“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Scanning the news headlines this morning, my wife reported to me that a plot to assassinate Barack Obama was broken up by Federal agents yesterday.
After a reflexive ache in my chest faded, I responded, “Well, that was inevitable. He’s such a —” I was going to say, “polarizing character.” But I stopped myself, realizing how ridiculous that would sound. Like there are millions of Americans pacing around right now, chewing their fingernails, thinking: “Goddamn you, Obama, and your universal health care!”
But in reality, he is a polarizing character, insofar as his race. Sadly, 40 years after MLK gave that historic speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial, ours is still a nation that, to a large degree, refuses to judge a man by the content of his character, but rather by the irrelevant color of his skin.
Yes, this is obvious. But for awhile, I’d forgotten about that truth. This morning, I was again reminded.
There’s a cold storm falling on Philadelphia today. And with my eyes reopened, the darkened sky seems all the more dreary.
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A discussion of hoops, culture and philosophy — between two Philly brothas.
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3 comments:
Damn, that was depressing!!
I read about the plot this morning. Sounded pretty stupid as far as I could tell. I don't take this as some reminder of how backward we are as a nation. Presidents always have nutjobs trying to assassinate them. This time is happened to be cus the candidate is Black. 99% of the time these incidences don't get publicized. In fact, if you were the cynical type, you might think that maybe McCain's team got the story leaked to show that BO is vulnerable. Maybe scare away some swing voters. Good thing, I like to think the best of people.
Instead of saying BO is a polarizing figure, I prefer to say that people are polarized by BO. Barack is who he is. He's not the type of public figure that actively seeks controversy. Al Sharpton is a polarizing figure. There are some idiots who won't vote for him because he's Black. There are some people who won't vote for him because they're scared by his lack of experience. There are some people who don't believe he reflects their values. They are some who use the latter two reasons as an excuse for the former.
I'm not one to let my guard down, but I think things are so bad, they actually might give him a shot. I mean, why not. It's like handing your 16-year old the keys to your busted up hooptie. What's he gonna do? Put a dent in the bumper?
Btw, Martin didn't make any speeches 30 years ago. Not on earth, anyway.
Weatherwise, it looks like the end of days outside, but in terms of the election I'm not feeling disheartened. "I'm not worried...I don't fear any man! Because I know that one day as a people...we will get to the Promised Land"
Yeah, I amended that to read “40 years.” I grew up in Jersey. We ain’t got learned so much in maff. Mattera fact, our “three r’s” were rastlin’, raccoon huntin’, and r@pin’ siblin's. (No offense to my Garden State brethren.)
Okay, time for a nonsequitor:
Just read Bill Simmons’ NBA preview column. One line just killed me:
“Did you know that Atlanta’s bench this year consists of Ronald Murray, Zaza Pachulia, Mo Evans, Solomon Jones and Acie Law? Really? That’s your bench? The Hawks should just have Feces Night and have their cheerleaders shoot dog doo out of T-shirt cannons at their fans. What a disgrace.”
God DAMN! Not that he’s wrong, but...again, damn. That’s harsh.
Poor Flip. I always had way-out-of-balance hopes that he’d end up being really good — him being a Strawberry Mansion kid and all.
Can I get a response to my "what can we reasonably expect" post now?
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