Posts made in November 2016

Thoughtsgiving Can Be The Prerequisite To Thanksgiving

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BY JEANETTE LENOIR

 

Since 2010, a small group of people have been gathering at a local pub to celebrate a new tradition. It takes place on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, at The Green Onion in Utica, NY. Utica College Professor and Artist, Steven Specht, is a founding member of this new holiday and says it’s a time to reflect and be thoughtful about the world and the issues impacting its people, before moving on to the big feast of Thanksgiving. The new tradition, marking its 6th year this time around, is called Thoughtsgiving.  Specht and his fellow co-founders, Brad Emmons and Jason Denman represent some of the rare individuals in central New York that are actively working to bridge the cultural and social gap that keeps many people that call this region home, segregated.

It’s no coincidence that CNY continues to be rated one of the most segregated areas in America by multiple organizations like the U.S. Census Bureau, Brookings Institute and CNY Fair Housing, Inc. A 2014 report by CNY Fair Housing found that when it comes to equality of opportunity based on race and ethnicity, the area is one of the worst in scoring in the country. The report also found that, “Access to community assets is unevenly distributed geographically and across racial and ethnic groups. There are significant disparities in median household income and poverty levels between residents of Syracuse and residents of the surrounding towns and, within the City of Syracuse, significant differences exist in median household income and poverty by race and ethnicity.”

Nonetheless, Specht and his supporters aren’t deterred by the figures that reflect the cultural and social status of CNY, or the uphill climb to bring about a more well-balanced and healthy community. The group, despite its small size, is making local head waves and inspiring others to reach across whatever divides them. To soften hearts and minds and build the bridges for that desperately needed human connection and thoughtfulness that seeks to heal a community still licking old and new racial wounds. Thoughtsgiving may be a new tradition and celebration of thoughtfulness with only a handful of members, but the mission behind it is tried and true. Showing consideration for the needs of other people never gets old.

1952 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Albert Schweitzer, captures the spirit behind Thoughtsgiving eloquently with this quote: “Very little of the great cruelty shown by men can really be attributed to cruel instinct. Most of it comes from thoughtlessness or inherited habit. The roots of cruelty, therefore, are not so much strong as widespread. But the time must come when inhumanity protected by custom and thoughtlessness will succumb before humanity championed by thought. Let us work that this time may come.”

 

Is “Trump” The New Synonym For The N-Word?

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BY JEANETTE LENOIR

 

Last week, I stopped at one of my favorite upscale resale shops in Clinton, NY. Dawn Marie’s Treasure’s on Park Row is packed with old, new and eclectic things.  I’ve spent hundreds of dollars there since calling the area home in 2008. During this time I thought I had developed some rapport with the owner and her husband. For example, when we see each other we say hello, and engage in small talk. During the holiday season, I have even brought other family members to the small store to shop.

Unfortunately, my stop-in at Dawn Marie’s Treasure’s didn’t go as expected this time. Her husband was at the register instead of Dawn. I said hello and told him I would be browsing in the back. He was busy talking to two other ladies at the register but greeted me and said, OK. As I’m browsing through the winter coats, and following the departure of the ladies, the owner’s husband walked towards me and started to engage me in conversation. He immediately started asking me about my work. I answered politely but was stand-offish because I wasn’t comfortable with his line of questioning. Not satisfied with my answers, he started asking me about my previous position as a journalist and radio talk show host. A position I had 4-years ago. Still feeling uncomfortable with his line of questioning, his tone and demeanor, I politely changed the subject by asking him how he was doing in his life. He apologized for being controversial in his prying and excused himself when the phone rang. Saved by the Bell! I thought, and kept looking through the winter coats.

As I’m shaking my head internally at the ill-mannered audacity of this man, I naturally made my way towards the other clothing rack in the back. This move to the back rack clearly caused some issue for the man who I then hear say in a rushed tone: “I have to go!” to the person on the other end of the phone call he left me to answer. I immediately thought that it was probably because I was no longer in his view. He couldn’t keep his eye on me anymore when I moved from the coat rack to the rack with blazers. My perception was formed by how quickly he got off the phone when I moved, and his tone in delivering, “I have to go!”

