Wow, I’m stunned. Just stunned. And I really don’t know what
to say or how to say it. So, what do I do? I try to write about something that
has plagued this country for ages. I really don’t know how it is going to go but
this topic has been gnawing its nasty little teeth at the back of my mind for
quite some time and I suppose it is about time I address it. So, here goes.
Yesterday I
was sick and spent most of the day lying in pain and loaded up with all types
of cough and cold medicine. I’m better today as I write this. However, during
my interim, I had endless hours of television to watch. Mostly I watched “How
the Universe Works” as narrated by Mike Rowe. I like this sort of programing.
It lets me know that there are larger things in the universe, galaxy and solar
system, than me. It grounds me and gives my life a perspective I don’t normally
have. However; as the day waned and darkness took over the hemisphere where I
live, I lost control of the remote to my wife.
She flipped
channels for a while and then settled on the movie “Guess Who’s Coming to
Dinner” with Kathryn Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poirtier and Katharine
Houghton. Sure there were more in the cast but those are the four main
characters. It’s an amazing movie and one I know my wife and I have watched at
least a dozen times. Yet each time I see the film I walk away with a new
perspective, a new thought or idea. The film makes me think. A lot.
Also; my
wife was flipping to a re-airing of the Grammy awards. Now, as a general rule,
I avoid any and all award shows. Especially ones where people just give
themselves awards. So, when one show was on commercial, the other show was
flipped to and watched. Which means I could tune out the awards show and become
attentive when the movie was on.
The movie…
I have two favorite scenes in the movie.
One of
them, I’m sure is everyone’s favorite scene. It is at the end, where Spencer
Tracy makes his speech about his feelings towards the interracial marriage of
his daughter and all the crap the couple would receive from a world full of
ignorant people. SPOILERS: He was for it for the simple reason the two people
loved each other.
My second
favorite scene is where Sidney Poitier says to his father “You see yourself as
a black man, where I see myself as a man.”
I like to
tell myself this is the line in the movie that won the writer “William Rose”
his Oscar. But most likely, the gold on the statue was poured for the ending
speech alone.
We, as a
country that is, have tried for over 70 years to try and put race relations to
rest and it seems to me that in 1967, when Sidney Poitier said that line to his
father about seeing himself as a man, we were on the path to equality and
understanding.
Now, fast
forward to 2016, with the horrific utterings of the word “racism” at the drop
of any hat or misconceived slight, we are all guilty.
Guilty of
not learning from the past. Guilty of not learning. Guilty of even the
slightest prejudgment. This is not just blank on blank prejudice. (Insert your
own race or creed in the blanks). It
seems to go deeper.
Not just in
our neighborhoods or cities. Nor is it a national problem. This seems to be an
international problem. We have elected and non-elected leaders telling us that
our problems come from this type of person or that type of person. We even have
self-important people with access to social media and millions of followers
talking about slights based on race. All of these actions seem to be step
backwards and not forwards. It all hurts my head and worse, it hurts my heart.
In a
country where marijuana is legal, where homosexuals and lesbians can marry each
other, where an African American man has been elected not once but twice to the
presidency and even where a woman is running for president, we are still mired
in the sins of our fore-fathers.
I say
for-fathers even though I come from a turn of the 20th century
immigrant family. Yet, this is my country and I’m proud of it. I’m just not
proud of the actions of some of my fellow countrymen.
This also
makes me sad. I thought we were better than this. I know we are better than
this. We have to be in order to survive.
Which
brings me to one of the performances on the Grammy’s. I don’t know the artists
name nor would I write it if I did. However; his lyrics and song made quite an
impact on me. He came out in handcuffs along with his backup singers and
dancers. They were also dressed as inmates. I understand the point he was
making. I also understand that as an artist you have the freedom to express
your feelings, good or bad, in your art. I also know that there seems to be a
great chasm between crimes and criminals in our justice system. A system that
is not perfect but it is a system that has changed over time. Slowly it seems
but there has been change.
There are
actions that are not excusable committed by people in voice and power that make
me ashamed to call myself an American. However; I’d like to think that as our
country grows older, we also become wiser. I hope that one day, like the great
actor Sidney Poitier said “You see yourself as a _______man, while I just see
myself as a man.”
Or, in the
lingo of the new enlightened world “You see yourself as a _____person, while I
see myself as a person.”
After all,
we are all people and we are all sharing this journey together and while we may
not get out of this journey alive, it’s easier and nicer to be together through
the joys, the pains, the success’s and the travails of life than struggling
through our own misguided prejudices.
Have a
great week. And remember, try and understand and love your fellow travelers. We
all deserve a little of both.
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