What are politics in America? Really...

I'm tired of politics. There are three Presidential Candidates and each one is determined to prove they are the future President, and the other two are wanna-be-shmucks. That will persist until November - and even then all 3 will probably still be smarting from the spotlight of revealed secrets. We know they all have their closets. The question is, when discovered, which closet will alarm America the most? A man who often comes in every morning for a Sausage, Egg, and Cheese, on a Muffin breakfast sandwich, said it this way, "1 in 3 people are insane. If you look to the person on your left and the person on your right, and don't see an insane person, well..."

What pits cultures... races... religions... and practicers of the like against each other? I've often thought on this. We all choose sides in these political matters, and that makes enemies of those ignorant enough to disagree with us. Admitt it - you're no innocent.

Tonight my concern lies with Obama. I've read enough articles, and heard enough condemning, and surveyed enough random blogs - to know that this topic is still hot! But I want to put a different light on it. How do you say it -- I want to have my own personal little take on it.

I have had a sufficient amount of political debates in my little shop - especially in the boring hours when nobody seems to need food or coffee - and my job is to continually wipe down the counters. Amazingly, I have found that I can talk WHILE I wipe down counters! My abilites truly astound myself. So, a few of my customers have found themselves politely discussing topics with me until we have settled on a healthy level of disagreement and go on our merry ways. (Or they go, I stay and dispense Windex with gusto).

Anthony, one of the commenters on this blog, and one of my dear Sausage, Egg, no Cheese on a Croissant customers, brought down his laptop and played the entire controversial 911 sermon of Reverend Wright for me. It was startling to learn that one of the clips often played, is actually a cut of Wright quoting somebody else. Very interesting, Anthony. However if Wright had adamently disagreed with that quote, he would not have spent a good couple of minutes dramatically orating it to his congregation. The words had a powerful effect because he said them -- not because he was the first one to say them. However, Anthony set my mind on a deeper course. Wright had a lot of good to say -- it is no secret that the most believable lies are heavily mingled with truths. But those 'white America' statements have a lot behind them. They separate the culture of blacks from the culture of whites into two separate Americas. Not much unity there. Regardless I love America, because people like Wright have the right to speak freely and say what he believes. However, I love it even more because I don't have to agree with him. And I definitely don't agree with many of his statements.

The other day I was in the mood for an argument, so I mentioned the word politics to a nice African American lady over my spotless green counter. Somehow Obama came up, and before I knew it she was saying, "No! Obama went up in the polls after the Wright incident - not down! Clearly, you don't know what you're talking about. And what about Wright don't you agree with? He didn't say America was a 'bad' country. Yeah, he said 'God Damn America' - but that doesn't mean he said it was 'bad'. Jeeze - get it right. Hey, and I go to a church just like Obama. The Pastor happens to be my uncle - but that doesn't mean I have to stay and attend there. He says things I don't agree with, but overall he says alot of good things. And you can't say that I'm indoctrinated, now, can you?" Many VERY nice African Americans (whom I deepely respect) have defended that his statements are not so unusual, and that people need to step back, let him have his religion in peace, and Obama was right to have such a Pastor. But Obama cooked his own goose, in his March 14, 2008 statement. Here are some excerpts.

I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue.

...these particular statements by Rev. Wright are so contrary to my own life and beliefs...

The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation.

When these statements first came to my attention, it was at the beginning of my presidential campaign. (Isn't this interesting, that after 20 years, it took him a Presidential Campaign for him to see how contrary Wrights' anti-white philosophies were to his own beliefs?)

All of the statements that have been the subject of controversy are ones that I vehemently condemn. They in no way reflect my attitudes and directly contradict my profound love for this country. (So, even Obama condemns 'all of the controversial statements'. I noticed that he didn't mention which ones were controversial.)

And while Rev. Wright's statements have pained and angered me, I believe that Americans will judge me not on the basis of what someone else said, but on the basis of who I am and what I believe in; on my values, judgment and experience to be President of the United States. (This made me laugh. It's pure manipulation on his part. He's trying to appeal to peoples' compassion. What experience? He of all candidates knows that his extent of expierience is nothing to brag about. What judgment? - clearly the choice of his Pastor was made in poor judgment. What values? He supports partial-birth abortion, he is for the destruction of the marriage amendment, he wants to raise taxes, he wants to be soft on Terror. What values? Where? Values in hope? In change? He is different, yes - but how is he not just another Politician at heart?)

And yet - that is only the half of it. I believe there is a far deeper element to this issue. One that puts a genuine rift between the blacks and whites.

