-06-22T06:00:00.003-04:00

So, I usually write about some issue I think is important but this post is a bit different. I am not writing about the war, Obama or America's jails I am answering the question I get asked while campaigning...

Who is Gary Winfield

Born in 1974 to Araminta and Gary Winfield He grew up in a place where many saw nothing past the next few days. Early on Gary’s environment made him aware of the hazards of limited vision. Seeing those around him including his father succumb to the ills of the pervasive drug culture Gary determined that he should never mimic that which he saw. As a child he began to escape reality by reading and in the process educating himself in areas not usually taught to children in his circumstances. This educative process coupled with the fortune he had of having a mother who wanted better for he and his siblings and the one gift his father gave him, a love for news and civil rights, shaped his trajectory in life.

In high school Gary discovered what he considers to be the greatest treasure in his life, Natalie his wife. After High School Gary would spend several years in the United States Navy's Nuclear Power Program (considered as the Navy’s toughest academic program) before leaving to work for Alstom Power Inc. During this time Gary realized the need for more involvement in urban schools by professionals such as himself and founded QUEST Educational Initiatives; a company originally designed to provide mentors electronically to those that did not have access to them. In 2003 Gary left the engineering field so that he could return to school and begin to find a means by which he could get involved in the social happenings of his community directly. It was during this time that Gary served as an intern for the then Appropriations Committee chair, Bill Dyson. Gary has continued to work on issues in the criminal justice system both with Representative Dyson and on his own.

In the ensuing years Gary has remained busy by running, in 2003, for alderman in the local election cycle in New Haven. Gary went on to serve as co-chair of his ward for a time. He has worked across the state on issues affecting low income and minority communities. His work led to his becoming the chair of the Connecticut Federation of Black Democratic Clubs at the end of 2006.

Gary serves on the board of Family Reentry an organization dedicated to developing reentry issues for Connecticut’s citizens returning home from prison. Gary is also a board member of CTRIBAT and Empower New Haven due to his role as Newhallville neighborhood representative. He believes in activism and has worked with many local groups including People against Injustice, The Brotherhood Leadership Summit and others.

He is currently employed working for SCSU-AAUP a professor's union. Gary does legislative work there.

Gary is a member of and regularly attends Community Baptist Church. At the base of what he does is a philosophy that comes from his church experience – to love his neighbor. He knows that to do this requires more that rhetoric - it requires action.

He remains focused on community because community is important. Gary believes that leaders operate from amongst the people they wish to serve because that is where the wisdom resides.

Gary understands that no one may know what the future holds but whatever it may be he attempts to remember, in his work, the words he said himself in a speech he gave - words that drive him forward...

"History, that is to be written tomorrow ...to be read by our children ... to serve as their guide is written in our actions today. A greater call to responsibility I have not known"

Coming Down From Primary Season

2008-06-18T08:43:00.003-04:00

It took me many years of work in my community to attain the title of community activist. I was proud of that. Recently I have been, like so many, wrapped up in the furor over the contest between Senators Clinton and Obama that I don't think I even noticed the shift in the lens through which I have been viewing things, and I am probably not alone. Now that Barack Obama has cinched the nomination and some of the excitement wanes I have been able to pull back from the intoxicating atmosphere created by the race to look again, anew, with the eyes of an activist.

Now examining this race I find myself not glossy eyed and salivating but left wanting.
For years my efforts have been to move the bar on issues "that affect the minority community". Observing the presidential race, my support for Senator Obama aside, I do not see many of the issues I want, we need, being dealt with. What has really driven that point home was a conversation I had with a friend about the record voter turnout everyone has been discussing and the issue of the disenfranchisement of Michigan and Florida. I found myself becoming angry as we spoke as I began to think of the lack of seriousness of those discussing disenfranchisement of voters. Any serious discussion, after all, would have to be put into context and that means that the issue of felon disenfranchisement must be tackled. I would say this - any candidate who is speaking about the importance of the vote in any way but does not touch this subject is not, as some of my friends might put it, "keepin' it real".

