Jackson…says African Americans live with the suspicion that they encounter racism constantly in their daily lives - though they can’t always prove it. […]
Jackson insists that racial paranoia is more than a feeling or psychological state: It shapes the way people relate to each other across the racial divide.
“People aren’t just being hypersensitive,” he says. “Paranoia defines the organizing principle . . . of how racism functions in American culture today.”
Nor is racial paranoia limited to one race, Jackson adds.
“White folks also are constantly paranoid,” Jackson says. In their case, the paranoia is “about the accusation of being called racist.”
This racial paranoia has its roots in a very real but subtle form of racism, he says. He realized it while doing research in Harlem for his first book:
“A lot of folks I studied would tell me they couldn’t wait to get back to the South once they retired,” Jackson recalls. “They told me there, at least, you know who is racist and who is not. Of course it was tongue in cheek, but it said a lot about their suspicions.”
Ironically, the racial paranoia that Jackson describes is a byproduct of victories won by the civil rights movement. It’s “a crisis of success in a sense,” Ford said. “It’s what’s left over once overt racism has been largely eliminated.”
Politically correct talk once ensured that African Americans would be free of verbal intimidation, but now has managed to stifle “any honest discussions about race,” Jackson says.
His solution to the problem is that we should communicate our fears and suspicions to one another in a safe environment. He asks, “How many of us actually have friends from a different race?”
I’m off to go watch Jackson discuss his book in a C-SPAN taping of his Penn Bookstore appearance from last spring.
(Author’s Note: In the excitement created by Obama’s overseas travels and successes, we may be overlooking two important anniversaries this week, and two different views by the presidential candidates on one of the “anniversary” issues…Their opinions at the end of the post)
July 26 marks the 60th anniversary of the desegregation of our armed forces.
It was 15 years ago when President Bill Clinton signed a law that came to be known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t tell.”
It may be a coincidence–and if so, a very appropriate one–that on Wednesday of this same week (July 23), the House of Representatives held its first hearing in 15 years on the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, a policy that prohibits openly gay individuals from serving in the military.
An appropriate coincidence, because many of the arguments that are being put forward today to keep gays and lesbians from openly serving in our armed forces, are the same as or similar to the ones that were advanced more than 60 years ago to keep our military segregated.
Facing South says the collective reaction to Jesse Helms’ death speaks volumes about the state of race relations and social progress in our country. They set the record straight in three myths about Jesse Helms (and what they say about us):
To say Sen. Helms held deep prejudices against many — especially African-Americans and gays and lesbians — isn’t a matter of opinion; it’s all part of the historical record. As Gary Robertson of the Associated Press reported, Helms — unlike other hold-overs from the segregationist era — never changed his views in opposing civil rights. Up until his last Senate campaign, stirring up racial division — along with homophobia and anti-communism — was a centerpiece of Helms’ political M.O.
They go on to point out that Helms was neither the “straight talker” nor the “unique iconoclast” he was made out to be.
It is a deep irony that many of the political leaders and media commentators who praise Jesse Helms’ “honesty” so readily trade in myths, rather than facts, in remembering his political legacy. In a year when many are wondering whether an African-American man can win the presidency, we clearly need more, not less, honesty in confronting the state of race and social progress in our country.
Meanwhile we’ve got “a long-time, regular, sensible caller” to The Michelangelo Signorile Show claiming in all seriousness that the late senator was a cross-dresser. And I can tell you from personal experience that I’ve witnessed stranger truths in my day.
But for those in need of documentary evidence, Martin Lewis has gathered quite a bit of it. Not about cross dressing, but about the odious bigotry and prejudice that made him unworthy of the accolades he received — some of it as recently as this week when Liddy Dole proposed naming an AIDS bill after him. (That earned her#3 in Keith Olbermann’s “Worst Person In The World” countdown.)
RELATED: Crooks & Liars on Dems, Republicans, and the ‘party of civil rights’ – read through to understand the final line, “Ultimately, this isn’t much of a campaign pitch: ‘Vote Republican: The Party Was Right Before It Was Wrong.’”
Can you explain the concept of “neoslavery” and the “convict labor system”?
