When is enough, enough?

The race for the Democratic nomination has become a bloodsport unlike anything that has been seen since the days of the gladiator. Quite frankly, although I support Senator Obama, I have not been happy with either campaign this week. I grew up in Pensacola, Florida, a Navy town, in a Navy family and in military housing. I am a patriot and I believe that both a former and a current President of these United States deserves some baseline respect and the benefit of the doubt. Consequently, I did not agree with former President Clinton being compared to McCarthy. On the reverse side, I believe that former President Bill Clinton should remain presidential and above the fray and implying that another American is unpatriotic is definitely not presidential. I would love to see him retire from the campaign trail and preserve his legacy. There is something important about being dignified and preserving your legacy.

I also found the comments about the stains on the blue dress to be in such bad taste. It is not as if those were Senator Clinton's stains. I believe that Chelsey Clinton was completely right to decline to answer questions on this issue during her question and answer session at a college campus. Can't we maintain some modicum of respect and by the way it is still appropriate to call people by their title. Senator Clinton, Senator Obama, Senator McCain, these people have earned that respect and I think calling them by their first name alone is disrespectful.

And just when you thought things could not get any more bizarre, we have Senator Clinton lying about her experience in Bosnia. I know there are those who would call these a mistake or a simple embellishment, but every college student who has beefed up their resume to get a job knows that this was an outright lie. Getting shot at by snipers is not something you forget. The thing that makes this particularly sad is that Senator Clinton is an undeniably accomplished woman. She redefined the image of the First Lady from being just pretty decoration and instead blazed a trail that proved that women could be smart and independent in their own right. This is the perfect example of "why tell a lie when the truth will do".

I hate to leave Senator McCain out of the discussion. He took a campaign trip on taxpayer money and then took along a few of his friends to sell us on the story that this was official Senate business. Then he came home and gave a truly awful speech on the economy. The upside for him is that the Democrats are capturing so much of the headlines (and not in the good way) that by the time anyone pays any attention to him, he may have actually have figured out what he should be saying about the economy.

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Senator Clinton's Response

I think that Senator's Clinton response to Senator Obama's speech was measured and appropriate. She could have taken the moment to keep the fires burning, but I think that she showed a much appreciated grace. And she looked nice in her red suit. (Sorry I could not help the fashion commentary)

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The "Not Black Enough" and the Generational Divide in the Black Community

Today Senator Barack Obama spoke about race and politics. During the course of that speech he spoke of the ties that bind him to his Pastor as well as the differences in perspective that separate him from Reverend Wright. This is especially brave ground to tread upon for a black man because African-Americans have a deep cultural distaste for the airing of family business in the street. I often heard that refrain not only in my home but also at church. "Girl, don't wash your dirty laundry in the street". This was the sign to shut your mouth and remember that black issues were only discussed with and among black people. As I have grown into an adult I now know that maybe showing the world some of those fallacies is not a bad thing and maybe with open conversation we will find, that as Americans that we actually have more in common despite our cultural differences than we believe. One of those issues that we don't speak of often is the generational divide, that prompts one generation of African Americans to ask those of my generation...."are you black enough"? You see there is the generation that marched, were jailed, beaten and abused for their desire to be equal and then there is the generation that read about it all in a book.

We are the first generation to grow up totally in a integrated society. I have lost track of the times that someone has commented that I talked "like a white girl". I understand the disconnect. I went to college permed my hair, wore extensions, shaved my legs and the questions about assimilation doubled and underneath it all you know they are assessing whether or not you are Black enough.

I don't believe that Senator Obama could disown (or excommunicate) his pastor. The contradiction is that despite the disconnect we of the Next Generation are aware that we are standing on that Previous generations shoulders. We often disagree, but respect demands that we the blessed acknowledge that we are the beneficiaries of that generation that suffered. As a result of that generations struggles, I have had the opportunity to attend some of this country's finest institutions which each added a different flavor to my life. I attended Florida A&M University, a historically black university, Nelson Mandela was in prison and we were boycotting the gas companies that with their economic patronages supported apartheid. After a lifetime of being the only black person in a class, it was in this place of black pride and education that I learned to be comfortable in my skin. I think went to New Orleans and Tulane Law School over the protest of my parents who viewed Louisiana as a dangerous place for African Americans. At Tulane I met students from all over the world, from every religion, and with a variety of viewpoints. At Tulane I learned tolerance and to not only speak, but to listen. Then at the end of my educational journey I attended Wesleyan College, a women's college. At Wesleyan they were already having open, in-depth conversations about gender and race and putting that conversation in the context of not only the home but the workplace.

I have had experiences that my parents could have never imagined. How does the black young professional with world view and a racially diverse set of friends, talk to a man or woman who remembers when they were arrested for trying to share a lunch counter with white people. The generational gap can seem cavernous and while I am speaking from a black experience, I suspect that there is a generation of white families who are suffering from the same generational divide. I believe that there are out there tonight Southern white people who grew up with sharecroppers and mammies and who heard from the pulpit that the separation of the races was ordained by God, those same people are now sharing a dinner table with a child or a grandchild that may have a black boyfriend or girlfriend and who listening to urban music and eating sushi, that new generation child or grandchild cannot begin to fathom the fear and concern that under lied those segregationist convictions that there grandparents held dear.

But times change and people change. Segregation was not a 100 years ago, it was just a few decades ago, but look at how our country has changed in a relatively short amount of time. It was the people that made that change possible. We are all a product of our times, a combination of our experiences and we are adaptable to new circumstances. This adaptability means that we can change. So rather than disown the misguided, I think that the intense desire of My Generation is to effect change not only in the lives of those who come after us but also in the lives of the ones that came before us. I love my country dearly and I hope that I am living in the day that my mother could only have dreamed of, a day when she knows that my country loves me back.

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