IMO: Michelle’s Dress

In a recent Newsweek article Allison Samuels writes, in regards to Michelle Obama’s pick for election night attire, “Her daring election night red speckled dress, designed by Narcisso Rodriguez, was hardly a cautious choice. It wasn’t all together flattering, but it showed that Michelle is searching for her own sense of style.” While I loved the majority of this article (pretty much like I love reading anything detailed about the Obamas) I was surprised that a Newsweek reporter had such a shallow analysis of what I had perceived as a very specific and meaningful piece of clothing. Yeah, I had read similar points of view in People magazine and OK (those trash mags really brighten a hospital stay I tell you), but I somehow expected more from Newsweek.

In light of this lack , I would like to briefly share my 3 initial interpretations of what Michelle’s dress meant. These impressions were simultaneously instantaneous in my brain when I watched her walk on stage with her family on November 4th.

1) Oh my god! It is the blood of all the slaves on her body. She is pointing to the ways in which African American people have historically sacrificed in order to make this great achievement possible. She wears the blood of slave mothers on her front to commemorate this.

2) In light of all the threats against Barack’s life, Michelle is pre-empting any assassination attemt by displaying the bloodshed she hopes to avoid. The choice of red and black was a strategic choice to create a metaphorical barrier from physical attack.

3) As a woman, we know the significance of our gender and our bodies of a monthly blood letting. The volcanic up-pouring on her body felt to me a signal of feminist power and strength.

So, now you get a better sense of the way I view the world. These interpretations may seem, at first, to give too much intentionality to Michelle’s clothing. I can almost hear you saying right now, “Oh jeez, get a grip Liz! Its just a dress!”

In some ways that may be true. Michelle may not have had any of these things in mind when she chose that striking garmet. But I am willing to bet that at least one of them occurred to her. I think it is a disservice to her and her savvy to believe her choice was merely a “search for her own style” Really? Do we think her so shallow that on the night of her husband’s historic election she was thinking “Huh, now how do I make a fashion statement?” No way. Our clothing is the costume we wear to express so much more than an aesthetic of commodified beauty. It is a way to communicate messages that go beyond what “looks flattering.” I firmly believe that Michelle was making a profound political point with that dress, and I will say, when I saw her in it, I fell completely in love with her because of it. She is a beautiful woman, and she is a brave woman. That is what Michelle’s dress meant to me.

Michelle's dress choice was not about style--it was political.

Really, Confront Your Racist Attitude

Yesterday, at an environmental conference I attended in an outreach capacity, I chatted with a man from Tennessee. We talked renewables and the problems with solar in hurricane country. I curiously inquired as to the status of the presidential race in his state. I really had no idea, but figured it leaned heavily to McCain. Without answering that initial question and highlighting the fact that after this conversation “we weren’t going to get along anymore” my fellow conversationalist expressed, in a nutshell, the following argument against voting for Obama “If Obama is elected it will ignite a race war based on a reversal of power and there will be white flight and certain segments of the African American population will backlash heavily. That and, If Obama is elected Joe Biden will be the President (get the implication on the latter?)

This is exactly what I have been talking about, a race vote undercurrent that is not really being named. People skirt around this issue with the label of the “Bradley Effect” but no one is doing anything to argue that the we simply cannot allow an avoidance of a reversal of a historical reality of racism and implicit segregation of the executive office of this country based on fear of the change it will bring. The man I dialogued with has, what he claims, are very grounded fears. He believes we are all “racist” and this is a point I agree with. Yet, acknowledging that is not good enough. We then bare the burden and the rewarding task of confronting and, to the extent possible, dismantling our racist attitudes. Remaining complacent with a violent history of racist practice in this country by not voting for Obama, is simply unacceptable (not voting for him because he “will be assassinated by a white supremacist” is more than unacceptable, it is irrational, and repugnant).

