That was me yesterday. This has really been an awesome week. But man, the highlight for me was yesterday when I was on the Newshour with Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Rael Nelson James and Joseph Lowery. Most of you guys know how much I appreciate Lowery's courage and willingness to talk straight, even when it isn't comfortable. He was simply awesome today. Frankly, I couldn't really focus sitting next to him. In the words of the God, I was scared I'd press up, and mess up, the scene he'd set. And isn't that the way with all of us coming in the wake of that generation? Who amongst us--Obama excluded--really wants to come after Martin? After Malcolm? After Baldwin?
Afterward Lowery jokingly said to me and Rael, "I thought we were going to debate?" Whatever. Maybe when I get another 70 years of wisdom on me. Until then Rev, you got it.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
Copyright © 2009 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
first NPR, now NewsHour? And didn't you just like, win an Image Award or something? :) Damn you're coming up..
Rev. Lowery stole the show.
He got me out of my seat.
Amen! indeed.
That was a nice appearance for you and you did well. You seemed a bit giddy about the inauguration, or maybe about being on that panel, but it was appropriate excitement I think.
While watching it I turned to my girlfriend and said something like, "Hey I kinda know that guy, I comment on his blog and I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm an asshole."
As to Lowery, while I thought his closing remark today was humorous, I also think it will be more than a little off-putting to alot of well-meaning white working class people who thought this inauguration was their party too. Of course it will also give ammo to the right wing cranks who will say (if they aren't already saying it) that it confirms their suspicions that the Obama presidency will be influenced by the blame whitey crowd, or something like that.
OMG, labor, the comments at USATODAY on Lowrey's speech are scary. Stuff like "As a white man, I've suffered more racism than you can imagine for thirty years, and who is this insulting bigot?" or "Obama owes the world an apology for this man."
What I'm saying is, this blog post brought me back to reality with its accurate estimation of Lowrey's worth. Thanks TNC.
What an impressive panel! And that guy from the Atlantic was all right, too...
Lowery was awesome, everyone was on point, esp. Gwen w/the tricky pronouncing.
labor,
were you off-put by lowery's closing remarks, like the part at the very end where he paraphrased that old song (i didnt know it until today) about how were were now upon a day where 'black does not go to the back ... yellow is mellow .. white does right'? did you feel like he was saying something like, only now that a lot of them have voted for a black man are white people 'doing right' (not to crudely paraphrase or put words in your mouth but, well just as a jump-off point)?
i was aware that a large portion of his remarks were more about the african american journey from slavery etc to today than they were about other things, but i didnt really have a problem with that or feel excluded by it; it's pretty obviously a major and deeply moving story in our overall history as well as (intertwined within it) their own. you dont actually seem to feel excluded by it either.. do you think a lot of white people will be? i imagine that, at most, some of those white working class folks will be like 'well that prayer was mostly directed towards black people but its not a big deal either way.' i mean like, i'm not a Christian but especially after reflection, i really loved his ending call - "Let all who do justice and love mercy say Amen!" I should have shouted it out. I thought the inauguration overall was rather uplifting and inclusive, and not as overbearing or overlong as i thought it would be. Lowery rules.
sv:
The part that you quote was the only part I got to see since, unfortunately, there was no great celebration in my office. So I can't really comment on the rest of Lowery's performance. I don't think that alot of white folks would say that his talking about the African American story is exclusionary or inappropriate under these circumstances (of course, the knee-jerk reverse racism crowd would but I'm talking about rational people here).
The "white does right" comment is different I think. I just found it humorous really, and I think that's how it was intended. But I can see some white people saying: "We've come this far, changed so much, and we're still getting blamed for not doing the right thing? It's not as if we're the only evil bastards in the world."
I just hope it doesn't become divisive and overshadow the rest of his remarks, which I gather from your's and others' descriptions, were excellent.
sv:
Please keep in mind when you read the above that I'm not the spokesman for white people. That guy I never heard of with the creepy mustache and the cowboy hat is.
wait i thought whichever white person i was talking to at the time was the racial spokesperson. you people are all on the same wavelength, right?
nah i was just curious as to how you thought 'the WCW' (working class whites! hey i like that!) might react. monolith that they are, j/k.
