In Retrospect: Southern Backlash To The Affordable Care Act

In 1954, when the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed segregation in public education, Southern states fought it tooth and nail, like the Affordable Care Act of today. They claim it would expand the size of government; however, the underlying factor may be race or socioeconomic status.

Republicans control most of the state legislatures in the South. Within their borders are those who would benefit the greatest from the new healthcare law: minorities and the poor, who tend to vote Democratic. Republican Governors have refused to expand Medicaid as authorized by the Affordable Care Act, which could aid the unemployed or low-wage earners, despite widespread support for it.  In Georgia, for instance, at least 60 percent of respondents in a recent poll back such a move, but the governor refuses, as in other states.  In most instances, Southern governors, with the full backing of Republican-controlled legislatures, have opted out of any part of the recently passed healthcare bill, causing the federal government to intervene, like during school desegregation in the 1950s and '60s, by setting up the healthcare exchanges or the Federal Healthcare Marketplace for thousands of uninsured Americans to obtain coverage.

Other Southern states headed by Republicans tend to oppose the Affordable Care Act simply because it's the president's or a Democratic plan.  Republicans largely supported Mitt Romney's version of the law during his time as governor of Massachusetts.  The conservative Heritage Foundation even threw its support behind such a measure in the 1980s to ease the healthcare burden in the United States.  However, as soon as Obama proposed the idea, the G.O.P. bolted for the hills.

However, not all states in the South have backed away from or circumvented the Affordable Care Act.  Those with Democratic governors, such as those in Kentucky and Arkansas, have adopted the new law and expanded Medicaid for low-income citizens.

Nothing much has changed in more than ten years since the passage of the historic bill, which enjoys overwhelming support from the American people. Republican governors, such as Brian Kemp of Georgia, have denied citizens the full benefits of the measure, such as Medicaid Expansion, which uses Federal dollars to help the poor and uninsured and can help prevent rural and urban hospitals from closing, something that has occurred a lot during his tenure.  Maybe one day the governor will wake up and bow to the will of the people.

 

• GOVERNMENT & POLITICS

COMMENTARY

Bookman: The truth is that it is Kemp, not Trump, who is the candidate of the past

JAY BOOKMAN

APRIL 20, 2023 1:00 AM

     

 Columnist Jay Bookman writes that Gov. Brian Kemp’s recent speech to GOP donors that it’s time to move on from his former political ally is a compelling message, but it is the governor, not Donald Trump, who is the candidate of the past. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder (File July 2020)

In a high-profile speech over the weekend in Nashville, Gov. Brian Kemp told national Republican donors that it’s time for the party to look forward, to the elections and issues of 2024, rather than backward to the debacle of 2020.

“Not a single swing voter in a single swing state will vote for our nominee if they choose to talk about the 2020 election being stolen,” Kemp told the audience, in a clear if not explicit warning about the dangers of renominating Donald Trump.

It’s a compelling message, but the truth is that it is Kemp, not Trump, who is the candidate of the past. Kemp is calling upon his party to return to its pre-Trump roots, but he is doing so at a time when its base shows no sign of having learned its lesson, no sign that it is willing to give up the emotional gratification of another Trump candidacy in return for a better if more boring chance at victory. They have no interest in incrementalism; what they want is an outlet for their fury, and Trump provides it.

Right here in Kemp’s home state, in a recent poll among Georgia Republican voters conducted by the University of Georgia, Trump outpaced Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, his nearest rival for the 2024 nomination, by more than 20 percentage points. And DeSantis, as Kemp seems to recognize, is hardly the candidate of normality and sanity. All you need to know about the mood of the GOP electorate is that he and Trump are by far the most popular candidates.

It must be frustrating. Here in Georgia, by any definition a crucial swing state, Trump-backed candidates have lost three consecutive Senate races to the Democrats. In that same time frame, the more pragmatic Kemp has soundly defeated a Trump-backed challenger in the 2020 GOP primary and went on to thrash Stacey Abrams in November as well. In an earlier University of Georgia poll, this one taken in January, voters gave Kemp a 62% job approval rating.

