Letters to the Editor
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It's Patriotism Stupid!
Wright or wrong is not the point. The point is for sure patriotism. Little things like label pins, not saluting the flag, non-dutiful wives going through life not proud to be an American, viral rumors flying wildly about running the gamut from Che Guevera posters to Farrahkan..ALL add up. The Wright thing just slashed to the center of the darkest fears in white America..that Black Power trumps the flag...that some African Americans hate whites and worse yet white America. Part of these worries and anxieties are rooted as most garbage like this is in some half truths. For too long many blacks have been the "silent majority" of this time..sitting quietly while "articulate" blacks are mocked as being "too white", rappers hide their education and act all street to be accepted, even Oprah slips into her own form of Opra-bonics around fellow blacks.
Now we find Obama..a guy who grew up caught between the two races..his own "blackness" under question..asked to do what?..the white thing meaning get up and disown this guy?..the black thing, nod and understand the history that begat this hate stuff? Reverend Wright's pew was not the first time Barack has heard a black man rant or spue views he did not subscribe to..across his life he processed them all and learned to understand the context and even tolerate that kind of angry voice of both blacks and whites. Was that the right thing to do? Probably not, but it was the black thing he chose to do..and he wasn't alone..many prominent blacks attended that church..that was Oprah's church.
Is this fair to Obama? Wake up, it does not have to be.
The reality here is on 911 it was African Americans who ran back into the Towers, African American who died side by side with Latino Firemen and dozens of other "American" heroes. Who fights our wars for us?...who are those anonymous soldiers coming home dead and damaged? ..black men and women.
In so many ways 911 united us as one..it was our darkest, yet proudest moment. The legacy it left however was also our most oppressive..from Dixie Chicks to Hollywood..speaking out was deemed anti-American...Not patriotic. The taliban have been out in force on talk radio looking for infidels.
Yes, we have turned a corner recently and are trying to right the terrible wrongs done post 911..but we still are in its wake. The truth is you simply can not be elected president of these United States if you are perceived to be not patriotic. Not here, not now. We can go all intellectual about what that means and how bad the road these false patriots have taken us down..we can remember the quote: "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." Bear in mind the point here is not to rage against these scoundrels..the point now is to not let them continue their stranglehold on our country and its future direction. Obama, don't bemoan the problem, and don't ignore the problem, just address it..over and over. " I am an American, I live as an American. I will die as an American. ", but my America is one who tolerates dissention and expects only the best from its people and its government...in my America, we are the good guys in the world..That's the America we salute.