I know that word will have many people scratching thier heads, it's Korean, and in Korea they normally called them roughly "gumdingies" (sic) obviously not a nice name, but most black people did not understand the slur, so it was just ignored. I learned the word in 1975, when I was 19 and a young enlisted man in the Army stationed on the DMZ at Camp Liberty Bell.
I woke this morning to my wife complaining about the President daring to speak to the nations children, I asked her why I didn't hear her complain when George H.W. Bush spoke to them back in the early 90s or even when George W. Bush went to Florida to read to those nice little kids on the morning of September 11, 2001, when he had been told months before that Bin Ladin was determined to attack the United States, and he had spent the previous month as did his entire administration on vacation and could not be bothered by the advance notice of the attack.
Well, needless to say, I did not get any fresh coffee nor any breakfast this morning.
I am sick and tired of the people complaining about OUR President wanting to dicsuss the importance of education to the people it matters to, our nations youth. To Many are dropping out of school before completing high school, and the days of factory jobs being available to drop outs are over, and they have been for more than twenty years.
Look how many college graduates can not find work in this day and age, people without education will face life in a futile quest for a "decent work environment" due to their lack of education. When college graduates have a hard time finding work, drop outs are basically "shit out of luck" the most they can hope for is becoming migrant farm workers, where a strong back is the only job requirement. I doubt that is the life we want for our children. It's not what I want for mine.
The political environment has been taken to a level I can not remember ever seeing in this nation before, and I have been around and watching politics since JFK and Nixon ran for President in 1960. Yes tempers ran during the Civil rights legislation in the mid 60s, the medicare debates, the war in Vietnam, the street protests, Kent State, Watergate, The Daniel Ellsberg trial yet I can never recall such mean spirited complaints against a sitting President who wants to speak to the nations youth about the importance of getting an education.
Is this really about the fact that some parents are upset about this President trying to inspire the youth to do better in school or is it racism, pure and simple? I hate to think it comes down to this, but I don't have any other thoughts to what it can be, like the Korean word gumdingy, this is more of a mask about the reality of what is going on, many people resent having a black President and they are determined to use any means necessary to show their displeasure, and the fact that he dares to speak to their children, has become a rallying point for them, DISGUSTING nothing more and nothing less.
I for once have hope for this nation, and I haven't felt like this since Kennedy was President, and I had the same feelings in the summer of 1968 when Bobby was running and had just won the California Primary, only to be shot down that same evening, my hopes died that night. Life has skimmed along since then with highs and lows but nothing like the hopes I have since Teddy endorsed Barack Obama, and election night 2008, and Obama was announced the winner.
Health care should be a right, I have used enough of it, and I am still alive due to the excellent medical care available from the Veterans Administration, so yes the government can provide great healthcare despite what the opponets of it claim, most of the six million veterans who use the VA healthcare system will tell you the same thing, I am sure you can find some dis-satisfied customers, as the 1200 who got the letters telling them they have ALS (Lou Gehrigs Disease) when in fact they didn't, a bad code on a computer led to the mistake. But does that mean VA healthcare is terrible NO NO and NO, how many lives have they saved and extended? They gave me a triple bypass in Feb 1997, it failed by October 2002, and they have kept me alive and in better health thru excellent medical care diet and medications since then, I am in better health now than I was prior to the triple bypass.
Racism is an ugly thing, and the people that are using it to advance their politcal agenda, can go to hell, this veteran will be fighting it every step of the way.