If There Is Anyone Out There...
… who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer. Where were you last night? What’d you think of the speech?
… who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
Where were you last night? What’d you think of the speech?
well said, Montrose.
Sometimes, I wish a thread would end with a positive post as the very last thing people read. Your 12:31 would be it. And also your post from yesterday.
How i feel?
Patriotic, for the second time ever. 1st was immediately after Sept 11 when country came together.
Nervous, about what the fundamentalists/religious right may do now. They have been on the ascendency and gaining power, influence and voice since the 80s. Now it is all falling apart and I just don’t see this set of people accepting that easily. I’m praying that they are close to as gracious as McCain was in his speech last night.
Montrose, thanks for the thoughtful and insightful response. I’m certain (based on his history of posting here) that lechacal was posing the question in a sincere and genuinely inquisitive manner and I must admit to also having wondered the same thing. But I think your explanation helps those of us who are considered and appear to be white at least begin to understand (although it’s impossible for us to ever fully appreciate) the “non-white” experience and everything that multi-racial individuals must endure throughout their lives. Hopefully the children of today, no matter the color of their skin, will not have to live through racial intolerance. I think the election yesterday is a giant step towards understanding, appreciation and tolerance.
Sadly, lechacal, it’s all in appearances, especially in this country, another unfortunate legacy of slavery. If you look black, that’s what you are, no matter the percentages. If you don’t, like Derek Jeter, or Mariah Carey, you can perhaps skirt the issue, especially if you are successful. I’m a 50/50 myself, and look mixed race, and I’ve got the scars to prove I’ve always been identified as black, and I’m proud of the identification. My nephew, who is a quarter black, will probably never have to go through some of the discrimination my brother did, and may never have to call himself African-American, unless he chooses to, which I hope he does. His recognition of that part of his heritage should be as integral to his being as the other side of his family, with their strong cultural ties to a former Baltic state. He is already bi-lingual, at 2. I hope the strong stock he descends from will help him become a man to be proud of, forebearers who survived the Middle Passage, and slavery, fought the Nazis and Communists in Europe, and fighters of intolerance and ignorance wherever it appeared. He is our future, a future that is looking a bit brighter at the moment.
Z, I stand by my fundy remark. These people scare me. They are as intolerant as the Taliban, but hide behind the American flag. I find their hatred of the “other” just as palpable, and given the chance, they would resort to the same violence to further their agenda. They are certainly not followers of the teachings of Jesus, but of their own finely crafted, narrow interpretation of the Bible, just as Muslim fundies are of the Koran. They celebrate ignorance and anti-intellectualism, they have no tolerance for imagination or independent thought. They are afraid of change, or of anyone who dares challenge their narrow interpretations of what should be. Please tell me how they are different, or how a country run by them would be a place that the majority of us would want to live in.
Lechacal:
If you, without knowing the subtleties of his background, saw Mr. O coming down a Park Slope stoop taking out the trash, in the jeans and sneaks he’s seen wearing weekends in Chicago, how’d he compute?
My guess: upper-middle-class black guy.
In Greenpoint in black tee and jeans: aging black hipster.
In Crown Heights in a suit on Sunday: black church goer, maybe a deacon.
Most African Americans have whites in the family tree; and lots of whites have blacks in the family tree.
Mr. O appears and self-identifies as black, even as he loves his departed white mother and grand mere.
NOP
I should follow up my post by recognizing that there are various good arguments for referring to Barack Obama as black rather than coming up with a more complicated term for his mixed ethnicity. My post was meant to be a legitimate question (and one that I recognize has some perfectly good answers) rather than an indictment of anyone who refers to Barack Obama as black.
..and I really don’t mean to suck the oxygen out of the room with this. Carry on with the enthusiasm.
Congratulations to Senator Obama. The enthusiasm and optimism I see today have been missing from the world for many years. There have been many touching posts on this site in the past two days (particularly Montrose Morris’s post yesterday).
Now to complain about something that has been bothering me for months. Obama is just as white as he is black (or “African American”, a presumptuous and often inaccurate bunch of doublespeak). If he were just elected president of Kenya, would he be referred to as their newly elected white president? Some members of my own extended family are 50/50, and I would never refer to them as black (their own parents prefer “Vermont maple syrup”, but that’s just an inside family joke).
oohhh, darn my spelling. It will be the bane of me.
Can I just say how happy I am that Sarah Palin was sent packing back to Alaska! Tee hee Ta Ha Tee Hee Ta Ha! [dancing a little jig…]
Yeah, I thought I saw that too z, that was one of the moments that I respected in McCain.