A Father's Rage

 

 

Afro-Am Point of View is everything you would hope to see in an ethnic oriented community newspaper. It has a wide range of journalists, columnists, poets and photographers who really succeed in covering a wide array of Springfield area news. In fact, it would be too limiting to describe it as a newspaper for the Black community. The truth is that every person in our Valley, regardless of ethnic or political background, would benefit from reading this paper regularly. 

The prime mover behind Afr-Am is editor-in-chief Frederick Hurst, a longtime Springfield attorney and politico who has unsuccessfully sought election to public office in the past. His family members have had greater success, including his wife and daughter. However, the real political achiever in the family has been Hurst's son Justin, who was recently defeated for Mayor of Springfield by the longtime incumbent Dominic Sarno. 

Dear ol' Dad isn't taking it too well, as he makes clear in a front page editorial on the latest edition of his paper. Regardless of your politics, it is a hell of an entertaining - and is many ways enlightening - read. Editor Hurst has some very strong and clearly expressed opinions about why his son will not be choosing the curtain colors in the mayoral chambers next year, and Hurst is not at all shy about making his opinions known. A sampler of some of his more scathing rebukes:

The fact is that Springfield is a majority-minority city that continues to be politically dominated by an Irish/Italian conglomerate (mafia?) that wants to stay in power forever.... 

Money has corrupted a lot of well-meaning people, especially many of those who run nonprofits....Mayor Sarno controls more discretionary money than any Springfield Mayor in my lifetime (and I'm older than most of the non-profits). And Sarno is a vindictive man.

....among the many who need to be exposed the most, people like George Bruce, Bud Williams, Jay Griffin and Cee Jackson, and others who have long ago been compromised by money and the mere illusion of personal and political power and their obsessive love of White people....And Bishop Talbert Swan is another one. Who knows what he stands for?

They will never stop serving their "master" because some are simply weak by nature and others think money is God and "master" controls the money, which in their minds means "master" is God. Neither of these folks will ever go away. We generally refer to them as "Uncle Toms." 

I'm told Lavar Click-Bruce is a good person. But a good person who is a confused person is a useless and often dangerous person. He's certainly not a leader....Click-Bruce, like so many others, is allowing himself to be used by Sarno as a servile puppet. 

We all know that Bud Williams lives in Ward 7 and hasn't lived in Ward 4 or 5 for so many years and that he couldn't care less about the well-being of Black folks and for most other folks of color, except when he wants a photo-op. You all talk about him behind his back all the time but nobody wants to speak up. Why? He's a joke at home and in Boston. 

Please Attorney Hurst, tell us how you really feel! Of course such frank and informed candor can only be praised, especially in a political culture like Springfield, where straight talk of any kind is exceedingly rare. 

The question is, what happens next? The Democrat party machine in Springfield is notorious for its viciousness in consigning their enemies to political oblivion. Will Justin Hurst be charged with his role in the bizarre vote buying scandal pushed by the Springfield Newspapers? Will Sarno's black supporters come through with their threat to organize an advertiser boycott of Afro-Am Point of View? Only time will tell whether Justin ends up in a prison cell as his father is driven into bankruptcy court.

You really should read Hurst's entire editorial yourself, which you can do by clicking here. 

 

Meanwhile, this is the Dr. Seuss chair across from my house. Doesn't it look like something that someone from Whoville might recline upon?

Nearby are these fine feathered friends. 

Here are some ducks chillin in the rain by the UMass pond. 

A pro-Palestine rally this morning in front of the Student Union was a scarcely attended flop. 

 

I am a strong supporter of freedom for the Palestinian people, but that is something that can never be achieved while the blood-thirsty dictatorship of Hamas is still in power. Therefore, I hope the Israelis press on with full force in their war of liberation in Gaza so that the Palestinian people can finally be freed and the bloodshed ended as the war is brought to a positive conclusion. 

 

 

Somehow my free invitation to this event got lost in the mail.