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mmmm 4A EDITORIAL AND OPINION/ Hit C|atUittt $at Ttiursday, December 29, 2005 tIClje Cljarlotte The Voire of the Black Community 1531 Camden Road Charlotte, N.C. 28203 Gerald O. Johnson CEO/PUBLISHER Robert L Johnson co-PUBLISHER/GENERAL manager Herbert L White editor in chief MATTERS OF OPINION Faith, poueitH: Rediscouer the back sioiy ofChrisinias By Robert M. Franklin NATIONAI. NEWSIAPER EUHUSHERS ASSOCIATION Tliis year I viewed the familiar Christmas story through a new lens Hurricane Katrina and the proposed federal budget com- |)el us to pay attention to the *back story^ of the Christmaj nar rative. It’s a story about fragile families, poverty, and the good community You don’t have to be Christian to know something about the foreground of the basic narrative. While traveling a great dis tance, an inconvenience imposed by a government census, a young, pregnant mother realizes that she is about to give birth. Tlie couple learns that there’s no room in the local inn (maybe, they lacked sufficient personal responsibility to make an advance rei?ervation.) In an himible setting, surrounded by strangers and warm animals, a special child was bom. For most people, that’s about as far as the plot goes. But there are other interesting things unfolding in the background. Earlier this month, Capitol police ^UTested more than 100 peo ple of faith, many of them my friends. They were protesting a budget passed by the House of Representatives that Rep. Harry Reed (D-Nev.) called a war on the middle class and poor. At the same time, it awards tax cuts and other nice gifts to the rich. Meanwhile, leaders from the Gulf left Capitol Hill with the promise of more resources even as the evacuees reminded them of their continued suffering of displacement, unemployment and homelessness. Watching all tliis, I realized that the complexity behind Christmas is trying to break through the holiday selling and shopping frenzy Let’s look again at the back story First, althou^ the popular version of the story presents images of joy and peace, there’s an awful lot of political violence in the background. King Herod seems to operate with imchecked executive power as he orders the murder of the male babies under 2 years of age after being outsmarted by the wise men on his payroll. Second, isn’t it odd that although Joseph is part of the royal lineage of David, that doesn’t seem to help him much when the going gets rou^. Tlie surprise biith on the road places him, a productive, working-class carpenter in his hometown, in the pre carious position of having to rely on strangers for assistance. Through no fault of his own, he has to depend on others. Third, the fact that the parents of the child were not married at the time of ‘conception’ added a stigma to an already fragile family that may have further complicated their relationship with their extended families and home town folks. Still, amaz ingly. the couple stayed together and the baby was bom into a uniquely blended family And, finally, the fact that the child finds refuge in a manger suggests that they did not have the resources to command a bet ter environment. But. in the end, they were surrounded by peo^ » pie who cared for. and supported them. They were strangers who become a good community for each oti\er. After a difficult year for so many of our fellow citizens, perhaps the back story of Christmas offers many lessons and challenges. We must be suspicious of unchecked executive power and hold officials accountable for policies that affect children and families Second, those who are doing well economically should show greater compassion and generosity for those who have slipped into poverty through no fault of their own. At any mom«it, the economy could change and we could join them. Third, we should not indulge in the self-righteousness of stigmatizing people who have made bad decisions but are trying to make the best of it. They need our support, not our judgment. Finally, we all can l)ecome members of the good community that shows solidarity with those who feel rejected and outcast. I did my shopping and ergoyed Christmas cheer and fdlow- ship, but remembered that there’s a lot more to that story than angels, wise men. and a sweet little baby boy ROBERT \f. FRANKIJN is I*residential DL'ftingwshed Professor of SiHial Eihu's, Candler Schcxil of Theology al Emory University in Atlanta. Connect with 4^0 Send lettea:^ to The Chariotte Post, P.O. Box 30144 Chaiiotte, NO 28230 ca* e-mail editoriaK^thechaxiottepost.com. We edit for grammar, clarity and space. Include your name and daytime phtme number. Letters and photos will not be returned by mail unless acccmipanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. ‘Complicated’ love with the South Driving Neyah Angelique Chrry, my 3-year-old grand daughter, to Augusta, Ga. to see her great-grandmother