From President to Mascot

Similarly to how Malcolm X felt about his white classmates electing him class president in elementary school for his academic accomplishments, I wonder if President Obama is simply a little pet to be marveled and put on a pedestal to be looked at in wonder.

After watching the fastest man in the world, Usain Bolt of Jamaica, beat all comers with the fastest time ever in the 100 meter dash, I remembered the exciting feelings I experienced from running track back in the day. Admittedly not a direct connection, but I then thought about Jesse Owens and somehow ended up thinking about Malcolm X. Images of Malcolm X,Usain Bolt, and President Obama came to mind. Then, there were the town hall and birther events from the last few weeks.

It has taken me several weeks to process and think thoughtfully about these collection of events. However, as I celebrated Usain's victory jumping around my living room, I sat down and remembered the chapter Malcolm X's autobiography eloquently illustrated about being a mascot. Is President Obama and Usain Bolt's herculean accomplishments still just anomalies and exceptions to the rule for how many white people view black Americans?

No, not for many. Well-meaning white people appreciate and also celebrate these accomplishments as fellow Americans and sports enthusiasts. So, in many ways, they experienced the events similarly to me. Really no difference, right?

Actually, there is a difference. My difference is having to think about whether these accomplishments are actually taken seriously. Meaning, all to often, these kinds of culture champions can be experienced collectively as heros, but simply as exceptions to the rule.

I am trying to illustrate that President Obama and other notable black Americans (althought Usain Bolt is Jamaican, he is part of the popular culture in American sports) can have these successes as limited distractions. What is the average white Americans' common experience with black Americans and culture? Most white Americans have little or no regular contact with African Americans. In general, most white Americans admit to attending predominantly white schools and living in mostly white neighborhoods. Even after leaving school for a brief reprieve of charity work fulfilling community service in a diverse community, they return to their communities of like-minded, mostly white communitites at work, places of worship, and comfort zones.

A good portion of white people, open minded to an ever changing world, live day to day isolated from non-whites. I argue that this isolation limits many white Americans because getting to know non-whites requires full participation in a world that may be very unfamiliar and different than the one they were raised. Of course, white Americans can live without having regular contact with non-whites if they choose and will live what I imagine to be fulfilling lives. There is an opportunity for a far more. The point of expanding our friendships and community is to move society forward, respond to difficulties more effectively, and avoid the cruelty of the past. The vitality of our country is founded on this idea of bringing people from various backgrounds together. Oliver Wendell Holmes said, "Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions." As we move forward as a community, greater exposure to different people unavoidably leads to change. The kind of change we experience is contigent on a willingness and openness to differences.

Intimacy with others is more than dating a series of black men or women, attending an occasional cultural event, or celebrating cultural holidays at the office or school. It requires intimate involvement with individuals and communities of color at home, work, in places of worship, or even places of solitute. It will require going to other places of worship, residing in a more mixed neighborhood, and working amongst diverse colleagues. Many people of color also choose similar isolation amongst their own. I would suggest the same kinds of limitations are likely to be present. However, for many people of color, it is impossible to escape intimate involvement with white America because of work and/or education.

Evidence suggests that there are various advances in society, but in general there remains the subtle and sometimes more obvious forms of discrimination, racism, and prejudice. Of course, having a black president will not eliminate racism, but don't we all remember when mainly white pundits and others suggested that electing a black president represented that we were living in a post-racial society. We went from calling former President Bill Clinton the first black president to actually having a real black president.

With the so-called birther movement, Glenn Beck calling the President a racist, as someone who hates white culture, and some of the comments made by folks organized by FreedomWorks showing up at town hall meetings, post-racial seems more than a bit premature. Of course, some will say that the media had a lot to do with bringing these behaviors to the forefront - maybe more than it deserves. I am not convinced of it because Glenn Beck and his ilk, who find his comments entertaining at best or prophetic by another class of a traditionalists, represent that portion of the white American culture who are fearful and irrational in the their understanding of the world. Racism and prejudice have never been rational endeavors, but they are powerful in their influence and subtle metamorphsus.

I mention this issue of racism, Usain Bolt, President Obama, Glenn Beck, and all this to say that Malcolm X touched on something very important for many African Americans. We can be captains of innovation, lawyers, pop star kings and queens, doctors, and even President of the United States, but for some white Americans, these accomplishments will only be exceptions to the rule. The primary expectation is to see and perceive the world contrary to evidence suggesting otherwise and fear, loathing, and irrational worry about black people is unwarranted and not prudent.

Similarly to how Malcolm X felt about his white classmates electing him class president in elementary school for his academic accomplishments, I wonder if President Obama is simply a little pet to be marveled and put on a pedestal to be looked at in wonder. As our little mascot, President Obama goes about the country celebrated and damn near glorified as the savior of the American dream to being vilified and made into somekind of evil incarnation of the Satan's seed.

Don't believe me, there are some justifying this nonsense using the Bible to prove the president is the lighning fall from heaven, Satan - the antichrist (Luke 10:18). Without going into the details, here is a link to this kind of foolishness: Obama as Satan.

Are you feeling sick and tired of this bull? I hope so. Does it seem like craziness that needs to be ignored? Probably. All I am illustrating is the absurb nature of the stuff coming out of the wood works. This is not the majority of white Americans or a even a huge portion. But call it paranoia, I do think it comes from an irrationality of some well meaning people out there willing to offer it for reasonable consideration. It taps into an unconscious, latent and, yes, irrational fear of the world that seems out of control and directionless.

