Every year there’s a new one
A Diallou, King or me
Clamoring loudly
Faces on TV
We ask so many questions
But no one’s forced to answer
With sympathy’s short half-life
Soon most are hoping for the noise to stop
And the questions to disappear once again
Just like us
In our lives
And our deaths
© Gayle Force Press 2002
Category: Current Affairs
Trash Day
The strong, nearly intoxicating
Smell of burning trash
Comes to me past a state park,
an ancient river that gave this
place its name,
3 creeks,
a gorgeous pond,
and half a medium-sized city.
At least
That’s what my imagination tells
me.
I want to believe that if the
trash burners truly exist
They live in spheres separate from
mine
There can be no points of mutual
reference
No chance that I’ll take the
parking spot they covet
Or that they could snag the last
copy of the Gazette where I stop
For my coffeedonutpaper
No.
Not those folks.
People who are my bogeymen
These fearsome apparitions.
I know all about the east side of
this not so large town.
The pond I’ve heard about,
Those several creeks that may be
only a windy one,
The valley where a river ran dry,
And the state park I’m afraid to
visit.
© Gayle Force Press 2002
February 19 John Lewis
This Black History Month I’m Grateful for John Lewis
“Registering to vote is an act of commitment to the American
ideal. It is patriotic. The Federal Government must decide whether it wants to
let Southern Negroes register. It must make that choice this summer, or make us
all witnesses to the lynching of democracy.”
-John Lewis
John Lewis was a young college student when he got his start
as an activist in the Nashville Student Movement. Lewis was often viewed as the
prodigy of the movement as he was the youngest of the “Big Six” leaders of the
Civil Rights Movement by a full decade.
As a co-founder and an early chair of the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Lewis first became a national figure during the
Freedom Rides of 1961. It was during this endeavor to desegregate public
facilities in the South that Lewis was beaten so badly many feared his death
was imminent. While continuing his leadership of SNCC, Lewis was one of the speakers
at the legendary 1963 March on Washington.
SNCC worked throughout the South to
develop Freedom Schools that trained nonviolent activists. They also organized 1964’s Freedom
Summer efforts at registering potential Black voters. Lewis was also one of the
leaders of the Selma, Alabama march now referred to as “Bloody Sunday” because
of the brutal beating Lewis and many other nonviolent protestors received at
the hands (and clubs) of the Alabama State Police.
As the sixties came to an end, Lewis became deeply involved
in electoral politics. Initially, he became a prominent advisor for Robert F.
Kennedy’s Presidential campaign in 1968. For the last quarter century, Lewis
has served his country as a member of Congress from Georgia. He is widely perceived
as the most important living link to the Civil Rights Movement. Lewis continues
to fight for human rights to this day.
Today I am grateful for John Lewis. You should be too.
FDO
February 11 Barack Obama
This Black History Month I’m Grateful for Barack Obama
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or
some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that
we seek.”
-Barack Obama
When Jesse
Jackson ran for President in 1984 and 1988, his campaigns were considered
quixotic. No one really thought Jackson would be President. However, a
generation later, Obama accomplished what many believed impossible; a Black
President. Nor was this an accident of history. Consolidating his 2008 win with
a sizable re-election margin in 2012 made Obama only the fourth Democrat to win
consecutive terms as President since Andrew Jackson.*
Soon after succeeding George W. Bush in the White House,
Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. While the award was largely a repudiation of
Bush, Obama has ended America’s war in Iraq and the end of the conflict in
Afghanistan is imminent. With ObamaCare, the President has initiated the most
substantial change in health care since Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society created
Medicaid and Medicare.
Obama has also broadened the national conversation on
civil rights issues by publicly supporting gay marriage rights and ending
discriminatory policies in the military. Obama is among the several most
important people in this 21st century and already belongs near the
top of the list for all of American history.
