Posted on 02/19/2008 5:03:06 PM PST by SJackson
Waiting on hope, I stood outside for two hours in Wisconsin snow with frozen feet. I listened to people's intimate conversations because we were that close. I felt pressed by white people around me, and I felt fine. I saw African-Americans from a distance without panic. I was one of thousands, and no fear gripped me, even as the thousands pressed forward.
I let myself be carried, then I walked and walked up stairs, finally arriving at the tiptop. There was no place but the top for a woman who doesn't like heights.
This night I was a woman waiting on hope. I waited to hear hope, to feel hope. I waited to believe in hope again in my heart, my city, my state, my country, and most importantly, I wanted hope as an American citizen.
Then Barack Obama came to the podium. I didn't have to wait one moment longer.
I am an African-American woman. This fact alone speaks loudly in a country where I have always been boxed into race and gender as if both were evil. I share the bottom of this society with African-American men, and everyone else, including the newly arrived in America, have more opportunity and are welcomed better than us. I have never felt safe around unknown white people, let alone thousands. Whenever I enter a place, I look first to see who is like me. I scan a room for color because black means a modicum of safety for me while white is unknown. The unknown can be dangerous, and I never forget that ever!
Gender comforts me in outnumbered situations only if they are women of color. White women have betrayed us again and again historically, and when I was young, they betrayed me personally. In white women's "herstory" there are few examples of standing with African-American women against oppression. Who remembers that Frederick Douglass not only advocated for the end of slavery but for women to have the right to vote?
Mature, I've learned to sift and test the unknown. I have friends of many colors. I've learned to look for integrity behind every color. Young and vulnerable, I had white teachers who spoke one way while teaching in our predominantly black school, but when I met them in other places, they were white only.
At the University of Memphis, the white woman teacher called three of us "nigras" -- a word more polite than the N word. I stood and challenged her. I threatened to go to the dean (completely unsure the white male dean of history would support me). My A from her class was because I was smart and brave, not because she was fair or gave it to me or even wanted me to succeed emotionally or academically.
The constant bombardment from racism takes a toll on heart and spirit. My childhood traveling the world with my parents and then living in the South while my father was in Vietnam forged my exterior into steel, while I begged the good God to keep my heart tender. We were American citizens outside, but not inside the USA. Only on military bases was even the slightest dent put in white privilege.
My life as an African-American woman urged me to the Kohl Center to stand shivering, among mostly young white people, to hear hope in this country revived. In Wisconsin a white third-grader has reading scores second in the nation, but a black third-grader has reading scores 50th in the nation.
It reminds me of my son and his friends in third grade at Lincoln Elementary. Their bodies remained but their spirits flew out the window. Research says African-American children decide in the third grade to be successful in school or not, and it's not just those from poor households who stop learning because those from middle class and upper class homes are also not reaching their potential in Madison.
Statistics from third-grade reading scores are used to build more prisons. Wisconsin beats all 50 states, including the Deep South, in imprisoning young black men as a percentage of the African-American population. It is important that Barack Obama wins this state.
Barack Obama as president. A bit of hope began in my heart that this community organizer with his brilliant mind, this multiracial human being representing the new America, this international person with roots in Kenya, this politician with a proven record of integrity who is not a slave to the Washington political machine, this mature man who needs our wisdom and support, this Barack Obama will unite this country for our good here and in our shared world. I was at Barack Obama's Madison rally believing that I really am an American with rights and that other Americans who are people of color, who are white, male and female, young and old, rich and poor, believe in hope too.
Fabu is Madison's poet laureate and also a writer and educator. She writes a monthly column for The Capital Times.
I felt pressed by white people around me, and I felt fine. I saw African-Americans from a distance without panic.
Sounds normal to me.
I am an African-American woman. This fact alone speaks loudly in a country where I have always been boxed into race and gender as if both were evil....Whenever I enter a place, I look first to see who is like me. I scan a room for color because black means a modicum of safety for me while white is unknown. The unknown can be dangerous, and I never forget that ever!...Gender comforts me in outnumbered situations only if they are women of color. White women have betrayed us again and again historically
Sounds to me like she's in a box of her own choosing. Obama won't break her out of that, he will pander to it in a way different than Sharpton or Jackson.
I feel faint....
