Filmmaker Roman Polanski’s arrest this past weekend in Switzerland on a three decade old US charge of having sex with a 13 year old girl has caused an international uproar. Since the arrest, a number of celebrities, politicians and even governments (France) have come to Polanski’s defense. His supporters argue everything from it’s been more than 30 years since the crime was committed and the victim believes the matter should be dropped to Polanski has endured hardship: his mother died at Auschwitz during the Holocaust, and his second wife, actress Sharon Tate, was murdered in 1969 by followers of Charles Manson when she was eight months pregnant.
All of that aside, Polanski raped and sodomized a 13 year old girl and fled the country. It’s true he’s a phenomenal director, but talent and celebrity shouldn’t be exemptions to justice, especially where our children are involved. As a mom and an attorney, it disheartens me the willingness of so many people to summarily dismiss Polanski’s crime. So what it took 32 years to re-arrest him again. So what he is a great artist who has made some really great movies. He shouldn’t escape prosecution merely because he had the luck and the fortune to evade justice.
It also shouldn’t matter that Polanski has suffered some in his life or that his mom died in a concentration camp. Many have suffered similar type situations without inflicting harm on others. After all, if hardship is sufficient justification to excuse a crime, many people in our jail system should be released or never even see the inside of a jail. What disturbs me most, is I’ve seen no evidence that Polanski as he was galavanting around Europe making movies and attending film festivals showed any signs of remorse for a crime he pled guilty to.
At the end of the day, we have to decide what type of society we want to live in. Our children have crimes perpetrated against them everyday. We should be outraged with the Polanski situation just as we would be when we hear about a teacher molesting a child or a priest molesting an altar boy or any other number of situations involving crimes inflicted on our children. And I suspect that many of Polanski’s supporters would view things differently if the 13 year old involved was their daughter, mother or sister.
Bottom line: time can’t minimize the crime Polanski committed. But our willingness to ignore the crime does. Personally we should all be concerned about living in a society that places the making of a good movie over a brutal crime committed against our children. After all, I no longer thought we lived in the dark ages.
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Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Parents, It's Now Or Never
I watched the much hyped About Our Children program facilitated by Michelle Bernard and Bill Cosby on MSNBC last night. While I thought much of the show was a simple recitation of the same old statistics and issues most of us already know, the one thing I commend the show for is reigniting the conversation with respect to our children. The hurdles our youth face are so challenging that the time is now or never to address the issues.
While there are plenty of things society can do to help address and alleviate the issues, I believe that conversation has to begin and end with our parents, who are or need to be their child’s greatest advocate. As a mom, I recognize that I’m part of the 100% Club. This means that I am 100% responsible for vesting in the success and promise of my children. It is my role to be and remain committed to their success and it is certainly my role to stand up and fight for them.
It’s our responsibility to ensure they are getting a good education and to challenge anything that prohibits them from getting one. It’s our job to instill them with a sense of spirituality, religion or just plain hope that their lives could be better than what it is or that they can be whatever they want to be. It is our job to help them understand the importance of a work ethic and about integrity and character. Most importantly, it is our job to have high expectations for them, even if others have none for them, because we know and understand that no child rises to low expectations.
Sometimes we fail to be good advocates for our children. This is true sometimes because we don’t know how, or we don’t know where to start, or we simply led hectic lives. Despite any of those things, the truth is we do have the power. Ben Austin, Executive Director of the Parent Union noted Revolution noted, on the program, the revolution starts with us. We know what’s best for our children. So no matter what type of parent we were yesterday, we can start a new today, right now so make the pledge right now to be the best advocate for your child because the time is now or never. After all, it really is all about our children.
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While there are plenty of things society can do to help address and alleviate the issues, I believe that conversation has to begin and end with our parents, who are or need to be their child’s greatest advocate. As a mom, I recognize that I’m part of the 100% Club. This means that I am 100% responsible for vesting in the success and promise of my children. It is my role to be and remain committed to their success and it is certainly my role to stand up and fight for them.
