Tag: Census

This week, and next

As people who work in my office know, I tend to play a lot of music of artists around their respective birthdays. For the seven day-period from May 8 through 14, there is the greatest number of artists for which I have a lot of their albums.

I should note, first of all: Today is Cinco de Mayo—or the fifth of May, which “commemorates the Mexican army’s 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the French-Mexican War. It is not Mexico’s independence day, as is commonly believed.” [Emphasis mine.] “In the United States, Cinco de Mayo has evolved into a celebration of Mexican culture and heritage, particularly in areas with large Mexican-American populations.”

This means, unfortunately, yet another opportunity for some people to consume alcohol stupidly, even in areas without a large Mexican-American population. Guess I’ll put out a good thought to the cosmos for some sort of personal restraint. Sorry to sound so cranky about this, but past behavior on these seemingly designated drinking days (see also: St. Patrick’s Day) warrants it.

Yesterday, I went to the dentist, then donated blood (time #142) in downtown Albany. Even on a cold, rainy day, I miss downtown.

Saturday is a VERY busy day. Our household has a couple of chores to tend to. Yet I want to go to both the Tulip Festival AND Free Comic Book Day. This is the tenth year for FCBD and I always end up buying SOMETHING, which, of course, is the point. I need to get something that will fit in my backpack, because, weather permitting, I’ll probably ride the bike. I suppose that leaves out getting one of those long white comic boxes, even though I could actually use one.

Sunday, of course, is Mother’s Day, which, as usual, I spend with my mother-in-law and her family. More on that holiday on Sunday itself.

As people who work in my office know, I tend to play a lot of music of artists around their respective birthdays. For the seven day-period from May 8 through 14, there is the greatest number of artists for which I have a lot of their albums:
May 9 – Billy Joel (quite a few)
May 10 – Donovan (a couple)
May 10 – Bono (a lot of U2)
May 11 – Eric Burdon (a couple Animals’ albums)
May 11 – Butch Trucks (at least one solo)
May 12 – Steve Winwood (quite a few, mostly with Traffic)
May 13 – Stevie Wonder (a LOT)
May 14 – Bobby Darin (one)
May 14 – David Byrne (quite a few, both solo and with Talking Heads)

Oh, and Burdon’s turning 70. I always had affection for We Gotta Get Out Of This Place, It’s My Life, and Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood. I used to quote the latter: “Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood.”

Know who would have been 70 on May 13? Ritchie Valens, of La Bamba fame. Of course, he died in that plane crash on 3 February 1959 with the Big Bopper and Buddy Holly, thus remaining forever young in our minds.

I won’t be playing much music at work next week because I’ll be out of the office 2.5 days at a workshop learning more about, among other things, American Factfinder 2 on the Census page, necessary because I’m giving a podcast about it in mid-June. Yikes.

 

Getting All Post-Racial with MLK, Jr.

Everything I’ve read, all of his speeches I’ve devoured, suggests that MLK would still be in the fight for equal justice, not convinced that we’ve already gotten there.


Since the King holiday is coming up, I thought I’d mention that noise I’ve been reading about Martin Luther King, Jr. being a Republican. This involved posters over the past couple of years and his niece declaring it to be so. Frankly, I have not come across a totally credible source proving it one way or another.

The Republican party, of course, was the party of Lincoln, while the Democratic Party, particularly in the South, where King lived, was the party of George Wallace and other segregationists. So it is quite plausible that he was a member of the GOP, at least until the 1960 election of John Kennedy. Surely he voted for Democrat Lyndon Johnson over Republican Barry Goldwater in 1964, his public comments make clear.

But most of the conversations miss the greater point, which is, “Would Martin Luther King, Jr. be a Republican in the 21st Century?” Those who suggest that the answer would be “yes” generally zero in on one section of his March on Washington I Have A Dream speech in August 1963, the part that goes: I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. The clear implication is that race-based remedies for past or current discrimination should be off the table.

But read the very end of the speech:

from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men, and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

So the real question becomes this: would MLK think Americans are equally free in these days? Or would he think the increasing economic disparity between the rich and the poor needed to be addressed? Would he fret over unequal access to food, shelter, health care? Would he weep over the resegregation of education?

Obviously, I don’t know for certain. But everything I’ve read, all of his speeches I’ve devoured, suggests that MLK would still be in the fight for equal justice, not convinced that we’ve already gotten there. A big issue in his latter days involved a disproportional number of black soldiers fighting and dying in a war he considered unjust. The garbage collectors fight that brought him to Memphis just before his death was as much about economic disparity as it was about race.

I’m a Census guy. Many people tell me they wish we’d stop measuring race. Why is it that the government still counts people in that way, other than the historic reasons? The government measures race and ethnicity in part to delineate equality or disparity in income, housing, and the like. Maybe we’ll stop counting race when we stop being unequal. I really do hope we get there someday.
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SamuraiFrog shares Glenn Beck taking back civil rights from MAD magazine.

Ramblin' with Roger
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