The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

This week in Rhode Island

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

The Good

Elijah Cummings

An American hero. Passing at 68 is certainly a tragedy, but how blessed were we to have him for the time we did. A civil rights leader. Few have made such a difference in our country. A son of sharecroppers. Justice. Equality. Feistier as he aged, “he was strong when he had to be, while being kind, decent, caring, and honorable,” said one legislator. Someone black youth, and all youth could look up to as a role model. If you have a moment – listen to the poem Cummings spoke on his first day in Congress. Ask yourself – do I live my life this way every day? Here is the link: https://bit.ly/33I6h8C

The Bad

National Press

Being at home, recovering from a short illness, gives one the opportunity to watch television news. Clicking from one station to the next. Selecting a particular story and then watching the spin from CNN to NBC to Fox, then to print media. Pretty distressful when you can anticipate the slant each outlet will have. Fair and balanced nearly doesn’t exist anymore. It’s bad. But it’s also frightening to our democracy.

The Burrillville sports incident

An activity that without proof resulted in a sanctioning of an entire school sports department. Were there racial slurs? Who sat what, and when? Was it denied? Where is the evidence of exactly what happened? Was the playing of the national anthem and the chosen colors of the night being patriotic red, white and blue, the beginning of allegations of racism towards the Central Falls team? Listen to the kids. Watch their interviews. Both sides say they didn’t hear anything. That there’s no racism among Burrillville players. So just what happened here? Do we no longer investigate to determine the truth? Is it prudent to just admit that maybe something happened, take some action, and move on? Not a good example for kids playing team sports. Hopefully, event staff will be hyper vigilant in the future.

National & Local Legislators

They are on our dime. With all the name calling, pot stirring and polarizing issues, how much is really being done to support the people who have elected them. It’s a question we all need to ask, and remember, when we go to the polls.

The Ugly

Advocating Destruction of Property

A Providence City Council person openly advocating support for destruction of property. Allowing for lack of experience in holding office, Councilwoman Kerwin has not wavered in her support for “civil disobedience”, newly defined as destruction of public property if it’s for a worthy cause. All while being a member of the Public Property Sub-Committee. We look up to our leaders; young leaders get looked up to by younger people. There’s responsibility with holding office, and we see such promise in a young person getting involved and caring about so many causes, but we hope to see a maturity of position over time. It was not a good moment for any office holder to advocate and/or encourage the committing of a crime. If we operated on that philosophy, where is the line in the sand? What crime is too much for a cause? That’s why there are laws we follow, and pledge to uphold, in a civilized society.