Organizing for America | Posts with the tag Maxim Thorne

Posts with the tag Maxim Thorne

By Yandouba Monahan - Jul 19th, 2008 at 1:31 am EDT

Also listed in: Action Wire | Students for Barack Obama

In Pittsburgh, there's a small town called Mc'keesport, very depressed socio-economically. I have been blessed to visit many States during the primary election; but PA. stole my heart.

I left PA. disappointed for two reasons:

1. Because my candidate Barack Obama didnt win

2. I didnt want to leave the people I had just met and talked to one on one. They stole my heart; and all I did was cry because I was leaving....my new friends who opened up to me and told me their stories.

Stories that made me cry, made me feel sad, gave me more hope, the hope to continue community organization so these people with no voice in Society can be heard.

I became an Obama fellow and I was sent to Pittsburgh PA. I have come to make many connections and have learn that despite what the color of our skin is, we all just yearn the same things in life.

On July 27th I will be organizing a Platform meeting with an audience of 360 people in a small community home for elderly and disadvantaged youths.

Youths that need to get back to their communities to seek better living, learn responsibility and be independent. But, there's not much in the community of Mckeesport PA. Please read below about this town and join hands with me spread the word.

McKeesport is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, U.S., at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Rivers and is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The population was 24,040 at the 2000 census. It is the 2nd largest city in Allegheny County behind only Pittsburgh.

Settled in 1795 and named in honor of John McKee, its founder. McKeesport remained a village until 1830 when coal mining began in the district. Large deposits of bituminous coal existed.

Demographics:

As of the 2000 census, there were 24,040 people, 9,655 households, and 5,976 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,806.9 people per square mile (1,856.4/km²). There were 11,124 housing units at an average density of 2,224.3/sq mi (859.0/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 72.40% White, 24.46% African American, 0.27% Native American, 0.12% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.59% from other races, and 2.14% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.50% of the population.

Households: There were 9,655 households out of which 28.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.7% were married couples living together, 21.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.1% were non-families. 33.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 3.01.

Age Distribution: The population was well distributed by age, with 25.4% under 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 24.8% from 25 to 44, 21.3% from 45 to 64, and 20.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40. For every 100 females, there were 84.8 males; for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 76.8 males.

Income: The median income for a household in the city was $23,715, and the median income for a family was $31,577. Males had a median income of $27,412 versus $21,977 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,242. About 18.1% of families and 23.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 35.9% of those under age 18 and 12.1% of those age 65 or over.

Join Hands with me today to get their voices heard!!

Yandouba Monahan from New York

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Hillary's Endorsement by Independence Party

By Maxim - Feb 27th, 2008 at 11:22 pm EST

Also listed in: 5 groups

Kenrick Ross wrote that Senator Clinton thought she could score a cheap shot last night with her addendum to the Farrakhan segue of the debate, but her little anecdote about her clear 'rejection' of the Independence Party is not as cute, or accurate, as it seemed.

First, she made a parallel between Farrakhan's endorsement of Senator Obama and an Independence Party endorsement, but the two aren't comparable. The former is one man's public endorsement, while the latter is associating one's name with a political party- and its platform- on a written ballot. The Independence Party would have literally put Clinton's name as its standard-bearer on the 2000 NY ballot. I've not heard of Farrakhan trying to register the Nation of Islam as a political party and putting it on November ballots with Obama as its candidate.

