Received this from the Run, Baby, Run List Serve.
Read, in it's entirety...ironic outcome.
Read, in it's entirety...ironic outcome.
1961, a young African-American man, after hearing President John F. Kennedy's challenge to, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country," gave up his student deferment, left college in Virginia and voluntarily joined the Marines.
In 1963, this man, having completed his two years of service in the Marines, volunteered again to become a Navy corpsman. (They provide medical assistance to the Marines as well as to Navy personnel.)
The man did so well in corpsman school that he was the valedictorian and became a cardiopulmonary technician. Not surprisingly, he was assigned to the Navy's premier medical facility, Bethesda NavalHospital, as a member of the commander in chief's medical team, and helped care for President Lyndon B. Johnson after his 1966 surgery.
For his service on the team, which he left in 1967, the White House awarded him three letters of commendation.
What is even more remarkable is that this man entered the Marines and Navy not many years after the two branches began to become integrated.
While this young man was serving six years on active duty, Vice President Dick Cheney, who was born the same year as the Marine/ sailor, received five deferments, four for being an undergraduate and graduate student and one for being a prospective father.
Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, both five years younger than the African-American youth, used their student deferments to stay in college until 1968. Both then avoided going on active duty through family connections.
Who is the real patriot? The young man who interrupted his studies to serve his country for six years or our three political leaders who beat the system? Are the patriots the people who actually sacrifice something or those who merely talk about their love of the country?
After leaving the service of his country, the young African-American finished his final year of college, entered the seminary, was ordained as a minister, and eventually became pastor of a large church in one ofAmerica's biggest cities.
yeah, i knew that but few want to here it.
ReplyDeletethat's why when i heard his sermons i wasn't surprised or offended, just sad.
i want to put this on my blog.
let others know if you don't mind. thanks
"hear" geezzz.
ReplyDeleteGo for it!
ReplyDeleteWho is the real patriot? I didn't know that is was competition. So I guess that most of us on this list can't be patriots because we haven't served in the military (not sure how many have). And I guess Hillary Clinton can't be a patriot b/c her generation didn't really go for the whole women go to war thing.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to think that sacrificing a year of my life as a volunteer to help vulnerable families suffering from the American regime makes me a patriot. I'd like to think that working long weeks in the non-profit sector for much less money than my corporate colleagues make has something to do with patriotism.
Let's not even mention the church aspect. God forbid, you not serve in the military and not hook up with some church or another.
But, if Hillary associates with that patriot-wanna-be husband of hers and Obama consorts with the real heros ... why by all means, let's just buy into the ultimate definition that pro-military + God = real American.
I find this sort of gung-ho, God Bless 'em rhetoric very divisive. And, as you can see, it really pisses me off.
no, i don't view it that way.
ReplyDeletei view it as a man that lived with 2nd class citizen and still served, came home and was still subjected to 2nd class treatment and that's where his attitudes and retoric came from.
he worked in his community for years doing wonderful work yet he was used to anger and scare others for political purposes even tho he had been one of clinton's spiritual advisors.
if military service was a prerequisite we'd all be voting for mccain. that doesn't follow. i know plenty of people that served in the military that i wouldn't want in politics.
i know even more "church going people" that wouldn't make a good leader.
i damn well know that i wouldn't make a good political leader even tho i don't go to church or served in the military.
yes, it's a stupid thing to throw religion and military service into the mix, but it's being do and the important thing to me, is to see a democrat in the white house this time.
i just think it's a shame to have had this man held up as some sort of hateful person when a lot of younger people have no idea really of the times he came up from and some older people that disliked the times he came from or have forgotten them.
me, i do not care if someone served or nor, especially in vietnam. i know a lot of guys that found ways out of it. i can't blame them but i can blame men like bush that took a spot in the guard from another by his dad knowing the right people to call on and then not showing up even for that. or cheney saying he had beeter things to do! a lot of boys my age had better thing to do than die.
my teeny rant.
typos, i know. i'm the queen of them.
ReplyDeleteNo, see I disagree with you Sherry. Obama is the one who waves the "I'm a Christian man" card like some sort of pass into the secret society. It is completely ridiculous to think that his "christian associations" shouldn't be evaluated and critiqued when he is resting upon them to launch himself in the White House.
ReplyDeleteIf what it takes to elect a Democrat is to swallow the God + Guns = Democracy kool-aid all wrapped up in fancy rhetoric and unacknowledge misogeny, then we are in mighty big trouble.
Obama opened the can of worms every time he started off with "I'm a Christian," but then wants to complain when people try to validate that claim. He is pandering to Christians left and right (and even further right), then trying to make it a non-issue.
That's ridiculous. Wright's story is compelling, but you can't seriously lump George Bush and Bill Clinton together like this and be expected to be taken seriously, right? Not you, but Obama.
