“I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother’s race.”

And

“I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.” from the Audacity of Hope.

The problem is that the quotes are either tweaked, taken out of context or completely non-existent. Not that the President is not guilty of racism or favoritism, it’s just that fudging his verbiage is completely unnecessary. Actual quotes from Dreams of My Father, while not as concise, are sufficient to show the mindset of the redistributor in chief.

Nationalism provided that history, an unambiguous morality tale that was easily communicated and easily grasped. A steady attack on the white race, the constant recitation of black people’s brutal experience in this country, served as the ballast that could prevent the ideas of personal and communal responsibility from tipping into an ocean of despair. Yes, the nationalist would say, whites are responsible for your sorry state, not any inherent flaws in you. In fact, whites are so heartless and devious that we can no longer expect anything from them. The self-loathing you feel, what keeps you drinking or thieving, is planted by them. Rid them from your mind and find your true power liberated. Rise up, ye mighty race!

The emotions between the races could never be pure; even love was tarnished by the desire to find in the other some element that was missing in ourselves. Whether we sought out our demons or salvation, the other race would always remain just that: menacing, alien, and apart.

The minority assimilated into the dominant culture, not the other way around. Only white culture could be neutral and objective. Only white culture could be nonracial, willing to adopt the occasional exotic into its ranks. Only white culture had individuals. And we, the half-breeds and the college-degreed, take a survey of the situation and think to ourselves, Why should we get lumped in with the losers if we don’t have to? We become only so grateful to lose ourselves in the crowd, America’s happy, faceless marketplace; and we’re never so outraged as when a cabbie drives past us or the woman in the elevator clutches her purse, not so much because we’re bothered by the fact that such indignities are what less fortunate coloreds have to put up with every single day of their lives-although that’s what we tell ourselves-but because we’re wearing a Brooks Brothers suit and speak impeccable English and yet have somehow been mistaken for an ordinary nigger.

Perhaps the last quote gives some insight into the frustration and anger he felt. An anger not totally unjustified, yet totally out of place in what is supposed to be a “post racial” administration.

Recently, the Arizona situation has revealed the man has a greater affinity to the illegal alien community than to the American citizens paying for all sorts of services and fearing the rampant crime inflicted on their state. Whatever justification there is for his feelings of alienation, Barack Hussein Obama, through is words and his actions shows that he cannot be the president of all the people and look out for the welfare of every citizen when he harbors such feelings in his tortured mind.

As I was growing up, hearing about the speeches and marches of Martin Luther King, much of what I heard was that he was stirring up trouble where he had no business. In the rural northeast there was little knowledge or understanding of the situations he was fighting against. There was only one black student in my high school graduating class and she was kind of cute and fit in with everyone, so I could not comprehend what the fuss was all about.

It was only later, after Dr. King was gone, and I saw grown men with dark skin addressed as “Boy” and saw pictures of segregated facilities that I began to grasp the struggles of freedom fighters like Martin Luther King Jr and others like Medgar Evers.

Our Declaration of Independence enshrined the words “all men are created equal”. Correctly it does not specify all men of a certain color, a particular economic class or those connected to the “ruling class”. It says all men are created equal. It does not say that some are only three fifths equal as some in congress specified so as to obtain congressional representation, yet not recognize the humanity of some citizens.

In so many ways, the projected rights some feel they have to lead, based on their skin color is just as repulsive, perhaps even more so, than the projected right to lead of the English royalty that our founding fathers threw off. It has been my personal observation that those who look down on others because of some external characteristic like skin color have the least reason to look down on anyone.

It may be for this reason that they are the most defensive and most violent in keeping what they consider to be their God-given dominance. History tells us that the Democrat Party rose to power in the Reconstruction south, partly through the efforts of its terrorist wing, the Ku Klux Klan that intimidated black voters and often left them hanging high in trees as a warning to others.

It is against this backdrop that Dr. King took his struggle to the streets in the 50’s and 60’s. The old racist thinking hadn’t changed much, but it had developed a veneer of sophistication and pleasantry. The north was little better as many, lured by the promise of jobs, migrated north to less hospitable climates. Most making the move “knew their place” and created an underclass of cheap laborers who basically did what they were told.