Second, she made the Independence Party seemed like a racist, fringe hate group that was trying to strong-arm her into accepting their endorsement. Yet, in 1999 USA Today (as far as I know, not part of the vast anti-Clinton media conspiracy Paul Begala railed against last night on CNN), said this of then First Lady Clinton and President Clinton, and the Independence Party: "And if the Independence Party endorses Clinton as its Senate nominee -- an endorsement she and President Clinton are aggressively pursuing,". Rather than the Independence folks stalking Clinton around New York trying to rope her in with a hateful lasso, it seemed the other way around. And for good reason, the Independence Party is the third largest political party in New York state and routinely draws more than 300,000 voters. New York allows for third parties to split tickets, allowing them to 'endorse' whoever they like and put them as choices on the ballot, so often a Republican also runs on the Conservative line, etc. What made USA Today take notice in 1999? The Independence Party had hitched up to Ross Perot's reform movement and that year, their presidential candidate was Pat Buchanan. The idea of a Buchanan-Clinton ticket was too enticing to ignore. And not only for the media, when asked about that probability, Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson did not reject it, saying "We've had no thoughts about that. We would cross that bridge when we got there." Clinton did reject the Independence Party's nomination because among its leaders was Lenora Fulani, who had refused to renounce anti-Jewish statements from 1989.

Third, guess who was the Independence Party nominee for Senate in 2006- Hillary Clinton.

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Why I Support Barack Obama

By Maxim - Aug 10th, 2007 at 2:21 am EDT

Also listed in: Gay Christians for Obama | Florida GLBT Supporters | Yale for Barack

I wrote in 2004, before Barack Obama won his U.S. Senate seat that I saw in him America's first black President. And while I love Bill Clinton, he was not it.

I'm fortunate to have met Barack a few times and I want to share what it's like. He exudes a spiritual quality, the kind one gets from the Dali Lama and Deepak Chopra. More important, you feel how he transforms a room, a stadium, an inner office. You look around and you see a multicultural group of folks, keenly listening, being listened too, and accepting leadership.

I've watched up close Bill Clinton's sexual magnetism and keen intellect at work, and the way women (and men) respond to him. Barack's quality is equally compelling but richer, more familial, and less manipulative. A Barack audience reflects what is best about America - you feel the culmination of the American Dream and its promise. I see WASP investment bankers, Chinese ballet dancers, Native American grandfathers, Jewish teachers, West Indian bakers, a Somali model, a Yale budding novelist, a Mormon gynecologist, a Kentucky entrepreneur beer maker - and I see reflected in their eyes the absolute belief that they connect with this man and that he gets them.

Barack Obama seems to transcend things rather than merely overcome them. And that's a major distinction. In electing Barack we are not electing an alternative to a White president...we are electing someone who transcends race itself because he is comfortable and happy in his own skin. He may be affected by race but is not defined by it. Barack embodies a long awaited moment in American history when ideas and vision transcend race. He is the future vs. the past.

Barack is also able to speak to the issues of America, Black America and gay Black America in ways that no other politician can or has or is willing to- Black or White. Yes there are White politicians who speak out against racism and discrimination and injustice. And there are certainly major black politicians who are pro-gay rights and speak out in favor of equality, civil unions and gay marriage...but Barack doesn't have to play this kind of trademark special interest politics because he is not dependent on a particular constituency.

Barack can talk about both the historic legacy of injustice AND individual social responsibility in contemporary Black America. He was the only candidate to mention the word 'homophobia' at the Democrat Presidential Candidates debate at the historically Black Howard University. Many of the devastating effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on the Black community is rooted in homophobia in Black culture, from the stigma of getting tested for the virus (which Barack and Michelle have done publicly and in Africa) to the pressures it has put on young Black men to be 'hardcore' and 'not soft' or 'feminine'.

What Barack offers to the America the ability to live the dream - make it our reality.

America is the greatest country on Earth, but it is young and fragile and must constantly be nurtured by our faith in the American Dream, the dynamic of progress, and our belief that Americans can overcome anything regardless of the accident of birth.

I think America stands alone against a hideous vortex of ancient bigotries, religious rivalries, and violent, uninspiring and unequal societies. George Bush has brought us to the brink of being sucked in to this vortex, this "crusade" - so that our brilliant American experiment in democracy of almost three hundred years may simply become a blip if we are sucked into the ancient battles of the Middle East. This exactly what the founding fathers feared most - and why they enshrined the values they did in the Constitution.

Barack Obama is the embodiment of that hope, that experiment, that joy that is America.

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