America: Yours, Mine, and Ours (Part 1)

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from OurFuture.org:



America: Yours, Mine, and Ours (Part 1)
By Terrance Heath

September 8th, 2008 - 11:18am ET


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Part One: Yours, Mine...

America: Yours, Mine, and Ours, Pt. 1

One of the things I hoped for when Michelle Obama spoke at the Democratic convention, was that she would introduce people to the America that she came from, and that was the setting of her story. One of the biggest shames in the campaign — aside from the fact that political realities required this intelligent, accomplished woman to effectively bite her tongue for the last couple of months — is the lack of any honest discussion about the reality that we don't all live in the same America. It's one reality that both progressives and conservatives must grapple with between now and November, and beyond

Delivered on a night that carried the theme "One America," her speech should serve as a reminder that if we are to be America, we have to first acknowledge that what we have are three America's: yours, mine, and ours.

In speech after speech at the convention, love of country was invoked. Hillary Clinton spoke of reclaiming "the country we love." John Kerry declared "you don't decide who loves this country." And Michelle Obama, after having to stay silent for so long, had to step on to the stage Monday night and declare what shouldn't have been questioned in the first place: "I love this country."

And then she spoke of the America she loved, the America she grew up with — the America that she saw get up every morning, get up, struggle, and triumph, just like children in families across America right now. Just like I watched my father sometimes work two jobs to support us, pushing forward despite facing discrimination, and going to night school in an effort to extend his education and become an even better provider.

Right now, children like I was and like Michelle Obama was are growing up in a different America. Not an an America where people own seven homes, but where more and more people are losing theirs to foreclosure, and in neighborhoods darkened by blight — encroaching where it had once been pushed back — as their neighbor's homes are foreclosed upon. They're growing up in an America where some who still have them will find it harder to heat their homes this winter. And not just because of the rising cost of fuel, but because their employers — attempting to stay ahead of the rising cost of doing business — have cut full-time employees down to part-time or implemented part-time layoffs in hopes of cutting payrolls. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2008093708/america-yours-mine-and-ours-part-1