Issues

ABORTION

Ruff is pro-life. We believe that human life begins at conception, and that no one has the right to terminate a pregnancy, except where it's necessary to save the life of the mother. Abortion disproportionately affects the Black community, with at least 1/3 of all Black pregnancies ending in abortion. Until abortion can be eliminated, we can make gradual progress by fighting for reasonable limitations. An example of such a limitation is parental notification for minors. In Illinois there is no law requiring that a minor's parents be notified before that minor receives an abortion. Ruff encourages voters to support candidates who support parental notification for minor abortions. To learn more about abortion and its effects on the Black community, visit the website below:
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BUSINESS

Ruff supports Black entrepreneurship. Government assistance should be used only when necessary. However, it's necessary more than many people realize. Ruff recognizes that in their quest to become entrepreneurs, Blacks face racial discrimination that Whites do not have to contend with. One of government's duties is to aggressively remove barriers erected by racial discrimination. One such barrier is redlining by banks. Redlining denies its victims equal access to capital, and in a capitalistic society, such a denial puts the victims at an unfair disadvantage in the marketplace. 

A recent study released in April 2006, entitled "Not For Lack Of Trying: American Entrepreneurship In Black And White", found that Blacks start businesses at
twice the rate that Whites do, but have higher failure rates than Whites. The study concluded that Black entrepreneurs face "barriers to entry" that Whites do not face. The laws needed to counter redlining are already on the books. We must now have the political will to enforce them. Ruff calls on those who believe that Blacks should become more self-reliant to support those candidates and policies that aggressively remove racial discriminatory barriers from the path of would-be Black entrepreneurs.
 
Not For Want of Trying:
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CRIME

 Ruff believes in law and order. One of governments duties is to protect its citizens from criminals who prey on innocent people. Unfortunately, criminals sometimes carry a badge and a gun. This in an unfortunate truth that the Black community knows all too well. So, Ruff supports enforcing the law on both civilians and law enforcement. The police should not be permitted to discriminate in their enforcement of the law, neither should government adopt unnecessary policies that have discriminatory effects against racial minorities. 2 examples of racially discriminatory policies are racial profiling and our current war on drugs. Blacks are still stopped more than any other racial group. Because of current federal drug laws relative to crack cocaine v. powder cocaine, Blacks are disproportionately incarcerated. While Blacks consume 12% of the nations illegal drugs, we account for over 60% of drug convictions. There are more Black men in prison than in college. Our current drug policy is razing the Black community. Ruff supports alternatives to today's war on drugs, and encourages voters to support those candidates and policies that promote racial equality within the criminal justice system.

Current drug policy has led to mass imprisonment of young Black men:
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EDUCATION

Ruff supports school vouchers to give parents more educational choices for their children. Several studies reveal that most Black parents support vouchers, though most Black leaders oppose them. Teachers unions also oppose vouchers. Ironically, one of the strongest arguments in favor of vouchers comes from the choices of public school teachers themselves. In several of
Americas big cities, up to 40% of public school teachers send their own children to private schools. So, if public schools aren't good enough for the children of public school teachers, then why should low-income parents be forced to send their children there? The Chicago Archdiocese was recently forced to close several of its schools in large part due to declining
enrollment. Most of the schools that were closed were in Black and Latino neighborhoods. Without vouchers, most of those parents simply can't afford to give their children the high-quality private education they desire. Ruff encourages voters to support candidates who support school vouchers.

1) Most Blacks support vouchers, yet most Black leaders oppose them:
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2) Public school teachers are twice as likely to send their own children to private school as the general population.

3) In February 2005 the Chicago Archdiocese announces it will close 23 of its schools due to budget shortfalls and declining enrollment:
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EMPLOYMENT

Ruff believes that employment opportunities should be awarded to the best qualified individual, regardless of race, religion, gender or national origin. That is part of the American dream. And so far it is just that-a dream, because racial discrimination in employment, against Black men in particular, is still rampant. So acute is this discrimination, that it's easier for a White man with a felony conviction to get a job than an equally qualified Black man with no criminal record. Few people realize that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits racial discrimination (and other forms of
discrimination) by employers who have 15 or more employees. That means that companies with 14 or fewer employees are legally entitled to engage in racial discrimination. Compounding the problems of frequency of discrimination and incomplete coverage against small employers, is added the bias employment discrimination victims face in court. 

