What I Learned In Kindergarten

As the Democratic primary continues to drag on I am reminded of a book I read a long time ago. The name of the book was, “All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten”. Obviously the candidates and their campaigns didn’t read the book, if they had maybe there would be a lot less of this incessant snipping that has overtaken the issues in this campaign. In the book the author states that the most important lessons in life the Golden Rule, honesty, clean up your own mess, and say you're sorry when you hurt somebody he learned in kindergarten. These valuable lessons would be a welcome change on the campaign trail. For many of us, kindergarten represented our first foray into the social experiment we call society. It was important to learn the ground rules of interpersonal communications to learn how to navigate the many pitfalls that await those who don’t learn them.

GRANTHAM, Pa. — A candidate forum devoted to issues of faith and justice became another flash point for Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton to spar in their intensifying nominating fight, with the candidates exchanging frosty glances Sunday night as their paths briefly crossed on stage.

The Democratic contenders addressed the Compassion Forum at Messiah College here, one after the other. Their cold, quick encounter as they traded places on the stage reflected the hostility between them over the past two days as Mrs. Clinton has repeatedly hammered Mr. Obama for remarks he made at a fund-raiser suggesting that some voters turned to religion and guns as consolation for their bitterness about their economic hardship.[1]

While each candidate’s supporters will want to claim the high ground in this campaign and blame the other for any perceived slights or violation of their sacred cows. The problem with having two historical candidacies is that each one believes they have an inherent right to be in the race and the eventual nominee. The problem with their supporters is that they also believe their “cause” is the only important cause in the election. So here we are with both camps going back forth like schoolchildren, each one complaining of the others unfair advantage in the media, in the polls, and in the gender/race wars. She doesn’t like blacks, he doesn’t like women or rural whites, or he/she is a sellout. The longer this process goes on the more absurd the charges have become.

Because there is so little difference in the overall policy directions of both candidates, they both essentially want the same things; the devil is in the details. Since there are no glaring differences, for instance one wants tax-cuts and the other one doesn’t or one favors abortion and the other one doesn’t, we are left with these magnified differences to show separation. Small differences and slights have been elevated to mountain status, instead of focusing on the definable differences between themselves and John McCain; the campaigns would rather focus on the minute differences between the two. So we are left with this back and forth on a range of topics that will have no bearing on the general election.

Religion has become a contentious subtext in the Democratic campaign in recent days after Mr. Obama’s comments. Before the forum, he began his most spirited counterattack on Mrs. Clinton since the flap erupted over his remarks, saying of her attacks, “She knows better. Shame on her.” He also mocked Mrs. Clinton’s own recent comments courting gun owners, saying she was “talking like she’s Annie Oakley. Hillary Clinton’s out there like she’s on the duck blind every Sunday. She’s packing a six-shooter. Come on, she knows better.”[2]

Let’s face it politicians pander, that’s what they do. In order to gain votes each one tailors his/her message to appeal to that electorate. As this thing moves forward they will have to tailor more specific messages to target more specific voters in order to highlight differences and in the process even minor position changes are going to be trumpeted from the rooftops. So we end up with much ado about nothing. And the MSM in an effort to sell more ads will continue to stoke any perceived riff between the Democrats while affording John McCain as much positive coverage as they can.

On Friday, it got to be too much for Alegre, a diarist on the flagship liberal blog DailyKos, who frequently writes in support of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

“I’ve put up with the abuse and anger because I’ve always believed in what our online community has tried to accomplish in this world,” Alegre wrote Friday evening. “No more.”

Objecting to the tone of attacks against Mrs. Clinton and her supporters on the blog, the diarist called for a “writers strike.”[3]

What is amazing to me is how the blogosphere has allowed itself to be dragged into this. I can understand how fanatical supporters are being tossed to and fro by every little detail and every little slight, but where is the perspective? Many supporters of both candidates have gone off the deep end with their fanatical belief that their gender/race candidate has some inherent birthright to the Presidency and anyone who does not share in their belief is out of touch with reality. As if not electing their candidate will be the end of the world as we know it, the time for race/gender identity politics must end.

