By Charlotte A. Williams, Freelance Writer
Al-Malik Farrakhan of “Cease Fire Don’t Smoke the Brothers and Sisters” (CFDSTBAS) orchestrated another successful Thanksgiving Day sit-down meal for all who came.
Over 100 people, Black, White and Latino, were served. Farrakhan instructed his volunteers to seat all diners and treat them as if they were royalty dining in a high-class restaurant.
An ex-prisoner, Farrakhan founded the 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization in 1993 and incorporated it in 1995.
Being paralyzed and wheelchair bound for 16 and a half years was not enough to deter Farrakhan, a man who had to learn how to speak and walk all over again, from keeping a vow he made to himself while still in prison: "I promise to reach back and help other ex-prisoners, youth and senior citizens when I get out."
I found myself surprised by the number of children present at this year’s event. I asked Farrakhan if he could recall children at last year’s dinner, which is known for feeding anyone who drops in, especially ex-prisoners, the homeless and senior citizens. After a few moments of reflection, Farrakhan answered, “no.” Could it be a sign of poor economic times?
I served as a volunteer server alongside boxing trainer Umai, ex-prisoners and gang members. I was most impressed with 13-year-old CFDSTBAS member and volunteer table preparer, Joshua, a well-spoken and polite black youth who seemed mature beyond his 13 years. He went about doing his work like the consummate professional.
Never short on barking out orders, before leaving to pick up homeless people to bring to his headquarters turned makeshift diner to eat, Farrakhan delegated me to be in charge because the other volunteers were all new. Those who know me well know that I am not domestic.
After first balking over my assigned leadership role, I went ahead and stepped up to the challenge. Farrakhan has a way of convincing you that you can do anything, a motivational tool that he uses everyday to steer youth from taking the wrong road, and also for calming tensions among warring gang members.
He also leads by example. His son Tyshawn Al-Malik, also worked as a volunteer. Before my arrival, Tyshawn was already out driving around picking up homeless people and senior citizens to bring to the dinner.
Farrakhan seemed to beam as people of all ages and races filed in to eat a flavoring of Thanksgiving Day food prepared by Korean Restaurant owner, Miss Lee – Smokey’s Restaurant, and El Salvadoran Chef Moe - Highlander Restaurant, both volunteer cooks are neighbors to CFDSTBAS, located in the 4700 block of 14th Street, N.W.
There was a young family of six who sat at one table. While the father told me he holds a Ph.d in the healthcare field and works a few doors away, the proud mother told me that she home schools their four children, three boys and one girl. There were also children who came with a single parent.
One high-spirited six year old was among them. The mother told me how she and her daughter walked miles to get to Farrakhan’s sit-down dinner.
For those who are familiar with the Washington, D.C., area, they walked from the Mount Pleasant quadrant of the city all the way to the Brightwood section of 14th Street, N.W., a trek I never would have attempted. Farrakhan would later drive them home.
The little girl and her mother kept giggling in excitement. The child’s exuberant activities had her singing and dancing around after her meal. All of the children and their parents acted as if they were in cupcake heaven when they ate cupcake after cupcake for their desert, skipping apple and sweet potato pie and cookies, which was the popular request among individual diners.
Just like the family of six, after their meal, mom and daughter headed back to the computer room that Farrakhan has set up for the youth, and for the ex-prisoners who use them to look for jobs.
With joy in her voice, the mother said, “Thank yall,” over and over again. Each time she would add, “This is the best Thanksgiving Day that my daughter and I have ever had!”
Farrakhan is a kind-hearted man with an inviting smile and infectious laugh. When homeless diners asked after eating their sit-down meal if they could take a tray of food with them, he instructed us servers to pile the food high inside each styrofoam tray and secure the lids.
According to Farrakhan, donations fell off this year. In addition to the decline in donations, the high demand for food might have contributed to Farrakhan having only enough leftovers to drop off at one shelter instead of three, like we did last year.
