Ebony and irony
Written by Michael Miller | Editor in Chief | mmiller@toledofreepress.comLast week, a local media personality forwarded an e-mail to my work address that accomplished a rarity; it shocked me.
Wading through the scores of e-mails that clamored for my attention that morning, I saw the subject header, “Plot to Kidnap Obama.” As the e-mail came from a media friend I respected and trusted, I clicked on it to see what news story it linked to.
Instead of a news story, the e-mail featured a photo of a large cardboard box, one that might have housed a dishwasher or clothes dryer. It was tilted upward on a pole like a trap in a Bugs Bunny cartoon.
Inside the box, tied to a thick string, was a watermelon.
“Do you think we can make enough of these before Election Day?” the e-mail sender asked.
The image rattled me and left me on edge for the rest of the day. The “joke” wasn’t funny; it wasn’t satire and it offered no insight.
It was racist.
I sent those thoughts to the e-mail sender, but still felt dirty, as if someone threw a foul, dead thing at me and it exploded as I involuntarily caught it, its spores infesting my clothes and pores.
I had not been so directly confronted with the ugliness of racism in many, many years.
Willfully jumping into jingoistic territory, I believe the United States of America is the greatest country on Earth. In just 232 years, we tamed a continent, industrialized society and become a beacon of peace for oppressed peoples around the globe.
That we accomplished those things by wiping out a native population, scarring the planet with pollution and lighting liberty’s torch with the atom bomb illustrates just how fine is the line between pioneer and rapist, but that’s a discussion for more learned writers to explore. The point is the juxtaposition, and vice-versa. This nation has accomplished great things, but its zeniths often rest on the ruined corpses of many great evils.
Slavery is America’s greatest shame and scar; its original sin, and its bloodstains run deep in our collective history, culture and psyche. Until the 13th Amendment was ratified in 1865, just 143 years ago, black people were treated by some as property in this country, held in no higher regard than livestock or other tools of agriculture and construction. I am fumbling for words that describe such a situation, but nothing seems as strongly condemning as I need. Wicked. Hellish. Obscene.
It took less than four generations for a people freed from literal and figurative shackles to be so close to the office of the presidency. Of course, that’s a white man’s perspective; to a black man, four generations is undoubtedly four generations too many. But I will maintain there are few greater testaments to America’s spirit, strength and the inherent goodness and patience of its people, of all colors. What other country can say its former slave population was able to progressively climb out of such hellish status to (relatively) peacefully, through elections, attain the highest governing position in the land? I know that is an historical simplification, a convenient encapsulation for the sake of the argument, but if other countries are paying attention, and they are, Barack Obama’s likely victory Nov. 4 sends a transcendent message about the United States and its most basic, hand-over-the-heart promise.
Since we’re keeping things simplistic to the border of idealism, consider this: As advanced and educated as we are, imagine where we would be if we had not excluded blacks (not to mention women) from decades of education and opportunity. How many minds that carried the secrets of physics and medicine and art and energy were never allowed to open a book? Where would we be as a society and species if we had shared knowledge instead of withholding it, if we had opened classrooms instead of locking the doors?
I hear whispered allusions to the “Bradley effect,” that white voters will tell pollsters they are voting for a black candidate, but then do not, or do not vote at all. I do not doubt there is an odd phenomenon of people seeking validation of their self-appraised freedom from prejudice by telling a stranger on the phone he or she is all for Obama.
The sickening news that two “white supremacists” were plotting to attack a predominantly black school and then attempt to assassinate Obama is an alarming reminder of the extreme evil warped minds can embrace. It is also a reminder that Obama will attract hatred and resentment even as he inspires admiration and love, and it would be foolish to predict the ratio of the two camps.
How can any group of people consider themselves “supreme” or “superior” when they express themselves through hatred, violence and death? There are those who would like to send Obama to an early martyrdom, and his fearlessness in facing that reality is one reason I respect the Illinois senator.
