by Hollis Wormsby, Jr.
What is Today’s Dream
More than 50 years ago a great orator stood in the shadows of our nation’s Capitol and laid out a great vision. This orator spoke of a “dream deeply rooted in the American dream”, and dreamed of a time when a person, “Would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”. As he repeatedly used the phrase, “I have a dream this morning”, and laid out for all what that dream was and made us feel what it would be like to realize it, he made us all of one accord, because he made us all want that same dream. He made that dream beautiful.
But he didn’t just make a dream beautiful, he used a dream to fight real fights on behalf of real people. When you look at pictures of posters from marches that Dr. King led, the signs say, “Jobs, Justice, Peace.”  Dr. King spoke of a dream but he lobbied for decent jobs at decent wages. In fact when he was killed in Memphis, he was there supporting Memphis Sanitation workers in an effort to get better wages.
Fast forward to today, and the unrest that followed the disturbing deaths of Travon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner, and ask yourself, what unifying message is being sent by those who present themselves as leaders. Out of all the rallies and the die ins, and the shut down the mall efforts, what agenda to move the community as a whole forward, came with this movement?
I feel like we have become the kind of people who just jump on the next thing, and then move on. For weeks we had a high level of action as people expressed their dissatisfaction with the number of Black lives lost to police violence. And now not so much. Did we win something?  Did all of the Police violence stop? Or did we just move on to the next thing?
Dr. King tried to find a way to solve the problems of the community.  He did not bounce from one idea to another. He created a vision of the world he wanted to help create and spent his entire lifetime chasing after that vision with all that was in him. He did not take the time to enrich himself along the way. He cared so little about money that Harry Belafonte often had to help him with basic living expenses and is said to have paid for his children’s education. It was that kind of commitment that made him so valuable.
A man who cannot be bought is a dangerous man, and a man who can be bought for a million is no better than a man who would sell out for a hundred, we are just negotiating the price, not the principal.
I don’t know that we have recognized leadership in our community any more. There are people who claim the title, and even some the media recognize, but do you see anyone like Dr. King who is so totally committed to the movement, that they literally put the movement before themselves or even their children? I do, but for the most part they are just ordinary folks, not the ones MSNBC wants to highlight and thrust forward as our new national leaders. I keep asking myself was there a vote and I missed it.
As we go to recognize the life and legacy of Dr. King, I think that his style of leadership and his commitment to leadership are two of the things we need to recognize. Furthermore, as we recognize Dr. King, we should hold him up as a role model of what kind of leadership we need today, and if those claiming the mantle are not living up to the model we need to keep looking.
Or at least that’s the way I see it.
(Do you have a question or comment on this column? Look me up on Facebook/HollisWormsby or email me at hjwormsby@aol.com.)

  There are some great public gardens throughout Birmingham. However, there is a need to infuse more public urban gardens into schools, neighborhoods, and unused vacant land. The gardens could be used for outdoor learning sites while offering natural beauty.
Many of the gardens in Birmingham are bringing life to areas that were surrounded by blight. These areas serve as a place for people to gather food and fellowship with fellow gardeners and collectors of food. Oftentimes gardens are decorated with water features, sitting areas, and art pieces made of metal and wood. Adding fountain systems are a nice feature to use for promoting gathering places.
Merging art with gardening could highlight local Birmingham artists that illustrate organic gardening practices. The serene gardens that merge art with quiet places are known for serving as a place for quiet time and observing beauty. Some people say that gardens help with healing the mind and spirit. I believe that it can help bring about cohesiveness of communities, to serve as a gathering place for neighborhoods, to convene and to work on a common purpose to achieve a flourishing garden. Communities that work on creating gardens to personalize it to the neighborhood make it a more special space. Gardens can serve as the cohesive public element that ties together the land use and connect it to the surrounding community area.
In the past, Slade worked on turning an unsold property into an urban construction garden. The commercial site went unsold because of the economic downturn but it was turned into something the owner hopes will benefit the community – a vegetable and fruit garden.
This project was a finalist for a green award. We as consumers should be mindful of how we use land because it affects our environmental and economic future. We must be better stewards in order to leave the world better than the way we found it.
L’Tryce Slade, MRP, JD
www.sladellc.com