The advocate says he doesn’t know what he would have done this year had it not been for the generosity of people like Keith Holman, Miles Rawls and Washington, D. C., Councilman Vincent Orange, who all donated turkeys and money.
When you take into account that Farrakhan and his merry band of volunteers also delivered 69 turkey baskets with all the trimmings, and 29 turkeys without trimmings to families the day before Thanksgiving, it is conceivable that he may have fed roughly 400 people in all, since we do not know how many people were in each family.
Currently, Farrakhan does not receive funding for the good work he does for the at-large community and has had to rely on sponsors like Coca Cola, Fitzgerald Wheaton Dodge, Bank of Georgetown, Industrial Bank and Ben’s Chili Bowl, as well as on individual sponsors like Barbara Skinner with Leadership Farm, D.C. Councilmembers Muriel Bowser, Phil Mendelson and Vincent Orange, for his annual pet projects:
“School Supply Drive” (450 backpacks packed with school supplies are given away on the 20th of each August), “Six Month Moratorium/Stopping the Killings Cookout and Boxing Match,” held on the last Saturday every August.
Farrakhan says over four thousand people were served at this year’s cookout compared to three thousand last year. And lastly, “Cease Fire Don’t Smoke the Brothers and Sisters/Universal Madness Free Turkey Dinners.” This was the third annual Thanksgiving Day event.
The advocate for ex-prisoners, youth and senior citizens, told this writer that the utilities at the headquarters are scheduled to be turned off on Monday, November 28th.
Farrakhan says he welcomes all tax-deductible contributions to help keep the utilities on and to pay for ongoing activities.
If you can make a donation to this worthy organization, please send a check or money order made payable to:
Cease Fire Don’t Smoke the Brothers & Sisters
c/o Al-Malik Farrakhan, CEO
4708 14th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20011
Farrakhan can be reached at: 202-882-1901 (office), 202-210-1960 (cell).
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Sunday, October 9, 2011
A Chat With President Obama: "A Marginalized President"
A Marginalized President
Charlotte A. Williams, Author
A spotlight on McCain’s townhalls
became front stage for racist screwballs.
Bawling hysterically
some were heard to say,
“He’s not one of us;” and,
“He’s going to let all the old people die,”
just a prelude to the insanity
that would reach an all-time high.
For Rockwell’s image evaporated with you,
America’s 44th president, Barack Hussein, who?
The racially socialized long for yesteryears,
after you crashed through the glass ceiling -
bolstering their fears.
Some who even mirror you,
find it hard to chew, a realized U.S.
presidential family of their very own hue.
Suffering from Stockholm’s Syndrome,
they’ve adopted the negrophobe’s
view: “The White House is in no way
a place for you and your Black crew.”
Confused and misguided, some Blacks have also said,
“He’s not one of us.” And, “He’s not Black enough;”
“He’s not a real Black man,” based solely
on the hype that your mother was white,
too blind to understand.
Their plight is your plight, because
your mother could not shield her
Black-skinned son with negroid features,
from the slights of her dominant group.
By the way, who gave them the right to demean?
when they used the wrong measuring stick
while high on codeine.
Critics of all races have called you spineless.
Spineless? President Obama, who?
Surely not you? the same President Obama
whose strategies have gotten an unprecedented
number of policies through.
No. They’ve misread your cue, because
you’re courageous, smooth and calculating, let us
not forget astute.
Your critics are just upset because you’ve
chosen the checkmate route.
Give me, “I showed you,”
any day over the childish, up-in-your face scoff,
“There, I guess I told you.”
It is the browning of America that has
some consciously and unconsciously acting out.
Its touched off a wrongful nativistic revival
and spawned a hysterical stir,
all because some are afraid that Rockwell’s
idyllic image is becoming nothing more than a blur.
So desperate for an eidetic image of
his white-haired granny with
the inviting grin,
that some would stoop as so low
to vote - an inept Palin in.
Thoth, seems not long ago when
some begged for a constitutional
amendment, for if white, foreign-born
Schwarzenneger considered a run.