But I do not buy into the deification of Obama, which even he must find disquieting. At the Oct. 16 Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, Obama joked, “Contrary to the rumors you have heard, I was not born in a manger.” But the potential breakthrough he represents is an inspiration, albeit not the sole one on which to base one’s vote for president.
To know that this breakthrough, which represents the furthest the American tree has grown from the blood roots of Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” can be reduced to a watermelon joke, distresses me more than such an ignorant stain of sophomoric thinking should. Perhaps it was the source of the e-mail that rattled me, or the idea that someone I consider a friend thought I would share in the joke.
I am not naïve enough to pretend American race relations are in piano-key perfect harmony, but this discordant note is now a week old, and as we near Election Day, I find its echoes growing stronger, not fading away.
Postscript: McCain
In 2004, I spent 90 minutes on a bus ride with John McCain as he made campaign appearances for then-Michigan Congressman Joe Schwartz. The route from Adrian to Ann Arbor gave us time to talk about Iraq, health care, the economy and his political future.
McCain was lucid, feisty and pulled no rhetorical punches. In other words, he was everything then that he has not been during the heat of this campaign.
Ninety minutes is not enough time to get to truly know a person, but I walked away from McCain fully understanding why he was a leader and potential president.
I have not seen that McCain since he won his party’s nomination; either the process, his advisers or his opponent has worn down his edge.
I discovered respect for McCain that Michigan afternoon, but his election missteps — ironically and most disappointingly, his quitting the fight for Michigan — has me straining to remember the man who made such an impression on me.
I am an undecided voter, and until I walk into the voting booth, I’m not sure I will have made a black or white decision, lost as I am in so much gray.
Michael S. Miller is editor in chief of Toledo Free Press. Contact him at mmiller@toledofreepress.com.
I do not believe I have read or heard better words as far as this election goes.
I to have been shocked by things that have arrived in my inbox. Shocked, but even more, truly saddened. It’s hard to see people you respect get caught up in the hideous side of what desperate politicians and their puppet-pundits can lead them into to satisfy their thirst for power (yes, I do blame much of this on poor leadership). For me it has been even harder figuring out the right thing to say to these misguided friends without getting caught up in the hyper-emotional distortion.
Now I’ve been given the solution. This article is going to end up in some inboxes. Then I’m going to print off a bunch of copies, put them in my back pocket and hand them out next time I hear something ignorant being said. I simply can’t see how someone could read this and recognize its absolute truth and hopefully reconsider some of their self-defeating views. As Americans our diversity can be our greatest strength but it can also be the cancer that kills us. I’m praying for the former.
Thank you Mr. Miller for being a truly amazing voice of reason in a time, for some, of complete irrationality.
This comment was posted on October 31st, 2008 at 2:00 amWell done, Mr. Miller.
That said, did the media personality send it to you as an example of how low some people can stoop, or did he or she send it to you because he or she thought it was a funny joke.
If it’s the latter, I think we have a right to know who this person is. To have a person who thinks like this in command of the airwaves is a disgrace to our city, and that person should at least be banished to the 4 a.m. Farm Report.
This comment was posted on October 31st, 2008 at 8:58 amRobert: Thanks, man. I appreciate the kind words. I’m going to tell my wife someone thinks I’m a voice of reason.
Kiplinger: I never said “airwaves,” or implied which media the person works in. I talked to Tim Higgins of Just Blowing Smoke about my decision to not risk someone’s career because I was offended, and he said, “I believe that the piece becomes more powerful because it points to the fact that such feelings might still be hiding in places that we would never suspect. The anonymous nature of the “joke” should cause all to re-evaluate their feelings on the subject.”
That articulates it very well. If it weren’t for the added line about making more of the traps before Election Day, I might have thought it was a “look how low this is” e-mail, but I believe the sender found it amusing, and much worse from my point of view, thought I would find it amusing.
This comment was posted on October 31st, 2008 at 9:46 amI have gotten the same type of emails from long time friends. I feel violated each time, and don’t understand why they think I feel the same way they do.I never did and living in the Washington DC area for the last 20 years, I never will.
