Sorry I haven't been around for awhile but...
This just in:
Slaves helped build the white house:
www.cnn.com/2008/US/12/02/slaves.white.house/index.html
If you read the article you will find out that slaves built the white house. You will also find a few tidbits about "our" presidents that used to own slaves. Anyway the article essentially explains how we are at a historical turning point because Barack Obama and more importantly in this case Michelle Obama will be living in the White House. I mention Michelle because she is the ancestor of slaves from South Carolina. I know we should be proud that America has grown sooo much. But...
This sort of gets to the crux as to why I'm not terribly excited about Barack Obama becoming president.
On one of the many occasions that Malcolm X was chosing to criticize civil rights leaders he said something to the affect of: why would you beg to sit on the toilet next to someone who doesn't want to sit next to you? I keep hearing that over and over in my head. I feel like we have been beggin' America for Political representation and now we've got it. But it doesn't feel good to me.
That's because the building was still built by slaves and Obama's election doesn't erase that. But more importantly The papers that govern that building were written by slaveowners. The entire political system was created by slave owners. The basic fundamental aspects of governing in the United States were created by slave owners that didn't recognize the humanity of black people, native people, and women. Imagine that the Israeli constitution was written by Hitler. The situation I'm describing is absolutely at that level and never analyzed from that prism by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Keith Olberman, John Stewart or Barack Obama.
I look at the injustice in our world and more specifically our country. And I say of course. We are functioning in a society that is run by pieces of paper that were written by psychotic, sadistic, evil men. How the hell can we be surprised? None of this changed on November 4th. And that's why I'm not happy.
Eliminate the glorification of these slave masters from our currency, our buildings, cities, counties, and schools. Tear up the papers that they wrote and develop a new concept of governance that is generated by people of all backgrounds. At that point than I will feel that progress has been made. But the truth is I don't believe we are any closer to that than we were 8 years ago.
The Zapatistas, revolutionaries from southern Mexico, said we are not looking to climb the stairs, we are looking to eliminate them.
That's what I'm talking about.
Well said. But, of course, I disagree. At least in part.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to rename the monuments and wipe history clean. Our nation's history is an incredibly violent one. I want to be reminded of this. I want to walk down the street and see the evidence of our ancestor's mistakes in vivid, tangible detail. I want to see and feel the connections to the past and the truth.
Our nation's laws weren't created only by slaveholders. They were also partly taken from imperialistic and viscious nation that is a lot older than ours. That's also where we got the basis for our bill of rights.
Our history has value. It's complicated and messy and I'll take it over a clean slate any day.
You know what your problem is? You need a reason to be miserable. Is everything you said about the White House true? Yes it is!! Is it true that the constitution was written by slave owners? Yes it is. There is no need to argue that. But you want redemption from wrongs committed over 2 centuries ago. What happened with slavery is part of our history. But, more the point, if you are sooo unhappy here, leave!! Go to South America or Africa or where ever you hear the drumbeat of your cause (which, when u look at it closely is to simply be angry with whats around you). After hearing your band play and reading your lyrics, I find you to be a fraud. You fight a fight that is already won and you waste your time. Your causes are replete with holes and you are simply wasting oxygen. I know you to be a smart and considerate young man but you throw it all away with pointless tantrums of the past. You are not interested in what is happening or who is doing what. You are not interested in making the world or the US a better place. All you really do is make petty complaints and then point to the distant past as proof of your anger. Bob Marley sang you have to fight for your rights. I dont recall him ever mentioning that you must bitch about the distant past either. Check yourself, son. You have the ability to change the world. And thus far, all you have done is wasted your talents.
ReplyDeleteVictorio. I feel you on most of your points. In high school, as I sought out my own education, I shed any and all belief in the sanitized lies that they taught us in history class about our "democratic" nation. I wholeheartedly believe that this nation is suffering from being built on a faulty foundation. When you have a house built on a bad foundation the shit isn't going to hold up. America's foundation is rooted in, slavery, genocide, wholesale theft and deception. We all know that the men that wrote our "great" constitution called Africans 3/5 human. So they clearly weren't thinking of people of color when they wrote "of the people, for the people and by the people."
ReplyDeleteSo, I do agree with your sentiments to a large extent. I also agree with your right to not be excited about Obama's election. I, personally am happy to see the brother in office, but by no means do I believe that he is THE answer, or that his election in any way fixes our horribly broken system. I guess what I'm saying is, I respect the rights of others to not be excited and I hope people respect others' right to BE excited.
It fills me with an immense sense of pride to see a first family that looks like me, looks like my mother. I do like Obama, but I am very much progressive in my beliefs, so I must admit that Obama's centrist tendencies make me cringe sometimes. That being said, I respect him just for the fact that he's continually urging everyday people to stay involved in the betterment of their own communities and country.
When it comes to real change, government is pretty much irrelevant. Since when has government brought about any relevant social change of their own volition? The type of changes that you and I want to see will only come about from a grass roots level.
I want to see an end to the glorification of slave masters, and a new concept of governance that is generated by people of all backgrounds also... now how do we make that a reality?
It's on us.