The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
By Richard E. Barber, Sr., The Somerset Volunteer Group
Greetings My Fellow Americans and Undecided Voters:
During this strange, unstable and unpredictable presidential campaign season, I have often reflected on the “wit and wisdom of the late Dr. Samuel D. Proctor,” my college president at North Carolina A & T State University and my neighbor in New Jersey until his passing in May 1997; and the life and work of the late Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman, a great nationally and internationally renown theologian, educator and civil rights leader. Dr. Thurman’s life and work was based on “truth, honesty and integrity,” so much needed now in the character, leadership and public policies of many political candidates and their political operatives. So much so that it seems that “honesty is a burden.” Among Dr. Thurman’s most famous quotes was: “If you can speak the truth and don’t speak it, then anyone and anybody may speak it for you.”. Well, one thing for certain in my life in this current political cycle is that I don’t want just anyone and anybody speaking and representing me with domestic and international policies that do not reflect the best interests of all Americans, and my values and “sense of community” that Dr. Proctor so often wrote and advocated.
Over the last 50 years, I have lived in Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh for 12 years) and New Jersey for 38 years. Just close enough to New York City and Atlantic City to follow the business and political leaders via the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and major state newspapers. Doing so, I concluded a long time ago that Donald Trump is unqualified and not responsibly prepared for the leadership of our beloved America and the world in which we live. Why not you may ask? Well, I encourage you to read the following editorials/articles from two major and respected New Jersey newspapers and make your own conclusions. (1) “Trump conned Atlantic City—is U.S. next? in the Star-Ledger dated June 16, 2016. Also maybe we should listen and heed the words of former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Warren Buffet and Governor Mitt Romney. (2) “Trump’s lies have already changed America” in the Home News Tribune dated September 20, 2016. (3) “Bullying the source of Trump’s rise, eventual fall” also in the Home News Tribune dated September 22, 2016.
So what presidential candidate am I supporting and will vote for on November 8th? Well from my perspective as a former military officer (Special Weapons); former corporate contract administrator/professional in a Nuclear Division; working with my economic mentor Rev. Dr. Leon Sullivan, Founder of O.I.C. in Philadelphia and author of “The Sullivan Principles,” which allowed American and European Corporations to remain in South Africa when Nelson Mandela was in prison; Deputy Executive Director of the National NAACP with Dr. Benjamin Hooks in New York; Regional Administrator of the Small Business Administration in the Carter Administration, and a man of faith, I proudly support and endorse Secretary Hillary Clinton for the next President of the United States of America. Thank you.