Not very long ago the country was abuzz with talk about the results of a PEW report entitled 1 in 100. A shocking statistic for many regarding what percent of the population is in jail, it pales in comparison with the 1 in 9 statistic found in the report's body pertaining to Black males. If a 1 in 100 figure is enough to send the talking heads - for a few nights - into their best impersonations of Pez dispensers gone wild what would a figure of 1 in 9 do? But, we are there as this report indicates - for Blacks.

If those of us who fill our bags with voter registration cards and set up our tables at schools, supermarkets, libraries and on and on are to be taken as sincere we must begin to understand that this notion of social death which underlies the antiquarian system of felon disenfranchisement runs counter to our rhetoric. We must realize that not only does this 1 in 9 figure represent nearly 10 percent of a segment of our American brothers but that it also speaks to something bigger. These men and women in jail are counted in quarters (at the jail they are housed in) for purposes of censuses and when districts are drawn for representation in elections it is generally the case that white rural areas have their representation magnified while the Black districts to which they return will lose representation. There is the double impact in that not only can many not vote in these communities but those that can still are not adequately represented.

So, while Barack Obama does excite we need to be careful not to drink too deeply of the intoxicating elixir of the election season. The reason I, and I suspect most, got involved was my desire, my proclivity, to work for change and that change comes not from a single candidate but from a people with an almost single-minded determination to affect a change. Because we really do mean it when we say that voting matters it is time to get back to work to make this change happen.

Disgust

2008-05-16T13:36:00.002-04:00

President Bush got it exactly right today when he warned about the threat of Iran and its terrorist proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah. It is imperative that we reject the flawed and naïve thinking that denies or dismisses the words of extremists and terrorists when they shout "Death to America" and "Death to Israel," and that holds that - if only we were to sit down and negotiate with these killers - they would cease to threaten us. It is critical to our national security that our commander-in-chief is able to distinguish between America's friends and America's enemies, and not confuse the two. - Joe LIEberman

Bush is an idiot. I am usually one to respect an office and thus hold comments like that but this guy is an idiot. And, Joe too for his; bearing checking - I was stabbed in the back by the Democrats - pro McCain/Bush/War- stance. First, from what I remember studying conventional thought is terror is fomented by an unequal distribution of power in relations causing the weaker side to, when pushed far enough (from their perspective),use "terrorist" tactics. It seems that ratcheting up the tough talk and using more force does nothing to alleviate this - but I could be wrong. Second, there are lives at stake here. Not just the terrorists either - the innocent non- terrorists who live in these areas, our soldiers, and ourselves so why not try to see what is possible? 'Cause it's not a part of the simplistic rhetoric?!? Hey Mr. President your power comes from a tacit agreement with the people, you know a social contract, that if you (the government) provide us with safety/security (real security) we will give up our sovereignty and not take matters into our own hands. The very fact that you have that job then means that you must explore all avenues to ensure that safety - not just some republican (or for that matter Democratic) philosophy. And third, have you no shame? Seriously. McCain, Bush, and Lieberman the trash bin of history awaits you all - but unfortunately not soon enough!

Protest

2008-04-28T10:03:00.001-04:00

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Ella Grasso Youth Action Conference

2008-04-13T08:46:00.002-04:00

We did some Good:

