DejaVu from Hell?
We are coming to the end of a week in which any thinking person who loves this country has spent time asking just where we stand in our national effort build better relations between white and non white America. Given the violence launched from both sides it is very easy to despair. We’ve had almost eight years of a black President of the United States whose election brought hope that finally we might put some of our worst history behind us, and yet here we are still asking some of the same questions we were in 1968 after the death of Martin Luther King Jr. Donald Trump says things are as bad as they have ever been. President Obama, while not downplaying the current problems says America is not in a race war. Things are not as dark as they seem.
As someone who came of voting age in 1968, I find a lot to be optimistic about in the events of the last week. In 1968 after King’s death our cities burned. Much of our nation’s Capitol was reduced to ashes. Nothing like that has occurred in the last week. People of good will, motivated by a desire to heal, have been driving the discussion and actions on both sides of the divide. To a great extent the reaction by the community as a whole to the individual acts of violence has been what you might hope from a robust democracy.
So where are we, relative to where we want to be? One thing age should teach us is that big difficult projects take time and it is awfully easy to get discouraged along the way. That is why we develop a means of keeping track. If its family security, we watch our IRA slowly grow. If it is getting an education, we keep track degree by degree. If it’s growing taller, mom and dad mark progress on the wall. Without incremental measurement, we would never find the will to stay the course. Our public discourse does a poor job at this. Go back to President Obama’s election when the public question on the lips of many commentators was, “Does this mark the end of racism in America?” Which to my ears sometimes sounded like, “Will this shut Rev. Sharpton up?”
Our national concern over this week’s events is multiplied by an election year in which one of the major candidates has been called a racist by many respected members of his own party. A man whose rallies seem to be like catnip to people who wish ill for their fellow citizens and immigrants of a darker complexion. Those of us who remember George Wallace can be excused for a momentary gasp as we experience what seems like deja vu from hell.
For many of us, the politics of the current Republican Party underscores a great disappointment of the last eight years, not of Obama but of the GOP. Here was a black man who ran on the hope of bringing us together and before he was sworn in, the Republican leaders in Congress went on record as setting their highest priority as making certain that he failed. This was at a time when the economy was in free fall and we were fully engaged in two wars. The Republicans cynically decided they wouldn’t help solve either problem betting that the press’s preoccupation with the President would leave them blaming him for anything that didn’t go well. In many ways their bet has paid off for them but it has left their Presidential Party about as attractive as the Grimpen Mire.
As we face decision 2016, we should ask what if. What if the Republican leadership had said we’ll oppose him on health care but we will advance our own stimulus bill that is tax cut and infrastructure heavy and look to compromise. And we will try and find ways to work with this President on issues to help with race relations. We will try to improve our position with voters of color by supporting him on these things and move our voters to wider understanding of the ways solving race issues can help us all.
In President Obama’s first year as President he made an effort to give a short speech that would be made available to all school children. It was a talk about the importance of staying in school, studying hard and earning the key to a more prosperous life. It was a message many conservative commentators had said was needed for all young people to hear. What was the reaction of Republican leaders? To stoke fear. The President was trying to brain wash our kids. He was going to turn them into Democratic zombies. Meanwhile many of the President’s black supporters were not pleased with his message of personal responsibility.
Then the President tried to point out how a black professor might get mad at police when they arrested him trying to “break into” his own house. The response from the President’s critics wasn’t “consider the difficulty of the police trying to sort out the situation.” The response from many was that the President was a racist and a police hater.
At this point the President had to conclude that trying to deal with the race problem was a luxury he could not afford to do alone and a great opportunity in our long struggle to put hate behind us was lost.
But Obama will be a young ex president and will remain an important bridge between the races and I am excited about what Hillary can bring to this. She spent much of her adult life immersed in the politics of a southern state. She understands the people there, both white and black. Maybe she can help bring the southern states back in the mainstream of thought on racial issues. If the difficulty of this issue leaves you with more skepticism that is understandable, what is not debatable in my opinion is that the election of Trump could quickly put us back to where we were in 1968. We have always had fools who cried fire in a crowded theater, we’ve never rewarded one of them by electing him President.
