By Eddie Griffin
Monday, October 27, 2008
As part of a great international campaign, AM I NOT HUMAN, I was forced to stop and ask myself: Why I am not as American as Sarah Palin and John McCain’s “Real American”. AM I NOT AMERICAN because I have the prefix of an African? Who is the Real American and why are the rest of us snubbed as sub-human Americans?
On Friday, I exercised my right to vote as an American citizen, without fear or intimidation, without bloodhounds and water hoses, without poll taxes and grandfather clauses, without lynching, but not without animosity, fear mongering, and slander.
The little old lady in this video at a Sarah Palin rally said, “I am afraid blacks will take over.”
Wherever did such fear arise? Who stoked this fire?
Of course, African-Americans would like to have a say in government, like anybody else. But a black “takeover” is a figment of someone’s wild imagination and weak conscious. This stoke of fear is aroused purely by skin color ideations and stereotypical prejudices.
Reminiscent of Joe McCarthy’s with hunt for Communists during the 1950s, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) suggested investigating all the members of Congress to see which were American and which were un-American. Now Bachmann is ready to eat her words and apologize to Barack Obama for calling him “un-American” (but only after dropping in the polls in her bid for reelection).
Is it no wonder that they claim that Barack Obama is a socialist who palls around with a domestic terrorist? “He is not like us,” claims Sarah Palin.
He is a Muslim. The same little old lady at the rally said as much: “This is a Christian nation, and I hear that Barack Obama is a Muslim.”
How could she reject the truth and the facts? Or, does truth and facts even matter?
Thirty percent of the American public still approve of George Bush’s handling of the presidency. Naturally, this would be part of the “Real America” of which McCain speaks, and rightfully so also the right extreme where a so-called “real red-blooded American” would never vote for a black man. This Real America can only exist in the eyes of those who see the rest of us as somewhat less.
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Unique take on the human rights abuse theme of the monthly blogging campaign. However, in light of the remarkable and historic event coming up next Tuesday ... I understand!
ReplyDeletepeace, Villager
This has been a month of exciting meditations on the theme, "Am I Not Human?" Your post called up for me a memory of those signs stating, "I Am A Man."
ReplyDeleteAnd here we are, in 2008, with a decent, family-focused, intellectual, qualified man - who is African-American - and is making a person pretending to manhood chase his rhetoric/deeds/ideas like a dog in order to look like a man.
This MAN - named Obama - has a deep cellular, emotional, and intellectual connection to the PEOPLE of the WORLD.
Great post! Wish I could have done better with my own. But, every time I doubt myself, I remember living in England. There was a commercial that had a tag line, "every little helps."