Here is video from last weeks Ella Grasso Youth Action Conference

Melissa Olson

Gina Calder

Gary Winfield

Paul Bass

Funky ain't Black

2008-03-23T09:28:00.002-04:00

This is in response to attorney Norm Pattis' take on the Obama situation here

Reality Check: Funky ain't Black
( A response to Norm Pattis)
By Gary Winfield

If we are in the "keeping it real" mode then let's as some of my younger
brothers say keep things 100. Respect to attorney Pattis for expressing
his opinion - and so articulately at that. The truth however is that if
Obama's campaign stood on stilts built of his words and your word game
was as good as his then you too could run for the head seat at the
table of iniquity (more commonly referred to as the presidency) and do
just as well. Or could you? I mean, "keepin' it real", if it was only
about words that would be true so there must be something else like
substance, which you have dismissed, leaving pretty much only one thing
to "tip" the Obama campaign - his Blackness. On the really real, you
demonstrate that it cannot simply be words as you speak of your
oratorical skills as if they are in league; you give no quarter on his
substance; so again we are left with a situation where an articulate
black man mystifies white folk. Barack reminds us what Republicans
whisper in his ear and you, through your writing, remind us what we
have suspected that white folks have been whispering in each other's
ears- he's so articulate. It doesn't hurt that he isn't angry either.

But, back to the reason I chose to respond. Your comments about the
Obama soft-shoe act seem to belie an ignorance of historical context.
Behind those brilliant smiles - the deep belly laughs - there was pain
for those dancers, pain for those musicians, for those actors...for
Black folk. Underneath the mask (you know, the one that all successful
Blacks who navigate the white world wear to varying degrees) there was -
is - pain.
Behind closed doors when Senator Obama becomes just Barack; when he
slips off his suit and sets aside his mask (but never too far aside),
are you really sure that his heart is as white as yours? His wife is
Black - undeniably so. His two little girls are Black. And, for all
intents and purposes because no one stops to ask, did you happen to
have a white mother to the world at large he is Black. Sure he is
recognizable now but that has not always been his story. The privilege
of which you speak is a myth.
So, I have heard that you are "a funky white boy" but like I said let's
keep this 100 - so was Bill Clinton. Being funky is cool but it ain't
being Black. And, you can play at soul or even if you wish play at
being Black whatever floats your boat but don't try to wear it like
some coat of experience because it will not fit you right. It cannot
because you are not that thing and your heart cannot know what it is
like to have to wear that mask in the way that he does.

SCSU Racism Discussion

2008-02-16T18:14:00.005-05:00

You should watch the original three hour version of the movie:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

View the 43 minute vide discussed.

height="255" codebase='http://www.apple.com/qtactivex/qtplugin.cab'>

controller="true" loop="false" pluginspage='http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/'>

The Panel Discussion (part 1)

The Pabel Discussion (part 2)

Why I voted for Barack

2008-02-05T13:26:00.000-05:00

Ok, I admit it – I wasn’t on-board until recently. I was sitting off to the side just kind of …watching. Now, I always liked this Obama guy but I still just observed – but I liked him. I liked him because I could identify with him. A single mom raised him. That’s just like me. He worked hard and could have made a good bit of money but chose instead to work to organize his community, like me. And, because he has experienced what happens when you decide the system isn’t working, it needs to be fixed and you’re going to be the one to do it. They tell you, well it’s not your time…we like your ideas but let us teach you something…you, you are too young and inexperienced. They want you to join their club – become a member of the status quo. And, then, once they’ve had a chance to “mold” you – then you’re ready. Well, the status quo isn’t working in my community. Across our cities and towns, beneath the surface of people’s lives, across this country the status quo is not working.

And so Obama steps forward and says look – look at where we have gotten to… but we can change this…yes, we can change this! The truth is though that the status quo doesn’t just roll over because you tell them to. No, they attack using the politics of fear…it is implied in the rhetoric about a president needing to be ready on day one…it is insinuated in the not so casual, casual reminders of his middle name…fear.
But aren’t we looking to get beyond the politics of fear?!?! Fear that has lead us into a war without reason…fear that has made us act without thinking…fear, which has moved us away from liberty toward a security state. Fear is the politics of the status quo.
But they miscalculated! They have misunderstood the message of hope. They see hope as the width and breadth of this campaign. They see hope as a fantasy. But hope is the beginning and beyond hope there is belief. Hope allows us to hold on belief gives us reason to act. Barack Obama has shown us that when given reason to the people will believe again! And there it is in our communities where single mothers did not know how much longer they could hold on…here workers found themselves at the end of their rope…where little boys and girls; black, white, latino, asian, Christian, muslim and jew looked out on a world no longer as full of hope…there where hope was dying…
There we see evidence of the power of words! Across this great land when we peer into communities we see not the fear we might expect from people in these situations…not hope on its last breath…there we find belief.
Because of his message… even when the status quo scoffed he led - this is why I voted for Barack Obama

King Day Message - Gary Holder-Winfield: Why Should We Vote?!?

