change of plans: i was planning on blogging today (actually yesterday or so...) about the men's church conference that i went to this past weekend. well now something else has my attention (i'll get to that below). just to say a bit about the conf, it was a bit weird at first, cuz i walked in early on saturday morning (after nearly turning back cuz i was a bit late and the gate wouldn't open) and all i could see was old men. i mean reallly old men. it wasn't until i sat down and cleared my eyes and mind that i spotted a couple people my age (though the majority was still old men). with all my doubts tho, the conf turned out really good. i got to meet some amazing people and surprisingly (to me at least) people really opened up and shared stuff in ways i didn't expect (including myself). the theme was blessings and curses and even though we touched on some areas that i strongly disagree with (e.g. aids possibly being a curse from god or abortion on any level inviting god's curse...), the underlying theme of being aware of forces at work around and among us was a really enlightening one. we even talked about spirits and demons (oooh, ahhh)...topics that westernized people rarely like to talk about; but ask any african, indian, other asian, etc, and they will testify to u that things do happen on a supernatural level that need to be acknowledged. anyway, i may be getting too deep for y'all, but i'm glad i went and not only did i meet some new people, i got my learn on a bit.
so on to the new topic. a few weeks ago, i was at a braai and we somehow got on the topic of race in the US and in South Africa. the south african seemed to believe that one problem is that america has only covered up the issue and pushed it aside, but has not adequately faced it head on. hence, when anyone says anything that could even remotely be considered derogatory all hell breaks loose. i agree with that. however, he also contrasted that with south africa, believing that south africans were on a better path because they were actually facing the race issue head on. not so sure about that.
anyway, i was reminded of this convo today as i got home from work and turned on CNN (as is routine) and the breaking news was that obama was making a major speech on race. i must admit, my first instinct was "oh no...he's digging himself in a bigger hole". all week id read about the whole "issue" with his pastors comments,etc; which was all frankly annoying. so i was, unfortunately, under the impression that he should just let this blow over and ignore it and hope it gets lost in the other "irrelevant" news stories of..uhm...lets see...maybe iraq, or the economy, or jobs, or education...
well, this man's got some balls. after hearing the speech i was impressed. i think for the first time in a long time someone was actually speaking about the issue of race and racial relations in a REAL way. no innuendos. no beating around the subject. he brilliantly spoke about this issue in a way that i believe everyone has experienced in some way. black anger. white guilt. white frustration. hispanic frustration. black pride. his words: "issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked through...But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now...the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races...This is where we are right now. It’s a racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years."
He goes on to say a lot of other awesome things, but those are some of the ones that stuck out to me. i suggest listening to or reading the rest of the speech. so yes, its another speech. why should we put stuck in speeches anyway. well first of all racial dialog is something that seriously needs to happen on a meaningful level in the states. to see a major presidential actually address it, in a way potentially damaging to his candidacy, is inspiring. barack likes to say change happens from the bottom-up but it almost always takes urging, agreement, and work from the top down as well to make anything happen. it would seem like in an obama presidency, there will be support from the top jolting (and sometimes spurring on) action from the bottom on issues such as these (contrast that with the current administration).
finally, i thought he took a serious gamble in making this speech. it could still backfire on him. depending on how the commentators and pundits decipher it, i can see many people completely using it against him. for me, i must admire his courage in speaking honestly about race and confronting it head on. who else has been able to do that in an intelligent, non-biased way? certainly not bill "the first black president" clinton, nor jesse jackson, nor al "i will do/say anything to remain relevant" sharpton, nor rev jeremiah wright. this was more than mere politics.
post-post: i really did try to refrain from blogging politics (at least us politics) for a while; ill try harder next time.
