I know everyone was waiting with baited breath for Sarah Palin’s coming out speech. But while I was waiting for that, I counted heads....black heads inside the convention, who weren’t obviously reporters, photographers, or producers for the news media. Found a few, very few, very far and in between the sea of white people. I was hoping to trip over some Hispanics, too. But other than the guy who spoke last night, there weren’t too many of them present, either. The current governing party has absolutely no resemblance to America.
Well, the stats show there were 36 black delegates to this year’s grand old party. That’s down from a whopping 167 back in 2004. Gee, wonder what happened to all that 2004 happy talk about the GOP taking 25% of the African American vote by 2020? Looks like the party is sliding backward.
Not that there is much to slide back from...
The two Negroes who showed themselves were Michael Steele...this era’s Clarence Thomas and some Texas state bureaucrat named Michael Williams. They followed the party script of gleefully attacking Obama, personally, while staying away from the issues.
John McCain has already publicly dismissed the black vote, conceding it to Obama. McCain feels if he can grab everyone else, the black vote won’t matter, once again. That’s old school GOP strategy..nothing new...business as usual....no politics of change here...
Other than stating that her husband was half-something other than white, Palin paid no attention or lip service to the diverse nature of the USA either.
I’ve found much of what I’ve seen out of the GOP to be offensive, starting with those “prosperity” signs the delegates were waving at every opportunity...Whose prosperity...certainly not mine...or people like me. The GOP continues to operate as if the election is a conversation among white people...the rest of us should just shut up, listen and wait for the crumbs to trickle down...
Palin’s speech was good on delivery and presentation, but very short on facts. It was vicious, condescending and very, very mean spirited. She fell in line with the clueless Mitt and the useless Giuliani in ridiculing Obama, never bothering to address the issues. Even Huckabuck was nasty, not in keeping with a so called preacher...politics before religion, I guess.
I am bothered by all the reporters who are going out of their way to apologize for doing their jobs..They should not be apologizing for asking questions. Disneyland is an amusement park...OZ is a fairytale....Politics is real, not a myth....politicians and their stories should be questioned...and rewarded if they speak truth....but slapped down if they constantly spin lies to garner power.
There was no high road taken, last night.
Sarah Palin reminded me of one of my favorite literary characters....Madame DeFarge from the Dickens novel...A Tale of Two Cities...Madame DeFarge would quietly knit while sitting at the guillotine watching the aristocracy get their heads cut off. Madame DeFarge looked like this kindly old woman, but housed a vicious streak, a mile long.
I would recommend that Palin read the book except for the fact that she is reportedly in favor of banning books, and reportedly tried to do so in her home town, when she was mayor. I’m sure Dickerns is on her list of stuff that should be relegated to the bonfire.
The stuff that she didn’t talk about last night bothers me more than the attacks....like her relationship to the Alaska Independence Party. Both Palin and Todd, the first Dude wore Alaska lapel pins instead of American flag pins....I thought the flag pin was the ultimate testament to patriotism....Conservatives have been stinking up the place for months about those damn flag pins...and the newly anointed GOP savior of American womanhood steps to the podium in her finest hour without one on her lapel?
So who comes first?..............Country....or Alaska....
The AIP, for those of you don’t know...wants Alaska to secede from the union and become it’s own country.....We, as a country went through this once before....back in the 1860's....it was called the Civil War...
I’d like to see somebody question her form of Pentecostal Christianity. From what I’ve read it’s just as bad as what Reverend Wright is alleged to have preached, according to pseudo Christian conservatives.
And there is still Troopergate or the alleged abuse of gubernatorial power against her ex brother in law....still under investigation...Palin has hired an attorney..which means there will probably be a delay in reporting the findings of the investigation until after the November election...
Who’s hiding?...she behind her attorney.....McCain behind her...
Wake up America...We can screw it up...worse then it is already!
Showing posts with label Negroes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Negroes. Show all posts
9.04.2008
2.15.2008
Happy Negroes, Unhappy Slaves
I had an interesting conversation with a man, recently. I don’t even know his name, but I talk to him every weekend while we’re both engaging in our favored Saturday pastime. I don’t think he knows my name either. Our names aren’t important. What draws us together and keeps us talking is the current political season and our shared love of history.
Seems his family, way back when, were slave owners. From my picture at the top of this column, you can rightfully discern that my people were slaves. He has papers to prove that his family owned “my” people. The papers list their names, how much they were purchased for, etc, etc. But he said his family never mistreated their coloreds. His family was good to its Negroes because mistreating your slave was like whipping a prized race horse...you simply didn’t do it if you wanted it to win races. In other words, if you wanted your fields plowed and your cotton harvested, you treated your slaves like people.
This was his analogy. For this reason, he told me, the historical image of the unhappy darkie and the murderous slave master during slave times was a myth....never happened. Most blacks, he said didn’t leave their masters when Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Most Negroes, he said were happy in their circumstances. His family and their black chattel was proof of this.
Now, I agree with him to a point. There were blacks who stayed in their homes after emancipation. There were numbers of blacks who didn’t go north at the first opportunity.
My own family which originated in slave owning Kentucky is an example of this. Some of us bear the name of our owner, still live on the property, and today even attend the national reunion for everyone with the surname. Family story says they stayed because grandpa was the son of master. They certainly look alike in the old pictures that we have.
