Vision Circle

Equal in Christ But Not in the World

I had an interesting converstion with relatives when I went to Virginia. I knew they were conservative, but didn't know how conservative they were, believing that slavery throughout history was the same (and supported by the Bible), that the poor are poor as a result of a combination of lack of personal effort and historical karma, and that whites loom over blacks because of the same historical karma. This last part I gathered from a conversation we were having while staying at a time-share that was built on a historical virginia plantation. My relatives believed that the people that owned the plantation historically must have done something right to get that plantation. Blacks who were enslaved must have done something wrong. Our contemporary problems stem from a lack of personal morality, and a lack of racial morality.

Hm.

Alan Keyes, Politics, Values, and Kinship

OK, this is something that I don't really understand:

Maya Keyes loves her father and mother. She put off college and moved from the family home in Darnestown to Chicago to be with her dad on a grand adventure. Even though she disagrees with him on "almost everything" political, she worked hard for his quixotic and losing campaign for the U.S. Senate.

Now Maya Keyes -- liberal, lesbian and a little lost -- finds herself out on her own. She says her parents -- conservative commentator and perennial candidate Alan Keyes and his wife, Jocelyn -- threw her out of their house, refused to pay her college tuition and stopped speaking to her.

Maya, 19, says her parents cut her off because of who she is -- "a liberal queer." Tomorrow, she will take her private dispute with her dad into the open. She is scheduled to make her debut as a political animal, speaking at a rally in Annapolis sponsored by Equality Maryland, the state's gay rights lobby.

I can't see kicking your kid out of the house because of political differences.

Whither Blacks?

I found this little graphic about black income. Yes that's right black annual household income for the year 2004 in thousands. In this demographic profile good or bad? I'm not going to identify the source of this graphic other than to say what I already said. What are we to make of this fact? What might these people be doing right or wrong? What political orientation might we assume or prescribe? What does this say about America? About black America? What are your reactions to this? Does it matter? Why? Why not?

More on Iris Chang

Around the time ODB passed, I noted the passing of Iris Chang. Her work The Rape of Nanking opened the eyes of the North (she'd say the West) to the atrocities committed in Asia during WW II. Today in Salon a former friend writes a eulogy in How Iris Chang Became a Verb.

Sticking Up For Alan Keyes

I hate to do this, because in general, I consider the man to be off the deep end and an opportunist of the bad kind. But I have to do this.

Sigh

Alan Keyes has staked his claim as a man of faith. His faith states that homosexuality is a sin. So, why should he be blasted for stating in straight forward terms, that those who practice homosexuality are immoral?

And since he believes his faith tells him that abortion is murder, and his faith states that murder is a sin, why is it wrong for him to say that the "leader" of his faith would not vote for a man who goes against the teachings of the faith?

Okay, now I have to go take a long shower.

The Dark Side of Positive Images

J at Silver Rights scribes on a bit about author Thulani Davis who recalls her grandparents and their lives as slaves in Virginia. She finds it curious that blacks and whites have vastly different memories of that peculiar time.

Southern history is still too often viewed through a lens of white privilege. I do not know when Thulani Davis' book will be completed. But, in the interim, I encourage anyone interested in the complex reality of real Southern families to read the articles she is currently publishing based on research into her families -- both black and white.

I immediately thought of talent shows and image awards and 'American Idol' and 'The Apprentice' in this very context. While surely African Americans' great triumph has been to cull beauty and strength from the devastations of oppression, that very beauty and strength can be used to paint a rosy picture which is not wholly true. In reviewing black reticence to 'air dirty laundry', perhaps it should not be so taboo.

Nothing is going to reveal the nature of black culture like a clash between its elements. When jazz purists go after hiphop, when Baptist diss Methodists, when Brooklyn meets Decatur the results are often very illuminating, not only for the parties involved, but neutral observers. Of course this kind of conflict flies in the face of unity and is often suppressed out of fear of 'divide and conquer' strategies of the Man. But reality shows that racism doesn't hurt all blackfolks equally, nor is it our biggest problem.