In spite of his analysis of the cultural implications of this election and his chosen candidate based on that analysis, he told me the election “would be close in Tennessee.” Later, I was able to confirm that McCain has nearly a 30 point lead in that state. This gentleman seemingly then represents the archetype of the cultural regionalist voter–the race based vote in the South (and elsewhere of course) disguised as something, anything, other than race. This man recognizes the role race plays in his decision. How many others do not?

THE OTHER

HOW I HAVE REMAINED BLOG SILENT OVER THE LAST MANY DAYS SINCE THE DEBATE, I DO NOT KNOW. I THINK I HAVE REACHED A STATE OF NUMBNESS WHEN IT COMES TO THIS ELECTION, WHICH IS NOT GOOD AS I SEE IT AS THE FIRST INGREDIENT OF APATHY.

But really, I am not sure I have it in me to bare the weight of two/three, many struggles at once. Whether it is winning the preservation of environmental integrity, or offering support to the vote calling, or door-knocking and fund raising for local candidates, or just holding myself together enough to get my kids lives moving forward each day, sometimes one or many have to shut down.

I find the comments that have occurred at McCain rallies and town hall meetings to be absolutely deplorable and a sad indication of the effects of fear mongering and otherizing deployed in this election. It is hard in some ways to not sound like one is condescending in a discussion of the social illiteracy demonstrated in the comments made by the elderly woman about Obama being “Arab.” Nevertheless, I must point out those illiteracies and it is critical we reflect on where we have failed as a country to communicate the pertinent context we live in. I am sure there are many things that I too “just don’t get.” Economic exchanges based on the stock market do not interest me terribly as I have never had an opportunity to invest. No interest or knowledge based on a lack of experience. Understandable. This woman clearly has not been interested in other cultures beyond a xenophobic examination of the threat of the “other.” By the way, before they made their debut on the t.v. show Lost “the other” was a term coined by Edward Said in his book ORIENTALISM, altough Frantz Fanon developed the conceptual grounding on which the postmodern “other” is created in his book BLACK SKIN, WHITE MASKS. What is happening in this election is a process of otherizing made all the more severe by the presence of a man of color in the race.

The other is necessary for a definition of the self that is based on a hierarchy of the inferior being at the will of the superior. A rather boring and inane dichotomy, the master/slave dynamic is at the heart of otherizing and instigated via the protection of self interest around resource access. The shifting of that balance, where a leader may be “other” is frightening to people, so frightening that they take the thing that scares them the most and supplant it into the entity that represents that hierarchical shift–in this case the potential selection of an African American man to the office of the presidency is associated with fear of terrorist jihad waged by masses of “Arab” people.

Someone, of course, needs to explain to this woman that being a Muslim, does not make you an Arab, as a matter of fact, Barack Obama’s father was from Kenya and decidedly not Arab. Arab is a demarcation of ethnicity tied up in geopolitical space, genetic blood linkages, and religious consistencies. But being Muslim, does not make you Arab, and besides that point of descriptive accuracy–who cares if he is? That is the fundamental question we should be asking: “And so? What if he is Arab? Why is that,on base, an issue? It would be extraordinary–to elect an Arab president. it would be impossible, but why do we let ourselves continue to go with that dominant view–that Arabness disqualifies one? We gasp at her ignorance, but we allow and enable it.

Maybe that is what McCain did when he corrected, disenabled that ignorance. “No Ma’am, he’s a decent family man” So, being Arab makes you not “decent”? Even his answer maintains the othering, and no one is calling that out. How is that possible?

I was speaking to a friend of mine yesterday who is taking a class at the University on the elections. He was saying that in spite of the dissatisfaction with the Bush government, 40% of his class is voting for McCain–they defend Palin. The primary argument made against Barack is that he is a good orator, and that’s it, but he is not qualified to be president.