I was flipping channels when I saw your mug on the screen and Gwen handed you the floor. TNC in high-def, go figure.
The panel was great, Lowery is always fantastic, but your enthusiasm was captivating and the discussion about Ms. Cooper and Obama's ability to make "black" issues universal issues is a theme that hasn't been touched on enough.
The fleece-suit combo is second only to Jim Nantz's red vests in terms of sheer awesomeness.
The fleece: I ain't feeling it.
Anyways, i knew the song, i learned to play it a decade ago. Of course, I was introduced to Broonzy like any good white person, through Clapton's unplugged album (Hey,Hey).
I am gobsmacked by the anger that I got out of some white people about that reference.
My boss (pretty laid back conservative guy) was pissy about it. I explained the reference, and he was a little less so, but man, this is some sublimated anger.
Ta-Nehisi Coates should have been included in the inaugural ceremony by being asked to read Let America be America Again by Langston Hughes.
I think Lowery was so good, so spot on, that his biggest accomplishment was making Rick Warren look petty and small by comparison. I'm not even a believer, but I was saying Amen by the end of it. He's a good man, that Reverend Lowery.
At least you had the sense not to challenge the man to a rap contest or anything--he would have cleaned the floor with all competition.
Lowery's rhyme was the highlight for both of my children. I played the whole thing for my husband when he got home--you need the set up, not just the punchline--and both kids perked up in the "oh, I remember that bit" way. They liked the rhyming. (12 and 7.)
I don't see the offense. Obviously the point is to match all available colors with a rhyming positive adjective. If we had green people they would be making the scene. If we had purple people, well, that'd be a challenge. And I figured there might be a song/poem reference, though I don't know it.
Here is the funny thing. Lowery tore it up so well that you will be hard pressed to find anybody talking about Rick Warren right now. And if they are, I am pretty sure most convos are centering around the creepy way he said Sasha and Malia's names. In the end President Obama wins again lol.
Picture that.
From where I was sitting, here is the offense. The first parts of the rhyme were asking for a time in which people of every color would be accepted. The last line was about the color who was keeping it from happening.
That's what I heard, and even though I was saying Amen along with him at the end (let's face it, the man has some skills at working a crowd), that last bit stuck in my craw.
I hope that my posts here over time have shown me to be a man of good will. Not having a lifetime of history listening to this man like many here, this really bothered me more that most of you. I didn't like it.
I also thought that Lowery killed, and I loved it, but I'd love to hear from some others on the white / right comment, as I have a lot of friends who are getting themselves pretty worked up about it.
Here is the funny thing. Lowery tore it up so well that you will be hard pressed to find anybody talking about Rick Warren right now.
Indeed. Part of me wants to think that Obama knew this would happen and played a Jedi mind trick on Warren by doing this, but I think he just got a little lucky.
The last line was about the color who was keeping it from happening.
Well, that's the truth, isn't it? Even though you and me and lots of other whites don't stand in the way personally, the history is pretty clear on it, I think. Whites as a group still hold most of the cards, and stand in the way of equality because we have the most to lose, and sometimes because we don't even recognize the privileges we have, because they're just normal to us.
I don't think Lowery was saying it in a "white devils are keeping us down" sort of way. I think he was saying that, historically, whites have been a large part of the problem, and that we can be part of the solution, if we get it right. And I think that this election is a step toward getting it right.
People, even reasonable ones, will get worked up about the silliest things. An atheist friend of mine took mild offense at Obama's use of the term non-believer. He thought it was harsh and insisted that he did have beliefs just not religious ones. I was like, "But dude, the man was talking about religion". It also didn't occur to him that Obama wanted to reference agnostics as well as atheists.
I loved Lowry's prayer, but I winced at the last part because I could just see people finding a way to take offense to it. I think the over tone of his benediction diffused any possibility that he meant offense. But I'm sure that there are right wingers using it to generate a vast Negro conspiracy as we speak.