gave me plen ty of time and reasons to reflect on an Associated Press obser vation that, “Blacks have a complicated love affair with the George E. Curry South.” The AP is running a series of stories on what it means to be Southern A story with a Birmingham, Ala. dateline, referring to Southern blacks, noted; “Their ancestors were enslaved in the region for generations, then Jim Oow laws pushed them to the back of the bus. From inner-dty slums to old plantation coun ties, being black too often still means a second-class exis tence. ‘Yet, surveys show blacks who live in the South are more likely than any other racial or ethnic group — even whites - to identify them selves as Southerners. It’s a label millions claim with pride and affection, yet uneasiness.” I was bom and grew up in Tliscaloosa, Ala. and went to college in Tfennessee and spent my childhood summers between Reform, Ala., my father’s hometown, and Johnson CTty Tfeiin., where my Aunt Julia Mae Stuart Chusins and, later, the major ity of my other uncles and aunts moved. Although I have sjjent my adult life out side the South, I still consider myself a Southerner. I say that with a mixture of pride and discomfort. The extreme pride stems from the way we were reared, the interest others took in us as children, the extended com munity that protected us and a basic humanity character ized by good manners and kindness. Neyah lives in Silver Spring, Md., and in some ways, I wish she could grow up in the South. Short of that, trips to see Great Grandma Brownlee in Augusta, her great aunts, great undes and cousins in Johnson City, Tbnn. and an occasional trip fo TXiscaloosa will have to suf fice. In some respects, black Southerners are like a family We can fight among ourselves — and even criticize our region — but we don’t allow others that luxury. Even though those of my genera tion grew up in rigid segrega tion, we felt Southern whites were no worse than northern whites. In fact, they were bet ter because they were more honest about their feelings toward African-Americans. Because the South was more honest in dealing with its problems, more racial progress has been made in the South than any other region. I was so sheltered growing up in the South that I had no idea how bad life was in some north«*n dties. When I went to Knoxville College, my Up North friends would brag about their hometowns. It was only later that I i*ealized that our townhouse-style housing project in Thscaloosa was better than the deterio rated housing I saw Up North. A black southerner’s defense of the region is usual ly diflferent fix)m white south erners. Many southern whites are still fighting the Civil War, not realizing that not only is the war over, but they lost. Or, did they? It’s hard to tell when you look at Congress. Tb be fair, many in the younger generations have lived in integrated neighbor hoods and attended desegre gated public schools. Their lives are considerably differ ent fix)m those of us who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s. They have been elected presi dent of their student body have a chance to b^ home coming que«i and are more likely to ha\e friends from different races. However, those of us that witnessed Alabama (^v. (jleorge C. Wallace standing in the schoolhouse door at the University of Alabama in a futile effort to maintain seg regation, those of us who remember Bear Bryant’s all- white football teams at 3ama and those of us that marched in order to ride in the fix)nt of the bus or to get rid of humiliating “Colored” water fountains have a diffi cult time cheering for Alabama - even when some of their athletic teams could pass for being on a historically Black College campus. We’re tom between wel coming the progress and not forgetting the pain of our past. Tb this day, I never pull for a University of Alabama team. In fact, I pull for them to lose. The pain is too much to ignore or to foiget. Yet, the progress at ‘Bama is undeni able and they are to be applauded for it. My Southern pride is still intact and Rev. Joseph Lowery the civil ri^ts icon, explained why “The changes that have taken place in the South came at the initiative and the insistence of southern blacks,” he told the AP. ‘Tt was southern blacks who led the way” Papa CXury will have to explain how this happened when Neyah gets old^. GEORGE E. CURRY is editor- in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service and BlackPressUSArom. He appears on National F*ublic Radio as part of “News and Notes with Ed Gordon.” A new Iraq or a new New Orleans? Why have we spent as much as $1 billion per week to build a “New Iraq,” yet our compeissionate government, headed by George Bush and his boys and giiis, cannot find a billion a week to spend on New Orleans and those wiped out by Hurricane Katrina? What kind of a country is this anyway? What kind of people are running this show? Immediate expenditures