Wading In

It's time to integrate history By Kelvin Wade | | February 26, 2009 17:10 'We don't learn about black history in school except for one month. I think it should be mixed and we should learn a little black history every year like we learn geography.' - Aisha King, 12, Crystal Middle School There has been a lot of debate about ending Black History Month. The most popular argument goes that since Barack Obama's election as 44th president, the goals of Black History Month in large part have been met. But before we hang a 'mission accomplished' banner at the National Civil Rights Museum and congratulate ourselves, I think it's time we end Black History Month by expanding it. Just like young Ms. King said in a Daily Republic story earlier this week, my problem with Black History Month is that it squeezes black history into a twelfth of the year. That's like those folks who go to church on Easter and forget about their religion the rest of...

Bad economy requires tough choices By Kelvin Wade | | February 19, 2009 23:54 I recently read the book 'Titanic: A Survivor's Story' by Archibald Gracie, originally published in 1913. The book tells of Gracie's improbable survival, as well as other survivors' stories. The saddest part to me, also dramatized in the 1997 film, was when the ship went down and the survivors in the lifeboats could hear the haunting screaming of hundreds of people in the icy waters, and they refused to go back. They feared the frantic, freezing survivors in the water would overturn their boats. It is a great metaphor for the terrible economic condition we find ourselves in. Our tanking economy -- on the national, state and local levels -- is like that hulking sinking ship. And just like there weren't enough lifeboats to save everyone on the Titanic, we cannot save every program or service. Agonizing choices have to be made. Tuesday night, speaker after speaker, includin...

City issues welcome to criminals By Kelvin Wade | | February 12, 2009 17:02 I had an ant problem on my kitchen counter last week. A platoon of scouts were dipping feelers into a small glob of syrup on the countertop, preparing to radio the information back to their home base. No doubt an ant invasion would've ensued had I not intervened with an aerial assault from a can of bug spray. I never have ant problems in the bedroom. I don't eat in the bedroom. Ants wouldn't find it very hospitable. No, they seek out the most welcoming conditions. That's how I feel about the crime problem in Fairfield. Criminals commit crimes here because it's hospitable for them. The conditions are ripe for criminal activity. Sure, some statistics came out recently showing that violent crime dropped from 590 incidents to 546 from 2007 to 2008. Of course, that's completely imperceptible to the public. If you were slapped that many times each year, would your jaw notice ...

Witness shouldn't get off scot-free By Kelvin Wade | | February 05, 2009 16:38 Something just isn't sitting right with me. What would a reasonable person do under these circumstances: Imagine you're driving a car with two friends in tow and you stop in a residential area. Let's say one of your friends gets out of the car and you hear gunshots. He gets back in the car and you think he has a gun. If he told you to drive, you probably would drive. You'd be scared. And you'd probably be asking him what just happened. But the next day, when you saw the news that a young City Councilman had been shot at the time and location where you were the night before, what would you do? Would you call your friend and tell him to turn himself in? Would you go to the police and tell them what you know? Or would you keep it quiet? That's my problem with Nicole 'Scot-Free' Stewart, the alleged getaway driver in the Matt Garcia murder case. As she testi...