I said, “They’re racist.”" He argued the point hard with me, “No, they are just entrenched in the two party system–it would not be any different with Al Gore or John Kerry.” I simply cannot believe that. I am inspired by Barack Obama. I think he is an amazing human being and an exceptional leader. I believe in his judgements and his integrity. I know he is smart and capable. The lack of ability to be inspired by this man comes from a place fo resenting his presence in a position of power. He is the other, dark, Arab, dangerous, terrorist.

The fear stoking happening at Palin and McCain rallies should be watched closely and called out constantly. You notice the tenor of his issue accelerating as we approach election day? This is the confrontation and it may come to a head in the next debate. I am curious to see what happens in the public sphere during this time. Will we continue to promote the dichotomy of the other? To maintain a distinction which avoids synthesis? Or will we embark on a “dotherfication” in which we somehow transcend the impulse to categorize and create hierarchies that distort the reality of Obama’s character?

Catch Face the Nation

This Sunday morning Bob Schieffer interviewed Barack Obama.  It was a wonderful interview and I cannot recommend it enough.  At the end Schieffer remembers his ‘62 coverage of the admittance of the first African American to ‘Ole Miss, and the violence that ensued as whites fought for the maintenance of segregation.  He contrasts this with his most recent trip to cover the debates–also worth a watch.

What Will Be?

I read a piece from Tim Wise that was in the 9-13 issue of The Nation on white privlilege today. This is a very important piece in my opinion.

Race, as I have stated before, has been silenced as an issue in this election, it has been silenced by the notion that we live in a post-race world. It has been silenced by the notion that Barack Obama somehow proves we live in a postrace world and therefore his achievments cannot be evaluated within the context of the color of his skin. Within that context his achievmetns are remarkable. Within that context he carries a new potential for great leadership based on a perspective of experience at the margins. He is the hybrid embodiment of a nation within a dialectical exchange based on a colored dichotomy. Here we are then. What will we do?

That question is the one that leaves me uneasy still. As the election draws near, I continue to wonder how racist attitudes will play in people’s vote. Any exchange I have where a person tells me that they are progressive but voting for a third party, I bring up the latent racism that may be at play in such a choice. But that is certainly not enough. I really would like to start a real conversation on race, name it, debate it, talk about our fears, our anger, our beliefs and values. How they differ, what is in common. And why it is we cannot come together to refuse racism. How is its insidiousness more powerful than the effort to transcend it?

I predicted a confrontation over race in this election. We are getting so close, but I sense no apex of ignited debate. Is something still to come? Will we stay still while segments of this nation refuse a candidate based on this socially constructed and historically meaningfully descriptive category of race? What are our options? Will we sleep through another winter of withered hopes after this election? We will see.

COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS FIGHT BACK

I was stunned by Sarah Palin’s attack on Barack Obama because he was a Community Organizer. She mocked him, and I was seriously paralyzed at first. The directness of the attack was shocking. Then, a colleague told me that would come back to bite them. Then, I was sent this blog link where Community Organizers, who rebuild community housing, get folks health care, ensure access to education, clean up drugs, and fight environmental pollution that is often targeted at low-income and racially marginalized groups, responded to these insulting assaults. It was not a good move to attack them and it was to say the least “elitist”. I heard Barack Obama has raised 10 million since Palin’s speech. I wonder why so many people would give to someone without any proven accountability to their responsibility?

THE ANTI-OBAMA DELEGATES BLOG

No, I am not renigging on my endorsement of Obama, despite an intuitive sense that the older tough white guy appointment of Biden as VP somehow does not ring well for the campaign overall. It smacks of tentativeness to me, despite the ways in which I see its pragmatism. I have been thinking of the name of this post the “Anti-Obama Delegates Blog” ever since a tumultuous plane ride I took from Boston to La Guardia. It was not turbulent due to airstreams, it was turbulent due to the fact that I had the good fortune (and I mean that completely seriously) to be sharing the ride with a socialist anarchist 21 year old radical from New Mexico that had just attended the Think Outside the Bomb National Conference with me at MIT. The details of what occurred for me at that conference are lost in my activist psyche and or will manifest here and on my personal blog as they sprout from their myriad seedlings. Nevertheless, the conference culminated with this ride in a beautiful clash of radical consciousness, that I hope left both of us highlly perplexed and somewhat more informed.