Kemp also can boast of a significant conservative record. He signed a six-week abortion ban long before DeSantis did in Florida. He signed a bill allowing open, unpermitted carrying of firearms well before DeSantis followed suit. He gutted state campaign-finance safeguards with his creation of “leadership PACs” that can accept unlimited donations, and he has never let ethical niceties interfere with his pursuit of power, even if he is more subtle about it than the rampaging DeSantis and Trump.

He’s also been pretty sly. In the recently concluded legislative session, Kemp offered just enough late backing for a school-voucher bill to be able to portray himself as a supporter, but not enough to push it through to passage, which would have required him to sign the controversial legislation.

In essence, Kemp operates within the traditional boundaries of politics. He generally doesn’t stoop to being an Internet troll; “owning the libs” might be fun but hasn’t been a high priority. He doesn’t bash gay Americans for sport or call them groomers. He’s not trying to ban drag queens or books from school libraries. He doesn’t hint darkly at a second American civil war, or pay homage to Vladimir Putin. He doesn’t play on Twitter, and while he offers enough lip service to the Fox News hysteria of the day to maintain his conservative credibility, he doesn’t allow the conservative entertainment industry to set his agenda. He’s not interested in blowing everything up, he wants to make it work for the causes in which he believes.

Oh, and he knows better than to try to overturn lost elections through violence or through cockamamie schemes to trash the Constitution. That’s something.
All that said, though, Kemp has not been a good governor. It’s been lunacy to encourage people to carry guns, as he has done with multiple changes to weaken state gun laws. The more guns that are carried, the more people feel compelled to arm themselves, and the quicker they are to use those weapons. It’s wrong to let government dictate the most intimate, important decisions of a woman’s life, and the stubborn refusal of Kemp and his fellow Georgia Republicans to accept Medicaid expansion and the billions in federal aid that comes with it has forced hundreds of thousands of working Georgians to live without health insurance for no reason other than petty political spite.

But if Kemp hasn’t been a good governor, he has admittedly been an effective one. Once upon a time, Republicans and Democrats alike could build a career on that. Now, in a Republican Party more and more disinterested in governance, and less and less serious about the nation’s future, Kemp’s call is falling on deafened ears.

Source: Georgia Recorder

Emmett's Murder

 I knew the story of Emmett Till, like thousands of black boys growing up in the rural South, who suppressed it in our minds. It traumatized us, unlike any of the murders of African American men, women, and children of Apartheid America that I am coming to grips with today.

Fourteen-year-old Emmett Till's disfigured body, lying in a coffin for the world to see, has awakened in me a need to tell his story and fight for redemption. He is crying out from the grave, asking us to right an injustice, half a century old. To do less is not an option.

Emmett Till, who was brutally murdered for allegedly whistling at a white woman in a country store in Mississippi during the Summer of 1955, lived like most black boys in the inner city of Chicago. He attended school and church regularly, and dressed immaculately as customary for black males of that era. He was also described as a leader, especially by his mother, Mamie Till, who shared with reporters that he agreed to do the shopping, cleaning, and cooking to show his appreciation for the long hours she worked as a clerk overseeing secret and confidential files for the U.S. Air Force. (1) Till enjoyed a measure of freedom that many African-American youth in the South did not have.

Mrs. Till, like most African-American mothers in the North, prepared their sons for what to expect on a possible trip South since the societies were radically different. Many blacks who migrated North during the Great Migration left loved ones behind and made clandestine visits to see them whenever possible.  Emmett made the faithful journey in August 1955 when his great-uncle, Moses White, visited the family from Money, Mississippi. The fourteen-year-old begged his mother if he could go with him and a cousin to meet family in the Delta.  After careful consideration, she offered him her blessing. 

On August 21, 1955, when Emmett arrived in the small town of Money in the Mississippi Delta, he found to be much different from his hometown of Chicago. For instance, he could breathe fresh air, fish, or walk barefoot to the store. Three days later, while buying refreshments at Bryant's Grocery and Meat Market with his cousins after a long day of working in the fields, he was accused of flirting with or touching the hand of Carolyn Bryant, the white cashier and owner's wife, something a black man dared do in the Jim Crow era South. Whether it happened or was an innocent mistake has been a topic of debate for years. He left for his uncle's home unaware of the seriousness of the matter. 