This comment was posted on October 31st, 2008 at 2:43 pmThanks for a great column Mike,I read it every week, love the Crazy Carty stuff!
If you, too are still undecided in this Presidential race, please take ten minutes and consider what a Barack Obama Presidency would mean for the future of our country. He has given moderate American voters a multitude of reasons for rejecting him in 2008. When we know as little about a candidate as we do about Obama, character has to play the key part in our decision – and Obama’s character and integrity leave too much to be desired. Here are a few good examples:
“DEAR MR. OBAMA” – WHAT ONE IRAQ WAR VETERAN THINKS OF OBAMA:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4fe9GlWS8
SORRY, WE DON’T TAKE SERIOUS QUESTIONS – JOE BIDEN TV INTERVIEW IN FLORIDA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxT0ELP7az0
OBAMA AS “SANTA CLAUS” TO MILLIONS OF LAZY AMERICANS:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/10/obama-claus.html
OBAMA CALLS AMERICANS WHO DON’T WANT HIGHER TAXES “SELFISH”:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/10/obamas-new-atta.html
OBAMA’S TIES TO ACORN ARE “EXTENSIVE”:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122533169940482893.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
1 VOTER, 72 REGISTRATIONS IN CLEVELAND…THANKS TO OBAMA’S ACORN:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/10102008/news/politics/1_voter__72_registrations_132965.htm
OHIO SECRETARY OF STATE’S TIES TO ACORN RUN LONG AND DEEP:
This comment was posted on November 1st, 2008 at 11:14 amhttp://thurbersthoughts.blogspot.com/2008/10/acorn-worker-advised-secretary-of-state.html
Racism is the 800-pound gorilla of this election. Many times, people attack someone, use special code words, and what they really mean is: I am a racist white guy, and I don’t want to vote for some *bleep*, just because McCain and the other fat cats have cost me my job.
Terrorist, Islamic Extremist, Marxist, anti-Christian, Muslim, Arab, anti-American, anti-Patriotic, elite snob, etc. etc. all are terms use by McCain and Palin. They would like to use race words directly, but the surrogates will have to do.
This comment was posted on November 1st, 2008 at 6:14 pmHere’s a solution: vote third party. Then the knee-jerk reactions from the 2 major knee-jerk parties will be “You wasted your vote, he can’t win” and “You just voted that way because you are racist and won’t vote for a black man.” I’ll leave it to you to decide which party thinks what. If racism is the hidden agenda among whites in this election, then why do 98% of black voters say they are voting for Obama? Vote the way your conscience tells you. You don’t have to apologize to anyone for your choice if you think it’s right. But please base the decision on something deeper than pigment.
This comment was posted on November 2nd, 2008 at 1:39 amBarack Obama is “Rosemary’s Baby” , an anti-American messiah, whose spiritual father is William Ayers.
On this past Halloween or Devil’s night I was reminded of a very ominous movie: Rosemary’s Baby. This movie was released in 1968 at the height of William Ayers anti-American terrorism. He was 24 years old and Barack Obama was a child of 7. The movie is about a less than immaculate conception between the Devil and a mortal woman in an attempt to give birth to a human antichrist, the Devil’s Son, allowing evil to at last triumph over good. The coven of witches in the movie provided excellent pre-natal care. After the birth the coven took the baby and nourished him to insure he fulfilled his destiny: the capturing of men’s souls by destroying their individual freedom.
Barack Obama is Rosemary’s baby all grown up. William Ayers, the erstwhile Lord of the Flies, is his spiritual father. After all, we now know that Ayers is really the “ghost” writer of Obama’s book, “Dreams of My Father”. These “Dreams” are not his biological father’s dreams but those of his spiritual father, William Ayers.
