As I proudly observe the renewed interest in the story of The Tuskegee Airmen that is the result of George Lucas new film Red Tails, I am reminded of how much we as Americans have to be proud of that is either a direct or indirect result of the scourges of slavery and segregation. For so many years the main focus of slavery and its aftermath has been the negatives. I would like to see a renewed focus on the positive things that came as a result of or in spite of one of America's most infamous times in history, especially for the sake of the young who grow ever more distant from any memory or understanding of what Americans have faced together and overcome. It can be said that we as a people are as much a product of what we have triumphed over as anything and in America, we have triumphed over many difficult times in our history, slavery and segregation being only two.
I personally would like to believe that if Americas young people had a better understanding of the pride and determination so many of their ancestors maintained despite suffering through indignities that most of them could not even imagine, they would have more respect for each others lives, and the lure of gangs and drugs would be at least a bit easier to resist. It is with great pride that I urge all Americans regardless of ethnic origin to go and see Red Tails. And I hope it will promote a conversation among families and friends about other examples of Americans overcoming their circumstances to triumph in pride and glory that are closer to home. What better time could there be than now when our nations future seems so tenuous, when we are a people strained by the worst depression in the nations history and divided against each other over ideology and even religious beliefs as we search for answers to restore what in reality has never really been. The problem for Americans is that each generation tends to not understand that Americas history is one of struggle. When the economy flourishes, and when it is in decline, we struggle with many of the same issues that divide us today. The only real difference is who is suffering most at any given time and how we collectively perceive what the solutions are.
As a child growing up in North Central Texas, raised by a poor mother who grew up in East Texas, I heard over and over the stories of the pain and difficulty of living in a place where the Ku Klux Klan flourished. Lynchings, beatings of innocent people and the daily humiliation that was a natural byproduct of segregation was not some distant memory or stories in a book. I watched my mother cry with the pain only someone who had to support her children by devoting so much of her life to cooking, cleaning and raising the children of people who required her to take her meal breaks on the back porch where they fed the dogs. Yet what I remember most about my mother was the forgiving spirit she had. Her faith in God. The way she insisted that all people were not bad and that most racists were in fact victims themselves of the ignorance promoted by those who profited from maintaining such a climate. I remember my Great Aunt Maude, a proud woman of Native American and African American mix who told me stories of unthinkable atrocities in the area of Oklahoma where she raised her children at a time when it was worse to be Native American than African American. I treasured the stories my Great Aunt told me because her sister, my Grandmother, died at a young age due to the racist policies of hospitals of the area at that time, a subject that was so painful to my mother that it was never discussed in our house.
Among my favorite things to do when I was very young was to sit and listen to the elderly Black men who gathered daily at the neighborhood grocer where they sat outside during nice weather and talked about everything in the world and their view of a world that even after they had served in world wars and worked them selves to the bone for meager wages still subjected them to sickening insulting treatment daily. Yet these men didn't speak with anger, they spoke with pride about what they had survived. Proud that despite all that was done to take away their dignity and self respect, they had made it through and could still hold their heads high in the knowledge that they had helped to insure another generation would have an ever increasing chance to set things right.
I have a dream that we as Americans will find a way to come together, and to overcome the difficult circumstances that we face today. I dream that we will educate our young people to the truth that what we are going through today is no where near the worst it has ever been for most people regardless of ethnic origin. This is so important so that as our young people go forward into the future they never stop working to improve their lives collectively understanding among the most important points of the message of Jesus Christ, that we are always in whatever happens together, and as any of us go so too will the rest of us be affected whether we like it or not. We may not all suffer the same, but in myriad ways we all suffer when we allow any of us to suffer.It is in understanding that no matter what has ever happened, so many people like the men whose accomplishments are honored in the film Red Tails have always contributed to the growth and advancement of our culture and enriched the lives of those who follow through their unfailing faith, their pride and their determination. And this is the true strength of America.
I personally would like to believe that if Americas young people had a better understanding of the pride and determination so many of their ancestors maintained despite suffering through indignities that most of them could not even imagine, they would have more respect for each others lives, and the lure of gangs and drugs would be at least a bit easier to resist. It is with great pride that I urge all Americans regardless of ethnic origin to go and see Red Tails. And I hope it will promote a conversation among families and friends about other examples of Americans overcoming their circumstances to triumph in pride and glory that are closer to home. What better time could there be than now when our nations future seems so tenuous, when we are a people strained by the worst depression in the nations history and divided against each other over ideology and even religious beliefs as we search for answers to restore what in reality has never really been. The problem for Americans is that each generation tends to not understand that Americas history is one of struggle. When the economy flourishes, and when it is in decline, we struggle with many of the same issues that divide us today. The only real difference is who is suffering most at any given time and how we collectively perceive what the solutions are.
As a child growing up in North Central Texas, raised by a poor mother who grew up in East Texas, I heard over and over the stories of the pain and difficulty of living in a place where the Ku Klux Klan flourished. Lynchings, beatings of innocent people and the daily humiliation that was a natural byproduct of segregation was not some distant memory or stories in a book. I watched my mother cry with the pain only someone who had to support her children by devoting so much of her life to cooking, cleaning and raising the children of people who required her to take her meal breaks on the back porch where they fed the dogs. Yet what I remember most about my mother was the forgiving spirit she had. Her faith in God. The way she insisted that all people were not bad and that most racists were in fact victims themselves of the ignorance promoted by those who profited from maintaining such a climate. I remember my Great Aunt Maude, a proud woman of Native American and African American mix who told me stories of unthinkable atrocities in the area of Oklahoma where she raised her children at a time when it was worse to be Native American than African American. I treasured the stories my Great Aunt told me because her sister, my Grandmother, died at a young age due to the racist policies of hospitals of the area at that time, a subject that was so painful to my mother that it was never discussed in our house.
Among my favorite things to do when I was very young was to sit and listen to the elderly Black men who gathered daily at the neighborhood grocer where they sat outside during nice weather and talked about everything in the world and their view of a world that even after they had served in world wars and worked them selves to the bone for meager wages still subjected them to sickening insulting treatment daily. Yet these men didn't speak with anger, they spoke with pride about what they had survived. Proud that despite all that was done to take away their dignity and self respect, they had made it through and could still hold their heads high in the knowledge that they had helped to insure another generation would have an ever increasing chance to set things right.
I have a dream that we as Americans will find a way to come together, and to overcome the difficult circumstances that we face today. I dream that we will educate our young people to the truth that what we are going through today is no where near the worst it has ever been for most people regardless of ethnic origin. This is so important so that as our young people go forward into the future they never stop working to improve their lives collectively understanding among the most important points of the message of Jesus Christ, that we are always in whatever happens together, and as any of us go so too will the rest of us be affected whether we like it or not. We may not all suffer the same, but in myriad ways we all suffer when we allow any of us to suffer.It is in understanding that no matter what has ever happened, so many people like the men whose accomplishments are honored in the film Red Tails have always contributed to the growth and advancement of our culture and enriched the lives of those who follow through their unfailing faith, their pride and their determination. And this is the true strength of America.
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