After all my visits to the little shop on Park Row, I was hit with a dose of reality… I am perceived as a villain simply because my skin is brown. It didn’t matter that I had become familiar with the shop owners, spent hundreds of dollars at their store, or recommended their shop to friends and family. It was blatant, painful and thought-provoking. I wasn’t just any shopper. I was a black shopper. Trying to remain dignified in this harsh reality and discovery, I maintained my composure, picked out a few items and made my way towards this man who, after getting off the phone, made sure he had both eyeballs on me the entire time I was in the back of the store.

At the register, he started asking me more of his line of controversial and personal questions. By this time, two other people walked in. I took notice that he didn’t seem concerned about their unsupervised presence in the store. They were white. And besides, he had his villain right in front of him. It was me.  As he’s checking me out he started asking me about my previous job again. He was making a face like he was trying to remember some juicy tale about my personal life but couldn’t put his finger on it. I just kept giving him a look that I hoped would ward him off, but he kept attacking me with his prying. I asked him why he was peppering me with his questions and he laughed it off as if it was all just a big joke. He then started asking me about my son. He said, “How’s your son? You have a son, right? Didn’t he have some problems?” All of these questions were delivered back to back, in front of the other two customers. They were judgments disguised as questions about me, the villain, the black shopper.

I kept looking at him with dumb-founded amazement. When he stopped to take a breath after his line of questioning, I asked him if he knew my name. He didn’t. I then told him for someone who doesn’t even know my name you certainly seem to think you know a lot about me and my son. He apologized, laughed and said: “You’re right, I’m sorry. I’m being so negative. It’s just that I thought you were some kind of disgruntled person and that your son had some problems or something.”

The dismayed look that had developed on my face didn’t go unnoticed, I hoped. However, I backed it up with words that I hoped would teach him something about customer service, and the art of decency. Basically, I told him that I didn’t appreciate his line of questioning and that I take offense to his treatment of me. He gave me an insincere apology, as if I had no right to be offended. I took my items and left. I almost didn’t want to spend that $71 in the store anymore but didn’t want to make a scene, as our exchange was uncomfortable enough.

Days later, I couldn’t get the experience out of my mind. I felt so strongly about what happened to me that I felt compelled to bring it up to his wife, Dawn. I thought if I explain to Dawn—the shopkeeper I normally deal with—how her husband made me feel during my last visit, perhaps she’ll talk to him and advice him not to bombard customers with personal and inappropriate questions.

Today, I went back to the shop while I was running another errand in the same shopping strip, Park Row. I politely waited until she finished speaking with two customers, greeted her and asked if her husband told her that I was in the store last week. I purposely kept my voice low because I didn’t want to embarrass her but felt strongly that she should know about my experience. She answered, no and proceeded to listen to me. After telling her that I was very uncomfortable with the exchange she became defensive. She told me her husband was the nicest person on the planet and if he made me uncomfortable it was not meant to be so. I just took it the wrong way. …It was clear that she didn’t care about me. I was the enemy to her too. She made that clear by being condescending, dismissive and excusing her husband’s treatment of me.

I then told her in a very calm voice that I would no longer shop at her store. I made the decision on the spot because of how she handled my genuine concern about the experience with her husband. She then got angry and yelled out: “I don’t care! Get out or I’ll call the cops!”  I told her I’m happy to leave her store and will never return. She then started shouting: “Trump! Trump! Trump!” That’s why we voted for Trump! Get Out!”

I turned around, still calmly, and took off my sunglasses, which I had put on as I made my way toward the exit. I told her that I was actually wearing Ivanka Trump sunglasses and that I didn’t care that she voted for Trump. I threw a rhetorical jab back at her by asking her what she thought her vote for Trump really meant?!  …She simply kept yelling “Trump! Trump! Trump!” at me as I made my way out of her shop.