Someone get a medic...
I have been overcome... by the smell of mendacity...
It must be a really huge liar...
Wasn’t “Hope” John Edwards’ one-word slogan/philosophy once?
boy is she gonna be disappointed....
Oh, fer cryin’ outloud, this old song and dance coming from yet another black separatist proponent.
I bet President Obama and reparations would deliver a tub of hope to her, huh?
Kohl Center = KoolAid Center.
looneyism has no color
I was thinking that...kool aid...rev jones?
I fear a real smack up is heading their way.
Mmmm.. Kool Aid. Homer Simpson.
So, should the A have been for being black? Or because the teacher WANTED her to succeed? I would think that an A she earned would be a good thing. Who knew?
No stoooopid! Ther message is CHANGE (in your pocket)
Give her a break, she's only been poet laureate for a month.
I would have included a poem or two for the thread, but I couldn't find any in a quick search. Found a couple of articles noting that she hasn't been published much, but that's no bar to being a poet laureate, thus my suggestion that FR establish the position.
The only one I found is below. I like it for what it is. I'll resist commenting on mendacity, since you can't pluck the tenderest parts, separate from the stem, in relationships. And like Bill Clinton, Obama has a stem.
I want love
to be like a good pot of greens
pick the tenderest parts
separate from the hard stem
wash gently and thoroughly
removing every bit of dirt and grime
rinsing over and over and over
with the clear clean water of forgiveness
season with savory meat, herbs and spices
and then simmer, simmer, simmer.
I "hope" he is exposed for being another democRAT liar...
(please throw me a water bottle!)
—— Barack Obama as president. .... that I really am an American with rights and that other Americans who are people of color, who are white, male and female, young and old, rich and poor, believe in hope too. -——
I doubt that would do it. MLK couldn’t take away her racism. Colin Powell couldn’t do it. Condi couldn’t do it. As a Liberal, she will still find a way to be blaming her troubles on the White Man.
Ive been poet laureate here since 1999 when I wrote the following :
There is water where there once was land
Had I stood here these last 2 million years
I would have drowned
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I also won the pulitzer prize for that poem and I have not written anymore since
One question.
What’s a Fabu?
Hippy chicks. (Shakes head.)
Here’s how it will play out. African Amercans will assume that now our guy is in the house and will expect the CHANGE that Obama promised but it will be far more enourmous and rediculous than he could ever imagine. He will attempt to be fair and be labeled an uncle tom and so goes the first African American President. The change, hope and unity some will demand of Obama are not the same change, hope and unity for all.
Blacks have never been richer, have never owned more homes or run more businesses. During the Reagan Era there was a bigger increase in the standard of living of Blacks than anytime in history.
Any validity to this? Sounds pretty far out to me.
Once again, Barack Hussein Obama is the Black candidate. And nothing more.
I’s called “minority psychosis”. It pops up, out of the blue, sometimes in the least expected people.
I’s=It’s
Like when Mandela was campaigning in South Africa; he mentioned that every South African would have a washer and dryer. After the election, people began showing up at the appliance store wanting to know where their washers and dryers were.
Submit...be saved:
No, I don't think it's a racial thing, it's a appeal, purely emotional, to those who feel oppressed in some cases, but mostly who feel left out. And it's a primary appeal. You're right about the failure of an Obama Presidency, one that would have no basis in policy, though I don't expect we'll find out about that, at least in 2008. He'll be around a long time.
posted on threads,
discourses and
post-it
notes stuck to fuzz
from my purse
that smell of
lifesavers and handlotion
in
the style of
rosie O'donnell.
Can I be a poet laureate too?
I nominate Nachum for today’s FR poet laureate.
Although it could use another verse.
Barf alert time.
Fabu is Fubar.
I will let you have my title ..Im kinda tired of poetry
Was it the Smug Alert episode?
“No, I don’t think it’s a racial thing, it’s a appeal, purely emotional, to those who feel oppressed in some cases, but mostly who feel left out...”
I don’t get this ‘left out’ business. During Ronald Reagan’s entire presidency, I never made more than twenty-thousand dollars. I lost two jobs. I moved to new cities where I didn’t know a soul. But I didn’t feel left out.
"it drippy down like icky goo
they said it's not
but it was too."