But with you, Mr. President,
they continually question your
nationality,hoping to mule kick
you out on your buns.
Irrational thinkers will not consider
your policies; they’ll just shoot them down.
Blinded by an aversion to your race,
they wouldn’t give a hoot if they were sound.
For their minds are open only to media
pimps who unspool the following unethical rule:
They target vulnerable listeners,
then exploit their inner fears,
so they can then shift and control,
their rational thinking gear.
How else can one explain
some parents acting like paranoid fools,
over you, a sitting United States President,
visiting their child’s school?
Or,
the everyday working stiff who
becomes miffed, simply because
you want to levy heavier taxes
on the underpaying rich?
Your fight for universal healthcare coverage
has the easy marks waving their fists,
and giving no sound reason
for miscalling you a socialist.
Using a semiotic tool, the pimps also target
Islamophobic fools.They enjoy stoking fear
and arousing suspicion of you,rhyming your
surname, Obama,with infamous terrorist, Osama.
Of course it sends a subliminal alarm
to equate you with Islam, and Islam
with evil, terrorism and harm.
The irrational fear of a Black president
has some tagging you the new antichrist.
Hmph. You sure have taken a lot of
abuse and licks from America’s
fringe lunatics.
Blacks, whites and people of all colors,
have been racially socialized to believe,
that no matter how impressive a Black
man’s credentials, he will never be qualified to lead.
Mr. President, you followed the precepts
to achieve the American dream.
Sadly, the entire world gets to see
how in America,racism, Stockholm Syndrome and
jealousies -
are staining a materialized dream
and possibly dashing future aspirations
for people of color, it seems.
Thoth, you are a role model of a world leader
and a man.
You, President Barack Hussein Obama,
are the leader of this majestic land.
Why back in ‘92, you even had
enough foresight to woo,
and to ask - a beautiful Michelle for her hand.
©2011 All rights reserved
Recited on Bev Smith Radio Talk Show 04/20/11.
This poem was recited five days
before the assassination of Osama Bin Laden. President
Obama was attending The White House
Correspondents Dinner, all the while keeping a poker
face while navy seals were moving in on Bin Laden.
After the assassination was reported, it seems
those who heard my recitation were able
to connect with the line , "Your critics are just upset
because you’ve chosen the checkmate route....,"
a direct response to people calling the president,
"spineless."
My analogy of the president making strategic
moves like in playing a game of chess caught on after
people started calling in to radio talk shows, which
was immediately after reports of Ben Laden's
assassination. I was listening to the same radio
station that I recited my poem on when a
man called a popular show and blurted,
"Checkmate, ch-ch-ch, checkmate!"as if
he were afraid someone else would beat
him to it. My analogy of "a game of chess"
has since been, and continues to be
cited by many respected public speakers.
Charlotte A. Williams, Author
A spotlight on McCain’s townhalls
became front stage for racist screwballs.
Bawling hysterically
some were heard to say,
“He’s not one of us;” and,
“He’s going to let all the old people die,”
just a prelude to the insanity
that would reach an all-time high.
For Rockwell’s image evaporated with you,
America’s 44th president, Barack Hussein, who?
The racially socialized long for yesteryears,
after you crashed through the glass ceiling -
bolstering their fears.
Some who even mirror you,
find it hard to chew, a realized U.S.
presidential family of their very own hue.
Suffering from Stockholm’s Syndrome,
they’ve adopted the negrophobe’s
view: “The White House is in no way
a place for you and your Black crew.”
Confused and misguided, some Blacks have also said,
“He’s not one of us.” And, “He’s not Black enough;”
“He’s not a real Black man,” based solely
on the hype that your mother was white,
too blind to understand.
Their plight is your plight, because
your mother could not shield her
Black-skinned son with negroid features,
from the slights of her dominant group.
By the way, who gave them the right to demean?
when they used the wrong measuring stick
while high on codeine.
Critics of all races have called you spineless.
Spineless? President Obama, who?
Surely not you? the same President Obama
whose strategies have gotten an unprecedented
number of policies through.