2008-01-22T05:25:00.000-05:00

Anti War Press Conference

2008-01-10T08:49:00.000-05:00

Toni Harp's Holiday Party

2008-01-10T08:47:00.000-05:00

Skip don't run

2006-08-18T08:47:00.000-04:00

I remember once when I was a kid some others and I were playing
tag: like kids do we decided to put a spin on the game. We decided that since
some people were just faster than others to be fair no one could run and
everyone had to skip. Being about the fastest kid I decided that I would
skip but only when I could not get away with running. So when I would
chase some kid if they would turn to look where they were running to instead of
back at me I would change from skipping to running. Eventually I was
caught and no one wanted to play with me anymore. At first I as upset but
then I realized that sometimes just because you can win by doing so, the rules
are that you don’t run.

I have not been in an elected office for 18 years the senate or otherwise. I have never been elected senator, attorney general, or even city alderman. I have no way of knowing exactly what it must feel like to be Joe Lieberman but that is not what is important here. I have run for alderman, in New Haven Joe’s home city, and lost. I know what it is like to campaign hard, believe that your message is right and … lose. It is not fun. It hurts and you think about how this could have happened and what you can do about it. You consider – alternatives. You consider them but you don’t actually use the means available to get around the system. You skip because you agreed to skip. You skip because all you have is your word and your character and running at that point will do more to assassinate those than any opponent on their own could ever hope to do.

Me, I woke up the next morning and made my way to congratulating my opponent. I spoke to my supporters and told them that she was a Democrat and we could work together. Was it easy – no! You know what though; it is what that card in my pocket, the speeches I had given, and the character I had directed me to do. I could run again or find some way to be involved. I did too - I ran for the town committee and was elected. But then again I did not have eighteen years of being accustomed to a seat – I was still connected to the people I ran to represent - my ego did not supercede my party allegiance. Some people think that Joe has all of those things to drive him forward but as I sit in his home city I have to believe that somewhere inside he realizes that his words, all his talk of his devotion to the party, and his actions don’t match. Joe has been called a man of character and as such he should know there is only one choice he really has here. To make it simple let me put it this way:

Some days you just can’t seem to catch anybody you still don’t run around the rules of the game.

Tony Snow Sucks

2006-08-13T21:37:00.000-04:00

I can't believe that I once thought he wasn't so bad. Look at what he says here:

and what he says here:

Come on Tony

Why Joe's gotta go (1)

2006-08-12T15:32:00.000-04:00

Because he thinks we're dunmb enough to believe this:

Oh, so this is about his concern for us?!?

The Holocaust and Our Humanity

2006-07-11T08:48:00.000-04:00

Save Tookie?

2005-12-11T19:21:00.003-05:00

Save Tookie ?

There are situations for which no quick decision comes to mind. Actually, in my case that is true of most situations. However, sometimes there are subjects for which I find myself of two minds like a tortured soul unable even to commit pen to paper much less write intelligibly on the subject.

The case of Stanley Tookie Williams is one such subject.

As I write this, now my impetus to overcome the inertia of my thoughts is that soon they may not matter at all.

I am of two minds opposed to the death penalty into whose waiting mouth so much strange fruit is fed. In all honesty, my opposition is born more of fear than moral opprobrium. Mistakes happen and having grown up Black in this country, I do not need numbers to know that a noose is sometimes replaced with a needle.