People, even reasonable ones, will get worked up about the silliest things. An atheist friend of mine took mild offense at Obama's use of the term non-believer. He thought it was harsh and insisted that he did have beliefs just not religious ones. I was like, "But dude, the man was talking about religion". It also didn't occur to him that Obama wanted to reference agnostics as well as atheists.
Wow. I'm an atheist and I was really excited about being included for once.
"White does right" was perfect. Different groups face different barriers to becoming one family, and using power to do wrong is the white issue here, now. Well, that and having so little experience being pushed around that we spend energy worrying about a rhyme.
I want to know more about this Moses Generation and Joshua Generation stuff. Not a peep about this in the huge Boomer threads.
Also, I thought Obama took some shots at the Boomers in his speech.
Everything else about the day was let's pitch in, get on board and do what needs to be done.
It didn't ruin the day for me, it would take a lot more than that.
@AMT
I believe that no offense was intended. I don't hold it against him. The man has done too much for that. I'm trying to figure out how to say this, so bear with me here.
I'm a guy who believes that we have the right to offend others. That government and society has gotten too protective of people's feelings. At the same time, I do believe you have a responsibility to think about how others perceive what you say and do. I submit that Rev. Lowery should have thought about this ending a little more carefully. It stung me a little bit and this wasn't the time for that, I think.
I'm white and Jewish (and a rabbi, actually) and it was Warren's invocation that made me cringe a couple of time. He had some references in there that were clearly meant to be inclusive of other faiths: the "Hear O Israel" line, which is central in Jewish liturgy; referring to God as "compassionate and merciful," a nod to Islam. And he named Jesus is four languages, including Arabic and Hebrew. But those nods at "inclusion" actually felt pretty creepy to me -- appropriating my particular faith language and harnessing it to the service of his (different) faith.
Not that Jews aren't used to that, mind you, but...
I vastly preferred Lowery's prayer. I did have a minor, almost subliminal twinge at the line everyone's talking about, but for me it was drowned almost instantly in "Let all those who do justice and love mercy say 'Amen'!" Way to bring it home to what it's all about...
@Michael
Good points, I pretty much forgot about Warren as soon as he was done speaking. He had that mega-church pomposity that I find immediately off-putting.
I also preferred Lowery's prayer to Warren's, maybe that's why I found the ending so disappointing.
Hmm. Line didn't phase me. Kids loved it; not getting it, just getting that this man could move a crowd and get a good rhyme going.
Arguably yellow will be mellow could be considered terribly racist--all asian people are not sticks in the mud--but there's been little complaint. In part because a quick run down of alternatives--the yellow will eat jello, the yellow will be a Harvard fellow, the yellow will bellow, the yellow will say hello, the yellow will play the cello--makes it clear that the other options don't work, except the last one, which would seem to be picking out Yo Yo Ma from something that's supposed to be generic.
There's nothing about white embracing right that means a) a lot of whites do not presently do this; b) the other colors all presently do this. It just rhymes. And, of course, white people have been winning for a while, so the coming of full equality means giving up the little benefits that come with starting out in the obviously-like-me category for people in power.
The white shall have abs that are tight. The white shall be high as kites. (I'm leaving out fight, fright, might, cite, light, sight, trite, and night for obvious reasons.) No, white has to rhyme with something involving "right" for the poem to work at all. Or we go all Dr Suess and The white shall have a zite, which is some sort of weird animal like Clark from the Park.
I have to say that we are getting just a little too pc for my tastes. And the funny thing is I haven't heard anybody complaining about what I thought they would be complaining about and thats the references to red and yellow men. Instead the white man is offended by a line that I suppose if you really WANTED to take offense at you could, but why put the effort in it would take to make that leap?
This is from the official transcript
See the word laughter in parenthesis 3 times? That's called an attempt at humor. Something we need more of evidently in this country. Sheesh.
