Iced Tea, Skittles and the Canary Yellow Dress

    The comments below are solely my own and do not reflect any position held by my employer or any other individual.

  Thank goodness for CSPAN ( one of only three reasons to have cable, the others being CSPAN 2 and CSPAN 3). I had the opportunity to watch the July 24 congressional "hearing" on the status of young black men.  ( You can view the broadcast at www.cspanvideo.org/program/Black male)
    The " hearing" was convened by the Congressional Black Caucus and featured on the panel Tracey Martin (father of the late Trayvon Martin), his attorney Benjamin Crump, Dr. Eric Michael Dyson, former congressman Kwesi Mfume and  David Johns of the White House Initiative on Education. Although the presumed purpose of the meeting was to address the state of black men in light of the Zimmerman verdict , the end result fell well short of any new ideas or insight on this matter. Sadly the " hearing" served as little more that an excuse for the CBC and other liberal Democrats to shake hands and take a picture with Mr. Martin.
   A particularly distressing sight was Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, a Florida Democrat, who in spite of the somber subject matter chose to wear a bright canary yellow dress complete with a yellow cowgirl hat. Granted she's a politician and a photo op is a photo op. But is it too much to expect that either she or her staff would remember that she was going to work and not an Easter Sunday social event?
  As you will likely see after viewing the "hearing", none of the panel members offered any new thoughts as to what is happening to black men and more importantly what can be done to implement concrete solutions. Indeed except for a few brave souls, most of the CBC members sat stone faced throughout the proceedings. Stone faced that is, until it was time to rush up to Mr. Martin for a hearty handshake and a picture. I was sorry to see a man of such strong poise and character surrounded by those grinning opportunists. I wonder how many of them will still support him or even answer his phone calls long after the spotlight has dimmed from this tragedy. If we are to find solutions to address the concerns of black men in this country, at least we know that we don't have to bother asking the CBC for help.
  That's all for now. Love your country and always stay on the right side.