|
...the bad aspects of the culture he was born into. I admire him for that, and I would say, given his speeches and votes especially in the last few years--on the Iraq war (the Iraq war resolution totally illegal and unconstitutional, he said at the time) and the Bush Cartel--I'd say he has done some really hard and righteous thinking about our government and our culture. I have found his speeches on Bush Cartel items--like the recent nominations of Rice and Gonzales--extraordinarily impressive. The man is brilliant, and he is right on.
In that interview, he said something to the effect that we've solved the race issue, we've all improved, and we now talk about it too much and make it into a bigger thing than it is. This is a very typical attitude of white persons, and is not necessarily racist--more likely ignorant. I had this attitude myself until a black friend told me about all the places in this country that she is afraid to travel to, for fear of her life. Black people know about them. Whites don't know about them--because we're privileged and accepted in most places. So I think he's wrong about that. Racism is far from solved. I was also struck by Greg Palast's article, "Kerry won--just count the votes at the back of the bus!" He estimates that 3 million black and minority votes were suppressed in the 2004 election using the ballot "spoilage" excuse in a highly discriminatory way.
I DO think that racism and economic oppression need to be studied and understood together. Because the rich obviously use race to divide and conquer and keep poor people poor--and use it more viciously against blacks than anyone else.
And now, with Bush Cartel cultivation of people like Kenneth Blackwell, we're seeing a real nasty twist of events--a few blacks permitted to acquire wealth and power as the front men--n this incredibly vicious, greedy, bloodthirsty regime--in order to oppress the multitude. It's not a unique strategy, but it's sure been magnified, and well-planned, by the BushCons. They're now working on black male ministers to paint "liberals" as immoral--i.e., on issues of a woman's right to choose abortion, and gay rights--using federal money as the bribe, according to Maxine Waters.
And I heard something on the Senate floor during the Rice and Gonzales debates that is still burning my ears. I heard Orrin Hatch (and others) accuse the DEMOCRATS of RACISM for opposing these poor, abused, rags to riches Bush nominees, an African-American woman and an Hispanic!
And then I SAW something that shocked the hell out of me: Andrew Young (former aide of ML King, since risen to UN ambassador) with several black women in tow (one of them C. Dolores Tucker) in a C-Span interview, echoing Orrin Hatch--saying Rice should be approved BECAUSE she's an African-American woman.
My mouth fell open. Risen so high, to fall so low, was my thought. Cozying up to the Bush Cartel.
Ah, me. The BushCons are masters at corrupting people. We'd be well to keep that in mind.
As to language, I've heard black people use "nigger" as a term almost of affection--meaning, I gather, "Hello, fellow slave! Brother in oppression!" It has multiple meanings--not just restricted to a person of low cultural and moral values (as the article contends). It also has this meaning of an oppressed person, a fellow slave--not at all low, inherently, but rather pushed around, abused and exploited.
"Girl" used to be a sore point word with grown women--a word used to demean women. But I now hear it used sometimes, among women, as a term of affection, meaning something comparable to "nigger" (in a friendly greeting among poor blacks). Also, "gal."
"Nigger" is a LOT touchier, though, because the forms of oppression by those who used it (or use it) as a word of contempt are far worse, in the modern era, than the forms of oppression against woman--including hideous lynchings and other kinds of torture and murder in living memory, as well as the ugliest forms of segregation ("whites only" drinking fountains, etc.).
To be a "gal" or "girl" just means that you're a femme and only interested in painting your fingernails and snagging a husband (although the oppressions of a limited life, limited career, and in some cases abuse or rape have, in the past, underpinned this mildly demeaning terminology) . To be a "nigger," on the other hand--if the word is used by bigoted whites--means you are fair game to be hunted and murdered. And this is WHY the word is such a touchy one, and is mostly forbidden today.
To come back round to Byrd and his "white nigger" remark, I think it's really a stretch to conclude that he meant Bill Clinton. Those two statements are very far apart in the interview. And, reading it, I just thought: Criminy, he's a very old man, give him a break. So what if he has some nasty epithets rattling around in his brain! Maybe I wouldn't think this if he hadn't made such wonderful speeches against Bush.
Anyway, who knows what he meant? It's not possible to tell. And he is a man who loves language. He is NOT your typical, bland, boring, sounds-like-a-TV-commercial, poofy-haired politician. He's real. He speaks his mind in a way that few politicians do. His speeches reveal a highly principled man whom no one can intimidate.
I think his remark about Hitler and the legal cover for Nazism, in relation to the Bush Cartel, is the most truthful and penetrating thing that has been said about this regime by anyone.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