No. They’ve misread your cue, because
you’re courageous, smooth and calculating, let us
not forget astute.
Your critics are just upset because you’ve
chosen the checkmate route.
Give me, “I showed you,”
any day over the childish, up-in-your face scoff,
“There, I guess I told you.”
It is the browning of America that has
some consciously and unconsciously acting out.
Its touched off a wrongful nativistic revival
and spawned a hysterical stir,
all because some are afraid that Rockwell’s
idyllic image is becoming nothing more than a blur.
So desperate for an eidetic image of
his white-haired granny with
the inviting grin,
that some would stoop as so low
to vote - an inept Palin in.
Thoth, seems not long ago when
some begged for a constitutional
amendment, for if white, foreign-born
Schwarzenneger considered a run.
But with you, Mr. President,
they continually question your
nationality,hoping to mule kick
you out on your buns.
Irrational thinkers will not consider
your policies; they’ll just shoot them down.
Blinded by an aversion to your race,
they wouldn’t give a hoot if they were sound.
For their minds are open only to media
pimps who unspool the following unethical rule:
They target vulnerable listeners,
then exploit their inner fears,
so they can then shift and control,
their rational thinking gear.
How else can one explain
some parents acting like paranoid fools,
over you, a sitting United States President,
visiting their child’s school?
Or,
the everyday working stiff who
becomes miffed, simply because
you want to levy heavier taxes
on the underpaying rich?
Your fight for universal healthcare coverage
has the easy marks waving their fists,
and giving no sound reason
for miscalling you a socialist.
Using a semiotic tool, the pimps also target
Islamophobic fools.They enjoy stoking fear
and arousing suspicion of you,rhyming your
surname, Obama,with infamous terrorist, Osama.
Of course it sends a subliminal alarm
to equate you with Islam, and Islam
with evil, terrorism and harm.
The irrational fear of a Black president
has some tagging you the new antichrist.
Hmph. You sure have taken a lot of
abuse and licks from America’s
fringe lunatics.
Blacks, whites and people of all colors,
have been racially socialized to believe,
that no matter how impressive a Black
man’s credentials, he will never be qualified to lead.
Mr. President, you followed the precepts
to achieve the American dream.
Sadly, the entire world gets to see
how in America,racism, Stockholm Syndrome and
jealousies -
are staining a materialized dream
and possibly dashing future aspirations
for people of color, it seems.
Thoth, you are a role model of a world leader
and a man.
You, President Barack Hussein Obama,
are the leader of this majestic land.
Why back in ‘92, you even had
enough foresight to woo,
and to ask - a beautiful Michelle for her hand.
©2011 All rights reserved
Recited on Bev Smith Radio Talk Show 04/20/11.
This poem was recited five days
before the assassination of Osama Bin Laden. President
Obama was attending The White House
Correspondents Dinner, all the while keeping a poker
face while navy seals were moving in on Bin Laden.
After the assassination was reported, it seems
those who heard my recitation were able
to connect with the line , "Your critics are just upset
because you’ve chosen the checkmate route....,"
a direct response to people calling the president,
"spineless."
My analogy of the president making strategic
moves like in playing a game of chess caught on after
people started calling in to radio talk shows, which
was immediately after reports of Ben Laden's
assassination. I was listening to the same radio
station that I recited my poem on when a
man called a popular show and blurted,
"Checkmate, ch-ch-ch, checkmate!"as if
he were afraid someone else would beat
him to it. My analogy of "a game of chess"
has since been, and continues to be
cited by many respected public speakers.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Race and Politics: Race and Politics: `Modern Day Ghost Dancers: A N...
Race and Politics: Race and Politics: `Modern Day Ghost Dancers: A N...: Race and Politics: `Modern Day Ghost Dancers: A Nativistic Revival :
By: Charlotte A. Williams
`Over the last three years, two major events have taken place in the United States, with one still unfolding.
