Racism in America

Rewriting my experiences with this issue.

I came to the USA in 1965. I was excited, embraced my new country and gave it all my love. I bragged about it to those I left behind and was glad to see the Civil Rights movement succeed. I was sad about the assassinations of JFK and MLK, but I remained positive about the overall progress.

What I want to write about now is the disappointments I started to experience in recent years as Americans became very divided, very polarized and outright hostile.

One by one the great illusions I had about the American mentality started to falter. The “Melting Pot” was among the first, realizing that it was not a given at all. Discrimination, likewise ranked way at the top. Tolerance was good, but I really would rather see full acceptance. More over, I feel unconditional love toward other humans, even if they don’t agree with me, they don’t look like me and they may have a different cultural backgrounds.

I ridiculed “W”, but I did not hate him, I came to realize that it was very hard on him to be a puppet. Hence his occasional outbursts, like “…the Constitution is nothing but a goddamned piece of paper…” Revealed his frustration with his puppeteers.

With Barack Obama’s election the racists were flushed out into the open. More and more I heard statements that I have never heard before. One sports-related comment on the Red Skins tries to explain that White man, if given a choice, would root for the other White man, not, say for a Black. (You can search Huffington Post for the article around Aug. 20, 2012). This is not really so, and it is certainly unfair for the commentator to generalize instead of realizing, it is his problem.

Barack Obama would have not been even close to being elected, had this guy’s statement been true for most Whites. I watched the inaugural more than once. The second time I observed the people gathered to celebrate. And so many were White, and there were tears in their eyes. They know they experienced an historic event. I though they tried to make up for so many wrongs and also to celebrate diversity. If I would say tolerance, that would fall really short, because what I saw and felt myself, was love and victory and elation.

Not long after that a GOP backlash against this fine man, Barack Obama started, came e-rumor, organized propaganda on radio and TV and it emboldened haters of all sorts, including criminals.

There was talk of him being destroyed one way or another. From the rude interruption at State of the Union message and other forms of disrespect, some nuts have shown to believe, BO is the Anti-Christ, and either a Communist, Socialist, or Nazi. He is not a real American, he is an imposter, a secret Moslem, who is bent on destroying America and what it stands for. Never mind that you cannot be a Socialist and a Nazi all in one, never mind that Moslems don’t drink alcohol, or smoke, never mind that he did not lie when he was interrupted in public.

The truth does not seem to matter. The truth has been blocked out by the loud voices of the Extreme Right that came to control every aspect of the democratic process.

Then, just the other day I was sharing something with a friend on my tablet. My background picture was MLK along one of my favorite quotes of his. This friend, who is a Democrat, pointed at the picture and said to me: “Gee, take him off of there, he was a trouble-maker, he stirred racial hatred.” I was appalled I told her I disagreed and that I like to quote him. We dropped the subject, but from my side, at any rate, this friend has dropped in stature for sure. She does support the President, but she needs to read some real history. Oh well. From time to time I run into this and I stand up for the truth. I will never know if it makes any difference. It just makes me feel better and that counts for something.

Along with this kind of hatred other forms also re-emerged. It seems to be perfectly OK with the Extremists to roll back the progress women made and gay rights made.

Democrats, independents and Moderate Republicans have not come out strong enough to counteract. We have now an impasse and a dysfunctional Democracy. So much damage in a few decades…Sad, really sad.

We really need to look at this in a broader frame. This movement of the Extreme Right is not a real movement. It has been planned, and put to work by the elite Neocons, like Rove and his allies. It is funded and fueled by money from a small click not all of them Americans. Certainly not good American.

What was Mitt Romney doing giving a speech to wealthy Israeli donors? Why? He even praised them on their health care system, which is a universal, single payer system, only to continue his rhetoric against Obamacare, which was modeled after his (Romney’s) successful plan.

This elite wants to run the world. I kid you not. America has long stood in the way of that. America’s Middle Class, strong and affluent was the biggest obstacle to create a dictatorship here and to impose our will on other nations.

Empowered women who hold a stake in our democracy, are another obstacle. The more power they acquire, the stronger our system and the more it resists attempts to create a dictatorship.

The saying “Barefoot and pregnant” is pretty much back again. But the Genie is out of the bottle and it will not do it.

Rove’s click is bent on creating a Corpocracy. That is where the shots are called by Big Business, which are mostly multi-national corporations. They are interested in cheaper labor markets.

They want to weaken Middle America.

You may ask why? A large, financially stable Middle is also a great market for goods. I did not do the numbers, but I suspect the elite has sacrificed the market for the cheaper labor. They must have concluded that it was worth. In effect, they sold out America.

Let me interject a personal story: One of my uncles, a devout Republican, built a factory and outsourced most of the work to China. He made lots of money and is now very old. We argue by email back and forth. I brought up the outsourcing to him as a selling out of America. Interestingly, I will quote his answer:  “That is not something I am proud of now.” And with that he grew in my eyes.

Some talk about One-World –Government: I am not sure of details on that, but I would speculate that if that’s what the goal is, then Rove and accomplices are the ones who will make it happen.

However, other things are happening in the world that might retard that process. The Arab Spring and the Occupy movement and main stream Republicans abandoning the GOP ( including lawmakers).  The democrats too are realizing how important is to fight back.

That is why this 2012 election has such high stakes. It will determine is we end up a puppet dictatorship, or remain a Democracy that will need a lot of repair, but will have survived.

Now a word about Mr. Romney and his choice of VP. First I will quote something Romney said during an interview that I heard on TV.

Then here is this verifiable truth:

“Rep. Todd Akin's comments about “legitimate rape” and pregnancy have prompted a justified level of outrage, but few have noted how at home his extremist views are within the GOP platform, or the fact that Republican VP nominee Paul Ryan co-sponsored a bill with Akin to redefine rape in 2011”.

The examples are endless, but I drown my own frustration into poetry. This poem written earlier during the Obama presidency is my way of expressing how I feel about this subject. I found it perfectly fit to close with it

This essay. To add insult to injury, Paul Ryan had the thick skin to tell the media, he was for individualism. Really? If you don’t recite the Extreme Mantra and you deviate from it even a little, you’re out. This is how dictatorships start. That is exactly what the end of my poem says. The GOP has given up individualism in favor of group thinking and block formation.

Can you even remotely imagine what a Romney presidency would look like? I can, I lived in a dictatorship until I was 25. Believe me, you don’t want it.

GOP to the Prez:

Hey, You, That There…

Don’t you get it?

You get no credit.

No matter!

 If you’re right,

If you fight,

If you stop,

If you hop

If the sky

Opens up

And you’re

Touched by God.

We speak to you

In One Voice

We formed a Block!

Oh, but wait,

Aren’t we for

Individualism?

Did we give that up?