Neoslavery is a term to describe a whole range of ways in which all across the Southern United States in the late 19th century and deep into the 20th century millions of African-Americans found themselves in a form of de facto slavery and involuntary servitude. One part of neoslavery, “convict leasing,” was the sentencing of prisoners to hard labor or to fine them outrageously, and [then] they were leased out to commercial interests such as farms, coal mines, turpentine production plants, lumber and railroad camps. This was the means by which the white South forced millions of other African-Americans to go along with de facto slavery that took on the form of sharecropping, abusive farm tenancy, land renting and labor contracts.
What types of “crimes” could African-Americans be charged with?
After the Civil War, all of the Southern states passed a series of laws, which were designed primarily to criminalize black life. For example, vagrancy statutes made it a crime for any person to be unable to prove at any given moment that he was employed. Also, in every Southern state it was against the law for African-Americans to sell their crops after dark. The purpose was specifically to ensure that as a sharecropper you could only sell your crops to the landowner. […]
What is the connection between the end of neoslavery and the beginning of World War II?
The end of neoslavery came as a direct result to the attack on Pearl Harbor. When President Franklin Roosevelt convened his cabinet to discuss retaliation, the main issue was propaganda and the Japanese ability to effectively embarrass America for the treatment of blacks in the South. Immediately President Roosevelt passed a congressional law criminalizing lynching. Four days after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. attorney general ordered a memorandum that instructed all federal prosecutors to aggressively prosecute all cases of involuntary servitude.
Today we celebrate the spirit of America, which always has been one of hope. It’s elusive this summer, with a war raging and the economy plunging, but there’s always one promising place to look: our kids. And in many ways, youths today embody more promise of a better tomorrow than we’ve seen in years.
They’re voting and volunteering in record numbers. While the rallying cry of young baby boomers was “burn, baby, burn,” for today’s young people it’s “build, baby, build.” The Gen Xers and others since the 1960s have been mostly “me” generations, but it’s different with today’s - vocabulary word alert! - Millennials.[…]
While adult Americans seem to have lost confidence in the ability of leaders to bring the nation together, youths are more optimistic. In a recent survey of the Millennial generation, more than half said they believe Americans can unite.
Similarly, studies show they’re more optimistic than other generations about their own lives, politics, government and America’s future.
Slavery by Another Name – The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, was interviewed on Bill Moyers Journal tonight.
He explained how vagrancy laws in the South effectively criminalized Black life so that if, for example, you were unable to prove you were employed — in a time before pay stubs — you would be subject to arrest. Broadly applied, it was almost impossible not to be in violation of some misdemeanor statute at any given time.
Once arrested, the legal system was used to coerce tens of thousands of Black men into brutal forced labor:
There’s no way that anybody can read this book and come away still wondering why there is a sort of fundamental cultural suspicion among African-Americans of the judicial system, for instance. I mean, that suspicion is incredibly well-founded. The judicial system, the law enforcement system of the South became primarily an instrument of coercing people into labor and intimidating blacks away from their civil rights. That was its primary purpose, not the punishment of lawbreakers. And so, yes, these events build an unavoidable and irrefutable case for the kind of anger that still percolates among many, many African-Americans today.
June 19th, 2008 By SWARAAJ CHAUHAN, International Columnist
South Australia (SA) is often celebrated as the Down Under’s food and wine centre. Its capital city, the picturesque and laidback Adelaide, and its suburbs have rightly earned a well-deserved sobriquet of being the “cultural capital” of the country (and among the top liveable cities in the world). As a visitor here, I can vouch for the excellence of wine and the enjoyable concerts!
I hope to explore Australia’s extraordinary natural environment, history and indigenous culture…and the great outback. (Meanwhile I learn that “Aussie” Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman are set to star in an “epic” Australian outback movie with the goal of promoting the country’s spirit and luring more tourists Down Under, reports Reuters.)
A memorable Adelaide event that I attended recently was the “Young Accompanists On Show”, where one of the performers was 13-year-old Candy Liang. Her parents arrived from China only three years ago to start a business here, further contributing towards making this city a vibrating multicultural hub.
“Young Accompanists on Show”, which was presented by the Accompanists’ Guild of SA at Pilgrim Church as part of the 25th Anniversary celebrations of the Guild, was supported by the Adelaide City Council. I wonder how many civic councils/bodies in the world encourage young students/musicians in the field of classical music in their cities and suburbs. It was indeed a grand gesture — to offer two concerts by leading musicians, a lunch and a masterclass for young performers.