As to Republicans of conscience, every parent learns the folly of rewarding bad behavior, but it is easier said than done because it often requires us to postpone our plans as well. That is this where responsible Republicans find themselves. Trump and the office seekers too spineless to oppose him must not be rewarded with their votes. At the risk of mixing metaphors, past Republican leaders have rightly decided they are at the egg breaking part of omelet making.
As someone who came of voting age in 1968, I find a lot to be optimistic about in the events of the last week. In 1968 after King’s death our cities burned. Much of our nation’s Capitol was reduced to ashes. Nothing like that has occurred in the last week. People of good will, motivated by a desire to heal, have been driving the discussion and actions on both sides of the divide. To a great extent the reaction by the community as a whole to the individual acts of violence has been what you might hope from a robust democracy.
So where are we, relative to where we want to be? One thing age should teach us is that big difficult projects take time and it is awfully easy to get discouraged along the way. That is why we develop a means of keeping track. If its family security, we watch our IRA slowly grow. If it is getting an education, we keep track degree by degree. If it’s growing taller, mom and dad mark progress on the wall. Without incremental measurement, we would never find the will to stay the course. Our public discourse does a poor job at this. Go back to President Obama’s election when the public question on the lips of many commentators was, “Does this mark the end of racism in America?” Which to my ears sometimes sounded like, “Will this shut Rev. Sharpton up?”
Our national concern over this week’s events is multiplied by an election year in which one of the major candidates has been called a racist by many respected members of his own party. A man whose rallies seem to be like catnip to people who wish ill for their fellow citizens and immigrants of a darker complexion. Those of us who remember George Wallace can be excused for a momentary gasp as we experience what seems like deja vu from hell.
For many of us, the politics of the current Republican Party underscores a great disappointment of the last eight years, not of Obama but of the GOP. Here was a black man who ran on the hope of bringing us together and before he was sworn in, the Republican leaders in Congress went on record as setting their highest priority as making certain that he failed. This was at a time when the economy was in free fall and we were fully engaged in two wars. The Republicans cynically decided they wouldn’t help solve either problem betting that the press’s preoccupation with the President would leave them blaming him for anything that didn’t go well. In many ways their bet has paid off for them but it has left their Presidential Party about as attractive as the Grimpen Mire.
As we face decision 2016, we should ask what if. What if the Republican leadership had said we’ll oppose him on health care but we will advance our own stimulus bill that is tax cut and infrastructure heavy and look to compromise. And we will try and find ways to work with this President on issues to help with race relations. We will try to improve our position with voters of color by supporting him on these things and move our voters to wider understanding of the ways solving race issues can help us all.
In President Obama’s first year as President he made an effort to give a short speech that would be made available to all school children. It was a talk about the importance of staying in school, studying hard and earning the key to a more prosperous life. It was a message many conservative commentators had said was needed for all young people to hear. What was the reaction of Republican leaders? To stoke fear. The President was trying to brain wash our kids. He was going to turn them into Democratic zombies. Meanwhile many of the President’s black supporters were not pleased with his message of personal responsibility.
Then the President tried to point out how a black professor might get mad at police when they arrested him trying to “break into” his own house. The response from the President’s critics wasn’t “consider the difficulty of the police trying to sort out the situation.” The response from many was that the President was a racist and a police hater.
At this point the President had to conclude that trying to deal with the race problem was a luxury he could not afford to do alone and a great opportunity in our long struggle to put hate behind us was lost.
But Obama will be a young ex president and will remain an important bridge between the races and I am excited about what Hillary can bring to this. She spent much of her adult life immersed in the politics of a southern state. She understands the people there, both white and black. Maybe she can help bring the southern states back in the mainstream of thought on racial issues. If the difficulty of this issue leaves you with more skepticism that is understandable, what is not debatable in my opinion is that the election of Trump could quickly put us back to where we were in 1968. We have always had fools who cried fire in a crowded theater, we’ve never rewarded one of them by electing him President.
As to Republicans of conscience, every parent learns the folly of rewarding bad behavior, but it is easier said than done because it often requires us to postpone our plans as well. That is this where responsible Republicans find themselves. Trump and the office seekers too spineless to oppose him must not be rewarded with their votes. At the risk of mixing metaphors, past Republican leaders have rightly decided they are at the egg breaking part of omelet making.