"I've got to admit it's getting better (better)Maybe not. Maybe things are getting worse, not better.
A little better all the time (it can't get no worse)"
The Beatles, 1967
We have gone from Jesse Jackson to Donald Trump.
Take some time today to read or watch his speech to the Democratic National Convention in 1988. Treat yourself.
Maybe in a hundred years this era will be understood as the "decline" period for the USA. The institutions and norms of our democracy -- the glue that holds us together as a people -- are dissolving, one angry tweet, one Trump rally speech, one attorney general testimony at a time. The level of public discourse has fallen off a cliff.
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world
We may be in the falling apart moment. The anarchy comes later.
Jesse Jackson's speech to the Democratic National Convention makes me realize that I presumed that America and the world were "progressing" in some way. Technology was getting better, people worldwide were getting richer, cures for diseases were being discovered and disseminated, and oppressed groups were gaining civil rights and respect. And in the back of my mind was the hopeful prediction of Martin Luther King: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." Things are getting better all the time, right?
Jesse Jackson's speech is a speech about that progress. There is a better future for America: more justice, more prosperity, more peace, more opportunity for Americans, including the poor, to live the lives they desire.
Jackson repositions an idea of poor people in the U.S. that came out of opposition to Great Society poverty programs. Ronald Reagan described poor people as freeloaders. As Mitt Romney would later put it, they were "takers." Jesse Jackson described poor people differently: "They catch the early bus. They work every day."
Most poor people are not lazy. They are not Black. They are not Brown. They are mostly White and female and young. But whether White, Black or Brown, a hungry baby's belly turned inside out is the same color-- color it pain, color it hurt, color it agony.
Most poor people are not on welfare. Some of them are illiterate and can't read the want-ad sections. And when they can, they can't find a job that matches the address. They work hard everyday. I know, I live amongst them. They catch the early bus. They work every day. They raise other people's children. They work everyday.
They clean the streets. They work everyday. They drive dangerous cabs. They change the beds you slept in in these hotels last night and can't get a union contract. They work everyday.
No, no, they're not lazy. Someone must defend them because it's right and they cannot speak for themselves. They work in hospitals. I know they do. They wipe the bodies of those who are sick with fever and pain. They empty their bedpans. They clean out their commodes. No job is beneath them, and yet when they get sick they cannot lie in the bed they made up every day. America, that is not right. We are a better Nation than that!
It is a sad irony that reading Jesse Jackson's speech would make me feel pessimistic and less hopeful. But I have watched discourse go from Jackson to Trump. This isn't better. What is wrong with us?!
In soaring language Jackson describes the tapestry that creates a good and great America. I contrast this with Trump's tweets, his speeches denouncing groups of Americans, his divisiveness, and his effort to demonize and exclude the very people Jackson credits.
Jackson roots his speech in the moral lessons of Christianity. Feed the poor, house the homeless, free the oppressed, pay the worker a fair wage. It is the politics of Matthew 25 and the story of the Good Samaritan. Meanwhile, Trump uses the symbols and imprimatur of Christianity to argue for the opposite -- and gets cheers from people on TV who wear a cross on a necklace. The irony.
It has been a while since Democrats have heard an inspiring political leader on the national stage. It isn't enough to condemn Trump's cynical, corruption of the rule of law. A good speech needs a direction for the future. It combines policy and moral purpose rooted in the core beliefs of the audience. The country gets shown a direction we can feel good about.
Loud and omnipresent, Trump has set a tone. He appeals to the worst of our instincts.
The Bible's Book of Romans (10:17) says that faith comes from hearing. You will be saved by the power of the spoken word. I agree with that. Powerful speeches that stir hearts are an essential part of politics. Democrats need a little bit of the Jesse Jackson spirit. The messenger does not need to shock with blunt cruelty; that is Trump's schtick. The Democratic messenger needs to inspire by reminding us of our best selves.
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8 comments:
I like the way you ended today's blog, Peter. Our politics has always been crippled by ignorance of what politics is. Most people think it's electoral politics, who can get control of "government." But the only way to know what politics is is to ask what it's for. What is its goal? It's goal is to create the conditions in which we all are encouraged and enabled to be our best selves. (Another way to say it is that the goal of politics is justice, but people aren't so clear about what justice means.) It's good when one person who can command attention in the public forum says that, but that is insufficient. We must constantly convey that message, beginning in our schools. Schooling is an essential political activity, far more fundamental and efficacious than electoral campaigning. Meanwhile, keep the goal in mind and keep reminding your readers what it is.
The downfall began in Philadelphia Mississippi in 1984 when Ronal Regan began his presidential campaign and emphasized states rights, a dog whistle to KKK that he was for them. It was a town known for the murder of 3 civil rights workers that went unresolved. Trump is a culmination of that beginning, but maybe the seed of hatred, bigotry has always existed, just needing the right soil to flourish.
It's said that indifference is worse than hatred. Anyhow, this last fall, the Democrats shut down the government. ACCESS here in Jackson County had to operate a "SNAP Gap" program to make up for the loss of food that comes when SNAP benefits are curtailed, as they were curtailed due to the shutdown. The shutdown caused suffering for the exact type of people Jesse Jackson described. We are losing our way. What is Chuck Schumer thinking?
"We have gone from Jesse Jackson to Donald Trump".
Indeed. Just a few degrees of separation:
Jesse Jackson--Louis Farrakhan--Adolf Hitler--Donald Trump.
I'm pleased to say that the 1964 murders of James Cheney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner in Neshoba County, MS did not go "unresolved." After the State of Mississippi refused to prosecute the perpetrators, in 1967 they were prosecuted in a federal court in Meridian, MS for violating the dead men's civil rights. Of the 18 who were indicted, seven were convicted.
Sheriff's Deputy Cecil Price got 6 years. Sam Bowers, Imperial Wizard of the White Knights of the KKK in Mississippi, who orchestrated the killings, got 10 years. Alton Wayne Roberts got 10 years. The others got sentences ranging from 3 to 10 years.
I wish the Democrats had been able to do more than just shut the government down. But if the only tool in your toolbox is a hammer, that’s what you use.
Thanks Anonymous for the clarification, at least some justice took place. I wonder how much time served would have taken place if the victims were white and the perpetrators were black?
No time served. They and a bunch of others would have been lynched. In fact, that's what was happening anyway.
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