…All for free with a view to focussing on young accompanists and bringing different groups of people into the City for a cultural event. Having an Adelaide trained pianist (David Barnard — who at just 26 is now working very successfully out of London as a freelance pianist) at the centre of this event was an added bonus. David listened to the concert (mainly secondary school piano/wind duos), performed with three wind soloists from the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in the concert, joined approximately 150 for lunch, and then conducted a very stimulating master class with the young performers.
Also, among the audience was the internationally-acclaimed pianist Malcolm Martineau. “I don’t think there has ever been anything quite like this in Adelaide before,” said a delighted Diana Harris, the moving spirit behind the musical event. “There are regular Wednesday lunch-time concerts but never for free and never with lunch and a M class added.” Read the rest of this entry »
Why can it be said that America is the world’s greatest social experiment? This article By Thomas Klau from Germany’s Financial Times Deutschland outlines the transformation that is bound to take place in and out of the United States the moment Barack Obama takes the oath and enters the Oval office.
“In the United States where the relationship between Black and White remains burdened by old guilt and fresh resentment, this marks a turning point in civilization. But the election battle now playing out in the United States will not only alter America.
“At the moment, it’s virtually inconceivable that a major party in any European country would elect a politician of Black-African origins to be their leading candidate. We Europeans - and particularly us Germans - live with this reality quite unconsciously and totally at ease; it seems normal and is taken for granted that the leading representatives of our country have the same skin color as the majority.”
“The day that Obama has the Democratic nomination in the bag, cracks will begin to appear in our collective innocence. It will shatter completely when a Black family moves into the White House in January 2009. And this shift in awareness which would go hand-in-hand with our shattered innocence, would not bypass the rest of Europe. Suddenly we would have to ask ourselves questions we have never asked before. Indeed - what would it mean to us if the child or grandchild of an African became a candidate for the chancellorship? The answer is a recognition that unless we want a society in which skin color predetermines the awarding of offices and influence, much of Europe will have to change its mindset.”
“It would be the strongest signal yet that the frenzied, paranoid jingoism - and with it torture, arbitrary detention and negligent wars of aggression - imposed by elements of the political right after September 11th 2001 - has finally lost its dominance. After eight years of George W. Bush, the rest of the world deserves such a signal just as much as the United States.
By Thomas Klau
Translated By Ulf Behncke
May 16, 2008
Germany - Financial Times Deutschland - Original Article (German)
If no giant scandal, assassination attempt or other misfortune occurs against all expectations and throws things into disarray, Barack Obama’s nomination as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate for the November 4th elections is secure. That in itself is an epochal step: Never before in the history of American democracy - or any democracy - has a Black candidate stood such a good chance of being elected to a country’s top position by a White majority.
In the U.S.A., where the relationship between Black and White remains burdened by old guilt and fresh resentment, this marks a turning point in civilization. But the election battle now playing out in the United States will not only alter America.
At the moment, it’s virtually inconceivable that a major party in any European country would elect a politician of Black-African origins to be their leading candidate. We Europeans - and particularly us Germans - live with this reality quite unconsciously and totally at ease; it seems normal and is taken for granted that the leading representatives of our country have the same skin color as the majority. But this normalcy also means that German citizens with a certain skin color must remain excluded - regardless of whether they have a German passport, were born in Germany, speak German, Swabian or Saxonian.
EUROPE TOO, MUST CHANGE
This is, if we follow this line of reasoning through to the end - racism. We tend to live with it rather uncaringly and unconsciously - unless of course we are of German-African origin. And it is precisely at this point that Obama’s success changes us as well. The day that Obama has the Democratic nomination in the bag, cracks will begin to appear in our collective innocence. It will shatter completely when a Black family moves into the White House in January 2009. And this shift in awareness which would go hand-in-hand with our shattered innocence, would not bypass the rest of Europe. Suddenly we would have to ask ourselves questions we have never asked before. Indeed - what would it mean to us if the child or grandchild of an African became a candidate for the chancellorship? The answer is a recognition that unless we want a society in which skin color predetermines the awarding of offices and influence, much of Europe will have to change its mindset.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing translated foreign press coverage of the U.S. election.
Trying to explain Barack Obama and the impact his appearance is having on people around the world is a gargantuan task.
This article from France’s Liberation takes a good stab at it by examining his influence on young people - especially on those in the French suburbs which are so often areas of violent confrontation between police and that nation’s alienated minority population.
