We Wear the Mask: Ode to Dunbar

The most fervent Barack Obama supporter I know literally shoved a rubber mask of the Senator from Illinois into my arms yesterday at our kids' playground.

His rationale for bestowing it upon me: it felt rather 'suffocating'.

Given this cat's fanaticism for the front-running Presidential candidate, I'd have expected him to at least hold onto the novelty item for posterity's sake. And since I've slacked on the donation tip to the campaign, the urge to return it to him tugs at me.

But first I'll wear it and try not to hyper-ventilate for a few obligatory snapshots during the apres trick-or-treat shin dig we're hosting for close friends and their chittlins.

I suspect I won't be the only one who wraps the Obama mask on and mugs for the camera. Our anticipation's running high, after all. And we're mixing Bloody Marys in equal proportion to the Gel-O worm cups for dessert.

Except for that one guy who flaunts his Obama-mania on his "statement" shirt sleeves, this will be a gathering of folks who keep their true election night longings to themselves.

For better or worse, for the most part, we're not the types that will make wig-pullin' cameos on Action News the morning after. In professional settings, we'll contain our glee if he wins. At home with our kids, we'll fake brave faces if he loses.

Which brings me back to words written a century ago by Paul Laurence Dunbar; the son of an escaped slave who changed a chunk of his world's mindset from his home base in the 'swing state' of Ohio.


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With all credit due (Citadel Press, 1993), Dunbar wrote:

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes, _
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

(Go buy your own copy for the stirring, still-relevant remarks between THAT and this...)

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!

Thanks, eternally PLB.

This won't be the last Halloween I think of you.

For additional perspectives, view this post I found on theroot.com...
http://www.theroot.com/id/48627

Shame on us, Tysheema

Stevie Wonder ought to write a song or, better yet, a symphony about this Brown woman from the northeast suburbs of Atlanta who, reportedly, tried to abandon her son at a Nevada hospital, and wash her hands of him.

How sad a state have we reached when a 12-year-old black boy's mother claims she has no other choice but to drive him 1,000 miles away, and then burn rubber, for his own good? Doesn't this dilemma speak volumes about how detached we've become from the touchstones of "village" existence when any male child can be cast off so early in life?


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Other than being the son of an unwed mother amid conditions that contribute in precious few ways to his potential success as a productive member of society, what could a boy like that have done so wrong (or been incapable of stopping himself from doing)?

This isn't to cast total blame here on any mother who falls so harshly on the fringe of frustration. Nor can we deny how hip-hop media has coaxed our youth down a path of abject poverty of the spirit and disconnect from right vs. wrong principles.

But if an incident like this doesn't prompt more concerned black men to actively attempt to teach by example, the future may as well be marked "delete".

'cuda_don't_preach

I have no interest in seeing any more high-priced pictures of the knocked-up daughter of the Repblicans' VP nominee.


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Until last week, I had never heard of the Republicans' VP nominee.
Her household's a virtual breeding ground, from what I've gleened. And yet she favors abstinence lessons in public schools.
Hello? Public school monitors? Has that abstinence thing ever worked?
Me and Barracuda are about the same age. Too young, to me, to contemplate or activate grandma/pa mode.
Strangely, I envy the predicament. Yes, the whole world knows your child defied you in the most blatant way. Still, you'll have the energy and the assets to indulge that new little baby like there's no tomorrow.
As disconnected as most families are these days, the VP's lot is unfortunately common.
Let's just not allow the situation we're all tuned-in to, without really wanting to, to foster the notion among our young girls and boys that if it's OK in THAT family, it's OK in ours too.
Right?

Sarah_Palin:_Grandma Moses?

Fate didn't conspire to make me a white woman born of relative privilege in Alaska 44 years ago. So I can't imagine, really, what it's like to walk in the Republicans' Vice Presidential nominee's snowshoes right now, in the late hours after it's been revealed that her abstinence preachings weren't enough to keep her teenage daughter from getting knocked up.

But I did grow up in what's considered the Great White north _ where the snow fell heavy for months at a time and Journey's "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' " fueled many teenage urges.