Shortly after the alleged incident, Carolyn's husband, Roy Bryant, and his half-brother, J.W. Milan, abducted Emmett, who had never experienced such hate in Chicago, from Uncle Moses White's home at approximately 2:00 a.m. on August 28, 1955, and carried him to an isolated location. "They then beat the teenager brutally, dragged him to the bank of the Tallahatchie River, shot him in the head, and tied him with barbed wire to a large metal fan and shoved his body into the water," according to History.com. (2) Till was also lynched before being drowned.

On August 31st, 1955, three days after the brutal attack, "Emmett's badly beaten and decomposed body was found in the Tallahatchie River," in a nearby jurisdiction, according to The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. (3) When news of the gruesome discovery reached the black community, Moses White, who had recently reported his nephew missing, and others familiar with the case, speculated it could be Till. White made a positive identification based on a ring Till was wearing, given to him by his late father, and made the heartbreaking call to his mother.

Over the objection of local authorities,  Mrs. Till demanded that her son's remains be shipped to Chicago. Devastated but unbroken, she hastily made funeral arrangements and opted to have an open casket ceremony to show the world what they did to her son. 

On September 3rd, 1955, the day of the funeral, Thousands filed past Till's open coffin at Roberts Temple Church of Chicago.  They wanted "to see evidence of the hate crime," recalls history.com. Women fainted at the sight of him as men looked on in horror.  By now, Till's face and head were bloated beyond recognition due to the trauma he experienced in the final days of his life and from being submerged underwater. An ear and an eye were also missing, prompting speculation that they were taken as souvenirs. 

 Two distinguished black publications, the Chicago Defender and Jet Magazine, carried "graphic images" of Till's corpse, invoking outrage and indignation throughout the country, and sparking the modern Civil Rights Movement. (4) 

Three days later, on September 6th, 1955, J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant were indicted for the despicable crime based on crucial eyewitness testimony and outside pressure. Carolyn Bryant, the calalyst for Emmett Till's death, was not charged. 

On September 19th, 1955, two weeks after Emmett was laid to rest, his murder trial started with high hopes for a conviction.  Mrs. Till made the risky trip from Chicago to attend every session and spoke out on her son's behalf. However, an all-white male jury acquitted Roy Bryant and J.W. Milan of the slaying of Emmett Till in less than ninety minutes of deliberations, despite "overwhelming evidence of the defendant's guilt," according to History.com, including eyewitness testimony from Emmett's great uncle, Moses White, who courageously pointed out the men as having kidnapped Till from his home. (5) A local African-American male also testified to seeing the deceased in a vehicle with the men the night he disappeared. It was typical of Southern juries in the Jim Crow era not to convict white defendants accused of murdering blacks, even if there was irrefutable proof that a crime had taken place.

Nearly seventy years after Till's senseless murder and the lack of accountability, the U.S. Senate, on March 7, 2022, followed the House and passed the Emmet Till Antilynching Act.  On March 29, President Joseph Biden signed the historic measure into law during a special ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, which African-American leaders had fought diligently to pass. Till's mother, who spent the balance of her life fighting to bring her son's killers to justice and keep his memory alive, would have been proud.

We must keep her dream alive by spreading the word of an innocent boy whose life was snatched from us due to a breach of social norms. He lives among us still.

Sources:

1. History.com.

2. History.com.

3. Children's Museum of Indianapolis

4. History.com

5. History.com

Icons

Unsung heroes fought alongside well-known figures during the Civil Rights Movement, which prevented its destruction at the hands of authorities. They soldiered behind the scenes and, when the dust cleared, were left to pick up the pieces and faced death as first responders.

Among these leaders was Prathia Hall, who risked her life to help others. Her work in the rural South piqued my interest, and her drive to succeed outweighed the forces that could hold her back.

It seemed as though Hall, born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, had been placed on the back burner or erased from history when I heard her incredible story. She was an accomplished orator, poet, and defender of human rights who inspired Dr. Martin Luther King and countless others in her quest to uplift the lives of the economically and politically oppressed.  Hall worked on their behalf until the end of her life.