The basic premise we debated, from our two positions, was the utility of backing a two party electoral system clearly mired in capitalist frames of exploitation and ultimately out of touch with the reality of most Americans. Michael’s position was framed by several crucial tenets 1) Obama and McCain are essentially alike, since each is part of a narrow system of power that he has no allegiance or interest in 2) The only way to reform society is to crush this two party system–preferrably before the next election via massive demonstrations at both the RNC and the DNC–if not then, then certainly before the next inauguration 3) to support any aspect of this system, especially by advocating as a “progressive” for Obama is counter to any actual radical movement of revolution and change 4) the anarchists and other radical elements in this country, that have disavowed the two party system are organized enough and ready to build a better society than what we have now. The final position, unlike the ones above, and acknowledging that I may be missing several in between, is one that I will unequivocally align myself with 5) A crisis much bigger than we can even fathom is coming and in many ways is already upon us. The crisis is at least 3 fold: economic collapse, energy security collapse; climate changes to chaos; sever subsequent societal unrest.

Taking this final point as my place of departure, both because it is a perfect cliff to jump off of and because it is the place of base commonality between Michael and I, we will start backwards and counter 4) While I believe there is an organized movement of peace makers in this country, I am not yet confident that they are organized enough to do a massive reworking of society. I do see the potential for regionalized groups working on building infrastructure together. But I do not believe we are capable of governance. Maybe that is precisely Michael’s point, as an anarchist, creating the space for the inability to govern. 3) I counter, to vote for Obama is a radcal act and to do otherwise stinks to me of a racism much deeper than we can fathom. Are you kidding me? Right at the moment when a black man is about to be elected president you’re going to ditch out and declare revolution? Excuse me? Explain to me how overcoming slavery and winning the civil rights movement do not lead to the fulfilling of the highest office in this country. I know Obama’s ancestors were not slaves. So what? He is a black american man and he is going to be president. VOTE. It may be the last chance you have since we agree on the time-frame of crisis coming within the next 5-10 years at current rates. 2) I see a massive protest coming at the RNC. I see not so much at the DNC. I think that their is a wave of dissent embodied in the democratic party like it or not. Cause to oppose the war we had to go to either side, and when we failed to stop this war WE FAILED TO STOP THIS WAR. In 2004, then we led more to die. This is greater than that, this is more than your narrow vision of your virtues, this is about who we want to lead when the crisis comes. I believe John McCain will not be an equitable governor if elected. Not with his interests nor with his waste, not with the weapons to control every place.

Obama is someone I can believe will attempt to lead when the crisis overwhelms, and whether we are able to organize and survive rests on him. He. She Free and WE.

1) Have I already mentioned my covert racism false consciousness thing? Please. Obama is nothing like McCain. Get real. The guy doesn’t know how many houses he owns. Really, Obama gets the value of a home, a place, the way the economy has warcked havoc on the housing markets leading to huge numbers of foreclosures. Surely, it is clear that distinction. And do not ignore the distinction of race and the implicit strain of that history. Nor ignore the hardened and aggressive posture of John McCain. Ready for battle, ready to fight on . BOmb BOmb, BOmb.

Really, to argue otherwise is to hold the bar far too high. You have no chance to compromise,. This is not a game for idealist eyes. The differences, they may be strong. To struggle we need to bring Obama on.

