by Prominent Attorney Roderick Vereen on bloggingblackmiami.com

Keynote address delivered at the Church of the Incarnation in Miami, FL on the occasion of the observation of Social Justice Sunday, November 14 2010.

(From Part 2 of 4) When Arthur Teele was a sitting commissioner, he appointed me to sit on the Elian Gonzalez ad hoc committee. You may recall that Elian Gonzalez was the child that was illegally brought over to America by his mother who died on the high seas. Elian Gonzalez’s father wanted him back in Cuba with him but the local Cubans fought to keep him here. That type of social action is termed “Affectional action” (also known as emotional actions) which are actions taken due to one’s emotions, to express personal feelings. The Cubans did not want to see Elian returned to a communist country.  Janet Reno, who was the Attorney General at that time, ordered his detention and return to Cuba.

Now when you reflect back on what the Cubans did during the Elian Gonzalez ordeal, what you saw was unorganized social action, but social action nonetheless. They put Florida on front-street and kept the media captivated for weeks, putting a name and a face to their cause. Cubans did it once again very recently in 2009 dealing with high schools students that were facing deportation after graduation because their parents brought them here illegally, causing a member of Congress to step in and reintroduce what is now called the “Dream Act” which stands for:

The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act (The "DREAM Act") is a piece of proposed federal legislation in the United States that was first introduced in the United States Senate on August 1, 2001^[1] and most recently re-introduced there and the United States House of Representatives on March 26, 2009. This bill would provide certain inadmissible or deportable alien students who graduate from US high schools, who are of good moral character, arrived in the U.S. as minors, and have been in the country continuously for at least five years prior to the bill's enactment, the opportunity to earn conditional permanent residency if they complete two years in the military or two years at a four year institution of higher learning. The alien students would obtain temporary residency for a six year period. Within the six year period, a qualified student must have "acquired a degree from an institution of higher education in the United States or [have] completed at least 2 years, in good standing, in a program for a bachelor's degree or higher degree in the United States," or have "served in the uniformed services for at least 2 years and, if discharged, [have] received an honorable discharge."^[2] Military Enlistment contracts require an eight year commitment.^[3] "Any alien whose permanent resident status is terminated [according to the terms of the Act] shall return to the immigration status the alien had immediately prior to receiving conditional permanent resident status under this Act." ^[4]

So, it begs the question, if Cubans who arrived here much later than  African Americans, could get so much done in so little time, what must we be doing wrong?

The answer is simple. We have stopped manufacturing.  And when I say manufacturing, I mean we have stopped the development of new leadership in our communities. We do not accept change and we do not embrace new ideas or concepts even if it means an improvement of our social status. The only time you see our community react is when some child is killed in a drive-by shooting. That reaction is temporary at best.  For some strange reason, we have become a “reactionary” people.

It should come as no surprise because we see the same thing occurring with the United States economy. Because we outsourced a majority of the labor and manufacturing jobs our economy now suffers. Our national debt has doubled and our gross domestic product is at an all time low. Eventually, things are going to have to change. (Part 4 of 4 continues tomorrow….)