The American Way

I've been checking my journal alerts today and as always, finding humor, joy, sadness, and intellectual stimulation as I travel in J-Land.

I dropped by tks333's journal, Ramblings from the Edge, and I was particularly struck by his most recent entry.  It covers multiple topics, but his observations about former president Jimmy Carter's new book, Palestinian Peace Not Apartheid are what caught my eye.

I appreciate tks333's perspective but confess that I fundamentally disagree with his estimation of President Carter as a deluded dreamer.  I think that Carter is one of the most philosophically adept thinkers that has graced the presidential office since this country began.

According to tks333, "In my opinion President Carter is a deluded dreamer of such magnitude that even attempting to implement some of his ideas would see the absolute collapse of this nation and the end of the American way; he would have this nation abrogate its independence and ideals for the greater good of the world body."

His observations achieved their intended purpose; they made me think.  I love journalers that make me think.  That's why his journal is on my alerts.  I left a comment with tks333 that I‘ve  decided to share here.

The deluded dreamer managed to negotiate peace between Israel and Egypt.  There are many wonderful things about this country, but our biggest delusion is that the American way is so sacrosanct that it is superior to all others.  Certainly, part of the American way is to offer help and assistance to other nations in their time of need and we should be commended for those efforts.  But this is also the country that practiced slavery; implemented Jim Crow laws to continue the oppression once slavery was legally put to an end; the only country to ever use an atomic weapon not once, but twice; imprisoned American citizens of Japanese descent for no other the reason than we were at war with Japan (we were also at war with Germany but didn't imprison any German-Americans); maintained diplomatic and economic ties with South Africa in spite of its government sanctioned policy of apartheid; invaded a sovereign nation under the pretext of looking for what our own intelligence told us were nonexistent weapons of mass destruction; the list could go on but what's the point? 

 

Does this mean that we are the worst nation in the world? Of course not, but it does mean that we don't always take the moral high ground.  We make errors. 

 

What exactly is this American way that we must preserve at all costs?  Why is preserving America's independence and ideals more important than the greater good of the world body?  Rather than being deluded, perhaps Carter's is the only sane voice in a world of self-interests and blind patriotism.

 

That's my opinion.  What do you think?  Please feel free to agree or disagree; what I love about J-Land is the opportunity for open and honest discourse.

 

Speaking of which, I've been trying to decide if I wanted to write about actor/comedian Michael Richards public meltdown during his performance at a comedy club.  It has been a long time since anything has left me speechless. 

 

Like most people, I was dismayed by the blatant use of the N-word.  I can't even bring myself to write that word.  I don't use it, not even as some so called term of endearment when used by one black person to another.  However, I have family and friends who on occasion use the term.  They do not use it as a pejorative, but as a playful term, sort of an insider’s code of communication.  Nonetheless, it always makes me flinch and I tell them of my dislike for the word.

 

Many of the posts that I’ve read on the web chastise black people for the use of the N-word.  Some are from black people who say that the use of the word demeans us all.  Some are from whites that want to know why it’s okay for a black person to use the word but not okay for a white person to use it.

 

I’m in the camp of black folks that oppose the use of the word.  I cringe when I hear it used whether it is intended as an insult, a jest, or a term of endearment.  I don’t buy into the notion that the N-word loses its negative aura if black folks embrace and claim it.  I think that’s nonsense at worst, wishful thinking at best.  As for white people using the N-word, it is inappropriate under any circumstances.  Trust me on this.

 

In my lifetime, I've had the word used against me as a racial slur more than once.  Each time it felt as if someone had slapped me or branded me with a hot iron.

 

Richards use of the N-word as he chastised audience members for heckling him was shocking.  He made a choice.  He could have referred to them by other negative terms.  Insulted their parentage by calling them bastards, or SOB's.  But he chose to use the N-word. 

 

I have trouble accepting his assertion that he is not a racist and that he doesn't know why he used that term.  He attributes the use to his extreme anger.  What if the hecklers had been white?  He would have been angry but he wouldn't have used that term.  I can't separate his choice of terms from the race of the hecklers. 

 

I have lost my temper and said things that I later regretted, harsh, angry words to people that I cared about.  But I've never used a racial or ethnic slur in my angry tirades and as I've gotten older, I've managed to temper my feelings and my out of control angry outbursts are a thing of the past.  "When I was a child, I spoke as a child."  Now I've put away childish behaviors.

Perhaps even more disturbing than Richards' use of the N-word is his comment that "fifty years ago you would have been hanging upside down with a f*#%ing fork up your a**.  In spite of the comments to the contrary on You Tube, the reference is to the practice of lynching.  As practiced in this country, the lynching of black men and women did not simply involving the hanging by the neck until dead practices of the old west.  Lynching was designed to be humiliating as well as provide a gratifying spectacle for the watching crowd.  Victims were hanged or shot; some were burned at the stake, castrated, beaten with clubs, or dismembered.  Public lynchings were used as an intimidation tool, to keep black people in line, to make certain that black folks knew their place.

Between 1882, when records began being kept, and 1968, there were 4,743 known lynchings, including 3,446 black men and women.  One blogger (not a member of J-Land) proudly made the point that Richards’ comments regarding hanging black people were not really that insulting because they were inaccurate.  He stated that fifty years ago was 1956 and that he had searched and could find no records of any lynchings in 1956.  My friend HR, a historian and professor, assessed the blogger as being an idiot.  I agree.  I think that he missed the point entirely. 

When I was a child, the most horrifying story of a lynching was that of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955.  Visiting his cousins in the south, he allegedly whistled at and by some accounts, put his arm around the waist of a white woman.  The woman’s husband and his brother, beat Emmett until he was unrecognizable, mutilated him and killed him.  Both men were tried and acquitted by an all white jury.  In a magazine article in 1956, the men confessed to committing the murder.  Double jeopardy prevented them from being tried again.

I have been deeply disturbed by comments posted on various websites that have insisted that Richards’ remarks are no worse than what black comedians say about white people.  I don’t  condone any type of prejudice but to counter with that black folks sometimes say mean things about white people is to miss the bigger issue.  It is not about Michael Richards, it is about a country that lives in denial, a country where ignorance of history is the national pastime.  As I’ve read commentary on the web, I have been appalled at how many people clearly know nothing about the dirty history of race relations.  Not ancient history, but recent events of the last 75 years.  So many people live in a world constructed on misinformation and half-truths.  In the words of George Santayana, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Michael Richards has apologized several times for his remarks.  That’s nice but I have trouble finding his apology meaningful.  He always prefaces it with the statement, “I’m not a racist.”   I’d find his apology a lot more credible if he’d begin with, “I have deep seated issues with race that until now, I’ve never acknowledged.”  As a matter of fact, I think that would be a good opening line for an honest discussion of race in this country.

Almost forgot, new holiday song.  Technically, this isn't a holiday song but I like it a lot.  It's the 23rd Psalm set to music.  The artist is Jeff Majors.  The CD is called Sacred.

> Psalm 23

Tags: Carter presidency, Japanese internment camps, lynching, Jim Crow laws, use of the N-word