We the People, In Order to Form A More Perfect Union....

Listen up people. Stop that whining and sniveling about the inauguration.  Shake off the weight and oppression of despair and depression. We can't afford a collective nervous breakdown, wringing our hands and wailing in disbelief. We are here now. GET UP!!! HAVE YOUR CONSTITUTION, SHOWER AND A GOOD BREAKFAST!!! Put on the air of authority and your armor of conviction.

TODAY is day one, ground zero of the march to the 2018 and 2020 elections to reclaim the progress that we made over the last eight years. We cannot go back, there is no "go back" for us. And now, we need to put our collective shoulders to the plow and forge ahead. We cannot sit down and have a pity party. Extreme oppression is nothing new, it has been here all along. Many are shocked and devastated by how ugly it is, how blatant it is and pervasive it is, but it is what it is. And now that your blinders are off, don't forget it. Know it and know that in order to change this entire schism, we have to get busy, starting with today. We have a great and compelling cause which is the saving of our nation from these tyrants for not only ourselves, but for future generations as well. Put on your kickass boots because we may find ourselves as the ground troops of the war to save our great nation.

That means EVERYBODY has to be registered to vote and VOTE. That means EVERYBODY has to raise hell with our elected officials BEFORE they vote on legislation. That means holding ALL of our elected officials accountable at the local, state and national levels. That means if you are interested in SERVING you need to get off the sidelines, prepare yourself, qualify yourself and JUMP IN!! Ok, I get it, you are angry because you had been hoodwinked into comfortability and complacency and thought that we had made permanent progress.  We made significant progress, but many people did not have the skills, the training, the education, the where with all to make the same sort of progress and they are angry.  They think that your progress is at their expense.  It is sooooo much easier to blame you and me than to look in the mirror and admit that they have failed themselves.  That because their gamble in taking a job at the mill or the factory failed them. They are pissed off  that now it is obvious that they did need education to get ahead, or a trade, or military service or something other than just a dead end job that has now been eliminated by a machine.  And they are angry that they are middle aged, ill prepared and now are too tired, to ill, to ignorant, to poor, to weary to do the hustle necessary to change their life trajectory. 

But that is not our problem, our problem is that we don't want to have to fight.  We don't.  We want all of the fighting to be behind us.  We are tired too.  We are frustrated and angry that here we are 30, 40 years later and still having to fight the same fight, which appears even bigger and more ominous than when we were young and strong and invincible. . We have to fight the same fight over and over because democracy is not a static institution.  It is ever evolving and as it evolves there are those who repeatedly seek to take rights away from you and from me that they demand for themselves and take for granted.  What we want is to coast and be able to "enjoy" the fruits of our labor and the early investment in the American dream program.  But, to"enjoy" it, you have to keep working at it. Every day there are attacks on our civil liberties, our right to exist and to be treated with decency, our right to a piece of the pie. And attacks on our right to sit at the table or just to a place in the sun just like everybody else. And that is where we find ourselves TODAY.

Ok, so by hook and crook, Donald Trump got elected as president. It is not the end of the world..  We have survived far greater travesties, from genocide, the slave trade, slavery, the Holocaust, Jim Crow and any number of  other atrocities. So what that skirmish was lost to Trump and his minions. As my mother, the late Rev. Dr. Beatrice D. Woodson Luther would say, as she said to me whenever things weren't going like I wanted, "the race is not won necessarily by the swift, but by they that persevere." And persevere we must!! We gotta suck it up, swear about how unfair it is, and get busy trying to form a more perfect union, in our lifetimes. Let's get in gear, and let's go people!!!! IJS

Living in the New Millieum Jim Crow

This post below was written in 2014.  As I published the blog Revisiting Jim Crow, I saw it and it poignant reality is now worse..... It warrants reading.......