Of two minds am I. I believe in Law knowing that law is not always associated with justice. It is either that or Justice here, in America, is not always Justas she peeks from behind her blindfold, chooses which way her scales will tip, and raises her sword against some of us, brown and black, against…me. But we need law. Law is the bulwark of order.

For me it must be opposition, not to extinguishing Williams’ flame but to the death penalty. I wish I could come down so easily, as the rabid conservative talking heads almost foaming at the mouth that Tookie should die or the liberals with their latest cause celebre shouting save Tookie save Tookie. For me however Wednesday morning will not be another day in the unreality of Hollywood –Tookie who? It will not be a new day with a new show and a new topic to at which to spew venom. For me Wednesday will be the day after a man’s life is taken or the first day that I ask myself why. Why did we save Tookie, what made him different, and if I ever become so much fodder for the machine will I be able to write my way out of its grasp.

Perhaps some fruit is just too strange.

2005-12-05T14:32:00.000-05:00

Presidential Fairy Dust

Do you remember as a child how good it felt to know what the adults knew? Can you remember how proud you were when younger siblings or neighborhood children still bought into the fantasy but you – you knew better.

As we move on toward adulthood we take pride in the fact that; we did as children do when we were children, but now we do as adults do. Well, at least some of us do. While most of us have cast aside fantasy for the more realistic trappings of adulthood, the conservatives and good people at the Fantasy News Channel (that is Fox to you and me) still have visions of sugar plum fairies dancing in their head.

The problem with fantasy is that if followed too long it will lead you to a place where reality will slap you in the face – hard! For most of us that would be a wake-up call. Some however remain intent on continuing down the same path as always. These individuals, George Bush being one of them, refuse to see that life is not a simple matter of cowboys and Indians, black and white, or good and “evil-doers”.

And given the national (well really international) platform of the presidency an obstinate individual like this might stand before the nation to present thirty plus pages of a strategy for dealing with the crisis in Iraq which amounts to closing his eyes, covering his ears and crossing his fingers.

Crossed fingers are not good foreign policy especially not now.

Thirty-five pages that could have been covered in two. No really, it could have, read the executive summary, which is two pages long and then read the rest and see if there is anything more you get out of it. However, thirty-five pages of repetition would have been fine had there been a plan somewhere within the text.

Two thousand plus dead soldiers are not a milestone nor are they a fantasy. Two thousand plus dead soldiers are two thousand plus individual stories, two thousand plus minds, two thousand plus smiles that George Bush’s obstinacy helped remove forever from the earth. The reality of supporting the troops is that there is no support for dead troops. They are dead!

The reality of supporting the troops is to ensure that we know why they are in harms way in the first place, that we support their mission to support and defend the constitution, that we understand what it is we are supporting.

Supporting the troops does not mean supporting a president who has no concept of how to get those troops home safely.

Supporting the troops means that when the president tells us that Bin Laden says that the third world war is waging (in at least three speeches) we are not scared into conformity; that we ask when did he say that and in what context.

I did not remember a quote of Bin Laden’s exactly as the president said it so I read the speech to see if it was a direct quote; the ellipses suggest that it is not. Therefore, I spent a few hours searching for the quote. I never found it the closest I came was a quote that could have been chopped down to what the president said with the use of ellipses.

The problem is that the quote in context is not one where Bin Laden is declaring the third world war as Bush’s words would have you believe but where he is saying that, the US is waging the third world war on Islam.

Supporting the troops is asking why we have only heard of terrorists who resist our benevolent efforts to bring democracy until this speech where we are told by the president that they are the smallest part of the opposition to us. The fantasy is that it is the evil terrorists that oppose us. The reality is that the opposition is a mix of different groups (including terrorists) opposing us for different reasons and you cannot just kill them all.

Perhaps that is the reason for the fake news stories to sway those who oppose us and are not terrorists. They need to understand that democracy is a good thing even if we need to violate the principles of democracy to convince them. But that is just the military, George Bush had no idea what his military was doing.