It’s our responsibility to ensure they are getting a good education and to challenge anything that prohibits them from getting one. It’s our job to instill them with a sense of spirituality, religion or just plain hope that their lives could be better than what it is or that they can be whatever they want to be. It is our job to help them understand the importance of a work ethic and about integrity and character. Most importantly, it is our job to have high expectations for them, even if others have none for them, because we know and understand that no child rises to low expectations.
Sometimes we fail to be good advocates for our children. This is true sometimes because we don’t know how, or we don’t know where to start, or we simply led hectic lives. Despite any of those things, the truth is we do have the power. Ben Austin, Executive Director of the Parent Union noted Revolution noted, on the program, the revolution starts with us. We know what’s best for our children. So no matter what type of parent we were yesterday, we can start a new today, right now so make the pledge right now to be the best advocate for your child because the time is now or never. After all, it really is all about our children.
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Thursday, September 17, 2009
Are Your Kids Broken?
Oprah Winfrey’s interview with singer Whitney Houston was one of the best interviews I’ve ever seen. Houston’s revelations of drug use, infidelity and the struggles she had endured over the last several years were riveting. Despite all those revelations, the most memorable part of the interview for me came near the end of a very emotional performance when she sung: “I got through all the pain … I didn’t know . . .My momma said I was not built to break.”
Houston’s interview and performance made clear that even though she had hit rock bottom, she weathered those trials due to the love and support of family and friends. In fact, she spoke warmly several times about her mom’s undying love. As proof, Houston discussed a time when her mother, Cissy Houston, showed up at her home after drug rehab failed, with the police and a court order and gave her an ultimatum: go to jail or get help. But either way, Houston noted, her mom informed her she refused to lose her.
While the love and support of Houston’s family and friends were an important factor in her recovery, it showed me the importance of not giving up on our children. During that time, Houston acknowledges she seemed unreachable and it would have been easy for Houston’s mom to let her go. After all, most of us had already deemed Houston a lost cause.
And while I’m so happy that Houston made it through, her story shows not only the critical role parents play in the lives of their children, but also how disposable many of our children have become, especially the “difficult ones.” A lot of our children lose their way and never recover because there is no one to stand and fight for them. No one is there to help them realize their own strength or to tell them they weren’t built to break. Instead, we tell them the opposite, and they are prematurely and summarily disposed of by parents, schools, institutions, the church and society as a whole simply because they are struggling, too difficult, problematic and/or aren’t who we want them to be.
But if we truly believe that the children represent our future, we have to stand and fight for them. Even more, we got to represent all our youth even those who have lost all hope, those who are constantly in trouble and may have had contact with the penal system, and even those who find themselves in the gray areas of life, not knowing what capacity they have.
Truthfully, Houston was lucky. She had a great support system in her family and some close friends who refused to give up on her. And despite some dark times, she recovered. Unfortunately, so many others never do. The Lesson from Houston: Learn your own strength. You weren’t built to break.
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Houston’s interview and performance made clear that even though she had hit rock bottom, she weathered those trials due to the love and support of family and friends. In fact, she spoke warmly several times about her mom’s undying love. As proof, Houston discussed a time when her mother, Cissy Houston, showed up at her home after drug rehab failed, with the police and a court order and gave her an ultimatum: go to jail or get help. But either way, Houston noted, her mom informed her she refused to lose her.
While the love and support of Houston’s family and friends were an important factor in her recovery, it showed me the importance of not giving up on our children. During that time, Houston acknowledges she seemed unreachable and it would have been easy for Houston’s mom to let her go. After all, most of us had already deemed Houston a lost cause.
And while I’m so happy that Houston made it through, her story shows not only the critical role parents play in the lives of their children, but also how disposable many of our children have become, especially the “difficult ones.” A lot of our children lose their way and never recover because there is no one to stand and fight for them. No one is there to help them realize their own strength or to tell them they weren’t built to break. Instead, we tell them the opposite, and they are prematurely and summarily disposed of by parents, schools, institutions, the church and society as a whole simply because they are struggling, too difficult, problematic and/or aren’t who we want them to be.
