Are We There Yet?

Twenty years ago today Nelson Mandela (called "Madiba" by many in South Africa) walked out of the prison on Robben Island as a free man after twenty-seven years of confinement.  It was an electric sight to see him standing tall in the sunlight after being held for so many years.  In his autobiography "Long Walk to Freedom" Mr. Mandela wrote "I always knew that someday I would once again feel the grass under my feet and walk in the sunshine a free man."   
After walking into the sunshine, Mr. Mandela didn't find a comfortable chair in the shade and just sit down with a cold glass of lemonade.  He continued to work for the rights of all citizens of South Africa, work that he had not put down while behind those bars.  The Freedom Charter was written into a wall at the Palace of Justice in Pretoria.  The preamble says "South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white and no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of the people."  He was elected and served as president of his beloved South Africa in the first general election there, and worked hard to build up a democratic infrastructure. He is still an inspiration, for his dignity, his grace, his upholding of his commitment to freedom even when he was not free.   
                                                                                                                                                                              So in this 21st century, have we arrived at that destination called Freedom?  Have we touched down on the tarmac of shelter, food and healthcare for all?  Are we on the staircase of accessible and affordable education for all?  Are we crossing the intersection of Accountabilty Avenue and Integrity Road?  The sad, loud answer is "no".  Sometimes it feels as though the walk has gone completely off the road.  We have libraries with books and the internet, making it easier than ever to research and learn.  We have greater communication choices with even more being developed every day.  And what 'research' are we 'communicating'?  Reality shows that are spectacles of bad taste and language.  Videos that show how much one can shake while nearly naked.  Stories of bad government and wasteful spending around the world.    Missteps, misrepresentation and mistakes all around.  Marvin Gaye called it when he recorded "Make Me Wanna Holler" on 'Inner City Blues': "...Oh, make me wanna holler And throw up both my hands Yea, it makes me wanna holler And throw up both my hands..."  Owww!  
                                                                                                                                                              After the hollering and hand throwing, then what?  Back to the walk, back to working to make positive changes in our communities.  Back to speaking up for those without a voice or vehicle to make themselves heard.  Back to mentoring and encouraging the children to dream big and learning how to make those dreams real.  Back to speaking up and speaking out for what is right.  Back to getting up when we stumble or when we fall.  Back to being the change that we want to see.                                                                                                                                      
Rosa Parks, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Fannie Lou Hamer, Sarah Delany and Bessie Delany,  Justice Thurgood Marshall, Dr. John Hope Franklin, the Tuskeegee Airmen, Roberto Clemente, Osceola McCarty, Ulysses B. Kinsey, Jackie Robinson, Brig. General Daniel "Chappie" James and those who struggled for freedom in South Africa, among so many others around the world, didn't get it wrong.  President Barack Obama, Dr. Keith Black, Oprah Winfrey, Rep. John Lewis,  Ron Clark, Maya Angelou, Attorney Areva Martin, Rev. Dr. Thema Bryant-Davis, Rae Lewis-Thornton, Bernard Kinsey and Shirley Kinsey, and General Colin Powell, among so many others, aren't getting it wrong.  There is room on the road for us to continue the walk.                                                                                                                    Thank you, Madiba,  for your courage and your strength through the struggle. www.nelsonmandela.org/  It was a thrill to watch you walk out of prison on that Sunday afternoon.  It is an honor and a privilege to walk the path of freedom and to look to your journey and others' journeys for inspiration.       Go Well.







                                                                                                                                                                 
The Window Seat by Karen Caffee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at www.karencaffee.com.

Who's Doing The Most?

Thursday, September 2, 2009

Some people are outraged about the comments made on a conservative blog about the Obama children. Okay, you're outraged. The Carter, Clinton and Bush (41) children were all criticized or scrutinized while living in the White House. Their parents raised them in spite of the nasty things that people said about them, and they have survived. It doesn't make it right. It's disgusting, but it's the game. Honestly, did anyone really expect less from these 'patriots'? America was built on a divide and conquer, I-am-better-than-you mentality. There's no outrage in having to read about these insults in a Canadian paper - the outrage is that the WORLD recognizes what we won't, which is that America still can't get past race.

These people aren't mad that Malia Obama wore a peace t-shirt; they're mad that her father is leading an adminstration that is doing its damnedest to get us out of the holes that the ol' boys dropped us into! They are mad that her parents don't have holes in their characters and that they are received and regarded with grace, dignity and courtesy by world leaders. They are mad because the face of America no longer looks like "them". They should get over themselves.

The old folks used to talk about the "nice-nasty" ways of some white people when it came to black people. Not just the 'whites only' and the backs of the bus and the building, but putting things down so they wouldn't have to touch you. Addressing you out of your name or in the third person. The old people would also say things like don't go to sleep on your enemy, and it's better to know your enemy outright than to think someone likes you. We might not know the cyber-bigots by name, but we know they exist. There's no rule that you have to be smart to use a computer, or that you have to have to post facts instead of basura.

I would be willing to bet a dollar against a very large bucket of fertilizer that the posters who spewed racial slurs against the Obama children on that blog would suffer from terminal lockjaw if given the opportunity to stand face to face with President Barack Obama and say those same things to him. Freedom of speech allowed them to post that garbage. Let them try that in China, or Iran.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/ offers one definition of 'doing the most' as
"Trying way too hard to be impressive but only causing self-embarrassment." Fits better than a t-shirt!

