Uncivil disobedience
Not every protest is a noble one
Uncivil disobedience
It was to be expected that, given a second opportunity to give a speech on inauguration day, this president would go big. This is especially so since that second opportunity happened to fall on the day that we celebrated the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., another man of epochal significance.
Not content to spout platitudes of future unity which are long on eloquence and short on substance (or probability, given this Congress,) Barack Obama decided to reach back into the past and heap praise upon historical figures who, in his opinion, were agents for justice.
This is part of what he had to say:
We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall.
Now, I’m as much a sucker for the grand and poetic gesture as anyone, being both Italian and Irish. I think that it is important to be reminded of the struggle of our ancestors and hold them up as shining examples of all that we once were and could yet again become.
I nodded my head in agreement as I thought about the women of Seneca Falls, who raised their voices in a plea for equality and the single most important element of that condition: the right to vote.
I said a quiet prayer as I remembered those who were bloodied and battered on the road to Selma, and included a quick message for my own father who spent a summer in the hell of Mississippi registering blacks for the vote.
But I had to stop at Stonewall and say, ‘what?’
I recognize that the struggle for LGBT rights has been hard-fought, even though I disagree with some of its aims including so-called marriage equality. What struck me as discordant was the fact that while the women of Seneca Falls were peaceful and the protestors in Selma were viciously attacked by white bigots, the real victims of Stonewall were not the angry patrons of a gay bar but, rather, police officers who were attacked by broken bottles, fists and whatever else the mobs could lay their hands on.
It’s all well and good to talk about human struggle and the fact that people have been discriminated against since time immemorial. There’s definitely a place for that in an inauguration speech that takes place on Martin Luther King Day. But there’s something distasteful in placing a mob uprising at a gay bar on the same level as Seneca and Selma.
Stonewall as a "proud" moment in the gay community's history? I think it is subjective. But it certainly was THEE pivotal moment in their long struggle. And yes, right up there with Selma and Seneca Falls - just as pivotal. Couldn't have made it historically into the Inauguration speech if it hadn't happened. If you don't have respect for this class of minority, you wouldn't see it that way. Flowers, obviously, doesn't.— MrsSimon- sadim, I agree with you that it is almost impossible for any speaker to approach the sublime level of Lincoln's second inaugural address.
And Lombard, you gave a good shot at trying to justify the Stonewall riots. Frustration with a long history of discrimination can lead to acts of violence. There may even be a springboard in such rebellion to further action on the part of the oppressed.
But that does not make attacks on police officers something of which to be proud. I am old enough to recall the times when cops were called "pigs" and it was open season on any man in uniform. I also remember when Vietnam veterans were spat on as they returned to the States. The 60's and early 70's were far from "the good old days".
It is really too bad that in their efforts to seek the rights of assembly and association the LGBT community had to depend on a crime syndicate to provide their meeting places.
Looking back from the vantage point of time and better understanding, it is easy to pass judgement on how people were treated just for being themselves.
I still think that if there must be any "pride" displayed over those old events it must originate from the more constructive aspects of the movement...and there are plenty.
— Gendres - When an oppressed minority rises up against its oppressors, that is indeed something to be proud of and to celebrate. If the police had not been harassing these people (and as has been explained, it went far beyond merely enforcing a "morals law"), and had treated them with a little common courtesy and understanding, there would've been no "stonewall".
What did I say before, you were going to get a cramp defending butta Christina? I think at the rate you're going, you're going to need traction and months of PT by the time she posts next.— carl and sons - To compare Obama to Lincoln is ridiculous. Obama accomplished nothing in his first 4 years other than to create more dissent across the nation.
In his speech he failed to address the economy, the deficit, the debt, his failure in the rescue of Afghanistan, the nuclearization of Iraq, the rebirth of Al Qaeda, high unemployment, rising health care costs, rampant drug use, inner city wastelands, and a host of other serious issues. But that's OK. He remembered Stonewall.— Richar Poor - Obama did mention a few memorable words. He said, "Peace in our time." The very same words spoken by Neville Chamberlain just prior to the outbreak of WWII.— Richar Poor
- Oh, but Richar, his point wasn't to address any of those things. The message was, as Will Bunch more appropriately summed up, "In your face."— sadim
- Yes, sadim, clearly his point was not to address any of those things.
My point is that his presidency also has no interest in addressing any of those things.
Perhaps those things are indeed meaningless. He was reelected. The people spoke. As Franklin, said- Yes, you have a republic, for as long as you can hold on to it.— Richar Poor - It doesn't matter what I say or what the President says; those with racist, selfish, reactionary NeoConservative brain damage will never accept the truth. The world has left you behind, and President Obama's speech calls for you to either help solve the nation's problems or shut up forever, as you will be (and almost are) relegated to the toxic waste pile of history.— sophistry
- It's a very sad state of affairs when the POTUS feels justified in alienating 45% of the people in his country, not to mention however many of the 90 million who didn't vote. These are serious times, and it takes serious leadership to overcome the obstacles that face our country. Na-nee-na-nee-boo-boo doesn't cut it.— sadim
- He surely does not follow in Lincoln's footsteps.— Richar Poor
- He does in at least one way: He is the victim of the most unreasoning, ungrounded, and uncalled for hatred, and for a similar reason- the disdain that some people in this country feel for African Americans. — carl and sons
- It's like I always say, if Obama found a cure for cancer, conservatives would be telling you why cancer is a good thing.— carl and sons
- you are a constant brooder, and sons. you are blinded by your hatred of white people. King would have taken you to the wood shed.— Richar Poor
- King would have prayed for you, most likely, even as you were aiming fore hoses at black children. — carl and sons
- "... even as you were aiming fore hoses at black children."
Just another example of your racial foment, hatred and bigotry.— Richar Poor
Email Christine M. at cflowers1961@yahoo.com Reach Christine M. at cflowers1961@yahoo.com.