5 comments:
just caught up on your blog and wanted to comment on your convos with nigerians, strangely my convos with nigerians in st. louis always consist of money schemes and hustling, i must commend your people here, theres several that are getting crazy dough
i've even heard an interesting story of a nigerian's household basement consisting of many many many computers (don't worry homie, i dont get into shit that illegal lol
ethiopians, same shit, money money money all the time, thats all they talk about, and sometimes world talks when something interesting comes on CNN, but I can't say I've heard any talks about how to make the world better, just how to make Ethiopia better
just my thoughts peace homie
Happy Easter, Folu! I just spent the afternoon catching up with your blog. ;-) Hope all is well!
Excellent characterization of Obama's speech. I think, in retrospect, the speech has not negatively affected his candidacy. If anything, it has made him untouchable.
Keep the political remarks coming every once in a while....
peace out bro (big bro)
Hey Folu,
I checked out your blog for the first time today. I think you're right about race in the US: I think we've just brushed over it in a lot of ways. I think I'm realizing that more than ever from what we're going through here in North City. The more we go along, the more we realize how deep the wounds of racism run. I locked the keys in the car the other night (not me! never!) when Catrina and I were at Schnuck's down on Union and Natural Bridge, so I walked back to the house (about a mile and a half) to get my set of keys. On the way, I was cursed out (from across the street) by a young man and a woman for being "white", and then I was cursed out and threatened by a group of teenage girls - also because I am white (I know I really need to do something about that; I just haven't got around to it yet. Ha!)
Anyway, my point is: Where does that come from - that anger, that hatred? I thought about it, and Cat and I talked about it when we got back to the house. Several possibilities came to our minds: Maybe they were mistreated by white people (teachers, cops, other kids) at some point in their lives. Maybe they got it from their parents or other adults in their lives, because maybe their parents were victims of racism. Or maybe they just don't really know any white people very well. I know that we all tend to be suspicious of people who aren't like us. The white folks in the suburbs pass around myths about black folks in the inner city, and the black folks in the inner city pass around myths about white folks outside the city. And, at least here in St. Louis, we're so segregated that there aren't enough white folks living on the north side or black folks living in the county for the lies to get dispelled - they just keep growing and growing, and any minor situation just reinforces our misconceptions of each other. Here's the part where it starts to get a little one-sided though: It's a little harder for black folks from the city to correct the white folks from the county than it is for white folks from the county to correct black folks from the city. Let me just say property values in Clayton are a little bit steeper than in Walnut Park.
Both groups are scared of the others: People from my neighborhood don't like to go to Clayton because their afraid of getting pulled over or arrested just b/c they're a black in Clayton, and folks from Clayton are scared to come to my neighborhood because they're afraid they might get shot (by the way, the first is actually about 99.9% more probable than the second).
Like John Perkins writes about in his introduction to Beyond Charity: The L.A. riots were a minor eruption considering the racial wounds that are festering in our country.
I walked away from the other night with this: Hundreds of years of racism have lasting consequences, and we have yet to address the harm that slavery and segregation have done to the black community and to black-white relations. Most white folks don't have a clue about what it was like for black folks living in Mississippi 50 years ago. Most of us are oblivious to the injustices that are happening right now against poor minorities in our inner cities, yet our choices about where we live and do business, what we buy and how we vote continue to perpetuate the problem.
I realize that my perspective is very localized, but I hope it has at least a little relevancy to the discussion. Peace, bro...
Cody
You know I'm not one to pass up on political commentary. The Obama speech did play well here with with punditry. Do I think it was a good well thought out speech? Of course! Do I think it will open up the dialogue on race relations in the US? Absolutely not. We are the country where "nice" could mean anywhere between a blizzard and sub-zero temperatures (a la Greenbay) to 120 degrees (44 deg. Celsius) heat wave (a la So. Cal). We are just used to sweeping things under the rug when we don't have to deal with it. Until we learn to be a little more cynical, a little more open and just basically in touch with not just who we are, but who we need to be, we will continue to avoid the true issues for more general discussions. For a country that is very scientific about everything, we sure hate the science of reality. And this coming from a Nigerian who's lived here for over a decade, so take it with a grain of salt.
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