I've often felt no difference between myself and my black, asian, filipino, and indian friends. We went to school together, we grew up together, and we laughed together. I've never thought about color - not even the pale white of my own skin. In my mind there has never been a superior race - only a colorful collage of our different colors, races, or culture origins. Blacks mingle with Mexicans and Whites. We are the melting pot of America. No matter what minority one is in race, religion, or politics - I have always believed in America to provide an equal opportunity to each individual.

That's why I am so disturbed by Reverend Wrights' words like 'God Damn America' and 'White America' and 'the government made a conspiracy against blacks in creating the HIV virus'. It's because, for once, I believe whites ARE hearing the voice of blacks. For once America is hearin gthe cry of an 'opressed' race. I understand this cry. I know I cannot experience what it is like to be ablack person, but I've tried to put my feet into the shoes of a little black girl. I grow up in a home with my mama and grandma. I don't have a Dad. At school, I feel like I'm not as good as some - I feel different cuz I'm a colored girl. But mama tells me I'm just as good and I can make something of myself. The first time a white girl called me a nigger, I ran home crying and it was grandmas arms that held me. She cried with me and told me of how we came to this country - how the white man had put us in chains and had bred us like animals to serve white America. We had no independance, no rights. We were told we were no better than the livestock. We weren't allowed to read or write - because whites' said we were too stupid.


My heart breaks to think of this little girl thinking about her great-great grandaddy being torn from his family, stripped of his rights, and mingled with the blood and pain of his color. Her little mind goes wild with terror, as she clutches her grandma's skirts and cries, "It's wrong! It's not right! Even the picture of Jesus is white! Why do they hate us?"


Her mama soothes her little girls' worries the minute she gets home from putting in a 13-hour shift. "Baby," she says, "We're just as good as them. Why, aren't you proud of your mama, working hard when aint nobody carin for her - aint no man to come home to or help her raise her child. Yes, being black is nothing to be ashamed of. After all, we rose above slavery and white mans' opression. We rose above the prejudices against our race. We were given the right to vote in '65. Yes, I am proud to be black, and you should be, too. Someday... Someday there will be no difference. There's hope. I know it. You work hard enough, baby, people will still look down on you for your color, but you show 'em. You can show 'em you're just as good, if not better. There's nothing wrong with you or me. Being black is nothin to be ashamed of. It's something to make you proud."


I can imagine that little girl growing up, looking a bit suspiciously at her white classmates, but otherwise working hard both educationally and socially to prove she has just as much potential as any other white person. Most of all, she wants to make her community proud.


When she first hears Obama, her throat catches as she hears his story - how he struggled agaisnt the impossibility to succeed, but then he says he can still suceed. He can become President, Yes He Can. And the young girls' heart swells with pride and she rises to her feet among the crowds of whistling supporters and parading cheers. She screams with the throngs, "Yes, We Can! Yes, We Can! Yes, We Can!"

Later, even after Obama's speech has died down, her heart is still wild with excitement - that surge of hope for her people, for her declining culture, fo rherself. She has never felt more inspired and so in awe cefore. There stands a black man at a podim lined with TV mikes, and HE is being listened to. HE is being cheered. HE is being voted for. To this young, maturing girl - Obama represents all the good in her culture, all the respect long over-due blacks, the first swell of pride in America...just for listening.

I believe when the words of Reverend Wright came out, it was the horrified reaction of whites that annoyed blacks. After all, there are dozens of churches like Trinity all across the face of America. What is wrong with what the man is saying? And - why judge Obama just because he attended the church? The emotions such a girl would go through, would be huge; her overwhelming desire to see Obama succeed and her unbidden disgust for the whites making such a big deal over nothing.

The danger comes in this obvious rift between the black and white culture - not just with Reverend Wright - but in the distinct separatin of culture. (Generalization, prepare yourself.) Blacks tend into moral decline but spiritual awareness. Whites - into political and domesitc successes and decline in spiritual awareness. I don't like it. Not one bit. Blacks feel an urgency to defend Obama - after all, yeah 'God damn America' is right. America...white America... forced blacks into America by the blood-riddled chains of slavery. America...white America...has ignored 'us', 'we' the people long enough. America...white America...deserved 911 terrorist attacks, and America deserves it because they are seeped deep in wickedness - a wickedness which is exemplified in Roe vs. Wade in '73, in the senseless cruelty to Native Americans, the insensitive cruelty to blacks and other minorities, and the harsh Right-Wing cry against (illegal) Mexican immigrants.

Do you see no danger in that? I wish I could step out of body and absolve all race just to prove to you that I am unbiased based on my color here. I see danger, danger, danger.

All right. I want to ask some legitimate questions here. And the answers are up to the individual.

Do whites owe blacks something because their ancestors mistreaded blacks ancestors? Are whites the cause of the deterioration of the black culture?