I didn’t mean to break into a song. I have to say I just do not agree. I feel a stealthy racist tone. I see a crisis and the need for real leadership. I am afraid, truly of what that crisis would mean with John McCain. I agree with Michael that we would be better off without a two party system. I think soon our political system will be obsolete. So I believe it matters who holds the power over the resources and weapons and the force of a possible police state. I am unwilling to relinquish that ability to Senator McCain. I hope the anarchists and others are organized, I will watch the RNC and DNC for action. For me, when I got home to Boise and went to work after Boston, I was rewarded with the sight of the Obama office just above my work space. It gives me chills everyday as I walk down the stairs to feel so close to this vote here in Idaho. For me, this is a crucial and radical action,–to elect Senator Barack Obama. And on this my anti-delegates blog CONGRATS TO IDAHO DELEGATES I informally nominate Barack Obama as the Presidential Candidate of the Democratic Party and the Progressive Element for Peace in this Nation and this WORLD.

Start a Conversation, Start a Revolution

I recently had the opportunity to attend a conference with a unique line-up of workshops and activities geared primarily to the propagation of progressive work. For example, I took a workshop on the “Mind-Body Approach” to building a movement and loved it. I also signed up for a workshop titled “Dismantling Racism: Beyond Diversity.” What occurred in this workshop did not satisfy my desire for having a deep constructive discussion about race, especially as it relates to the current Presidential election. What occurred as an effect of the frustration this dissatisfaction created led to one of the most enriching conversations I have had in my life.

After spending the first part of the day in the DR workshop clarifying terms and discussing issues around race generally we moved to a conversation about how to get out of the “vicious cycle of racism”. I have taught classes on race issues and thought the instructors did a fine job with terminology and context, but I saw this is a great segway into addressing very real material concerns about what happens when one tries to get out of the cycle and finds themselves recycled in new manifestations of racism. The prime example I used was the e-mail circulating about Obama’s statements around coming to terms with his distrust of white folks and his desire to not apologetically advertise his mixed race heritage. I wrote a post on the severity of the threat present in the claim that Obama is a racist for simply and truthfully naming his experience of race and racism as part of a history of cultural racism that he has acknowledged so authentially. People got agitated. The instructors asked us all to take a deep breath and said we didn’t have time to talk about that issue. An African-American man in the class suggested that it was just an e-mail and that I shouldn’t be concerned. I did not understand what was going on, other than that perhaps there was something about my whiteness that made this gentleman uncomfortable and that made the rather young and careful instructors feel like they needed to diffuse the situation. Then, we took a cookie break. I don’t like cookies in general when I am trying to think clearly and stay focused and I especially did not like having time for a cookie break when we were fleeing from the possiblity of really having a hard conversation about race. At the end of the break the gentleman who had responded to me was gone and I sat in my chair and took deep breaths till the workshop ended. Then, I looked for him. How come he isn’t worried about the way progressives are not defending Obama against the overt and covert racist attacks all over the web and even in places like the New Yorker? How come he thinks I shouldn’t say anything? Isn’t he worried about the white supremacist movement? Am I wrong, is racism not a threat in this election? I couldn’t find him.

The next day, shortly after seating myself in a workshop on “Strategic Thinking” this gentleman walked in and had a seat. When we broke for lunch I approached him immediately and asked if he would join me for the meal time. He accepted and we sat with our food and started each with a story. He told me of his upbringing in the deep south, how he traveled to various parts of the country with his multiple siblings (I forget how many, but remember he had a twin brother.) They traveled so much because his father was in the military. He lost his mother before his teens and ended up in a program that facilitated the recognition of his intelligence and created many opportunities for him, even as it seperated him from his family. Ultimately, he came to a place where he does social justice work for low-income communities of color. His story was beautiful and his desire to share with me was so touching. Then, it was my turn. About half-way through he stopped me and said “You keep talking about issues, I want to know about you.” This was challenging for me, because I realized he was right. I do explain myself through my beliefs on issues. I tried to personalize the story more, but he stopped me again. Finally, I explained that I do not see who I am as distinct from my politics. The whole basis of how I operate is that the personal is the political. From my compost, to the choices I make parenting, to the job I have and how I do it, I look through a political frame. I don’t know how I ended up this way exactly, but I know it is a fundamental aspect of who I am.

