1.20.05
January has always been a month of reflection for me, usually it has been marking the new year, as well as Martin Luther King Jr. day, perhaps the first influential American figure that I read about whom made a lasting impression on me. I still remember reading about him in preschool, in a short biography about him that actually gave a lot more context and insight than many history texbooks do, now that I think about it. Much lot about his legacy, and commentary on American society and race relations struck a chord, especially the fact that he was partially inspired by Mahatma Ghandi’s teachings of non-violent civil disobedience.
What is not as well known about him was his stance on the Vietnam war, and the root causes of opression and racial injustice, our system of unchecked capitalism that has made our country an imperial power. A lot of these ideas came out well after his “I have a Dream” speech, none of which fit well with the warmer and fuzzier image that the establishment would like to remember him by. His famous speech was given five years before he was killed, during which time he had spoken out loudly against US foreign policy at the time. Not surprising that the government opened a file on him in the years prior to his death and that he was probably considered one of the most dangerous black americans around, following Malcolm X.
For these reasons and many others, I found it hard to listen to Dubya’s inauguration today, especially that the closing benediction mentioned Dr. King’s name. It seemed fittingly ironic walking in a sea of haole elite, wearing mink furs, and cowboy hats. Of course the pastor that delivered the benediction was black, another example of how the right wing hides their true views of racial tolerance and equality behind another token minority’s face.
The ceremony itself was worth commenting on. First off it took forever to get through the security checkpoints and screening, a feat that really seemed wasted. Plus it was frickin cold, even for someone who has weathered 6 Wisconsin winters. Luckily I had the brains to dress warmly enough, and prioritize wearing shoes with traction for the ice and snow, I was amazed to see quite a few people in dress shoes and high heels. I think the movement of people from the checkpoints to the actual event was not well planned at all. I spent at least an hour standing in place while waiting for a huge mess of people to inch forward. Once I got to my ticketed area, the ceremony had already started. I had enough time to see Dick Cheney getting sworn in as VP, and I realized that the only seats left were right in line sight of a big white tent which blocked any visual of the podium. To my left, back and front were all vocal supporters, who were cheering as if we were at a football game or something. More cowboy hats, boots, and mink fur coats.
Halfway into his inaugural address, a bunch ladies clad in pink connected pieces of a fabric sign that they had stashed in their coats. They were about three rows in front of me. In classic activist tradition, they yelled until the police took their signs down, ignoring the jeers and random snowball thrown at them from the angry red-state crowd. After things settled down, they pulled out another sign, while chanting to bring the troops home. A couple of them then tied themselves to the chairs while the cops dragged them off.
I have to admit that I was pretty amused by what was transpiring in front of me, and was disturbed by the kind of comments that the pro-dubya crowd was yelling around me. “Get a life!” “I’m sure you’re mother is proud of you!” “Bring the troops in! Right here!” “Get a Job!” “You lost, now shut up!”. All within reason of shit talking for a partisan crowd. But what disturbed me was what followed, “Shoot em!” “Zap em with a taser!” all with a haole twang, or course. I hope they weren’t serious, but you could feel the tension in the crowd, almost like a mob mentality. Looking in their eyes, I could see a deep hatred and anger in some of the audience to a level that surprised me. So much so that I was anticipating some of the people next to me to run up there and start throwing punches. It all goes to show that we still very much so a divided country, and will most likely be so for some time. I cringed at the thought of the snipers scanning the crowd and wondered whether it had been a good idea to come at all. The thing that a lot of people don’t seem to realize is there is always a risk of being an innocent bystander, especially in situations with tight security.
Throughout dubya’s speech there were several rounds of applause for every time he made a religious comment, or praise of American’s being born in the creator image. I almost felt like I was at church or something, given the reaction to the people around me. It was troubling to see this many people collected in one area eating up the outright hypocrisy in what the past four years have been, and the promises for the future. It seems that ever more so today we as a nation are moving quickly towards the very thing that we claim to be freeing the world from. All this talk of freedom, freedom, liberty, freedom and liberty rings more and more empty when considering whats really going on around us.
My concern is that much of America is still asleep. The start of a new presidential term, and the 109th congress would be a great time to wake up.