I believe America is a great country. Yes, I am horrified and heart broken when I read the stories of innocents caught in slavery, and reservations, and unfair times. But that is the imperfect past of a great country. We must look ahead. Wicked men - regardless of race - can get a hold of this country and make wicked practices accepted and sophisticated. Such men operate selfishly - risking a tidal wave in the future melting pot. Slavery is wrong (duh, but it must be said)- I do not honor men who condoned the practice as being "great" in my beautiful country. But I also do not define 'America' by such men and such past practices. I define 'America' by the thriving individual of today - taking no thought for race when considering a neighbor, a pastor, or a President. America, where no race must owe any other race (which is the clearest line of racisim I see in Wrights' sermons), where guilt for attacking Terrorism, and attacking obstructers of justice, and attacking Hitlers of truth mixed with lies is dissolved by Patriotism, where speaking freely among other individuals who hold their freedom to speak, and beleive, and worship to be valuable enough to fight an dprotect. THAT is America. That is definitely NOT the racist, murderous, guilted country some are preaching against. As James Madison said, "Security against foreign invasion is one of the primitive objects of civil society." It's not something to feel guilty or judgmental over. Even amongst the first attempt at Democracy, the Atehnian statesman Pericles declared, "Our government is not copied from those of our neighbors: we are an example to them rather than they to us." I personally have a continual pride in my country, and when a politician screws her or over, I do not define my America by that politician. Nor do I define America by the politicians of the past. I move beyond the bad and seek the better. Now, a time when our country is supposed to be uniting either for the war in Iraq, or for a President like Obama, we find ourselves split between Conservatives and Liberals, Blacks/Other minorities and Whites. I believe in America as a whole, though, and while it is POSSIBLE that God judged America because of the individuals in it through the 911 attacks, I do not believe the individuals should start throwing up their hands and start blaming races or 'America' in general. THat's rash. God is not yet done with this nation. We may have forgotten Him, but He is not so far away that He cannot hear the cries and the problems. If an individual has any beleif in God, one must beleive that He is merciful to those who ask for mercy. So if judgmental fingers are to be pointed, they should be pointed at ones judgmental self.

You, the individual, create America. If you see her as racist - she will become that. If you see her as a blood-thirsty war-creating dynasty - she will seem that. If you see her as a politically hopeless house of unpatriotic, self-ambitious, wooden-hearted bigots, she will graciously take that shape.

I believe much of the problem with the black society, is not the people, but is with the predominating perspective. Whites owe them nothing. Blacks must earn their way just as much as whites, and where they feel victimized by their past, whites feel monsterized by theirs. Either misconception MUST be actively uprooted in the family systems and discarded from young minds before one culture grows to steadily misunderstand the other. That my friends, is not the America I see. I have bright hopes for my country - I dream of unity as well. But it is unrealistic to believe that EVERYONE will agree on every 'accepted' point/agenda/political party. The beauty of America is being ABLE to speak out - even with people like Rev. Wright. But when philosophies like Rev. Wright become a damage to the perspective of black communities - it is something to condemn. Obviously there is a problem in the average black family, and blacks are looking for the answer to it. No young black guy wants to be looked at suspiciously just because so many other young black guys are in jail. But Reverend Wrights' hair-raising sermons, inspiring blacks to stand up and unquestioningly support anyone of their color, is racist and unpatriotic.

I will not be voting for Obama because of his support of Partial-birth Abortion, Higher Taxes, a weak Immigration Plan, bogus universal health-care (do you really want THAT regulated by the government?!) and a weak stand against Terrorism. My hope in America has nothing to do with Obama's color, but that she (all races) will see Obama for who he is and what he stands for.

Who really cares about Reverend Wright? He's just a nine-days-wonder. I believe many African-Americans strongly agree with Wright, and America is finally hearing the voice of blacks...the voice of Obama. But it is AMERICA...AMERICA...all of us together who will decide in the end. What is more important? Color, or the colorful past? Or an America that is DIFFERENT, setting an EXAMPLE for the world in JUSTICE, and INTEGRITY, and a successful system of free patriots.

I cannot pretend to be an expert on Politics (in fact that is one reason why I logn to be 25 - so I can write more knowledgeably), but I have had a couple of my customers generously take the time to help me broaden my perspective here. I do understand how African Americans are seeing this - and I know that since nobody seems to have 'the answer' for the blacks' declining culture, Obama looks like a clean-cut, modern version of a black Savior.

I think even in this declining culture, it would be good to realize that every day one lives and breathes in America, is a day one is contributing to society. And when one condemns the decline of society in America, it reflects poorly on oneself. Regardless, I am full of compassion on this controversial issue, and I want only the best for the country I love, am proud of, and would fight for with my last breath.