Ultimately, I shared my concerns around race in the election. I feel very nervous about these elements in combination leading to the possible defeat of Obama: 1)Progressives who refuse to support Obama because he is not “radical” enough. (a girl in the DR workshop even said to me “Well, if it makes you feel better, Obama and McCain are basically the same” I told her I thought her standard of evaluation was skewed by racism and that she was absolutely wrong, and that her statement was my point exactly, so thanks for the try, but I don’t feel better) 2) The covert racism now known as “cultural regionalism” (You know, white low-income people just don’t seem to like Obama…hmmmm…I think that is likely a raced based opinion). 3) The overt white supremacist movement and their ability to infitrate culture through the media and other venues.

My friend (I now think of him that way and hope we remain in touch for many years) does agree with me on all these points, although he does not think white-supremacists are well organized and he does not think McCain can eat Obama. On point 1 he asked “Well, what do you think it is that makes progressive whites treat Obama that way?” and I said “There is an element of racism” “An ELEMENT!” he laughed. And I knew in that moment that I had not been wrong about my fears, that in fact, the day before he was not telling me I was wrong about race, we just didn’t understand each other’s positions well enough to see that we agreed. “It is mostly race isn’t it?” I asked. “Absolutely” he said. And even for all the horror that causes me, it put me at ease as well. That’s what I thought, that is what I am afraid of in this election. Now that it is identified and confirmed beyond the scope of my circle of friends, I know what it is I need to combat. But my friend soon made a critical point. “If you want to get people to see this you have to create a place for a hard conversations on race. Do you know any black people?” “Well, yes.” Are you friends with any black people in your town?” and I am so sad to answer “No.” I stammered through lame excuses, but the truth is, that I cannot get to a place where I can address race if I do not make an effort to form relationships across race lines in my own community. I cannot continue to make excuses around the lack of people of color in Boise, when I know that is not really the case. I am just circling in my own crowd and making no effort to affect the context, make a change, create collaboration. We talked for 2 hours and discussed the details of the election, race, privilege in far greater detail than I can address here. It was a profound experience for me and one I will never forget. He asked to see the e-mail that had first started our interaction. We shared information about the way African Americans are dissproportionately affected by environmental pollution. But the greatest lesson I learned was that I now have the responsiblity to act on the insights I gained. I intend to facilitate cross-racial conversations on race in specificity to this election. I need to act soon. Let me know if you want to help.

I will finish by quoting from the e-mail my friend sent just a few days ago–the “internal revolution” has begun and will continue as I find ways to take it into the community both for this election and beyond:

“I appreciate your willingness to know and examine your own story of isolation and privilege as it relates to standing in the “world as it is” and wishing for the “world as it should be”.
I sense that the internal revolution for you has begun because I heard the tone of your voice change while we talked and also by the shifting nature of your questions.
Meeting with you was the most rewarding conversation I had all week. “

Likewise my friend, time to get to work.

Pack your bags right (I mean left)

Let me explain the meaning, to me, of “confrontation.”  How I mean it is in the productive transformative impetus sense.  It is only with confrontation, most often a respectful clashing of ideas, that we really are able to address the issues at hand.  In this election we are, absolutely, seeing this clash.  Black/White, young/older, democrat/republican, freshman/senior senators, Hope/Fear.  There are more, feel free to share some of those I missed.

Race is a potent component in our culture.  This clash of race will result in the arising of racism, you better believe it.  We will have to wait to see if, and in what form this malignant hate will take shape, but I know it is there, I know it is not healed.  I am serious now, prepare for confrontation.

There is a song I like with a line that says “Love conqueors all, love protects all, love defends all.”  I want to realize the beam of “love supreme, love supreme.”

So lets get out our hope, our love, our compassion, and our vision.  Lets take out of our packs the hatred, lies, and petty self interests that we do not need.  Lets pack some pragmatism, and definately some optimism, and a good dose of realism and lets go about enacting the repairing and healing needed in this country and abroad.  

