So-
I would guess that by now, many weeks since the "Race Speech" that many of the supporters for the conversation suggested by Obama, this important dialogue between the races, have noticed that there are serious issues to be dealt with before we can even sit down at the table.
A no holds barred discussion will not be possible, here is why;
As a Zionist as well as a Jew, I am used to the contradictions that have presented themselves over the last few weeks, and, well, recent events with my 18 year old son make this conversation. . .interesting.
Some background- many of my family have intermarried across religious and racial lines. My aunts, well 3 of them, have Black husbands (not African American, my uncles self identify as Black men) and their children are interracial AND some are being raised Jewish. I married a Catholic upper crust young prince (really, they have the papers to prove their claim to. . .FRENCH royalty, so you know, it is not really royal, but it used to be) so it is all pretty intermixed.
So, KIA is 18, and approaching his first election, and well, the events of the last few weeks have shaken up the political scene, have they not?
Louis Farrakhan? NOI and its screeds against Jews and the Jewish religion? Gutter religion, and plotting against . . .what, everything. The statements that JEWISH doctors were deliberatly infecting Blacks with AIDS (Cokely. . Chicago, Wright affliated, google it) and for a quick reference, hit the ADL website's documentation on the low points in the speeches of Farrakhan over time. I am NOT getting any sort of reconciliation vibe off either him or Wright.
If you do follow up on the above; Ask yourself, as a Jew, do I really have the problem with conprehending the situation? Do I? Apparently, I do- I am not only vilified by these controversial people, I am expected to look past it, or worse, I am told that I JUST DO NOT GET IT. . .cause, well, you know, I am A kike, blood sucking Jew, Yid, or in the unforgettable Jesse Jackson moment- Hymie, with relatives in Hymietown, oh yeah, I was just there last summer. . . so how is that dialogue gonna happen again, with me having to keep my mouth shut, or worse, be told that I have no right to comment, because, again, I do not get it, and if I do complain, I am a racist Jew pig.
Is your head about to explode? Can you imagine telling your adult child to just ignore the people surrounding someone wanting to be president, who speak in vile ways about his religion and his culture. . .but yet, that is pretty much the response. Just ignore it, or worse yet, it is not really all that important, after all Wright is not running for president. . .pay no attention to the men behind the curtain.
Really Reverend? Obama?
Mocking impersonations of "European American" speech? No problem, all in good fun! Continuing to support the antisemitism of Louis Farrakhan. . .okey dokey. . .BUT if you, the general public or anyone questions the disconnect between such statements and the notion of equality and fairness. . .THEN you are a defacto racist. . .because to question the statements of Wright is to question the Black church. . .which is not for YOU PEOPLE to understand.
Yet, when it began to upset some of the people who took offense to being accused of supporting the plot to infect Blacks with AIDS, and the concerns that Obama himself voiced during his speech about alienating the lower class, sometimes equally disadvantaged whites with assumptions about their worldview, you know, how they are all racists if they complain about their situations and wonder if they should be included in the plans to help the less well off. . . but in stunning form of missing an opportunuity, Obama dismisses the chance, and instead dismisses them as bitter and clinging. . . "they" the unwashed masses, are not to be deterred from wanting their old time religion and their fire arms. . .Oh, Obama, what a missed chance to really start this conversation off, you missed the teachable moment. . .or did you? Are you interested in the conversation you claim to want, or was that just the politics of that day, that time?
Are you really ready to start this? You could not bring yourself to address the apparent disconnect between the man you felt was like a father and his ummm, er "politics" he holds, until he insinuated that you agreed with him. . .while sitting in the Black church we, those of us on the outside, do not understand.
Do NOT get me wrong, I was rooting for you-Obama, not because you are Black, but because you seemed like you could break through the bs. . .but you got caught up in it. . .and instead of rising above it, you started messing up. . .and playing along.
Hope is not color specific. . .my children have the audacity to hope. . .that will not be detered by the the color of their skin, they will be aided by the content of their character. . .I believe in the dream, do you?
Are you ready to take on white resentment at always being called racist when questioning certain controversies? Are you ready to handle being called oreo, or a sell out or any other the other insults, that can and do shut down so many of these attempts? Are you ready to stop thinking for us all, and meet this head on, as it plays out. . .can you handle the unscripted discussions and the complete lack of sound bites, in favor of honest and painful discussions? Are you ready to confront those that want the anger to last, so the hate does? Did you get any sense of love or respect for "European Americans" from Wright? I do not have to understand the Black church in order to understand dismissive and hateful stereotypes. . .
So, Obama, while you and Michelle may think that us unwashed masses are "tired" of this discussion. . .under the umbrella, we are STILL interested. . .
