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Sunday, October 11, 2009
The Truth About Hate and Obama
Merlene Davis The Lexington Herald-Leader
last updated: September 09, 2009 08:03:56 AM
Barack Hussein Obama is president of the United States of America. As such, he is due the respect that the highest office of the land commands.Spew rumors, falsehoods and outright lies about his policies, about his birth place, about his intentions. That's freedom of speech.
Attack his wife's clothing choices, his children's pet, his mother-in-law's room in the White House. He is a public figure, and this is America. And by all means question his health care agenda, the stimulus spending and his increasing the number of troops in Afghanistan. That's government of the people, by the people.
But to have public figures in Kentucky, representing conservative views, use the word "creepy" to describe Obama's plan to speak to all the nation's schoolchildren today is nothing but embarrassing. Their attitude dishonors the office of the president, not just Obama himself.
Several years ago, I interviewed a Liberian couple who were living in Lexington with their son and who were hoping to live out their golden years in a country that provided a sanctuary from the wars they had fled back home. They told me that the difference between Liberia and the United States is that here, there is a peaceful transfer of power after an election. In Liberia, they said, the loser wouldn't relinquish power, choosing instead to start a war or kill his opponent in defiance of what the voters had wanted. We are doing the very same thing with words in this country since Obama became president.
I was not a fan of George W. Bush's presidency. I didn't think he had a good grasp of what the ordinary citizen needed. He seemed to prefer to go along with the big oil companies, with big business and with policies that kept them happy. I never approved of his push for war with Iraq and thought we should have stayed focused on finding Osama bin Laden. Still, never once would I have characterized him as "creepy" because he wanted to talk with schoolchildren. He was the president. My kids needed to listen to what the commander in chief had to say. It's respect for authority. It's respect for the president. It is respect for our upbringing.
For reasons that every black person knows and many white people are learning, this president is receiving 400 percent more death threats than then-President George W. Bush, according to the Secret Service. It's not all about Obama's desire to bring equity and compassion into the health care reform debate, although some people couch it that way. President Harry Truman tried to get health care reform several times, but he failed. President Lyndon Johnson signed a socialist program called Medicare into law. Neither drew as much ire as Obama. It's not his pro-choice stance on abortion. The U.S. Supreme Court has had numerous opportunities to overturn Roe vs. Wade. In 1992, the 20th anniversary of that law, the Supreme Court had eight members who were appointed by Republican presidents who were opposed to abortion. Those justices decided to let Roe vs. Wade stand. They are the ones who can change the abortion laws of this land, not a president. But they didn't.
Did the number of death threats they received go up 400 percent? If it is about the deficit that the Obama administration has dug out in this economy, then there should have been a similar outcry and similar death threats for Bush, who quietly used a bulldozer to get the hole started. But it is not about that. Obama has been a magnet for these unfounded fears, these innuendos, these lies because he is black. He has not done anything that would justify the outrage we are seeing in factions across this nation. Nothing. He hasn't had time. He has been in office less than eight months.
What this is about is that there are too many people who are afraid of what a black man might do because they have no idea what a black man is all about. The fear is unfounded and insane, fueled by our inability or lack of desire to interact with folks who are different.I hear he'll lead this country into socialism or Marxism, as if he has the power to do that all by himself. When did the Constitution change? Brainwash our children into voting for health care? When did we give children the right to vote? Get them to persuade their parents to vote for Obama's policies? When did our children become the decision-makers in our homes?
What has happened to critical thinking in this country? Why are we following along with the first Pied Piper who blows an unreasonable note? President George H.W. Bush spoke with schoolchildren in 1991 and advocated his educational policies. I didn't see a single parent, black or white, conservative or liberal, Democrat or Republican, pass out from fright.
So you tell me why this president is so different, why people carry guns to his rallies, why ministers call for him to die and go to hell. What God do they serve? Obama is talking about staying in school and getting a good education, and I hope the kids watch and listen. The more they see a black man in the Oval Office, the less likely they will be to imitate the head of the Republican Party in Kentucky or a conservative talk-show host.
last updated: September 09, 2009 08:03:56 AM
Barack Hussein Obama is president of the United States of America. As such, he is due the respect that the highest office of the land commands.Spew rumors, falsehoods and outright lies about his policies, about his birth place, about his intentions. That's freedom of speech.
Attack his wife's clothing choices, his children's pet, his mother-in-law's room in the White House. He is a public figure, and this is America. And by all means question his health care agenda, the stimulus spending and his increasing the number of troops in Afghanistan. That's government of the people, by the people.
But to have public figures in Kentucky, representing conservative views, use the word "creepy" to describe Obama's plan to speak to all the nation's schoolchildren today is nothing but embarrassing. Their attitude dishonors the office of the president, not just Obama himself.