Beyond his policies, Obama has become a global symbol for
possibility. The vision of what America is and can be has been irrevocably
changed now that Obama and his family are the visual representatives of this
country. While Obama’s Presidency is not the realization of Martin Luther
King’s Dream, America has certainly come closer to fulfilling it. Clearly, America’s
first Black President holds a special, soon to be permanent place in the annals
of national and world history.
Today I am grateful for Barack Obama. You should be too.
FDO
*- Before him were Bill Clinton, Franklin Roosevelt and
Woodrow Wilson. Grover Cleveland won the popular vote three times in a row but
lost the Electoral College race in between his terms in office.
February 10 Ralph Abernathy
This Black History Month I’m Grateful for Ralph Abernathy
“Bring on your tear gas, bring on your grenades, your new
supplies of Mace, your state troopers and even your National Guards. But let
the record show we ain’t going to be turned around.”
– Ralph Abernathy
Despite being older and initially more recognized than
Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Abernathy will always be viewed as MLK’s
sidekick. But what an important sidekick.
Ralph Abernathy was something of a prodigy, having become
the pastor of Montgomery, Alabama’s largest Black church at only 25. It was
this position that helped make Abernathy such a prominent member of the local
NAACP and a natural leader of the Montgomery Improvement Association, the
organization built around the Montgomery bus boycott. Soon after, Abernathy
became Vice President in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC),
among the most prominent of civil rights organizations.
Abernathy never received the public acclaim of King but was
his most valued ally. Racist groups were well aware of Abernathy’s importance
to the civil rights movement and attempted to assassinate him on numerous
occasions. Abernathy was viewed within the movement as King’s most important strategist
and best friend. In the minds of some, Abernathy had more sway over King’s
thinking than even his wife, Coretta Scott King.*
After King’s murder, Abernathy assumed the presidency of
SCLC and fulfilled King’s dream for a Poor People’s Campaign, an attempt to
advocate for the needs of the most desperate Americans, regardless of their
race. Even as the civil rights coalition fractured, Abernathy remained active
in social issues. He worked to resolve the Wounded Knee conflict between
American Indian activists and the federal government; became President of the
World Peace Council; and led numerous initiatives to guarantee economic
justice.
While Martin Luther King was the unquestioned leader of the mainstream
civil rights movement, Ralph Abernathy played a critical role in it. His
allegiance to King and support of the vision of racial equality was an
inimitable boon to the movement. Few people could have stood so firmly in so
large a shadow.
Today I am grateful for Ralph Abernathy. You should be too.
FDO
*Check back Wednesday.
February 9 Hiram Revels
This Black History Month I’m Grateful for Hiram Revels
“The colored race can be built up and assisted … in acquiring
property, in becoming intelligent, valuable, useful citizens, without one hair
upon the head of any white man being harmed.”
– Hiram Revels
Hiram Revels is relatively unknown even to students of Black
American history. His name is usually evoked only when something unusual
happens: a Black person becoming a United States Senator.
In the 150 years
since the Emancipation Proclamation, fewer than ten Blacks have been Senators
and Hiram Revels was the first. Revels served Mississippi for a little more
than a year and had a relatively uneventful experience after controversy
surrounding his seating in the Senate abated.
The political universe of Reconstruction was vastly different
than our own but Revels established an important precedent. His dignified
service to his state and our country demonstrated that White fears of
incompetent Black leadership were absurd.
After his time in the Senate concluded, Revels continued to
have a valuable career, serving as the first president of Alcorn State, as a
professor and as a minister. We can only hope that our current Black Senators
give as generously to the world as Revels did.
Today I am grateful for Hiram Revels. You should be too.
FDO
February 6 Jesse Jackson
This Black History Month I’m Grateful for Jesse Jackson
“Both tears and sweat
are salty, but they render a different result. Tears will get you sympathy;
sweat will get you change.”