But, by the same token, many of my ancestors left Kentucky. They went north at the first opportunity looking for a better life. They chose freedom. That’s why I was born in free Ohio. Nearly all of my ancestors originated somewhere down south...Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina primarily.
Should we stay on the plantation with the devil we know...or should we leave, move north to make our way into the wilderness, not knowing what awaits except that whatever awaits will be our own choice, not one delineated by master.
This dilemma has always divided us. It played out during our vocal struggle for civil rights. Do we march with Martin or throw bombs with the black panthers. Do we leave with Marcus Garvey or simply separate ourselves with Malcolm.
Safe versus Free. Known versus unknown.
Today, do we back the Clintons because we have always backed the Clintons. Or do we back Barack Obama.
The known has worked to a point. Yes, I’m sure there were happy coloreds on the plantation sometimes. But I know there were many others who took a beating and longed for the day they could call the shots for themselves, if they survived long enough.
There were many of us who marched with Martin. There are many of us who still sing “we shall overcome someday” and still believe that all we have to do is wait for it to happen.
Yet, there were still others of us who believed that the Black Panthers had a point.....that Marcus Garvey’s back to Africa movement was a tantalizing scenario...that Malcolm’s demands for equality by any means necessary is still worth savoring.
The Clintons may feel black, talk black and empathize black...but the fact remains that they are an entrenched part of the establishment. They want us to continue marching and singing old anthems along with the grizzled followers of the dream, asking their permission for our freedom. They want us to be happy with what they give us. They point to their happy house Negroes in an attempt to convince us that they ultimately have our best interests at heart.
But there is another truth operating here....even house Negroes didn’t like master....they just didn’t have a taste for adventure. They would rather stay with what they know rather than try the unknown. They would rather stay in the pseudo comfort of the plantation. It’s easier.
We are at another turning point in our history. Do we stay...or do we go.....Do we follow the north star with Harriet Tubman.....or do we go to bed because early tomorrow morning we have to wash master’s laundry.
Safe versus Free...Known versus Unknown
Happy Negro...Unhappy slave
Seems his family, way back when, were slave owners. From my picture at the top of this column, you can rightfully discern that my people were slaves. He has papers to prove that his family owned “my” people. The papers list their names, how much they were purchased for, etc, etc. But he said his family never mistreated their coloreds. His family was good to its Negroes because mistreating your slave was like whipping a prized race horse...you simply didn’t do it if you wanted it to win races. In other words, if you wanted your fields plowed and your cotton harvested, you treated your slaves like people.
This was his analogy. For this reason, he told me, the historical image of the unhappy darkie and the murderous slave master during slave times was a myth....never happened. Most blacks, he said didn’t leave their masters when Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Most Negroes, he said were happy in their circumstances. His family and their black chattel was proof of this.
Now, I agree with him to a point. There were blacks who stayed in their homes after emancipation. There were numbers of blacks who didn’t go north at the first opportunity.
My own family which originated in slave owning Kentucky is an example of this. Some of us bear the name of our owner, still live on the property, and today even attend the national reunion for everyone with the surname. Family story says they stayed because grandpa was the son of master. They certainly look alike in the old pictures that we have.
But, by the same token, many of my ancestors left Kentucky. They went north at the first opportunity looking for a better life. They chose freedom. That’s why I was born in free Ohio. Nearly all of my ancestors originated somewhere down south...Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina primarily.
Should we stay on the plantation with the devil we know...or should we leave, move north to make our way into the wilderness, not knowing what awaits except that whatever awaits will be our own choice, not one delineated by master.
This dilemma has always divided us. It played out during our vocal struggle for civil rights. Do we march with Martin or throw bombs with the black panthers. Do we leave with Marcus Garvey or simply separate ourselves with Malcolm.
Safe versus Free. Known versus unknown.
Today, do we back the Clintons because we have always backed the Clintons. Or do we back Barack Obama.
The known has worked to a point. Yes, I’m sure there were happy coloreds on the plantation sometimes. But I know there were many others who took a beating and longed for the day they could call the shots for themselves, if they survived long enough.
There were many of us who marched with Martin. There are many of us who still sing “we shall overcome someday” and still believe that all we have to do is wait for it to happen.
Yet, there were still others of us who believed that the Black Panthers had a point.....that Marcus Garvey’s back to Africa movement was a tantalizing scenario...that Malcolm’s demands for equality by any means necessary is still worth savoring.
The Clintons may feel black, talk black and empathize black...but the fact remains that they are an entrenched part of the establishment. They want us to continue marching and singing old anthems along with the grizzled followers of the dream, asking their permission for our freedom. They want us to be happy with what they give us. They point to their happy house Negroes in an attempt to convince us that they ultimately have our best interests at heart.
But there is another truth operating here....even house Negroes didn’t like master....they just didn’t have a taste for adventure. They would rather stay with what they know rather than try the unknown. They would rather stay in the pseudo comfort of the plantation. It’s easier.
We are at another turning point in our history. Do we stay...or do we go.....Do we follow the north star with Harriet Tubman.....or do we go to bed because early tomorrow morning we have to wash master’s laundry.
Safe versus Free...Known versus Unknown
Happy Negro...Unhappy slave
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