19 -- Waiting on the state senate
The sad part of Gov. Jim McGreevey's effort to censor poet Amiri Baraka is that it takes the whole state senate to fire him, a senate that has still not managed a way to fairly fund public schools or feed and cloth the growing population of needy. This same senate can bicker for months over what to do about the budget, but when several Jewish activist groups call for Baraka's head, these senators jump. If standing up for a principle defines courage in our time of shifting ethical standards, and then we are a state thick with coward -- particularly our public officials that cower to special interest groups. Are these senators so blind to their communities that they don't understand that Baraka doesn't only speak for himself and that if Baraka believes something, then so do other people in his community? By censoring Baraka, our senators do a disservice to both blacks and Jews, by feeding t...

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