Ramona Collins Page 2 the Sojourner’S Truth July 15, 2009 This Strikes Us … Community Calendar a Sojourner’S Truth Editorial July 13-17 Just a Few Weeks Ago, the U
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Volume 16, No.13“And Ye Shall Know The Truth...” July 15, 2009 Ramona Collins Page 2 The Sojourner’s Truth July 15, 2009 This Strikes Us … Community Calendar A Sojourner’s Truth Editorial July 13-17 Just a few weeks ago, the U. S. Supreme Court released its ruling in the case of Ricci vs. Church Revival at Greater St. Mary’s MBC: 7 pm nightly; Revivalist Robert Lyons DeStefano and, by a five to four vote, overturned a lower court ruling that would have of Market Place Ministries of Dayton permitted the city of New Haven, CO to throw out fire fighter test results. No African- American firefighters had done well enough on the tests to qualify for promotion and the July 12-August 1 city feared that it would be subjected to law suits if it did not heed the goals of affirmative Happy Family Seminar: UN Scott Park Campus; Sundays through Saturdays – no action. Tuesdays or Thursdays: 419-508-9648 or 419-474-6639 Just a few days ago, Mayor Carty Finkbeiner decided to veto a Toledo City Council resolution to immediately hire 11 fire fighters. Those 11 are part of a group of 40 who were prepared to enter a training class in December, 2008. The class was scrapped in a budget July 14 cutting move. Area Office on Aging Kinship Summer Series: Walbridge Park Shelter Houses; 11 am The problem for this city is that a shortage of fire fighters actually means more overtime to 1 pm pay, creating an even larger budget deficit. Hiring the 11, who are all either certified or have some sort of previous training, would have eliminated at least $1 million in overtime in fiscal July 16 2010. Area Office on Aging Kinship Summer Series: Walbridge Park Shelter Houses; 11 am Toledo City Council voted unanimously to hire the 11 fire fighters, all of whom are white. to 1 pm The mayor vetoes the resolution because he said it would violate the consent decree signed Third Thursday Downtown Art Walk: 6 to 9 pm; A dozen downtown galleries will by the late federal judge, Don Young, in 1974. open their doors in the evening How much irony can we now find in this nation’s commitment to affirmative action? Most of it is right here in these two situations dealing with fire fighters in the towns of New July 18 Haven and Toledo. First, we have to remember that the now-scorned Republican President Richard Nixon Summer Concert in Ottawa Park: DeZire (Motown); 6 to 8 pm: 419-936-2700 was in office when the most effective affirmative action was passed, and passed with his West Toledo Bereavement Support Ministry: Community Center at Port Lawrence approval and commitment. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the same Richard Nixon, an Homes; 10 am: 419-241-2133 opponent of abortion, who was caught on tape delineating the few exceptions he could 4th Annual NAMI Walk Kick-Off Picnic: 9 am to 1 pm; 930 S. Detroit; Free food, think of to a ban on abortion. These were Roe v. Wade times. One of those exceptions, said activities Nixon, should be in a pregnancy between “a black and a white.” Then, as we fast forward to present day, we find in the City of New Haven, 18 firemen July 19 who filed suit against the city for dismissing the test results, one of them being Latino who Jerusalem MBC Women and Men’s Day: “Christian Men & Women Growing in finished sixth overall. On the evening of the Supreme Court ruling, this gentleman was out Grace;” 11 am Men’s Day speaker Rev. A.L. Owens of Cleveland; Women; 4 pm women’s celebrating and was beaten up in a restaurant men’s room, probably by other firemen. The Day speaker Sis W. Jean Lark of Union Grove: 419-248-2139 beating landed him in the hospital. Here in Toledo, 11 City Council members, including three African-Americans, voted to July 20-24 hire the 11 fire fighters in order to save the city at least $1 million dollars at a time when city Worship Center’s Vacation Bible School: Ages 4 to 11; 9 am to 12:30 pm; Serving leaders are trying to close a $12 million budget deficit. “Race was not an issue, not a consideration in my vote,” said Councilman Michael breakfast and lunch daily Ashford. How much affirmative action do we still need, and for how long? July 21 In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled in two University of Michigan cases. By a five to four Area Office on Aging Kinship Summer Series: Walbridge Park Shelter Houses; 11 am majority, the Court ruled in favor of the university’s admissions programs which takes race to 1 pm into account (Grutter v. Bollinger), and by a six to three majority in Gratz v. Bollinger ruled that the specific undergraduate admissions policies had to be changed, but that race could July 23 still be a consideration. Area Office on Aging Kinship Summer Series: Walbridge Park Shelter Houses; 11 am Here again is where we just stumble along on the issue of affirmative action or to 1 pm preferences in this country. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the swing vote who swung on that day between the two July 24 majority blocs, graduated from the very prestigious Stanford School of Law in the mid- True Vine MBC 8th Pastoral Anniversary: Celebrating Pastor Melvin Barnes and First 1950’s – third in her class. She could only find jobs after graduation as a secretary because so few firms back then would hire a female as a lawyer. Lady Jeanette Barnes; 4 pm; Guests Bishop Duane Tisdale and Friendship Church; Justice Clarence Thomas got into college and Yale Law School – even more prestigious “Called to Be a Servant Leader” than Stanford – precisely because of affirmative action and felt so demeaned and betrayed by that experience that he wishes that shame upon no minority ever again. Quite obviously July 25 he votes against affirmative action in every circumstance. Summer Concert in Ottawa Park: On the Beach (Pop; Rock); 6 to 8 pm: 419-936-2700 Circuit Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Car & Bike Show: Promenade Park; Trophies, dance contests, live performances: 419- Court, ruled for the City of New Haven’s action in the Ricci case and has been catching 691-2345 flack from conservatives who have been heaping scorn upon her at least in part because of that ruling. July 25-26 She has also been catching scorn because she has stated that her experience as a Latina Calvary Baptist Church Women’s Day must inevitably influence her decisions on the bench. Of course, Justice Thomas’s Luncheon on Saturday at 11 am; Sunday morning service at 10:45 am; Sunday experiences have also influenced his opinions just as he has often admitted. And Justice afternoon service at 4 pm Samuel Alito, of the Court’s conservative wing, has said his family’s immigrant status has shaped his thoughts on the law. If we see nothing else on the affirmative action landscape, we see confusion and July 26 disorderliness. But for how much longer? Bash at the Bay 2009: Presented by Hutch Daddy Dolla’s Justice O’Connor wrote in Grutter: “We expect 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today.” Good luck with that. The Sojourner’s Truth Toledo’s Truthful African-American The Sojourner’s Truth Owned and Operated Newspaper Kevin McQueen Publisher Fletcher Word Publisher and Editor 1811 Adams Street, Toledo, Ohio 43604 Becky McQueen Business Manager Phone 419-243-0007 • Fax 419-255-7700 Nadean Hamilton Reporter Published weekly on Wednesday Vickie Shurelds Reporter Sharon Guice Reporter James Fowler Reporter Artisha Lawson Reporter Jack Ford Political Columnist Michael J. Hayes Entertainment Critic Subscribe to The Truth Today! Jason L. Lee Sr. Layout Designer Jennifer Retholtz Webmaster 26 Weeks - Only $40.00 52 Weeks - only $70.00 Pamela Anderson Sales Representative Kathy Sweeny Ad Creation Name: ______________________________ Phone # (_____) _____-_______ Address: _____________________ City ____________ State ____ Zip _________ A Certified MBE, 2009 The Sojourner’s Truth, 1811 Adams Street, Toledo, Ohio 43604 Send your check or money order to: Phone 419-243-0007 • Fax 419-255-7700 [email protected] www.thetruthtoledo.com July 15, 2009 The Sojourner’s Truth Page 3 In Memoriam Robert Brundage, Ph.D – Scientist, Musician, Community Activist, Cultivator ics. He also studied philoso- his father and “to optimize Justice Coalition, Community phy and the cello at UT. existing networks” he would Shares of Northwest Ohio, He earned a doctorate in later write on his Facebook Toledo Grows, Toledo Cen- biophysics from Brandeis page. tral City Neighborhoods University in 1969 where he Brundage became en- Community Development also studied chemistry and gaged in numerous commu- Corporation, The Toledo cello. nity activities upon his re- Metropolitan Area Council of He remained in Massa- turn to Toledo in areas such Governments and Toledo chusetts working as a re- as education, arts, social jus- Metroparks. search scientist, engineer and tice and jobs creation. He was On his Facebook page, owned – since 1983 – a sound- active with the Collingwoods Brundage listed his employer recording company. He Arts Center, the Toledo Po- as “the Toledo community” played cello for the Boston etry Foundation, the Urban and his position as “cultiva- Civic Symphony. Coalition, the MultiFaith tor.” In 1998, Brundage returned Council of Northwest Ohio, to his hometown to care for the Toledo Area Jobs With Reflections on a Friend – Courtesy of Toledo Free Press Mine and the Community’s By Steven Flagg obert Brundage, an and stole his bicycle.