Who killed Trayvon Martin? An honest discussion of race and crime

Earlier this week on July 16, Attorney General Eric Holder addressed the NAACP convention in Orlando in the wake of the George Zimmerman verdict. In the speech, Holder said that the “tragedy provides yet another opportunity for our nation to speak honestly – and openly – about the complicated and emotionally-charged issues that this case has raised.” In truth, the national conversation about the killing of Trayvon Martin has been anything but honest. 

George Zimmerman admits that he shot and killed Trayvon Martin. Even though Zimmerman pulled the trigger to fire the shot that ultimately killed Martin, he was not the only cause of Martin’s death. There seems to be plenty of blame to go around.

As noted in Examiner, Zimmerman, a registered Democrat, lived in a racially mixed neighborhood. In fact, Martin’s father’s girlfriend lived in the same neighborhood. It is unlikely that Zimmerman would have thought the mere presence of a black teenager would be alarming unless he was acting suspiciously. The Daily Caller reported in April 2012 that Zimmerman was one of few people in Sanford who pushed for justice in 2010 when the son of a white police officer beat a black man.

It seems likely that there is more to the case than the media narrative of a racist neighborhood watch captain killing an innocent black teenager. In many accidents, investigators point to a chain of events that lead up to the final incident. If any of the events that link together to cause the accident had not occurred the accident chain might have been broken. In the case of Trayvon Martin, there are several links in the chain.

The most obvious link in the chain is the string of burglaries that occurred in George Zimmerman’s neighborhood prior to his encounter with Trayvon Martin. According to CNN, there were at least eight burglaries within the previous 14 months. CNN notes that witnesses reported black males were responsible in three to four of the incidents while the other four had no witnesses or suspects. One resident said that George Zimmerman had called to alert police to a burglary in progress at his home on Feb. 2. Zimmerman’s call noted that the burglar in this case was also a black man.

According to the FBI, blacks represent 28 percent of arrests in the United States even though they make up only 13 percent of the population according to the Census Bureau. This means that they commit a disproportionate number of crimes compared to other demographic groups. Half of all murder arrests and more than half of robbery arrests are blacks. Thirty-one percent of burglary arrests are blacks. The statistics are even higher for juvenile arrests. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, blacks are “disproportionately represented among both homicide victims and offenders.”

None of this means that every black person should be automatically suspected of criminal behavior. However, it does show that if a black teenager is acting strangely and looking into houses as Zimmerman alleges, investigating further is not unreasonable. The very purpose for the existence of a neighborhood watch is to be alert for suspicious activity regardless of race.

The question is why crime and incarceration rates among blacks are so much higher than their share of the total population. The answer can likely be found in the destruction of the black family. Data from the Annie E. Casey Foundation shows that 67 percent of black children live in single-parent households. This is a far greater rate than for other races. Seventy-two percent of black children are born to unwed mothers according to NBC News.

The link between single-parent families and risky behaviors of children is well established. According to the National Fatherhood Initiative, especially when the absent parent is the father, children are much more likely to become sexually active, use drugs, and have increased risk of juvenile delinquency.

The underlying truths represented by these statistics may have shaped Trayvon Martin’s young life. Martin’s step-mother, Alicia Stanley, raised him for 14 years until she and Trayvon’s father, Tracy Martin, divorced. Trayvon apparently changed after the divorce. In a CNN interview, Stanley said that he wasn’t a “thug” and that language like “creepy-ass cracker” was not used their home. Stanley said that she did not believe that race was a factor in the shooting.

Nevertheless, New York Times reported that, after the shooting, pictures and text messages found on Trayvon’s cell phone included guns, drugs, fighting and the fact that he had been kicked out of his mother’s house. One picture apparently shows Martin smoking marijuana, which has been shown to cause aggression, anxiety and paranoia. The Daily Mail reports that Trayvon was suspended from school three times in the months before his death. Reasons for the suspensions were possession of a burglary tool and jewelry, truancy, and possession of marijuana paraphernalia. Twitter messages refer to Trayvon hitting a bus driver. (Martin’s complete tweets can be viewed here.) ABC News also reported that Martin’s autopsy showed THC, the drug found in marijuana, in his blood.

In one eerily prescient exchange of text messages, reported in the Miami Herald, a friend asked Trayvon “so you just turning into a lil hoodlum [?]” and then warned “Boy don’t get one planted in ya chest.” Three months later, Trayvon was dead.

