Just Do It

Howard Zinn, famous for his People's History of the United States, died recently.  I miss him enormously.  So as we move into this election season, and it promises not to disappoint in triviality, misinformation and hate, I have been reading about the South.  I read Blue Dixie by Bob Moser, which I highly recommend, the thesis of which is the South really is a progressive majority, just waiting for some Democrats to take notice.  Oh, and also be progressive and not just imitation republicans.

I then discovered a book by Howard Zinn, called The Southern Mystique, which compiles three essays from 1959 to 1964, when Zinn was a young idealist teaching at Spellman College in Georgia.  The essays describe in I-was-there detail the struggles for desegregation in Georgia.  I was bowled over by the relevance of what Zinn was describing 45 years ago.  Just insert "Hispanic", "gay", or "Moslem" and there they are, the same bigots making the same kinds of stupid statements, and throwing their weight around while whining about being victimized.  And there's the Democratic administration, being cautious about making statements in support of the group that is being denied its rights for fear of offending the politicians on the other side that have absolutely no intention of compromising anyway.

I'm wondering about the Kennedys, Jack and Bobby, who refused to take a stand against the racism in Albany, Georgia, instead verbalizing support for the rights of the local communities and praise for law and order.  Is it the youthful idealism that they have in common with Obama, that naive belief that if you expect good from people they will be good?  Is it insecurity due to their young rise to power?

I want Barack Obama to read Zinn's words, and learn his lessons.  You need to stand strong for the rights of the individual.  You need to put your voice behind the laws of the Federal Government, and put the power of your presidency behind the law.  Stop equivocating.  We need a leader.

Because when gays have equal rights, when mosques can be built in any community, when Latinos are not harrassed for walking the streets of their towns, the fearmongers will go on to another topic, and we can go back to our lives, and those lives will be the better for the change.

Remember Change???