I suggest we all go back to kindergarten and relearn some valuable lessons that many of us have forgotten. Here’s a good one - When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/us/politics/14forum.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
[2] http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/us/politics/14forum.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
[3] http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/15/blogtalk-pro-clinton-bloggers-walk-out-of-kos/

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Pickup Games, Black Guys, and Progressives

Anyone who has ever played pickup basketball games with some black guys will immediately understand this essay, for those who haven’t I will try to explain. There is a common belief that in pickup games black guys would rather look good and lose than win ugly. They would rather do a 360 slam dunk, than do the dirty work that insures victory like setting screens and blocking out on the boards. In other words it is not about the team or playing the game, it is about the individual looking good. I have come to the conclusion that there are many in the progressive and net-roots community who have this same mentality. They would rather lose holding on to some false sense of integrity, than win and accept piecemeal gains.

In their infinite wisdom the founders of this country created a system of government that relies on compromise. The problem with compromise is that it causes change to come very slowly. We have a system that short of an all out revolution takes years to change. Now there are many that will argue the merits or the disadvantages of such a system, but none the less it is the system we have inherited. In the last twenty to thirty years we have seen the system slowly being pushed to the right, so that now even the center is to the right. This of course has many on the left up in arms and desiring a full scale shift back to the left right now. This of course will be extremely difficult because as the center bar has been pushed to the right, so has the country. Any sudden shift will be seen and presented as radicalism to the general public. Such radicalism will be easily defeated through coercion from the media, the right, and the powers that be.

One of the difficulties of interacting with the net-roots and blogosphere is that there are many pseudo-revolutionaries. They preach all-out anarchy from behind their screens, but do nothing to actually bring about the change they seek. Not only do they not become active, they criticize anyone who is active but not an extremist. If you do not agree or support their agenda 100% then you are labeled as a sell-out and open to all manner of personal attack and criticism. As if wishing change will make it so. In their fantasy world of genies and wizards change comes at the waving of a wand. Unfortunately, in the real world of politics in America it doesn’t quite work this way. There will be no radical change to either the left or the right under the political system we have.

The problem is that we on the left have allowed the right to create these false narratives for the American public without disputing their validity. We have watched while our concerns and issues have been slowly recast as out of touch with “real” American values when the truth is the exact opposite. The truth is that the majority of Americans do believe in providing for those less fortunate, they do believe in privacy of the individual, they believe in diplomacy, and they believe in fairness, justice, and tolerance for all. Maybe the problem with those pseudo revolutionaries is that they are feeling the pangs of guilt for having given away the farm during the “Reagan Revolution” or the “War on Terror”.

If we are to swing the body politic back to a more progressive agenda it is not going to happen overnight. It is not enough to be right, we do not live in a world where good always triumphs evil. We must begin the process of reversing the current trend gradually through the election and promotion of those who may not agree with every point in our agenda but whom we can find commonness of purpose on the larger issues. We are pass the point of moral victories, it is the accepting of those moral victories that have placed us in the situation we are in. For too long we have allowed others to do the heavy lifting and then become angry when they have gone for themselves and abandoned our issues. The time has come for us to become active in not only crafting the agenda, but insuring it’s being instituted.

Rather you agree with Barack Obama or not you cannot deny that his message is resonating with millions of people, many of whom are first timers and this presents an opportunity. This opportunity is only as useful as we make it through direct participation. We must be willing to hold not only his feet to the fire, but also those who would obstruct and deny the will of the people. The reason that George Bush and the right can ignore the will of the people is because they are allowed to by the people. It is no longer enough to vote and participate only during elections, we must remain engaged and ready to mobilize against anyone who would try to impede the will of the people.

I am so tired of this crap about how we are too busy today to remained engaged beyond our daily grind. Ok, so you may not be able to attend rallies or marches, but we can all take the time to write a letter or make a phone call. This thing will not get better because we elected the right person, this thing will only get better because we held those elected accountable. The reason the center was pushed to the right is because they were united, we on the other hand are so busy looking at our sacred cow or only one tree that we have forgotten we are in a forest. So, if you want to do the 360 go right ahead, but don’t come crying to me when you lose.

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Mychal Bell Released

JENA, La. -- A black teenager whose prosecution in the beating of a white classmate prompted a massive civil rights protest here walked out of a courthouse Thursday after a judge ordered him freed.