It has been a really long time since I wrote a blog.  There are so many reasons, but one of the main reasons is I have been observing, reeling while observing, but observing none the less the rising tide of overt racism and abuse toward our president.  I had no intention of speaking about it again, as I have talked about it here in the past.  I had hoped that with each passing day the rhetoric would decrease, but just the opposite has happened.  Each passing day, there is new and more vitriolic onslaught against our president.  And when I think about it, really think about it, it makes me sick, just makes me want to puke because none of it is warranted. From the moment our president was elected, the racial atmosphere, the "race" dynamics have been riveted by a tidal wave, no a tsunami of epic proportion.  And actually, let me be candid, it did not start when he got elected.  It started when he threw his hat into the ring. Let's for a moment, let me get it all out here on the table.  Because you see, I don't believe we can solve is dynamical problem unless we address it for what it really is, and what it really is, a problem with equal respect for African Americans or Black people.  And the problem is not isolated to people who are not African Americans or Black people, it is a problem that many African American or Black people have as well.  So, before you say oh she is doing a piece to bash Caucasians, you are dead wrong.  I don't need or intend to bash Caucasians or any other group.  I am reflecting on the disrespect hurled daily at Black people and make no mistake, it is not exclusive to Caucasians.  It is a universal, equal opportunity disdain and disrespect for Black people.

Revisiting Jim Crow.....................

I have been trying not to get into a diatribe about the election. God knows I am trying. But now, I have to get some of this out because if I don't I am likely to go off on somebody in one of the outlying counties when that loathing that was being masked is directly in my face. Ignorance is not bliss. Not for the ignorant nor for the person subjected to the ignorance.

I am deeply disturbed by how incredibly ignorant people are. Fifth graders have a greater understanding of the function of the different branches of government and the constitution. As I have followed the debate and political discourse over the last few months I am just amazed, AMAZED, at how little one of the candidates knows about the functions, powers and limitations of the different branches of government. And I am amazed beyond amazed....stupefied, yeah, stupefied that one candidate has no idea what the constitution says, what the preamble says, and what the amendments really say and or how the amendments have been interpreted. Tragically, that candidate has the ear of so many Americans.

And, it appears to be willful ignorance. And the ignorance is not limited to the branches of government, the constitution or the office being sought, it is willful ignorance about so many things that it makes my head spin. The preamble says "we the people, in order to form a more perfect union". It doesn't say perfect, but instead says more perfect. We are striving for a greater perfection of our union. It has not been perfect from the beginning. It has been besieged with problems, human failures and political problems. But we are striving for better, not worse. Not a return to the days of the 50s and 60s.

And for me, it appears that is where we are headed, backwards. The hateful rhetoric that is blasting on the airwaves, in the media, and everywhere is not reminiscent of a gentler time. It is the language of an explosive period in our history as a country where brutal mistakes were made in race relations. And no our President didn't ruin race relations in this country. The relations were never good, they were tolerable, but never good. And, all of the vitriol being spewed was there, under the surface, while the same folks who are now spewing it, were thinking it and perpetrating that we have overcome.

And then, to have a candidate using the same hate speech as a part of his campaign is horrific to me. He would be representing our country on the world stage!!!! Ignorance on full display everywhere he goes!!!! Seriously? My Mama, God rest her soul, always said it is better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. Are we really ready to be the laughing stock of the entire world? All of the great work of our founding fathers, our forefathers, our great leaders of the last century - obliterated by a caricature of a man - mocking greatness and revealing himself to be a buffoon. I had to say something. I have had this billowing up inside of me for months!!!!

Hillary is a person who made decisions that were not popular and in many instances straight up bad. But she is a person, a person who made some imperfect decisions. I know that I have never been able to make all of the right decisions all of the time. And notwithstanding whether or not she made imperfect decisions, when I look at her entire record, I find that the good outweighs the bad. If you don't know, I do divorce work for a living and often times I have my clients list the good and the bad stuff about the spouse as an exercise. It is a good exercise for relationships period. If the good outweighs the bad on the list, then the relationship is one worth having and salvaging.

