Inspired Real Estate For Today

You do not take a person who, for years has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line in a race and then say 'you're free to compete with all the others' and still believe that you have been completely fair". 

President Lyndon Johnson 1965.

This past November, citizens of the State of Michigan voted to adopt Proposal 2.  The exact wording on the ballot was "A proposal to ammend the state's constitution to ban  affirmative action programs that give preferential treatment to groups or individuals based on their race, gender, color, ethnicity, or national origin for public employment, education or contracting purposes". 

The passage of this proposal created a precedent which effectively upended decades of progress which our nation has sought to redress in the in the sordid legacy of Jim Crow laws, the Dred Scott Case, and the rights of women to vote.

The wording and undergirding support for this ballot proposal was similar to the wording of ballots in Washington State and California in 1998 and 1996 which crippled and severely devastated programs to assist minorities and women.  For Michigan, a state that had been suffering largely a 1 state recession while most of the country enjoyed an economic boom, this was another jolt to the sensibilities of progressive minded people.  The wording was carefully designed to distort the true intent and nature of the proposal.  In fact in some of the districts in the Grand Rapids metropolitan area which had high Hispanic and minority populations there were paradoxically  high voter margins for the proposal. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in a detailed Focus paper indicted the proposal as "unjust for Michigan".

Well, this is not the first time we've had CRAZY laws take effect in Michigan....

While some of these laws have been over-turned they were actually law in the state at one time. There was a time when...

•  In Detroit, Michigan, it was illegal to sleep in a bathtub
• In Rochester, Michigan, anyone bathing in public must have his or her bathing suit inspected by a police officer
• It is legal for a robber to file a lawsuit against you if they get hurt in your house. 
• Any person over the age of 12 may have a license for a handgun as long as they have not committed a felony.
• In Detroit, it is illegal to loiter in the city morgue
• A Michigan law stated that a wife's hair belonged to her husband and she wasn't allowed to cut her hair without his permission

For a complete list of Crazy Laws from different states visit crazytopics.blogspot.com

In retrospect, most of the laws listed above were ultimately deemed to be inappropriate and lacking in moral authority.  As the true intent and nature of Proposal 2 becomes clearly evident, the good citizens of the State of Michigan will once again be called upon to make a choice about our future.  Do we want to move boldly forward and embrace changes and challenges which will require courage and inclusion or will we retreat by refusing to promote equality, justice and opportunity for segments of our society which have been historically marginalized. 

During the month of February, our nation commemorates the contributions of African Americans during Black History Month.  The Reverend Martin Luther King's quote once again resonates to the people of Michigan and indeed all truth loving Americans.

On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?" Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?" And Vanity comes along and asks the question, "Is it popular?" But Conscience asks the question "Is it right?" And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right.

• Address given by Dr. Martin Luther King in Birmingham, Alabama 

image courtesy of Wikimedia.com  Photo is in the public domain as copyright has expired

© Audu Real Estate 2007