The election of America's first Black President, Barack Obama, ushered in an era of out and proud racism not seen in this country since the Jim Crow era.
While many of us, blacks and whites alike, stood shoulder to shoulder in Grant Park, Harlem, Times Square, DC, tears streaming unashamedly down our cheeks, holding hands, congratulating ourselves on how far we had come, and declaring a post racial America. Another group of proud Americans came together to develop a strategy on destroying this presidency beginning day one.
The Jim Crow Laws were officially the law of the land from 1877 until 1954. 1954. For most of my peers, if you are black then your parents lived under these laws. If you're white then your parents were either the enforcer of these laws, or they may have actively fought against them, that's just the way it is. While you can change a law, you can't legislate feelings. And It didn't take long for these proud Americans to expose the still open sore of racism that lies so close to the surface in this country.
Men that had previously been seen as respected businessmen, journalist, and even sitting legislatures brazenly spoke out on national TV, in front of God and country, questioning this President's citizenship, demanding he show his papers, his intelligence, demanding to see his transcripts, his faith, openly accusing him of being a terrorist, labeling him a Muslim extremist. They even called him the actual Anti-Christ.
Last week a group of Tea Party members hijacked a veterans demonstration, and with prominent members of their party standing by, demanded the POTUS "get off his knees, put down the Quran, and come out with his hands up." The only thing missing was a burning cross and a hangman's noose.
As an American you might think that there would be repercussions. That perpetrators of such brazen racism and ugliness would be shunned by decent fair-minded people, but actually in many instances the opposite has been true.
Joe Wilson, who stood on the House floor and called the President a liar, was rewarded with donations in the hundreds of thousands. The Koch brothers uber billionaires, interested in financing their version of what this country should be, continually pump millions of dollars into these fringe hate groups, elevating them into a position of power, that they could have only once dreamed, while effectively quieting the voices of reason that may have once prevailed. These voices are gone swallowed by the fear of their own losses, leaving us with a divide that grows wider every day.
I remember a time where being a Democrat vs. a Republican was literally, just a difference in how to get things done. It didn't mean you were the anti-Christ. It never meant we didn't want the same thing, a strong country. It certainly didn't mean that the country was going to be destroyed based on a political policy. I remember a time when you cast your vote, and either your guy, or the other guy won, but the next day you picked up and went on with life. I remember a term, respect the office if not the President. I wasn't a huge Regan or W fan. However, I remember being terrified when Regan was shot, sad when he died. I remember mine, and every person I knows, horror when Kanye West, said on national TV "George Bush don't care about black people" not because he was wrong necessarily, but because he publicly disrespected OUR President.
Tonight I listened to some pop psychologist on Fox news diagnose President Obama, based on the fact that he was raised first by a single parent, then by his white grandparents, as having issues of victimization, claiming he was transferring these feelings onto the country. He gave this as a reason as to why he would not "negotiate with the hostage takers" his words. I just sat with my mouth hanging open thinking, this can't be happening in America. What exactly would be considered too far. If the terrorist psychologically damaged anti-Christ is ok can Nigger be too far behind? What will be the justification for that.
The President of these United States has to interview for the job every 4 years with a limit of two terms. President Obama took his case to the people and won their vote 2 times, decisively. Republicans look forward with bated breath to 2016 and so do I. I predict that another Democrat will win the presidency, because despite the width and breath of our differences, I am holding on by the barest of the threads to the idea that there are enough of us left, who simply want the best for our country, and our family, and reject the hate speech, and ignorance, that has bombarded our airwaves and our spirits on a daily basis.
A divide too wide? I don't know the jury is still out.