Unfortunately, many in our society, including judges and jurors, believe that employment discrimination is a thing of the past. This false belief causes them to refuse to believe that employment discrimination is going on, and studies show that judges and jurors hold employment discrimination plaintiffs to a higher and more demanding standard in court than other plaintiffs are held to. Ruff believes that employment discrimination is so pervasive and so costly to victims to win in court, that some form of affirmative action is necessary to fix the problem.

1) White male convicts land jobs easier than Black men with no criminal record:
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2) Civil Rights laws do not prohibit racial discrimination by employers with less than 15 employees:

3) Employment discrimination victims face uphill battle in court.
SAME SEX MARRIAGE

Ruff opposes gay marriage. We believe that marriage is supposed to be between a man and a woman. Ruff believes that a fair and balanced review of the available evidence does not support the argument that homosexuality is genetically determined. We believe that homosexuality is learned behavior. And what can be learned can also be unlearned. Homosexuality is particularly
damaging to the Black community. The rate of HIV infection for Black women is over 20 times higher than White women, and most Black women with HIV got it from heterosexual sex with Black men-many of whom got it from having unprotected sex with other Black men. These Black men do not consider themselves gay or bisexual-they say they just like having sex with other men. This is known as the DL (down low). 

The effects of rampant racism has depleted the pool of available Black men, meaning that most Black women will never get married. Ruff agrees with those conservatives that stand up against the glamorization and normalization of homosexuality. However, we believe that merely condemning homosexuality is insufficient. We must also address the causes of homosexuality. For Black men in particular, the high rates of imprisonment, where many are involuntary introduced to homosexual activity, is an area of concern. Moreover, one of the consequences of racism has been to emasculate Black men: the traditional male roles of protector and provider have never been a reality for most Black men. 

A man that can't get a decent paying job or has a criminal record, or is addicted to drugs, is not an attractive marriage partner. We would never expect White women to be eager to marry such men, and we should not expect it of Black women. Assuming that homosexuality is learned behavior, we must do what is necessary to help Black male homosexuals unlearn it. We must give them back their social testacies. That can be done by removing, or at least significantly decreasing the racism that makes it difficult for Black men to fulfill the traditional male roles of
provider and protector. The areas that need the most attention to de-emasculate Black men are employment discrimination and the criminal justice system. Ruff encourages voters to support those candidates that advocate policies that support Black masculinity.

1) Homosexuality is learned behavior:

2) HIV infection rate for Black women is epidemic due to Black male homosexual activity:
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3) Black male shortage means many Black women will never marry:
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VOTING RIGHTS

Ruff supports the Voting Rights Act, including its provisions that require federal oversight of certain Southern states with a history of disenfranchising Black voters. Currently, some Republicans have openly opposed the foreign language requirements of the Voting Rights Act. Ruff believes that English is the common language that binds us as Americans, and those who wish to receive the benefits of being American citizens should be able to read and write in English. Thus, Ruff disapproves of ballots being printed in any language other than English.

However, a cautionary word is appropriate here. Our nation is currently embroiled in not just the issue of renewing the Voting Rights Act, but we're also debating immigration reform at a time when most immigrants come from Mexico and are Spanish-speaking. Ruff is sensitive to
issues of racial discrimination, so we must take care to let our Mexican citizens know that our insistence on English only is intended to speed the assimilation of Mexicans into American society, not to exclude Mexicans or any other group from American society. Ruff would oppose a proposal to print ballots in Swahili with the same vigor that we oppose them being printed in Spanish. 

Race and language are not the same, and Ruff regrets that some politicians are attempting to blur that distinction for political gain. Ruff is mindful that most Blacks in the world outside of Africa are Hispanic: 90% of Brazil's 188M people would be classified as Black in America (that would be just over 169M people), as would 62% of Cuba's 11M people (that would be over 6M people). In America, Blacks are just under 13% of the overall population of 298M-that would be just under 39M people. Ruff is believes that America should be open to all races of people, but we should be bound by a common language-English.

1) Basic information about the Voting Rights Act:
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2) Debate over foreign language ballots delays renewal of Voting Rights Act:
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3) Brazil has more Blacks than any country outside of Africa:
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4) Racial demographics for most countries in the world can be found at:
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