In the future we will all be brown

I recently listened to one speech and read another. I read some of George W's speech about the positive outcomes of the War in Iraq and I listened to Obama's recent speech addressing race in America. Allow me to comment on Bush's speech first. You'll notice that he did not mention Weapons of Mass Destruction one time. Why? Because even the Rush Limbaugh doesn't believe that shit any more. He still tried to connect Saddam Hussein to 911 which in my opinion is an insult to everything that we now know. Bush has survived this long because of two things. The first is fear. He loaded our plates with it and we shoved it into our mouths mindlessly. The second reason Bush as survived this long is because the United States media is more concerned with Brittney Spears vagina then what our government is doing over seas and to the Constitution of the United States.

But lets be clear on one thing, the media has been encouraged to dumb down their reporting. They have been encouraged by us. I am not blameless in this scenario. I have seen the pictures of the stars who have fallen so far from their former glory. My attention has been held by the reports of who is dating who, or who cheated on who, or who was caught drunk driving where. But, this kind of "info-tainment" is no substitute for good, objective news reports. These reports have been harder and harder to come by in the past decade or so. It seems that congress and the media are more interested in who took fucking steroids while playing professional baseball then finding out who deleted emails that were legally supposed to be preserved. Congress and the media have been more interested in stopping one woman from being disconnected to artificial life support after a decade of being in a coma by her husband, then investigating an administration who has repeatedly told lies to the American people and the American government, had those lies caught on tape, and then repeated those lies over and over and over. Just when I find myself losing all hope comes comes a speech like the one I heard Obama give.

Obama was addressing reports about some "inflammatory" statements the pastor at his church made regarding race (black vs white) in America. What I enjoyed about Obama's speech was that he denounced the words his pastor said but not the person. He told the crowd that this was not the first time he has disagreed with something this man has said and it probably wouldn't be the last. Obama was then able to do something that doesn't happen much in todays political arena. He talked about the issue. The media tried to turn it into another circus event and Obama addressed the issue and did so in a way I have not heard by a public figure who has "so much to lose". I have officially become an Obama fan, but I can not say who I'm going to vote for yet.

He didn't just talk about the fact that so many of the large disparities between people of color and white people in the United States can be linked directly to the fact that people of color were systematically prevented from participating in the pursuit of happiness. Prevented from owning land, voting, going to school, passing on property and money, taking care of their health needs, the list could go on and on. The fact of the matter is people did not start on equal footing in the history of this country and it's important that this be acknowledged. HOWEVER, we can not forget those who overcame this reality and created a better one for their children.

Obama then did something I think was very brave. He addressed the frustration White America feels regarding the racial divide and he did it in a way I think only a person of color could have done. By the way, I use the term "person of color" because this is not just a black issue. I have borrowed this term from one of my favorite Professors from graduate school. Anyways, Obama talked about the fact that many of today's white Americans are paying for the "sins of the father". This is not to say that White folks do not directly benefit from the mere fact they are white. But, it is long past time to move on from this standstill we are in. We have been in this standstill for a couple generations. That's my feeling anyways. I like White people. Nothing is going to change if PEOPLE are not allowed to communicate their feelings. This is never going to happen if White people fear being labeled as racist every time they open their mouths about something that has to do with non white people. This is why, I made sure that dumb ass dude who called Andrew a dirty fucking Mexican understood that I was not calling him a racist but that I was calling him a stupid mother fucker who said something offensive and ignorant.

White people fear the "R" word and I can't blame them. Being labeled a racist is devastating in most circles in the USA. It's a life killer. And truth be told, there have been some people of color who have taken advantage of this fact. Yeah, I said it....and it's true. We all know it is, it's just more acceptable for me to say so. Everybody is oppressed by the way our world works. Some of us feel the sting a little more but we are all getting stung. No one has cornered the market on pain, frustration, anger, sadness or disappointment. Now I'm not saying we all need to hold hands but I honestly believe the world is going to be full of all caramel colored people one day. That is if we don't destroy the planet's ecosystem first (I give us a 45% chance). That's right, one day, we will all be a lovely golden brown color, but first we need to be able to have open and honest communication. The fear factor needs to be eliminated. We have to want more and expect more of ourselves and others....all others.