We're all better off when we openly discuss our triumphs and failures. Each one teach one is not all stories about princesses and castles, but stories about dragons and dungeons as well. Suppressing the foul stories gives license to the rose colored stories. So watch out for that. Your success is going to be used against you.

The Passion of Christ

A number of interwoven conversations has got me thinking about Christianity. Of course there's the furor over gay marriage. And one of my boys (heavy Christian) planned to do a photoshoot of foster children only to have second thoughts after he realized that one of the kids had been adopted by a gay couple. And then there's the recent hubbub about Gibson's The Passion.

My wife is Christian. Many of my best friends are Christian.

As soon as Gibson picked Jim Caviezel to be Jesus I knew I wouldn't even invest in The Passion on the hollywood stock exchange. Gibson's passion for the truth didn't quite extend that far did it? I wonder who Mad Max would've chosen?

On gay marriage, the solution is a complicated one. I believe that Christianity as a faith is in the process of dying a slow death, because it is a faith. As such, it's almost like those in gay and lesbian communities the country over, want to integrate into a burning house. But on the other hand, in as much as I think Christianity can be resurrected by reason combined with love, I can only imagine a few other groups as able to save Christianity from itself.

For my boy the cameraman there is no debate. And from my standpoint he's right--there IS no debate. Jesus is love. End of Story. I can't imagine a situation in which a loving spirit would want to separate a child from loving, caring, respectful parents. But what do I know? I know the reason Easter changes every year. Which means I know a bit more than most Christians.

Real African Americans

Glenn finagles a dumb complaint about 'real' African-Americans.

Let me break it down to for you. If you are born somewhere on the continent of Africa and migrate to America, then you do so as a

• slave
  
• illegal immigrant
  
• legal immigrant
  

Two of these answers mean that you are associated by the US government as a former citizen of an African nation. And while it's true that a goodly percentage of Americans cannot locate America itself on a globe, those of us with a rudimentary understanding of geography should make a small effort to recognize that country as well. Africa, in the American imagination, suffers a great deal of ignorance. People here can name more animals than states. That is unacceptable for political discussion, period.

So while the good professor attempts to make a point about the term 'African American' he does so with an article which is a crushing indictment of this very ignorance. The soldier in question who hails from Kenya is so tightly identified with his country of origin that fellow soldiers don't remember his real name, only 'Kenya'. Kenya is a nation, and that's the point.

We African Americans identify with the dark continental myth. It's overreach, but the term serves its demographic purpose well, if not specifically. But the term is ours. We invented it, like 'black' and we resent its misappropriation. We cannot prove which African nation from which we originated, our contemporaries can. Do us all a favor and respect that.

Volokh also give a bloodless legal rendering of a related controversy. The disrespect in the matter is clear.

Rebuilding black families

I hung out with my fraternity brothers last night at the Northland Skating Rink in Detroit. First time I've been there in approximately 20 years at least. I never learned to skate backward much less two-step with a partner, but I loved being there and talking to people I haven't seen in bleems. Whereas before I would've caught most of the people I wanted to see at the club, now I'm finding that I'm increasingly turning to the playdate as a way to catch up when I'm back in the city. I've pretty much got a gang of kids (the Spence motto? "This is a gang...and I'm in it.") and while I've got a class inflected bias against Jack and Jill I'm all for getting my kids together with folks of like mind, whatever the level of attainment.

I didn't get much sleep last night for a number of reasons, but while browsing I found this. I appeared on C-Span this week and among the well wishers was Lawrence Ross and Stephen Carter. Prof. Carter's wife Enola Aird started the Motherhood Project. Her question is a central one, not just for black families but for Americans in general. What would our society look like if mothers were truly valued?

Indecency vs Injustice

I've stumbled across a polite discussion on decorum. If I had a better grounding in the classics, I'm sure that I could find some period piece, one excoriating the dictates of excruciating manners which aptly applies here. I'm impressed.

It's rather stunning to me that such a detailed analysis of racism takes place in an environment in which racism is so patently weak. And I think it goes to the question of the not only the bizarre directions of anti-racism (which I think is failing) but also to the inability for us to recognize the challenges of civil society. As these outrages in microcosm keep finding their way to us on a regular basis, what are we to think?