Gay marriage and civil rights, the uneasy connection gets stronger

The NAACP came out in support of same-sex marriage today. I don’t think it’s possible to understate the historic nature of this move. The NAACP affirmed that same-sex marriage is a civil rights issue. To those who have been fighting to legalize same-sex marriage, this seems like an obvious point. But what the NAACP did today – in context with the history of African-Americans and the weight of the term ‘civil rights’ as it refers to the African-American experience and history – is momentous.

This reminds me of an interview I conducted with Eric Lee, who heads the Los Angeles chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference – a historic civil rights organization. Mr. Lee was almost fired from his job, because in 2008 he was one of only a few major African-American leaders to actively campaign against Proposition 8 (the ballot initiative which passed in California, banning legal gay marriages in the state).

When I interviewed Mr. Lee, he was adamant that for him, the issue went beyond notions of what marriage should or should not be – and was instead at the heart of the basic principals of civil rights and equality under the law. And yet, despite his strong support for legalization of gay marriage, he also said that the gay community in general took for granted the significance of the notion of ‘civil rights’ as it pertains to the African-American experience.

In the last two years, a lot appears to have changed. The nation’s opinion regarding same-sex marriage is evolving rapidly towards acceptance. It appears – for the first time – not to be an effective wedge issue during an election year. The NAACP’s actions, though, seem to me a more dramatic barometer, since it was just four years ago that Mr. Lee was almost fired for taking the same stand.

Filed under: Current Events, Elections, Gay Issues, Gay Marriage, gay rights debate, LGBT issues, news, Politics, Presidential Race, Race relations, same-sex marriage, sexuality, African-American, civil rights, Eric Lee, Gay Marriage, gay rights, Rev. Eric P. Lee, Rev. Lee, same-sex marriage, SCLC, Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Ugly war

I was researching old newsreels from 1942 for a journalism project I’m working on, and I ran into this fascinating newsreel video on YouTube. Fascinating, because in just a little more than nine minutes, the video manages to completely scrub away the romanticization of the ’40s and World War II that seems so much a part of modern day notions of that era – from films, to notions of “The Greatest Generation”, as Tom Brokaw puts it.

Surely, we must value the achievements of those who fought in that horrible war – and those who helped the war mobilization through sacrifice and industry back at home.

But watching the newsreel, there’s something very dark and horrible that comes through: the notion that all these people, all this mobilization, propaganda, effort, industry – it was all aimed towards the singular goal of killing people… People, I might ad, with whom we are now friends.

That’s the horror of this film. Perhaps, it’s something that all world leaders today should watch.

It’s so easy to villainize an entire group of people – from the Germans and “Japs” of World War II, to the Iranians and “Islamic fundamentalists” of today. Will we be visiting each other in 70 years as old war veterans, swapping horror stories and remembering comrades who died in vain?

At the same time, watching this newsreel also puts our times in perspective. It’s a wonder that anyone living through the ’40s didn’t think the world was coming to an end. It seemed the whole world had lost it senses.

Yet, here we are today. While we are in relative peace and prosperity – despite the harsh economic times, and distant wars and violence – we seem much more overwhelmed by the challenges of our times. Some people I talk to – smart, educated people – seem almost ready to throw their hands up and quit.

Perhaps that’s what Brokaw means by “The Greatest Generation.”

Back to that newsreel: I can’t help but wonder what we could accomplish if we had the kind of mobilization, singular focus and determination that you can see on that reel with regards to the war. Is it possible for us to have that kind of drive towards something related to peace and building up – rather than war, killing, and tearing down?

I would much like to hope so. And yet, there’s not been any evidence to warrant such hope.

Filed under: armed forces, Current Events, news, 1940s, 1942, 40s, America, mobilization, propaganda, United States, war, World War II, WWII

The scourge of homelessness

I was in New York last week, and when walking out of a pizzeria, I saw a homeless man holding a cup for donations. I walked up and gave him the change in my pocket – left over from the purchase of a giant slice of New York-style pizza.

