Here are two reasons that make me believe that the answer is no:
1. Prof. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. the director of Harvard's W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Studies, was arrested outside of his home in Cambridge, MA. His crime? He was locked out of his house after a trip to China. The lock on the front door was jammed so he attempted to force the door open. The police responded to a phone call reporting two black men trying to break into a house, arrested him, and charged him with disorderly conduct. There are many things one could write to describe the situation, but Prof. Gates says it best: "There are one million black men in jail in this country and last Thursday I was one of them...This is outrageous and that this is how poor black men across the country are treated everyday in the criminal justice system. It's one thing to write about it, but altogether another to experience it." Read the article in the Washington Post.
2. Gov. Schwarzenegger may be smiling after his budget agreement, but is cutting services to seniors and children a good thing? Yes, California has a bloated budget. Yes, we are living in complex times where the federal, state, and local governments can't meet every need. But should we celebrate cutting access to health care? Is it reasonable to smile when the once vaunted California education system faces massive cuts? See the picture and read the article (LAT)
As the psalmist says, "May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown, our daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace; may our granaries be full, providing all kinds of produce;... may there be no cry of distress in our streets! Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall!" (Psalm 144: 12-14) I echo that prayer for our state and for our nation.