Maybe the greatest fantasy that the president takes part in is that all of us can be swayed by attacks on our patriotism, fear mongering in his speeches, or the Fantasy News Channel (Fox).

Rethinking Kanye

2005-09-19T04:57:00.000-04:00

Why Kanye's Right.

Water is an amazing element. It can roll in, reshape the face of mountains, and roll out leaving that which stands in its wake raw and exposed. The floodwater associated with Hurricane Katrina submerged a city and drowned a façade. Amazing.

Enter Kanye West.

West having observed images of mostly Black victims of this disaster inside what is ostensibly a mixed city did what many of us, even if we wanted to, would not have the opportunity to do; he opened his mouth, seemingly to recite his part of a script, and spoke of the unscripted realities of racism.

Here is a news flash for anyone who believes that racism was not a factor in this disaster- - it was. I will allow that Kanye’s assertion regarding the president is beyond my ability to verify but his comments about the actions of the press, George Bush (if we look at him as representative of his office and thus the “system” inherent in our system of government and the larger issue of race in general cannot be denied.

Question, what would be expected of a group of wealthy individuals faced with having to pay labor more because there are more jobs than there are laborers for those jobs. I would expect that they would act in a manner to protect their interest, which here is profit. After all, we would not expect that one would sit idly by and take a loss in profit without attempting to create an excess labor condition. Finding a source of excess labor would be akin to finding gold or in this case “black gold”. Now if while discovering this source a plan could be put into action to foment an environment where using this source in anyway necessary to maximize output then all the better. Thus from this need a system of whiteness with seemingly inherent benefits for even the most diverse ethnic whites, if the buy into it, begins to take shape. Poor whites who had themselves worked as indentured servants or descended from such, whose situation was more closely related to the Blacks than the wealthy whites, begin to invest in this system and its privilege. This is the story of the birth of a system that was so necessary that our brilliant founding fathers, men of wealth themselves (as demonstrated from their ability to take such a long time off to construct the constitution), wrote it into The Constitution; a pro-slavery document that is the basis for America.*

So it becomes necessary that once freedom comes to these men (often referred to as freedom comes to the slaves) that there be rules and laws which maintain the most important conditions of slavery even if not in name.

But what does this trip down historical lane have to do with present day New Orleans? Post civil rights America? George Bush caring about black people?

Quite a bit actually, it turns out. The reason that New Orleans was without defense was because it is so poor, thanks to the system, and to borrow from Wolf Blitzer, so Black.

Cries for help from Louisiana did not always find deaf ears in the federal government. There was a time when whites in Louisiana and the nation as a whole needed the sugar and cotton plantations in that state functioning and in order to facilitate this need found that their interests necessitated maintaining a population of Black workers and an area safe from flood. During this time, the Army was pulled out of the south and the government assisted the white business leaders by heading the call to lead the way in protecting their land.

Sugar and cotton eventually lost their importance, the civil rights movement eventually decimated the stronghold of the Democrats in the south, and the whites abandoned those who had created the wealth they enjoy. This left Louisiana vulnerable especially the heavily Black populated New Orleans.

Enter George Bush.

Bush was not elected by Louisiana though the state did nothing to hurt him in 2000. Running as a limited interventionist who determined value by markets it is natural that George Bush’s concerns are those of they who elected him (I am not speaking here necessarily of the voters but of the involved interests). It is no surprise therefore that when asked for funds to shore up the levees President was not interested in doing so. It was not in his interest or those of his electors. After all one need ask what of value, given his method of determining value, existed in New Orleans that was worth spending the money required . The Black Gold had long ago lost its luster.

George Bush cared about that which would get him reelected and leave him with, from his purview at the time, the legacy he desired. These interests run counter to the interests of poor people who disproportionately are Black especially in New Orleans. You can not have both so one therefore would logically conclude that George Bush does not care about Black people. This is not to say that he doesn’t like some Blacks or even have as some of his best friends Black people but caring for Black people (meaning their issues as a group) is not the same as that.

