Sen. Roland Burris is “Tombstone” to Chi Trib’s John Kass, and rightly so, but he made some sense in a South Side community meeting last week. Pestered by former Chicago Housing Authority Director Phil Jackson (who complained mostly about Obama’s neglecting poor people), Burris
told Jackson there was little the government could do to solve the problems of broken African-American families.
“No government, no senator, no alderman, no representative is going to be in your family dealing with those kids that we’re raising,” he said.
And Burris, 71, said he found himself at a loss trying to stop some children from turning to crime, saying “an old gentleman like me trying to deal with 10- and 12-year-olds that will cuss you out in a minute if you look at ’em . . . ”
Jackson interjected: “That’s what we need help on.”
“A dollar bill ain’t going to help that,” Burris replied.
“We need help to put structures into place,” Jackson countered.
There’s a lot in that “dollar bill” remark, and a lot in Jackson’s reply. J. himself had raised the broken-family issue, which he sees in terms of “structures” to be installed by elected officials, starting with Obama, specifically
CeaseFire, an anti-gang violence program in the city which hasn’t gotten any federal stimulus money.
This is sad. A government program is supposed to create a whole new culture for black families? The same government that installed welfare-dependence structures that for generations made families virtual wards of the state?
And that all-purpose “stimulus.” Of what? Jobs for counsellors?
Blithe Spirit 