In 1962, after graduating from Temple University in Philadelphia with a degree in Political Science, Hall could have enjoyed a comfortable middle-class life away from the pitfalls of the South. However, she made it her mission to travel to the deep South after studying nonviolence techniques in high school and being arrested on Maryland's Eastern Shore as a junior in college for protesting discrimination.

Upon arrival in Southwest Georgia in the early 1960s, she joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and worked with Charles Sherrod. (1) She became one of the first female field leaders in Southwest Georgia and played a key role in bringing about change. (1) She was stationed in Terrell County, known as Terrible Terrell for how it treated its black majority, such as burning their churches to the ground. African Americans also disappeared, like in other parts of the rural South, for simply standing up for their rights. 

While assisting black citizens in Terrell County with gaining their rights, Hall engaged in activities that put her life in danger. For instance, she went from door to door registering voters, even in the crucial countryside, and helped citizens pass voter registration tests at local freedom schools. As a result, "On September 6, 1962, night riders fired into the home where Hall and other activists were staying, wounding her, Jack Chatfield, and Christopher Allen" (2)

Although Hall faced violence, including gunshots, and was jailed numerous times in Southwest Georgia, including the infamous Sasser, Georgia jail, in Terrell County, she would not be deterred. (3) When Mount Olive Baptist Church in the Sasser community, which welcomed Civil rights Workers to its mass meetings, was burned to the ground in September of 1962, it bothered her deeply. During a commemorative ceremony on the church grounds, which included Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., she delivered a speech in which she repeated the phrase, "I have a dream," according to those in attendance. It inspired King, who used her words as the framework for his historic "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Hall also participated in the nearby Albany Movement (1961-62) in the largest city of Southwest Georgia and home to historically black Albany State College, where SNCC was based.  Hall, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., encountered legendary police chief Laurie Pritchett, who studied the concept of nonviolence and used it against the protesters. He allowed the marches to proceed peacefully so as to not arouse national attention. Pritchett then calmly arrested large numbers of demonstrators and dispersed them to area detention centers to prevent his jail from filling up. His goal was to break the movement.

Although many viewed their time in Albany as a setback, Hall and others saw it as a teaching moment or a window into what strategies could work best in the future. The city soon integrated as African Americans gained better housing, jobs, and education.

A year later, Hall was summoned to Selma, Alabama, during a period of violence. Before her arrival, SNCC field secretary Bernard Lafayette was severely beaten and jailed. It all came to a head in 1965, when demonstrators, attempting to cross the Pettus Bridge on their way to Montgomery to dramatize discrimination, were savagely attacked by State patrolmen, known as Bloody Sunday. It profoundly affected Hall, who found it hard to believe people could be so cruel. 

Hall later broke with SNCC, believing it had become militant. She endured dire times with the organization, which had given her the opportunity of a lifetime. Hall wrapped up business with friends and associates as she pondered her next move. 

After weighing her options, Hall returned North and earned a Master of Divinity, Master of Theology, and Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey "after many years of wrestling with a calling to the ministry."(4) She became one of the first women ordained in the American Baptist Association, and served on the faculty of United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, "eventually becoming dean of African American Studies and director of the school's Harriet Miller Women's Center."(5)  In 1978, she assumed the role of pastor of Mt. Sharon Baptist in Philadelphia. 

In later years, Hall served as a visiting scholar at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, GA, and taught at Boston University School of Theology, holding the Martin Luther King Chair of Social Ethics, and focused on womanist theology. (6) 

Following a lengthy illness, Hall passed away on April 12, 2002, in Boston, Massachusetts.  She was remembered as an exceptional orator, freedom fighter, and preacher who went out of her way for others. 

Sources: Historical records, Wikipedia

March on Washington Celebrates Sixty Years

The March on Washington emphasized the need to improve race relations, which had not occurred in the hundred years since the end of slavery. 

A crowd of nearly two hundred and fifty thousand African Americans and other concerned citizens assembled near the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963, for jobs and freedom. They were uplifted by the words of Freedom Rider John Lewis, who demanded freedom at any cost; Byron Rustin, who played a significant role in organizing the event; and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s historic "I Have a Dream" Speech, which was heard around the world.

