Alan Gordon Illustrations- Journals, Blog Race Page 4

4. Race

"If something is yours by right, then fight for it or shut up.

If you can't fight for it, then forget it." - Malcolm X

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(fall 2003) Reparations for Slavery

Please do not misunderstand me on this topic. This is a two-fold topic, one of morals, and one of realistic goals. The moral argument differs in that America MUST acknowledge the atrocity of its history...all of it. Even though physical slavery has ended, we cannot simply "get over it". Slavery has a legacy that still confronts us today. The realist side of the argument follows as such: I do not believe that this is worthy of time spent. I do not believe that the US government will ever accept this idea without inherently accepting the moral obligation to history, and that has never happened.

Talking about Race is a topic most white-americans avoid. We want to deny that it's a problem, pretend that all the turmoil ended with the Civil Rights movement of the 50's & 60's. Obviously, with the long history in my artwork- I don't avoid the topic. I am white, but because of lost/adopted family history- I do not know my ancestry beyond a generation or two. If I discovered that my ancestors suffered in the Holocaust, or in Hiroshima, or at Wounded Knee, or through slavery, or during the Black plague, I would not seek financial reparations. That is nonsense- and saying so does not make me a racist, just sensible.

I can only ask one question: How much is enough to repay the suffering? Of all the wealth in the U.S., most are below the ever shrinking middle income- and always have been. Generations of hand to mouth. The Irish died in droves. Asians were slaves, and unconstitutionally interned during world War II. Many Europeans arrived as indentured servants, and lived in obscure poverty. Women had little to nothing for centuries, and the American Indians were (and are) pushed to the brink of extinction. Even Holocaust survivors-not descendants...actual survivors, were paid Nazi blood money at only $400.00 a person, some 50 years later.

I also understand that African slavery lasted for more than 400 years, and the act of racial segregation ended just 40 years ago (that makes it a present issue, not a past issue). The real issue is no longer the physical slavery, but the by-product being racism and the after effect of socio-economic slavery. We continue to have a playing field that is wholly un-level. The rapper Mos Def had a song where he questioned the endless media cruxification of Michael Jackson for his actions with children, while at the same time Woody Allen mostly got a pass for sleeping with his step daughter- heck they even appeared at Lakers game holding hands. If a black man were to sleep with his under age step daughter, how do you think the media would respond? All of slavery and segregation has a lasting effect. This created an obvious un-level playing field in communities and schools, but as time has shown this has effected anyone below the middle class income. The schools and communities are shared. The real solution does not lie in a one time payoff, it lies in repairing the aftermath. One paycheck would amount to what? $1,000.00 maybe per person, and only for those who can provide a lineage back to slavery. Slavery was not an astute record keeping practice. Is that enough to repay 400 years of slavery and be done with it? Is it going to reverse the lost 40 acres and a mule? A reparation should do justice to the past, help the present, and ensure a future of equality. To receive a one time payoff, only continues the oppression of institutional racism. Would doling out a small amount of money make the problems go away? Fixing our communities and schools, repairing the after effects of slavery, and honoring the legacy to assure that it is never repeated should be a priority- not a paycheck.

(Update 7/30/08)

Well...I was half wrong. The House still declared that there would be no reparations...and this is still just the House of Representatives, not the Senate.

(From the AP line, 7/29/08)

WASHINGTON - The House on Tuesday issued an unprecedented apology to black Americans for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow segregation laws. "Today represents a milestone in our nation's efforts to remedy the ills of our past," said Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

(May 2007) Surprise!...It's racism!

I was explaining to my wife how often I find myself ambushed by racist ideology, jokes, monologues, and statements. I must be a magnet for certain people? Maybe it's because I am a male, or white, or an average everyday looking type. Maybe it is because I expect more of people that this still startles me. It happens at parties ("Anyone want to hear a nigger joke?"), family gatherings ("They play that loud nigger music"), workplaces ("ahh, he's just a fag."), and public forums ("Kill the jews!"). These are all actual examples, but hardly all of them that I encounter. Just today I came across a blog on MySpace. She ranted and raved how "...stupid we all are to allow blacks to run people like Don Imus down because they don't like what is being said...". She then went on to list the United Negro College fund as something racist, and that BET (Black Entertainment Network) is racist because a "White Entertainment Network" would never be allowed. I tried to post a response, but she chose to set the blog to no comments. So here are a few to this moron, and to all of the others in the past few years that have surprised me by dropping bigotry into the everyday.