Several years ago, I interviewed a Liberian couple who were living in Lexington with their son and who were hoping to live out their golden years in a country that provided a sanctuary from the wars they had fled back home. They told me that the difference between Liberia and the United States is that here, there is a peaceful transfer of power after an election. In Liberia, they said, the loser wouldn't relinquish power, choosing instead to start a war or kill his opponent in defiance of what the voters had wanted. We are doing the very same thing with words in this country since Obama became president.
I was not a fan of George W. Bush's presidency. I didn't think he had a good grasp of what the ordinary citizen needed. He seemed to prefer to go along with the big oil companies, with big business and with policies that kept them happy. I never approved of his push for war with Iraq and thought we should have stayed focused on finding Osama bin Laden. Still, never once would I have characterized him as "creepy" because he wanted to talk with schoolchildren. He was the president. My kids needed to listen to what the commander in chief had to say. It's respect for authority. It's respect for the president. It is respect for our upbringing.
For reasons that every black person knows and many white people are learning, this president is receiving 400 percent more death threats than then-President George W. Bush, according to the Secret Service. It's not all about Obama's desire to bring equity and compassion into the health care reform debate, although some people couch it that way. President Harry Truman tried to get health care reform several times, but he failed. President Lyndon Johnson signed a socialist program called Medicare into law. Neither drew as much ire as Obama. It's not his pro-choice stance on abortion. The U.S. Supreme Court has had numerous opportunities to overturn Roe vs. Wade. In 1992, the 20th anniversary of that law, the Supreme Court had eight members who were appointed by Republican presidents who were opposed to abortion. Those justices decided to let Roe vs. Wade stand. They are the ones who can change the abortion laws of this land, not a president. But they didn't.
Did the number of death threats they received go up 400 percent? If it is about the deficit that the Obama administration has dug out in this economy, then there should have been a similar outcry and similar death threats for Bush, who quietly used a bulldozer to get the hole started. But it is not about that. Obama has been a magnet for these unfounded fears, these innuendos, these lies because he is black. He has not done anything that would justify the outrage we are seeing in factions across this nation. Nothing. He hasn't had time. He has been in office less than eight months.
What this is about is that there are too many people who are afraid of what a black man might do because they have no idea what a black man is all about. The fear is unfounded and insane, fueled by our inability or lack of desire to interact with folks who are different.I hear he'll lead this country into socialism or Marxism, as if he has the power to do that all by himself. When did the Constitution change? Brainwash our children into voting for health care? When did we give children the right to vote? Get them to persuade their parents to vote for Obama's policies? When did our children become the decision-makers in our homes?
What has happened to critical thinking in this country? Why are we following along with the first Pied Piper who blows an unreasonable note? President George H.W. Bush spoke with schoolchildren in 1991 and advocated his educational policies. I didn't see a single parent, black or white, conservative or liberal, Democrat or Republican, pass out from fright.
So you tell me why this president is so different, why people carry guns to his rallies, why ministers call for him to die and go to hell. What God do they serve? Obama is talking about staying in school and getting a good education, and I hope the kids watch and listen. The more they see a black man in the Oval Office, the less likely they will be to imitate the head of the Republican Party in Kentucky or a conservative talk-show host.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
A message from Talk Show Bob Law
Bob sent you a message.
--------------------
Subject: Bob Law Note
A few days ago I responded to a comment from Mae Jackson here on Face Book My comment provoked at least one response. Let me be a little clearer. I appreciate Jack Uhrich’s concern for my using a term like “most whites support white supremacy.” However, I believe we are better served if we stare into the harsh glare of reality, rather than embrace comforting clichés. Perhaps the truth can still startle people and compel them to appropriate action. Since my comment someone has posted a poll on face book, asking “Should Obama be killed?” The choices were: “No, Maybe, Yes, and Yes if he cuts my health care.”
We have also seen white crowds with signs calling the president everything from a Nazi, to Satan’s advocate, and of course, congressman Joe Wilson’s outburst in congress, calling Obama a liar.
It is interesting that Blacks are often told to be careful of what we say, or how we might express our anger and frustrations, because we endanger the prospect of coalition building. For over a century, Blacks in America have marched and protested against every perceived affront. Blacks have marched and sued for equal rights, minority rights, woman’s rights, poor peoples rights, gay rights, voting rights, and immigrant rights. Blacks are the leading coalition builders in this nation. We have held hands, sung songs, fasted and prayed with everyone. Yet we have barley moved an inch economically and politically in terms of real power and influence.