Mychal Bell's release on $45,000 bail came hours after a prosecutor confirmed he would no longer seek an adult trial for the 17-year-old. Bell, one of the teenagers known as the Jena Six, still faces trial as a juvenile in the December beating in this small central Louisiana town.[1]

Today is a testament to a lot of things about America, some good and some not so good. Because I am a positive person I will start with the good, the first thing is that today in America there are enough voices of reason and right that a young black man who not long ago would have been lynched was able to walk out of a jail cell, a jail cell that if he had been lucky enough to have reached a few years ago would have been his home for the rest of his life. Let’s be honest there are many Mychal Bell’s buried in the history of America, who because they were black were murdered for less serious accusations than these.

It is a testament to those in the Black blogosphere and media who took up the mantle of these young men and kept it held high until others were able to rally. There were many who would have liked for this story to not have risen to the level that it did and that is due in large part to the pressure put on by the black bloggers. Congratulations, you all deserve a shout-out. While, I still believe that the power of organization through the internet is limited; I do think this is one of the circumstances when it can be utilized to its potential.

It is a testament of hope for all Americans who seek equal justice for all and who were willing to leave their homes and jobs and go to Jena, La and show that we will not stand for this treatment in 2007. There are a lot of things that we have to put up with as Black Americans, but this ain’t going to be one of them. This was not about just those boys; this was about justice for all of us. Whether we live in Boston, Dallas, LA, or any other place in America, we know that this is not an isolated incident and it could have been any of us.

Now, for the not so good. First of all, how those young men responded to the situation was wrong. I am not saying that they shouldn’t have stood up for what they believed in, but six against one that wasn’t justice that was just senseless violence and we have to know the difference. We, just as the D.A. have to acknowledge when we are wrong, if not our indictments of other people’s wrongs ring hollow.

The other is the response of the D.A. Reed Walters to the demonstration held in Jena; this guy has got to be the instructor for sensitivity training for the city of Jena. His comments demonstrate why the divide between black and white is so wide in America. He makes these insensitive remarks and then doesn’t understand how they could be taken offensively. Here is what he said.

An estimated 20,000 to 25,000 protesters marched in Jena last week in a scene that evoked the early years of the civil rights movement.

Walters said the demonstration had no influence on his decision not to press the adult charges, and ended his news conference by saying that only God kept the protest peaceful.

"The only way _ let me stress that _ the only way that I believe that me or this community has been able to endure the trauma that has been thrust upon us is through the prayers of the Christian people who have sent them up in this community," Walters said.

"I firmly believe and am confident of the fact that had it not been for the direct intervention of the Lord Jesus Christ last Thursday, a disaster would have happened. You can quote me on that."

The Rev. Donald Sibley, a black Jena pastor, called it a "shame" that Walters credited divine intervention for the protesters acting responsibly.
"What I'm saying is, the Lord Jesus Christ put his influence on those people, and they responded accordingly," Walters responded.[2]

So here we have another white man expecting to see “negroes behaving badly”, in this case the only thing that prevented them from acting like Negroes was the power of God brought down by the prayers of all those good white folks. How can he not see how condescending this is? These good Christian folks are so righteous they live in a town that has black and white trees. Thank you God for the prayers of these good Christian white folks, no telling what those “black savages” might have done to our town and of course our womenfolk.

This is like the survey done during the OJ trial; it appears that being a racist is not considered by the majority of whites to be a hindrance to being a good cop; however blacks on the other hand definitely believed that it would impact someone’s job performance in a negative way to be a racist. Being a racist I guess will not interfere with one’s journey to meet their maker, who just so happens to be the maker of those same people you lynch and segregate from. Their God must be really proud of them. How can you be expected to worship God together in heaven, if you can’t worship him together on earth? Do they think there will be some cosmic transformation that will make everyone white in heaven, that we are made black on earth as some karmic backlash from God? I know the hymns say we will made white as snow, but I don’t think this is what they had in mind.

[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/27/AR2007092700470.html?hpid=moreheadlines
[2] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/27/AR2007092700470_2.html?hpid=moreheadlines

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Diversity In Blogosphere?

Lately there has been a lot of talk in the Blog world about diversity and its place in the world. There are voices that say all whites, liberal and conservative are basically the same and share the same agenda. There are voices that say that all whites are bred to feel superior and therefore are inherently racist, whether they acknowledge it or not. It’s in the DNA. There are voices that say because of our troubled history we can never have true unity as a nation and that the best we can hope for is an uneasy co-existence. There are voices that say because a person is born a certain race they can never truly identify with anyone from another race or their plight. What do you believe?

