The morning after South Carolina

Politicos woke up a little hung over with the dregs of celebration from Obama's victory in South Carolina. The counter-intuitive outcome that punished Bill Clinton's racialized attack dog role in the Hillary campaign was fueled by recognition and response to the continuing significance of race in America.

Obama has an embedded constituency that supports him because of what he is not where he stands on the issues. The big three in the Democratic primary are very close and the top two appear to be twins on the issues. However the embeddedness that provides Obama his base, while not necessarily or even ordinarily a bad thing, is ignored, denied and rejected in his public persona and campaign speeches except for a nod and wink when appealing to prurient interests before predominantly Black audiences. We are who we are and that defines us though may not determine who we will be.

The South Carolina outcome is in part a rejection or response to the rabid, understated, implied, coded, down and dirty appeal to fear of a Black man that Bill Clinton used to promote his wife's candidacy. It is not clear that Obama was viewed in the election as "a presidential candidate" rather than as a "Black presidential candidate." What does this say about the articulated dream of Obama as a gestalt for the American consciousness that view their interests as the same across race, class and gender lines? I think it says that when America looks at the blot on the page they may see different things by different people but none are colorblind and they all recognize that it is a "black" blot.

That is not necessarily bad. But ignoring that reality is to ignore reality.

Inching up on empowerment

I spent the morning talking with a friend on strategies for economic empowerment that can lead to economic development. One of the issues in the conversation was the old canard of what comes first saving money or spending it. Now while it may sound obvious to you when stated that way it is not always as clearly identified or addressed in real life.

We seemed to focus on the role of percevied reality and the internal emotional imaginings that movitate our actions and define our behavior. A major contradiction (possibly) or condition (definitely) that we rubbed up against was the idea of whether the purpose of economic activity was to generate consumables or to create assets. Now this again may sound obvious to the casual observer. But should we throw all of our actual and ideological energy into the efficiency basket or does it have a false bottom through which inevitably falls effectiveness? Again, can we be effective if we are not being efficient and lose the access to the additional output, income and accumulative opportunity?

The discussion gave me the opportunity to pause and reflect on the many initiatives that were started and withered on the vine from lack of sustenance (sometimes financial, sometimes emotional, all the time spiritual) and dried up and died from limited interest. One of the things that I noted was my attempts to revise each plan to respond to the factors that seemed to contribute most to the previous failure. The learnings were important but I think I might have been missing out on the understandings. While I was able to observe and include or remove elements of the plans that seem to contribute to failure or limit success, I don't think I really understood what was going on.

Thinking about my reflections on the observations I had made regarding past efforts to foster and develop an approach that would both empower and enchant the participants I now realize that what I thought was a mathematical formula for engaging self-interest to establish enduring involvement was really a cry for spiritual guidance from souls wandering in a thicket of barren promises. The idea that having defines humanity, that money gives meaning, that economics equals insight into the souls of wo/men is the fiction that covers the page of most of our lives. Our friend Weber talked about how this notion was tied up into theoretical propostions that had material correlates in the logic of capitalism tells part of the story. Sombart's connection of the cultural practices of Jews and the economic outcomes of every day life contains another hint of the truth of the matter. We are all today like the drunk who dropped his key upon exiting his vehicle and went down the street to look for it under the street lamp because there is more light there.

The current cultural and intellectual world we currently live in is dark and there are spiritual values we have lost that we cannot find by going to where the money is. The mere thought that accumulation might not be the motivation of our actions is often derided as backward and non-modern. It is thought that poverty exists through a lack of ability or unwillingness to innovate and to sacrifice while holding to oneself the benefits of our effort in order to accumulate. We need capital to compete in a capitalist society but what if the society is spiritually bancrupt? You can't get there from here.

Ideas about european cluture, the African experience and "mainstream" American culture

While engaging in a dialog with a friend whose political instincts and social world view I respect an interesting thing happened. Now, it turns out that we were communicating by email. We were talking about the implications of the Barack O'Bama campaign. My buddy invited a few other people that were friends of his to engage in the discussion.

In response to my maybe cynical, definitely intended to be insightful and less than enthusiastic analysis of the campaign and the impact of a O'Bama presidency, one of the friends jumped in just as they had been invited to do.

Turns out he was of European ancestry and he began to talk about how as a high school teacher many young black males were not resilient and were dropping out of school The also noted that "mainstream" society didn't understand what Black folks problem was because after all they had been given 40 years of affirmative action. So, why can't they get their shit together. He noted that neither he or anyone he knew were the beneficiaries of slavery or the segregated past that emerged post-Reconstruction (of course I am paraphrasing him).

I was flabbergasted, astounded and surprised by his response and by the fact that my buddy considers him his buddy. I said something to that effect in an email that I sent to everyone since the statement in contention was sent to everyone. The point is that he was making my point and not realizing it.