While i'm not coming from the right, I am white, and I was honestly shocked to hear people were offended by Lowery's statements. First, because those lines were obviously both a historical reference and presented in an ironic/joking fashion. Second, because if you are white in this country, even if you yourself have been the subject of racism/prejudice/etc..., you are still a white person in a country that historically has had (and currently still has) a lot of white privilege. So even if you didn't take it in the context Lowery was presenting it in, I don't think it was something which should give offense.
Man, if people want black folks to shut up about their silly black grievances, they really gotta shut up about their silly white grievances! Seriously, when did us white people get to be such a bunch of babies?
Hey, I don't if you're at any of these balls, but I hope you were there for this: http://jezebel.com/5135849/beyonce-brings-it-at-obamas-inaugural-ball-first-dance
awesome. just great.
It's interesting because the 'whites do right' phrase is painful in part because we are struggling to find an identity amidst the confusion of becoming one of many minorities -- not least, so many of our parents, grandparents, or ancestors struggled become 'white;' rather than Irish, Italian, Polish, Slavic, or... horrors... those Germans whom Ben Franklin was convinced never bathed.
And then the prize recedes...
Now it seems you have to be really, really smart to become president...
I did have a minor, almost subliminal twinge at the line everyone's talking about
Yeah, that describes my reaction exactly. I certainly wasn't offended by the line, but I think I recognized that wingnuts would latch onto it.
That is a sweet fucking get up, dude.
What fleece?
The Reverend Lowery was breathtaking today. And the best part was that ending with his benediction completely overshadowed Rick Warren and rendered him and his boring invocation functionally irrelevant. Wonder if clever Obama knew that all along?
I am getting angry at the people offended by Lowrey. First of all, I am reading and hearing a
lot of "Who is this guy?"
This is Joseph F'ing Lowery. He was there when the water hoses were turned on. He was who the firebombs were trying to hit. The dogs were barking in his face, and the white, racist cops were calling him boy. Even if it stung your delicate sensibilities, he gets a fucking pass. Now, and always.
A hometown article about the good reverand that adds some very interesting backstory from his youth: http://www.al.com/politics/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1232457310266960.xml&coll=1
I'm sorry I brought it up, quite frankly. I had a feeling it would quickly devolve to taking sides. I knew for a fact that mentioning would get someone compared to a wingnut. It seems I was correct.
@wallyz
I don't recall anyone denigrating the man's work.
@Deborah
"Light" would work, I don't have anything against "right", even.
@APV
Words matter, timing matters. And I am the judge of my own sensibilities, as are you of your own.
Let us all remember this conversation the next time anyone says something on national television that other people don't like.
Sorry KevDog, but considering the way that whites have treated other races for centuries, whites have some nerve getting offended at such a _minor_ and such a truly apt comment on the part of a man who has lived the truth. Lowery was right to say it.
Whites (I am white, so I know) need to be a lot less whiny. Get a grip.
Big Bill Broonzy used "if you're right, you're all right", placing white people in a supremacist position within segregated society. Lowery, having gone through the civil rights movement and finding himself praying at the inauguration of the first African-American President, allowed us white folk the option of moral agency as opposed to presumed "supremacy" - "do right." What more could we ask of ourselves than what Lowery asks ? I'm fine with that and all "right-thinking" white folk should be.
Also, the opening of his benediction was the third stanza of James Weldon Johnson's "Lift Every Voice aka Negro National Anthem." A beautiful song and I'm glad it became part of the official ceremonies, along with renditions of all of our other "national anthems" from "This Land" to "America" and "America, The Beautiful" and "Star Spangled Banner" over these couple of days.
Sorry - that should have been "If you're WHITE, you're all right."
I thought Rev. Lowery's comments at the end were a wonderful moment of light-heartedness. Having lived through what he has lived through gives a special resonance to his humor. I felt included in the joke, and I appreciated it ... I think it would be a shame if some of my fellow white people took offense. Jeesh.
I'm Asian. I probably could have taken offense to Rev. Lowery's "yellow can be mellow" line, but I thought it was funny because, frankly, some Asians are uptight perfectionists, i.e., the friend who did take offense to that line, but her parents were in the Japanese internment camps, mine came to the United States in the 60s to go to college.