“Products of postcolonial immigration, the older generation - around the age of Obama’s father - say it’s extraordinary to see this in their lifetime and didn’t dare imagine such a fate for their own children. The younger generation, whose hostility against the United States took root during the war in Iraq, are finding something to smile about. One high school student told us that Obama’s victory would mean the “liberation of all Blacks in the world!”
“French born in France have to fight constantly with employers or in communicating and dealing with police against the idea that “being French is something observable.” Tired of having to respond to the eternal question, “Do you feel more Malian (Cameroonian, etc.) or French?” They have begun to dream of a country where when someone asks a Black person from whence they came, it’s to find out whether they were born in Ohio or California. They recognize themselves in Obama’s ambiguity of identity. …”
“But we shouldn’t be naively optimistic. First, because the words of Pastor Jeremiah Wright, by reintroducing the specter of racial division, showed that America’s old demons could undermine the dream of this new generation. Republicans will surely play on the senator’s “dubious” origins and on these fears.” Read the rest of this entry »
We now know that many Americans have been moved and impressed by Barack Obama’s recent speech on race in America - although the electoral consequences remain unclear. But how do people in other nations view his high-risk verbal gambit? Patrik Etschmayer writes for Switzerland’s Nachrichten, ‘To even approach the subject was already extraordinarily courageous. But Obama went farther and did something politicians almost never do: He called his unfolding difficulties by name … it was an extraordinary speech for a politician anywhere in the world - and not only American voters should listen attentively. Because he spoke directly to what disgusts many people about politics in Europe: cynicism, filth and out-in-out dishonesty.’
By Patrik Etschmayer
Translated By Patrik Etschmayer
March 25, 2008
Switzerland - Nachrichten - Home Page (German)
It was a speech that could make history, and in fact it may already have. It’s a speech that sent shivers up the backs of listeners and has been downloaded by millions over the Internet.
It was a speech that stands head and shoulders above the speeches of other politicians. Not only because of its subject matter, but because of the honesty with which Barack Obama tackled the subjects of race and political cynicism in the United States.
The reason for Obama’s speech was something that really could have - indeed was likely to have - put the nail in the coffin of his campaign. The pastor of his congregational church in Chicago, the man that had wed Obama to his wife and had christened his daughters, a man with whom Obama was very close indeed, had delivered a sermon about war, poverty and racism that culminated with the impassioned plea of “God damned America.” In the aftermath, Obama distanced himself from Pastor Wright and his angry homily, but had refused to disown him, just as he couldn’t disown his White grandmother who had uttered racist stereotypes to him that made him cringe. Because his Pastor - just like his Grandmother - is an expression of America’s contradictions, wherein fate is an amalgam of horror and triumph, and where hardship and success are inextricably intertwined.
To even approach the subject was already extraordinarily courageous. But Obama went farther and did something politicians almost never do: He called his unfolding difficulties by name - in this case, the latent racism on all sides and the stereotypes that are so easily resorted to on these occasions.
He reminded his listeners of the all-to-easily forgotten fact that only fifty years ago, racial segregation and discrimination were the rule in the United States and that many African Americans are still burdened by the legacy of this oppression. He spoke about how the dialog between the races still continues to avoid this toxic legacy and how the anger continues to simmer, emerging only when a person is among their own kind.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing translated foreign press coverage of the U.S. elections.
As WORLDMEETS.US regularly demonstrates, the U.S. election race is dazzling the rest of the planet. The U.S. correspondent for Portugal’s Jornal de Negocios finds America’s capacity to remake itself after the ‘reactionary’ George W. Bush to be ‘remarkable.’ Leonel Moura writes in part, ‘Just as in the person of George Bush, America has given us one of the most reactionary presidents ever; it now electrifies the planet with the possibility of electing a woman or a Black … For those familiar with American society - which is very advanced technologically and rather backward in terms of moralism - nothing could be more revolutionary than seeing a Black man in the White House - a house that has always belonged to the White man.’ He goes on to observe, ‘this society, rather savage in its pursuit of capitalism, also has the capacity for absolutely remarkable regeneration.’
By Leonel Moura
Translated By Brandi Miller
February 27, 2008
Portugal - Jornal de Negocios - Original Article (Portuguese)
Just as in the person of George Bush, America has given us one of the most reactionary presidents ever; it now electrifies the planet with the possibility of electing a woman or a Black. A fact that just about everyone would have labeled a subversive fantasy just a few years ago is now a matter of great excitement in the world at large and in the United States, where there is talk of nothing else.