But if we truly believe that the children represent our future, we have to stand and fight for them. Even more, we got to represent all our youth even those who have lost all hope, those who are constantly in trouble and may have had contact with the penal system, and even those who find themselves in the gray areas of life, not knowing what capacity they have.
Truthfully, Houston was lucky. She had a great support system in her family and some close friends who refused to give up on her. And despite some dark times, she recovered. Unfortunately, so many others never do. The Lesson from Houston: Learn your own strength. You weren’t built to break.
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Friday, September 11, 2009
In Rememberance of September 11, But What About September 12th?
It’s hard to believe that it’s been 8 years since the terrorist acts of Sept. 11. At times, it’s hard to even think about this day without remembering the sheer terror many of us felt and the horrific lost of life. And while I’m saddened about the cruelty and hatred exhibited toward America on that day, I also remember the good things about that day. On that day the terrorist sought to break our spirits. However, they taught us about our resolve, our connectivity as Americans, that we were our brother’s keeper and they unleashed the true American spirit.
On that day, and the ensuing days afterwards, we came together as a country. We showed solidarity; we felt citizenship, true patriotism, and love and compassion for our fellow man. As a country we behaved with such honor, dignity and grace, and we were determined to help those who were shattered, destroyed and devastated rebuild their lives. On that day, there was no black or white, no rich or poor, no them or us, and no red or blue America. We were only “We the People of the United States of America.” We stood strong and proud and, more importantly, we stood together.
When you think about it, how could we not stand together? After all, we saw people jumping from windows trying to save themselves and/or choosing to die on their own terms. We saw firefighters by the hundreds die trying to save others, the passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 bring their plane to the ground rather than allow the terrorist to strike another American target, and we witnessed more than 3000 Americans die needlessly. It is hard not to look into our souls and determine who we were: a united America incapable of being destroyed.
Honestly, it’s hard to think about September 11 and not remember all those feelings of love, compassion and patriotism and the kindred spirit we felt that day. Even so, I wonder which country will we be tomorrow on Sept. 12th? Will we be the one that was united and that we remember every September 11 or will we be the one we’ve evolved into over the last year?
The truth is we’ve become a very badly divided country along racial, partisan and cultural lines. There has been so much vitriol and anger spewed throughout this country the last year that it’s shameful. We have a group of birthers claiming our president isn’t legitimate, we have seen unprecedented anger at town hall meetings relating to healthcare and now we have people in the chambers of Congress calling our president a liar. On top of that we’ve seen the racism racheted up and we’ve seen the re-explosion of the “them” vs. “us” mentality. I personally feel the anger and hatred in our country is at an all time high.
It’s quite sad when you think about it. We’ve allowed issues like the economy, immigration, racism and politics to trump the true American spirit that we showed that day. On that day, it didn’t matter whether illegal immigrants were going to get healthcare coverage. Anyone who needed hospitalization got it. On that day, it didn’t matter about bailouts. Anyone who needed it got one whether in terms of free food, clothing, or shelter. Corporations and individuals stood together and we would have given anything to ensure that every corporation in the Twin Towers were rebuilt and successful. On that day, we didn’t care whether our neighbors or our president was black or white. We stood together. Whites taking care of injured blacks and blacks taking care of injured whites. On that day, unlike the last few months, we didn’t even care about who was our president and the role of government. Believe me, the half of the country who didn’t believe George Bush was rightfully elected didn’t care that day. He was our president, and we needed him to lead us and the government to reassure us and take care of us.
So too now many of our fellow countrymen are losing their homes, their jobs and their healthcare. They are enduring the worst of times and yet again it should be our goal as fellow Americans to see to it that we all succeed. That we all pull through and that we remember that working together, like we did on September 11, 2001, we can all make it through because that speaks to our American resolve and the American spirit.