-Jesse Jackson
In the last decade or so, the Reverend Jesse Jackson has
become caricatured for having a complicated personal life and making an absurd
statement about Barack Obama. However the 21st century image of
Jackson I’ll remember is this one. The
picture doesn’t reflect the elation of a typical Obama supporter. The picture
represents an outpouring of emotion from a man who spent his entire adult life fighting
on the front lines of America’s race battles. And, in this picture, we can see
Jesse Jackson watching Barack Obama complete the journey Jackson began himself.
People often forget that Jesse Jackson was a civil rights
prodigy. While only in his mid-20s, Jackson became a trusted adviser to Martin
Luther King Jr., helping run Operation Breadbasket in Chicago and planning
national strategies. In the famous photo of the Lorraine Motel balcony upon
which King was assassinated, Jackson is one of the men surrounding King.
During the 1970s, Jackson worked to fill the void left by
King’s death and became the most prominent advocate for Black interests.
Jackson attempted to meld the interests of the old guard civil rights
community, the developing Black middle class and Black Power radicals by
emphasizing Black culture, pride, self-reliance and community. He also helped
develop the model of Black Expos which expanded into other communities across
the country.
Jackson’s obituary will most prominently highlight his 1984
and 1988 Presidential campaigns. Jackson was the first Black candidate to run a
national Presidential campaign that featured electoral successes.* Jackson did
so well in 1984 that eventual Democratic nominee Walter Mondale felt compelled
to choose someone who was not a White male in an effort to capture potentially
disaffected Jackson voters.#
Even after failing to win the Presidency, Jackson stayed
engrossed in national politics, serving as Washington, DC’s shadow senator. Now,
the prodigy has become one of the elder statesmen of Black America; receiving
Jackson’s blessing is still greatly valued. He’s one of the strongest links between
the struggles of the Civil Rights Movement and the glories of an America in
which a Black person is President.
Today I am grateful for Jesse Jackson. You should be too.
FDO
*- Shirley Chisholm ran an inspiring campaign in 1972 but
never gained any traction. Chisholm demonstrated tremendous courage during her
short lived race and survived at least three assassination attempts.
#- His choice of Geraldine Ferraro was poorly received.
February 4 Rosa Parks
This Black History Month I’m Grateful for Rosa Parks
“I had not
planned to get arrested. I had plenty to do without having to end up in jail.
But when I had to face that decision, I didn't hesitate to do so because I felt
that we had endured that too long.”
-Rosa Parks
Today is the 100th birthday of the woman many describe as “the
mother of the Civil Rights Movement”, Rosa Parks. That kind epithet acknowledges Parks’ role in
starting the Montgomery Bus Boycott which launched the national career of
Martin Luther King Jr. and is often seen as the first example of a new type of
civil rights struggle. At the same time, though, viewing Parks as a matronly figure reinforces the false idea that Parks was an accidental heroine.
Many of us now have an image of Parks as an old woman (she
lived into her 90s) who was so exhausted and worn down that by December 1955,
she just couldn’t muster the energy to move further back on the public bus she
rode home. In reality, the actions Parks
became famous for were in no way accidental. Parks was a longtime community
activist and, in her early 40s, vibrant, strong and defiant. Parks was
perfectly aware that she would suffer the public humiliation of an arrest and
would likely suffer long term consequences for her actions. In fact, Parks was
fired from her job.
Part of what I hope folks can take a moment to acknowledge
is that when Rosa Parks began her personal fight against the segregation of the
bus system, she was doing it on her own. There was no plan to create a boycott
of the buses. There was no Montgomery Improvement Association. There was no
guarantee that Parks would even be supported by the Black community in
Montgomery. Rosa Parks fought against an unjust system, not because she knew
she would win but because she knew the system was unjust. For that she deserves
to be richly celebrated.
Today I am grateful for Rosa Parks. You should be too.