    The elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about these days because many are hoping the subject will just go away is ‘mandatory health insurance’ for everyone and if you don’t have insurance you will be penalized! According to Forbes, “This week’s double-barreled release of government statistics on health insurance coverage leaves us with only one question:  How many Americans are insured because of Obamacare?  Remarkably, the two highly-regarded government surveys released this week do not even agree whether the number of uninsured increased or decreased.  The survey that received a great deal of attention said there were 3.8 million fewer uninsured.  The other, which was hardly noticed, found that there were 1.3 million more uninsured” says Joseph Antos.
With the window of opportunity for Obama Affordable Health Care quickly approaching for people to sign up on February 15, 2015 (which is the deadline) and so many people still in need of health insurance; the Alabama NAACP Health Committee has arranged free conference calls for information to be given to those in need of insurance.  The phone calls are not limited to any age, race, sex, or political party; these calls are free and designed for everyone and anyone! Anytime following the call (before the deadline) enrollments can be made over the phone or speak with Abra Barnes to set up an appointment. Abra Barnes and her associates of United Brokers for AC/Obamacare will provide the information on the calls and the Alabama NAACP Health Coordinator will moderate the calls to ensure the calls are informative, concise, and providing the information needed so that people can make informed decisions about something so personal as health care for themselves and their families.
The conference calls are being made available to anyone by calling 805-360-1000 and the participant access code is100460# (once on the line please introduce yourself and dial #6 to mute and unmute yourself). Only 100 people can come onto any one call, so I suggest you call in a few minutes early to ensure you are on the call that best suits you. There will be time designated throughout the call for questions, so we strongly suggest that people on the call write down their questions and ask when prompted.  If there are more personal situations/questions that need to be addressed and/or discussed, we ask that you do that off line, 1 on 1 with Abra Barnes by calling 205-222-9759.  The dates and times for the calls are as follows:   Thursday, January 29, at 6p.m.; Sunday, February 1, at 4p.m.; Tuesday, February 3, at 10a.m.; Saturday, February 7, at 9a.m.; Wednesday, February 11, at 5p.m. and, Friday, and the last call will take place on February 13, at 9a.m.
I encourage people to be proactive about their own health care and make informed decisions and this is your chance to do so!  Don’t underestimate the government who will penalize you if you do not have some type of health insurance in place by February 15, 2015. According to www.healthcare.gov, “If you don’t have coverage in 2015, you’ll pay the higher of these two amounts:
•2% of your yearly household income. (Only the amount of income above the tax filing threshold, about $10,000 for an individual, is used to calculate the penalty.) The maximum penalty is the national average premium for a bronze plan.
•$325 per person for the year ($162.50 per child under 18). The maximum penalty per family using this method is $975.”
I urge you to handle your business now or the government will handle it for you later!

Tina Kay Hughes, Alabama NAACP Health Coordinator

by Steve Flowers

The most pressing problem facing the governor and legislature as they enter this new quadrennium is the financial shortfall in the General Fund Budget.
Last year the governor floated a trial balloon to see if there was any traction to combine the two state budgets in order to give more wiggle room in the budgeting of limited state dollars. It was quickly shot down.
We are one of only a handful of states that have two state budgets. We have a special Education Trust Fund Budget and a General Fund Budget. The Education Budget now dwarfs the State General Fund Budget simply because all of our growth taxes, like income and sales tax, are earmarked for education. Thus, the General Fund is left broke and barren of hope for new revenue.
The combining of the budgets does not appear to be a solution that will get off the ground any time soon. In fact, there appears to be more opposition to consolidating the two budgets than ever.
This approach has always been a red flag rallying point for all education forces. Not only are classroom teachers and administrators adamantly opposed to a raid on their money, universities in the state also get up in arms.
Senate Finance and Taxation Chairman Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) also wants to review the tax code to see if exemptions approved long ago are still needed today. The concept of looking at tax exemptions seems to be on everyone’s list. A state lottery or getting some revenue from gaming is also a popular approach with most legislators’ constituencies.
Recently, the Democratic leader in the House, Rep. Craig Ford of Gadsden, said that the paramount issue for House Democrats in the next term would be to thwart any effort to divert education dollars to the General Fund. In addition, not many Republicans are in favor of this path either. Most importantly the Chairmen of the Budget Committees in the House of Representatives have come out as solidly opposed to consolidating the two budgets. House General Fund Chairman, Steve Clouse of Ozark, and House Education Fund Chairman, Bill Poole of Tuscaloosa, have stated their opposition to consolidation of the budgets.
Gov. Bentley realizes that there is a grim situation when it comes to the dilemma in the General Fund Budget. However, Bentley wants the legislative leadership to look for long-term solutions rather than a band-aid approach.
Alabama State Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh (R-Anniston) believes that the General Fund Budget can be cut even more. Marsh also wants to look into the possibility of undoing budget earmarks. Marsh is adamantly opposed to any new taxes. However, he does want to explore who is getting the tax breaks and why.
Several yeas ago, the U.S. Congress enacted legislation to disallow lobbyists from buying them meals. They have found a way to get around that prohibition. They are simply taking campaign contributions from lobbyists and buying their own meals with their campaign money.
U.S. House members have spent a whopping $14.5 million of their campaign donors’ contributions on food since January of 2011, and mind you they are not eating at McDonald’s. The eateries include meals at country clubs, swanky New York hotels and exclusive Washington steakhouses.
Indeed, Washington, D.C. was the choice of most of the lavish congressional dining. Six million dollars was spent dining in the nation’s capital. Republicans were the biggest spenders on fine dining. GOP congressmen spent $9.2 million compared to $5.3 million for Democrats.
Earlier in the year it was illuminated that ex-House majority leader, Eric Cantor’s restaurant expenses at luxury Washington steakhouses surpassed what his opponent, David Brat, spent on his entire campaign.  Brat used Cantor’s opulence against him. It appears Congressman Brat may be heading down the same path as Cantor. His latest campaign report reveals that he used $731 from his campaign account at a Morton’s Steakhouse only two weeks after vanquishing Cantor.

See you next week.

Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column on Alabama politics appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He may be reached at www.steveflowers.us.