William Ayers grew up hating America. He and his wife, Bernadine Dohrn formed the Weatherman Underground, a terrorist organization that used violence to bomb the Capitol Building and kill police officers. They remain admitted criminals who escaped conviction through a legal technicality. Many revolutionary counter culturalists of their generation changed from violent means of destroying the United States to more sophisticated tactics by entering main stream America through higher education, politics and the media. They now control many of these institutions. Ayers became a tenured university professor. He created a pedagogy for children, now used in some public schools, that revises our history and instructs his students that the US Constitution, which he abhors, is not an inspired but a flawed document. It teaches that the United States is an evil and oppressive country that should be replaced by a one world order. Through this curriculum Ayers now subtly terrorizes our children.
Ayers understood the power of using the public schools to reeducate our children. He also understood the possibility of capturing power through legitimate political means. Imagine, if he could actually take control of the country. He wouldn’t have to waste time slowly re-educating children one school at a time. By using the very government institutions he had fought all his life to destroy, he could effect the change he coveted. If he could gain the presidency, activist courts would be created and the destruction and change of the constitution would be complete. (Barak Obama openly plans to appoint activist judges to “reinterpret” the constitution to impose absolute Central Government sovereignty over States rights and “redistribute wealth”.)
In 1987 a miracle happened. William Ayers met Barack Obama and Ayers’ prayers, so to speak, were answered. Here was an articulate, charismatic young man who shared his same counter-cultural, anti-American philosophy,
After Barack’s biological father abandoned the family, his mother continued to pursue her own revisionist education. She was a product and kindred spirit of the anti-establishment, pseudo-revolutionary 1960’s of Patty Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Army, Charles Manson, the Black Panthers, Haight-Ashbury and the Weatherman Underground, all of whom advocated the violent overthrow of the United States. Obama was raised with this anti-American sentiment as the underlying core value in his home. He was literally taught at his mother’s knee that America was a bad and oppressive imperialistic nation that should be overthrown and that the constitution was flawed. As a child, his soul couldn’t help but be imbued with the anti-American philosophy of his mother. When this young man entered college he quite naturally pursued the liberal mantra of universal equality and the dogma of deconstructionism that is pervasive in the unhallowed halls of higher education. He became a champion of hate and change of the American way of life. He gravitated to a religion whose pastor preached racism, hatred, conspiracy and above all wanted God to “Damn America.” Obama felt comfortable in this religion for 20 years. It resonated with who he was and what he had been taught.
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After Ayers met Obama, Ayers recognized that here was the seed for his antichrist, his stealth messiah to once and for all destroy the Constitution of the United States and establish one rule world order. He conceived his plan and impregnated the world with his spiritual son one night in his home in Chicago when he began to mold Obama for politics. Ayers used his life long acquired financial resources and positions of influence to cultivate and protect the gestational period through the first trimester of “community activism”. Then it was on to the second trimester in the Illinois State Senate. Only the finest indoctrinators of hate such as Rashid Khalidi, the radical anti-Semite, Arab-American ally of the PLO, would be allowed to provide prenatal care. (The video tape of this meeting is being suppressed by the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune.) Now Ayers had his unborn child. No choice for abortion would be allowed. He had nurtured and mentored him, funded him and educated him in the motto of Marxist revolution: the end justifies any means. Ayers instructed him in the catechism of conspiracy. Any lie can be told. Any promise can be broken. Any relationship can be severed as long as power is gained. The third trimester in the Senate of the United States of America arrived. Now, finally, the “change we’ve been waiting for” was near. The fundamental remaking of the constitution (and the loss of individual freedom) was at hand. The complete control of men’s lives was almost his. All Ayers had to do was bring him, the One, to term without a miscarriage. His due date was Nov. 4.
Ayers got lucky and found the perfect storm for the birth of his child. A liberal Democratic Congress controlled by dedicated 60’s style socialists had come to power because a cowardly, opposition party had lost its way and was deservedly thrown out in 2006. This was combined now with an opposition candidate running a disorganized campaign, a country at war but desperately wanting peace and an African-American candidate who didn’t have to play the race card. He was the race card. Ayers even had his coven of witches in a powerful liberal anti-American media that tempted the young and the vulnerable with promises of security, equality and vengeance. This media spread a gospel of envy and hate: Individual success is evil. Forced redistribution of wealth even if unearned is not only deserved, it is a virtue (Biden’s “patriotic duty” tax increase, Obama’s redistributionist judicial appointments). Even still the conservative candidate was creeping ahead because most people are good honest people (Sarah Palin, Joe the Plumber). Then like an omen form Hell, a bear with cloven feet, drunk on socialist economic policy, rose up and crashed the stock market one month before the election or due date. The Devil himself, the Lord of the Flies, could not have planned any better the destruction of the United States, the hope of the free world and individual liberty.