So when Kanye made his statement perhaps he did not think it through like that but let’s not so quickly dismiss what he said because in the context of the system we have in America it only, unfortunately, makes too much sense.

* Article1 sections 2 and 9, Article 4 section 2 and Article 5.

2005-03-27T13:21:00.000-05:00

The case of Terri Schiavo makes you think.

This case certainly has caused me to do some reflecting. I have been thinking lately about a man I know who could someday find himself in a similar situation. This man loves his wife immensely and would never want anything to happen to her. His love for her would probably overcome his initial decision, if faced with similar circumstances, to cling to the hope of life even if there was no hope. The man I know will eventually let it be known that the wishes of his wife, against his own wishes, were that she would not persist in such a state. This process would probably take a while and seem a bit strange as this “newfound” recollection of his wife’s wishes would seem just that – newfound. The wife and husband don’t really share these talks with the whole family nor with friends and they do not have living wills. How then do I know this story then becomes the question the answer to which is because I am that man.

I do not know Michael Schiavo nor do I know his wife Terri and that along with my possible future predicament is what has me thinking so much. Thinking about the characterization of Schaivo. Schiavo is the devil. Schiavo is an angel. How it applies depends of course on whether you are speaking about Michael or Terri. How do we know though?

Maybe Michael Schiavo is a bastard. Maybe. But, what if he is not? What if he finds himself in a similar situation to what I described above? I know that I would feel pain in having to let go of my wife’s physical being as I had already done with her sentient being and the intrusion of the media and political machine would truly make that situation a disaster.

Listen here is the deal: Terri Schiavo is most likely going to die and the question we need to be asking is what, since we have butt in, that death is going to mean to us. Are we going to continue reducing this complex situation into simple good versus evil, black or white? Many claim to care about life talking incessantly about dignity and the value inherent in this most precious gift but, and this question is for specific people like Hannity and Limbaugh where is the dignity in reducing a woman’s tragic end to talking points? Where is her value, is it in the coin in your pocket you make by exploiting a family and their very personal issue for political gain? Wasn’t it you Rush who asked why the democrats and liberals want to see her die? You know this isn’t accurate. However, accuracy does not matter as long as you have your red meat, as long as you have your talking points, as long as you can get the “W” in the next election.

I see lessons in this story. Let us look to the case of Terri Schiavo and learn from it. Let us do some reflecting and introspection. If we care about her life as much as I believe, most people on both sides really do then let us not cheapen what has played out before us for our own gain. Terri Schiavo may fade away into the beyond but her story will not. Let us not lose ourselves by losing sight of the value of a human life because there is a ‘D’ or ‘R’ next to our name.

Baby Mama Drama

2005-03-01T11:23:00.000-05:00

Doing my daily drive from Stamford to New Haven the other day I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to hear fantasia Barrino's baby Mama song. As I sat listening to this song and navigating the roadway I began to wonder to myself whether or not some of us have lost our minds. Seriously, what's with these lyrics:

It’s about time we had our own song

Don’t know what took so long

Cuz now-a-days it like a badge of honor

To be a baby mama

Of course the argument made is that it isn't to glorify the whole baby mama phenomenom that has of late become much more of an issue than it should ever be. The people behind the song incuding the artist will tell us of how the song speaks to the things being done by this group, the baby mama's, which are positive; paying bills, workin', and going to school. Actually, I thought these were just the norm. And while these actions will be held up as positive I always must ask the question: why are these same actions, which are so positive, never sung about when the subject has not done something with their life that is generally not looked upon well.

Really this is the same old thing as the attempts to apprpriate the term Nigger. Whtat you have here is people who intheir lives have ownership of nothing; no homes, no cars, nothing of substance asserting their ownership of things they can never hope to own in reality. If only we could put so much energy into owning the things that matter.

God and Evil

2005-02-28T21:07:00.000-05:00

People tend to identify with their parties. Calling Republicans evil is not the way to get back that half of the country the democrats need. Oh Howard