The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

Freddie Worthen’s Volusia County judgeship is over because the law says, at 70, it’s his turn to retire.

The time for new generations to take over has come, but Worthen says he’s not sure upcoming generations are prepared.

Worthen was the first black man in the job, appointed by former Gov. Bob Martinez in 1989.

Before that, Worthen picked oranges and worked in the fern fields during his youth, entered college at 14, served in the Army for 20 years, then earned his law degree. He worked as a lawyer and finally served as a judge for 15 years.

Worthen says from his dealings with young people today, “we don’t do a good job in teaching our children about how the government works.”

“They should know basically that the legislature makes the laws, the executive office enforces it and the court interprets it,” Worthen says. “They don’t understand the rights they have.” (more…)

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This judge does touch on something that I have noticed for some time. With all the social organizations that target black youth, I have rarely seen an organization train kids on how the government actually works. There seems to be too much focus on social-type rights (the right to a good education, the right to health care, etc.) and not enough emphasis on the infrastructure of the government.

In many ways, I feel that this is intentional because it keeps black people in a perpetual state of ignorance where black folk have to rely on “leaders” to make political decisions for them (what other people group have you heard of having “leaders”?). If the NRA (National Rifle Association) were to give an organization like the NAACP a huge donation (something that they are in desperate need of today), I assure you that the NAACP would soften its approach on gun control. The ACLU is one of many examples of organizations that have bankrolled our so-called “leadership”.

This is also why someone like Donna Brazile is highly alarmed to see Republicans aggressively go after the black vote for a change. I won’t go as far to say that she wants to keep black folk ignorant, however, she does want to eliminate other political options for the people she claims to lead (same difference). If she really had nothing but the best of intentions for black folk, then she would celebrate the fact that the days where the black vote has been taken for granted are fading fast. Instead, she decides to tote the party line over black progress.

So much for this type of black “leadership”.

If you know of any organization that teaches black youth about the inner-workings of government, please forward that info to me and I will post it on this site.