The first one is pretty obvious. Senator Barack Hussein Obama, an African American, became the 44th President of the U.S. People from all over the world descended on Washington, D.C. for his inauguration.
Jubilant voices from near and far echoed the same refrain: “I never thought that I would ever live to see an African American as President of the United States.”
The second event is not so clear. One has to first gather and examine all the clues before coming up with - a nativistic revival.
It occurs when members of the dominant culture (White supremacy) act out consciously or unconsciously because they perceive their culture is falling apart from what they believe to be a rapid social change.
America is steeply rooted in a culture of White supremacy, in which members of marginalized groups have become acculturated.
Revivalists view President Barack Obama as an undocumented immigrant, a stranger, and an outsider, by virtue of his race and achieved status. The very thought of him possibly winning the 2008 presidential election left some reeling in shock.
Clues of a nativistic revival first appeared as unbridled, jaw-dropping racist and Islamophobic utterances during Republican challenger John McCain’s town hall meetings.
For example, there were shouts of: “He’s not one of us!” “He’s anti-American!” “He’s an Arab!” More disturbing despicable rants and signs reading: “Kill him!” “Off with his head!” just enough to have gotten anyone arrested on the spot had the candidate been White.
The onslaught of racist and religious caricatures and literature of President Obama and his family are also clues of a nativistic revival.
Manifestations
America’s modern-day nativistic revival spawned the Tea Party movement. Many racist and Islamophobes took shelter under its umbrella.
Other manifestations include, relentless calls to inspect the President’s birth certificate, intense fear the country is no longer recognizable, bringing unconcealed weapons to President Obama events, voting against one’s own self-interest, endorsing unqualified
politicians just to have a White face in the House, newly-elected Tea Partiers obstructing the legislative process (with a stare down and rebuke) and making law to carry a face identification to vote, are all manifestations.
During nativistic revivals it is common for charismatic characters to emerge and be warmly embraced by those longing to hold onto the only culture they know. In the
1800s, Paiute Indians looked to Native American Ghost Dance founder Chief Wovoka when Europeans invaded and began destroying their culture. The same holds true for the Iranians who looked to the Ayatollah Khomeini for revival of the old Islamic ways.
So, there is no need scratching your head over why some are attracted to Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, two women who have proven time and again when they open their mouths that they are politically inept. Just as Chief Wovoka and the Ayatollah Khomeini offered hopes of a nativistic revival, so too does Palin and Bachman.
Whites are not the only ones clamoring for one; it seems some members of marginalized groups suffering from Stockholm Syndrome are too. The President’s race doesn’t sit well with them either.
Palin and Bachmann supporters, who probably could not articulate in a clear and concise manner which of the President’s policies they take exception to without repeating a line from Rush Limbaugh, feel that desperate times call for desperate measures, so qualifications be damned.
The women are White and speak of reviving the past, those are all the qualifying factors needed. Palin and Bachmann know just what language to pitch to their audience, too. For example, “We’re going to take our country back!” And, “We’re going to reclaim our country!”
Negrophobes and other fringe lunatics longing for a revival, wrongly equate President Obama’s race and the browning of America with diminishment of the power elite. Not so. The reins on White Supremacy culture are tightly gripped.
So there is no real need for Tea Partiers who managed to superimpose themselves in Congress to put the country through a time-warp machine.
Tag lines assigned to Tea Partiers are racist, Islamophobic, rigid, and screwballs, just to name a few. This should be pause for concern for all rational, political representatives.
To set themselves apart, representatives must continue to openly denounce such absurdities like President Obama’s birth certificate being a fake.
It sure is interesting how there was no groundswell of protest back in 2004, when some rallied for a constitutional amendment for if White, foreign-born Arnold Schwarzenegger considered a presidential run.
Perhaps his Whiteness was palatable. “Reclaim our country?” Or, take us back to good ole early 19th century America? A nativistic revival is not patriotic for a group who were not America’s original inhabitants.
By: Charlotte A. Williams
`Over the last three years, two major events have taken place in the United States, with one still unfolding.
