HOW CAN YOU ASSURE ONE TERM MORE FOR BARACK OBAMA? By Louise Annarino, August 24, 2012
Whenever I start to forget that every day most people in this country are working to create a better world for every one of their fellow citizens I shall watch this video. It reminds me that those who fear the future because they fear their fellow citizens are few. Yes, racism penetrates the fiber of each institution and person. Yet, most of us fight racism whenever and wherever it shows itself, even when it appears within ourselves. We Americans are basically good people. We believe in equality and freedom. We are made of stern stuff. We are strong enough to confront racism. Unfortunately, there is a small minority who live and breathe racism, for whom it has become second nature. Worse, there are those who use this bigotry, fear and loathing for their personal gain. Since the election of an African-American president there are political operatives and political leaders willing to use racist hate-mongering in a monumentally historic manner to gain the power of the presidency. It is such a painful thing to watch, that persons of good will can easily become so discouraged they start believing the propagandists of hate are stronger than they really are. We are stronger.
Watch video here: http://vimeo.com/48090310
The New York Times reported few days ago, “Doug Preisse, the influential Republican Party chairman of Franklin County, which includes the state capital, Columbus, was quoted in The Columbus Dispatch newspaper as saying, ‘I guess I really actually feel we shouldn’t contort the voting process to accommodate the urban — read African-American — voter turnout machine’.” Did he know how racist this comment is? Should he have known? Voter suppression is particularly disgusting when applied to African-American voters who fought so hard for the right to vote; and treasure the right to vote so dearly. Today, Mitt Romney used this tactic when he “joked” about not needing to show his birth certificate. Did he know how racist this joke is? Should he have known? Jokes about African-Americans, women, and others-particularly racist birther jokes- are not funny; especially when used to foster distrust and hate, and to bolster the bully power of the jokester. Such a joke is more than unseemly. It is sickening. We cannot allow ourselves to believe our fellow citizens are such sickening creatures,even though a man chosen as the country’s possible leader is the jokester. When your stomach starts to churn, watch this video and calm your disgust long enough to believe in the positive power of the majority of our fellow citizens.
Watch video here: http://vimeo.com/48090310
There are days the when the racism and hate is so strong and so pervasive that I cannot write a word. My hands are fists, unable to open and strike a key. The racism and hate brings tears which blind me to the goodness of others. It blocks rational thought, and I fear the damage angry words would cause. It is not hopelessness which engulfs me, but pure frustration that after so many years, having come so far, we must yet address the crosses burning up the airwaves in political commercials, rolling off the tongues of politicians opposing an African-American president to the jeers and cheers of the lynch mobs. You think I exaggerate? You think it wrong to compare what we have seen, and what I expect to see at the Republican Convention to Jim Crow? I do not literally think the pols would engage in forming a lynch mob; but,I do not doubt there are those who would gladly join one. We must expect and we must demand that pols stop pandering to those supporters who would go to the center of town to watch a lynch mob, and those who would join the mob. How do we fight such hate-mongers? With peaceful protest and peaceful admonishment; never with hate. Those who made this video found one way.
Watch video here: http://vimeo.com/48090310
Each of us has some talent, some gift to offer,even if only the ability to walk up to a door and help register a voter, to put together and distribute a yard sign, to cradle a phone and remind a voter to vote for Barack Obama, to bring a casserole to an Obama campaign office to feed volunteers, to offer housing to a young volunteer, to write a letter to the editor challenging false claims and racist comments. Some of us can only pray, or raise money. But, we can all do something. We are many. We are strong. We are sure that Barack Obama must have one more term. When we start to falter we can watch this video and remember; then, we can act in whatever way we are able.
Watch video here: http://vimeo.com/48090310
Then act here: http://www.barackobama.com
annarino writes 