That is where I am with Hillary. The good outweighs the bad when I look at the total herstory. No, she is not perfect, but at the bare minimum she is not ignorant, she understand the function, power and limitations of the different branches of government. She understands the Constitution and she recognizes that we the people are working toward the ideal "form a more perfect union". Those good things alone, put her legions ahead of the other candidate and when you add the rest of her good stuff from her legacy, she is not the lesser of two evil, she is the greater good. And I never expected to revisit the dark days of Jim Crow in my lifetime.

Father's Day Musing............

First I want to say Happy Father's Day to all the fathers!!!! And as they say in the church, First giving honor to God, who is my Heavenly Father, my earthly Father Rev. Lucius C. Luther, and Papa Jack, my Godfather, I want to just take a few moments to muse about fathers. 

I loved my dad, all of his qualities, the good and the bad.  He has gone on to be with his heavenly Father, but he left his legacy in my face, in my heart, and the indelible imprint in my life.  He was the best dad he knew how to be and he loved his children, all of them.  Our trip to the fairgrounds, just he and I, to make up for something that he realized he had wrong.  Silly things he did like making you hunt for the hidden coin when he came home, jumping out of that Campbell 66 rig, or pulling that trick to make smoke come out his eyes with the cigar.  I celebrate his life and contributions to mine today.  I still go to a tobacconist from time to time to walk into a humidor just to smell the aroma of cigars, because it reminds me of my daddy. So honor and praises to you today daddy, Happy Father's Day!

I don't intend to spend this note with a lot of sentimental nostalgic memory lane stuff about my dad.  Just bear with me for a moment because I am focused on fathers today, by the media, by the calendar, by my own internal light.  You see, I know a lot of really great fathers like Dwight, Nate, Ron, Von, Tommy, Donald, Terrance, and Daw'u, just to name a few.  I know almost as many not so great fathers, who I shall not name.  But one of the thoughts that keeps coming to me, is the kind of father our children need, is a father like the President of these United States, Father Barack Obama.  I am just so enamored by the level of involvement he has with his children, notwithstanding having one of the most demanding jobs in the world.  So, then I started trying to figure out what it is for me, that speaks so profoundly to me about their relationship, and I get it.  It is the time, the appearance of care, the appearance of nurturing, the open affection and the personal investment in their development that strikes and resonates with me.  The pictures of time with the kids, of activities with the kids, even something as simple as watching tv with them, all hugged up.  The pictures of him coaching a daughter's athletic team or playing with them in the park, dinner with his family, com'on, you got to admit they are great warm fuzzy photos.  And what I really love are all the pictures from long before he was running for office, long before he was a senator, long before he was the president.  He said it, I believe he meant it, and I believe he has it right: Being a father is the most important job I have ever had.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think that he walks on water as a father.  I think he is setting an example for the country, and particularly African American fathers, what it really looks like and means to be a father.  And again, don't get me wrong, he is learning as he goes along, fumbling and bumbling along the way all while investing all that he can think to invest, doing all that he can think to do, making it up as he goes along, and being the best father he can imagine being.  And I say being the best father he can imagine being because as he said at the commencement at Morehouse, he didn't have a role model in his father.  His father was substantially absent in his life.  But look how he turned out, he turned out pretty good, absentee father and all.  Just imagine, if it is even conceivable, how much more he might have been with an exemplary father there in his life day in and day out, reaffirming that he was loved, a valuable human being, a brilliant child, an awesome person and a gift from God.  Think what that would do for all the children with absentee fathers.  