But while I was giving him change, I said: “Hello, how are you?”

What I soon realized, to my sadness and horror, was that no one had asked him that question in a long time. Because, he immediately went into a litany of complaints about being thrown out of a hospital, his ailments, etc. The words came out of him as an avalanche, grateful for a chance to escape after someone finally showed interest enough to ask.

I realized that it’s not enough just to quickly give change to a homeless person and walk away. Equally as important is taking the time to see the homeless as people, as human beings deserving of all the same common courtesies, kindness, consideration, and care we grant everyone else in our daily interactions.

Too often, the homeless are ignored, looked past, as if they don’t even exist. I can’t imagine what that would do to the human psyche.

A lot of people don’t like to give change to the homeless, because they suspect the money wouldn’t go to the right place. I would argue: it’s not up to us to decide what the right use of money is for anyone else. What IS up to us is to treat others with basic human dignity, kindness and courtesy. That includes not only giving money when you have some to give and another person clearly needs it, but also treating everyone – no matter how they look – with respect and consideration.

Every time I see a homeless person, I am reminded that we as a society have a shameful failure to account for. One of the richest countries on Earth should not have homelessness. It shouldn’t happen. While the causes of homeless may be complex and many, the solutions are there if we are willing to invest in them. It’s not rocket science. And it’s not a mystery.

In another recent trip, this one to San Francisco, I walked down a street next to an elderly man struggling to walk with a walker. His clothes were filthy – clearly showing signs that he had been wallowing in his own waste. The man walked with difficulty but with as much dignity as he could muster.

What a tragedy that that man should have been in that state. Where was the outrage?

I suspect one of the reasons we don’t like homeless people is because when we see them, we feel guilt. We are reminded of our great societal failure and our continued failure to do something about it. But the current solution, of blaming the homeless, of trying to get rid of them through harassment and herding them around to different communities, is not a solution at all. It exacerbates the problem and ads to our collective failure.

This is the season when we are supposed to be generous, giving, and think of our fellow man. I hope some of us will embrace that to great enough measure to think of those we would rather ignore – and then do something.

Filed under: Current Events, economics, homeless, homelessness, income disparity, New York, poor, poverty, San Francisco, society, wealth gap

Is older better?

Old sewing machines on display at the Santa Monica Place Mall

I was at the Santa Monica Place Mall over the weekend and I saw an intriguing store window display. It was rows upon rows of old sewing machines stacked up floor to ceiling.

I’m not sure what the store was for. I think it was a clothing store. But the display stopped many shoppers, including myself, dead in our tracks. We were mesmerized by the beautiful designs and painted patterns on the old machines. The metal and wood, with which they were made, seemed to harken back to a simpler era before digital technology and plastics; an era that must have been better somehow.

I realized that we regularly venerate old things such as those sewing machines. New sewing machines can do a million more things, and more efficiently, than those old clunkers. But the new ones don’t have store displays dedicated to them.

Over the same weekend, I also took a trip to historic areas of town such as Placita Olvera, the historic birthplace of Los Angeles. It’s a small cluster of buildings over a city block in downtown L.A. Nothing really that special about it, except that the buildings have a different look to them and also harken back to a different time. People there seemed fascinated by the faded brick buildings.

I was also at the Griffith Park Observatory. It’s a beautiful old building, carefully restored. It comes from an era you’d imagine Batman would step out of. In fact, if you had to pick a structure that you could imagine Batman’s home would most likely look like, Griffith Park Observatory would be it. There were crowds of people there to see the Observatory. Understandably so, since it’s on top of a mountain overlooking much of Los Angeles and Southern California. But you have to wonder if as many people would have been there if the observatory was a modern one, nothing made special by the passing of time.

