As long as there are individuals or groups perceived as disposable, our democracy is compromised.

That was certainly the heart and soul of the Civil Rights struggle in the 1960’s…the fact that an entire segment of our population was segregated by law was a contradiction to every concept of human decency, to say nothing of a nation that boasts of its democratic principles. It is difficult for young people today to imagine that – by law – we had segregated movie theatres and public toilets…and schools, and voting restrictions. I mention the last two – schools and voting rights – because the laws have changed but de facto segregation and restrictions still exist. It attempts to marginalize people of color.

A series of events took place this past week which has prompted me to focus on the outrageous reality that there are people viewed as disposable, by law or by policy.

I listened to the near hysteria on all the news programs about swine flu, hearing words like pandemic and carnage…the Vice President sounding foolish…and the TV pundits vying to see who could paint the gloomiest forecast. I recalled the early days of AIDS…when there were no reports on air…just rumors of deaths. It was called GRID – Gay Related Immune Deficiency. We were at least four years into the epidemic and activists had convinced the CDC in Atlanta to rename it as AIDS. The New York Times had one inside page story in four years. The president of the United States had never mentioned the disease until Elizabeth Taylor implored him to focus on it after Rock Hudson’s death. The mayor of the city of New York distanced himself in those early days, fearful of being an advocate for a disease striking the gay population. Thousands were infected and hundreds had died and there was no media babble or political warnings. The people identified with AIDS were viewed as a disposable population, without political power. In addition to gay men, drug users were being cited as the target population – another disposable group. What took place, though, was that AIDS prompted people in the gay community to organize and reveal political muscle. Candidates were invited to forums attended by hundreds of people and thousands marched and demonstrated. Gay men and lesbians began running for office and today there are openly homosexual officials at every level in almost every state this side of Idaho.

This week, I also attended a forum after the showing of a movie at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film Making of the Boys is a documentary about the ground-breaking 1968 play, The Boys in the Band. The panel following the film included the playwright Mart Crowley and actor Larry Luckinbill. But it also included Village Voice columnist Michael Musto and Carson Kressley, a ubiquitous television personality first seen on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Though they talked about oppression and discrimination against gay people, the latter two, Messrs. Musto and Kressley have successful careers as openly gay men. In fact, “being gay” is their careers.

They made me think about another group, perceived as disposable…still disposable even in Obama Time. The men and women who have been in prison are still identified in the press, and politically, by the crime that sent them to prison, no matter how long ago and no matter what they have achieved since then. I have worked with formerly incarcerated people for over four decades, and I have also worked in the business world. I still get angry at the judgments and exclusions imposed on the formerly incarcerated…exclusions by law or by policy that limit full participation in our society. It affects employment, housing and voting rights.

I mention that I have worked in the business world…and that is significant, because I have witnessed and been victim of people who rob, cheat and steal as part of the business world reality. It is not resolved by threats of prison…but lawyers and lawsuits dominate. There are the occasional Bernie Madoffs – an extreme but not atypical example of business values. In this time of recession, it is being defined as GREED but it is often based on illegal and unlawful acts. I have worked with men and women who have done time for drug use and drug sales…and I have been at homes in East Hampton and on Park Avenue, where cocaine is sold and used, and described as a recreation drug…far different from the crack cocaine which sends Black youth to prison: Different standards, by political definition, and different sentencing.

The formerly incarcerated are marginalized, stereotyped and discriminated against. These men and women are mostly, but not always, from backgrounds of poverty and deprivation and view prison as an inevitable part of the life experience… because being poor and from a minority group has been traditionally viewed as disposable in our courtrooms.

Today, we have a bright young President, who toiled in the field as a community organizer. So now is the time for a national dialogue and action program to identify people and groups who are systematically tossed aside…viewed as disposable…and bring them back into our land of the free and home of the brave.

This is a plan that cannot be privatized. There are no profits at the end of the day in bringing as many people to the table as possible.  That would make democracy more than a slogan or symbolized by a lapel pin.  We might then realize that the word profit has multiple meanings.


I’m David Rothenberg…out on a limb!