Dear Readers,
I am a Repubilcrat. I am a Demopublican. I am an independent, intelligent, person, college graduate, homeowner since 19, mother, wife, small business owner (I should say micro business owner), sister, daughter, radical, conservative, neither right nor left. Who am I? I am most of you.
I feel that I can make a decision based on the facts, what I believe in and what I want to see in a candidate.
I am in no way a politician and I would never run for office. There is just too much drama involved. People need to stick with the facts instead of digging into people’s personal lives. I believe that there are great people out there who should run for office who don’t because at one point in time one of their children may have been arrested for Driving Under the Influence (D.U.I.).
The media is a mess because they bring that to the light of the whole world
as if the child is not able to make decisions on their own. When does a child of a politician become off limits? For that matter when does anyone’s child become off limits.
Give me a break, leave children out of the political campaign. Lansing, the capital of Michigan, campaigns are run like water. I am not going to explain that too much because we all know that water has to be tested and tasted. Some people use filters for their water to get the best possible taste.
Do you understand what I am saying?
Voting is an important right. I learned more from listening to Paula Simon, who was recently featured in our “20 Most Influential and Most Interesting” people in our March 20, 2005 – April 2, 2005 edition.
Paula was chosen to be in that edition because everywhere I went I saw her telling people about their right to vote. She is the President of the Lansing Chapter A. Philip Randolph Institute (A.P.R.I.) a non-partisan voter registration, voter education organization.
Paula kept it simple and real as she told people to make sure that they do their research and to formulate their own political opinions based on what they believe.
Never once did she disclose her party affiliation or her own personal opinion.
I saw Paula first at a Rock the Vote event at Brick Citi, which is a upscale urban clothing store in Lansing. I spoke to her briefly. She was not interested in being in the newspaper, she was interested with the teenagers standing behind me who were not registered to vote. At the time, I thought she was interesting.
The next time that I saw Paula, she was at a Jaycees meeting. I am a Jaycee and I was shocked to see her there. She was full of life and energy bounding around the room asking questions and giving answers without so much as blinking her eyes.
Paula knew what her mission was and I respected and still respect her passion. You just never know who is watching you or why.
Publishing a newspaper is a great job. I get to meet a lot of different people and I make sure that I diversify the paper with interesting stories. I do nothing for shock value. I leave that up to the daily newspaper. Providing information is different from printing negative news.
We do not live in a monolithic society. Monos is the Greek word for ONE.
Monolithic is the idea that things are in the same for a group of people. For example, it used to be that all people of color were considered as Democrats.
This premise is so crazy that I often cringe when people automatically think that.
I know that I am going on but read very carefully. I am one of the voices of the new generation. We want to hear about what you are doing, what you have done and when you are going to do something.
The dictionary does not define what a Democrat is or what a Republican is to my satisfaction.
Silently, we sit in our living rooms talking about issues that affect our families, our schools and our workplaces. Politicians need to be more specific!!!
I want to hear about what we are going to do about the social issues that we have going on in our communities. Ever hear of a conservative Democrat or a liberal Republican. Ask the people what they are doing for the people.
For all of my friends who have one sided political views, I ask that you look at
the candidate records and credentials. Let us be smart about who we are voting for. It is a privilege that many died for. I must add that both people of color and White people died for our rights during the Civil Rights movement. Just as the descendants of the Quakers, who helped with the Underground Railroad.
My town of Lansing is different if I must say so. I grew up in a Black Republican household, which was at the helm of my father who was a police officer in New York City. But the one thing that I could say about my father
was that when a Democrat had something to say that benefitted the police
department, he was right there.
I used to sneak and listen at the door of my bedroom in our small cramped Brooklyn, New York apartment and listen to him and his big burly
Irish/Jewish/Polish/whoever was on the beat with him conversations about politics. Thick and heavy New York accents wafting around, sometimes getting loud over minor disagreements as to what the politicians said and did not say.
Watching through a cracked door, while navy blue clad police officers threw their hats down on our formica yellow table. That’s right the chairs were so vinyl that you could see your face in it. I remember those political debates as though they were yesterday. Everyone had something to say. Brooklyn, New York was becoming a war zone and no one could do anything about it.
Beep, beep…. The police scanner would go off and they would scurry out the door to fight crime and attempt to save the world from the corrupt.
Pol., poli-ce, poli-shed, poli-cy, poli-te…. poli-tics, poli-tical. No way, you are
the poli-cyholder. Educate yourself.
Sincerely,
Rina N. Risper
P.S. Look for us this
summer around town!!! Please note that we are accepting articles from both Democrats and Republicans. We will print from any political party’s point of view in our “As I See It” column.