FDO
Four More Years
A week after the 2012 election, things feel back to normal. There
are no more TV ads telling us the other guys are all awful, no pollster phone
calls or political e-mail blitzes (Don’t worry, Black Friday is coming soon!),
no more Facebook virtual throw downs and no more questions about how much we
love America.
But in one important respect, I think things are really
different. For the past four years, I’ve had people telling me that Barack
Obama’s election was a fluke or an accident or a bizarre mistake. Yes, lots of
things went Obama’s way in 2008. Yes, he had some good luck. But I’ve tried
convincing folks that electing a Black man named Barack Hussein Obama President
of the United States went way beyond any Providence. I have always believed
2008 was a harbinger of things to come. I think that’s even clearer now.
For four years, Obama has been lied about, ridiculed,
threatened and slandered more than anyone could have reasonably anticipated. Questions
about every aspect of his life have been raised and accepted as fact by large
swaths of the public even when the questions were internally inconsistent, even
when they literally could not have been true. Americans had to see their
President demeaned and belittled, not because of what he did but because of who
he is.
The easiest, simplest way to stop all that would have been to elect Mitt
Romney last week. America could have gone back to having a President who looks
all the other Presidents. We could have stopped the hate parade in its tracks
and breathed a sigh of relief that the vicious, race based attacks would go
away for awhile. We could have said, ‘Okay, enough.’
Instead, we re-elected Obama. Despite the dire predictions
from the left and the overwhelming confidence
of the Romney campaign, Obama won a decisive victory. (I call it a Nixon
landslide.) America chose to go in the direction of the man who sings Al Green, embraces
gay marriage and welcomes
the children of undocumented immigrants. I am convinced that this election was
about more than Democrats and Republicans. It was about more than changing demographics
and the 47%. It was even about much more than Romney and Obama.
This election was about the future of America. A future of less
division and more integration. A future of fewer lies and
harder truths. A future of holding hands but not clenching fists. This is the
future we need. This is the future we want. And this is the future we are
choosing.
So no, thank God, things are not back to normal. But I think
I’m gonna like the new normal a whole lot more.
FDO
Four Days Out
I’m
lucky enough to work in an environment in which politics gets discussed
frequently, thoughtfully and kindly. One consequence of that environment is
that I’ve been asked to update my Electoral College prediction for next week’s
Presidential Election so here it is: I see the most likely outcome as Obama
332- Romney 206. That margin of victory would decisively outpace the popular
vote difference between the candidates by reflecting many close wins for Obama in
swing states but Romney landslides in deep red states.
I
think Obama’s EC vote total could range anywhere from 277 to 358. That’s a
lotta swing. I’m on the high end of this projection because I anticipate the
most important late leans are all moving toward the President. Early voting, Hurricane
Sandy, first time voters, Romney's rebuke by the auto industry and the unpolled masses… if there will be voting
benefits from any of those realities, Obama will get them.
332
reflects my thinking that states like Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin
will almost certainly go blue. New Hampshire, Colorado and Iowa are very likely
to do so as well. And states like Florida and Virginia have a decent chance to
stay in the President’s column. Even North Carolina and Indiana have an outside
chances of sliding away from Romney in his worst case scenario.
Today,
Politico’s swing state map suggests that the
race will end up 290-248 for Obama. My guesses that both Virginia and Florida go
for Obama lead to my 332 prediction. Three things stand out to me in looking at
this map.
One-
This map is only about polling averages. No other factors are used.
Two- Florida and
Virginia are gravy states for the President. A few months ago, everyone assumed
those states would be critical battlegrounds. In fact, Romney announced his
choice of Paul Ryan in Virginia for that very reason.
Three- Perhaps, most
amazing, Politico’s current projection means Obama could lose Ohio and still
win the election!
Had you told Mitt Romney six weeks ago that he would win
Ohio but lose the White House, he would have been heartsick. If my prediction
holds up, at least he won’t have to wonder if he could have done something
differently. There’s always a silver lining.
FDO
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