I get where Palin's coming from when she tries to pass her daughter's pre-marital pregnancy off as something that happens to even the best of families. She may miraculously succeed in parting the water's that conservative blowhards flood the airwaves with. The sea of unwanted pregenancies in America isn't just a muddy one.

I'd no doubt be devastated if a teenage son of mine came home with the news that he'd irresponsibly helped conceive a child out of wedlock. The fault for adding to any other family's burden in this heavyweight fight called life would fall, somewhat, on me. Any son of mine should know better.

Palin and I are just about the same age; yet she falls far closer to the grandbaby's daddy drama than I ever expect to see. Some of us benefit from holding off on marriage and having kids. No matter how wisely we manage the early and middle stages of our careers, we're not all fully prepared to even approach the challenges of parenthood until we're nearly 40.

There's a delicate balance between talking about our kids, talking to them, talking for them and talking passed them.

I'm no more qualified to be Vice President of the United States than candidate Palin is, but I'm sure going to take note of her missteps.

About the deaths of Isaac Hayes and Bernie Mac...

I just pray there's some bright and blessed bastard out there who had the good sense to sit Black Moses down and record, extensively, his words on what it took for a country boy to compose a symphony for a film about a heroic black ganster; and win Oscar gold in the process.


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We've heard (prefab) rags-to-riches stories like Bernie Mac's before. But wouldn't it be a shame if no one's captured and prepared to disseminate the Mac Man's parting thoughts on how, if nothing else, there's no greater fortune than one's health.


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My mother off-handedly reminded me on the phone tonight that my pop turns 63 in the morning. He'll treat it, when I call, like it's JUST ANOTHER DAY.

But it ain't. The cool, old school dudes are dropping like flies. So I'm going to insist that pop sits down tomorrow and records at least an hour on the cassette player I sent him last Christmas.

Let's not let the men we admire take their greatest stories never told with them to the grave.

What's it all about, Luda?

First of all "Ludacris" and "Obama" don't even belong in the same sentence.


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So how is it that I wake up today to the radio blare of a rapper posting a song on Youtube that could sabotage the chances of the Dems' nominee for President?

Chris Bridges (a.k.a. Ludracris) is one of the more soft-spoken, polite and deliberate celebrities you'll ever meet in person. Or, at least, he was on the one occasion I dined over several courses of steak and wine with him a few years back at a restaurant opening.

My mixed feelings about rap and its messages aside, Luda's got skills I find extraordinary. This new tune about Obama? Garbage, unless weak lyrics and tired beats suit your taste.

I'm no music critic. I'm just sayin'...

This new stunt single he's released is nothing but a pathetic lurch for attention and dollars. Ludracris has the right to grab the mic and insult George W., McCain and Hillary 'til the cows come home. But why do it in Obama's name?

If you can't say something nice (or in the least bit edifying for your audience) why say it at all? And if you have to say something stoopid, why not keep the responsibility for those "statements" to yourself?

http://askyourdaddy.blogspot.com/

Apology for slavery accepted?

Apology for slavery accepted?
I think ... not.


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Unless there was a full roll call taken of evey congressional representative, cabinet member and President SOON to record a vote that determines how sincerely America feels sorry for the way it exploited slaves, how legitimate would that expression of regret be?
For as long as I live, I'm going to have to try and be there for my young son and struggle to answer how slavery and racism and intolerance came to be and still plague him. His Pre-K intellect _ astounding as it is _ won't fully grasp some proclamation voted on anonymously by a bunch of politicians who can't explain away the horrific past, much less chart us a comfortable future.
By some strange coincidence, my last name's the same as one of the original (slave-owning) signers of the United States Constitution. There are sub-divisions, parkways and schools named after him all over these parts.
Every day I park in a lot at the intersection of a street named after him.
None of US Jeffersons or Washingtons or Franklins or Adamses who probably descend from some of the "founding fathers" benefit at all from the birthrights. We can't claim the bloodlines, nor deny them.
So why, really, rehash that phase of our collective past now? To stir up a futile call for reparations?
Put this distraction to rest already.
What's done is done.