In 1851, freed slave Sojourner Truth, spoke at a women’s convention in Akron, Ohio. That event included the famous, "Ain’t I A Woman?" speech. This blog, "Ain’t I American?" is written from that perspective. Truth’s speech can be found by visiting http://oldpoetry.com/...
We are bombarded daily with blogs, postings, commentary, news reports, talk radio interviews and more regarding "being an American." Exactly what constitutes an American? Does one have to follow the lead of an elephant or ass? Does one have to embrace a certain ideology or belief? Does one have to be of a certain skin tone or eye color? Does an individual have to discard personal worldview and embrace status quo?
Moreover, does the Glenn Becks of the world, the Rush Limbaughs, the Sarah Palins, or other extremists get to define who is American and who is not? Are the aforementioned imbeciles the standard-bearers when it comes to being "real Americans?" I guess in a diverse nation like ours, being an American is like beauty—in the eye of the beholder.
But Ain’t I Still American?
Well, friends, where there is so much racket, there must be something out of kilter. I think that twixt the conservatives of "pure America" and the liberals of "defiled America" all talking about ideology, the nation will be in a fix pretty soon. But what’s all this here talking about?
That Republican over there says that Americans ought to have their own luxury transportation, live high on the hog, and own plenty of property. I ride the bus, live below poverty, and don’t own nothing but the clothes on my back! But Ain’t I Still American? Look at me! Look at my life! I work as hard as I can to feed my family, work long hours to keep a roof over my head, come up short sometimes though. Done seen many hard days. But, Ain’t I still American?
Then they talk about this thing in the mind. What’s this they call it? (a member of audience whispers "conservatism"). That’s it honey. What’s that got to do with being an American or not? If my cup won’t hold but a pint, and yours hold a quart, wouldn’t you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?
Then those Conservatives over there says liberals are evil because Christ wasn’t a liberal. Where did your Christ come from? He was a liberal. Christ was a friend to the poor and less fortunate. He had compassion on them. Unlike you Conservatives who hang on to your riches so tight you’d rather see the poor rot and die. Conservatism had nothing to do with Christ.
If the last President who was a Conservative Republican was dumb enough to destroy America’s economy and weaken her global standing, then this Liberal Democrat President ought to be able to rebuild and strengthen it again. And now that the Democrats are asking to do it, the Republicans better let them.
Obliged to you for hearing me, and old Denice ain’t got nothing more to say.