The Only False Note On A Brilliant Day
Reverend Lowery ended things on a bit of a downer for me. On this, of all days, to lament the fact that White has yet to embrace right was uncalled for. A little petty too, I think. Up until that last line, he had me in the palm of his hand.
Look, everyone knows that we fucked things up in the past. We also know that we can do better. But for crying out loud, all we want is credit for trying. Would that have been too much to ask? This was our day too. This was the country’s day.
4 Responses to “The Only False Note On A Brilliant Day”
KevDog, there was a saying back in the day. It went “If you’re white, you’re right. If you’re brown, stick around. If you’re black, get waaaaay back”. It was an observance of the cultural reality in play. It was an observance of what black folks saw in white folks’ behavior as well as black folks among each other going out in the world. It’s a saying indicative of how color struck some black folks could be. Rev. Lowery was calling on that saying IMO to include all in the going forward. YMMV but there’s history to it that you may not be aware of. He wasn’t cracking on you.
“Up until that last line, he had me in the palm of his hand.”
I find it interesting that you were offended by the “white” line, but not by the “yellow” or “redman” lines…
YEAH, I WENT THERE, MOTHER#UCKER!
In all seriousness, I’m having a really hard time getting worked up about this. Granted, I’m not white, but even my white wife was laughing her ass off when he said it. I think in interpreting this thing, context (the paraphrasing of the old southern saying, it being an obvious joke, Lowery being who he is and having the track record that he has, the joke being made as we just elected the first non-white POTUS, etc.) is everything.
Peace,
Al.
Beautiful Futility » Reverend Lowery, 36 Hours Later - January 21st, 2009
[...] since I opened the Costco sized can of worms regarding Reverend Lowery’s benediction, I’ve had a lot of time to think about what I [...]
“Up until that last line, he had me in the palm of his hand.”
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