When he stops shoving Christian privileges down my throat, I might pay attention.
i doubt it would have been an issue if not for all the right wing republicans that started out insisting that he is a muslim(as if that really would make him a terrorist)
ReplyDeletei am still getting e-mail not only saying that he is a "secret" muslim but some have gone so far as to quote the bible (chapter and verse) to show that he is the antichrist(if i had a dollar for every person that was slapped with the antichrist label i'd be a rich woman!)
so, 1st. he was a (gasp) muslim, THEN he was a radical black christian OR a muslim in a christian's clothing.
that's why he had to explain himself.
to me, that's unfair. he's damned if he does or damned if he doesn't.
so, my point is that he wasn't the one that opened up that can. it was thrown at him.
me, i will vote for who ever the democratic nominee is but i prefer obama.
i have been waiting a long time to see the 1st woman president but i will not vote for her in the primary for that reason alone.
if she wins the nomination i will vote for her but not because she is a woman. i will vote for her because i believe our country will have little chance of any recovery under any republican, especially mccain.
Wait a minute, Sherry. Barack Obama entered politics with his eyes wide open. He made a choice to play the "I'm a Christian man" card to deflect criticism. He made a choice to use that as a defense, as you describe it. No one forced him into those choices. He's not some innocent to the slaughter lamb. He's a grown man who is capable of being calculating.
ReplyDeleteLet's be clear, I am not damning the man for being a Christian. I am unhappy that he uses Christianity to oppress my community and my family. I am unhappy that his supporters, like those who distribute this story, use the Republican mantra of Christianity = Patriot to attack Hillary. I am unhappy that the best you can come up with is to lump Bill Clinton in with George Bush, as if their two experiences of white privilege fuse them at the hip irrevocably and transcend any difference between them. I am unhappy that Democrats are playing right into this Republican vision of reality and then saying they want change!
that's not what i meant and if you took it that way i appologise. i'm saying that i do not condemn those that didn't want to go to vietnam. that i do not and never did condemn those that went, by draft or choice as murderers or "baby killers"(i do blame bush for pushing someone else out of the line and then not even showing up for the guard)
ReplyDeletei myself am not a "christian" tho i was raised catholic.
as to "eyes wide open" every candidate entered that way. none of them were newbies at politics and the dirty side of it all.
i've been subjected to sexism. i have worked in places for far less then the men doing the equivilent work and been told that "they have families to feed" that was the early 70's. i have also sat thru a 3 hour test for a job at bell telephone 1970, only to be asked if i planned on getting married because they were getting too many girls that would be trained and then "go off and get married and have kids" that one i actually did walk out from!
so, yes, i really would like to see a woman as president and tho i do like her embracing the gay community which shows me her stance on human rights is a good one, i just prefer obama as my first choice. i am not about to criticize hilliary and give the republicans anymore talking points to use in the presidential election. this country can not make it with 4 more years of republican rule.
as i said, i will vote for her if she is the winner. but she is my 2nd. choice.
i just want everyone to go out and vote.
i am of the generation that pushed for the vote at 18. too many guys of my age died not being able too and so i have never taken my vote lightly and have work the polls over the years and always encourage everyone to use their right to vote.
I guess I don't understand why you would post something (on your blog, I know Ska posted it here) that makes all these statements with which you don't agree? This rhetoric clearly denounces the Clinton's for exercising their white privilege, Bill for his male privilege and ties them directly to Bush and Cheney. That's ridiculous. How does this piece add to unifying our party? It just makes me angry.
ReplyDeletei didn't say that. i just said, as to the piece on rev. wright, i understand the origins of his attitudes but i am sad that he still feels that way and that i don't like the lies and spin.
ReplyDeletethat would go for any candidate.
you have very valid reasons for the person you chose. i have mine.
that is one of the things that is still good about america.
Wow, I can't believe I've been missing this until now.
ReplyDelete"Obama is the one who waves the 'I'm a Christian man' card like some sort of pass into the secret society."
And I guess I missed that, too. What did he wave exactly, and how? If you are a man who happens to be Christian, do you have a responsibility to hide that? I'm not trying to make fun, I just don't see what your objection is about ... and what it has to do with the fact that Obama's pastor, for all his conflicted views about America's history, is obviously not "anti-American".
I guess it's this. Maybe it has something to do with your formulation, and the formulation of many Hillary supporters when it comes to Obama bashing -- "I don't see why X can't be 'fair game'. He ought to be scrutinized for X!"
ReplyDeleteOkay, fine. But do you BELIEVE what you are saying? Is there any truth to it? Hillary supporters don't seem to make a distinction between what works and what makes sense.
Call me (and my candidate) naive if you want to.
Bram,
ReplyDeleteIf you think for one minute I don't believe that Christianity is problematic, you haven't been paying attention to much of what you read on my blog. Specifically, that many Christians are problematic.
Yes, I find Obama's flavor of Christianity problematic, especially as it actively embraces the "pray away the gay" perspective. That is never going to be okay with me. It belies most of what he purports to be his stance on "gay issues" and undermines his credibility. Will he remember gays when it comes to healthcare, tax reform, economic decisions, etc, etc, etc? Do we go on his words or his actions?
So, yes, I do believe.
As for the pastor, I just find the original post dismaying b/c it panders to the Republican mantra that real patriots serve in the military and go to church. Personally, I don't care what he believes about America. I care what message this type of propaganda has on the larger community.