Now, let’s be clear. I’m not saying we should have big government, healthcare coverage for illegal immigrants or that race and politics don’t matter. Rather, I’m saying on that day we looked into our hearts and souls and did what we thought was best for our country and our fellow man without looking through any of the prisms we normally use to analyze things. All that matter that day was whether you were in need. And because we did that, we were made a better nation, one truly of the people, by the people and for the people.
Now every September 11, not only do we remember all the people who died that day but we also remember the things required of us as a nation. My hope is that we will also remember that tomorrow on September 12th.
On that day, and the ensuing days afterwards, we came together as a country. We showed solidarity; we felt citizenship, true patriotism, and love and compassion for our fellow man. As a country we behaved with such honor, dignity and grace, and we were determined to help those who were shattered, destroyed and devastated rebuild their lives. On that day, there was no black or white, no rich or poor, no them or us, and no red or blue America. We were only “We the People of the United States of America.” We stood strong and proud and, more importantly, we stood together.
When you think about it, how could we not stand together? After all, we saw people jumping from windows trying to save themselves and/or choosing to die on their own terms. We saw firefighters by the hundreds die trying to save others, the passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 bring their plane to the ground rather than allow the terrorist to strike another American target, and we witnessed more than 3000 Americans die needlessly. It is hard not to look into our souls and determine who we were: a united America incapable of being destroyed.
Honestly, it’s hard to think about September 11 and not remember all those feelings of love, compassion and patriotism and the kindred spirit we felt that day. Even so, I wonder which country will we be tomorrow on Sept. 12th? Will we be the one that was united and that we remember every September 11 or will we be the one we’ve evolved into over the last year?
The truth is we’ve become a very badly divided country along racial, partisan and cultural lines. There has been so much vitriol and anger spewed throughout this country the last year that it’s shameful. We have a group of birthers claiming our president isn’t legitimate, we have seen unprecedented anger at town hall meetings relating to healthcare and now we have people in the chambers of Congress calling our president a liar. On top of that we’ve seen the racism racheted up and we’ve seen the re-explosion of the “them” vs. “us” mentality. I personally feel the anger and hatred in our country is at an all time high.
It’s quite sad when you think about it. We’ve allowed issues like the economy, immigration, racism and politics to trump the true American spirit that we showed that day. On that day, it didn’t matter whether illegal immigrants were going to get healthcare coverage. Anyone who needed hospitalization got it. On that day, it didn’t matter about bailouts. Anyone who needed it got one whether in terms of free food, clothing, or shelter. Corporations and individuals stood together and we would have given anything to ensure that every corporation in the Twin Towers were rebuilt and successful. On that day, we didn’t care whether our neighbors or our president was black or white. We stood together. Whites taking care of injured blacks and blacks taking care of injured whites. On that day, unlike the last few months, we didn’t even care about who was our president and the role of government. Believe me, the half of the country who didn’t believe George Bush was rightfully elected didn’t care that day. He was our president, and we needed him to lead us and the government to reassure us and take care of us.
So too now many of our fellow countrymen are losing their homes, their jobs and their healthcare. They are enduring the worst of times and yet again it should be our goal as fellow Americans to see to it that we all succeed. That we all pull through and that we remember that working together, like we did on September 11, 2001, we can all make it through because that speaks to our American resolve and the American spirit.
Now, let’s be clear. I’m not saying we should have big government, healthcare coverage for illegal immigrants or that race and politics don’t matter. Rather, I’m saying on that day we looked into our hearts and souls and did what we thought was best for our country and our fellow man without looking through any of the prisms we normally use to analyze things. All that matter that day was whether you were in need. And because we did that, we were made a better nation, one truly of the people, by the people and for the people.
Now every September 11, not only do we remember all the people who died that day but we also remember the things required of us as a nation. My hope is that we will also remember that tomorrow on September 12th.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
IF TEACHING KIDS ABOUT EDUCATION IS WRONG, THEN I DON’T WANT TO BE RIGHT!!!!