Now before all this makes you ill, let me just say, its important, because just as we celebrate Father's Day today, we have to celebrate our fathers who are really doing the work of parenting and fathering day in and day out.  And I count our President among them.  And you know, given the statistics and the media attention to the lack of or rather the perceived lack of fathering taking place among African American men, it is refreshing and awe inspiring to watch as the President tries to get it right.  It's not just the time and investment thing that gets me, its the grace under fire, the tempered and respectfulness when disagreeing with someone, it is the enduring patience and the honor toward women.  All of those things add to the almost mysticism of our President living out loud his perception of what it means to be a father. When I think back to my history lessons, from long ago, and search my recent memories of stories in the press, I can't think of even one other glaring example, and I mean glaring, example of fatherhood that has been so scrutinized, examined, dissected, and analyzed.  And yet, even with all that scrutiny he still stands tall and exemplifies what a father role model looks like.   So to all of the fabulous fathers like the President, today and tomorrow, and all of the fathers trying to be that kind of father, I say: Happy Fabulous Wonderful and many other Superlative Father's Day!!!!!! And to the rest, I wish you Happy Father's Day and another day to work at trying to get it right, in my lifetime!!!

This is a reprint from the original blog at blogstream August 27, 2008......

 

 

As I watched and listened to Hillary Clinton last night, I was deeply moved by her conviction and commitment to the Democratic party. First of all she looked absolutely fabulous, and the color of her suit complemented her skin and her energy exceedingly well. I am a Hillary supporter. I voted for her in thew primaries. I rallied for her when she threw her hat into the ring. In 2003, when Kerry was nominated, I wanted to know why wasn't Hillary considered as a candidate. In case you are not clear, I like Hillary Clinton. I love her resilience. I admire her tenacity. And I applaud her resoluteness. You are wondering what I mean by resoluteness, I applaud her ability to resolve the issue surrounding infidelity in her marriage by looking at the big picture, beyond the immediate pain, to the road ahead. She took the "for better or worse" part of the wedding vows and gave them freshness like no one else could. And she didn't go on a whirlwind of talkshow engagements to discuss the dirty laundry between her and her husband in microscopic detail. She suffered in public, and even winced and cried in public, but she did not vilify him, crucify him, or gut him in public. Instead, she took a rather stoic position and analyzed everything about the implications, the conduct, and the impact on her future, and resolved the issue for herself, looking ahead. It was that decision, that brought us to where we were last night. Before us stood, the most spectacular female candidate for the office of the Presidency. Spectacular because she is brilliant, capable, articulate, a U. S. citizen, over the age of 35, with national political experience who should have been the nominee, but folks took issue with her husband and her still being married to him. It is that double speak, gobbledy gook that makes me crazy about politics. Newt Gingrich with his multiple marries brought on by multiple affairs, McCain with his multiple marriages, and the list goes on. The Conservative movement thumping bibles and rebel rousing about Christian values, when a woman sticks to her core Christian values, and honors her commitment to God and does not divorce her husband over his human frailty and infidelity, attempts to assassinate her in the press and says she lacked strength. Well, last night, was wonderful. Hillary Clinton gave you the "what for" that I knew was in her. Some commentators and pundits have said, she is not an orator. What I know is whether she is an orator or not, she put her personal feeling aside and pitch the "Obama for President" team a perfect hit. Sure she not have done all that everyone thought she should do, but on the heals of painfully and narrowly failing to become the presumptive nominee, I think she did a fabulous job. And, I am deeply exhilarated by the sheer awesomeness of this woman, pert near becoming the nominee of the Democratic Party for President of the United States of America, in my lifetime.......

This is a reprint from the original blog at blogstream August 27, 2008......

 

 

