Politics and Culture - American Profiles In Radical Independence

“I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

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The Race Conversation America Is Afraid To Have

February 22nd 2009 12:34

The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, personal and family history, belief systems, and often political, nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identifications. None of these is you.

Eckhart Tolle (German motivational speaker)

As I prepare to step through the mind fields of race, religion and gender issues as it pertains to American society I must first reach out to a higher level of understanding…

A higher level of understanding that brings to mind heroes of moderation in the struggle of civil disobedience. Hero’s of American and World culture that were turned away from voting booths, denied food, burned on cross’s in effigy, imprisoned, raped, denied basic human rights, had their families killed, called outcasts, rebels and determined road blocks to the way of progress and change.

The herd mentality of society during these time periods envisioned a utopian future of change and understood that these turbulent times could not continue. Understanding and action are two separate instincts and it took special men and women to play the role of the radical rebel for social change.

Radicals who dared to believe change could be achieved through the sheer grit of the common man are engrained in our conscience as inspirations of everything we can be to stand up to a corrupt system.

In this conversation I don’t want to simply concentrate on these heroes’ of civil disobedience…

Being civil in thought and action weren’t the only tools that carried our society through the Federal assisted actions of Slavery, Jim Crowe and the social discrimination that still continues long after laws were passed help us progress past our lesser instincts.

Let’s expand the conversation past Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Jesse Jackson, Frederick Douglas, Sojourner Truth, Dr E.B. Dubois and other hero’s of the civil rights movement that worked within the system side by side with Presidents and Congressmen for us as a nation to achieve the rights of equality for all men and women.

Let’s leap forward and include the Nation Of Islam, Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad, Louis Farrakhan, Al Sharpton, The Black Panther Movement, Hewey Newton and the other social figures that are still considered radical forces of change in within the Civil Rights Movement in the pages of our history books.

I’m not here to debate the merits in anyone’s plan that ultimately achieved the social equality we have in our society or to debate the actions of fighting against a corrupt system tooth and nail to reach a higher level of understanding.

What I want out of this conversation is the whole truth and not just the pretty pieces we like to use in mixed race dinner time conversations.

At this point in our nations maturity it is an understood fact that our forefathers allowed an abomination to pass from the mother we broke free of to the child in the birth of our nation. The freedoms that were afforded to all men in 1776 through the United States Constitution were put on the backburner for the few in lieu of our nation’s need for financial independence and this compromise has shaped our American culture long after these slaves were freed in 1850.

Freedom on paper was translated to fear of the unknown for the disenfranchised southern aristocrat who was now living in poverty with the rest of his statesmen who were used as pawns in the Civil War that was directed by the rich over issues of power in the Federal Government but was fought on the battle field as a struggle for southern ideals and piece of mind.

Directing the masses in support of causes over fear has always been the central issue…

Whether it was southern aristocrat’s arousing social fear and stereotypes to the masses with fire and brimstone about slave revolts by perpetuating the myths of those who were in chains being less than human or the arousing unsabstantiated anger and fear of federal take over’s of farms, houses and their way of life as a way of defining southern culture from that of the industrial north.

When the bullets stopped flying and defeat was near, the coining of the term “Separate but equal” to drive a wedge in America ever forming a utopian vision of Americans truly living together socially, mentally or spiritually proved to be the one lasting legacy of the Jim Crowe Era .

Just this week the nation I love received a blow to the gut from one of her public officers.

The newly appointed Attorney General Eric Holder called us:

“A Nation of Cowards” when it comes to subjects of race.

Growing up with an education rich in the history, strength and grit my instincts told me to stand up and defend something I knew was an untruth. The events of 9-11 gave me all the proof I needed to see the power we have inside of us to drop our banners and come together for the betterment of our nation.

Coming together in the face of a common enemy will never do anything to vanquish the enemies we have spent centuries creating within ourselves.

The statement that we are a nation of cowards alone is chilling on its face but it is one based in truth…

For all the reason’s I listed above we don’t want to understand the reasons behind the creation of white and black villains throughout our history.

For the vast amount of people in this country it’s easier to grasp onto the genocidal impact of slavery and Jim Crowe and dismiss the past as the past.

For others it’s easier to grasp onto what happened with everything they have, never find a middle ground or forgiveness for the btetterment of our nation, actively work to create allowances on a system that has passed down the pain from generation to generation, push for monetary reparations to make up for the sins of the past to elevate the people who were denigrated by a government who wrote the words all men were created equal but waited 74 years for the President to clearly make this so.

In the world our forefathers created for us we are no closer to the perfect utopian dream that finds itself somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. While we must never forget the past and the depths our humanity can seek to we must also find a common ground where all men and women are treated as equals without regards to race, gender or religion.

While the breaking of glass ceilings is important to show the world where we’ve been and where we are now it is also important to be weary of the backlash. The backlash that includes comments of people voting for someone just because of the color of his skin or that one must have a certain political thought if he or she is of a certain ethnicity.

Every backlash in society was created by a mandate.

For every person who creates a mandate that someone should vote for Hillary Clinton simply because that person is a woman or reasoning that we need a woman in the White House it will simply be met with a conservative mandate that we accept Sarah Palin to do the same. One argument is just as ridiculous as the other and should be met with bipartisan anger.

Racism, Greed and being afraid of anything that is remotely different to what we are individually have created a type of society that has required mandates the other way. For me it’s sad in a way because qualifications and the words of great men are simply thrown to the back burner as we demand to see certain models of people as our leaders instead of judging each person individually.

It’s gotten to the point that when someone is selected for a position and they don’t fit the mold of how they are supposed to talk, act, believe or belong to a certain group we simply state that he or she is a “token” or is just being used by the other side to portray racial nuance.

By spending decade after decade not calling a spade a spade and assuming leaders for certain groups it is more important now than ever for each and every one us to dig in and find out the real truth. As proven in election “08” Jesse Jackson does not speak for all black people and neither does Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

Thanks to the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, the Nation of Islam, Frederick Douglas, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Hewey Newton and the rest of the leaders of the Civil Rights movement a black man or woman has the right to be anything they want to be.

In the terms of our hour glass society “anything they want to be” is restrained to a Grass Roots Democrat but much to the chagrin of these zealots this statement simply means that these heroes’ won black men and women the right to belong to the Democratic Party, Republican Party, Libretatrian Party, Whig Party, Constitution Party, American Party, Socialist Party, Green Party or to be an Independent and yes a Radical Independent.

This is the American dream and true social change unrestrained, outside of the box and the product of a free society thanks to the American Constitution.

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