In my years in the civil rights and human rights movement, I have known whites who worked tirelessly for justice. However, they have never been a majority representation of the white community. Blacks are most often urged to chase an ambiguous romanticized notion of alliances with other groups without any explanation as to how these alliances are to actually benefit and empower Black people.
I point out that there is a prominent white preacher, Reverend Steven Anderson, of the Faithful World Baptist Church in Arizona, openly calling on God to kill President Obama and there are no prominent white theologians, or major white organizations or editorial boards denouncing this murderous theology. Very different than the white response to Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
When we marched in Jena, Louisiana in support of the Jena six, few whites joined us. I gathered some 200 people on the steps of New York’s City Hall in support of the marchers in Jena on that same day. White organizations and individuals did not join me. Most whites ignored us. The same was true when we marched down 5th Avenue in New York City, to protest the police killing of Sean Bell. The marchers were 95% Black. Most whites ignored our mobilizations.
Jonathan Kozol, a progressive white educator in his book, “The Shame Of The Nation”, reveals the restoration of apartheid schooling in America to the demise of Black and brown students. There is not one city in America where a significant number of whites have worked to change this appalling condition. There is not one city where a significant number of whites have worked to eliminate what Kozol calls these “Savage Inequalities.” Most whites have tolerated these injustices in city after city.
In his lectures, Tim Wise, who is white, points out that most whites benefit from white privilege in this society, and there is no real indication that most whites want to change that condition.
In the same way that everyone both Black and white feels free to point to the contradictions in the Black community, perhaps we make meaningful progress if we are just as candid about the contradictions among whites.
Racism, white privilege, white preference (that’s what white supremacy is) are still very real in this society, and Blacks still seem to be the ones, who in significant numbers, are working most diligently to eradicate these evils.
--------------------
Subject: Bob Law Note
A few days ago I responded to a comment from Mae Jackson here on Face Book My comment provoked at least one response. Let me be a little clearer. I appreciate Jack Uhrich’s concern for my using a term like “most whites support white supremacy.” However, I believe we are better served if we stare into the harsh glare of reality, rather than embrace comforting clichés. Perhaps the truth can still startle people and compel them to appropriate action. Since my comment someone has posted a poll on face book, asking “Should Obama be killed?” The choices were: “No, Maybe, Yes, and Yes if he cuts my health care.”
We have also seen white crowds with signs calling the president everything from a Nazi, to Satan’s advocate, and of course, congressman Joe Wilson’s outburst in congress, calling Obama a liar.
It is interesting that Blacks are often told to be careful of what we say, or how we might express our anger and frustrations, because we endanger the prospect of coalition building. For over a century, Blacks in America have marched and protested against every perceived affront. Blacks have marched and sued for equal rights, minority rights, woman’s rights, poor peoples rights, gay rights, voting rights, and immigrant rights. Blacks are the leading coalition builders in this nation. We have held hands, sung songs, fasted and prayed with everyone. Yet we have barley moved an inch economically and politically in terms of real power and influence.
In my years in the civil rights and human rights movement, I have known whites who worked tirelessly for justice. However, they have never been a majority representation of the white community. Blacks are most often urged to chase an ambiguous romanticized notion of alliances with other groups without any explanation as to how these alliances are to actually benefit and empower Black people.
I point out that there is a prominent white preacher, Reverend Steven Anderson, of the Faithful World Baptist Church in Arizona, openly calling on God to kill President Obama and there are no prominent white theologians, or major white organizations or editorial boards denouncing this murderous theology. Very different than the white response to Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
When we marched in Jena, Louisiana in support of the Jena six, few whites joined us. I gathered some 200 people on the steps of New York’s City Hall in support of the marchers in Jena on that same day. White organizations and individuals did not join me. Most whites ignored us. The same was true when we marched down 5th Avenue in New York City, to protest the police killing of Sean Bell. The marchers were 95% Black. Most whites ignored our mobilizations.
Jonathan Kozol, a progressive white educator in his book, “The Shame Of The Nation”, reveals the restoration of apartheid schooling in America to the demise of Black and brown students. There is not one city in America where a significant number of whites have worked to change this appalling condition. There is not one city where a significant number of whites have worked to eliminate what Kozol calls these “Savage Inequalities.” Most whites have tolerated these injustices in city after city.
In his lectures, Tim Wise, who is white, points out that most whites benefit from white privilege in this society, and there is no real indication that most whites want to change that condition.
In the same way that everyone both Black and white feels free to point to the contradictions in the Black community, perhaps we make meaningful progress if we are just as candid about the contradictions among whites.
Racism, white privilege, white preference (that’s what white supremacy is) are still very real in this society, and Blacks still seem to be the ones, who in significant numbers, are working most diligently to eradicate these evils.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
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