As I watched and listened to Hillary Clinton last night, I was deeply moved by her conviction and commitment to the Democratic party. First of all she looked absolutely fabulous, and the color of her suit complemented her skin and her energy exceedingly well. I am a Hillary supporter. I voted for her in thew primaries. I rallied for her when she threw her hat into the ring. In 2003, when Kerry was nominated, I wanted to know why wasn't Hillary considered as a candidate. In case you are not clear, I like Hillary Clinton. I love her resilience. I admire her tenacity. And I applaud her resoluteness. You are wondering what I mean by resoluteness, I applaud her ability to resolve the issue surrounding infidelity in her marriage by looking at the big picture, beyond the immediate pain, to the road ahead. She took the "for better or worse" part of the wedding vows and gave them freshness like no one else could. And she didn't go on a whirlwind of talkshow engagements to discuss the dirty laundry between her and her husband in microscopic detail. She suffered in public, and even winced and cried in public, but she did not vilify him, crucify him, or gut him in public. Instead, she took a rather stoic position and analyzed everything about the implications, the conduct, and the impact on her future, and resolved the issue for herself, looking ahead. It was that decision, that brought us to where we were last night. Before us stood, the most spectacular female candidate for the office of the Presidency. Spectacular because she is brilliant, capable, articulate, a U. S. citizen, over the age of 35, with national political experience who should have been the nominee, but folks took issue with her husband and her still being married to him. It is that double speak, gobbledy gook that makes me crazy about politics. Newt Gingrich with his multiple marries brought on by multiple affairs, McCain with his multiple marriages, and the list goes on. The Conservative movement thumping bibles and rebel rousing about Christian values, when a woman sticks to her core Christian values, and honors her commitment to God and does not divorce her husband over his human frailty and infidelity, attempts to assassinate her in the press and says she lacked strength. Well, last night, was wonderful. Hillary Clinton gave you the "what for" that I knew was in her. Some commentators and pundits have said, she is not an orator. What I know is whether she is an orator or not, she put her personal feeling aside and pitch the "Obama for President" team a perfect hit. Sure she not have done all that everyone thought she should do, but on the heals of painfully and narrowly failing to become the presumptive nominee, I think she did a fabulous job. And, I am deeply exhilarated by the sheer awesomeness of this woman, pert near becoming the nominee of the Democratic Party for President of the United States of America, in my lifetime.......

Who will step up after the death of the lion......

This is a reprint from blogstream August 30, 2009.......

Today was a solemn day.  As I watched the funeral services for Ted Kennedy, I was deeply saddened all the way to my soul.  It was a beautiful and moving service, especially the Ava Maria, and the eulogy.  But the sadness started earlier in the week with the announcement of the death of Ted Kennedy.  A regal giant of a man, Mufasa, had gone on and then there was silence....Loud silence, because there were no voices big enough to fill up the sound of his thunderous voice.  Loud silence, because there are no leaders in training with the charisma, character, and presence to fill the space Ted Kennedy had occupied. Loud silence, because there are no more warriors like him prepared to command the floor of not just the senate, but the steps of the nation on issues that are not popular.  Ted Kennedy, like his brothers, championed many causes that were not popular, which he believed in, and stayed the course to see those causes become living breathing parts of his vision of America. I saw Ted Kennedy as one of the last remaining Civil Rights Champions of our era....and he left work for us to continue to champion, universal health care and equal human rights for gays and lesbians.  In the majestic splendor and beauty of the service, the silence was almost drowned out, for a few brief moments.  Amid the platitudes, accolades, and the eulogy the silence was less loud, but as the service drew to a close, and the weight that Ted Kennedy carried on his shoulders was spread among the attendants at the service, again the silence grew loud.  Because, who will step up to take up his cross.  These are unpopular issues.  These issues make people uncomfortable, because they challenge one group’s right to access at the expense or to the detriment of other groups.  I thought to myself, civil unions verses marriage is the equivalent of separate but equal, Plessey v. Ferguson.  I thought to myself when his son spoke about universal health care how we can all pay taxes but our taxes cannot be used for all of us. And I thought to myself about the little boy - who is now a man, speaking about how there was nothing better in the world to him as a child as to have his father turn all of his attention to him.  His father, like Mufasa was a stately and loving lion.  The son called out, much like Simba in the Lion King, somebody, anybody, help me. Who will step up to lead these causes, after the death of the Lion, in my lifetime?

Abolishing without privilege......

This is a reprint from blogstream August 15, 2009......