Other dignitaries shared the podium for the historic event. Civil Rights icon A. Phillip Randolph, who had hoped for such a march since the 1940s, ensured it went off without a hitch, while Gospel legend Mahalia Jackson graced the audience with her singing ability. Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, and other celebrities were also present. It propelled the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement to new heights. 

 President John F. Kennedy, who was pressured to modify his stance on Civil Rights, and members of his cabinet watched from the sidelines as African Americans were filled with hope and optimism for the future.

The timing could not have been better, as the country was mired in Jim Crow in the South and deep-seated racism in the North.  A system of Sharecropping caused many blacks to live in abject poverty in the Southern States, as scores of Northern blacks were confined to public housing with few job opportunities. Schools and other facilities south of the so-called Mason-Dixon Line and the Midwest were segregated despite Supreme Court rulings. 

The March on Washington and other crucial events also accelerated the passage of the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. People of color were no longer mandated to sit in separate seating areas in restaurants or other establishments, for instance, and could receive care at any hospital. It also improved housing for African Americans and quickened the process of school integration. Moreover, between 1964 and 1968, the number of black elected officials increased from 400 to 4,000, as Black voters turned out in large numbers. Registration offices in Americus, Georgia, and other rural communities were the ground zero of the fight for the right to vote.

Although the March on Washington was intended to achieve desperately needed change, it encountered heartbreaking setbacks. A month after the march, four little black girls lost their lives in a church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, caused by Southern segregationists. It brought men and women of all races to their knees. Two years later, in 1965, black protestors attempting to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on their way to the state capitol in Montgomery to dramatize racial discrimination, were beaten mercilessly by State law enforcement in an incident that became known as Bloody Sunday.

In the decades since that historic day in Washington,  D.C., African Americans have enjoyed a standard of living their ancestors never dreamed possible in a nation smoldering with hate for its fellow man. Although there may be uncertainty about the future, many believe the best is yet to come.

The Brownite Yearbook 1960

The Brownite Yearbook 1960

Kennedy's Death

November 22, 2023, will mark the sixtieth anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, who served 1,000 days in office before being struck down by an assassin's bullet, to the dismay of the country.

Kennedy flew to Texas on November 21, 1963, to smooth over differences between the liberal and Conservative wings of the Democratic Party and drum up support for his policies. He was set to run for reelection the following year and needed the Lone Star State to win. (1)  Air Force One, the president's plane, landed near Fort Worth at approximately 11:07 p.m. After greeting well-wishers, the president and first lady retired to their room at the Hotel Texan. 

The following morning, Air Force One departed for Love Field in Dallas. Kennedy and his wife enjoyed breakfast with Texas dignitaries before engaging in other official business. Later that day, as the presidential motorcade made its way through downtown Dallas, with Mrs. Kennedy and Governor Connally of Texas, seated with the president in a car with a roof open, he, the president, was shot twice, once in the neck and once in the back of the head, with the latter striking the fatal blow. The governor received a gunshot wound to the arm, with the first lady unharmed but badly shaken. The route was lined with cheering fans, shocked at what had happened.

 Lee Harvey Oswald, an employee in the Texas School Book Depository, where the shots were fired, was apprehended by the FBI approximately two hours later while trying to sneak into a movie theater. (2)  Later that evening, he was charged with the murder of  Dallas policeman J.D. Tippit, whom he came into contact with while on the run. (3) The following day, Oswald was booked for the killing of the president when the ownership of a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle perched on a stack of books on the library's sixth floor was traced back to him. Oswald proclaimed his innocence and insisted he was being used as a pawn and that the actual killer was still out there. He was shot and killed the next day on live television by business owner Jack Ruby, increasing speculation of a conspiracy to kill the president. 

Kennedy's death shocked every American, regardless of race or party affiliation. Upon taking office, he pledged to put a man on the moon, fight for human rights at home and abroad, and end the nuclear arms race between the Soviet Union and the United States. The Kennedy presidency also ushered in a New Frontier of ideas that inspired young people to be of service to mankind and challenged all Americans to shoot for the stars during turbulent times. The late president lives on in the memory of those who knew and loved him and will never be forgotten. 

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