There were many links in the chain that led to Trayvon Martin’s death. George Zimmerman’s ill-considered decision to follow the teen is only the most obvious. Directly related to Zimmerman’s paranoia was the spate of burglaries that local police either could not or would not solve. The “broken windows” theory of policing holds that prosecution of small crimes can prevent larger, more violent crimes. In this case, if the police had solved the string of burglaries, they might have prevented an assault and killing. Likewise, if Trayvon’s parents and school administrators had reacted more strongly to the warning signs in his academic career, he might have been “scared straight.”

The biggest and most difficult link to break is the destruction of the black family. Trayvon Martin’s problems may have stemmed from the divorce of his father and step-mother. Like many children of divorce, Martin seems to have begun having trouble at school, become involved with drugs, and finally graduated to violence. Eyewitness testimony, reported by ABC News, supports Zimmerman’s story that he was pinned by Martin and screamed for help. If Martin had returned to his father’s girlfriend’s home rather than turning to confront Zimmerman, regardless of who threw the first punch, he would be alive today. His anger, resulting from anger at his parents’ divorce and compounded by drug use, may have played a role in his decision not to walk away.

Bill Cosby is one of the few black leaders who is willing to speak frankly about the problems facing the black community. In a 2011 interview with the Christian Post, Cosby decried the rise in single-parent families and the “media that romanticizes criminal behavior, things that a person will say against women, profanity, being gangster, having multiple children with multiple men and women and not wanting to is prevalent.”

The way to prevent more Trayvon Martins is not banning stand-your-ground laws, guns or hoodies. Preventing the deaths of more young black men and women starts with repairing the damage to the black family, a much more difficult task than demonizing George Zimmerman. Perhaps that is why so many choose to ignore the problem.

Originally published as Atlanta Conservative Examiner

Pat Robertson endorses legal marijuana

Evangelical leader Pat Robertson shocked the nation recently when he advocated the legalization of marijuana. In an interview with the N.Y. Times, Robertson said, “I really believe we should treat marijuana the way we treat beverage alcohol. I’ve never used marijuana and I don’t intend to, but it’s just one of those things that I think: this war on drugs just hasn’t succeeded.”

Robertson said that his views on legalization formed over time as he came to realize that the U.S. “has gone overboard on this concept of being tough on crime.” He believes that legalization of marijuana would be a way to reduce social and financial costs of the drug war as well as reducing rates of incarceration.

According to the Justice Policy Institute, about one quarter of the two million prisoners in U.S. jails have been convicted of drug offenses. Sixteen percent of state prisoners and 18 percent of federal prisoners had committed crimes to get money for drugs. Department of Justice statistics show that 12 percent of prisoners at both the state and federal level were convicted of offenses involving marijuana. The number of inmates serving time for marijuana offenses is a relatively small portion of the total U.S. prison population.

Other arguments for legal marijuana cite statistics that show that states with more drug treatment admissions have lower rates of incarceration. According the Justice Policy Institute, the national average is 433.7 drug treatment admissions and 491 people incarcerated per 100,000 people in the general population. Georgia has fewer drug treatments than average at 369.28 and higher than average incarceration at 533.

Proponents of legalization also cite savings from ending the war on drugs and tax revenue from legal marijuana. It is likely that these benefits would be offset by the increased social costs of legalization as more people would use the drug if it were legal. These would include costs such as healthcare and treatment, lost productivity, auto accidents, crime, and social welfare programs according to a study by RTI International.

European countries have experimented with more liberal drug policies. The Netherlands does not enforce laws against marijuana which resulted in an international tourist trade for Amsterdam’s “coffee” shops. The government recently banned non-Dutch residents from the shops. In the Netherlands, there are strong penalties for possessing, selling, and producing drugs, but not for using. According to an article in Science, increases in use did not accompany decriminalization, but “later growth in commercial access to cannabis, after de facto legalization, was accompanied by steep increases in use, even among youth.”

A paper by the American Academy of Pediatrics examined the effects of decriminalization. The paper points out that legalization would decrease the perception of risk and make adolescents more likely to experiment with drugs. The AAP notes that even though alcohol and tobacco are illegal for minors, both drugs are widely abused by adolescents and companies actively market these products to minors.