Ayers and his coven are dedicated, unrepentant Marxist criminals and terrorists intent on destroying the American Dream of individual achievement substituting instead total government and authoritarian control of men’s lives. Barack Obama is their surrogate son. He may be a good person but he is heart and soul committed to the changing of America by any means. Remember: it is becoming clear that William Ayers is the principle author of Obama’s book “Dreams of My Father.” Obama is profoundly influenced by Ayers and his ilk and has been since his earliest childhood. Indeed Ayers is his spiritual father. The “audacity of lies” from the Lord of the Flies is incarnate in Barack Obama.
Rosemary’s baby has grown up.
At the end of the film, Rosemary stood over the crib with a knife, poised to kill her baby because she realized who he really was and what he would do. But she couldn’t kill him because, after all, he was her baby. (That doesn’t mean she would vote for him.) The coven stood around the crib adoringly talking about his cute little horns. And so the baby became a man.
I urge all Americans who love this country to have the courage that the former Republican controlled congress lacked and vote against Barack Obama. Look beyond the attractive, articulate, charismatic man. His horns i.e. William Ayers and Jeremy Wright aren’t so cute. We know that John McCain, for all his failings, loves this country. He has and will defend the Constitution with his life if necessary. Barak Obama does not love this country. He loves a different world with authoritarian, socialist rules. He wants to change and destroy our constitution. John McCain sincerely asks God to bless America. Barack Obama follows a priest who wants God to “damn America.”
I love America the Beautiful, land of the free and home of the brave. I believe the Constitution of the United States is a unique and inspired document. I believe the Declaration of Independence and declare it to the world as the torch of Liberty. I want to live free. This election day we have a choice: the legacy of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Abraham Lincoln or the legacy of Carl Marx, William Ayers and the Weatherman Underground. I chose freedom. I chose America. I chose John McCain. .
Charles Stewart
This comment was posted on November 3rd, 2008 at 8:06 amFormer Utah State Senator
447 West 4150 North
Provo, Utah
There’s nothing as dangerous that our nation is facing as the unbalance of power that a far left Democrat monopoly on power will bring. Comrade Obama will be able to shove his Marxist schemes right down our throats with the help of the radicals of the Democratic party. The out numbered Republicans will not have much input to prevent Obama’s run away government from TAXING us to death and muzzling people that object to Obama’s stupidity. If you believe that the rich alone can fund Barack Obama’s massive Marxist TAKE FROM and REDISTRIBUTE programs, then you don’t have a very good idea of finances. There is a bottom to every well and Comrade Obama and his tax collectors will come for the middle class people’s hard earned money too. Barack Obama is currently sponsoring US Senate Bill S2433 (Obama’s first Marxist Act) and if passed (and it will be if Obama is elected), it will cost America 845 Billion in ADDITIONAL taxes. The money that is squeezed out of you and me for Obama’s S2433 will be given to the corrupt United Nations, specifically for “The UN Global Poverty Act”. Your money will then be REDISTRIBUTED to third world dictators. This can be verified, Google “Obama’s S2433″. Obama is eliminating the reduction on the death inheritance tax that President Bush implemented. Comrade Obama plans to take your inheritance and REDISTRIBUTE it. Obama has vowed to double the capital gains tax so if you have bought property as an investment, kiss your profit line goodbye. Obama will REDISTRIBUTE it. With at least 845 Billion going out of our nations coffers to be REDISTRIBUTED to third world despots, there is no way the rich can satisfy Obama’s lust for more,more,more TAX money. S2433 is only one of many Comrade Obama’s great Marxist schemes with many more to come. Without the power to filibuster Democratic abuses of power and/or a Republican President to veto the Democrat craziness, our taxes will rise beyond the moon and our right of freedom of speech will be in danger. Comrade Obama and his Marxist allies will have their way with you and me.
