Presidential Election 2012 - Voting in Brooklyn, NYC

Brooklyn voters wait in line at the polls

I arrived at P.S. 6, on Snyder Avenue in Brooklyn, at about 2pm on November 6, 2012. The above photo is what I was met with. The line was about 2 blocks long. Thankfully it was moving swiftly. But the closer I got to the front of the line, the less we moved. I heard from a few people who made their way past us after voting that things were not orderly on the inside. Certain district tables were completely empty while others were backed up.

Voters wait at poll site PS 6, Brooklyn, NY, Election day 2012

King Joke

A primetime special to announce what team he’ll play for… ridiculous. It’s bad enough we’ll get the play-by-play and Monday morning quarterbacks. A press conference, ok, I can deal with that. But this? His reps reached out to ESPN and James obviously agreed to it. Thanks, I appreciate that they’re donating the proceeds to the Boys & Girls Club (you should be donating to charities anyway). I won’t watch it but I know it’ll be hard to escape the hoopla especially if he decides to play for the Knicks or the Nets who’ll be moving to Brooklyn.

This is a basketball player. And he’s paid millions of dollars to do it.  I’m not saying someone shouldn’t have the opportunity to make a living off their talent but we don’t pay teachers and doctors anywhere near what they’re worth. And we wonder why so many young Black men wanna be ballers. When’s the last time we celebrated Dr. Benjamin Carson? As an ATC I would never make a fraction of what James makes and my job is to keep him healthy so he can continue to play.

I love athletes. I think what we, as a society, pay them is exorbitant. Look how much we pay movie stars. The president’s salary keeps rising. Clearly, we’re willing to pay a lot to be entertained.

Obama Is A Grinch

What the hell is wrong with Barack Obama? Five weeks into his term and he’s actually doing something? He made all these promises during his presidential campaign and now he has the nerve to follow through! Preposterous! He’s taking away all the joy of bashing a new President; a politician. They seldom keep their word. What are the naysayers to do now? Debate how quickly his hair is graying? Suggest he walk with less swagger?


He’s spending too much money on this stimulus bill. Oh yeah? Well he has to undo the mess that the previous President caused, or saw happening and didn’t have the intelligence or balls to do anything about. As a leader, you have to do what has to be done. You won’t always be understood or have a lot of support (Guiliani, Bloomberg), but beyond listening to your constituents and taking into account their concerns (health care reform!), it still boils down to a leader doing what has to be done.


Five weeks into his administration, Obama has a plan and a date set to have combat troops home from Iraq: August 31, 2010. A war that frankly shouldn’t have been started. I’m not a fan a war, wasn’t a fan of George Bush. But I remember standing in the lobby of LIU, watching the Twin Towers crumple and thinking, “They just declared war…” So I understand the US going after who was responsible, Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.Saddam Hussein, I think, was a red herring that Bush willingly chased. WMDs were never found in Iraq. Instead we’ve had 35,000 total casualties (Iraq & Afghanistan combined). 


Obama’s campaign rival, John McCain, agrees with his plan to pull out from Iraq. And I think deep down, many other Republicans agree with Obama’s policies. But to just admit that and move on with running the country would be too easy. Red state citizens who can’t stomach the fact that their fellow Americans and the Electoral College put Obama in office won’t admit it either even when they start to reap the benefits. So what’s left to do? Pick on the Black man. Compare him (and all African-Americans, Africans, or people of African descent) to a chimp and shoot him up in cartoon form. Or bake drunken negro face cookies in the West Village or display books about the President and one about monkeys in the window of a Barnes and Noble (Coral Gables, FL). No worries, Obama isn’t consulting with Doctor Zaius over a plate of ribs and watermelon. It’s a shame that these comparisons and stereotypes, these attacks, have been going on for centuries. But you gotta feel sorry for the “other guy” if that’s all he’s got after all these years.

 

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