I wondered if she had forgotten about the two customers in her store. I wondered what she thought about me over all these years. I wondered if she ever valued me as one of her regular customers. A lot went through my mind… And then I eased into the comforting feeling that her behavior only speaks of who they are. Not me.

Only a bigoted, racist human-being—in my view—would use Trump as a synonym for the N-word. To describe that moment as shocking would be an understatement. Dawn Marie was yelling Trump at me…because I’m black. There is no other logical explanation for it.

On my drive home the only question lingering in my mind like a bitter after-taste was; Did the word “Trump” replace the N-word?

 

Trump Pushes Political Detritus Into Full Bloom

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BY COLIN HUBBELL

 

Donald Trump’s candidacy can be summed up as the best reality television performance in American history…were someone keeping track of this type of thing. Unfortunately, the only people that will gain much from his real or staged downfall are those in the Clinton campaign, and anyone else connected to the modern spoils system following her inauguration. “Corporate America” will likely be the largest benefactor of the next Clinton Presidency.
Whether another President Clinton and the efforts to elevate Trump’s exposure were contrived by the DNC, or corporate sponsors and their media outlets matters little—that is what happened. The impact of Trump’s outrageous antics and bullying on undecided voters, and many Republicans, cannot be discounted. The public is now so uncomfortable with the prospects of his crude behavior in the Oval Office that they have largely forgotten about the litany of flaws with Clinton, or the history of lewd behavior from her husband. Frankly, a Manchurian candidate, or covert operative could not have done better at creating empathy for Mrs. Clinton through this phenomena of psychological political polarization; empathy for someone that showed marginal leadership in the Senate (as evidenced by her vote for the Iraq War), or accountability while Secretary of State—each position showcasing a glaring gap in foreign policy acumen. And, from her campaign contributions—or if you can even begin to imagine how money might flow through her foundation—it is clear she lacks much independence from corporate influence.
Not only has Trump made palatable a candidate that has never showed much beyond a lust for power, he has almost pushed the modern GOP toward a breaking point—the type of political party paradigm shift that occurred just a few times in American history. The fracture is deep within the GOP, and establishment Republicans are grappling with a renewed inability to relate to their base. Trump lowered “the bar” of political correctness, and debased political dialog to the point that he completely cast “the bar” off. How else could he have taken the nomination by storm from a field of seasoned politicians? But, this is an opponent that the DNC and Clinton campaign were eager to face. This is what the media sought for their ratings, because Trump is precisely what many Americans wanted injected into the boring old political process: entertainment.
What will follow from this election is a fallout to uncharted depths. If the House of Representatives does not flip, buckle up for four years of grossly contentious partisanship that will make Bill Clinton’s tenure seem tame. With witch hunts reminiscent of Salem, and weekly political stunts begging for media coverage, even more Americans will become disgusted by the lack of progress and process; an ugly tone permeating the nation will turn off more people every step of the way. For Hillary Clinton—with so much real and imagined baggage—the fuel for obstructionist tactics will be almost infinite in a Republican held Congress. But, Hillary Clinton is an ambitious cog in a system that promotes corporate representation posing as governance for the citizenry. She is no more corrupt or self-serving than many politicians—just more talented in many respects, and that is what is rewarded.
As always, the loser in our reductionist, dualistic system is progress. In 2016 America has been played by a willing DNC, and an incompetent, unprepared RNC. We have been forced into accepting a president that will largely maintain the status quo. This is what happens in a system where the population is pushed into partisan corners and divided by a nominating process dictated by fringes. Instead of finding common ground, we stomach continued fighting over wedge issues, even though most know something is amiss, and that this is not the 21st century we imagined. The American dream is most certainly not one where we work hard to subsidize a corporate governance that profits from global instability while outsourcing our economy and maintaining entrenched power. With four more years of lacking cohesion and leadership it will be a wonder if anyone has the energy left to dream of progress in 2020.