This is not to be taken lightly. For those familiar with American society - which is very advanced technologically and rather backward in terms of moralism - nothing could be more revolutionary than seeing a Black man in the White House - a house that has always belonged to the White man. And yet they are increasingly supportive of this scenario. Read the rest of this entry »
One of the most disturbing questions that Barack Obama’s candidacy raises is this: What if he were murdered? If Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination and was gunned down before November, what effect would this have on the presidential race? In this uncomfortable op-ed from Mexico’s Excelsior newspaper, Francisco Martín Moreno outlines what he sees as the danger to the United States and the rest of the world if this were to occur. He writes in part, ‘A violent dispatching of Obama would leave the road to the White House paved for McCain, with Mexico and the rest of the world having to deal with four more years of Republican nightmare … If Obama wins, he can lose his life … Shouldn’t Hillary, just in case, accept the vice presidential ticket?’
By Francisco Martín Moreno
Translated By Halszka Czarnocka
February 22, 2008
Mexico - Excelsior - Original Article (Spanish)
I must confess that when Barack Hussein Obama publicly expressed his desire to enter the race to become the next occupant of the White House, I didn’t believe he had the slightest chance of achieving that goal, primarily because he was an illustrious unknown besides being a man of color in a country characterized by racial discrimination.
Having analyzed his career and learned that he had been elected senator from the state of Illinois with 70 percent of the vote, and that in Congress he promoted conventional arms control, a law to prevent electoral fraud, another to reduce global warming and still another to prevent nuclear terrorism, I noted in this brilliant legislator the profile of a bold politician who dared to embrace complex issues in a country surprisingly militarized, conservative and religious. Obama is in favor of concluding the Iraq War. He sees through the lies and abuses. He courageously denounces them. This means danger…
The reason I fear for Obama is that despite his being an extraordinary Democratic leader and a notable promoter of change in the United States - a nation that apparently no longer wishes to greet the dawn with news of another bombing attack on a new country at the behest of George Bush - in spite of all this, and even if he manages to win his party’s nomination, goes on to beat McCain in November and becomes the next president of the United States, he could be brutally assassinated, as happened in their time to Martin Luther King and Malcolm X . There’s no reason to kill a McCain - not for his skin color, nor for his political career, nor for his personal name, and it’s impossible to associate him with the Muslims that arouse sop much prejudice in post-Sept. 11 America …
Martin Luther King was without doubt a major political leader in the United States, even more so he was awarded the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize as a result of his efforts to secure basic political rights for people of color in his country. His example spread across the world. Martin Luther King’s goals - which embarrassingly took until the second half of the twentieth century to achieve - were so people of color would no longer be socially segregated, so marriages between Blacks and Whites would be permitted and people of color would no longer be segregated from Whites in shops, restaurants, hospitals, buses and trains. And for these reasons, Black children would no longer be obliged to attend separate schools, and finally, denying Blacks the right to vote in the southern states due to illiteracy would no longer be tolerated. He altered this pathetic realty. He created a new world. He made his dream real …
Martin Luther King’s life was cut short in April 1968, making it clear that in the United States, certain segments of the population would never agree to accept equality between Blacks and Whites, to say nothing of the possibility that a Black man could ascend to the White House …
Additional proof that some sectors in the United States reject the Black penetration of society at large was the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965, also a man of color, a Muslim minister and a tireless fighter for African-American unity.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing translated coverage of the U.S. elections from around the world.
Does the anointment of Barack Obama by the patriarch of the Kennedy clan somehow conflict with America’s iconic democratic image? According to this op-ed article from the Nachrichten newspaper of Switzerland, ‘What influence do the Kennedys, or in fact any family clan, have in the United States? Apparently, more than anyone would have thought possible in such an iconic democracy. The parallels to the rise of European feudalism are striking.’
By Patrik Etschmayer
Translated By Ulf Behncke
January 28, 2008
Switzerland - Nachrichten - Original Article (German)
The triumphs of Barak Obama in his fight for the Democratic presidential nomination simply keep coming. First he inflicted a bitter defeat on Hillary Clinton in the South Carolina primary; and now he has received the official endorsement of the Kennedy clan, one of those families which in the United States epitomizes the political aristocracy.
