"Wisdom is a gift; you can't train for it, inherit it, learn it in a class, or earn it in the workplace--that access can foster the acquisition of knowledge, but not wisdom."
- Toni Morrison
Shouldn't Dr. Maya Angelou be part of Hillary's dialog on race?
Some have wondered why there are blacks who consider Dr. Maya Angelou a 'traitor' to her black race. I don't know if I put her there just yet. But her past words create questions as to why she has not spoken up about her friend Hillary Clinton's need to inject racism and Reverend Jeremiah Wright into this campaign in the many ways Hillary has.
Here, she is speaking to the American Academy of Achievement in January, 1997. She covers many topics still relevant to today, so as you read through this interview, remember it's eleven years old.
It's as if she's predicting an Obama candidacy.
Links and emphasis, mine, not from sources. So here goes...
At one point, her notable friendship with activist Malcolm X is addressed:
Q - What do you think of Malcolm X's statements from the period of his life when he did believe in at least an armed struggle, if not a violent one, to further the cause of civil rights in this country?
A - Maya Angelou: That was a part of his growth. He was a friend and brother to me. And I've written about his last days when we were together.
We are all in process. And that's what I mean, again, about intelligence and its value. We have all believed the most outrageous things at different times in our lives. And as the position became untenable, as we saw through that position we were holding -- Here is where courage comes in: To be able to say, "Say everybody, you know what I said yesterday, and said so fervently, and said with such passion? Well I don't believe that any more. I have been changed." Now that is courage. So that is, you have the courage -- the insight to see, and the courage to say. That was Martin. That was Malcolm. That was it.
I entertain the fantasy of Angelou interviewing Wright and asking him a variant on this response. To explain to those who opt not to see her point. Of how it is possible to have friends whose views differ from ones own. Of how Hillary Clinton's surrogate Sid Blumenthal is using 'guilt by association' against Barack Obama. Of how 'guilt by association' could be used against her.
Sit. It won't happen. Sit.
Would she be willing to offer her opinion on the connections some are willing to make between Dr. King and Rev. Wright? Or at least place him in context for the viewers?
Q - In your opinion, what were the differences and similarities between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King?
A - Maya Angelou: Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were much more alike than they were unalike.
(my emphasis, you'll need it later...)
Q - Martin Luther King, Jr. had a lot of religious leaders who marched with him. Is that a difference between those times and these? Do you believe we have the type of religious leaders that we need today?
A - Maya Angelou: It is of particular interest to see the men who have been important in our struggle; that is, when one looks at Dr. King, a preacher; and Andrew Young, a preacher; and Jesse Jackson, a preacher; and Malcolm X, a preacher; or Louis Farrakhan, a preacher, to see that as a people we tend to be religious, whether we are following Buddha, or in some cases are black Jews or Muslims or Christians or Shintoists for that matter. Martin Luther King, Jr. always said human beings are more alike than we are unalike.
More alike than unalike. Sounds like someone who wishes to see the best in everyone around them too. Angelou uses this very refrain in her essay on Clinton's website. "Hillary sees us as we are, black and brown and white and yellow and pink and relishes our differences knowing that fundamentally we are all more alike than we are unalike," she writes. The interview continues...
Q - You mentioned Louis Farrakhan. He has been a very strong advocate of individual responsibility, but he has been a very controversial figure as well. How do you interpret his role?
A - Maya Angelou: Mr. Farrakhan has offended a lot of people. I understand that. But I am not his apologist, nor the person to interpret him. I think he is very good at interpreting himself. I think that we talk about being Americans and we take it awfully lightly.....What I would encourage young men and women to do is find that speaker who really speaks to your heart. Try to find two or three who speak to your needs and whose melody you can hum, and listen to that speaker. I do believe that people are controversial as long as their statements shake and maybe question the status quo. Martin Luther King, Jr. was controversial, you must know that. And certainly Malcolm X remained, until he died, a controversial figure. Nobody is going to be all things to all people. You must know that going in.
Notice the use of the Farrakhan litmus test, even on her. This passage also relates to the heart of why Obama kept his relation to the otherwise well regarded Wright for so long. Including the point about 'controversial' statements. This answer, it is this answer I would most want to hear her explain. How it is different than Obama enjoying the best of Wright's message while still being able to remove the components Obama disagreed with. It is not. And yes, Angelou allows Hillary Clinton permission with her silence. Angelou has known people whose views are clearly not her own. Yet she has no issue with those people. Where is her voice on this?
On a side note, it's also curious that some views "We cannot celebrate the birthday of (Israel) a state founded on terrorism..." create less ruckus than others in our gently racist MSM.
Q - Do you think our free-market system -- capitalism itself -- creates divisions and inequality?