The AAP also cites two studies by the American Medical Association and the Institute of Medicine that point out that there is no rigorous data to support the use of marijuana as a medical drug. While both studies call for more research, they note that, when smoked, marijuana delivers “harmful substances” into the body. Because inhaled marijuana cannot provide the “precisely defined drug affect” of pharmaceutical drugs, “there is very little future in smoked marijuana as a medically approved medication. If there is any future in cannabinoid development, it lies with agents of more certain, not less certain, composition.”

Far from being harmless, marijuana carries a host of negative effects for users. Emotional effects cited on About.com include paranoia, aggression, depression, anxiety, a distorted sense of time, random thinking, and loss of memory. When eaten rather than smoked, marijuana can also cause hallucinations, delusions, and disorientation. Marijuana increases the heart rate and decreases blood pressure leading to an elevated risk of heart attacks. Smoking marijuana causes the same respiratory problems as smoking tobacco and a link to cancer is suspected. The drug is also believed to suppress the body’s immune system, which can lead to other health problems including an increased risk of bacterial infections and tumors.

While marijuana is not as addictive as other drugs, including tobacco and alcohol, the National Institute of Drug Abuse found that estimated nine percent of users become dependent on marijuana. That number almost doubles for users who start young and is as high as 50 percent for daily users. Marijuana users also have higher rates of use for other drugs and drug problems than nonusers. More than half of the Americans who use illegal drugs use marijuana.

If marijuana were legalized, prices would fall as the supplies of the drug increased and became easier to obtain. Economic laws of supply and demand show that as prices fall, demand rises. Therefore it should be expected that use of marijuana would increase under decriminalization. The number of people addicted to marijuana and introduced to other drugs through marijuana would increase as well. While alcohol and tobacco are more harmful to society than marijuana today, if marijuana were legalized its negative impact on society would increase as well.

Ballot initiatives in several states are attempting to decriminalize marijuana. California voters rejected a proposition to legalize the drug in 2010, but Gov. Schwarzenegger signed a bill into law that made possession of less than an ounce a civil infraction rather than a misdemeanor. Colorado and Massachusetts are currently the forefront of attempts to decriminalize marijuana.

In Georgia, possession of less than an ounce of marijuana will normally mean probation on the first offense according to NORML. Subsequent offenses can lead to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. Possession of more than an ounce can mean 10 years in jail. According to marijuana.com, Georgia allows distribution of medical marijuana that is received from the federal government. There is no notable movement to decriminalize marijuana in Georgia.

Most other Christian leaders are not following Robertson’s lead. In a 2010 commentary, Chuck Colson of Prison Fellowship pointed out the flaws in the legalization arguments. Colson said, “There is no legitimate moral or pragmatic reason to legalize a drug that destroys the lives of those addicted to it and that fuels crime and corruption.”

Robertson told the Times, “I believe in working with the hearts of people, and not locking them up,” but he has a lot of work to do in convincing other conservatives and Christians. Several prominent conservatives and libertarians have endorsed legal marijuana in addition to Robertson, such as presidential candidate Ron Paul, talk-show host Glenn Beck and the libertarian Cato Institute. Nevertheless, while 41 percent of Americans favor legal marijuana according to a Pew poll, only 25 percent of Republicans and 33 percent of Protestants do.

Originally published on Examiner.com

http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-atlanta/pat-robertson-endorses-legal-marijuana

ACLU: Ron Paul is more progressive than Obama

Ron Paul supporters claim that Rep. Paul is the only candidate who represents a change from what they see as the almost identical policies of Presidents Obama and Bush. A closer look reveals that just the opposite is true. Not only are the policies of President Obama starkly different from those of President Bush on most issues, but the platform of Rep. Paul is almost identical to that of President Obama in many key areas. A new report card by the American Civil Liberties Union, Liberty Watch 2012, ranks Paul higher than Obama on a host of progressive and anti-war issues.

The area where President Obama and Ron Paul are the most alike is on foreign policy. Both seem to share the conviction that the United States is to blame for many of the world’s problems. Obama said in 2009 that “America has shown arrogance.” In many other statements, he has made clear his belief that the U.S. does not have the moral authority to lead the world. In a similar vein, Ron Paul stated in a 2007 presidential debate on Fox News that the 9/11 attacks were “blowback” from U.S. interference in Middle Eastern politics.