The United States was FOUNDED and FUNDED by centuries of slavery. Slavery from all types of cultures and classes, but in particular- African slavery. Taking people out of their homes by force, away from families and land, and shipping them for 3 months or more by boat chained in a dark hull. Sleeping and dying in their own feces is an image that we should never cast aside from our collective social conscience. I am not in favor of reparations (as an earlier posting states), but I am not in favor of pretending that it did not happen either. Slaves were brought in not by the hundreds, or thousands- but by the million. Only to be followed by 300+ years of backbreaking labor, beatings, gut-wrenching poverty, public humiliation and auction, no social rights, no legal rights, and lynchings. The times of segregation are NOT a past (or "get over it") issue, they were only 40 years ago, that makes it a present issue. That created the Untied States class and race system. (*When I mention that slavery "created a race and class system in the United States", I intend that as a mutated form of discrimination still in existence. Obviously class and race issues existed long before slavery, and long before the United States.) That system gave birth to an un-level playing field that still exists today. Most people think that the Civil Rights movement ended the issue, all that did was provide a right to vote, and a legal platform to fight racism.

The piddly amounts that the United Negro College Fund can dish out to the small percentage of African-Americans attending/accepted into college pales in comparison to the amount of scholarships (and the increased acceptance levels) of whites. Generations of abject poverty do not amount to a dream of college, they amount to any job or lifestyle that can pay the rent. BET exists to offset the lilly whiteness of the big networks. How many positive black/hispanic/gay faces do you see in primetime? Now exclude "Cops" on fox and count again. How many negative stereotypes do you see?

The use of the term "they" (in this blog) about the Don Imus event threw red flags up in my head. The red flags went higher when you see she also says "we allow blacks". That signifies the idea that (in her mind) whites are the keepers of blacks. We "allow" "them" to protest their wrongs, but "we" do have a limit. That's the way to treat children, not other adults. Anytime I hear an "us versus them" in discussions about race, I know what is sure to follow, and I was right as I read on. This MySpace blog went on to justify using terms like: "Towel Head, Nigger, Kike, Spook, Spic, and Wop" with many more as descriptive terms. I believe speech should be free, but hate does not have that same luxury. I cannot tell you how many situations have become very tense when someone decides to tell a "nigger joke", or complain about their "Wop...Nigger...Jew...Fudge-packing" neighbors.

If I see it coming, I can leave. But if I do not see it...if it surprises me; it hits me stinging like a slap in the face.

As long as I have studied racism, as many books as I have read on the topic; I still find myself asking why? I get the psychology of poor self-esteem. I understand the fear, the poverty, the lack of education from people vomiting this philosophy. I am even aware of the societal need for stereotypes and classifications. I understand that we all have some prejudice. But I still don't understand it, and I don't think that I need to, or want to anymore. We don't need to give in to that base element in ourselves because it is simply easier to go along than to get along. When these people highjack speech, I just cross them off of the human list in my head- regardless of who they are. I think that unless we all start to really fight against this type of mentality, we will continue on this same path of cultural warfare. As long as we keep arguing race, classifying race on job applications, use minority hiring statistics, and ethnic scholarship percentages instead of dealing with the enduring issues of socio-economic slavery- we are doomed. As long as someone of "color" gets brutalized in the media, while whites (by percentage) get a pass- we are doomed. Most people that I encounter never stop to critically examine the types of racial information that we are confronted with on a daily basis. They just buy the media- hook, line, and sinker. And it is not just limited to racism. I am sick of the religious battles, the sexual inside jokes, the gay bashing. In the end, it is all hate and fear. At this point in my life, I honestly thought that we would have moved on to greater things.

(October 2008) Hates place at the table

We can never seem to shake hate. I would love to say that as "In this country..." but hate is a humankind affliction. It can hide until the atmosphere is just right. Mix in some change, a cup of fear, a dash of cultural ignorance, a smidgen of social turbulence, and BAM! There is hate- right in front of us, sitting at our table, eating our food, using our cutlery, wiping off with our napkins.

A) Jackson County Florida, September 2008. Greg Howard Middle School Social Studies teacher. Writes "C.H.A.N.G.E" on a dry erase board in front of his class, and proceeds to decipher it as "Come help a nigger get elected". The class had 17 white students, 6 black students, and one asian student. He was not fired, simply suspended without pay and assigned to an adult education course.

B) Arkansas City Kansas, September 2008. Mayor Mell Kuhn appeared in a beauty pageant fundraiser in blackface and drag to raise money for abused and neglected children calling himself "Smellishis Poon". He even had back up dancers called "Red Hot Puntangs". Kuhn defended the act calling criticism "PC Bullshit that gets nothing done". He went on to defend the costume as "not blackface" as he "can't do a black accent".

