 |
|
|
|
|
From Our Readers
by Various
November 2004
Coming home, I passed a neighbor's window that yesterday had a Kerry sign in it. The sign had been turned around and in black marker are written the words, “Shame On You America.”—Ditta Baron Hoeber
Yesterday, nearly one million of my fellow Oregonians agreed that my wife and I are second-class citizens undeserving of over 1,000 rights that heterosexual married couples take for granted. I can't even begin to express how I feel … friends and family have tried to comfort me, kindness that brings me to tears. Knowing that they are trying to understand my pain and sadness helps. As does the fact that over 700,000 people voted against Measure 36. It is still not enough to stop my tears.—Jessica Mitchell, Portland, Oregon
My mind wanders to the late great tap-dancer Gregory Hines in The Cotton Club, where he's plays a simple nightclub entertainer faced with the chaos of gang warfare, feeling helpless to make an effective—read violent—impact. Eventually he concludes that it's not loser talk to say that he'll fight with his tap shoes. He'll dance like a fucking warlord. By hard work and grace we'll evolve. That's my new hope, because in that upwardly-mobile process, in spite of all obstacles and defeats, even unto death, you can only win. Excellence is the best revenge, I still believe that.—Clark Roth, Philadelphia
At noon on November 2, the dining room of the Famous Fourth Street Deli, a traditional Election Day lunch spot for politicians, was filled with power brokers lining up for bagels, lox and political kibbitzing. Outside, a large tour bus was blasting hip-hop. Inside, Russell Simmons was talking up his Hip-Hop Action Summit, a nationwide get out the vote effort. “The hip-hop community is the best branding community in America,” said Simmons. “When the hip-hop community chooses something, America chooses it. The hip-hop community chose voting, because young people want their voices heard. Look at the turnout so far today. America has chosen to vote.” Everywhere I went, in the Barrio, in black neighborhoods, in Center City, in South Philly, the voters were out in droves. Anthony Ringgold, 21 and his friend, George Slaughter, 35, who were in standing in line among seniors in wheel chairs at the Stephen Smith Home for the Aged on Belmont Avenue in West Philadelphia. Ringgold said he'd had enough of Bush. “He's fucked up,” said Ringgold. “Time for a change.” Slaughter agreed, adding that there is such an urgency among young blacks “that even my little brother and his corner boys, you know, street pharmacists, are getting off the corner to vote.” So much for high hopes. —Howard Altman, Philadelphia
I will never be okay with the events of the past thirty-six hours; but perhaps I am coming to a place where I don't have to blame myself and I don't have to feel entirely hopeless … my plan is to try and make a little bit of progress every day, for the next four years, for however long it takes, until we break the shell of inhumanity and perversity that's covered our country. —Meg Buzzi, Columbus, Ohio
I accuse the leadership of the Democratic Party with negligence; with misrepresenting the ideals of the party; with malfeasance; of moral bankruptcy; of exchanging charisma for conviction; of a failure of imagination; of a deep suspicion of its constituency; of cynicism and apathy; of a willful estrangement from the working class; of betraying the party's legacy; and of complicity in the party's recent losses, all of which culminate in a violation of the party's legitimacy as our representatives in government. Our recent defeat warrants both considerable discussion of and quiet reflection on what it means to be a democrat in the United States of America today, and how it relates to the future of our party. —J. Todd Ramsay, Philadelphia
What the politicians want from us is not to “heal,” but to “heel.” Like subservient pets, we're supposed to be quiet, walk behind them, and continue to obey their commands without question. I don't want to obey. I don't want to agree with this President's immoral war. I don't want to quietly accept the unnecessary deaths and maiming of our good young men and women and innocent Iraqi children. I don't want to be forced to stand in a “Free Speech Zone” to disagree—about anything. I want to protest wherever and however I can. It used to be a right under the First Amendment in the pre-Bush and Ashcroft era. I want to dissent even more fiercely and disagree more loudly than before. My voice still isn't being be heard in Washington. I want my civil rights—I want your civil rights—returned.—Rosemary R. Brasch, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania
I have never felt such a feeling of dread. I woke up yesterday and immediately had a panic attack. I woke up this morning, and there it was again. I can't believe that the majority of Americans think George Bush is the better man. —Patricia Nims, Fort Mill, South Carolina
Clearly, the nation has spoken. Here's what they said: “We don't care about anyone but ourselves. More unemployment is fine with us. Diplomacy is no longer relevant to foreign policy. Health care is a privilege, not a right.” Those opposed to this regime will wait patiently for a new light of leadership to break, but as our patience wears thin, we may be forced to light a fire under ourselves. —Joshua H. Nims, Philadelphia
During the campaign, Bush and Kerry both suffered from the political need to lie, but their lies were of a different type. Bush supporters wanted badly to see the truth in their candidate's lies, that Iraq was going well, that the tax cuts were working, and that his policies stood on moral principle. On the other hand, those who supported Kerry subsisted on a private reserve of confidence that their candidate was in fact lying. When Kerry said marriage was between a man and a woman, they trusted he didn't believe it. When speaking about how religious faith informed his goals in public policy, they hoped the tacit truth proved otherwise. More to the point, Bush lied to promote an ideology he believed in, while Kerry lied to obfuscate an ideology he either lacked or was embarrassed by. —George Balgobin, Philadelphia
The absence of cosmopolitan, networked public intellectuals may actually contribute to the isolation of smaller, localized groups who could be cut off from other ideas and influences. Interactive dialogue is key to any movement forward from where we are now. We cannot abandon cosmopolitanism for a new form of medievalism, we cannot disengage from the geopolitical level. —Peter Schwarz, Philadelphia
Hey Village Idiot and all your fellow theocrats and neocons, hear me now. We'll be back and we'll be stronger and better organized and even hungrier and madder and more focused and more disgusted and we will take this country back with all its marvelous potential and we will ultimately prevail. —Wendy Forman
I am 26 years old, and by the time Bush is out of the White House I will be 30. I fear for what the world will look like then, and yet I feel it is my responsibility to continue to care about what happens in America and the rest of the world. —Skye Parrott, Paris, France
How do voters make their decisions? Are they aware of how this administration lied and cheated and used fear to manipulate us? Are they aware of what lies ahead? As Shakespeare wrote, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings.” —John Oliver Mason
I am a mother. It's up to me to explain this to my kids. My 8 year-old stayed up all night watching the returns with her dad. She climbed into bed this morning to ask who won. I told her we didn't know but it looked like Bush and she was sad, she was angry. I'm going to teach her to use it.—Lauren Eichelberger, Baltimore, Maryland
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
