Romney family member offers example of courage, human values

Carol Forsloff---

[caption id="attachment_22259" align="alignleft" width="264"] Mitt Romeny[/caption]

While members of the media seem to treat politicians as sterotypes and targets for derision often what is overlooked is a human factor of what they do that is good and exemplary, like a Romney family member's own example of a profile of courage.

Mitt Romney was mocked for a photo related to his adopted, African American grandson during his election campaign against Barack Obama for the Presidency.  One of the news commentators of MSNBC, Melissa Harris Perry made fun of a photo of the Romney family shown with the newest family member, an African American child. She later apologized, and Mitt Romney accepted the apology. But Harris Perry might well have been advised to know the Romney family history before casting aspersions on character.

At a time when the Mormon church struggled with its endogenous racial discrimination represented by the church interpretation of the story in the Book of Genesis of Cain`s killing of his brother Abel came that dramatic example of that Romney family courage. The church`s interpretation of God`s punishment was the black skin assigned to Cain so that people forevermore would recognize the skin color and remember it as negative, especially given the further interpretation that God also cast Cain aside and directed he be separated from his brethren. The doctrine was used to justify slavery during America`s period of slavery and segregation. But family patriarch, George Romney separated himself from the segregationist mindset in his compassion for a civil rights worker from his state who was shot and killed as she was in the South helping voter registration of African Americans.

Viola Liuzzo was a mother of several children who went on that mission to work with other civil rights workers and was murdered by Ku Klux Klan members while driving on a highway with 19-year old Lerot Moton following one of those voter registration events. The violent hilling of Liuzzo came on the heels of the famous march on Selma in 1965, where television images showed violent attacks by white citizens and police on the civil rights workers in the march.

George Romney responded passionately to the violent killing of Liuzzo by declaring a day of mourning and affirming his commitment to the rights of all people, regardless of color. This advocacy was in direct contrast to Mormon practice at the time, as he joined other political figures in reminding people of all political persuasions that the United States doctrines of equality must umbrella everyone.

So while media folk often relish poking fun at politicians in sometimes cruel ways, it might be good to remember those examples of the good they do, just as we need to shine a light on anyone who offers an example of humanitarian justice.

Review — ‘Rainwater’offers account of depression hardships

Patricia Wellingham-Jones— In 1934 Texas during the Dust Bowl and Depression, a young woman takes in boarders to survive and deals with a challenging son.

This novel (Simon & Schuster, 2009) is a departure from Sandra Brown’s usual romance and romantic suspense. There is romance in it, but the crux of the story deals with Ella who is left alone to raise her 10-year-old son, Solly, hard to handle and needing special care in this decade long before the word ‘autism’ was used. She’s turned her old family home in a smallTexastown into a boarding house, aided by a black woman who cooks and cleans and helps care for the child. Ella’s life is regimented in her effort to keep it from flying out of control – then Mr. Rainwater moves in for a few weeks.

The depression has forced hardships on everybody in the region. People have lost their homes, whole families live in homeless camps, the Ku Klux Klan has reared its ugly head, ranchers are forced by a new government policy to sell their healthiest cattle for pennies – and watch the rest of the herd slaughtered where they stand. Times are hard, values strained to the limit, and the town bully delights in causing even more pain and trouble.

The story doesn’t hesitate to show the growing racial tension and social unrest, the ugliness of a few preying on the rest, the hatred and suspicion on one side, love and respect on the other. Meanwhile, Ella does what she must to support herself and her son and watches with discomfort as Mr. Rainwater insinuates himself with kindness deeper and deeper into their lives. On a steaming summer night, the latent violence erupts. Nothing would be the same again, including Ella’s life.

Despite the grimness of the time and events, this tale is one of love and hope. As the jacket blurb says, “It tells a story that bears witness to a bittersweet truth: that love is worth whatever price one must pay for it.”

About the Author

Patricia Wellingham-Jones is a former psychology researcher and writer/editor with an interest in healing writing and the benefits of writing and reading work together. Widely published in poetry and nonfiction, she writes for the review department of Recovering the Self: a journal of hope and healing and has authored ten chapbooks of poetry.

‘Unstoppable’ former Gov. Edwards of La. savors freedom

[caption id="attachment_6789" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Louisiana Mardi Gras float"][/caption]

Carol Forsloff - The last time I saw former Governor Edwin Edwards of Louisiana,  it was Mardi Gras weekend in  New Orleans when the newly-elected Governor was crashed on a couch inside of a grand house in the French Quarter, and yesterday he became a free man again in time to celebrate the good times ahead after nearly ten years in jail..

Edwards was released from house arrest yesterday after being sent to  jail two years after his conviction in 2000 for corruption.  He had been wheeling and dealing in the casino licensing business, getting his good old gambling boys special favors along with extra money in his pocket.  His prison sentence ended in January of 2011.  Since then he had been under house arrest.

The former Louisiana Governor had hoped to be released earlier, as he had asked for, and been refused, a pardon from George W. Bush before the former President left office.

In 1992 Edwards was at his peak, having run for Governor against David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.    Major entertainers, like Naomi  and Wynona Judd, declared their support for Edwards out of worries for the State of Louisiana and the prospect of its being governed by a former Klan official.    Ross Perot, having hinted at a run for the Presidency, gave his support to Edwards also, again out of concern for Louisiana’s reputation.

There he was, the newely-elected Governor Edwards,  two decades ago, as groups of folks strolled through the house,  to the great wide porch on which dignitaries danced to Louisiana’s musical best.  Al Hurt wasn’t playing but was dancing nearby, as this journalist moved to the beat without writing a bit about fun.  Harry Connick Sr. was among the guests too, as artists, musicians and political figures enjoyed private fun on Bourbon Street, where fun is the operative word.

Edwards, not a drinker, still stretched in repose in the house, as folks laughed a bit and went on with the gaiety still, as the old man snoozed away on that couch.   Governor Edwards had always been his own form of eccentric in a parade of political pomp, with the kind of colorful ways that had tarnished the state’s reputation.  His gambling addiction and fast-and-loose style were known far and wide in the state.  The voters were put in the worst situation, a choice of two men who stood for the worst, Duke and Edwards, in a high-profile contest that Edwards won mostly because of the black vote and New Orleans precincts as well.  The choice had been “Vote for the Crook” as campaign buttons pleaded that year.

He is free now, that old man,  Edwin Edwards, at age 84.   He is quoted as saying he’s “looking forward to it”  when asked about being released.  With a new fiancé, Tina Scott Grimes,  less than half his age, Edwards is said to be planning to go on a book tour with his biographer who says,  "He's still very dynamic...he's still a lot of fun to be around and at 84, he doesn't seem to be stoppable!"