A BIGOT BY ANY OTHER NAME

Overhead at the recent Senior Appreciation Day, held at Mineola's Village Hall on Monday, November 22nd:

 "No more Portuguese for Mayor!"

And who was the expounder of this pearl of wisdom?  You might think it was some big beefy white guy dressed in a white sheet, with a pointy white hat on his pointy white head.  Maybe with swastikas tattooed on his big beefy biceps.

Well you would be thinkin' wrong.

Rather, the Erudite in question was one of the blue-haired little old ladies being "appreciated" that day.

Now, MNYT has made no bones about it's disdain for Mayor Martins and his minions on the Board of Trustees.  Jack Martins has lied to the people who pay his salary.  Repeatedly.  And if the 7th Senate District race does end up going his way, he will continue to lie ~ only to a wider audience.  But don't bring his Portuguese heritage into it.  That's just nasty.  AND ignorant.  And it doesn't say much about your own upbringing.

John F. Kennedy

For those old enough to remember, November 22nd was also the anniversary of one of this country's great tragedies:  the assassination of John F. Kennedy.  JFK was our nation's first, and to date it's only Roman Catholic President.  He was a champion of the nascent Civil Rights movement who was himself the subject of religious bigotry.  It is indeed ironic to MNYT that on the anniversary of a day which united people of all colors, creeds and ethnicities in grief and horror, bigotry is still able to raise its ugly head when an entire group of Mineola's citizenry can be denigrated by one ignorant individual ~ whatever her rationale might be.

Does she distrust Jack Martins?  Well, she's in good company.  Lots of people don't trust him and for very good reasons.  But none of those have to do with his ethnic background, nor should they.

Maybe this woman has forgotten that Mr. Martins' predecessor was not Portuguese, nor was he the paradigm of integrity.  Yet there is talk about the possibility that this individual will run for Mayor in 2012 - eight years after he was voted out. 

Perhaps for some folks lack of integrity is more tolerable when the "Playa" is of Northern European extraction (i.e. "Lily White" to use the vernacular).

Let's keep the criteria regarding our political leaders focused where it belongs - on their honesty, integrity and leadership skills.  Keep skin color, sexual orientation, ethnic heritage, gender, and religious practices out of it, shall we?

For more information on JFK's defense of his ability to lead despite the perceived "handicap" of his religious upbringing, or if you're just in the mood for a damn good speech, click on the following link:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16920600