My friend Jaime Balagia, pictured above, joked recently while I was in his office, holding
the papers inches from my face, "I knew you would put that one eye on the papers before you signed them, Ron."
It was funny to me too.
Prior to becoming a famous attorney Jaime used to be a cop for the city during
the time I worked for the county. We have grown more close since those times and are very good friends now.
I advertise an anti-DWI campaign on our fleet of taxicabs as a non-revenue producing
Public Service and we are working on providing a VIABLE safe ride home for underage drinkers. THAT'S why SoberRide was
initially formed but other interests spun it in a different direction ln my opinion and experience.
That photo above with Mike Napoli, Jamie and me really speaks volumes about POLITICS because all three
of us come from different backgrounds and but for our love for Corvettes might have very little, if anything at all,
in common. Mike is a registered Republican, Jamie is a Democrat and I am a ... Just what the heck AM I???
I met Mike while selling a car on Ebay and we became friends. I am not a staunch Republican but
I feel the plight and angst that most of them claim. Democratically I also feel the turmoil and unfettered weaknesses
that the "Party" suppresses to look as unified as they certainly are not. I suppose I am a tight roper, not to be confused
with a goat roper in these parts please. I vote for the best person regardless of party.
I voted for President Bush for Governor and both times for President. I am PROUD that I did.
Before the conservatives hold me up as their Black Poster Child and before the liberals hold me up as an idiot, let me explain
that I believe in being LOYAL to my perceived friends... not whether someone is my friend, whether or not they are loyal
to me but staying true to the promises I make.
Much like many of the majority want to forget the past, want to push aside the bitterness and grievances
of minorities that were never addressed or apologized for because of not only slave servitude but all of the heinous acts
and prejudices continued since then to now, I will ask you to overlook my loyalty to a friend for supporting him despite
his many blunders and failures to supersede them. Unlike the present majority though, I am a bigger man because I admit
that in my quest of support, I should have done more to make him see the error of his ways and failed to. My Bad.
I wonder, if the government and pundits like Bill O'Reilly and Greta Van Susteran can say "My Bad" for
all the evil things done to Black people, for all the financial lack of equality of banks... I wonder if THEY just say it
happened, we are SORRY and it won't happen again, will THAT make a difference?
Probably not right away but I guarantee that it will take us off this riot course we are heading toward
with the rhetoric they make. I see it like a storm looming off the coast begging to be averted before it's too
late.
Three guys standing as friends talking about the affairs of the day... An Italian American, a Mexican
American and a Black American. The fact that we are all three Americans of course being the most important basic
foundational bond. It doesn't matter our politics or job titles of the past or future as much as WHO we are today
and what we stand for... as well as what we won't (stand for).
Think about them apples and afterward ask yourself if arguing about past inequalities so blindly without
regard as to where the arguments will lead is worth the results if it tears down all the unity that we aspire. Is
it worth it?