The first one is pretty obvious. Senator Barack Hussein Obama, an African American, became the 44th President of the U.S. People from all over the world descended on Washington, D.C. for his inauguration.
Jubilant voices from near and far echoed the same refrain: “I never thought that I would ever live to see an African American as President of the United States.”
The second event is not so clear. One has to first gather and examine all the clues before coming up with - a nativistic revival.
It occurs when members of the dominant culture (White supremacy) act out consciously or unconsciously because they perceive their culture is falling apart from what they believe to be a rapid social change.
America is steeply rooted in a culture of White supremacy, in which members of marginalized groups have become acculturated.
Revivalists view President Barack Obama as an undocumented immigrant, a stranger, and an outsider, by virtue of his race and achieved status. The very thought of him possibly winning the 2008 presidential election left some reeling in shock.
Clues of a nativistic revival first appeared as unbridled, jaw-dropping racist and Islamophobic utterances during Republican challenger John McCain’s town hall meetings.
For example, there were shouts of: “He’s not one of us!” “He’s anti-American!” “He’s an Arab!” More disturbing despicable rants and signs reading: “Kill him!” “Off with his head!” just enough to have gotten anyone arrested on the spot had the candidate been White.
The onslaught of racist and religious caricatures and literature of President Obama and his family are also clues of a nativistic revival.
Manifestations
America’s modern-day nativistic revival spawned the Tea Party movement. Many racist and Islamophobes took shelter under its umbrella.
Other manifestations include, relentless calls to inspect the President’s birth certificate, intense fear the country is no longer recognizable, bringing unconcealed weapons to President Obama events, voting against one’s own self-interest, endorsing unqualified
politicians just to have a White face in the House, newly-elected Tea Partiers obstructing the legislative process (with a stare down and rebuke) and making law to carry a face identification to vote, are all manifestations.
During nativistic revivals it is common for charismatic characters to emerge and be warmly embraced by those longing to hold onto the only culture they know. In the
1800s, Paiute Indians looked to Native American Ghost Dance founder Chief Wovoka when Europeans invaded and began destroying their culture. The same holds true for the Iranians who looked to the Ayatollah Khomeini for revival of the old Islamic ways.
So, there is no need scratching your head over why some are attracted to Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, two women who have proven time and again when they open their mouths that they are politically inept. Just as Chief Wovoka and the Ayatollah Khomeini offered hopes of a nativistic revival, so too does Palin and Bachman.
Whites are not the only ones clamoring for one; it seems some members of marginalized groups suffering from Stockholm Syndrome are too. The President’s race doesn’t sit well with them either.
Palin and Bachmann supporters, who probably could not articulate in a clear and concise manner which of the President’s policies they take exception to without repeating a line from Rush Limbaugh, feel that desperate times call for desperate measures, so qualifications be damned.
The women are White and speak of reviving the past, those are all the qualifying factors needed. Palin and Bachmann know just what language to pitch to their audience, too. For example, “We’re going to take our country back!” And, “We’re going to reclaim our country!”
Negrophobes and other fringe lunatics longing for a revival, wrongly equate President Obama’s race and the browning of America with diminishment of the power elite. Not so. The reins on White Supremacy culture are tightly gripped.
So there is no real need for Tea Partiers who managed to superimpose themselves in Congress to put the country through a time-warp machine.
Tag lines assigned to Tea Partiers are racist, Islamophobic, rigid, and screwballs, just to name a few. This should be pause for concern for all rational, political representatives.
To set themselves apart, representatives must continue to openly denounce such absurdities like President Obama’s birth certificate being a fake.
It sure is interesting how there was no groundswell of protest back in 2004, when some rallied for a constitutional amendment for if White, foreign-born Arnold Schwarzenegger considered a presidential run.
Perhaps his Whiteness was palatable. “Reclaim our country?” Or, take us back to good ole early 19th century America? A nativistic revival is not patriotic for a group who were not America’s original inhabitants.
