Volume 11, No. 10 January 3, 2007 In This Issue The Truth Editorial Page 2 My View Jack Ford Page 3 Edna Brown Page 4 Cover Story King Keyser Page 5 Reginald Temple Page 7 Kwanzaa Celebration Pages 8 and 9 Woodberry on Edwards Page 10 Minister’s Musings Page 13 BlackMarketPlace Page 14 Classifieds Page 15 KING “I’m tired of this system. We really need to wake up. These kids are going to jail everyday. Jail means nothing to them. Life has no value to them. That’s why they can fight in the mall, and in the library, and not care. Page 2 The Sojourner’s Truth January 3, 2007 This Strikes Us … Community Calendar A Sojourner’s Truth Editorial December 26 to January 1 The accidental president, Gerald Ford, died last week at the ripe old age of 93. In the • KWANZAA!! Wayman Palmer YMCA; 5 pm each day; sponsored by the Toledo years prior to his death, he shared a few secrets with Bob Woodward, theWatergate Kwanzaa House Committee; 40th Anniversary reporter who somehow manages to obtain access to virtually every high-level government official on the continent. December 30 Ford, the president who put an end to the American involvement in Vietnam, opposed • Toledo Gospel Rescue Mission: Annual Christmas Dinner; 5 pm: 419-241-6579 the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq from the beginning. The American urge, or more specifically, the Bush administration’s urge, to bring freedom to various peoples around January 1 the globe was admirable, said Ford, but essentially irresponsible considering the administration’s foremost obligation to national security – this nation’s security. Happy New Year!! Ford went directly to the heart of the matter, even in those early days of the strife. In 2004, he summed up the errors of the Bush people’s (most of whom are former Ford people) January 1-6 reliance on the presence of weapons of mass destruction as a casus belli. And, of course, • Mt Zion Baptist Church: 21 Days of Blaze a Prayer and Fasting Explosion: 1st to 6th – he denounced the administration’s desire to use the occasion to force democracy upon week of prayer/sensitivity at 6 pm nightly: 419-246-1850 the people of the Middle East. Ford managed to put his finger on the problem early on during a time when many were January 5 ignoring Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney’s fascination with delivering democracy. • Amazon Lodge #4 Fish Fry: 11 am to 5 pm; Deliveries available on orders of 3 or more: Most critics went for the obvious – it’s all about the oil. But that was always too facile 419-531-7079 an explanation for the War in Iraq. It was never about the war, it was always about hubris. The arrogance that leads those in power to believe that they can do no wrong once they January 13 • Mt. Zion Baptist Church: NAACP MLK Youth Explosion; 11 am to 1 pm; Open to any have made up their minds to effect change. youth group: 419-246-1850 That hubris tends to blind those in power even to the lessons of history, lessons that in this case, the Bush folks, who helped to guide America out of Southeast Asia, should January 15 have learned while they were on the job with Ford. He alone among his crowd remembered • 24th Annual King “Oratorical” Contest: The “Ghanaian” Foundation Honors Dr. King; what we had been taught in Vietnam: we cannot force our way of life on people willy-nilly. Civic Center Promenade; 9 am to 3 pm; K through 12 grades may compete in their age Nations cannot use force to win hearts and minds group: 419-868-8396 The belated Ford critique of the Bush Iraq policy comes at a time when folks are really starting to pile on. It comes at a time when Bush himself has finally admitted what he was January 18 loathe to admit prior to the recent elections – that we are not winning the War in Iraq. It • Spirit of Faith Adoptions: Informational meetings for domestic and international comes at a time when the nation is beginning to realize that our involvement in Iraq has adoptions; 7 pm; 3315 Centennial Rd., Ste A-2: 419-843-5355 not been flawed in just one or two elements, it has been flawed in every action we have undertaken there. January 19 We had bad intelligence to start. We abused the intelligence we did have to suit our • Amazon Lodge #4 Fish Fry: 11 am to 5 pm; Deliveries available on orders of 3 or more: purposes. We executed the war itself poorly in order to satisfy Secretary of Defense 419-531-7079 Donald Rumsfeld’s notion that a small, quick-striking force was the wave of the future. We executed the war badly because we forgot that we were fighting more than a war, we were trying to rebuild a nation. To that end we left piles of weapons for future insurgents and we dissolved the only institution capable of assisting in that nation building endeavor – the Iraq army. And after the war, when we realized that we would indeed have to hang around because contrary to Cheney’s prognostications the conquered did not greet the conquerors just like the French greeted the Allies in World War II, we erred repeatedly – strategically, tactically, politically, militarily, diplomatically – and in every conceivable manner. We created and grew the insurgency almost daring terrorists to rush to the cause. Indeed, if Osama bin Laden and his followers had tried to craft such an effective battle plan, they could not possibly have foreseen that Americans would have fallen so readily into the trap. The American post-9/11 reaction was most assuredly beyond their wildest dreams. Would wiser men than the Bush people have erred so badly? They were the wise men that Ford relied on for advice when he quit Vietnam. What happened over the years? Obviously such men fell under the delusion that they could do no wrong ... all historical evidence to the contrary. Somehow they remembered Neville Chamberlain’s Munich and forgot everything that happened after that event. So the post-Vietnam, current Iraq lesson is what exactly? It has to be, at least in part, that no one has a monopoly on being correct, even if he has been correct at every other instance in his life, and who among us has been that flawless? Rumsfeld and Cheney have been correct quite a lot in their heretofore successful political and business careers. Pity their big mistake carried such a high price tag. 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Toledo City past ditch improvements or “Merry convenes this month, one Council President Rob the lack thereof. question to be answered is Ludeman has called for con- We see a continuation of Christmas?” whether the Ninth Congres- tinued support of the pro- the bickering at Toledo Pub- By Jan Scotland sional District representative, gram. It is surprising that oth- lic Schools. Now we have a Special to The Truth Marcy Kaptur, will be slated ers city councilmen did not possible duel of competing I know that saying as a “cardinal” – a chairman of join in that chorus since vir- web sites now that board “Merry Christmas” is not one of the key subcommit- tually all have connections members, Darlene Fisher and politically correct but the tees within the appropriations with citizens using CareNet. Robert Torres have started heartfelt wishes that go committee. Kaptur, dean of But beyond the general mute their own. How petty has this Jack Ford with it are universal in their the Ohio delegation and one response from politicians, fight become? We hope that intent. Most Christians of the longest serving female what about leaders such as those who are talking about Maybe we are getting mean only that good will to members in the House, may our ministers and agency running for the Toledo Board close to the time of bringing all men and peace on earth get some help from Republi- heads? Are people so deeply of Education next year are the two city school districts be renewed during the sea- cans David Obie of Wiscon- mired in apathy that they have really serious. This is a train together. The split, accom- son.