It reminds me of an incident which happened about 15 or so years ago while my oldest child was in high school. An incident occurred at her school where a young man of African descent had been called a n****r by another student of European descent. The Black student responded to the psychological insult to his spirit with a physical insult upside the white students head. The Black kid was expelled from school. When the mother protested to the assistant principal she was told that the school had a zero tolerance policy for physical violence and her soon would "just have to get used to" this particular insult and others that might come his way. I was asked to intervene as an advocate for the parent and child.

I arranged a meeting with the high school principal, the parent and a couple other people from the community. The assistant principal whose behavior is in question was not available. However, in talking with the Principal I suggested that one reason students of African descent become violent is because they feel they are in a hostile environment at the school. That many Black kids report that when say something about objectionable behavior their concerns are often ignored and they are told that the were misinterpreting the situation and were overly sensitive about their issue of concern and were wrong about the intentions or motivations of the person who displayed the behavior they were complaining about. After this I reported that the parent on whose behalf we were meeting was concerned that the assistant principal had told her that her son would have to live with being called names that were offensive to him.

The principal's response was that he knew the assistant principal personally and he was sure that the assistant principal did not mean what we were suggesting he said. In fact, the principal expressed doubt that the events occurred as the parent related them or that the assistant principal made the statement attributed to him by the parent.

I was incensed. I was livid. I was enraged. But I was cool. The principal was engaging in the same behavior that I had suggested the students of African descent were subjected to at the school It was not an object lesson for the principal because he was convinced that he was right and the parent was mistaken in her characterization of events.

When I saw the response of my buddies friend in the email. I felt similar to that day in the principal's office. It was a sense of hopelessness at one level. How can you expect someone to commit social suicide by acknowledging their privilege and the structural aspects of society that favors them and handicaps another. Then to beat the band, my buddy chirps in with several examples of individual achievement to butress this friends argument that the system is fine and if any one is not making they must carry the individual responsibility.

I recognize that there are two ways of seeing the world and actually even more ways to be in the world. it just seems like they don't.

Reflections on the reflections in the mirror

I am feeling the fuzziness of the lack of focus that comes with finding the future has become your present. Nice thoughts about doing something, anything, is marked off by the idea and the inaction that follows. It is part of understanding that our time on this plane is measured in memories and defined by our deeds. But the deeds that really matter are the ones that organically emerge from the moment. They are the ones we remember and which serve as a well of inspiration and motivation. But then what about the day to day stuff?

Well, we live in a youth obsessed culture that does not value what the older, slower, more deliberate, definitely increasingly discursive style of elders that used to be called wisdom but now seems increasing ly to be consider a disability. What are we looking for in our life, from our past or for our future? I am wondering.

The day after Jan. 11, 2008

I have stumbled upon a situation where there is what I can only describe as a spiritual intransigence. I recognize it because I have and do experience it in my own life. There are times when we feel a certain way, either happy or sad, and it is not based on material conditions or the terms of our circumstance and situation. We can be happy while surrounded by situations that others (and possibly you yourself) would consider bleak. Then there are those persons and the times when each of us may feel depressed, deserted and dejected in the face of prosperity and plenty (whether physical, emotional or spiritual). But what do we do when the view does not coincide with jconcrete conditions or a particular reality of the situation.

A 16 oz. glass with 8 oz. of water in it is only that. But we each make value judgements concerning whether it is half-empty or half-full. Based on the value judgement we release a torrent of emotional responses that manifest as physical sensations, attitudes and obeservations.

I am talking with someone who is only willing to see the "lack" in their life. When asked about all the abundance they respond "yes, but what about what's missing." It is difficult to let go of the desire to decide the life choices of others. We think we know best or at least better and if only they would do what we think it would be so good for them. Their not doing it (whatever we might think "it" might happen to be) then locks us into their frame of reference and perspective.

I think for each of us we must face and fight or at least a personal "jihad" against the demons of evil that wait in the shadows of our minds for a chance to pounce and persecute us. The weapons that we use in this battle can be love and healing, no, must be love and healing. An important step is to heal ourselves so that our whole, healthy life can be an example to those we wish to reach out to. We reach out through love. We reach our through caring. But caring must be expansive enough to except ourselves and the other just as we both are.

the day after in New Hampshire

It is funny how so many of the New Hampshire residents of European descent are shocked, astounded, amazed and aghast at the Democratic primary outcome. The time for the new hope for hope has come. But what does that mean?

It means that there are those who would have it be what they wish without taking into account how it is. I respect all the candidates for the effort they put forward. But the psychic cost and the spiritual challenge that each must face is beyond the reach of an opinion poll. We all know that no one knows what goes on behind the curtain.