I got an e-mail from someone asking me about the “without privilege” analysis. Initially, I had great ambivalence about it, but then I thought perhaps the President is correct. The President said that the Henry Louis Gates incident presented an opportunity for a national dialogue on race. There was so much outrage about him saying the incident was stupid that it began to cause me to become uncomfortable. You might be asking why uncomfortable, and I have to tell you, it made me uncomfortable because the societal majority took THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA to task over his reaction to the incident. His reaction came from that place within him where he had spent his entire life, up until he became THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATE OF AMERICA, that place of “without privilege”. And there, on National Television, again for the whole world to see, was an embarrassing American faux paux, persons who were not of color feeling perfectly within their rights to chide and scold THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATE OF AMERICA this person who heretofore was “without privilege” for venting his frustration, out loud, about the treatment – or rather reduction of an illustrative, successful, savvy, articulate, assimilated member of society to being just another person “without privilege”. For weeks now I have been mulling over in my mind, looking through news reports, and scouring the internet looking for some way to make this irrational situation, rational.

I have to analyze it for you so that you can see it from my perspective, or maybe from the perspective of any number of persons of color in this country. THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATE OF AMERICA, a person of color, is friends with the person of color arrested in his home for disorderly conduct. I have already examined how ludicrous the arrest was, but to take it a step further, the officer, who arrested the friend of THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATE OF AMERICA never acknowledged that perhaps he had gotten a little carried away with his authority or that perhaps he mishandled the situation, entirely or in part. I have to repeat that because it is really really important, the officer, who arrested the friend of THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATE OF AMERICA never acknowledged that perhaps he had gotten a little carried away with his authority or that perhaps he mishandled the situation, entirely or in part. IN OTHER WORDS, THE OFFICER DID NOTHING WRONG, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. HIS ACTIONS WERE ABOVE REPROACH. IF HE HAD TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN, HE WOULD CONDUCT HIMSELF IN THE EXACT SAME WAY AND THE RESULTS WOULD BE THE SAME. There were no national cries for the officer to apologize to Henry Louis Gates. Are you paying attention? The officer, who created this nationally embarrassing moment, felt no need and there were no calls for him to apologize to Henry Louis Gates who he humiliated, reduced to a common criminal, and publicly demoralized. Yet another series of horrific injuries to the psyche and sensibilities of a man who had every reason to believe that he was no longer, “without privilege”. No national leaders, with voices from the establishment cried out for the atrocity of the situation from the vantage point of Mr. Gates.

Here is the part that tells you where our dialogue on race relations in this country really really needs to start. THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATE OF AMERICA, vented his frustration, out loud, about the treatment of his fellow man, expressed his own personal perspective that based upon what he was told, the officer acted stupidly. Wait a minute, Sean Hanity, Rush Limbaugh, and numerous voices including elected members of congress jumped up and demanded that THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATE OF A THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATE OF AMERICA MERICA apologize to the police officer. What is wrong with this picture? The President expressed his opinion. He did not castigate the police officer. He did not reduce him to a common criminal. He did not demoralize the police officer. In fact he couched his remark in the terms of what his believes were about the incident. Yet, there was a national public outcry for THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATE OF AMERICA, the most powerful person in the world to apologize to the police officer. Never, never in the history of this country has something so banal and ludicrous ever happened. And why did it happen that numerous talking heads and politicians demanded an apology from THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATE OF AMERICA? Because, notwithstanding that THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATE OF AMERICA is the commander in chief, the ultimate barometer, he is a person who remains, even in his capacity as the President, a person “without privilege”. That is why there has to be a national honest dialogue on race in this country. Numerous idiotic, not well thought out, false and fallacious phrases have fallen from the lips of presidents gone by, was there ever a national public outcry for an apology from the President, NO!!! And why not, because they were privileged to do and say as they pleased. They were not precluded by being persons of color from challenging the status quo. Being “without privilege” can be something as simple as going into a department store where a sales associate looks over at you, looks you up and down, turns her back and pretends you are not standing there in spite of the fact that you came to spend your hard earned money. Being “without privilege” can be as complicated having all the credit worthiness and financial where with all to purchase a home in an exclusive community, but being denied by the homeowners association for some arbitrary reason. Or it can be as ludicrous and asinine as being expected to apologize to a police officer for an imaginary injury to his sensibilities when you are THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATE OF AMERICA. Those unwritten, unspoken, undocumented but clearly understood privileges reserved for other persons in this country.

