I am from Mississippi. Mississippi. A Mississippian. I am from America's ideological toilet. Everybody everywhere in this country has the luxury of saying, "At least we're not Mississippi." No matter how bad things are in surrounding states and in other regions, everybody gets to feel a little better about themselves, thanks to Mississippi. The bad things, I mean the really, really bad things, are Mississippi. Number one in poverty, obesity, sexually transmitted diseases, teenage pregnancy, disabled persons, and unemployment. Mississppi. Dead last in education, college graduates, creation of new jobs, and anything else that is good. Mississippi. Sung about. Talked about. Laughed about. Laughed at. Even I joke about it. I say that I feel safe from terrorism in Mississippi. Nobody cares enough or thinks enough about it to blow it up!
Everything that is bad, the things that constitute the oh so hard, ideological, and omnipotent turds of an otherwise perfect society, is foisted upon Mississippi. These float down stream, and all that Mississippi doesn't get, New Orleans does. After they are flushed down the river and into the ever-receiving Gulf, these things are forgotten about by America. You think I'm playing? You think I'm bitter? When was the last time you heard any politician or public figure mention rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina for the Mississippi Gulf Coast community or the Greater New Orleans area?
That brings me to my next point. When you are from Mississippi, you expect everywhere you go to be better. The people are supposed to be more liberal in their thinking. The homes are supposed to be nicer. The roads are supposed to be smoother. The food is supposed to taste better because there is a bigger variety. Everyone is supposed to look better. Dress nicer, talk better with a clearer diction, perform better in school...etc.
Much to my chagrin, when I moved from the big country to the even bigger country in Memphis, Tennessee, I was faced and am faced with urban blight/burnout and moral depravity. I see children who have never heard of a carrot stick. I hear about murders committed over something as simple as a video game. I am looking at teenagers walking the streets in the middle of the day when they should be in school. I see a school system with a 61% dropout rate, which is good compared to Detroit's 79% dropout rate. I hear adults tell me how country people in Mississippi are. How slow they are. How stupid they act. How behind the times they dress, and in the same paragraph, tell me how they are afraid to let their children go outside and play.
I see students from the innercity neighborhoods of Chicago and Detroit teach me about the hottest clothing labels and brand names, but who have never heard of Frederick Douglass and do not know where the Ku Klux Klan started. These same children, from Detroit, have never been to Canada, or too far outside of their own neighborhoods, and are quick to complain how there is just nothing in Mississippi. One student told me that his parents and grandparents have always told him that there is nothing but trees and cotton in Mississippi, but failed to tell him about Medgar Evers or Fannie Lou Hamer. Students in Memphis don't know that Auction Street was home to the Auction block but are quick to point out that folks from New Orleans are more criminal and heathen than people from anywhere else.
As a young teacher, I am faced with a generation of peers and younger students who only know the name "Martin Luther King, Jr.," and none of the principals that he fought for or even why he died. They don't know the "National Negro Anthem," and have never heard of Langston Hughes.
That leaves me with a question: what happened elders? As you moved from the farms of Mississippi to the urban landscapes of Chicago, Detroit, Richmond, Cleveland, Memphis, Atlanta, Kansas City, St. Louis, Long Beach, Las Angeles, Houston, and even Charlotte, why didn't you stop and teach? As you bad-mouthed your country cousins and cracked jokes on them with your children, why didn't you teach your children that they don't own the "turf" they fight and kill each other over? Why didn't you teach? Why did you fail us? And now that we are adults and we are lost, why do you blame us?
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
More Shock than Horror?
I was sitting eating a wheat cracker when the news broke: Barack Obama won enough delegates to clench the Democratic nomination. I sat and watched as he made a patriotic speech, outlining his plans to unify America. From his emotional delivery, it seems as if he really means and feels what he is saying, and wants others to believe in his vision, too. He mentions racial and economic inequality, and challenges Americans to see past the rhetoric of politics and select the candidate best for this country.
I couldn't help but pay attention to his mention of religion. Earlier this week, it was announced that Obama broke with his former church, which was once headed by the now embattled Jeremiah Wright. You know, he's the minister who preached for over 20 years, only to have his legacy destroyed by a soundbite that lasted less than a minute. Twenty years of preaching, gone in less than a minute. So is the nature of politics.
Needless to say, I'm a little angry at that whole situation. Journalists replayed that soundbite over and over and over again. It was just that one little sound bite, taken from a sermon that probably lasted for well over an hour. That kind of thing, the way the American public are pegged for sheep who will feel angry over select sound bites played and replayed in the media, is enough to upset any thinking person. Look at how they did Howard Dean! They took a sound, one sound that this man made, and ruined his whole campaign. That is ridiculous. What about the big deal they made when George Bush mispronounced the word "nuclear?" This president has done plenty of things to criticize, and the best thing our infotainment news broadcasters could come up with is mispronouncing a word?
Now, I'm not endorsing any one candidate. However, as an African American, I can't help but be disgusted at the story that the media is using to enrage the public when it comes to Obama. I also have to ask a very, very important question: does America think Jeremiah Wright and Obama are divisive? Or, is the American public shocked at the the fact that political issues get discussed in African American churches?