It must be human nature to look back and see the past with rose-colored glasses. The people who lived during the time of those old sewing machines, or when Olvera street was built, or when the observatory was first put to use, would all probably marvel and embrace modern-day life. They’d probably give up their wood-and-metal machines for fast, efficient, plastic ones. They’d swap their cold, brick buildings for insulated, central-air-conditioned ones. And they’d probably be just as happy, if not more so, in an observatory made of digital screens interpreting from a telescope that could see much more by virtue of orbiting the earth (not just hovering above Los Angeles).

So why do we look at these representations of the past and marvel? Are we looking at how far we’ve come? Are we wishing we had never come that far? Does it give us hope for what may come in the next 80 years?

The answers, I suspect, are: yes.

Filed under: Current Events, 1930, 1930s, Griffith Park Observatory, Los Angeles, Olvera Street, Placita Olvera, Santa Monica, sewing machines

Is the U.S. really broke?

With the failure of the congressional “super committee,” it is time for a conversation shift in our political discourse.

We keep hearing about how America is broke; that it cannot afford health insurance benefits for the elderly and poor, and social security for retires; that it cannot pay to rebuild its infrastructure, to invest in education and future generations, to encourage better wages and jobs, to innovate in new technologies – and the list goes on.

But is it an irrefutable fact that we are in fact broke and at our knees? I don’t think so. It seems to me we are merely lacking in imagination, not resources.

There are things we need to fix, of course. The housing market is a disaster. Unacceptably, people are still losing their homes when they don’t have to be. Too many people who should be working can’t find any jobs, let alone quality ones that pay enough for a decent middle class life. Wages have not kept up with the cost of middle class lives for decades now. And that has only gotten worse in the last few years.

College education is slipping out of reach for our next generation. And for those who get one, the burden of debt incurred is crushing. It is preventing them from being innovators and risk-takers, which we need for a vibrant competitive economy.

The federal government is borrowing too much money. While its budget deficits are not a problem, yet, they will be in another 10 to 20 years. Interest rates on government debt could rise in another few decades. If the cost of borrowing increases, it could set off a dangerous chain reaction that could threaten the very fabric of the American economy. Something similar is dangerously close to happening in Europe with the economies that use the euro common currency.

But that’s not happening now here in the U.S. It is simply something that could happen in the future. In fact, at the present moment, there is a lot going right in America.

Even with millions of Americans out of work, the vast majority of people still have jobs. They still work, earn a living, spend their earnings. The economy is damaged, but it is still humming along. We have trucks on the roads transporting goods. Corporations are still in business. Everyone is still paying taxes.

Young people are still going to school and learning important new skills. Despite what seems like every attempt to quash the inevitable, new energy technologies are taking hold and new businesses trying to gain a foothold in a Green Energy future.

The car industry in Detroit has recovered well from the brink of disaster. The government’s intervening there was an unquestionable success and saved millions of jobs.

Wall Street and banks have also been doing surprisingly well and making a lot of profit (although there are hints that some firms are now starting to lay people off again in what may be a sign of new trouble).

There is a lot of money being made in this country, a lot of productivity, a lot of tax revenue. We just don’t seem to know what to do with all of this wealth and resources. We seem paralyzed by fear, uncertainty, and the unknown.

But that’s not what this country is about. We are innovators, risk takers, creative thinkers, adapters. We are generous, kind, neighborly, thoughtful. We are fierce when righteous, reflective when chastened.

We are inspiring. And right now, we merely lack inspiration.

It is Thanksgiving. As a collective people, we need a moment of taking stock to figure out what we do have and what we can best do with it. This is a time when we are supposed to be doing just that on a personal scale. But it’s time we think bigger and outside our individual selves.

It is a shame that we have spent so much time and energy talking about what we cannot do. Why in the world should we be unable to fix our roads and bridges, ensure our elderly have medical care, provide affordable colleges for those who want to go, create a fair playing field through sensible regulations that allow our businesses to thrive in a transparent and legitimate free market?

We have done these things and more. There is no reason we cannot do them again.

Filed under: Current Events, Economic Crisis, Politics, budget, Congress, congressional, deficits, economy, supercommittee