As for the "white can embrace what is right," line, it sounded like an ironic play on words and, as someone already said, it fit. And, given the history of this country, it might help to actually look at the whole thing and not just focus so much on the little bit that seems to affect you and only you ... come on, he's made it seem like American Indians are all a bunch of slackers:
"... we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around ... when yellow will be mellow ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen."
I'm white, watched Rev. Lowery's bit live and thought it was cute.
I mean, really.....he was rhyming! How can any white person, be offended by an old black preacher, rhyming.
Maybe if he said something like, "let's all kill whitey, make the rope tighty". Short of that, how can you honestly take offense as a white person?
If anything, I could see a Native American feeling mixed emotions..."yeah he called us redman but he wants us to get ahead...man".
I am intrigued by this whole discussion - I'm white, didn't get offended, loved his benediction. But a number of my very liberal white friends got their feelings hurt. When I pointed out to them that he was paraphrasing an old blues song, that calmed them down a bit because it gave it context. Another thing is that most white people seemed to have missed the part at the beginning when he wove "Lift Every Voice and Sing" into the benediction and a number of my black friends really loved that and wished that Aretha had sung it. After sleeping on it, I wonder if he did the benediction for black folks - being the voice of the civil right movement on the podium and all - I woke up thinking he used what I'll call dog whistle words (words that mean a lot to black folks but go right by most white folks) and then, right at the end, to some white folks it was like he was "nice words, nice words, blah blah blah, Cracker Ass Cracker (or whatever that phrase from chris rock is)." One of my white friends said "i thought this was a day where we were all suppose to be included" - it's like part of being post racial is you can't mention anything bad that white people did or hold them accountable at all? I realized also this morning that one of the phrases from the day that stuck with me, but I wasn't mad - just woke me out of my "listening to speeches slumber" - someone said (can't remember who) that on that very ground people were kept in cages. I guess for some white people, you can mention the sins of the past because (i) I wasn't there and (2) the facts is the facts, but on this most auspicious day, don't point out that we still got work to do and some of it might be mine?
Re: The Fleece
That powder blue zippered number you were wearing under your Jacket and over your Shirt and tie. It looked like polypropelene fleece.
Man, talk about fail. It's a Brooks Brothers half-zip cardigan. I must have struck millions as some sort of homeless person.
"I did have a minor, almost subliminal twinge at the line everyone's talking about"
"Yeah, that describes my reaction exactly."
Mine, too, but certainly nothing that I was offended by.
And the twinge (or less) paled in comparison to my thoughts about Warren's pablum, Aretha's crappy singing, that atrocious poem (not to mention the reading - could we at least have it read by the National Orator or something) and, to be completely honest, the President's rather workmanlike speech.
None of which took the slightest bit of enjoyment out of my day, the importance of the entire event or my optimism going forward.
Millions? You overestimate the News Hour ratings, methinks.
Wait, so you weren't brought on the panel to provide the POV of the indigent black man? Well, that changes my whole understanding of the segment. Seriously, I thought you sounded (and looked) fine, although I did think the cardigan was a bit on the casual side. But it worked for you.
As far as Lowery's benediction is concerned, if anything I'd say the line about whites could be construed as a rephrase of the white man's burden trope. Everybody else gets to kick back, be mellow, just hang around, and we're stuck carrying the load, doing what's right, helping everyone along. Yeah, that's a bit strained, but no more so than the folks who are getting offended by it. I thought the humor was a nice touch, and either way it was immediately overshadowed by the great close. Say Amen!
On a completely different topic, I missed the live reading of it, but going back and looking at the text of the inaugural poem, I have to say the poetry skeptics turned out right on this one. It has a few good moments, but overall not a very good poem, and certainly not a good poem to perform. No rhythm or flow--it reads like prose, not poetry.
I thought those were fleece pajamas under the blazer. I even thought I saw some tell-tale blogger cheeto stains around the collar.
I've seen plenty of white racism up close and personal in the very recent past -- in my own family, at Christmas. Lowery was not making shit up. The fact that he could make a sly joke out of what continues to be a painful reality speaks volumes about his own wisdom and compassion and what he has learned to bear.
