OMG, so many things to say…

There are so many things that I have to comment on, my head just may explode (please watch out for the white meat!). First, the Michelle Obama statement. She made a now infamous statement about pride and country. The white conservatives with their self-serving, fake patriotism had a field day. First, everyone who had a show to promote or rile up viewers, i.e., something to sell, misquoted her for obvious reasons. If you listen to the whole statement it clearly refers to the groundswell of hope in the Obama campaign, the idea of voting for something not against something else (you know “you’re just voting for the lesser of two evils” mentality rampant in the political discussions of past) And, even more clearly, we all know the spoken word is different than the written word by its use of hyperbole and overstatement for great oratorical effect. Many people had something to gain by demonizing her statements.

But, underneath the statement, the emotion behind it, the context of it is much more profound and complex than these ridiculous talking heads will consider or concede. Let’s deconstruct Michelle Obama: black, woman, 48, lawyer, grew up working class, Harvard law, child of the late sixties and early seventies. Old enough to remember segregated schools and forced busing. Witnessed the testimony of elders of the jim crow South and experienced the ghettoized North. There is a delicate balance of her patriotism to this country. Of course, there is a delicate balance of any black person’s patriotism to this country. To be born in any other country would be that much more disastrous. Who would want to be born a girl in China? Or, for that matter, a girl anywhere in Asia, Africa, or the Arab world? Who would want a childhood in Africa? Who would want to be born a Muslim in Serbia? The world is filled with hate for many “other” groups. So, life in America, definitely ain’t bad, but it’s not perfect.

Since the inception of this country, black people have been on the underside of America. From 1620 to 1865, black people were slaves, consider chattel (property for the dummies), non-human beings, “no rights that a white man was bound to respect.” And this was just the American version, slavery had been going on for far much longer in other parts of the world. But back to these United States…from 1865 to 1965, Jim Crow limited movement, suppressed the right to vote, and used VIOLENCE through lynching for intimidation and control. From 1965-1979, a move toward a multi-racial society. But, in came Regan a man who said lets get back to our American values and away from the aberrance of the flower child generation. A man who set the tone to abandon the sick and the poor. A man who set up the conversation to be: let’s take back our country. How exactly are black people supposed to be patriotic to this country? A country with the sanction and/or silence of the national government that has exploited, abused, used, intimidated, and killed black people for hundreds of years. Context, people, context is what we are all missing. What the conversations are always missing. It’s hard to be proud of your country when it plots your demise and destruction. It’s hard to be proud of your country when there is an open hostility to your very existence. It’s hard to be proud of your country when there are parts of the country where you better be out before sun down. Every black person knew exactly what she was saying and not saying explicitly. America may be finally living up to its ideals. To its rhetoric. To is flowery language of “every man is created equal endowed by his Creator with certain inalienable rights among these Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

Had to get that out. I feel refreshed. More on the ridiculous notion that white men have angst, pressure and are downtrodden because they are white men. WTF!?!?!