I have a firm understanding of how dirty politics can get. I understand that there is mudslinging from both sides. I understand there is the occasional low blow. I also have a very firm understanding of this nations history, especially when applied towards African-Americans in this country. What isn't acceptable under the banner of 'Country First' is the idea that a presidential candidate, his running mate, his wife and the far right deem it fair game to promote fear and thus inciting violent rhetoric among their supporters in this day and age.
In case you forgot Mr. McCain, the politics of fear and intolerance took the lives of many prominent African-American leaders. Since it seems that you have forgotten the history of our country, let me remind you. In August of 1955, a fourteen-year-old Chicagoan Emmett Till was visiting family in Mississippi when he was kidnapped, brutally beaten, shot, and dumped in the Tallahatchie River for allegedly whistling at a white woman.
In May of 1963, during civil rights protests in Birmingham, Ala., Commissioner of Public Safety Eugene "Bull" Connor used fire hoses and police dogs on black demonstrators. A month later, June 12 1963, Mississippi's NAACP field secretary, 37-year-old Medgar Evers, is murdered outside his home. Following two months later Martin Luther King Jr. gave his historic speech at the Lincoln memorial, asking that we move past the politics of fear and hatred. That we as Americans see each other as fellow citizens regardless of that persons race, religion or gender. Not even a month later, at the 16th street Baptist church, four young girls Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins all attending Sunday school are killed when a bomb explodes. Riots erupt in Birmingham, leading to the deaths of two more black youths.
August 4th 1964, in Neshoba Country, Mississippi the bodies of three civil-rights workers—two white, one black (James E. Chaney, 21; Andrew Goodman, 21; and Michael Schwerner, 24) are found in an earthen dam. They had been working to register black voters in Mississippi, and, on June 21, had gone to investigate the burning of a black church. They were arrested by the police on speeding charges, incarcerated for several hours, and then released after dark into the hands of the Ku Klux Klan, who murdered them. In February of 1965, Harlem NY, Malcolm X, founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, is shot to death while giving a speech in front of his supporters, his wife and young daughters.
The following month, in March Blacks begin a march to Montgomery in support of voting rights but are stopped at the Pettus Bridge by a police blockade. Fifty marchers were hospitalized after police used tear gas, whips, and clubs against them. The incident is dubbed "Bloody Sunday" by the media. The march is considered the catalyst for pushing through the voting rights act five months later. April 4 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, Martin Luther King, at age 39, is shot as he stood on the balcony outside his hotel room. An escaped convict and committed racist James Earl Ray is convicted of the crime.
So as you can see Mr. McCain the history of this country has at times veered toward violence when so called leaders used the politics of fear and intolerance. Is this the kind of leadership this country needs right now? I don't think so. At this moment in time the issues that are challenging us are far beyond the reach of fear mongering. The issues that are facing us require people to look past our differences and create concrete plans that will move this country forward united. The issues that we face will not be served by the small-minded petty thoughts of people. We need a president who will act on conviction rather than personal gain. We need a president who can serve as a role model and challenge us to aspire to the greatness of America. We need a president that understands that all citizens make up this country. All citizens, not just those that look like us or think like us. We need a president who can appreciate differing opinions and used them for the greater good of all Americans.
Jane Adams once said, " The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life." There is only one candidate who truly understands this, and that person is Barack Obama. He will be a president who will give us all a reason to stand up and believe in what is possible.
Steph Lindsey
Denver, Colorado
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