C) United States, H2-B Visas 2006-? This is like a work permit Intended for a company to temporarily employ an out of country worker that they can prove they need to fill a specific position that they cannot fill with a US citizen. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2006, thousands of immigrants were brought into the country under the pretense of being given labor jobs at $11 an hour. Upon arrival (and paying/promising to pay upwards of $5-20,000 to an agent in their country working as a labor rep for the US contractors offering the visa) they were given cramped dormitory rooms (complete with barbed wire fences) costing half their pay as "rent", and the other half was withheld to pay their "home" based agent- resulting in zero income. "Guest" workers (under the H2-B Visa rules) were not allowed to change jobs, seek alternative employment, file abuse claims, or leave the premises. Any refusal to work, or any complaint made resulted in deportation and loss of any remaining wage.

D) United States, 2008 Presidential election. The McCain/Palin ticket falls behind in the polls and begins a campaign intended to induce race based hate through incendiary speeches and "rabble rousing" of their crowds. They begin calling Barak Obama a "terrorist, who does not see the country like we do" at every speech. Sarah Palin was introduced on 2 occasions (week of 10/5- 10/9/08) by people announcing the Democratic candidate as "Barak Hussein Obama" before Sarah Palin came out on stage to make her "terrorist" accusations. They base this "not like us" "he's dangerous" "we can't risk him" approach on Obama being on an 80's Chicago community board with Bill Ayers. Ayers was labeled as a "domestic terrorist" in the 1960's for planning to bomb the capitol and the pentagon. Obama was 8 when Ayers committed his crimes. Ayers is now a college professor in Illinois. As Palin states Obama was "Palin' around with terrorists" 20 years later on a board created to improve and fundraise for Chicago education (helmed by 11 republicans and a Ronald Reagan representative). At McCain/Palin rallies, attendees began yelling "terrorist", "traitor", "off with his head", and "kill him" during speeches by both Palin and McCain. Video began appearing of crowd interviews with attendees calling Obama a "terrorist...because ...just look at his name" and "...you can't touch him without wearing gloves." The week of 10/13 to 10/17 produced a lot more video of (specifically) Palin crowd attendees that for whatever reason felt it would be a good idea to spout racist dialogue into a news camera. And then came the ultimate: a California based women's Republican group put out a newsletter with a monopoly type money included (see inset). E) United States, 2008 Bailout crisis. Banks failed, credit crumbled. Reasons varied from CEO junkets costing a half a million dollars, unforeseen economic fluctuations and failure, and paying bonuses of millions to CEO and chairmen for poor decisions in credit funding and risky ventures. The week of the collapse (first week of October) the Republican pundits hit the airwaves and media stations claiming the reason was Bill Clinton's change of policy that allowed low income minorities to afford home loans in the 1990's. This blame-the-minorities reasoning is coincidentally timed to release as Barak Obama begins to lead in the polls.

F) Vogue Magazine, April 2008. Intended or not as a tribute, the vogue cover features an aggressive sports clad screaming black man holding a serene-gown-laden submissive white female. This also happens to very closely resemble a propaganda tool used by the US Army in World War I.

G) Fox News, Spring 2008. 1. During a segment, Fox news repeatedly ran the tag-line referring to Michelle Obama as "Obama's Baby Mama". 2. Fox news has also been caught slipping numerous references of Obama as "Osama". 3. During an April 2008 broadcast of Bill O-Reilly, a colleague of Bill's warned that the Demographics of the US would dramatically become Hispanic in the next 25 years, and urged watchers to "get busy making babies". 4. Numerous mistakes with black politicians names and faces being mistaken. In the Spring of 2008, the political organization Moveon.org even created a Fox petition drive to "Stop injecting fear, racism and prejudice into our political dialogue".

H) Journeys shoe store, Kansas City MO. October 2008. A young black man buys a pair of shoes. He returns the shows and notices that on the receipt under customer information is "Dumb Nigger". The store apologized and fired the employee, but the local media reported that she had a series of numerical choices for "customer" and this was the one she chose.

I) McCain Supporter, beaten and mutilated. Per news reports 10/22/08, a 20 year old McCain campaign volunteer in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Ashley Todd (From Texas) filed a police report that she was robbed at an ATM by knife point. After she walked away the 6' 4" black man dressed all in black noticed the McCain bumper sticker on her car and returned to "teach her a lesson, and make her a Barack (as in Obama) supporter". He then punched and kicked her, and "carved" a B on her cheek (see inset). As it was originally reported with the story, John McCain and Sarah Palin called her to wish her well (Obama made a statement wishing her well, the next day). The information with the detailed assault was given to 2 local news affiliates in Pittsburgh by the Pennsylvanian campaign spokesperson for the McCain campaign. This same week it was noted that the McCain campaign was severely lagging in the polls and was going "all in" in Pennsylvania to have a chance at winning the election.