Friday, September 2, 2011
`Modern Day Ghost Dancers: A Nativistic Revival
`Over the last three years, two major events have taken place in the United States, with one still unfolding.
The first one is pretty obvious. Senator Barack Hussein Obama, an African American, became the 44th President of the U.S. People from all over the world descended on Washington, D.C. for his inauguration.
Jubilant voices from near and far echoed the same refrain: “I never thought that I would ever live to see an African American as President of the United States.”
The second event is not so clear. One has to first gather and examine all the clues before coming up with - a nativistic revival.
It occurs when members of the dominant culture (White supremacy) act out consciously or unconsciously because they perceive their culture is falling apart from what they believe to be a rapid social change.
America is steeply rooted in a culture of White supremacy, in which members of marginalized groups have become acculturated.
Revivalists view President Barack Obama as an undocumented immigrant, a stranger, and an outsider, by virtue of his race and achieved status. The very thought of him possibly winning the 2008 presidential election left some reeling in shock.
Clues of a nativistic revival first appeared as unbridled, jaw-dropping racist and Islamophobic utterances during Republican challenger John McCain’s town hall meetings.
For example, there were shouts of: “He’s not one of us!” “He’s anti-American!” “He’s an Arab!” More disturbing despicable rants and signs reading: “Kill him!” “Off with his head!” just enough to have gotten anyone arrested on the spot had the candidate been White.
The onslaught of racist and religious caricatures and literature of President Obama and his family are also clues of a nativistic revival.
Manifestations
America’s modern-day nativistic revival spawned the Tea Party movement. Many racist and Islamophobes took shelter under its umbrella.
Other manifestations include, relentless calls to inspect the President’s birth certificate, intense fear the country is no longer recognizable, bringing unconcealed weapons to President Obama events, voting against one’s own self-interest, endorsing unqualified
politicians just to have a White face in the House, newly-elected Tea Partiers obstructing the legislative process (with a stare down and rebuke) and making law to carry a face identification to vote, are all manifestations.
During nativistic revivals it is common for charismatic characters to emerge and be warmly embraced by those longing to hold onto the only culture they know.
In the 1800s, Paiute Indians looked to Native American Ghost Dance founder Chief Wovoka when Europeans invaded and began destroying their culture. The same holds true for the Iranians who looked to the Ayatollah Khomeini for revival of the old Islamic ways.
So, there is no need scratching your head over why some are attracted to Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, two women who have proven time and again when they open their mouths that they are politically inept.
Just as Chief Wovoka and the Ayatollah Khomeini offered hopes of a nativistic revival, so too does Palin and Bachman.
Whites are not the only ones clamoring for one; it seems some members of marginalized groups suffering from Stockholm Syndrome are too. The President’s race doesn’t sit well with them either.
Palin and Bachmann supporters, who probably could not articulate in a clear and concise manner which of the President’s policies they take exception to without repeating a line from Rush Limbaugh, feel that desperate times call for desperate measures, so qualifications be damned.
The women are White and speak of reviving the past, those are all the qualifying factors needed. Palin and Bachmann know just what language to pitch to their audience, too. For example, “We’re going to take our country back!” And, “We’re going to reclaim our country!”
Negrophobes and other fringe lunatics longing for a revival, wrongly equate President Obama’s race and the browning of America with diminishment of the power elite.
Not so. The reins on White Supremacy culture are tightly gripped. So there is no real need for Tea Partiers who managed to superimpose themselves in Congress to put the country through a time-warp machine.
Tag lines assigned to Tea Partiers are racist, Islamophobic, rigid, and screwballs, just to name a few. This should be pause for concern for all rational, political representatives.
To set themselves apart, representatives must continue to openly denounce such absurdities like President Obama’s birth certificate being a fake.
It sure is interesting how there was no groundswell of protest back in 2004, when some rallied for a constitutional amendment for if White, foreign-born Arnold
Schwarzenegger considered a presidential run. Perhaps his Whiteness was palatable. “Reclaim our country?” Or, take us back to good ole early 19th century America?
