The election of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th President of the United States marked the first time in history that we voted an African American into the highest office in the land. History. Progress. America!
Since that epic night, we've learned that the historical nature of the last presidential election was not what we thought it was. Instead, what made that November day one for the ages is that it was the first time Americans would select a non-American as its commander in chief. In a race that pitted Panamanian John McCain against Kenyan Barack Obama, history would be made. Hail to the other!
What's wrong with this picture? It may be time for a national time out. Can we stop the madness now? Please.
The history of humankind is littered with attacks on "the other." You know who I'm talking about, the guy who's not from around here. He looks different and has a funny name. Never in our history has a president's claim to legitimacy been challenged in such an odd and persistent manner. And please, leave your evidence at home. We won't need any legal documents and other distractions to decide this one. Common sense? Nope. We won't need any of that either. Since when can a process based on logic and reason, with its obvious but boring conclusions, compete with a good old fashioned conspiracy theory that provides endless hours of 24/7 cable gabfest fun? Of course, it can't, so why bother.
Really? Is this any way to run "the world's greatest democracy?" We look more like The Greatest Show on Earth, which is of course the famous tagline for a circus!
Let's face it, in the spirit of hard ball politics there are those who will exploit any situation that will help further their political agendas. That doesn't necessarily make them racists, even if you find such crass tactics objectionable. So beyond politics at its most cynical, what is driving Birthermania? Could it possibly be that, gasp, the president is a black man? Many critics of Mr. Obama will be taking me to task for even suggesting such a thing. And in most cases those who doubt the president's place of birth may have no conscious connection to subconscious racist impulses that may be feeding their doubts. But all the denial in the world doesn't make reality go away.
Last summer my family visited the Baseball Hall of Fame in beautiful Cooperstown, New York. My 11-year-old daughter and I stood before the exhibit that chronicled Hank Aaron's quest to become the sport's home run king. Part of the exhibit is comprised of letters received by Hammerin' Hank as he moved closer to replacing Babe Ruth in the record books. Some of the letters are racially motivated death threats and other venom directed at a black man for the simple act of challenging a white man's record. Here's what Sports Illustrated said in a piece written in anticipation of the record being broken:
Is this to be the year in which Aaron, at the age of thirty-nine, takes a moon walk above one of the most hallowed individual records in American sport? Or will it be remembered as the season in which Aaron, the most dignified of athletes, was besieged with hate mail and trapped by the cobwebs and goblins that lurk in baseball's attic?
As my daughter stood slack-jawed in response to what she was reading, I attempted to provide historical context. No matter what I said, she found it hard to believe that someone would threaten to kill a man for the crime of hitting more home runs than the next guy. The notion completely assaulted her sense of empathy, fairness and reality. Such is the vile, monstrous and inhuman nature of racism laid bare. She took great comfort in her belief that we have progressed far beyond those times.
My reaction was somewhat different. I was glued to the TV on that magical night in 1974 when Aaron slugged his way to sole possession of the hallowed home run record. I still get goose bumps when I think of it. But last summer in Cooperstown, I was struck by the realization that if I'm still around to look back on that night, so too are the authors of the death threats that rocked my little girl's world.
Is it possible that those who once threatened Hank Aaron's life have seen the light? Could some of them have actually voted for Barack Obama? People change, don't they? But is it also possible that beliefs so strongly held and felt that they motivated a person to write of murder still persist today? And if so, might they drive a person to believe that an African American man is unfit to be president of the United States? If hitting home runs is a crime in the eyes of a racist, becoming leader of the free world must be off the charts as an offense.
Let me be as clear as possible when I say that I do not believe all birthers are racists.
Let me be equally clear when I say that objecting to the president's policy positions or his handling of the job is a racist activity. It is not.
But what is also crystal clear to me is that racism is a factor in the birther movement.
Let the angry denials commence. But as I suggested earlier, all the denials in the world can't make reality go away. And if we can't challenge each other to speak candidly about racism, that won't be going away any time soon either.
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Sharon Salzberg: No Place To Hide: A Buddhist Perspective on Birthers
President Obama's Father,
Was not, a descendant of Slaves.
He was a free, African Man.
He was never owned, as Property.
The surprise is that so many "good" have joined in voting with their silence.
During slavery a free black man needed to carry proof papers AND have (I think two White men) vouch for him...nothings changed
If you earn less than $250,000 a year and vote republican, what in the world are you thinking? !
The republican party has proven over and over again that there is no room in its "tent" for thoughtful conservatives who would, say, apply higher taxes to people making more than $250,000 in order to balance the budget. (I make more than this, but I believe that solving our nation's debt crisis in a common sense, fair way is more important than cutting taxes for the wealthy at the expense of the middle class and poor.) - By the way, I'd GLADLY pay 10% more in taxes if I knew that people who were making $40,000,000.00 a year were also going to pay an extra 10%.
The better of us have worked hard to overcome those old attitudes; but we've a long road to travel. And we must stay vigilant, call out the crazies loudly just as Trump was called out at the correspondent's dinner and shame them before their country. Elected officials, media personalities and other leaders have been too complacent for too long and allowed this ugly weed to take root in our society; indeed, some of these tend to water and groom it as some kind of championship rose.
It would be nice to think that "we" as a country have moved forward since Aaron's heyday, but for me, the "we" would have to include at least some Republicans; currently it does not and that is unfortunate.
http://www.latticetheory.net/threats/index.shtml
Fanned and faved.
I think you have to know that the "birther" issues are racist in nature, not based in some issue of constitutional legitimacy.
But I think the team also determines how you will be treated in by the fans. Alex Rodriguez was also implicated along with Barry Bonds, Sosa, McGuire, and Clemons, but you listen to the anti-steroid talking heads he is never mentioned in the same breath. Why is that? Bonds lied to congress and it appears that Roger Clemons did also, but in all the reporting and local talk radio I never heard his name so far. Of course that's gonna change when his trial starts but I'll bet he makes it to the hall before Bonds. We'll see.
But I want to address the issue of which President was villified the most. I must disagree with those who say Obama has been attacked "the most."Actually, Obama has consistently received pretty good press from the mainstream media. They like him . He is a good story. Bill Clinton received much, much worse coverage from the very beginning. The mainstream media considered him a fraud and a liar. Washington absolutely hates to be played. And Clinton was so good at playing them that they hated him for it . I loved every minute of it !!!!!! But if you want to know which President was the most despised of all by Washington , it was Jimmy Carter . Very few people today remember how he was greeted in Washington , but no President in my lifetime was ever reviled as much as Carter . You will not find a single Washington pundit who was around at the time who spoke well of him . All of the old Washington hands who previously had sources inside the government were shut out by Carter and those who came from Georgia to the White House. Even today, their hate of him is palpable.
Like it or not, some people will have to die off, not even the fear of death, karma, dharma, etc. will stop racist thinking and behaviors.
However, contemplating the future listening to my 20 year old son and seeing folk around his age have little to no baggage re: race sometimes makes me smile.