The greatest lesson is to stay quiet, listen, read , and watch what is being said and done. You gather information on things that many claim are important, but if you look closely, it isn’t. If you learn something that many should talk about, the powers that be will attempt to shut it down, or create distractions, as a means to hide harsh truths.
Over most of past year, I watched, read, and listened to what is being said…or what was not being said.
In October 2021, Ross Wilburn, head of the Iowa Democratic Party and a state rep from Ames, penned an opinion piece to the Des Moines Register, calling out the Trump Republicans like Governor Kim Reynolds. In the piece, he pointed out some positives:
Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress continue to deliver. Rep. Cindy Axne of Iowa has worked tirelessly alongside the Biden-Harris administration to help working families and small businesses recover, including putting child tax credit checks into the pockets of hundreds of thousands of adults and children in the state. In just the past nine months, Democrats have cut taxes for middle-class families, invested billions of dollars into helping small businesses recover, and ensured over 216 million Americans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Ross Wilburn, Des Moines Register, Oct. 8, 2021
There is plenty to unpack here, but, it’s not what he wrote that piqued my interest…it’s what he didn’t mention in his opinion piece.
Wilburn made no mention of the Black grassroots and non-black supporters in Des Moines and Iowa City demanding for the removal of funding and punishing police departments for atrocities against Black Iowans.
No mention of specific policies to help Black Iowans to improve their lives and their status as citizens from a socioeconomic and justice point of view. He didn’t address the silence of Cindy Axne and other prominent Democrats when it was reported that a ICE plane, carrying migrant children, had a layover at the Des Moines International Airport and where was the plane going.
Wilburn also didn’t address that six state Democratic senators, including Liz Mathis, who originally sided with the GOP in March 2021 to vote in favor of expanding qualified immunity for law enforcement officers, and never making nary an attempt to have real conversations with Black Iowans about the racial conditions they are facing right now. True to form, the Iowa media didn’t bring it up or ask questions. The Black grassroots did.
But Wilburn’s focus was over a guy who is no longer in political office, who isn’t running for political office, and the wannabe minions who is nowhere close to emulating that guy.
The Democrats accusing the GOP of using socialism and Critical Race Theory as a boogeyman, while Democrats keep using Trump as a boogeyman as a fear tactic to scare voters into heading to the polls. The election in Virginia have shown that Black voters were not afraid of Trump and were not going to support a party that continue to show blatant disregard and dismissiveness. This isn’t about Republicans, Mr. Wilburn. This is about your party and their attitudes towards Black Iowans.
Ellen Goodman Miller recently wrote a guest post for Bleeding Heartland, challenging the Iowa Democrats and their status quo mentality on the heels of Waterloo congressman Ras Smith discontinuing his gubernatorial run.
Benign neglect has and always will be the go-to move for Democrats. I don’t have sympathy for a political party that constantly refuses to make an effort to create policies to protect blacks. Because of this, you see the litany of trolls crashing Zoom meeting and spouting off racial diatribes against blacks. And all Iowa Democrats could do is a pithy “tsk tsk” and wag their fingers. Not one of them will go out of their way to clamp down and make policies to punish anti-black racism among citizens, law enforcement, and others who have been given free reign to do whatever they want.
Black voters are no longer going to be led back to the wheelhouse of voting for candidates that refuses to address and advocate for pro-black issues such as economic black empowerment, criminal justice through punishment, and enforcing anti-black policies.
When it comes to elections and demands, the Black community, mostly Black men, are the assigned boogeyman that America targets when things go wrong . All eyes were on the Virginia gubernatorial race in November between Clinton acolyte Terry McAuliffe and Glenn Youngkin. The headlines leading up to the race wasn’t about if this a referendum on Biden, per se., CRT, or other issues.
It was the same old “can Black people save the Democrats from the evil Trump GOP.?” What? You mean the same thing that Michelle Obama rolled out a few weeks ago? No one black gives a damn about that? Where is our protected status, laws to protect us from anti-hate, and our “checks?
Jonathan Capehart went as far to write a weak-ass comical column begging Black women to save the Democrats by electing McAuliffe. McAuliffe lost the election. And who did the Democrats blame? Black people.
Why would a political party who has control of the White House and Congress, keep turning to Black Americans to “save” them from evil, when they have steadfastly refused to listen to the demands and request that Black America is calling out for? Everyone knows who and what the Republicans stand for. That’s not debatable. It’s long overdue to tear off the sacred cow blanket off of people and groups who doesn’t want to be called out for their own decisions that has led to constant attacks by both sides of the political aisle toward Black Iowans.
Last January, Joe Biden signed an executive orders for DACA, protective status for LGTBTQIA+, bringing Afghan refugees to this country to America. The Haitian refugees were turned away and sent back home. The Haitians look like Black Americans and yet they were turned away. Make that make sense.
Where is that “Police Commission” that was promised? Where’s the George Floyd Crime Act going to be passed? Wait, I think I know why that bill has stalled. The pushback against keeping Qualified Immunity and expanding it for law enforcement officers who intentionally harm or kill citizens, especially Blacks, is something you want us to forget. And miss me with the John Lewis Voting Rights bill, when NYC city council voted in favor of allowing immigrants to vote in local elections. A voting rights bill isn’t going to encourage blacks to vote, when the real deep seated reason is that since Blacks are showing they will not keep voting for the same, why not flood the zone by drowning out the Black vote with non-Blacks?
Reparations? “We don’t have money to do that” (except for Afghans and immigrants) Justice? (Anti-Asian hate bill, increased protected status for LGBTQIA+, etc.).
Not one significant law or policy has been introduces, signed into law that benefits Black Americans since Biden assumed office in January 2021.
Nothing but more smoke being blown up our asses.
When Black Americans asked and demand for their issues and requests, the excuses come out like firecrackers. “You have to give Biden more time, you can’t ask him right away…” “you just need to wait…” “…we need to have a study and researching on this bill…” and “we need you to vote like our democracy depends on i!t”. Black voted for Democrats in 2020. Biden said he was not going to do anything specific for Black Americans…and he stuck by that. At least he was honest.
Voting is a business “transaction. Quid pro quo. Do something for me, I’ll do something for you. Black Americans are showing their repulsiveness political parties. And somehow, Iowa Democrats don’t think they’re to blame for the things that have taken place.
Civility Is Not Dead...Yet 