Rambling Monday

Mulling it over, last week was truly action packed. Sadly Rosa Parks passed away. She led a good long life. Having her in the news again allowed me to learn a couple of things that I, in my deviance, had never focused on. When the event that would write her into the history books took place, I always thought that she was sitting in the white section for lack of availability of seats because she had “tired feet.” This wasn’t the case. She later said ''The only tired I was, was tired of giving in."

Rosa Parks was sitting in the “black section” of the bus and it was nearly full. The white section of the bus was full. The bus driver asked her to vacate the seat to give it over to a white woman. Ms. Parks refused. It seems that she gave the tired feet excuse as an excuse to set up the altercation. It was totally peripheral to the event. More important to my understanding was that this type of civil disobedience was not only common for Ms. Parks but it was common behavior for the time among many women, apparently. The civil rights movement had been planning a boycott for some time but required an appropriate trigger/flashpoint to initiate it. Ms. Parks, being intimately involved in the civil rights movement and a knowledgeable activist was astutely opportunistic. The civil rights leaders chose her as poster-woman for the cause. Spontaneity was an illusion, save for the fact of Parks’ choice.

What’s more, after the initial wave of that event and as the movement grew, Rosa Parks came out on the side of Black Nationalism. She was an open admirer of Malcolm X. This aforementioned nationalism accurately implies that she was a gun owner and changed her opinions of non-violence as a means of achieving the goals of the civil rights movement.

I say this not to tarnish a great act of a great human being, but to bring focus to the full picture of history which should be important and not overlooked by those who would idealize. Rosa Parks was stronger and more complex than most know or would give her credit for. It is for these additional facts that it is an even more remarkable and good that she is lying in state in the United States Capital’s rotunda.

In other news… The release date for 1000 Bulbs grows ever closer and we are pleased as punch. For those of you who have heard them and make the Coldplay analogy, please click here as it articulates the differences quite well. It may seem harsh, but sometimes accomplishing great things require great sacrifices. However different or similar Four Day Hombre my be to that other band is not for me to dictate to you. We are all entitled to our opinion. However, whilst talking to Receiving Coordinators Uri in the basement of the Park Slope Food Co Op about FDH on Saturday, he said something that makes sense. The thing about Coldplay that makes them so infectious is that they build their songs really well. This is describing their song writing and instrumentation and all that, but to just listen to them, each song goes somewhere, typically up. When it gets to where it is going, you get some serious melodic payoff. There is definite catharsis.

With FDH, however, you get the build, but in a unique fashion. Build Rock could be yet another sub-genre like Dave Matthews Band was once herded among the southern “groove rock” bands of the latter 90’s. FDH’s brand of Build Rock, unlike Coldplay’s, doesn’t give you the payoff. This sounds bad, but on the contrary, they cultivate the hell out of potential and let you get as close as you possibly can without actually finishing you off. You are sort of left to your own ends and the song’s catharsis isn’t important. It’s like any sex scene in a good major Hollywood studio film (i.e. 21 Grams). You get a taste and you know what happens, but you don’t get the penetration or money shot. You get it without getting it and you want more.

This is just my Monday rambling, so take it for what its worth. However, I will stand by this next statement which I have said before. Potential is one of THE MOST tantalizing things there is. Generally speaking FDH has that whole thing going on and then some.

And wasn’t it quite the political week last week? I’ll leave it at that, but I have to say that Patrick Fitzgerald is totally the Joe Friday of independent counsels.

The Race Line and the Magic Bullet

It certainly has been a big Labor Day weekend in the news cycle. To try and encapsulate all of its events would be nearly futile as my day job efforts continue to distract me from this outlet; however, I do have some thoughts to share.

Kanye West gave voice to the subtext nearly everyone who is either a minority or liberal was thinking, at least a little. The man has a point, sort of. However, I will be contrary here and say that Bush cares, but only to the extent that his privileged upbringing and executive bubble existence allow him to. The man and probably a majority of this administration plebes more than likely have no clue how to begin to appreciate the magnitude and gravity of what has happened. Nor do they have any real concept of what life is truly like for most people of color in this country. That the poor have been the most affected by the devastation of Katrina is no surprise. That the poor are mostly black and minority is not so much a surprise, but is more telling of the racial problems still saturating American society.

