"For now we see through a glass, darkly."
I love movies for two reasons above all others: I can see the world, real or as imagined by the director, and I can dimly imagine the world through someone else's eyes. As dim or blurry that "other's" viewpoint may be translated by film, I can walk across the Russian steppes to return home, I can live in the pretend world of a Chinese emperor, I can even be pursued by zombies through the deserted streets of post-Apocalyptic London.
So what does this have to do with today's remarks by Hillary Clinton? (Hint: not the zombies!) In January, on the heels of Sen. Obama's historic Iowa caucus victory, I read a blog post that gave me a chance to view, perhaps imperfectly and darkly, Obama seen through the eyes of the African-American community.
LowerManhattanite, on the Group News Blog penned a post, "Pride and Palipitations". He starts by describing his shock that an African-American won Iowa:
I snapped my laptop shut and quickly folded the little ash tray table for the switcheroo...and looked at the big TV for a moment. I'd been back there in that room for over an hour by myself and had in-a-not-inside-voice mused aloud "Holy shit." when they called the caucus for Barack Obama.
Actually, I'd said "Holy shit." a few times as I'd risen from the bed and paced the room, hands on hips, absorbing the on-screen reactions to Obama's surprising (for me, at least) win. I was fairly drowning in phrases like "sea change", "end of an era", "turning of the page", and most notably..."historic moment". I soon realized that I'd been repeatedly stopping to look at the TV with a "Did I really just see what I just saw?" look...
You really should read the post -- this part is really quite amusing. However, the post soon turns darker:
And once Obama started talking, after about fifteen seconds, my wife suddenly flipped over towards the wall, covering her head and saying through the muffled blankets...
"I can't watch!"
And in that moment, she verbalized exactly what was on my mind, and I dare say what was on the minds of a considerable majority of the African Americans watching him call down verbal thunder in those minutes.
We...were afraid.
I found myself not unconsciously scanning the roaring crowd, praying to not see a weapon pop above the throng and point at him. I couldn't stop myself. When the camera lingered on him too long during stretches of the speech, I averted my eyes for a few seconds, fearful that I might catch a tragic moment playing out in horrific real-time. I'd look back again a second or two later.
I found I couldn't really absorb or analyze the speech as I'd have liked. I was too busy checking out cameras in the crowd held aloft, and wondering about security. "Jesus, he gets so many people at his events! How the fuck is he gonna secure the venues? Ohhhhh man..."
Wow. When I read Sen. Clinton's remarks today, I found myself reflexively trying to see her remarks as anything but deeply hurtful and insensitive to the fears and history of African Americans, in fact all Americans who have shared the pain of our politically violent past. I couldn't -- her remarks were horrible.
Sen. Clinton, you must apologize, not so much to Sen. Obama, but to citizens who remember all too well their leaders and champions being gunned down.
Afterthought: You really should go read LowerManhattanite's post -- it's very good.