This comment was posted on November 3rd, 2008 at 9:05 amAn enemy of America and Israel has endorsed Barack Obama. mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s endorsement of Barack Obama is one endorsement that the Obamaphiles aren’t bragging about. Ahmadinejad has vowed again and again to wipe Israel off the world map. Ahmadinejad has even stated that America will be defeated by his thug nation. If you wonder why
mahmoud Ahmadinejad hates America but loves Barack Obama, here’s why.
Obama’s 11-2-07 pro- Iranian resolution says, President Bush does not have authority to use any military force to stop Iran from getting nukes. Obama sponsored the pro-Iranian resolution to counter the US Senate amendment sponsored by Senators Joe Lieberman and Jon Kyl. The US Senate voted 76-22 on Sept. 26, 2007 in favor of supporting President Bush on this issue. John McCain voted for the Lieberman / Kyl resolution that supported President Bush. Obama was also against putting Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on the list of terrorist orgs.
This comment was posted on November 3rd, 2008 at 9:08 amFrom George Flanner of Toledo:
This comment was posted on November 3rd, 2008 at 12:34 pmI was deeply troubled by the general air of your response to your friends racist email. It was indeed a disappointing display of ignorance and stereotypical attitudes. Most of us truly conservative white Americans, gladly accept black people based on who they are, not on how they look.I for one would vote for someone purple, if he or she espoused the postions we believe to be essential for perpetuating the greatest nation on earth.Unfortunately, you fell into the same safe trap as Mr.Obama by telling your readers, a few short days before the most consequential election of our history, that you are undecided. That is tantamount to voting present. You had an opportunity to endorse a candidate, but shrunk back from the responsibility. Yes, you had the golden opportunity to influence many others who may be on the fence, but failed. Yes, Mike, many respect your opinion, but you gave none. If you cannot see the glaring differences between the candidates, enough to guide your own decision, by now,your ability to evaluate the information and arrive at a decision, is deeply troubling. Allow me to help make things clear for you and your readers, ( even though by now it should be over ). One candidate has no problem with killing the unborn, one despises it. One candidate sees America as an oppressor, one sees it as a liberator, and put his own life on the line to defend it. One candidate is a muslim, one is a Christian. One candidate does not deny being a socialist, one believes history clearly demonstrates capitalism is capable of offering everyone an opportunity for individual succcess.One candidate has not proven his citizenship, one was born on a military base where his father was serving our country. One candidate has little experience, one has decades of proven leadershiip ability. One has little to no foreign policy understanding, one has been instrumental in developing American foreign policy for decades.One candidate has very questionable longstanding relationships with radical/criminal personalities, one has surrounded himself with people of integrity and accomplishment. One candidate sees people who prefer lower taxes as selfish, one sees them as deserving to manage their own hard earned money. One candidates wife is not proud to be an American, one’s wife has adopted disadvantaged children. One candidate promises to nationalize the health care industry, one knows any solution is better than government involvement. One candidate plans to disarm America to the satisfaction of our Middle Eastern “brethren”, one knows that nothing can substitute for an unequaled military capability in today’s dangerous world.One candidate thinks punishing corporations for “too much profit” is the solution to our economic disparities, one has faith in the generous and charitable spirit of the unhindered corporate and individual America. I could go on and on with the glaring and meaningful differences between the candidates, but if your vision is so blurred at this late point in the process, more examples would not be productive.The future of America hangs in the balance, with Ohio, and northwest Ohio a critical region in the outcome, and your vote is “present”. You need an impartation of courage Mike.
When I (a non black) tell people I am not voting for NObama they think I am racist. It is disgusting to hear such crap.
This comment was posted on November 3rd, 2008 at 5:48 pm