Health Care....Can we talk about it, or do we have to scream and yell?

The discourse that so often makes me more agitated than I need to be, continues. I've heard so many spins and none of them seem to solve anything. And then there are those who've been showing up at town hall meetings, venting their anger and in some instances, attacking other people in the audience. I just learned that at one gathering, a Black woman had a Rosa Parks poster snatched from her hands, ripped up and then she was hit repeatedly by the same person who'd destroyed her poster. Of course, when law enforcement showed up, they calmed things down by escorting her out of the building. No, not the poster snatcher and assailant, the woman who'd been minding her business and despite that had been approached violently.

So, at this point, I'm going to provide a link to a CNN interview with Tim Wise from August 16 and his essay in which he responds to the rather challenging e-mail messages he received from viewers the following day. Tim's blog is at

http://www.redroom.com/blog/tim-wise

The CNN interview is at

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/politics/

My Hero of the Smooth Rhetorical Response

I'm well acquainted with reviews and critical writing. I used to write articles of that nature for a living. Ten years of writing my opinions about politics, social justice issues, books, films. I've been teaching creative and academic writing for the past 15 years. I am quick on my feet intellectually speaking, and as a semi-retired dancer, literally speaking. However, I've been introduced to a young man whose rhetorical and critical skills are both stunning and heartwarming. Check out New York-based Jay Smooth's video: "How To Tell People They Sound Racist." He nails both the concept and the practice with metaphorical grace. For those of us who have trouble getting the point, he provides that often missing piece of information: Why this is important. Nice move, Mr. Smooth.

You can find Jay Smooth and his vlogs at illdoctrine.com

President of the Diaspora

So, what I want to know is, how is our current president expected to "[tamp] down the emotions of the case" as Peter Baker and Helene Cooper report in today's New York Times?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/us/politics/25gates.html

"The case" being the arrest of the "belligerent" Dr. Gates on his own front porch in Cambridge, MA. Everyone is taking sides and placing bets. I'm in. Post-racial America has gone up in smoke and down in the ashes of illusion. History has risen up to greet us once again. The systemic nature of race, class, law and 'order' is staring us down head on, like an oncoming train. How will we transform ourselves in time to avoid the crash and burn? Stay tuned and fasten your seat belts because the ride promises to get even bumpier, as if that were possible. I'm keeping my eyes wide open and my pen poised to sift through the rhetoric and the behavior.

The Man in Blue (or one of them)

As I sat and reflected this afternoon on Dr. Gates, my brother, my next door neighbor, Rodney King, my father, my friends and my own experiences with the police, I remembered one of my encounters with an arrogant, nasty, male, power-abusing member of the Oakland Police Department (OPD).

15-20 years ago, a squad car pulled up beside me as I sat in my parked car in front of the house next door to mine. The male police officer in the car asked me why I was parked in the wrong direction. It was common for cars to park in any direction on our block and it had been so for many years. I’d never received a ticket for doing so and I never saw any of my neighbors with tickets on their cars for ‘wrong direction parking’. The abusive male police officer sat in a squad car with his younger, blonde, female partner at the wheel. After I explained that I was waiting for another driver to vacate the parking space in front of my house, this truly nasty man decided that he needed to respond to my explanation by telling me that I needed to thank him and call him “sir.” As a matter of fact, he told me that I needed to say, “yes sir” to him in response to his query. It was as if I had no right to answer his question with an intelligent explanation. I believe that it was the intelligence that set him off. This intelligence sets many men and privileged people of various backgrounds off because “no one likes a smart nigger.” That’s an old saying, and one that bears weight and has done so for far too long. Basically, I break stereotypes in many ways, one of those ways being my high level of and depth of intelligence. Once I open my mouth, it’s all over for those who are threatened by intelligence. Of course, this is their problem, but it can become my problem in some instances. In this instance it had the potential to become a very big problem in that I could come to physical harm. My parents who both grew up in Jim Crow south had prepared me well for situations like this, as had my life in America of 40 years.