My views... Hate is not at our shore, not on our border, not at our door. It is sitting at the table with us-and we are feeding it. We have not moved on, or gotten over it. We have never been the nation that overcame it, we just hid it away. Hate has always been with America like a drunk uncle at thanksgiving. Slumped in a chair spouting off while everyone else pretends that the holiday is going just peachy. That is not anti-American, as I believe that our ideals are the best in the world- but ideals are not enough. Fear of what we do not understand combined with past prejudices keeps us frozen where we are as a nation- we have our ideals, but no identity. Why? We have lost sight of "the prize". A fair and honest country striving for equality.

a) I was shocked that the Florida teacher was suspended and not fired, but then again- it's the Florida school system. b) I was shocked that the mayor was not forced out of office- seriously how lame are those names he came up with- does anyone need that mentality in a freakin' mayor? c) I was appalled by a government program that had 65,000 new 2008 H2-B Visa applications that I had never heard of, and now I know why I have never heard of it. Actually...come to think of it, I have heard of it...forced labor without pay or legal rights is called SLAVERY. d) I was not too shocked by the McCain/Palin agenda- but very concerned that this can balloon out of control. Bringing groups to a boiling point towards and enemy through propaganda has been used before- in Nazi Germany by the Fascist party. There are worse things that can happen than losing an election. McCain had the chance to denounce the hate-filled shout outs at the rallies, but was silent. Silence on this topic equates to acceptance and agreement. Fox news has said we are all over-reacting, but are we supposed to wait until some nutjob in the Palin speech crowd goes to try and kill Obama or his family? The California "Obama food stamp" is simply dumbfounding. The president of the GOP group (Diane Fedele) stated: "It was strictly an attempt to point out the outrageousness of his statement. I really don't want to go into it any further. I absolutely apologize to anyone who was offended. That clearly was not my attempt. I didn't see it the way it's being taken. I never connected, it was just food to me, it wasn't anything else." WTF? Fried Chicken...Watermelon...Ribs? That has been racist iconography for 50 years and she didn't think of it as anything but "food"? And as far as what her "attempt" was...it was to vilify Barak Obama using racist stereotypes. e) As far as the bailout...when the public see's executives coming home with 15 and 20 million dollar bonuses, I think the "minority" family that loses a house worth $35,000 due to unemployment is a powerless scapegoat. Most Americans know where the blame lies, whether they understand the economic market or not. f) The Vogue cover was said to be a coincidence, I don't buy that. If it is a homage, then it is a case of very poor judgment. g) And every media outlet is biased. I am not keen on Fox and the conservative media, but I understand it. The difference from conservative to liberal media bias, is that both may inundate the viewer with ideas for or against their viewpoint- but the liberal media does not take it to a base human mentality level with blatant lies. In my opinion, that is evil. It panders to the lowest common human denominator- fear. It tricks the viewers, as many of us still forget that just because it calls itself "news" does not mean that it is true or unbiased. h) Historically (as stated above) in times of economic crisis, bigotry makes a return. It would disappoint me, but not shock me to see a marked increase in stories of blatant bigotry in the end of 2008 and through 2009. i) When I first saw the Ashley Todd story on Thursday (the day after the "assault"), I wondered why the "carved B" was backwards, and how her eye looked more like make-up than a black eye. Not only was it a "big black man", but he was also dressed all in black...and what kind of mugger teaches political lessons? Then came the additional information that he "fondled her". That played right to the heart and the fear of white racism. I thought it was also odd that this happened in the very state that the McCain campaign depends upon if they want to win. Turns out NONE of this "assault" was true. Her MySpace page had the quote "Lying is the most fun you can have with your clothes on", one of her YouTube videos was about the big bad black janitor that took down her handmade McCain signs at her Texas college. The link to Barack Obama was made BY the McCain Pennsylvania campaign spokesperson to the media, which makes this a case of race-baiting. The big black man accosting and fondling the innocent white woman-this is the McCain campaigns version of Susan Smith. Also of note is that John Moody (Fox News Executive VP) said that if this were false, it would be the end of the McCain campaign, BUT if it were true: "If Ms. Todd’s allegations are proven accurate, some voters may revisit their support for Senator Obama, not because they are racists, but because they suddenly feel they do not know enough about the Democratic nominee." Why? If it were true, why would anyone blame Obama...oh, right...he's black too. Alas, I eternally hold out for the new day coming and will keep fighting until it is here. Because as it was stated during the Holocaust, it is still true today:

When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist. When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat. When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist. When they came for the Jews, I remained silent; I was not a Jew. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out. (Attributed to Pastor Martin Niemoller)

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