Is it just me or does anyone else’s palms get sweaty and
heart begins to beat faster when they hear one of the wise men otherwise known
as the GOP Presidential Candidates… tell their supporters and the world that we
have to “Take Our Country Back” if we are to save this great nation from disaster! I mean really! Take it where? From whom are we taking it? Who exactly is the “we” that will do the
taking? More to the point, who will be taken? I am not ready to go BACK, and especially until
I have these questions answered by someone other than a privileged politician who
wants my support!
Coincidentally, just a few weeks ago, the question was posed
to me, “Wouldn’t you have loved to live back in the 1950’s?” Of course the
answer to that question for me is, “NO!” As an African American male, born in
the early 60’s, in the shadows of Jim Crow, segregation and the Civil Rights
Movement; the very last thing I want to do is go BACK to a day when Black people
were treated as second class citizens waging a fight for equal rights. “Take us
back where, where we were taken?”
If their distorted reporting regarding President Obama’s
performance as Commander and Chief is to be believed, one would assume we were
better off before he came into office in 2008. Sound familiar? The children of
Israel suffered from the same plight of romanticizing their former days of
captivity, complaining to their leader, Moses, as they wondered around for
40-years in the wilderness; but at least Moses was given time and opportunity to
get the people on the road to the Promised Land before they began to whine
about their former days. In our country’s case, we hadn’t even stowed the
patriotic buntings and memorabilia from our 44th President’s
historic inauguration before critics proclaimed him a “one term president.” Our
battle cry for Hope and Change had been swept away as fast as the ticker-tape
pieces littering Pennsylvania Avenue.
So while we cannot be certain of what direction the future
of this country could or should take, our spiritual minds, coupled with pure
common sense must prevent us from believing that our future lies behind in the
past. The problems that the Lot’s ran into
in biblical days, was despite God’s call for Lot, his wife, and his family to
move to a unknown and unfamiliar place that God would create for them and not
look back; Mrs. Lot, like our wise men, held on to romanticized, nostalgic but inaccurate
memories of days gone by and made a foolish attempt to revisit, if for only a
moment, that place which God was to destroy. In turn, she paid the ultimate
price by becoming a pillar of salt.
Rather than using a contextual frame-work of blue or red
state, let us seek to embrace a color, creed or context that propels the yet to
be ”United” States of America forward in a progressive and inclusive manner allowing us to draw on our God-given co-creative
abilities to navigate to places yet unchartered but assuredly ahead and not
behind us.
Souleman,
ReplyDeleteI am feeling you on the sweaty palms and blood boiling response to hearing those guys proclaiming themselves as the only one capable of taking this country BACK. However, we cannot forget our history which reminds us that some of "us" had it far better off than others of "us" in the Good Old Days! While I can forgive the over-reaching actions of three or four presidential wanna-bees, what scares me is the thousands of potential Republican voters that positively respond to this "coded" message and continue to rally and financially support these "backward thinking" candidates. Granted, President Obama is far from perfect, but his whole message was, and continues to be, one of inclusion, consensus, and being forward-thinking to the potentials that lay ahead of our country. I do not get the sense in my heart, head or stomach that any of the final four GOP hopefuls truly understand that BACK should never be an option when it comes to leading a great nation like ours into the future.
Thank you Souleman for another insightful post which has me thinking and seeking out my own truth!
Yes I find it quite interesting when you hear the "Taking country back battle cry." I guess perhaps they forgot it would be more accurate to say "Give the country back" since it was the Native Americans who were here first and the ones who should be saying this.
ReplyDeleteSouleman, excellent post. I loved your references to Moses and Lot - I get that. But will everyone? Something to think about and keep in mind.
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree with you - "BACK" is not an option. Like you, the thought frightens me. We/you have an opportunity to take all of the GOP rhetoric 'back to the future' with positive vision for change. Enough finger-pointing. As you say, let's look ahead and use our collective creativity to move the "”United” States of America forward in a progressive and inclusive manner". Wow. You've got a plethora of opportunities to blog on how to progress toward "inclusiveness". Can't wait to read your next blog.