totaling bil- Jamfs cungL to rebuild a coimtry we intentionally destroyed, but four months after the worst catastrophe in this country our govOTimmt has hardly moved to take care of its own. Yes, our eyes have been opened to several realities since the hurricanes hit the gulf coast, most of which we knew all along but were afr*aid or ashamed to admit, but this is ridiculous. Now we must face our deepest fears; black and poor people must lock at this coimtry in a different li^t how; and we must respond, because we cannot like what we see. We cannot turn deaf ears to what is being screamed at us: You don't count!” Yes, it took a hurricane, but as Eric Benet says on his lat est CD. ‘Hurricane” released, by the way prior to Katrina, “Sometimes what you fear the most is what you need, to find that road, ri^t around that curve a lesson learned, now that I have the eyes to see. A hurricane - sometimes the only way to wash away the pain.” How prophetic. The president is touting his “plan” for victory in Iraq, now that the oil wells are secured and the petrodollar is back in full swing in that coimtry He is spading our money like a drunken sailor, urinating on us and telling us it’s a spring rain. His attention is always on the New Iraq and seldom on a New Orleans. \Tctims of Katrina are testifying at con gressional hearings, while Bush is busy justifying a war that he started under false pretenses Bush and his ilk try to instill guilt in those who want to withdraw finm Iraq by say ing if we leave the 2000-plus who have died, would have died in vain. Two questions: Won’t those killed in Iraq, no matter when the war ends or how it ends, have died in vain anyway since they were there because of lies and deceit? And what about the folks in New Orleans who died as a result of mismanagement by FEMA’s “Brownie” (the guy George Bush said was doing a fine job). Did they die in vain? Did the 911 victims die in vain, since we have not caught Osama Bin Laden? Hmmm. We cut and ran frxmi New Orleans, but in New Iraq we will stay until the people “put their lives back together,” “until they are back on their feet,” “until they have a sta ble government.” We can’t have a timetable for leaving Iraq, but we certainly came up with a timetable for putting New Orleans evac uees out of their hotel room shelters, (jeorge Bush says, “We have $62 billion on the table” for New Orleans (that’s the problem, George, it’s “on the table”); but, we have about $250 billion “on the ground” (and in the pockets of corporate raiders) in New Iraq. What hypocrisy! What dis dain is being shown for the people of New Orieans by Mr. Compassion himself Why so much concern for the New Iraq and little or no concOTi for New Orieans. COuld it be economics? In an interview. Bush said, “Call me anything, but don’t call me a racist.’^ Well, here goes. Bush is arrogant, vin dictive, egotnaniacal, and aloof; he’s disconnected, dis- combobulated, befuddled, entrenched, recalcitrant, obstinate; heis corny spoiled, ignorant, scornful, disrespect ful, phony, condescending, and just plain weird (Maybe it would be bett^ if he were just a racist.) I am sure there is some good stuff* somewhere inside this guy; I just haven’t seen it. Bush spends billions for the New Iraq, while he emphati cally brags about asking Congress to allocate a measly $1.2 billion to stockpile bird flu vaccine, which by the way will caily buy enou^ to vacci nate 20 million citizens. I wonder which 20 million they will be. Bush’s secretary of defense should be happy with that decision; according to an article I read, Rumsfeld stands to make “a fortune on royalties as a panicked world population scrambles to buy a drug worthless in curing effects of alleged Avian Flu.” Another article stated, “Among the beneficiaries of the run on Tamiflu is Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who was chairman of Gilead [Sciences] and owns at least $5 million of the stock, which has jumped from $35 in April [2005] to $47.” Can you say Cheney and Halliburton? Finally, Bush says the New Iraq is comparable to the nascent years of the United States. Oh, really? What if a “coalition of the willing” had come to this country during the Revolutionary War to lib erate enslaved black people from the tyranny under which they suffered? Tbobad there was no coalition back then - with cowboy (George W. leading the charge. Instead, (jeoi^ W is lead ing the charge to build a New Iraq but has little time for and will not allocate ade- cjuate resources to build a New Orleans. Hey (jeorge. Be sure to doee the cfoor to the bank vault behind you when you and the guys final ly get as much money as you can carry Okay? JAMES E. CUNGMAN, a pro fessor at the University of Cincmnad: is former editor of the Cincimati Herald.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Dec. 29, 2005, edition 1
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