Both Paul and Obama opposed the War on Terror. In 2001, Paul voted for the Authorization to Use Military Force (H.J.R. 64) in Afghanistan, but the next year he voted against the authorization to use force against Iraq (H.J.R. 114). More recently, Paul has called for an end to U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya and would like to have the U.S. exit from the U.N.

For his part, President Obama also originally supported the war in Afghanistan while opposing the war in Iraq. In 2002, just prior to the congressional vote on Iraq, in a video on CNS News Obama said, “… After September 11th, after witnessing the carnage and destruction, the dust and the tears, I supported this administration's pledge to hunt down and root out those who would slaughter innocents in the name of intolerance, and I would willingly take up arms myself to prevent such tragedy from happening again. I don't oppose all wars.  ... What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war.”

A central part of Obama’s 2008 platform was the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. At the end of 2011, the last U.S. troops left Iraq on Obama’s orders. He is currently withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan with the last American soldier scheduled to leave in 2014 according to the New York Times. At the same time, Obama has stepped up drone attacks on terrorists, a policy which Ron Paul has criticized.

On the issue of gay rights, Ron Paul also shares similarities with President Obama. Paul was not in Congress in 1996 when Georgia’s Bob Barr (then a Republican, but now a Libertarian) sponsored the Defense of Marriage Act and President Clinton signed it into law. He did state on Fox News that he opposes a federal marriage amendment on the grounds that marriage is a religious and state issue and that the federal government should not be involved, although he did co-sponsor the Marriage Protection Act, which never became law. Paul was one of only 15 Republicans to vote for the repeal of “Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell.”

President Obama has called the Defense of Marriage Act “unconstitutional” and instructed Attorney General Holder not to defend the law against legal challenges. Obama signed the repeal of “Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell” into law, and under his authority the Pentagon permitted military chaplains to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies. Hillary Clinton, Obama’s Secretary of State has said that U.S. policy is that “gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights.”

On a number of issues, Ron Paul is even farther to the left than President Obama. President Obama recently rebuffed a petition to legalize marijuana. Ron Paul advocates an end to the drug war, which he claims is rooted in racism. In a 2011 debate on Fox News, Paul also defended the legalization of prostitution. Paul would end all foreign aid. Paul voted against the PATRIOT Act. President Obama reauthorized the law in May 2011.

Ron Paul has criticized President Obama for the targeted killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen who was a senior recruiter and theological leader of al Qaeda. Paul believes that Awlaki should have been given due process, even though he was beyond the reach of the American legal system in Yemen when he was killed in 2011.

Paul is also the only candidate of either party who does not believe that Iran’s nuclear program poses a threat to world peace. On December 30, 2011, Paul told ABC News that “they [the Iranians] don’t threaten our national security,” in spite of the recent revelations of an Iranian plot to plant a bomb in a Washington, D.C. restaurant. President Obama has called a nuclear Iran “unacceptable” and pursued sanctions as a means of isolating that country. Ron Paul calls these sanctions an “act of war.”

Rep. Paul and President Obama travel on two different ideological roads, but they often reach the same destination. Often Paul is farther down the road than Obama. Perhaps that explains why more members of Occupy Atlanta favored Ron Paul than Obama.

 

Read this article on Examiner.com:

 

http://www.examiner.com/elections-2012-in-atlanta/aclu-ron-paul-is-more-progressive-than-obama

A world without America

The President awoke with a start. His head swam for a moment as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and tried to remember where he was. He was in his bedroom in the White House, of course, but what had awakened him? As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw a dim figure standing beside his bed.

Not recognizing the man, he tensed. “Who are you? Who let you in here?” he demanded. Where was the Secret Service when you needed them?

He could see more clearly now. The man was an elderly white man dressed in an old suit, bow tie and fedora. Tufts of white hair could be seen under his hat. At the sight of his kind and friendly face, the President relaxed somewhat.

The man began to speak in quiet tones. “Well, good morning, Mr. President. Don’t worry. I’m not here to hurt you. But don’t worry about calling for help. You are the only one who can see or hear me.”

“Who are you?” demanded the President again.

“Why, I’m an angel. Name’s Clarence. Don’t you recognize me?” the man replied.

“Is this some kind of joke?” the President barked. The man did look like the angel from that old movie. But that would be crazy.