The Clinton’s were in the process of entering this elite group, to which the Bush family also belongs. For that, Hillary would have required the noble blow of Ted Kennedy, brother of the legendary John F. Kennedy and Senator of Massachusetts. At the very least, she would have needed him to keep out of the primaries. But things have turned out differently. When the election campaign turned uglier and certain remarks were made that could have been interpreted as racist, Kennedy seemed to increasingly side with Obama. Read the rest of this entry »
On April 3, 1968, the night before he died, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke in a Memphis church and concluded with these words:
“Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!
“And so I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!”
Half a century ago, after the Supreme Court desegregation decision, an Arkansas governor named Orval Faubus stood in the doorway of Central High School in Little Rock with National Guard members to keep African-American teenagers out. Now Mike Huckabee is doing a Faubus impersonation in South Carolina.
“You don’t like people from outside the state coming in and telling you what to do with your flag,” the former Arkansas governor told a crowd in Myrtle Beach yesterday. “In fact, if somebody came to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag, we’d tell them what to do with the pole, that’s what we’d do.”
In doing a Faubus to court what remains of the redneck vote, Huckabee might want to recall what happened to his predecessor. President Eisenhower nationalized the Arkansas Guard, ordered them to stand down and sent in troops from the 101st Airborne Division to escort the kids into the school.
Should the case of George W. Bush - a ‘rural boy from Texas,’ give hope to the marginalized of Kuwaiti society? According to this article from Kuwait’s Al Seyassah, the fact that President Bush reached the White House despite his rural upbringing provides a lesson for Kuwait, as it tries to instill greater cohesion and acceptance of diversity amongst the Kuwaiti people.
“We offer the example of the American President from Texas within the context of our discussion of Kuwait’s national unity … The fact that Bush possesses the cultural legacy of the ‘countryside’ hasn’t hindered him from reaching the White House’s threshold.”
By Dr. Khaled al-Jenfawi
Translated By James Jacobson
December 17, 2007
Kuwait - Al-Seyassah - Original Article (Arabic)
We have discussed more than once the issue of “national unity” in Kuwait, and have stressed the importance of preserving and strengthening the “sense of patriotism” of the ordinary Kuwaiti citizen by providing a cultural mold, “in which citizens share common social and intellectual inclinations.” And in this endeavor, we have called on intellectuals to debate not only traditional models of “national unity,” but to focus on the social and cultural diversity within our own society. While the average Kuwaiti possesses a general cultural and doctrinal heritage, these aren’t necessarily identical to those of their fellow citizens.”
In other words, our “public assumptions” about national unity should allow for the following: Any normal human society must contain diversity and disparity in relationships, in its social and cultural past, in the way members of society exercise these relations, and in the way they address differences - because what is today found in Kuwait’s towns and cities is not a unitary, all-inclusive, formulaic Kuwaiti culture, but rather a “cultural and social mosaic” which could occupy a comprehensive wall chart.
Take for example our friend, American society, and how it contains so many especially active ethnicities and cultures, all of which act within and generally accept America’s social environment. And they manage to do so with all of its racial differences, diversity and disparities between cultures, social orientations and religious and sectarian groups.
American President George Bush, for example, is a “country boy” from Texas, or as one might say in Kuwaiti terms, “Bush is a Texas Bedouin.” However, we have yet to hear any member of Congress criticize his performance or his policies based solely on the fact that he comes from rural America, which is what one would expect in human societies that endeavor to become sophisticated, civilized and cultured, and which reject stereotypes in favor of inclusiveness.
[Editor’s Note: While it’s true that George W. Bush has carefully cultivated his Texas image, it’s also true that he has had more than a little exposure to northeastern high society, having been born in New Haven, Connecticut and graduated from Yale ].
We offer the example of the American President from Texas within the context of our discussion of Kuwait’s national unity, in order to deliver the following idea: In any normal human society, social and cultural differences between members of that society are considered a “virtue,” not a “sin” that must be eradicated. The fact that Bush possesses the cultural legacy of the “countryside” hasn’t hindered him from reaching the White House’s threshold. The American President is still a U.S. citizen that cherishes his local Texan culture even as he continues to adhere to the wider American culture.
Nearly 80 French police officers were injured during clashes with youths in a working- and lower-class suburb north of Paris last night, and six are in serious condition, police officials said, after some of the youths used hunting shotguns as well as more conventional guns, fire bombs and rocks.
September 24th, 2007 By SHAUN MULLEN, TMV Columnist
. . . that federal troops escorted nine black students into an all-white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, and struggles over race and segregation in America are still far from resolved.