Just when I think nothing else can surprise me about the heated political culture we live in today, another issue rises to the surface that makes me question who we are as Americans. After all, President Obama’s plan to deliver a speech to public school students urging them to work hard and stay in school should not be an issue. The fact that the President, who has two wars going on, an economy in disarray, healthcare reform on the emergency table and a host of other issues afflicting the nation, is willing to spend some time encouraging our youth to work hard and stay in school should be commended.
Yet, it has caused fervor and outrage across the country, particularly in Texas, where conservative parents suggest the president is trying to indoctrinate their children with socialist ideas. Many of these parents intend on keeping their children home the day of the speech and/or have asked school officials to not show the speech.
Now as a mom, I believe parents have the right to raise their minor children the way they feel best and to have a say in what they're exposed to but that aside, I honestly have to ask has it truly come to this? Are we so politically and culturally divided in this country that we can’t even agree that advocating for hard work and children to stay in school is a good thing? I suspect this outrage, which I personally believe is nonsense, has more to do with the messenger than the message. You see, I still believe, many conservatives just can’t fathom or accept that President Obama won the presidency. Many conservatives, whether because of his race or his ideology, will never accept him as president of the United States. As a result, nothing he does will ever be good enough or suffice for them.
It really is a shame. After all, the President isn’t giving a policy speech. His comments aren’t aimed at discussing healthcare reform, his beliefs on Afghanistan or any other political issue. Rather, his speech is about education. As a mom, I believe our children need all the encouragement they can get to stay in school. At no other time in our history, is this speech and words of encouragement more important. The truth is whether we want to acknowledge it or not, our youth are facing escalating hurdles. In some of our communities throughout this country, less than half of our inner city youth are graduating high school and unemployment and crime among are youth are astronomical. What’s worse, in some of our communities, particularly our inner cities, many of our youth are walking around in a zombie like state. They’re physically alive but their souls died long ago.
Our challenge as Americans is to identify how we will address the challenges that many of them will and are enduring so if the President’s speech can inspire just one kid to stay in school and do well with their lives then how can this not be a good thing. Bottom line: we should be parents first because our first responsibility is to our children and we shouldn’t let partisan politics or anything else get in the way of this. After all, our youth are our future so if educating them is wrong, then I definitely don’t want to be right!
Yet, it has caused fervor and outrage across the country, particularly in Texas, where conservative parents suggest the president is trying to indoctrinate their children with socialist ideas. Many of these parents intend on keeping their children home the day of the speech and/or have asked school officials to not show the speech.
Now as a mom, I believe parents have the right to raise their minor children the way they feel best and to have a say in what they're exposed to but that aside, I honestly have to ask has it truly come to this? Are we so politically and culturally divided in this country that we can’t even agree that advocating for hard work and children to stay in school is a good thing? I suspect this outrage, which I personally believe is nonsense, has more to do with the messenger than the message. You see, I still believe, many conservatives just can’t fathom or accept that President Obama won the presidency. Many conservatives, whether because of his race or his ideology, will never accept him as president of the United States. As a result, nothing he does will ever be good enough or suffice for them.
It really is a shame. After all, the President isn’t giving a policy speech. His comments aren’t aimed at discussing healthcare reform, his beliefs on Afghanistan or any other political issue. Rather, his speech is about education. As a mom, I believe our children need all the encouragement they can get to stay in school. At no other time in our history, is this speech and words of encouragement more important. The truth is whether we want to acknowledge it or not, our youth are facing escalating hurdles. In some of our communities throughout this country, less than half of our inner city youth are graduating high school and unemployment and crime among are youth are astronomical. What’s worse, in some of our communities, particularly our inner cities, many of our youth are walking around in a zombie like state. They’re physically alive but their souls died long ago.
Our challenge as Americans is to identify how we will address the challenges that many of them will and are enduring so if the President’s speech can inspire just one kid to stay in school and do well with their lives then how can this not be a good thing. Bottom line: we should be parents first because our first responsibility is to our children and we shouldn’t let partisan politics or anything else get in the way of this. After all, our youth are our future so if educating them is wrong, then I definitely don’t want to be right!
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