Month: February 2015

Racism in the World of Politics: An excerpt from the lecture, The Pain of Racism

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As noted in my last Blog posting, I would like to present the existence of racism in the world of politics within our own nation.

Indeed, many of us ,since childhood, as described in the lyrics from the song (You have to be Carefully Taught) from the production of SOUTH PACIFIC,have been taught by our families and peers to resent people of color or facial and religious differences ,Blacks, Jews, Japanesse. Remarks and, at times, violence and omission from organizations was prevalent over the past decades. Currently, the media has reported on “racial profiling”and politicians have engaged in racial slurs and inappropriate statements in political speeches.

As depicted  above, in the photo of Senator Harry Reid, he is one of those colleagues of President Obama who has engaged in a racial slur. As written in my novel, FAMILY SECRETS: A JOURNEY OF GOOD AND EVIL, such politicians have racially inflicted pain upon those with a different pigmentation even the President of the United States. I will cite a paragraph from this book;

“Ironically, the next morning, when Brandy was reading the newspaper, she came across an article that reported on incident involving President Obama. It was stated that during a 2008 presidential campaign, Senator Harry Reid described Obama as a “light-skinned African American with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one”. The news article went on to report that Senator Reid apologized to Obama, and the president issued a statement accepting the apology and emphasized that the matter was closed. Brandy was shocked and devastated by this reported incident, which demonstrated such racism even to the President of the United States. She believed that the president must have experienced significant pain and humiliation for being the the subject of such hateful comments by a fellow colleague due to the color of his skin. Brandy reminisced about the lyrics from SOUTH PACIFIC, “you have to be carefully taught”.

It is hoped that this post does heighten the awareness of the fact that racism is not a concept from the past but alive and actively well  and alive even within our political system. What is your feeling as noted in the address of this Blog? Please do let us hear your voice on this post.

The next post will focus on racism and the Holacost with graphic descriptions of the outcome of hatred and violence by those who have been carefully taught.

The Pain of Racism: South Pacific and Racism

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In my last post, I did indicate that I would move my presentation on the topic of racism to the twentieth century and use the production of SOUTH PACIFIC as an example of this issue. SOUTH PACIFIC was both a novel and a play and a movie production. This story presents and describes romances that took place during World War II and are impacted by racial differences. A Naval officer cannot bring himself to commit to a native woman and a military nurse, Nellie, struggles with the decision to accept the Polynesian children of her fiance as her step children. The photo at the top of this post is from this production and features the children of Nellie’s rancher fiancé and his two children from a deceased native woman.

It should be noted that Rogers and Hammerstein, the producers of this narrative which was written by Mitchner, were discouraged from producing this story due to the racial climate of the 1950s.Racism still continued throughout the centuries and individuals were, indeed, judged by the pigmentation of their skin as well as their ethnic heritage.

This production is truly a wonderful love story with a message that is clearly voiced in the lyrics of the theme song of this movie, YOU HAVE TO BE CAREFULLY TAUGHT, and sung by the naval officer while he is questioning his own racial issues in returning to his waspy fiancé in Philadelphia or to make a commitment to his native lover. The key lyrics in this song are as follows:
“You have to be taught to hate and fear. You have to be taught from year to year.”
Racism and ethnic hatred is a learned behavior which originates from our family and peer environment. Yes, there is hope that such racist behavior and thoughts can be changed and one can be conditioned to perceive people of different pigmentation and ethnic appearance and religious beliefs in a more positive and accepting way. I do encourage everyone to read Mitchner’s book and view the production of SOUTH PACIFIC to reassess one’s beliefs and perception of the people of the world. My novel, FAMILY SECRETS: A JOURNEY OF GOOD AND EVIL does attempt to achieve this goal, one book at a time, one soul at a time.

What’s your feeling (my blog address) about this belief and behavioral objective?

My next posting will continue with excerpts from my presentation, THE PAIN OF RACISM, with a discussion on the racism of our current politicians as well as the core conflicts during the Nazi invasion and violent destruction into the lives of innocent, ethnically unacceptable victims.

The Pain of Racism : Fredrick Douglas

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As noted in my last blog, my next posting would be another segment from my public presentation entitled, The Pain of Racism, a brief description of the life of Fredrick Douglas.
The Media has reported much on Fredrick Douglas and there is even a monument honoring this former slave in front of the court house in the town of Easton, Maryland. Ironically, Fredrick did know Harriet Tubman, the woman that I described in my last blog. Fredrick Douglas wrote glowing articles about Harriet Tubman and her work with the Underground Railroad. It was reported that Fredrick did assist her in escorting eleven slaves who sought shelter in his home.

Fredrick Douglas was born a slave and his father was Caucasian and his own slave owner, Captain Anthony, was brutal to his son. Fredrick was transferred from one plantation to another and finally to Baltimore, Maryland. He was taught to read by the wife of a plantation owner and, ultimately, taught himself to write. As an adult, he did escape to New York and was known as a famous abolitionist who did write an autobiography,NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDRICK DOUGLAS. His book contradicted some of the narratives of the slave owners who depicted themselves as kind and benevolent. Douglas revealed all of the fear, whippings and murders of these helpless souls.Douglas and all of these victims of brutality suffered because of their pigmentation and the hatefulness of their owners.It was noted that Fredrick’s first wife was black but his second wife was Caucasian. He received a lot of criticism for this decision and he stated, “I honor my mother with my first wife and my father with my second wife. Racism did, indeed, effect his life. In spite of all of the obstacles in his journey of life, Fredrick Douglas was a well renown and successful human being.

My next blog will continue with segments of the presentation, The Pain of Racism, and move into contemporary racism and the theatrical production of SOUTH PACIFIC.

I do encourage my readers to express what you are feeling as entitled in this blog site, “whatareyoufeeling”.