I agree that we need a national dialogue on race relationships, but I believe that it must come from open and honest discussions beginning with an understanding that certain groups have experienced unwritten, unspoken, undocumented but clearly understood privileges. It also will necessitate an examination of what is the real reason for maintaining the privileges for certain groups of individuals, to the detriment of others, and how that affects the body politics in this country. If you stop and revisit my examination of the fiasco surrounding the aftermath of the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, in the privacy of your own home, you may begin to understand the insidious disrespectfulness of reducing THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA to just another man, “without privilege”. I am so glad that we have a President who is at the very least 5 times better, 5 times brighter, and 50 times cooler than the talking heads and politicians who called for him to apologize to the police officer. It is a great man, a giant among men, who can apologize for a transgression whether it was real or imagined and keep it moving forward. It is my hope and dream for us to openly and honestly deal with the issue of race relations and persons of color being without privilege, in my lifetime….

arbitrary discrimination, based on sexual orientation is unconstitutional, period. Don't YOU get caught up in the preacher's issues. Many of them have their own internalized homophobia going on, many have ignorance, and many are just repeating what somebody else said. Think for yourself. People have bled and died for our right to vote. Go vote. The Black ministers who are telling you not to vote will not miss a beat, they will not lose a meal, they will not miss one offering, nor will they do without anything that they want because they will be spending your hard earned money that will be that much more difficult to earn if we don't protect our interest and vote. Vote like your life depends on it, because it does. Vote like you want to honor your ancestors for their sacrifices, because you should. Vote like your children's future is at stake because it is. If we sit back and let the Bible thumping hypocrites tell us not to vote and fail to exercise a hard won right, who wins? Not you and not me. Preachers are human beings with issues and agendas of their own. They are not God, they may mean well but when somebody tells you not to do that which is your right and responsibility, you have to question the source. What is your issue with the President having evolved, and is it so big an issue that it outweighs all of the problems and injustices offered by the Republican party? And ask yourself, do you agree with everything that the Republicans are saying or say they believe? Then surely, surely, you can find some common ground around the President's policies and not focus on his own personal belief about marriage equality. I am just saying......I never thought in my lifetime, I would hear somebody say, don't vote.....don't exercise your rights and don't do the right thing. Jesus help us.I was just reading an article about our Black ministers saying don't vote for our President because he personally believes in marriage equality and has "evolved" to that point. They are all losing their minds. He is not enacting legislation about it, and even if he was, it does not in anyway affect the ministers who are having a stroke about it. The President has evolved to see that inst

The Color of the Republic.....

I began this post on February 7, 2012.  I got derailed and did not finish it at the time.  Since then, I have lost my Mother and my other dog and grief drowned out the call for a clarion moment within me.  But I am better now and have much to share as I look at the things that are happening in my lifetime.  I have been away a long time from this blog.  So much has happened, so much has gone on, and sooooooooo much has been said, and even more has been unsaid.  I say unsaid because there have been repeated dog whistles and code words for inciting responses while attempting to appear not to be inciting the masses.  You see, for all of it, the last three years have ripped the scab off of the ulcerating race relations in this country.  I say ulcerating because there is a language being used that is reminiscent of the days of the KKK.  Yes, I said it, the KKK.  It is the language used to incite fear, hate, and racial animosity.