“No joke, Mr. President. You are being given a gift. My Boss saw your interview last night. The one where you said that America is exceptional in the same way that the British believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism. You told the interviewer that the US is arrogant. My Boss thinks you see your country as international bully.”

The President thought before he spoke. “Well, that is somewhat true. This country is just a country. I love this country, but it is no better or special than any other country. In fact, we’ve done a lot worse than many countries. We’re imperialists and our corporations spread greed and misery around the globe. We almost annihilated the Native Americans. And, what’s more, if I lived a hundred and fifty years ago, I might well be a slave. Why the world would probably be a better place if America never existed. There would be more peace and stability in the world.”

Clarence smiled, “Well, that’s the gift that I brought you. You and I are going to see what the world would be like if the United States of America had never existed. Are you ready to fly?”

“Fly? I didn’t think you had wings,” the President replied. “Besides, I think I’d better stay here. I don’t want to upset the Secret Service.

“Oh yes,” Clarence answered. “I got my wings years ago. I’m an excellent flyer now. And don’t worry! We’ll be back before anybody knows you’re gone.”

Clarence snapped his fingers and suddenly he and the President are flying through the night. The President realized that somehow he is now dressed in his suit and tie. Both men were wearing overcoats against the cold night wind.

After a short flight, they arrived in a bleak war-torn city. It looked to the President like the fighting has passed long ago, but its effects were never fully erased. Soldiers patrolled the streets while civilians carefully avoided them as much as possible. The President saw soldiers taking handcuffed civilians from an apartment building to waiting trucks.

“Where are we?” he asked.

“This is one of many cities in this shape in Europe,” Clarence answered. “It doesn’t matter which one. These countries have been fought over repeatedly in twentieth century. Do you realize that the United States has saved the free world no less than three times in the past hundred years?”

The President answered, “You’re talking about World War I and II. I know history. But there was no third world war.”

“Wasn’t there?” Clarence asked. “You’re right that the United States arrived just in time to break the deadlock of WWI. Then, in WWII, it entered late again before riding to the rescue. Before entering WWII formally, the US still provided aid to England and Russia through the Lend-Lease Act that enabled them to survive until the US entered the war.

“But don’t discount the Cold War. Stalin would have taken Europe – and as much of the rest of the world as he could – just as Hitler tried to do. It was the United States that kept the communists in check, mostly through peaceful means, but occasionally through military action. Even with America countering them, the communists killed far more people than the Nazis. Imagine the horror if America had not existed.

Clarence went on, “Without the United States, not only was there no force to tip the scales against the armies of darkness, there would also have been no aid to rebuild Europe. The American military prevented ruthless dictatorships from sending their armies and secret police to crack down on the people who lived here. The American Marshall Plan provided money to help rebuild the wreckage of Europe. Without America, there is no freedom here. There is only poverty and fear.”

“Okay,” said the President. “I admit that our help was valuable against the Germans and the Russians, but we’ve lost our way today. We are engaged in imperialist wars and globalism that we created is causing problems around the world. Remember Abu Graibh?”

“That’s not quite true, Mr. President,” Clarence answered gently. “Both the wars that we are fighting now are really part of one war. It is a struggle against Muslim extremists. These people are like the Nazis and communists in that they have no respect for human life and are bent on control of the world. Resisting them is protecting the world just as surely as fighting Hitler was.

“Abu Graibh was a terrible tragedy,” he went on, “but torture was not part of US policy. Even waterboarding was only used on very few prisoners and then only when time was of the essence in order to prevent attacks and save lives. Now, let’s go fly again.”

From the bleak police state, Clarence and the President traveled to a small jungle village. The men are no longer wearing their coats. In the jungle heat, their shirt sleeves are rolled up, though they still wear ties.

The President noted the flimsy huts. The villagers wear threadbare, tattered clothing and most have no shoes. Their gaunt frames show that food is in short supply. The President hears wailing and turns to see villagers bearing the body of a small child, ready for burial.

“What is this place?” the President asked, shaken at the sight of the dead child.

“This is one of thousands of villages around the world,” Clarence answered. “That child could have been saved if America existed.