I think the Civil Rights movement in the United States accomplished a Herculean feat in its efforts to break down the walls of racial division, achieving equal rights and considerations under the law for minorities. However, using Katrina’s devastation as evidence, it is more than clear that the progress made by Dr. King and President Johnson and those that followed either did not take root or those roots are still shallow. To the point, inequality in this country has only grown and more often than not, the economic spread is greatest between white and black. Legislation was only the beginning. More needs to be done.

To say that legislation was not enough to overcome a racially divided America is pretty easy. To hear that coming from a white guy like me may be a bit unconventional. More unorthodoxy like this is needed from many more people. I had some friends run for President back in 2000. The Brown/Milner platform was certainly eccentric. However, in its eccentricity, there was a brilliant, if not cartoonish jewel within it. One of their platform items was a proposition for mandatory interracial marriage. This allusion is not an endorsement as much as it is just a rehashing of a cool radical idea. It is always better to deal in facts, but to get outside the box, what if something like mandatory interracial marriage came to pass? Moreover, consider what could be learned about the similarities and differences between people.

At the end of the day, love is going to do what it will and you can’t legislate it one way or the other *cough*. The learning is what is important here. Education is the magic bullet that can solve this problem better and faster than any law ever could. For those of us who had the good fortune to ever partake of a study abroad program or join the Peace Corps or like outfit, how much did it teach you? What did you learn and how much of that still influences you today? It was profound and you couldn’t get it from a book. Right? Experience is the ultimate educator regardless of who you are.

LBJ said, upon signing the Civil Rights Act, that it would kill the Democratic Party in the South for the next several decades, and he was largely right. In the 2004 election, I can’t remember there being any blue states south of Maryland. This cannot flatly be construed as the LBJ prophecy manifest, but it colors the observation. Having technically grown up in the South (shout out to NoVa and Band Camp) I can attest, that with some exception, there is still a color line in the country. Tour around North West DC and take it in, then go to South or North East and tell me if you think there is a color line. I can safely guess that it is similar or more pronounced further south of the Mason Dixon line.

Like love, you can’t legislate culture. Some have tried, but barring something glaring that I am overlooking because of mindless busy work here in corporate America, all have failed. What does have impact on culture, to point out the obvious, is prevailing thought and trends as dictated by art, literature and events on a broad scale. The rift between the races and the economic classes has been somewhat breeched by these things, but not as much as it should or can be. Again, more needs to be done. Certainly we can say again that there are two Americas. Making one America is essential to get back to what the country once was. A place where the streets are paved with gold and the average person can expect that with hard work and tenacity, they can earn the American dream.

So, with mandatory interracial marriage not being a realistic or viable option, what do we do? How do we get the kids from Laguna Beach to realize that their lives aren’t realistic? How do we get kids from the slums of Akron Ohio to see that there is a way out and up? How do we get a welfare kid from South East DC to be friends with a millionaire kid from Potomac, Maryland? How do we get that kid from Potomac, Maryland to realize that he isn’t all that different from the South East, DC kid? How do we get an elected executive that grew up privileged with no cares in the world to see that his life is just as valuable as that of a garbage collector that lost everything he owned and loved in a storm?

These are all highly idealistic questions, but they need to be asked and more weight needs to be given to that kind of idealism. That weight was once there and can be again if our kids are taught to think, question and be a part the community and world around them. If all that starts with Kanye West speaking subtext to power, I am all for it.

Off Topic: Is it just me or is the BBC kicking the b'jesus out of American network news coverage of the Katrina aftermath? Also, has anyone picked up on the incongruity of newscasters, i.e. Katie Couric, broadcasting from these storm pummeled places and the dome in Houston and they are looking flawless? Makeup and clothes are perfect? Does anyone else thing that this aesthetic hurts the credibility of their newscast?

Lastly, if you haven’t read Maureen Dowd today, you should. (TB)