Reflection on History

I have given myself last few days since the election time to let the enormity of this historic event sink in. I was talking to my F about the excitement surrounding the election of Barack Obama as our 44th President and I told her how I felt the night We The People made history.

I was flipping from CNN to ABC to BBC and settled on WGN to watch Obama make his victory speech and I thought back and reflected on how far this country has come in the terms of racism and prejudice.

In the late sixties, my first real experience with racism came was when my Family was traveling to Florida. Florida still had its stronghold on discrimination practices in 1968 and could not seem to let go of Jim Crow. As our parent’s practice my brother Jim and I would check out menus at restaurants to see if the prices were good and the food was fair and report back to Mom and Dad.

I remember on one occasion that I will always remember is going into a restaurant and seeing a “Whites Only” section. Being around 8 years old I had no idea that this was the very tip of the cold and calculating iceberg of discrimination. I just thought it was wrong and I was angry.

The Wheaton College kids that called me a papist for wearing my Saint Michael's school uniform and laughed at me as if their form of religion was superior. I hope that these ignorant kids grew up and learned tolerance.

I recalled filling out Social Security cards for my sons and pausing for a long time at the section “Caucasian” or “Asian” descent. I actually feared that what happened in the Forties could happen again and that I may be dooming my sons to any forms of discrimination due to their Japanese heritage. I marked “Asian” descent and vowed that no one would profile my child. I stood strong for my sons.

The babysitter’s husband that stated “My wife ain’t babysitting a “gook” baby.” I disdained this man.

The teachers that asked when I had “adopted” my son not believing a blond 6 foot woman could give birth to a beautiful son with Asian features. I stared with shock and disgust.

The Family Services of Wheaton that dissuaded my attempts at fostering a black child because I was white and could not “understand” the culture I wept for that child.

The boss that told me because I was a single mom of three, the job I had was the best I could ever do. I proved them wrong.

It is just not the African American population that suffers from racism, prejudice and bias. Although, they have suffered much of the brunt of this awful practice there are many colors and creeds that suffer silently as well.

I hope that this election of Barack Obama starts to change the way we treat one another. I will not give up hope for that.

Political Tap Dance

Oh For God’s Sake! Here we go again! What is it with campaigns that near the end of the draw, we have nightmares coming out of the closet? Gary Hart, running for President in 1988, was considered the Democratic Party’s golden child until he was exposed in a bit of Monkey Busines with a bouncy little cutie named Donna Rice. Jack Ryan the 2004 godsend to the Republican Party who just liked sex clubs a bit too much. And who could forget Howard Dean’s hyenna primal scream heard around the world. And now Barack Obama’s own nightmare just popped out of the closet. His personal minister, the fiery bigoted and racist Reverend Jeremiah Wright has delivered to Obama’s campaign a nasty blow.

Rev Wright seems to not know when to apply the filter to his mouth and in one sermon proved that scandal isn’t necesarily nefarious but can come from the pulpit. Reports that Wright said ranged from “Hillary Clinton has an advantage over Barack because she is white” to “US is to blame for the AIDS virus” or "some argue that blacks should vote for Clinton because her husband was good to us. That’s not true! He did the same thing to us that he did to Monica Lewinsky" and instead of “God Bless America black people should be saying God Damm America”. Remind me how much I hate Politics heavily laded with religious opinion

Now of course, Obama denounced the minister’s sermons as inflammatory and appalling and the Obama campaign has reported that Wright has stepped down from serving on the African American Religious Leadership Committee but is this enough to stop the political tongues from wagging.

I think that the campaign has been smacked on the behind quite nastily. I am sure that the greasy palms of the other camps are just rubbing together with glee that this could quite possibly end Obama’s bid for the White House.

So who made the decision to drop this bombshell? And why is it that knowledge of scandal is timed for its bombing raid to occur at just that perfect 11th hour? I would love to get into the minds of campaign planners and see what kind of cerebral library they have stored in their brains. Its like a gray matter file cabinet of nasties that is opened at certain dates to pull out manila folders labeled Sex, Drugs, and Dubious Characters

To have a scandal raise its serpent-like head does push a candidate into a tap dance for his life. And it is not going to stop anytime soon. Makes me sick watching the one upmanship of Campaign Headquarters. I long for the day when the most damaging evidence was that you had a crazy drunk brother – remember Billy Carter anyone?

The final verdict is in. No matter how hard a candidate tries it is impossible to run a scandal, vicious attack and bullshit free campaign. Shows that playground bullies never quite go away, they just become meaner.