“American farmers help to feed the world,” said Clarence. “If the United States existed here, these people might not be starving. The US is one of the largest agricultural producers in the world. It is a top producer of most major food crops. When there is a disaster, much of this food goes to those in need. Remember the famines in Ethiopia and Somalia, the Southeast Asian tsunami, and the Haitian earthquake? American food and aid was there.

“America didn’t just bring food and medicine, though,” Clarence continued. “American ingenuity has led to countless inventions to raise the standard of living around the world. These American ideas make life easier as well as save lives around in villages like this. When the miners were trapped in Chile, it was American companies that made the mining equipment that helped to rescue them.

“Without America, many medicines are never invented. Twelve of the top twenty pharmaceutical companies in the world are American. Admittedly, these medicines cost money. Without earning money for its products, the drug companies couldn’t research new medicines. But to balance that out, Americans are the most generous people on Earth. America gives more to charity than any other country. The second-place nation gives less than half of America’s contributions.

“On top of that, Americans volunteer at a rate higher than almost any other country. Many of these volunteers are part of religious groups that raise their own support to come to small villages in every corner of the world to teach children, build bridges, show more efficient agriculture techniques, or help the natives reduce disease through modern sanitation,” Clarence said.

“But what about the greedy multinational corporations?” the President blurted.

“Globalization has been good for the world’s poor,” Clarence answered. Much of the world is still poor, but the countries that take part in the world economy have better standards of living, better schooling, and longer life spans than those who don’t. American multinational corporations could be providing jobs for these villagers. The best welfare is a good job. What seems like a low wage to westerners can be a huge boon to family in a third world country.

“What you see as greed is in most Americans a drive to better themselves. They want to work hard to make a better life for their families. American ingenuity is comprised of a competitive streak to find a better, cheaper way to do business. When businesses are successful, they provide jobs for others to support themselves and their families. The money made and paid by businesses also fuels more charity.”

“But you never answered my original points,” the President objected. “This is still a racist country that enslaved Africans and killed Native Americans. We are imperialists who have attacked peaceful nations for oil.”

Clarence shook his head sadly. “No, America is not racist, though there are racists who live there. Slavery was a fact of life around the world for centuries. In fact, it was Americans who banded together to form the first anti-slavery society in the world. Long before slavery was banned in the America, the US Navy was trying to stop the slave trade.

“The Indian wars were tragic also, but again were not a uniquely American evil,” Clarence said. “All around the world, ‘civilized’ nations collided with natives and the natives always lost. At least in America, there were always people who tried to assimilate the Indians, rather than kill them. And don’t forget that the Indians were fighting among themselves long before the white settlers arrived.

“As far as imperialism, the United States has never been much of an imperial power,” Clarence said. “Oh, there have been a few presidents who thought otherwise, but generally American soldiers leave a conquered country better than they found it. They go where they are sent, and they aren’t sent to peaceful nations. When the fighting is over, they rebuild what was destroyed, train a new army and government, set the country on the course to democracy, then leave, keeping only enough territory to bury their dead.”

As he finished speaking, Clarence again snapped his fingers and the President was suddenly back in his White House bedroom. He looked down and realized that he was back in his pajamas. As he looked around the dark room, he saw the sleeping form of the First Lady. The White House was quiet. There were no alarms, no frantic activity. Clarence had been right. He had not been missed.

Clarence still stood before the President. He looked at the President with serious eyes. “I hope that you have seen a different side to your country. It has been a special nation in history and in the eyes of my Boss.”

“Yes,” the President nodded. “I see it with different eyes now.”

“Good,” Clarence nodded approvingly, “because I have another gift for you. The Boss gave me a special message for you. He wants you to know that He has special plans for America. I don’t know what they are -I’m not privy to that- but He is keeping a close eye on you. You will be facing some big decisions in the next few years. Don’t forget that you can talk to the Boss anytime. Good luck.”

With that, Clarence gave the President a cheery wave and disappeared like smoke being dispersed by the wind. The President stood for a moment, staring at the empty space that Clarence had occupied a few seconds before.

Gradually, he stirred himself to movement and walked across the room to an intercom. He pressed the button and said “hello” into the box.

A voice at the other end answered, “Yes, Mr. President? You’re up late this evening.”

“I couldn’t sleep,” the President replied. “Please send in some coffee. I think I’m going to be up for a while rewriting that Veteran’s Day speech for tomorrow. Those guys don’t get nearly enough credit.”

==

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real people is coincidental.