Republican City Councilman Rick Torres, never shy to express his views on social issues and race relations, weighs in with his latest commentary. Torres is considering a run for mayor in 2015.
Most people outside of the inner city don’t get Ferguson; most folks protesting on behalf of Ferguson don’t get it either.
The anger in Ferguson and other cities is much bigger than the killing of Michael Brown. Ferguson today and Watts in the ’60s, are examples of societal revolts lashing out against a country for broken promises made since Lincoln was president. Nothing has changed since Watts; Ferguson is yet another wake-up call to continue the struggle.
The 1960s civil rights era was supposed to make things right. Instead, the civil rights movement was co-opted by government planners and transformed into public assistance programs.
Instead of job opportunities, blacks were given welfare checks, public housing and food stamps.
Instead of business loans, blacks were told they had no experience and no collateral.
Over the past 50 years we have chosen to blind ourselves to the reality that the promise made was impossible. We continue to deceive our brothers time and time again with each new welfare idea. Injustice lives on.
The truth about these programs must be told: they lead to subsistence and subservience. What stands in the way of change is the hubris of too many “well-intentioned” people, especially politicians. Prosperity was the promise; slavery was the deliverance.
Any black church in America will testify that welfare has been a poison.
They know. They have lived it. Sadly though, they’re afraid to confront the demon.
Even today most of us agree that welfare is needed to an extent and that to dismantle it is to bring folks to their knees.
Welfare is the Ebola of government programs and the inner-city is the West Africa of America. Welfare and all of its ugly cousins must end and so must its insidious brother crony-capitalism or corporate welfare.
The Christian axiom of helping your fellow man has been the argument for government welfare.
However, if we think about it, there is nothing Christian in taking by force from one man to give to another.
That is the definition of extortion, theft or a scheme, but it’s not Christianity. If we continue to think here, welfare has discharged us from our obligation to help our fellow man. But Ferguson proves our fellow man needs us more today than at any point in our lifetime.
The crushing hand of slavery is the reality of the inner city. Perfectly able men and women are effectively told their brains and their strength are not needed.
There is no more a dehumanizing act in my mind than to be told to keep your mouth shut and take the handout.
Our brothers must be welcomed into mainstream society. This can only be done is with private sector investment and jobs, lots of jobs.
Another word for all of this is freedom. Our black brothers want the freedom promised in the Declaration of Independence, not the debasing reality that is welfare.
“Jobs now” ought to be the chant ringing in the streets. Sadly, though, the great majority of politicians are economically challenged.
To create jobs one must think beyond the point of one’s nose. Jobs come when the business environment is inviting, not when it’s oppressive.
A big part of political deception over time is to distract folks with subordinate issues like global warming, to blame guns for the violence, to vilify businesses and to demand higher wages for jobs that don’t exist.
These folks are relentless. They are responsible for Ferguson nationwide and they take no blame for the economic wastelands they have created.
Ferguson is Bridgeport, we are one calamity away from a societal explosion of our own.
BULLSHIT, PURE AND SIMPLE BULLSHIT.
Ditto!
Rick Torres, it’s sad because you don’t know what you are talking about. Read how government welfare has helped whites, benefits the government would not give to blacks. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speaking on Federal Subsidies for White Landowners.
www .youtube.com/watch?v=ifh7NKE7lNw
Rick Torres, the Vietnam War is what co-opted the civil rights movement because the money for the war on poverty was used for the Vietnam War. Rick, try reading American history instead of giving talking points from the “right wing” of the Republican Party.
Ron, is that true? I honestly never heard that before. It doesn’t surprise me. I do not agree with Torres. I think people all over the United States are absolutely empathetic to what is happening in Ferguson as well as New York as well as episodes happening in probably every city across the United States. Rich or poor, white or black or any color in between. There have been gross injustices. These latest protests are not only involving the black community, nor do they actually reflect the latest episodes. There comes a breaking point where injustices just become too much to swallow. I do not believe it was the Grand Jury in the two current cases. They just became the face of the current protests. I think there are as many white people protesting as well across the country as well as all minorities. Are we not all equal under the law? In some places, apparently not.
Steven Auerbach, the civil rights movement in the 1960s had ministers from many religious groups traveling to the South to march alongside blacks along with labor leaders, all except the police and fire unions. When the three young black girls got killed while at Sunday school in a church bombing in Birmingham AL, America woke up and saw the real side of race in America.
Rick never misses an opportunity to try to apply tea party nonsense to everything. He complains about govt programs that put a roof over the heads and helps out with food for the poor, many of whom work yet he has consistently opposed increasing the minimum wage which would help many people reduce or get off of govt programs. Sorry Rick, but feeding people who are going hungry is not slavery. Paying hard-working people next to nothing IS.
David Moore–an excellent commentary.
There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.–Martin Luther King, Jr.
Ricky, there are 7,560,000 people who are receiving welfare in America who are not black, so why is welfare a black issue? Explain!!!
Donald Day, Rick Torres has no guts. He writes something and has Lennie post it on OIB, then he runs and hides. He doesn’t know how to be a man, instead he hides. He is a true coward with no backbone. Tattoo Rick, he’s a real loser and he wants to run for mayor, what a joke.
This op-ed is completely offensive. And I agree with Ron Mackey and Donald Day.
Let me tell you what is sad, the voters in Black Rock elected Rick Torres but they say “nothing” about what Rick has written here and I must say I find that very disappointing and makes me think they feel the same way he does.
Ron, the people of Black Rock have said nothing because they don’t want to stop going to their favorite coffee shop. This coffee shop is where they bitch and moan and try to figure out how to secede Black Rock from Bridgeport.
Andrew C Fardy, you are 100% correct on what you said.
Nobody’s done more than I have to make Black Rock a separate town within Connecticut.
Screw You and if you are able to do that, name Jim Fox mayor.
Uh-uh, I’m gonna name ACF mayor and immediately introduce “removal measures.”
Screw You.
Rick and Andrew, you are wrong. People in Black Rock DO speak up against our councilman Torres. There are many who think his politics are abhorrent. Not all political complaining takes place here on Lennie’s Only in Bridgeport. I have a popular Facebook page called Black Rock Bitches where neighbors post all kind of Black Rock topics. Every time Torres does something strange, we post about it, and there is some harsh criticism given to our councilman. There is a large segment of BR that is not made up of rich tea-party extremists. We often lovingly call the part of BR that is east of Ellsworth Street “the Black Rock Ghetto”–and that part is a nice melting pot of all races and classes who don’t often go to Rick’s Harborview.
While holding their husbands’ hands, why do wives in Black Rock wink at me? Answer: because despite their complaining, their husbands haven’t done anything better than this:
www .BlackRockCTUSA.com
Oh for G-d’s sake, Local Eyes–get over yourself.
Yikes! What an asshole, elected by the lovers of the Harborview Market, meaning well but look whatcha got for your vote. His election basically cost Black Rock an elected representative. It was a throwaway of a needed position. Next time through, vote Stafstrom because he would have done his job. As a representative to his constituency, not gone off on a mid-life crisis and literally wasted people’s votes.
Did I understand Torres correctly, ending social services AND not increasing minimum wage will HELP people who are in need? I suppose he has an idea of how all the minimum wage workers at $9.00 an hour are going to go directly into management jobs, or buy real estate, because that makes A LOT of sense. How could you people vote for him and throw your representative away? They are supposed to do real work for you. Actual work. Help things. Name ONE thing Torres accomplished in his term aside from deriding any good relationships anyone had with the city? ONE THING he led that was passed? One thing … tick tock … tick tock … crickets.