Jeremiah

Barack Obama delivered a speech about racial equality in America today that will be considered historic by history books. (Watch here if you missed it.)

Words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part – through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.

He captured a snapshot of our culture. We are divided as a nation. We feel differently and strongly. However, inclusiveness and equality are the correct answers in this cultural debate. While some may disagree, we cannot “close our ears to the voices of those who still need to be convinced.”

This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation – the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.

Barack spoke about race today, but he has spoken similarly about the gay community in the past.

His timing is poignant in my life. I was told today that my “lifestyle” might harm my youngest brother by a close family member. This came just a day after learning that another family member surprisingly discounted me vehemently because of my sexuality.

As far as I push people who choose to reject me instead of their own prejudices, I still get hurt. And I still get angry. Days like today make me want to retreat to a “gay ghetto”, as my friend Mark puts it — a cultural bubble of tolerance. Retreat can protect today, but it doesn’t bring reality closer to the ideal.

I’ve fought with the issue of “gay pride” for many years. My sexuality does not define my identity, but it is part of my identity. I don’t want to be proud of myself just for being comfortable with myself as a gay man. However, comments made by family members recently have inspired me to place myself “out there” more for discussion purposes. I want my family to talk about me, my sexuality, and my love for Arthur to confront the issue. Perhaps then they’ll see me as theirs again instead of an object of judgement.

For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle – as we did in the OJ trial – or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. [. . .]

We can do that. But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we’ll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change. That is one option.

Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, “Not this time.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 at 23:54 and is tagged culture, gay, life, politics.