 It is the language of the ignorant and disenfranchised who believe that their lack is a result of someone else's actions, interfering with their birthrights.  It is the language that most of the frontrunners in the GOP used and it warrants exposing. For the last several months many so called "conservatives" have been rallying behind this language.  It is the language designed to inflame the poor and middle class Anglo Saxon protestant who believes that the progress of African Americans and other racial minorities is at his or her expense.  It is the language that is designed to stir the insecurities of that population and stimulate and feed into the distrust of citizens who do not look like them.  It is the language to evoke hostility, based upon racial stereotypes, misconceptions and misinformation, toward those who have been prejudged as not being capable of achieving what they have achieved on their own and unworthy of the gains that they have made.  It is the unbridled and fostered renewal of racial tension for the purposes of dividing the populous for political gain.  You know the language and it makes you often times angry and uncomfortable, but many of us do not challenge it, we do not attempt to discuss it to eradicate it.  We simply try to ignore it, partly in hopes that it will go away, but more often than not, because we are unprepared to possibly give up our personal advantages we have gained by not addressing it.  

 This code language has always been a part of the private conversations of individuals who harbor racial hatred for African Americans and other minorities as we make strides and progress, which these individuals are not making.  It is the insistence that an African American or other minority is not good enough to have accomplished what he or she accomplished on his or her merit, it had to be affirmative action that made it possible.  Let me for a moment share this reality, which is true for many individuals who have benefited from affirmative action.  Affirmative action may level the playing field so that the social, psychological, economic, financial and factors that create disadvantages for many African Americans and minorities do not prevent them from advances in education and career paths.  Affirmative action may help you to get to the door, may even open the door for you.  But, affirmative action will not keep you there.  In other words, affirmative action creates opportunity, but only merit, hard work, and strident effort will make it possible for that individual to succeed.  The success of that individual is not because of affirmative action, it is because of the tenacity and achievement of the individual. Notwithstanding that, many conservatives are convinced that affirmative action is how Barack Obama became President.  Not!

But back to the code language which became part of the mantra of the conservative movement that started during the 2008 presidential campaign with Sarah Palin and John McCain.  It should have been stopped then, but it wasn't. Language such as un-American, unpatriotic, socialist, communist, and Marxist.  All of that language was to say that the President was not one of them.  When the President first started campaigning, many were quick to try to make him choose between his Anglo Saxon ancestry and his African ancestry or were quick to note that he was half white.  The underlying intimation being that if he was half white he was in part, one of their own.  The historical problem of that conundrum was the fact that the constitution made it clear, if he was even remotely African in ancestry he was not one of their own, but one of our own.  He was one of us. And soon, the rabid language of torch bearers, night riders and cross burners was being bellowed from the podiums along the campaign trail.  Our President elect, gentle spirit that he was and is, saw it as a teachable moment, or so he thought.  But it really wasn't a teachable moment, because the opposition was not receptive to a person of color, who had risen to the ultimate pinnacle of success in this country, telling them what was abhorrent in their behavior, conduct and language.  So, it was a cancer, growing and ulcerating in the psyche of the ignorant and blind followers and proponents of that sort of language.

 

For us, those of us who are minorities, it was a teachable moment for us, but, we missed it. We missed it because we have become comfortable with our lifestyles, our achievements, our accomplishments and our stations in life. And we missed it because we did not want to believe that 40 years later, after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., that we were still at the same place in race relations that we thought left behind in 1968.  But the evidence is in.  Many in this country are still in the same place in our psyche. And here we are on the eve of election again, and the language has been resurrected with even greater fervor.  In part, because it never died down after the 2008 election, but also because the same conservative forces that stoked the fires in 2008, are again stoking the fire.  But, you see, they have failed to notice that the color of the republic has changed.  And while they are cranking up racial hostility, they have not noticed that more and more African Americans and other minorities are succeeding in spite of the hostility and in spite of the code language.  And because the color of the republic has changed, who knew that in my lifetime, we would return to the days of requiring certain minorities to have their “papers” on them at all times.  But then again, had Henry Louis Gates had his “papers” on him, the President may not have had to have a beer with that police officer.