I mean, think about it....when you see African American worship services on television, what is being shown? Shouting, dancing, singing, clapping, foot-stomping...etc. Often times, African American church services are shown as fun events and jokes. Look at that scene on the original "Blues Brothers." Think of PreacherBot on "Futurama." He has a black-sounding voice. Even William Faulkner, in The Sound and the Fury, includes a Black church scene. Now, I don't know what his purpose was for including that scene, but I read it as an attempt to pacify his white readers with an old, racist joke. I've even heard some white people say they go to African American churches because those churches are just more entertaining. I know these people do not mean to sound racist, and I simply give them a smile. But, I do not rise early Sunday morning, and drive to church so that I can entertain white people. I do not praise the Lord to draw laughter from white people. I do not listen to the sermon and encourage my pastor with an occasional "Amen" to entertain white people. I do not fall on my knees and pray to entertain white people. And I don't sing out loud that I love the Lord to entertain white people.
Yes, in some African American churches, there is a good amoung of shouting, singing, clapping, and dancing. Those are relics, good relics, of West African religion. Those are vital parts of African American worship services, and I don't feel sorry if other groups don't understand it. However, why is that seen as a joke in American popular culture? But, here's where the shame comes in...African American preachers are more than just emotional guides. There is a whole tradition there and a history. It is called prophetic rhetoric. It stems from slavery, and the use of the Old Testament works to talk about God, apply the Bible to contemporary situations, and talk about freedom from tyranny and oppression. Needless to say, these sermons are not exactly politically correct. The real shame is, the really, really, horrible truth that comes out of this Jeremiah Wright news story, is that America at large seems ignorant of the eloquence and intelligence of African American preachers and orators.
Dr. Wright comes from this tradition. In his oration of what the African American community may be thinking, he is participating in a history that stems all the way back to Frederick Douglas and other abolitionist intellectuals. The media wants to call this man, a man who has tirelessly fought to end oppression, unAmerican. I want to step out and say these people are ignorant. The Hon. Frederick Douglas once gave a speech called, "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" He gave it to an all-white audience on Independence Day. He stood there, using the imagery available in the Old Testament, and told the audience why African Americans should not celebrate Independence Day. Was he being unpatriotic, or was he simply stating the plain truth?
I couldn't help but pay attention to his mention of religion. Earlier this week, it was announced that Obama broke with his former church, which was once headed by the now embattled Jeremiah Wright. You know, he's the minister who preached for over 20 years, only to have his legacy destroyed by a soundbite that lasted less than a minute. Twenty years of preaching, gone in less than a minute. So is the nature of politics.
Needless to say, I'm a little angry at that whole situation. Journalists replayed that soundbite over and over and over again. It was just that one little sound bite, taken from a sermon that probably lasted for well over an hour. That kind of thing, the way the American public are pegged for sheep who will feel angry over select sound bites played and replayed in the media, is enough to upset any thinking person. Look at how they did Howard Dean! They took a sound, one sound that this man made, and ruined his whole campaign. That is ridiculous. What about the big deal they made when George Bush mispronounced the word "nuclear?" This president has done plenty of things to criticize, and the best thing our infotainment news broadcasters could come up with is mispronouncing a word?
Now, I'm not endorsing any one candidate. However, as an African American, I can't help but be disgusted at the story that the media is using to enrage the public when it comes to Obama. I also have to ask a very, very important question: does America think Jeremiah Wright and Obama are divisive? Or, is the American public shocked at the the fact that political issues get discussed in African American churches?
I mean, think about it....when you see African American worship services on television, what is being shown? Shouting, dancing, singing, clapping, foot-stomping...etc. Often times, African American church services are shown as fun events and jokes. Look at that scene on the original "Blues Brothers." Think of PreacherBot on "Futurama." He has a black-sounding voice. Even William Faulkner, in The Sound and the Fury, includes a Black church scene. Now, I don't know what his purpose was for including that scene, but I read it as an attempt to pacify his white readers with an old, racist joke. I've even heard some white people say they go to African American churches because those churches are just more entertaining. I know these people do not mean to sound racist, and I simply give them a smile. But, I do not rise early Sunday morning, and drive to church so that I can entertain white people. I do not praise the Lord to draw laughter from white people. I do not listen to the sermon and encourage my pastor with an occasional "Amen" to entertain white people. I do not fall on my knees and pray to entertain white people. And I don't sing out loud that I love the Lord to entertain white people.
Yes, in some African American churches, there is a good amoung of shouting, singing, clapping, and dancing. Those are relics, good relics, of West African religion. Those are vital parts of African American worship services, and I don't feel sorry if other groups don't understand it. However, why is that seen as a joke in American popular culture? But, here's where the shame comes in...African American preachers are more than just emotional guides. There is a whole tradition there and a history. It is called prophetic rhetoric. It stems from slavery, and the use of the Old Testament works to talk about God, apply the Bible to contemporary situations, and talk about freedom from tyranny and oppression. Needless to say, these sermons are not exactly politically correct. The real shame is, the really, really, horrible truth that comes out of this Jeremiah Wright news story, is that America at large seems ignorant of the eloquence and intelligence of African American preachers and orators.
Dr. Wright comes from this tradition. In his oration of what the African American community may be thinking, he is participating in a history that stems all the way back to Frederick Douglas and other abolitionist intellectuals. The media wants to call this man, a man who has tirelessly fought to end oppression, unAmerican. I want to step out and say these people are ignorant. The Hon. Frederick Douglas once gave a speech called, "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" He gave it to an all-white audience on Independence Day. He stood there, using the imagery available in the Old Testament, and told the audience why African Americans should not celebrate Independence Day. Was he being unpatriotic, or was he simply stating the plain truth?
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