Melvin B. Miller
Editor & Publisher

A call to action

It’s time for every citizen who yearns for more responsive state government to do his or her duty. Very little is asked of you — on Tuesday, Nov. 7, you need only go to the polling place and vote. Favorable opinion polls do not elect candidates to high office — the votes of people like you do. It’s time for you to step up to elect a governor who will benefit you and your family.

Deval Patrick has stepped up for you. Like many other citizens of Massachusetts, he was dissatisfied with the quality of leadership from the present administration. As a man of action, he could no longer sit idly by and complain. He decided to do something about it, even at great personal cost.

Deval Patrick enjoyed a professional career that most people only dream about. Life is lush in the executive suite. And a seven-figure income enabled him to provide every luxury for his family. Only a truly committed individual could turn away from that. Few would be willing to accept such a cut in pay.

For 18 months, Deval Patrick has worked tirelessly to bring a message of hope and promise to the people of Massachusetts. He knew that as a candidate for public office, he would have to surrender more than his income. The press would invade his privacy. Every aspect of his life, and the lives of his family members, would become grist for the journalistic mill.

Citizens are impressed by the power and prestige of the governor’s office, but little attention is paid to the personal sacrifice of those who stand up to provide a better life for everyone. However, more than 8,000 citizens across the Commonwealth have understood the importance of this mission and have joined with Deval as campaign volunteers.

Now it’s time. It’s time for you to do your part and vote on Tuesday, Nov. 7, for Deval Patrick, and for better government in Massachusetts.

Misled

In March, a black stripper in Durham, N.C., unleashed a national firestorm when she accused three white Duke University lacrosse players of rape. Her accusation contained all of the drama of racial oppression in the old South — white affluent students imposing their racial superiority on a struggling black single mother of two, who was trying to improve her condition as a student at North Carolina Central University.

Outrage in the local black community was to be expected. The situation was further inflamed by Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, the prosecutor at the center of the investigation as well as a politician running for re-election. Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, as well as other prominent blacks, could not resist the national attention surrounding the story. They came out in support of the alleged victim.

Now, seven months later, the story is beginning to unravel. Testing of the DNA from the stripper did not link any of the accused to the crime. One of the students can prove convincingly that he was not even present in the house when the rape supposedly occurred. He has time-stamped photos from an ATM surveillance camera some distance away.

Then the rape accusation collapsed when Kim Roberts, the accuser’s partner in the erotic performance, asserted on CBS’ “60 Minutes” that the rape allegations are false.

The evidence is so unpersuasive it is highly unlikely that the three students could be convicted if there is a trial. It appears that the only evidence remaining is the unsupported accusation of the stripper.

Unfortunately, blacks that jumped into the case do not yet understand that when you play the race card, it had better be a trump. If it is not, those who play it risk a loss of personal credibility. They also subject all African Americans to enormous embarrassment.