But we will only get that opportunity if we prepare for and win the confrontation over race.  And that will be easy, if we pack our bags right in the first place.

 

 

Time to Prepare for Confrontation

This is a post I have been meaning to write, but waiting till I was centered, grounded, rested and balanced.  Well, finally, I have realized that none of those things are going to happen anytime soon, so here it goes anyways.

 There is an e-mail circulating through the electronic mail box systems that is exemplary for its display of the kind of opposition we will face in electing Barack Obama as the next president of the United States.  This is similar to the kind of attacks referenced on 43rd State Blues as the Obama Smearmachine   It takes sentences from “Dreams of My Father” and one from “The Audacity of Hope” and deploys them as evidence that Obama is disgracefully unfit to hold the presidency.  It entails one sentence quotes of Obama’s with accompanying commentary to the regard: “Don’t elect this guy he is a racist and a muslim.”

I have thought a bit about whether I would share the direct sentences from this e-mail on my blog.  At first, I thought I would just type them in, but then I realized that I am unwilling to reproduce quotes, out of context, that are being used to attack Obama.  First of all, I don’t have a single problem with any of the assertions (6 of them), even in their out of context form.  But, since they are being used as such and since I am opposed to out of context citation as a general principle, I will not replicate them.  I will offer a summation of each of them, an, In Other Words, and so I will transform them into a more relevant explication of the meaning of the terms and not the implication implied by the e-mail chain letter:

1) Obama expresses early recognition of the way in which calling attention to his mother’s whiteness was really an attempt at validating himself and spiting his blackness. He chose not to continue this self-degragating behavior.

2) A description of the way he had dealt with racism by feeling animosity towards white people.

3) Expressing that a past distrust towards an individual he encountered may have been rooted in their whiteness.

4)A historical telling of the necessitated reality to identify with one side or the “other” in terms of race relations.

5) The locating of his inspiration not in race, and not in one particular historical figure, other than his African born father, from whom he found inspirations intertwined from many historical icons to enact his own “attributes”.

6) I will just quote this one directly, because my summation is likely to misconstrue it even further, “I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.” Now, this is meant to imply two things 1) That Obama is a Muslim not a Christian and so not to be trusted and 2) Play on the notion that his muslimness will lead to his surrender of our country to the ‘”terrorist jihad.” Give me a break, and not that I put myself starkly on the Christian side of the divide, but I think I have already aligned with muslim sentiments in light of our country’s behavior of late.  That is, I think, near what he means.

When I watch Sunday Morning shows, or late night news commentary, I sometimes hear what I think is a white supremecist pervasion of the mass culture in response to Obama.  I know, it sounds paranoid, but it does concern me. And, we should brace ourselves for this.  In my “Past Presidential Ponderings” you will find an entry discussing some of the racist claims out there regarding an Obama presidential run.  Many people think this country will rise up against a black president.  We need to insist on the CONFRONTATION OF ALL RACIST ATTITUDES in the face of such a response.  That is what Obama was doing in his book. Ironically, the senders of this e-maiL, I imagine, do not see the racism they are enacting.  Obama has every reason to have experienced a reaction to the many times in his life that he was subject to the realities of Racism and the historical memory of the pervasive and violent racism experienced in this country, just shortly before his time. To argue that he is somehow dangerous because of an open and real response and process of reflection is to disregard his experience and once again engage in a definatively racist exclusion.

We must all be prepared to defend Obama from these attacks by finding our own ways of articulating and contextualizing them through explaining their real meaning.  The force working against this presidency, may be quite great, depending on the amount of racism that has covertly subsisted in spite of an equalization of race in status quo political culture. The movement to defeat this position must be ready to go steps, maybe even miles beyond where we have had to go before to elect desperately needed leadership.  We will, of course, do what needs to be done.  For now, rest up for the confrontation, prepare your response, but do not go to sleep, we still have a long way to go and a big foe to meet.