"it's not" = snot. (get it?)
oh. nevermind.
I’m glad you brought it up. I’m a non-native speaker, and I don’t understand it at all. I tried to break up the sentence to see if it would make sense.
- Statistics are used to build more prisons.
I can understand that - somewhat. But with the ‘from 3rd grade reading scores’ clause, I don’t get it at all. Could you please explain your understanding of it? I’m asking in sincerity. I genuinely do not understand.
Thanks,
Most Definitelynotaliberal
Style matters.
woofie writes
There is water where there once was land
Had I stood here these last 2 million years
I would have drowned
Could be changed to
Water where once land
Had I stood here 2 million years
Drowned I would have been
Nachum writes
Wait a minute...
I feel faint....
Someone get a medic...
I have been overcome... by the smell of mendacity...
It must be a really huge liar...
Wait a minute I’m faint
Get a medic I am overcome.
smell of mendacity
robomatik’s
it drippy down like icky goo they said it's not but it was too." "it's not" = snot. (get it?)to
it drippy down like icky
it's not snot get it?It’s a contest.
What a bunch of bull. Is this really how we run a country, on the say-so of goofy, swooning women?
If that’s all that’s required in a President, Paul McCartney and Ringo are still available.
(your wish is my command...)
Wait a minute...
I feel faint....
Someone get a medic...
I have been overcome... by the smell of mendacity...
It must be a really huge liar...
Put on a show for the yokels
Larry Craig and me like the brothels
Take a walk on the wild side like Barney, me and Larry
Where we come from, it's called "hope"
Anyone got a water bottle?
Well it's how we run Democrat primaries, the country remains to be seen.
“Research says African-American children decide in the third grade to be successful in school or not, and it’s not just those from poor households who stop learning because those from middle class and upper class homes are also not reaching their potential in Madison.”
That’s because they live in the toxic politically correct anti-achievement culture of left-liberal Madison. These kids are raised far from God, far from sanity, far from discipline and far from wisdom.
They end up lost, confused, clueless, and longing for something missing in their lives ... that empty hole might get filled with something ... and who better than a charlatan politician to fill it. It’s either that or drugs.
The think Hope comes from a slick politician who wants to raise taxes. If Hope like that springs eternal, we are doomed.
If Obama wins it will be like installing the Berkeley City council and the Ithaca mayor in the White House. ... And the annoying repitition of hagiographic barfable nonsense like this will be our daily grind.
Spare us, please.
To leftwing atheists, salvation comes from politics so a ‘cult of personality’ savior makes perfect sense.
The danger is where those social engineers want to take our country and if their version of Nivana is ours ... it is not.
What an angry, mean, hopeless, racist, sexist incompetent writer.
Well, the public schools use standardized tests to measure students’ reading skills. The test scores are analyzed to give statistical information. For example, maybe this year’s third-grade students scored 10% lower than the average for the last 20 years. She claims this statistic is then used to predict how many prison cells will be needed in the future, since this year’s third-grade students might display more criminal behavior when they’re adults if their test scores are lower. However, I doubt the statistics are used this way.
The phrase “from third-grade reading scores” refers to the test scores of students in the third grade (kids who are about 9 years old). The word “reading” is used as an adjective here, not a verb. It indicates that the scores are for reading tests (versus math tests or science tests).
I’ll bet that’s what confused you. You probably thought “reading” was a verb because of its “ing” ending. But words with “ing” can also be adjectives. In this case, both “third-grade” and “reading” are adjectives that modify “scores”.
"What’s a Fabu?"
I've never heard of 'Fabu', but I have heard of FUBU which means For Us By Us
Basically, she starts out on one subject, the Obama rally, and then gets very disjointed.
For instance, she seems to be outdone about receiving an A from one of her teachers......because she, the writer, was smart.......but the teacher wasn't fair.......didn't give it to her.....didn't want her to succeed emotionally OR academically. Huh?
I tried to read more, but I was lost.
He is perhaps a 'wish fullfillmenet' bound to disappoint. He will join the community of 'Black betrayers' of those of color who believe in him. And the America that fostered his success will be betrayed as well.
There is no doubt as to his talents; how - and by whom - they have been honed will determine the bottom line of his authenticity.
Given the state of modern poetry, I would regard it as a recommendation for a poet laureate.
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