If you want to throw rocks and hide your hand, and keep on with the insults and lies, knock yourself out. The rest of us will engage in adult discussions about what we can do to help put our country on solid footing, and then we'll put the plans into play. While you're doing the most, we'll be doing our best.


                                                                                                                                                                
The Window Seat by Karen Caffee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at www.karencaffee.com.

"Four Days" - thanks and farewell to Senator Edward Kennedy

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Four Days was the title of a hardbound book that chronicled the funeral of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. A small 'coffee table book' that captured the poignant moments from his assassination through his burial. I remember those four days, from the feeling of terror when my third grade teacher Mrs. Lefkowitz told us of the president's death, up through the lighting of the eternal flame. April 4, 1968 - Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s death on the evening of my church's first banquet where the speaker was Rev. Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker, one of Dr. King's aides. Two months later, the death of Senator Robert Kennedy, and we grieved in numbed horror for this man who had been such a rock after Dr. King's passing. All of these memories have surfaced during this summer as we mourned the passing of others (Ed McMahon, Walter Cronkite, Michael Jackson, Eunice Kennedy Shriver among them).

New social networks allow us to share our thoughts while we watch the services, read the reports and try to take it all in. When presidents Reagan and Ford, Mother Rosa Parks and news anchor Peter Jennings died we didn't have this light-speed ability to come together - look how technology has evolved in five years. Awesome and slightly scary!

People including our president have commented that we have had time to prepare for Ted Kennedy's death. That block of time has softened or perhaps, for some, eliminated the shock of his passing on Tuesday. It didn't work that way here. My eight-year-old self remembered my and my classmates' tears and fright after JFK's death. (Our teacher decided to tell us but the other classes did not know until after school was dismissed) My eighth-grade self recalled the fearful pause and prayers during our church banquet when the announcment was made that Dr. King had been wounded, and after Dr. Walker finished his remarks, he led us in prayers for Dr. King's soul, and for his family and for our country. When Bobby Kennedy died, my eighth-grade self wondered if the world had gone crazy and if we were truly all going to die in that same year. We watched the grace and the dignity of the Kings and the Kennedys, and held onto the words of comfort, the prayers and the music. Mahalia Jackson sang at JFK's inauguration and at Dr. King's funeral. We clung tightly to "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" as Mrs. King comforted her youngest daughter.

My adult self remembered the agony of waiting for news about JFK Jr. and his wife and sister-in-law, watching Ted Kennedy lead his family through that crisis. We cried and reminisced about John-John and again watched the grace of this family, held close by the youngest son who had become the patriarch too soon by our emotional standards. Teddy brought his family through those days, and he also brought us through. He was and will be the image of redemption which is defined thus by wiser persons than yours truly, courtesy of wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn: [the italics are mine]

                                                                                                                                                              (theology) the act of delivering from sin or saving from evil repayment of the principal amount of a debt or security at or before maturity (as when a corporation repurchases its own stock) the act of purchasing back something previously sold

We talk of people changing their lives, making amends, giving back after a tragedy or wrongdoing. Senator Edward M. Kennedy took his public lashings and he gave back to the American people through his work for over four decades. Whether you like him or loathe some of the things that he did, you cannot deny that he worked hard to make life better for citizens in this country. He didn't seek publicity for what he did, he sought justice and equity for those of us who were not born on the smoother end of the playing field. The Bible charges us to forgive the sins of one another as we ask God to forgive our sins. There are a lot of songs that we sing in church about redemption, restoration, being washed clean from sin. If a man or woman has changed their life, has been delivered of sin or saved from evil, when do we stop trying to beat them into the ground for their past??

Speaker after speaker this week has shared with us their memories of Ted Kennedy, a lot of which we may not have known. This was no act that was put on to fool us. What they spoke about were the actions of a man who sought and found grace. We should all be so fortunate to have friends such as these, to have family such as this. I pray that their memories will keep them warm, bring chuckles and laughs to their lips and smiles to their hearts. That they will draw on those memories when they ask 'what would Teddy do?'

No doubt there will be a coffee-table book about Teddy's life, to join the beautiful autobiography about Nelson Mandela, the inauguration of President Barack Obama, and the countless other books about persons who gave their best efforts, gave their lives to public service. That book will end up in my collection. It is a privilege to live in an age where we can see firsthand the good works of these people.

There is also a self-challenge to try harder, try something else, team up with an opponent to improve life in our country. And there is another challenge - to remember the definition of redemption, to be mindful of our own ledger of accountability. Don't go along with or co-sign wrongdoing, but when the wrong is resolved or corrected, let it go. Move on and move forward. Thank you, Bill Clinton, for looking forward and looking out for the underserved and the unprotected.

As the funeral mass ends, the recessional begins and we hear "America The Beautiful" - now the tears start and I can't sing. The lump in my throat is painful, but I whisper the words. I am proud to be an American, born in this country where my african ancestors were met by my native-american ancestors. I will make the most of this day and my life because I can, WE can all do something to make it better for someone else besides ourselves.

Thank you, Teddy for your determination and courage! You were saved from evil by God's grace. Your debt is stamped 'Paid in Full'. You have gone from labor to reward. Rest in peace.

                                                                                                                                                                
The Window Seat by Karen Caffee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at www.karencaffee.com.