Who Spoke?

I understand that Clay Aikens took a bit of criticism for tweeting that there were not a lot of blacks at the GOP convention. While the 'soberasamorman' quip was not called for, his observation was not incorrect. I saw a sea of white faces and no one who saw any footage at all could say it wasn't so.

The GOP is not inclusive. They never have been and it is not there intention to be so. They have an agenda. They are playing to the Tea Party. That is where the hew and cry "we want our country back" started. And while the concept of 'smaller government' is not new, it is of particular concern to Tea Party followers. Now as a community we know code when we hear it. It is very thinly veiled racism.

Yes I know. There are African Americans who find the Tea Party appealing. But you can be a member of the group and practice the 'ism'. All you need do is look at the backgrounds of the people of color who spoke at the convention. You got to see Mia Love, the mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah. She made it clear that her parents immigrated to this country with $10. What she did not say is that depending on their immigration status they may have been eligible thousands of dollars in relocation funds provided by the United States. She made it clear that they did not look to the government for assistance. At $10,000 per family member you didn't need food stamps. You were eligible but we only have your word that no assistance was received.

Nikki Haley also spoke. she is the Governor of South Carolina. Again,a child of immigrant parents.
Again, touting the whole bootstrap  philosophy. The is a whole if you want it, it is within your reach. I am not sure that there is any understanding of the difference between the narrative of African Americans as opposed to recent or first generation immigrants. It makes them totally oblivious to the covert disdain that is felt by those of us who know that we are descendants of slaves.

I must say that I was most put off by Marco Rubio and Condoleezza Rice. Don't get me wrong. Mr. Rubio and Ms. Rice are brilliant speakers. They both know how to deliver a message and enthrall a crowd. However, when people are either misleading or disingenuous, I am put off. Mr. Rubio spoke of his parents escaping the revolution in Cuba. Really? Your parents immigrated in 1956 prior to Castro. I believe that the real 'revolution' did not begin until December of 1956 when the Castro brothers, and Cher arrived in Cuba to conduct all out guerrilla warfare.

Ms. Rice spoke of the failure to educate poor children and how that jeopardized their ability to fully participate in the 'American Dream'. That is interesting as you were in lock-step with GW Bush who initiated 'No Child Left Behind'. With the issues of bias in standardized tests it is no wonder that some children are not performing well.

If children are less educated. can't think critically and can't perform it is because teachers, in order to secure federal funding now teach to a ridiculous test that means they can regurgitate facts but have no capacity to reason. If poor and minority children are not performing well, maybe it is culturally based; maybe there is a difference in the way some children learn; maybe it is an actual issue of skill. I teachers are focused on learning a series of facts, language and calculation there is little attention paid to whether the children have the ability to read well and actually comprehend what they read.

As I stated in my last post, I will be applying the same level of scrutiny to the DNC next week. But we really need to think about our choices and what we want this country to become and how we want to be seen as members of this society.Right now we are barely visible. What we want is to be so visible that we cannot be ignored.