This tells the story of just how racist America is. Yes, I live, and many of us live in a police state and yes, those people in uniforms who carry guns on their persons far too often push the limits of power and in doing so, abuse us. I’m still angry that I couldn’t do anything about my situation of 15 or 20 years ago since none of my neighbors were outside. I looked. Not one person was out on his steps, in her driveway or standing in front of her house. It would have been much easier to avoid this outrageous encounter if someone else had been present to witness it. In addition, the young woman officer who was driving the squad car looked away when I looked over at her after her partner told me to revise my answer and “sir” him. Since I had no backup, I said “Yes sir” and he replied with something nasty like “That’s more like it.” Then he and the silent young blonde woman police officer drove off in their Oakland Police Department registered vehicle. However, I couldn’t see a car number and I had no name to use in filing a complaint. So, basically a ‘wanna be slave master’ lived his dream on my block on 62nd Street in North Oakland.

So, when I read about the events of Dr. Gates’ arrest and I read the stupid, droning opinion pieces and supposed news reports of this situation, I get angry all over again because I don’t think I’ve heard one intelligent thing said about it, except for the attempts at reporting the events as they unfolded. The rest of the noise has been just that, noise, and I’m not just referring to the media in terms of conservative, liberal, democratic or republican. There’s been far too much noise on all sides and far too little thoughtfulness. That’s what’s been missing, thoughtfulness. I can no longer give my attention to the rest.

Law Enforcement

This week I've heard enough law enforcement stories to last me for a lifetime. My friends had a visit from law enforcement when they failed to make a prenatal care appointment (no kidding!). Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was handcuffed on his front porch as he and the driver of his airport transit car were suspected of breaking and entering his own home in Cambridge, MA. Police state, police brutality, abuse of power, got a gun got a badge got a uniform makes right—all of this is swirling around and forming more poetry. "Land of the free and home of the brave," my ass. The 'free' are those who abuse power and the brave are those who refuse to believe that the 'free' are anything more than cowards. The true brave and free are those who speak truth to power and stand for something of value. What do you have to say? Who do you speak truth to? What do you stand for?

Are we ready?

I had dinner, drinks, smiles and belly laughs with two very wonderful friends on Friday evening. It was a delight to have conversations about things and people that are interesting, fascinating, compelling, and sometimes maddening. It was a joy to laugh, talk, wonder and commiserate about things and people I really do care about. It was sublime to sit with people who are compassionate and passionate about the world and the work that they are doing in it. It was sheer bliss to be in the presence of two women educators and writers who give a damn about something other than their navels.

In the midst of our verbal meandering the question of whether the country (the people, not the rulers) is ready for Obama as president. Are we more ready for Obama than we are for Hilary? Or put more simply, are we more ready for a Black man than we are for a white woman as president? I emphatically said that we aren't ready for a Black man as president. In that moment I couldn't find the words to explain why, but I just know that we aren't.

The first thing that came to mind is the fact that driving while black or brown continues to be an issue for so many people. It's also an integral part of the rite of passage for certain young men in this country. Police, highway patrol, sheriffs, and other (usually) white men believe it is their God-given right and a matter of routine to pull over cars driven by or ridden in by black and brown men. This is only one symptom of what's beneath the surface of America's collective conscious. The knee-jerk responses of the unconscious reveal a lot of unfinished business in a personal and collective sense. What is routine can sometimes be motivated by emotions that we're not aware of. I'm talking fear. Why might any person in the United States be afraid of or angry with a black man in a position of power? Talk amongst yourselves about the possible answers to that question.

Then I started talking about the fact that so much of what's lurking beneath the surface of all of our conscious minds about race is never discussed. The same is true for gender, but since I've been blessed to have both issues intimately intertwined with my day to day life and the legacies I've inherited, it's not possible for me deal with them separately. However, that's a topic for another post. Or for an essay, article or book.

There's never been any healing done around all of the history. There's a legacy of discomfort with the mere idea of black men holding positions of power. And have you noticed how many high profile people of color are forced to take the fall for their corrupt and inept bosses? One doesn't have to even jog one's memory to think of two or three names.

J told me that I should write about this. I'm just getting started.