Wake Up!

By now we’ve all heard of the foiled skinhead plot to kill Obama. Hopefully, we’ve all also, by now, come to terms with what this means about what lays ahead for Sen. Obama. Whether he is elected President of the United States or not, this man will forever have a target on his back. His wife will be marked as will his children. Why? Because there exists a faction of Americans who don’t think a non-white person, a person of color, is fit to run our country. Nevermind all the great contributions people of color have made, nevermind the fact that this country was more/less built on the backs of these same people of color, nevermind that our current state as a nation is due in LARGE part to the old white men who this faction thinks are the only ones fit to run our country.

However, I won’t focus on the racism. That’s self-explanatory. I want to focus on the relative surprise with which this story was recieved. My home state is Tennessee. I grew up in TN, and went to college in TN. TN is the home of a lot of great things, country music (Music City, USA); the late great singer Bessie Smith was from my hometown; good BBQ (Memphis); great football (TN Titans). The state’s nickname, The Volunteer State, comes from all the Volunteers who went to TX to help with the Battle of the Alamo. Alex Haley spent his first years in TN and is buried here. I could go on and on — but one thing TN is known for that I hate to admit is that the Ku Klux Klan was founded here, not far from where I went to school. So it came as no surprise to me that the skinheads who wanted to assassinate Obama AND murder some 88 black students and behead an additional 14, were from Tennessee.

6 days from today we may very well make history and elect our first African-American President. And when we do that, the target on his back will only grow larger. Black folks know this, we’ve known it since it became clear he would get the Democratic nomination and that he might actually win. It’s the all the white folks with their heads in the sand who worry me. These people who want to kill Obama will not go blabbing their plan to every Tom, Dick and Harry they see, especially if Tom, Dick and Harry are black. But they will share it with other whites who they assume share their feelings. I NEED everyone to be alert and accept that our country is a great place, but there are still people who haven’t moved into 2008 and most likely never will. I’m not concerned with holding up a mirror to their ignorance. I want to make sure that as long as they’re still living in the past we do our best to keep them behind us and not in front of us with guns.

Congress and Scandal

A USA Today article discusses how Ted Stevens (R-AK) is not the only Congressman who’s campaign may be affected by scandal.

I say: surprise, surprise. We all know that for the big show Congress always puts on with tougher laws and cracking down, behind closed doors they’re breaking some of the same laws they helped create. It’s almost the nature of the beast. Powerful people attract manipulative people. You can look to any portion of anyone’s life and see that. Think back to something as simple as who was popular in high school. If they themselves weren’t manipulative, they were surrounded by manipulative people who wanted access to the power and privilege.

I don’t mean to suggest we should pardon lawmakers who think they are above the law. In fact, I think they should have separate, harsher, punishment. There is no reason to break the law “cause you can.” I think Ted Stevens shouldn’t be allowed to run for, let alone return to his Senate seat. In fact, I think that it’s absolutely absurd that he very well may be re-elected. It’s also causing me to wonder what the hell goes on in Alaska.

The real question is what can we the people do about it. The reality is that our democratic system isn’t all that democratic. Some of it is with purpose, some of it is, again, the nature of the beast. But we have all got to get educated on the facts. We have all got to understand where we stand on issues and then make it a point to know where our elected lawmakers stand. We do not vote people into office so that we can call them up and tell them what to do. It’s the other way around. They tell us what they want to do and based on that we send them to represent us. Too often people misconstrue “public servant” for something other than how it really manifests itself in our nation. Get to know who is representing you. In this day and age, you could find out what they did on the day they turned 5 — so the least you can do is make it your business to discover they’re opinions and stances and vote accordingly.

Many will, and do, argue that your vote doesn’t matter. If you believe that, then it doesn’t. But if you get involved the best you can, you write to your representatives, you stay abreast of the issues and you stay on top of how it all effects you, you can make a difference. But step number one is that we can no longer accept the way things have been running. We have either got to start electing officials who will keep it honest or demand our current ones keep it straight. The trial of Ted Stevens (who has become the most recent poster child of corruption on Capitol Hill) only goes to show that the latter plan probably won’t work.