The incident was publicized in international newspapers. The news that it was "just a prank... they were just trying to not get blood in the truck bed" came out yesterday.
So what of it? To begin, both the dead bear and the symbolic violence that we all immediately associated with the crime are disgusting. What might have been a prank has heavy undertones in a climate in which people are yelling, "Kill Barack" at McCain rallies and in which racism has churned around to the surface of political discourse.
This postsecret postcard reads "It's only a matter of time."
Someone responded, "This is a fear that I have. I hope that you were also expressing a fear and not a threat." I feel the same way, and it makes me angry that I should worry about Barack Obama's safety from hatred and harm.
Roomie and I were talking about the WCU "prank" this morning, and I said, "Why do people have to kill all the good ones? I mean, Martin Luther King Jr, Jesus, John F. Kennedy..."
I can only speculate that fear and ignorance drive this hatred... and it's hard not to react to racist comments, violence, and ignorance with fear and anger. How ironic. So what to do? How to educate? The Unity Project all over the place? Hmm.
I heard this rebroadcast of an interview of J.L. Chestnut on Fresh Air last week. He was the first African American attorney in Selma, Alabama and represented many Civil Rights protesters in the 1960s. He made several points that I have been thinking about a lot lately. (This interview, which took place on October 3, 2008 is only 19 minutes long and excellent. I encourage you to listen as he speaks so well about this time in history.)
Here are the points that have been buzzing in my mind:
After watching police beat men, women, and children during a march from Selma to Montgomery (on what was named Bloody Sunday on March 7th, 1965), he described how horrible it was and said it was one of the lowest days of his life. On that day, he lost faith in America and in white people.
He then said, "Two days later I had to make a new assessment because white people and black people from all over this nation saw this on television and were upset with what they saw. It's easy to send a check down from New York City and say, 'I'm with you.' It's something all together different to come down and lock hands with a black person and say, 'I'm ready to go to jail. I'm ready to die if necessary.' He said that as he looked around at the hundreds of people, "My faith in this nation and my faith in the human race was restored."
Mr. Chestnut owned a handgun which Martin Luther King Jr asked him to give up. When King told him that people were going to come and try to kill all of them, Chestnut said he knew, but, "If they come and kill me, I'm taking a few down with me."
On the night that MLK Jr was assassinated, Chestnut gave up his gun. He said, "My carrying a weapon certainly didn't save Martin. It didn't save Jimmy Lee Jackson. I watched John Louis stare down whole regiment of State Troopers and he didn't have a weapon... the changes that had occurred didn't come at the end of any gun. So giving it up was a tribute to my friend who had given his life in Memphis."
He then spoke about how when the Voting Rights Act passed in Selma, within six weeks they went from having 200 registered voters to 9,000. It changed everything-- people who never had a voice in their government now became important players, white politicians had to appeal to a new group of voters and some black people considered running for office themselves, juries were racially balanced. "Where there was hopelessness now there was hope... where I had thought we could only make minor adjustments, I saw now that we could do much more.... America began to develop some meaning for me.""Where there was hopelessness now there was hope."
Vote.
Be an ally.
Do not fear.
Have courage.
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3 comments:
kd,
I am in no way downplaying what happened with regards to the incident, but also want to remind you that people have publicly hanged effigies of Sarah Palin, called for her death, posted "Abort Palin" placards publicly at rallies, and in some cases (like Madonna) public figures have called for Sarah Palin's death to cheers from large crowds.
It's all captured, documented, and posted on the Internet.
All my thoughts on policy aside, I think an Obama win next week is going to make an amazing statement both to ourselves and the world about opportunity and access in this country.
In my endlessly optimistic mind, I think it's going to move us forward by a quantum leap in terms of the way race shapes our opinions of our fellow citizens and leaders.
But in the meantime, when I see and hear the truly awful and hate-inspired things people say about Sarah Palin (and which have really been a staple in American politics since, literally, the 18th century), I have to wonder this -- where is the outrage?
-gp
kd,
Quick correction to my comment -- I just looked up the Madonna thing and it was not so much a death threat against Palin as some comment about "kicking her ass..." Not as drastic, I admit, but still a violent threat against one of the major candidates met by cheers from the crowd. Still, the general point applies -- this is somehow seen as acceptable, in that there's no real sense of public outrage against those who spit this venom against Mrs. Palin.
-gp
hi new englander,
Thank you for taking time to think about this subject and adding your thoughts.
I agree that there should be a call of outrage whenever threats of violence are churned up, especially in a heated crowd. I didn't see that video of the Madonna concert, but understand what you are saying about silence after this vitriol.
It's impossible to imagine what Obama would have said if those shouts happened at one of his rallies, but seeing how he reacted with a calm, "stay out of their personal lives" response to the gossipy Bristol pregnancy issue gives me the idea that he would have stopped such calls at his events.
Those shouts about killing Obama that happened at McCain and Palin rallies-- even if they are from extreme people who don't represent the majority of the attendies-- were still met with silence, at least from Sarah Palin. John McCain addressed a comment that someone was afraid of Obama because he's an Arab with the response, "No ma'am, he's a good family man."
I know how sexism affects my life and I'm not discounting the shouts or catty remarks about Sarah Palin. However, the racist and anti-Muslim comments that have been brought up against Barack Obama by otherwise mainstream people-- that is, not usually spewing off racist remarks-- have struck me more and made me more worried about real assasination attempts than it would if Hillary Clinton were on the Democratic ticket.
I think that an Obama win will be another step towards allowing full access and opportunity in this country. I am glad that there is action around this election.
As my good friend wrote to me, "It was only 40 years ago that people were being beat by the authorities because they demanded basic civil rights. We have friends who are older than that! Obama's candidacy has taken the cultural process of unlearning 200+ years of racism and put it on fast forward. This of course is a good thing, because doing almost nothing to reconcile our past had seemingly left us on a multi-generational pace, rather than an faster inter-generational one. The fear and aggression we're seeing emerge is people's resistance to real change, and I guess it's is a good barometer of how significant a change this really is. "
I share your optimism about moving towards a more inclusive society. I am glad that we might disagree about policy, while still agreeing on how to treat people decently.
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