About Lincoln… Everyone does know that the Emancipation Proclamation only free the slaves in the states that “left” the Union. Right? I know this is NOT taught in schools… We should, however, continue to look for the truth. See the wikipedia entry for Emancipation Proclamation and read through the whole section. Many scholars disagree over the reason for and Lincoln’s beliefs. My thought? There is one race–the human race. Everything else is just a decoration :)

Bree, you stated, “This is B,S because the whole intent was to be racist to begin with. ” I agree that there is plenty of prejudice (nobody is perfect, and your “color” has nothing to do with whether you are prejudiced or not…). However, I am often mistaken when I assume my wife had some intent with a comment she made when, in fact, she didn’t mean what I “got.”

I get worried when we start telling people what others are intending. Let their words speak for themselves, and let us worry about not letting “them” (whoever “they” are) control our emotional state… Let us just put our words out there and let them speak for themselves as well.

Last night I was telling my wife how I felt that it does not matter all that much who gets elected as I am not personally impacted. The room went silent. As my wife was hanging up one of my shirts she said, “Do you remember the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 signed by President Clinton?”

A very slow, “Yeeaah” rolled out of me.

The she looked at me. And, if I am not white enough, I think I went completely pale. I said, “My Lord and God, that bill created the job I have now – the one I have been working for the last eight years.”

In her post above, Karnythia said, “People have asked me why I get so angry when I discuss politics. The answer to that question is very simple. It might be a minor concern for some people, but for my people? It is still a matter of life and death.”

Let me throw in that I think there a lot of people who also fail to understand how the political process affects their lives. And I realize a little more that I do no one any favors by venting unbridled cynicism.

A respectful Japanese bow to all….

Adam

I tend not to personally share my politics outside of work, because what I do is political, so it’s like bringing work home. I get energy from my blogs and web communities to help me not feel alone out here. Besides, people tend to not want to really engage with “other” opinions. So I find your addition to this conversation refreshing. If you can acknowledge your privilege, I can definitely acknowledge my pessimism.

Cheers.

Here is where I think we can agree (at least I hope we can):

It is morally appalling when people promote racist garbage, pornographic and sexist filth, and empty the dignity out of very charged issues under the guise and pretext of free speech and art – and I suppose I could have just was easily opened my initial entry with that statement.

Oh..and Kat. The other I asked my wife of 13 years(who is a woman of color) to read your comment about me. She wanted to me tell you, ‘Thank you for the good laugh.” ; )

I cited what I see to be the ugliness from the extremes of both sides (racist imagery, pornography, and name calling). – not necessarily the moderates on both sides. Because I know one or two things about our nation’s racial history, I can see how you received my comments. I suppose I could have arranged my facts differently above to make my point, but I am not professional writer.

And it is not my intention to pit historical racism against sexism either. I do know that when Obama was asked to define evil he cited both as examples – and I agree with him there. (Though I think the intersectionality of the two are often ignored.)

I do not liken the label “fetus worshipper” to a mere playground insult .This ignores the moral complexity behind another very charged issue – no matter where one stands on this issue.

I will acknowledege this, I am realizing how much more important the political process is to many people than it has been for me. Alright, I can see where I have had the convenience (perhaps because I am a white male) of being a cynic and voting for a coworker instead. For me, it was never here there nor there no matter who was elected. But that is not the case for many people.

Also, in the spirit of honesty, I would never suggest that my attitude toward politics is right. Always open to correction….or at least I try to be.

It took the Voter Registration and Civil Rights acts to lift that. And again this was accompanied by the same rhetoric, behaviors and thinking by the same people, that hate, visible on their faces, voices, and speech, witnessed around the world to our national shame.

Then we got yet another wave of oppression and demonization with the funding of hate radio, the radical rightwing xtian groups and Reagan’s unleashing of Atwater and what is called ‘dirty tricks,’ including the demonization of perhaps the most powerless person in the world, the unwed teenage mother.

Now we’re having a new movement countering that cynical manipulation by the neoCONS, which hopefully will bring an African American to the White House — which is only right to happen, because, if you really look at the cultural history of this nation, it is made from African roots. So again we’ve got this new wave of of the same hysterical racism, bigotry and division.

This happens over and over again in this nation. It’s the history that isnt’ written, isn’t taught. And they always behave and talk and express themselves the same way.

Love, C.