A nativistic revival is not patriotic for a group who were not America’s original inhabitants.
The first one is pretty obvious. Senator Barack Hussein Obama, an African American, became the 44th President of the U.S. People from all over the world descended on Washington, D.C. for his inauguration.
Jubilant voices from near and far echoed the same refrain: “I never thought that I would ever live to see an African American as President of the United States.”
The second event is not so clear. One has to first gather and examine all the clues before coming up with - a nativistic revival.
It occurs when members of the dominant culture (White supremacy) act out consciously or unconsciously because they perceive their culture is falling apart from what they believe to be a rapid social change.
America is steeply rooted in a culture of White supremacy, in which members of marginalized groups have become acculturated.
Revivalists view President Barack Obama as an undocumented immigrant, a stranger, and an outsider, by virtue of his race and achieved status. The very thought of him possibly winning the 2008 presidential election left some reeling in shock.
Clues of a nativistic revival first appeared as unbridled, jaw-dropping racist and Islamophobic utterances during Republican challenger John McCain’s town hall meetings.
For example, there were shouts of: “He’s not one of us!” “He’s anti-American!” “He’s an Arab!” More disturbing despicable rants and signs reading: “Kill him!” “Off with his head!” just enough to have gotten anyone arrested on the spot had the candidate been White.
The onslaught of racist and religious caricatures and literature of President Obama and his family are also clues of a nativistic revival.
Manifestations
America’s modern-day nativistic revival spawned the Tea Party movement. Many racist and Islamophobes took shelter under its umbrella.
Other manifestations include, relentless calls to inspect the President’s birth certificate, intense fear the country is no longer recognizable, bringing unconcealed weapons to President Obama events, voting against one’s own self-interest, endorsing unqualified
politicians just to have a White face in the House, newly-elected Tea Partiers obstructing the legislative process (with a stare down and rebuke) and making law to carry a face identification to vote, are all manifestations.
During nativistic revivals it is common for charismatic characters to emerge and be warmly embraced by those longing to hold onto the only culture they know.
In the 1800s, Paiute Indians looked to Native American Ghost Dance founder Chief Wovoka when Europeans invaded and began destroying their culture. The same holds true for the Iranians who looked to the Ayatollah Khomeini for revival of the old Islamic ways.
So, there is no need scratching your head over why some are attracted to Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, two women who have proven time and again when they open their mouths that they are politically inept.
Just as Chief Wovoka and the Ayatollah Khomeini offered hopes of a nativistic revival, so too does Palin and Bachman.
Whites are not the only ones clamoring for one; it seems some members of marginalized groups suffering from Stockholm Syndrome are too. The President’s race doesn’t sit well with them either.
Palin and Bachmann supporters, who probably could not articulate in a clear and concise manner which of the President’s policies they take exception to without repeating a line from Rush Limbaugh, feel that desperate times call for desperate measures, so qualifications be damned.
The women are White and speak of reviving the past, those are all the qualifying factors needed. Palin and Bachmann know just what language to pitch to their audience, too. For example, “We’re going to take our country back!” And, “We’re going to reclaim our country!”
Negrophobes and other fringe lunatics longing for a revival, wrongly equate President Obama’s race and the browning of America with diminishment of the power elite.
Not so. The reins on White Supremacy culture are tightly gripped. So there is no real need for Tea Partiers who managed to superimpose themselves in Congress to put the country through a time-warp machine.
Tag lines assigned to Tea Partiers are racist, Islamophobic, rigid, and screwballs, just to name a few. This should be pause for concern for all rational, political representatives.
To set themselves apart, representatives must continue to openly denounce such absurdities like President Obama’s birth certificate being a fake.
It sure is interesting how there was no groundswell of protest back in 2004, when some rallied for a constitutional amendment for if White, foreign-born Arnold
Schwarzenegger considered a presidential run. Perhaps his Whiteness was palatable. “Reclaim our country?” Or, take us back to good ole early 19th century America?
A nativistic revival is not patriotic for a group who were not America’s original inhabitants.
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