Our country is not what it should be, but great strides have been made in the direction Dr. King was working. Our black friends owe him a great debt of gratitude for his inspired leadership. The rest of us do also. He opened the eyes of many of us to situations we did not see or chose not to see.

What can we learn from this man of God who stood against established social norms? First thing we see was his commitment to non-violent protest. I believe it was part of his spiritual DNA. It also was a matter of practicality as he represented a minority group surrounded by many who would be only too happy to return violence with greater violence. Today many are questioning whether we can right the wrongs of the current administration peacefully. Dr. King, following in the footsteps of Ghandi, showed what can be accomplished by single-minded dedication to one’s goal. Unfortunately, his life ended when someone, seeing white dominance threatened, chose the violent route to a temporary victory.

Our government was not so powerful and pervasive at the time. It was not as immune to citizen concerns. King’s phones were tapped, but he did not have an empowered Department of Homeland Security breathing down his neck. We need to hope and pray that such an approach can work in our situation. If it does not, we need to decide, like our founding fathers, how much we value our freedom and what price we are willing to pay to keep it for ourselves and our children.

The non-violent approach he used was not a non-confrontational approach. Martin Luther King Jr. and his followers sat down in lunch counters that refused to serve them. The closed down streets. Together they raised their voice, letting the world know they would not be denied. The non-violent approach was not an easy road as King told the people they had to stick together. They had to work together, they had to pray together, they had to march together. They at to get arrested together. Whoa! Did he say get arrested together?

Sit ins at lunch counters, while conceived as peaceable, did not always end peacefully. Protesters were hauled off to jail for trespassing. Sometimes overzealous police, protecting the old value system, cracked some heads or crosses were burned in the night. Some working for freedom suffered the same fate as King and Evers… some simply disappeared forever.

We may be up against a more pleasant speaking opponent, but Chicago style thuggery can be just a vicious. The question for us is how far is each of us willing to go in pursuit of the freedom and justice that used to be the United States of America. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is rightly a heroic figure in the black community. But, we can all learn from his life, his mission and his dedication. Thank you Dr. King.

Listen to Henry Gates Jr. tell you in his own words about his views on race relations. Then you can judge for yourselves if his friend Barack Obama had good cause to assume he was an innocent victim of prejudiced police stupidity. Both 911 and police communication show no racial component to the discussions. Most of us would be happy police followed up on a break in report… particularly regarding our own homes.

Sure I might have been a bit annoyed after breaking my own door, but simply showing a photo ID would have ended the situation quickly… which would have been my goal so I could go about my business. However we tend to see situations through our own filters and expectations. Dr. Gates apparent expectation that Sgt. Crowley fit the profile of the head cracking racist cop from the bad old days just itching to bash his head with a nightstick. Which brings up the question of why he would continue to harass the officer after he had proven the home was his and no crime had been committed.

It seems rather odd that one would continue to harang someone, who in your mind, despised you and was carrying a gun, billy club and a badge. This does not make sense. However, as I’m sure many of Dr. Gates own ancestors experienced, there are times when disgust and hatred is so strong that it overrides common sense and the persons own welfare… to their own detriment. It’s just one more example of how hate can hurt the one doing the hating as much, if not more, than the object of the hatred.

In some ways, both Henry Gates Jr and his friend Barack Obama are tragic figures, locked into their own prejudices from the past and what they’ve learned that they cannot see that so many Americans have moved past the idea of looking first at the color of a man’s skin. While not fully realized, we have made great strides toward Martin Luther King Jr’s. goal of having people judged on the content of their character. But they are so locked up in the old model that they cannot see this.

Sure there are those who would hate both men based on their skin color, but they are part of a shrinking minority. Beside this, in my experience, the ones most likely to look down on someone for this reason are the ones who have the least reason to look down on anyone. It’s time we all give up the this kind of petty thinking… even those who wish the comfort of clinging to past hurts. We need to keep in mind the words of Dr. King who came through times when black churches were firebombed and white toughs would drive through black neighborhoods just looking for someone to beat up, when he told us “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”