Tag Archives: we shall overcome

The Dream & The Oopsies

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On this Martin Luther King Day I find myself reflecting on the many who give lip service to his dream and the too few who live the dream.

Far too many of those who voice support for equal rights cut and run if supporting equal rights proves inconvenient, or, perish the thought, costs them money. The ranks of the profits-over-people crowd remain sickeningly large.

I know one man we will call Oopsie. Oopsie, a church goer at that, voices support for equal rights, fairness, and human decency with a voice so sniffily sweet he could kill a diabetic at 100 yards. But when push comes to shove, or his income might drop a notch, his hypocrisy is revealed. Like too many others, he will preach one view as long as that view stands a chance of opening doors that will make him some money or at least not lose him any, the hell with equal rights, the Oopsies of the world say.

King’s remarkable I Have a Dream speech and the reality of his life is a reminder to all of us that the fight for equal rights requires much more than lip service. Whether by intention or default, the profits-over-people crowd – packed with Oopsies – does nothing more than support the very forces that deny equal rights.

And so on this day we pray the Oopsies among us grow their humanity; to contribute to the denial of equal rights is to diminish your own humanity and the humanity of others. In the meantime, those of us who do our best to live the dream, rather than just talk the dream, will keep on keeping on.

We miss you Martin.

We shall overcome.

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Paterson Says Equal Rights Too Expensive

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New York Governor David Paterson this week put a value on equal rights – it’s too expensive.

With the slash of his hard-hearted veto pen,  Patterson killed bills that would have required polling places to meet federal accessibility guidelines for people with disabilities within six months, another that would have protected people with disabilities from missing out on services from state and local governments, and another that would have made it a felony for caregivers to endanger the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person. On reflection, his vetoes represent the very kind of felonies the latter bill sought to address.

For  15 years now Timothy J. Feeney has headed up the Neurobehavioral Resource Project for New York State’s Traumatic Brain Injury Waiver. The NRB is arguably the most powerful influence over the TBI Waiver, a Medicaid program designed to provide services to brain injury survivors across the state.  What’s the problem? Feeney runs around the state, country and world claiming he is Dr. Timothy Feeney or Timothy Feeney PhD when he is neither. His masters and PhD were obtained through a now defunct diploma mill called Greenwich University. It seems the DOH accurately reflects the mindset of its governor. 

This is the second time this week components of the New York State Government have displayed despicable and unconscionable behavior. In actions that reek of narcissism, arrogance and greed, the New State’s  Department of Health issued a letter blatantly ignoring the fact  a state contract employee who has headed up a multi-million dollar project over the past 15 years isn’t who he says he is, and now the governor decides equal rights cost too much.

People like Paterson and Feeney need to remember a few things; the willpower of the human spirit and the innate drive for independence and equality is far greater and far more powerful than any one person, and the damage they have done and continue to do is temporary.

We shall overcome. We’ve done it before, and we’ll do it again.