Harry Belafonte Bill

Governor Big Lug Nut signed a Minority Impact Statement into law.

I'm calling it the Harry Belafonte Bill because, among other things, it misses the (Banana) Boat and the scientific community is united in that fact.

The law will require state officials to determine the potential impact on Iowa minorities of any legislation dealing with criminal sentencing and state grant programs.

Minorities are supposed to include women, disabled people, blacks, Latinos, Asians or Pacific Islanders, American Indians and Alaskan Native Americans.

It appears, at least at the signing, minority meant black.

The only lawmakers to attend the Des Moines inner city signing were black.

The Racist Ragister called Representative Deborah Berry by the slave name Donna.

Representative Wayne Ford bragged that he had tried for twelve years to get the bill passed and said it would "make the law color blind".

It sounds like a simplistic, knee jerk, fiberal reaction to the fact that nearly a quarter of the state's black population is in prison.

Come Mister Tally Mon, tally me convictions
Daylight come and me wan' go home

I hope it does not have an adverse effect on the legislature's ability to protect Iowans.

No crime can ever be defended on rational grounds.

If you listened, last fall, to District 5 Associate Judge Odell McGhee, you'd find he placed responsibility flatly at the feet of the black community, saying its families and its churches had failed the young.

McGhee insisted that far too many black families had lost control of their children.

He urged parents to set and stick to rules, provide discipline, make sure their children have goals and support their kids' accomplishments.

In a perfect example ...

Akil Jabbar, who works for Urban Dreams, an inner city nonprofit group founded by Ford, said he was sent to prison at age 17 on a drug charge that landed him a 25-year sentence. He ended up serving about six years at Fort Madison, where his father was also serving time.

"Everybody I knew had somebody in their family or somebody in this community incarcerated."

Prison on the family plan, they must be so proud.

I hope they got a same cell discount.

In the words of Odell McGhee..."...in this jurisdiction on average, you've committed a lot of crimes to get to prison."