From the equality of rights springs identity of our highest interests; you cannot subvert your neighbor's rights without striking a dangerous blow at your own. Carl Schurz

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Of exclusion and political debate

While many disagree, to me D!onne Renee's brash move to crash the stage was a thing of beauty.

Far too many voices have been excluded from the conversation in this neverending municipal campaign, D!onne Renée's is but one of them.

The media early on decides who gets to be "credible" and who gets dismissed as "fringe". Ari Goldkind put it well when he said he did nothing different than the other candidates when he launched his campaign yet....

It is my belief that every candidate should get at least one invite to a debate with the so-called credible candidates, especially to  Renée's point when the debate focuses on a particular community it makes sense and is fair to expect someone from that community be invited to participate.

Ari Goldkind has shown us what a single invite can do for a candidate. He was able to leverage a single performance, using it to propel his candidacy into the conversation.

Yes Renée was rude and disruptive but what other option did we afford her and others like her who deserve to have their voices heard. She was not the offender last night, the system that silences far too many voices like hers was.


1 comment:

  1. .. Amen .. she was a refreshing change from the machine gun glibness of Tory (talk radio @ 1000 words per minute visits debates), the whiny braying of Dug (waiting on many apologies).. and the polite efforts of Chow who is neither glib nor has anything to apologize for.

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