So, those of us who care about the Presidential election (hopefully that's most of us) were obviously shocked when John McCain announced his choice for Vice President. It took the shine off of Obama's hopeful and moving speech, delivered on the anniversary of MLK's legendary "I Have a Dream" oration. McCain was either inspired or insane, and I spent a few days trying to make up my mind. I dutifully watched Palin introduce herself -- complete with infant, pregnant teen and baby daddy -- on national television; I dutifully sat through Foghorn Leghorn and Droopy Dog, and I tried to convince myself that this all made sense. But all I could think about what this: the Republican Convention looks like the America I came from, but it doesn't look like the America I live in now.
The Republican audience was suspiciously bereft of color. Most of the women were blonde. (I'm blonde, at the moment, but now I'm thinking that Palin's rocking the brunette with glasses thing, which was my look! Maybe I should go back, and run for national office.) There was the occasional black or brown face, lovingly caressed by television cameras looking for anything -- anything -- to break the monotony.
Contrast that with the color of the Democratic Convention, which virtually shone like a rainbow. And the color of my neighborhood, which happens to be old, well-established and affluent. Diversity is not the bailiwick of the poor in Ell-Lay! We border Koreatown, where we often shop bakeries for yummy French-Korean goodies and occasionally hit a galbi restaurant. Being of that age, my daughter just attended her current best friend's Bat Mitzvah. The girls arranged in the front rows came from all ethnic backgrounds - Black, Asian, Middle Eastern, Latino. Another close friend, adopted from China, will celebrate her own Bat Mitzvah next year. And they're just a sampling from one mid-size all-girls Catholic school in the city.
When we order out for dinner, we are just as likely to choose an Indian restaurant (there are several nearby) as we are to choose sushi, Thai or Italian. While my daughter was on a vegetarian kick, we used to lunch at the local vegan joint. I've been lucky enough to have a series of well-educated, gracious au pairs help me raise my child (none of them sporting infants or baby-daddies). The languages spoken in our household have included German, Italian, Czech, French and Spanish. The streets in my neighborhood are quieter on Saturdays, because when you're an Orthodox Jew, you leave your car in the driveway and walk.
No, I don't pretend for a moment that we are typical, at least not generally. But when I was watching the Democratic Convention on television, I didn't feel atypical -- I felt grateful. (And I'm not even a Democrat.) Grateful that, for once, I could find my own tribe in the crowd, that despite the fact that I'm blonde (sort of) and white, I don't have to believe in a world where everyone looks, thinks and talks like me.
Where does the current Republican worldview come from? Is it fear? I don't find the emphasis on stopping the tide of progress--creationism, abridging medical research, ignoring global warming--to be congruent with our country's reputation for ingenuity, determination and leadership. It is totally at odds with those "Country First" placards they kept waving around, fanning their blonde headpieces. It makes us look backwards, and stupid.
Nor do I understand why they would reject the waves of diversity that have always powered these United States. My family actually showed up here around 1653 (and proceeded to steal a lot of land from the previous inhabitants, BTW). If anything, I should be shooing out the blonde helmet-heads, asking them what they're doing here. As a matter of fact, I might just do that, and replace them with far more interesting folks, who are willing to work hard at crappy jobs, pay taxes, and are not worried whether my lover shares my gender and what god or God I worship.
I know the conventions are designed to be love-fests, to showcase a candidate's pandering to the party base, and I clearly saw that in St. Paul. Pandering to the point of delusion. Stand up, you Americans, and demand the truth. Don't sit their with your little blonde hairdon'ts and smile when you hear the lies. You're better than that. We're better than that. Go back out on the street, and take a look at what your country really looks like. It might break your heart, but there's nothing to fear. Brown and black folks have infants, pregnant teenagers and baby-daddies, too. It doesn't make them qualified to be Vice President, but it does make them qualified to be your neighbors, friends and fellow countrymen. Quit shutting the doors on them: you might just discover a little extra happiness, and some peace, in your own Christian-God-creationism-believing-immigration-reforming souls.
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