A - Maya Angelou: Yes. Absolutely. Unfortunately, I can't find many other "isms" that don't do the same thing.
Q - Do you think there will be other great leaders like Martin Luther King in the near future? Where will they come from?
A - Maya Angelou: I don't think that the world ended, as tragic as it was, when Reverend King was assassinated. Young men and women are preparing themselves now for the burden and the glory of being great.
Q - Are there particular women you see as potential leaders in our country today?
A - Maya Angelou: Yes, there are wonderful women, and there are young women right now who will be Senators and Congresswomen in the future. Somebody's going to be it, and those young people are somewhere. So why shouldn't they be you? I really dislike divisions. I dislike them heartily. All comparisons become odious at some point. So, for women and men, what you have to do, as young people, is set your goals just beyond your reach, not so far beyond that you become frustrated, you understand, and think, "I'll never get it," but just beyond, just an inch beyond and keep stretching toward that, toward that goal.
Perhaps this is why Hillary feels she must continue. What else is there for her to do?
Q - What is the value to others of young women or young men who know how to hold themselves well?
A - Maya Angelou: Well, when you know you are of worth -- not asking it, but knowing it -- you walk into a room with a particular power. When you know you are of worth, you don't have to raise your voice, you don't have to become rude, you don't have to become vulgar; you just are. And you are like the sky is, as the air is, the same way water is wet. It doesn't have to protest.
Admit it. She's describing the candidate she didn't endorse over a decade before he showed up. Who has run the better campaign, and even handled the crisis cycles without panic. And even calmed down the ones around him who were in panic mode?
Q - When do you think Dr. King's dream will come true?
A - Maya Angelou: It's not something that "comes" true. We have to make it true. We have to work at it. It's not something we can sit back and say, "Whew! It's coming, round the mountain." No, no, we have to go out and put our hands on it and build it, flesh it out, make it real. We have to do that. He dreamed the dream. It is up to us who are left here to make it come true.
Which makes it all that much sadder to see these words in Dr. Angelou's endorsement of Hillary Clinton. You can see how Clinton's campaign is not living up to even Angelou's claims. Courtesy? Honesty? The prayer - as in "Rich People, God Bless Us?"
I am Honored to Say I am With Hillary for the Long Run
"Hillary Clinton intends to help our country to be what it can become. She declares she wants to see more smiles in the family, more courtesies between men and women, more honesty in the marketplace.
She is the prayer of every woman and man who longs for fair play, healthy families, good schools, and a balanced economy.
A famous poem I can no longer respect was rewritten to say "Rise, Hillary. Rise."
Feministically blinded, Dr. Angelou, are you not seeing the truth before your eyes.
You have fallen, Dr. Angelou. You have fallen. Please stand with us.
Compare with the words of Alice Walker, excerpt follows.
"I am a supporter of Obama because I believe he is the right person to lead the country at this time. He offers a rare opportunity for the country and the world to start over, and to do better. It is a deep sadness to me that many of my feminist white women friends cannot see him. Cannot see what he carries in his being. Cannot hear the fresh choices toward Movement he offers. That they can believe that millions of Americans –black, white, yellow, red and brown - choose Obama over Clinton only because he is a man, and black, feels tragic to me."
As Angelou notes above, Walker disagrees with some of Obama's positions. Using a similar method of lineage. "We differ on important points probably because I am older than he is, I am a woman and person of three colors, (African, Native American, European), I was born and raised in the American South, and when I look at the earth's people, after sixty-four years of life, there is not one person I wish to see suffer, no matter what they have done to me or to anyone else; though I understand quite well the place of suffering, often, in human growth."
"I can easily imagine Obama sitting down and talking, person to person, with any leader, woman, man, child or common person, in the world, with no baggage of past servitude or race supremacy to mar their talks. I cannot see the same scenario with Mrs. Clinton who would drag into Twenty-First Century American leadership the same image of white privilege and distance from the reality of others' lives that has so marred our country's contacts with the rest of the world."
Thinking back on Clinton's comments about obliterating Iran? Yeah, me too. But let's try to focus. Even with all the rather informative links.
"The bottom line for most of us is: With whom do we have a better chance of surviving the madness and fear we are presently enduring, and with whom do we wish to set off on a journey of new possibility?"
Hillary Clinton is using the republican Richard Mellon Scaife funded race-baiting right wing conspiracy attack team against a democratic rival.
As Lawrence Bobo wrote at The Root,
"Because Hillary Clinton has apparently been given a "get-out-of-jail-free" card from America's civil rights leaders. If a Republican candidate had run the campaign that Hillary Rodham Clinton has run thus far, America's civil rights leaders would be up in arms."
Barack Obama is focusing on improving our country. What are you doing about that in endorsing a dishonest candidate for the presidency.