The first question we must ask ourselves is do we want diversity and why? Do I want diversity because it is the PC thing to do or do I honestly feel that we are strengthened as a nation, when all voices are heard, even those that do not echo my own? Why do we seek the comfort of likeminded in our dwellings, in our relationships, and jobs? Why is something different always to be feared? Can I only trust those of like mind and complexion? Why are we so divided? Can we ever truly be united as a nation?

These are questions I ponder all the time and I wish I could say that I have it all figured out, but I don’t. Sometimes the more I think I know, the less I really know about people. What I do know is the atrocity that was slavery cannot be compensated for. It is time we all got honest and admitted this fact. No matter what is offered it will never be enough and whatever is asked will be too much. Do you think that the casinos make up for the genocidal treatment that the Native Americans received? Do you think that they would trade them for their past, for their culture back? We as Black and White must move beyond this argument and come to a mutual understanding and equitable arrangement to help combat the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow in America. While nothing can ever remove the stain of it, there are definite vestiges of its insidious nature that must be dealt with in a constructive way if we are to achieve any type of lasting peace and unity.

There are concrete things that we can do as a nation to begin the healing process that has for too long been ignored for various reasons. The things that divide us are so deeply entrenched that we as men and women can never overcome them of ourselves. Look at us on Sunday mornings, today it is still the most segregated time in America. We can’t even worship God together, how can we live together?

Gandhi was asked by a Hindu who had killed a Muslim child’s family and orphaned him, how can the Hindu make up for what he had done? Gandhi told him that if he were truly serious and repentant that he should raise the orphan, but not as a Hindu. He was to raise him as a Muslim, like his dead father would have done. The simplicity of this answer is powerful and yet most people miss it. Today, we want solutions that don’t require any work. We basically have become lazy. We sit behind these computers and bang out all these ideas and theories and yet what do we actually physically do to change things? The message that Gandhi was relating is that in order to know a man you have to walk as that man walks, live as that man lives. So often today, due to our laziness we just readily accept stereotypes, rhetoric, and demagoguery. How much do we really know about each other? How much are we willing to learn?

Until we get enough people willing to do the things that are uncomfortable, we will merely continue to have an exercise in futility when it comes to race relations in America. Black people can’t force the issue and White people won’t. If you want to know what is wrong in the world all you have to do is just look inside your own heart. We all suffer from the same fears, insecurities, and shortcomings. I am every man and every man is me. Until, we recognize that we have more that unites us than divides us we will continue to fall into the same old traps. We need to stop allowing those that are exploiting the poor and the working class to continue to foster this false racial identity game. So long as they are able to divide and conquer they will remain free to continue their price gouging, profit stealing, and Wall Street inside trading. While we fight over the crumbs, they reap the gourmet meals.

I for one find it fascinating how those things we despise in others we someday become. I know for myself I use to say as a child I would never treat my children this way in response to some perceived slight of my father. Well, a few years later and a couple of kids and guess what. I say that to say, that we as people can sometimes make the same mistakes we find fault with in others, it isn’t that we are bad, we are just human and it is a part of our nature to do so. Do I think all Progressives are racists? No. Do I think that we all can learn lessons from each other? Yes, but you have to acknowledge that you have need of knowledge to get it. If I believe that I am not a racist, then I won’t look at myself and see where maybe I have been insensitive or could use more self evaluation from another’s perspective. If I say I am without sin, then I am a liar and the truth is not in me. Am I the worst sinner ever? Maybe, it will depend on who you talk to. My ex-wife has me somewhere near the top. In my mind I can always find someone worse than me, but does that make me innocent? The point being is that until I acknowledge I have fallen short in some area, I will continue to lull myself into a false sense of security. (I have friends who are…)

Einstein said it best, “It is all relative.” To the man who has been cheated over and over; can you blame him for being suspicious? If you are White think about how it feels when you are in a situation where you are the minority. Now imagine that feeling every day. If you are Black think about how it feels to be falsely accused just because you are Black or lumped into the generalization pot. He’s Black of course he can play basketball. We will never find unity if we can’t get past the fear and the stereotypes that continue to define us. This is a marathon, not a sprint. There has been a lot of mistrust, fear, and social conditioning to overcome. There are many who will not want to, but for those who want to build a better world we must overcome our prejudice and fears. It is going to take a lot of work and many years. I have had many white friends who truly believed that they were not prejudiced, and then they would say you are handsome or smart for a Black man…Articulate

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