As some of you know, I’m one of the editors of Black Kos, a twice weekly community diary series here at Daily Kos which is on holiday hiatus and will return after the New Year.
I host the Tuesday section which is subtitled "Tuesday’s Chile" ...taken from the saying "Tuesday’s Child is full of Grace" but "child" is written as many of us pronounce it – "chile".
We opened the Tuesday series with a hymn that has become a universal symbol of the abolition of the slave trade and part of the theme music for the struggle for civil and human rights.
Amazing Grace.
Community members of Black Kos are people who come together to discuss news, the arts and events which are presented about and from the perspectives of the varied people’s of the African diaspora and other communities of color. A majority of the regular readers and commentors in Black Kos are not African-American, which reflects the demographic make-up of the main site.
We come together each week in the spirit of Grace.
"Amazing Grace how sweet the sound ....I once was lost and now I’m found....was blind but now I see"
So in that spirit of Grace I appeal to Kossaks who got lost in last weeks debacle with a now banned diarist to have the grace to apologize for the hurt you have inflicted on many of us here and perhaps make amends for that painful episode by agreeing to attempt to take off the blinders around issues of racism.
By amends – I’m using that term in the classic AA sense (not African-American but Alcoholics Anonymous) Amends is not saying you are sorry, but resolving to change behavior for the future.
What hurts?
Let me be as clear as I can. When someone comes to your house (and Daily Kos is our Democratic house) and makes charges pointed at one group of residents, insinuating that we are here solely at the behest of outsiders (in this case David Axelrod and Barack Obama) to disrupt and silence white progressives by using our "race" to guilt trip y’all into silence re criticisms of the President and the Administration, it is a specious charge. But more than that, it is imho provacatuerism. Staged only to divide and disrupt in an atmosphere that has already been fractious enough.
But what is even more painful is to stand on the sidelines and watch fellow residents agree with those charges...in essence "co-signing" the allegations that were made that were deeply hurtful to those of us who were accused. Some of us stood by silently. Others attempted to push back. Most of us felt ignored.
Added to that were the charges of "tribalism". Many of you may be aware that the use of "tribalism" in certain contexts becomes a pejorative. It evokes a stereotyped images of blacks (though can apply to other ethnic groups as well). I teach cultural anthropology and rarely do you find "tribal" used to describe any current groups of socially constructed "white" peoples.
But to go deeper into the portrayal there was the insinuation that blacks here and those allied with them are singularly uncritical and part of some type of herd-mentality – slavishly following a singularly non-analytical embrace of all things Obama.
The majority of those who read Daily Kos on a regular basis never come into Black Kos to read and engage in the lively discussion that takes place within the confines of the series. Perhaps you feel you have to be black to be a part of. Perhaps you feel that our perspectives are of little interest to you.
I stress "perspectives" in the plural since we are in no way shape or form monolithic in our views or opinions on a host of issues. Just as no communities of color are never monolithic.
Since many of you don’t read Black Kos – you might be unaware of the diversity of perspectives expressed weekly within the confines of that diary series. However, one thing we do expect of each other. That we handle disagreements and variance among each other with Grace.
It’s why we call ourselves "the front porch". It is reminiscent of the kind of discussions that take place on our front porches or stoops, around dinner tables or in barber shops, beauty parlors and bars...among friends, neighbors and family. And yes – we feel like a family.
So when the family gets "dissed" we react. We push back. We are not uniform in how we do that since we are also individuals.
It is true that African-Americans have voted solidly Democratic for several decades but this assuredly had nothing to do with the phenotype of the Head of State or even the leadership of the Party.
African Americans by and large when I was a child and in the time of my grandfather were staunch members of the Republican Party. The history of that shift has been documented in several diaries here so I won’t repeat much of it except to say that those of us who became Democrats did so for a reason. In spite of the fact that we are painfully aware of many of the "warts" on that body. We see them accept that they are there, and work toward a future when they are excised.
We have learned that waging struggle in a nation where we are still a minority requires the discipline of both maintaining solid support at this point in time as Democrats, and requires the building of coalitions with other Democrats many times in spite of or with acute awareness of the unresolved issues around racism in America. It is not an easy place to be positioned but we have – for the most part, done so with grace.
There are those within our communities who do not ascribe to this position and we accept that and move forward. I have in my own family nationalists who will not ever become Democrats. I spent many years of my youthful life voting for third party formations. I supported Mrs Fannie Lou Hamer’s organizing of an alternative Democratic Party at a time when Dixiecrats were still among its leading lights.
As I grew older and hopefully wiser, I joined with many other progressives in becoming a solid supporter of the Democratic Party though perhaps part of its more leftist wing. And here I stay.
But it ain’t easy. Those of you who have read any of my comments here on Daily Kos know my sig line.
"If you're in a coalition and you're comfortable, you know it's not a broad enough coalition" Bernice Johnson Reagon
It exemplifies my core political philosophy.
So – back to why I’ve written this.
There was a Kossack who did write a diary of apology which has since been deleted. There were those who stated in comments that we should just "let it go". That the advent of RainbowGirl was over...she’s banned so move on.
I disagreed. What she managed to do in a short period of time – was to epitomize and evoke all that is wrong about how we are perceived here and to inflame others using the manipulation of masquerading in a type of "blackface" that is repugnant. A cold calculated attempt to sow more discord than we already have. To weaken the ties that bind us – across race and ethnicity.
I am not going to just let it go, wall-paper over it - cause the stain is gonna leak through.
I am not going to debate the Rainbow-far identity. Suffice it to say that I have had past experience with said person at MyDD and more recently at The Motley Moose. I am firmly convinced about who that was and why she came here to hype up dissent.
But she is gone. The bitter taste is still here in the mouths of many of us. Shoving the entire debacle under the rug and acting like it didn’t happen does not lance the boil of pain, resentment and dismay.
It will continue to fester unless we find a way to achieve reconciliation. And that requires grace.
Your grace (to those to whom this missive applies) and the grace of those wounded to accept those apologies.
Some have already done so in the scattered threads from that hectic Christmas Eve and the following day. Others here are continuing along the same ugly path of accusation and denial.
And we stand here watching it all.
I have no desire to ensconce myself only in Black Kos, rarely to emerge onto the main site. That would mean agreeing to be marginalized.
Nor will I remain silent if there is a repeat performance enacted here by the departed or any other person of that ilk. I will not muffle my opinions about what I perceive to be racism based on my life experience. Does that make me an authority – no.
But I am deeply disturbed that my simply questioning what I knew was a "wrongness" led one person here to describe me and others as "wilding" which evokes yet another set of pejorative images.
I am even more perturbed that there were others here in agreement with that assessment.
So.
That leaves us simply with Grace.
Here’s hoping we find that space of Grace and move forward.
There is much work to be done, and we can only accomplish it – together.
I close with two other versions.
The first in Cherokee.
The second by Judy Collins and the Boys choir of Harlem
Thank you for reading.