When people feel lost and out of control due to finances or other worries, immense change or upheavel, or a foreboding feeling of the end, they attempt to come up with rational, logical explanations based on sensible foolishness when taken to their conclusion. Instead, those intelligent explanations fail to tap into the emotionality that comes with serious change and difficult challenges. Out of frustration or from ideology, other options are given greater consideration - oftentimes more than they deserve.

The process is not always one you see working itself out in plain sight. Rather, it is one that plays itself out when seemingly well-intentioned people come up with the craziest shit to explain away events, circumstances, or people and why things are as bad as they are. Like when Rev. John Hagee, the mega church evangelist said, "God caused Hurricane Katrina to wipe out New Orleans because it had a gay pride parade the week before and was filled with sexual sin." They are the private thoughts and banter of friends of like minds unwilling to see the world from another perspective, comforted by an alternative knowledge, and backed by ideology and superstition.

This issue is more complicated than I am willing to express here. I'm touching on an idea that came and went. It will return, I know. Maybe it makes you think just a little more about how far things have come.

Healthcare Reform in America

If you have been paying attention for the last several weeks, you should have come across the political stories about the "birthers," Skip-Gate, and the first latina appointed to the Supreme Court in the United States. I'll admit that maybe these stories maintain a prominent role in my mind, experience, and perspective because the collection of events reflect the ever changing American landscape - at least the one I look at everyday.

We have a black president, a latina in the Supreme Court, women in important roles of Secretary of State and Speaker of the House of Representatives. Each event is ceremonial and historical.

For the second time in a generation, the health care reform debate rages on.

I've had somekind of healthcare since before I can remember. Even if there was a time that I did not as a young child, I did not know it consciously. I do remember visits to the doctor, mother having surgery, and my brother's complications at birth. All these events required healthcare. Maybe my parents had good jobs, government medical services, or military benefits allowed me not to worry about these things growing up. Another privilege it seems. So, who is this universal healthcare debate really about? Who is needing it and what do they look like?

Since the debate made its big return to the scene, questions about racism and prejudice are being offered on both ends of the spectrum from liberal progressives to conservative traditionalist. I'd presume the average American is caught between the cross hairs trying to make sense of all of it. Maybe many would rather put their heads into the ground and avoid the conflict as many rather do in general. For those of us courageous and duty-bound enough to try and gather our wits to understand the challenge, I offer one simple consideration: What is the real face of poverty in America?

I am not going to pretend to know this dynamic issue thoroughly. I did experience poverty for a time and, like many Americans, sometimes feel a few paychecks from the poor house. But, these are past experiences, fears, and lamentations when, in fact, I am lower middle class, highly educated, and a beneficator of the American dream my ancestors fought and died for me to receive. I am not under any illusion that all the treasures of life cannot be taken or lost at any point. I also enjoy the reasonable expectation and rumination to believe that when I rise each morning that I can eat, sleep in comfort, be resigned to the fact that my neighborhood is relatively safe, and create a bubble of security, even if irrationally constructed, keeps me inside safe and free from worry. That is a privilege that I received.

Of course we have our neighborhood homeless, working poor, unemployed, single-parents, people of color, and mentally disabled. Of these groups, I cannot tell you whether one group is better covered by our current healthcare system than the next. I cannot tell you what group gets a better shake because of existing federal or state government or charity program. I am neither an expert on the matter nor really care to be actually. I do want to be informed enough so I can let my representative know what I think is important for the future of the country.

This I believe - I believe in an America who promised me freedom and justice regardless. I believe in a parent being able to care for their children and having the means throughout life to be the difference and make a difference. I believe in a world compassionate enough to support and encourage those less able and maybe even unwilling at times to live up to their God given talent. I believe that people have been bestowed with a treasure inside that no person, circumstance, or injustice can steal away because it was placed there by a God who treasures and loves you unconditionally. I believe that treasure is inescapable and cannot be signed away or stolen from others to increase one's portion. The treasure is with each of us not because we deserve it but because despite our greatest efforts to disprove others including God, we are worthy of it - inherently worthy as one of God's creation, a child of God. That treasure is love.

From this position, the face of poverty I know before I pick up a book, research on the Internet, or look for the advise of my wisest confidant that it is you, me, the man behind the counter at my local grocery store, or the lady walking down the ally trying to take a shortcut home. It could be anyone really. I do not know all of these individuals, but I know they are part of my family and yours, friends, the fortunate and unruly, peaceful and reachedly unjust, stranger and familiar alike.

If I really knew any of these people who I can assume on some level care and cry as I do worrying about a child or close one's future, lust for a time when their worries might subside enough to give them peace, and, even if only once, wished for something a bit better without being greedy, then I might, just might, be able to understand the obligation and promise of their deepest dream.

So, I do believe in universal healthcare just like I believe roads and highways, street lights, gas pipes, public libraries, city, country, state, and federal services should be paid for as a collective. Not one of us can survive without the other. The myth of dogged, rugged individualism is a pipe dream full of wholes, selling the idea that we don't need anyone but our gifts, aspirations, and bare hands to make us whole.

The face of poverty walks and rides across the great expanse we call America and home. Poverty lives in America and in many ways far more present outside our bountries. So, my hope is that people will see this familiar face of poverty and look past the irrational rhetoric, racist townhall-foolery, and emotional banter, which take the focus off the real issues. Because, the real issue is finding a way to avoid suffering through your own private misery watching a parent, child, or other family member or friend battle an illness or disease that can corrupt their mind, body, and spirit - and our hearts. There can be little else more terrible than the worry a parent or child has believing their illness bankrupted financially and/or emotionally their family due to their cancer or other ailment.

I do not pretend to know the answer. However, once we get past all this overexposed Frontierman gibberish found on our nightly news, hopefully we get back to those faces needing healthcare reform.