2010-03-11 20:17:38

JUANITA GOGGINS: Trailblazing African American Dies Alone In The Cold At 75

Filed under: Politics
Posted by: Purple State of News

The Huffington Post informs us today that Juanita Goggins, the first black woman elected to the South Carolina state legislature, was found dead of cold in her rented home in Columbia, S.C. She was 75 and had become a recluse.

In her day, she helped to pass significant legislation on class size, kindergarten and school lunch programs.

What happened? How and when did the young reformer become abandoned? Who did she leave? Or who left her?

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2010-03-11 06:52:42

NEW YORKER: Bipartisanship A “Core Conviction” For Obama

Filed under: Politics, Purple
Posted by: Purple State of News

In the latest issue of The New Yorker, in a piece highly critical of Obama’s leadership style, staff writer George Packer writes, “Obama’s quest for bipartisanship, in the face of exceedingly discouraging facts has been so relentless that it suggests less a startegy than a core conviction: reasonable people can be civil, exchange ideas, and, eventually, find points of agreement. But shortly after the Inauguration, when Obama went to Capitol Hill to discuss his stimulus bill with House Republicans, party leaders informed him before negotiations had even begun that Republicans would vote against it as a bloc.”

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2010-03-11 06:37:59

GORAN, OR CHANGE: Conciliator of the Week

Filed under: International, Politics
Posted by: Purple State of News

It may be quixotic, but the Goran, or Change, Movement in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk has the right idea. In a city divided along ethnic lines between Kurd, Sunni Arab and Turkomen populations, every vote becomes a census, as a recent Foreign Policy article points out.

Last Sunday’s election marked the taking of another census, as the two main Kurdish parties attempted to gain enough seats to establish a precedent for making Kirkuk an official part of Iraqi Kurdistan. If they win eight out of twelve seats in the regional parliament, party leaders say, their majority will qualify as a sort of referendum on the city’s status, and they hope to move quickly to change that status. Arabs and Turkomen are prepared to go to war to challenge that view.

Goran is a Kurdish movement that is opposed to voting along strictly ethnic lines. Goran leaders would rather see the mixed populations of Kirkuk move slowly toward developing trust. Once trust exists, the status of the city can be determined.

This is surely the right way to go, but it’s a minority view. Arab and Turkomen peoples probably didn’t vote for Goran last Sunday because whatever its beliefs, the movement remains Kurdish in origin. A vote for Goran would increase the numbers of Kurds in the parliament.

That alone tells you what Change is up against. Still, the least we can do is give its leaders our coveted Conciliator of the Week award. Congrats to the people of Iraq, meanwhile, on a successful election.

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