I agree with the previous Jennifer! I thought the benediction was inspiring and uplifting. I loved it. I'm white and I do not understand why whites would be offended. Jeesh indeed.
As a Christian, I appreciated his appeal to love, his praying for the whole community of nations, his asking forgiveness for our exploitation of the poor and his beating trunks into tractors line (a reference to the Book of Isaiah). Let all who those who do justice and love mercy say AMEN!
re: KevDog
I didn't mean to give offense. I was just honestly surprised to hear people were offended by it and was curious as to why, specifically, people felt that way. I've seen enough stories this morning on the topic that I get it, but still disagree.
I think Carla has it right on in her post. I think Lowery's benediction did a great job of simultaneously being inclusive and being targeted specifically at a whole generation of civil rights proponents.
I hold to my initial point that his statement was one issued to a broad audience, not to any one person as an individual, and as such there was little to be offended by the statement "and when white will embrace what is right". The country as a whole has a long history of not doing that. Which isn't to say that white people haven't been wronged or that others haven't committed wrongs or that every white person is and/or has been racist. But it is a recognition that white men have had the reigns of power in this country for its entire history and have done a lot of wrong in the process. I think part of the process of inclusion is being able to look honestly at yourself.
First, while not offended myself I think Kevdog's reaction was entirely understandable.
Second (related to the first), some have pointed out that "white men" hold the reigns of power and have oppressed the world for hundreds of years, etc., etc. And here I think we get back to the oft-mentioned issue as to whether races are to be treated as monolithic. The reason that people like Kevdog are miffed is that they are being called out as responsible for what other people have done.
Let's say Kevdog's a good guy (he seems to be) and generally tries to do the right thing, in racial matters and otherwise. Why should anyone go out publically and say that one day people like Kev (and me) would come around and do the right thing? The implication is that he and the rest of us poor white assholes continue to make wrong or evil choices when it comes to race relations, which certainly isn't true when it comes to most white people.
Nobody likes to be called immoral or racist, especially when they are doing the right thing.
"Light" would work, I don't have anything against "right", even.
But they'd go in the same way as right (embrace the light, see the light, know the light, be bathed in the light) except with a Paul on the road to Damascus layer added.
The whole set up (and I don't know the original blues song) is that as a people, whatever one's color or creed or etc, any person would not need to get back, could stick around, could be mellow, could be the head man, and would embrace the right. I just don't get a flavor that the red man cannot opt to be mellow and stick around.
Jackal, thanks for the Beyonce link.
I loved your appearance on the News Hour. I also can't remember the last time I saw Charlayne Hunter-Gault on any news program. She is incredible. I thought the exchange between the four of you was a wonderful lesson on where America has been, where we are, and where we are going. Lowery's benediction at the inaugural was fantastic. I think he was making a point by using those tired racial terms. Also, as a white woman I know that white ain't right yet. Some white people often make insane racial statements to me as if I understand or agree. And many of them have no problem with Obama because they think he is not your "typical" black person. It is better on the surface, but it is still terribly ugly when you start digging deep. Yet I am only 33 and I have seen change in my short life, so I can only imagine the joy felt by the warriors of the civil rights movement during this amazing time.
When, regardless of history, will the rules required of one side of the racial harmony issue be applied to men like Lowery? If Lowery wanted to make a meaningful statement about any further progress that Caucasians need to make in their contribution to racial equity, then why not make it without a racist slur? He gets a pass because of his history, and because of the oppression of blacks in the US? Come on...
Foolish, self-centered, emotion-based attitudes, words & actions are what made men put on white hoods, pass Jim Crow laws, lynch black husbands, sons & fathers, and overlook black job candidates for white. Hatred among these people wasn’t born in them, it came from a promotion of self over the needs of one’s fellow. No forward motion in harmony will occur without truth, and holding each other to be consistent to the rules of civil discourse.
Good luck building a useful community on emotion and a postmodern ethos…it will not work.