Thursday, February 14, 2008

Si Se Puede

OBAMA 2/13/08 New York Daily News "Viva Section" writer Dolores Prida offers some common sense and great advice, why not have Latina, Latino reporters speak on the wave of increasing Hispanic voters necessary to the Texas Democratic presidential campaign coming up soon? They know the culture, language and the people. Latinos who understand the geography of the Barrio instead of the frat boys use demeaning, stereotypical descriptives (often wrong) to posture the “we” and “them concept” into the Clinton and Obama contest. “I had never heard that the brown man would never vote for the black man until the frat boys came along”, she says. I agree. I grew up in Riverside where African Americans and Hispanic speaking families lived next door to one another. Our commonality was that we were all “making it” and “sharing resources” and information whenever we could. It wasn’t such a big deal for the Avilas to come over and it was better having meals at their houses than ours because they had been eating “soul food” and didn’t know that that was what it was called and Mexican dishes were new to us but Delicioso, heck yeah! And tastier, because it was the different, varying textures, sauces, crispiness, and the varying layers of cheese and sautéed vegetables! The Avilas consisted of three different homes, all members of the same family, who owned the local gas station, grocery store and auto repair shop. They even eat chit’lin’s to my chagrin. My mother couldn’t get us to eat them, but we had plenty of neighbors who ate our share. You add onions and white or apple vinegar and I still wouldn’t eat them. But I digressed.

Obama is frightening the old traditionalists. Media and shameless Democrats have attacked ‘his well-crafted speech writers”, and accused him of “trying to be like Martin Luther King, Jr.,” as the great orator; they have attacked his color, his name, religion, loyalty, patriotism. The man is running for President of the United States, what are they talking about. His lineage (he’s part white and African, but he ain’t an African American; I thought that is what made us African Americans that Heinz 57 blood line combination with the brown outer coloring and having accepted certain language, style and culture on the outside. I even heard our 25 Congressional District leader referring to him in public, as a “brown man”. Whatever that meant! Let’s face it, this man is bringing out the “rawness” in a lot of folks. And this is coming from Democrats. Lord help us when the Republicans jump into this fray, but maybe they’ll play nice this summer, since they have as much contempt for McCain as they do for Hillary. But you have to admit, this man has everyone “rocking, talking, responding and most of all VOTING”. And they thought young folks weren’t paying attention and didn’t care. We never gave them a reason to care, now they do. ROCK ON, ROCK ON, ROCK ON OBAMA….yeah. Si’ Se Puede!

OBAMA 2.13.08.two
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch, the sound of rubber boots on snow and broken icy walk ways. Maryland is having their polls opened until 9:30pm, that is nice of them. The freeways are turning into parking lots due to the congestion. Obama is running away with the votes Ladies and Gentleman. And the news is reporting this with 15% of the votes in. Isn’t that a wee bit early? Yes, again, according to the CBS news “Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, all by double-digit margins”, Obama is winning this race.
Well, has the fat lady sung yet? No they say, Texas is the “big elephant in the room” and the super delegates are pulling out their American Express cards for those bonus travel points for Denver this June. Those super delegates better not try to stop this show!! They are going to find themselves with some super duper wuppas’ or young democratic voters wanting to put their Birkenstocks, Skechers, K-Swiss or ecoSneaks in their arses. Where was I in high school when they explained the Super Delegates? And how is it that Hillary has so many of them? Who crowned them Kings and Queens? Don’t they have one vote just like everyone else? Where did they get the extra stuff? Is this what Jesse Jackson was talking about years ago? Sorry, this is not fair by any stretch of the imagination. It is bad enough we don’t have a simple popular vote and call it a day. This is why my friend George says politics are an “illusion” to the luminaries Grasshopper; it isn’t designed for our side to win. He always called me Grasshopper from the David Carradine weekly show. I hope those in Texas understand and get the word out that if Obama wins handsomely, we wouldn’t need any “super D’s” because the regular D’s will get their behinds out and drag every “my vote doesn’t count D’s, “what difference does it make “D’s” and “I don’t know D’s”, and “who is Obama D’s” to the polls. And don’t be afraid to ask for the “provisional ballot if you aren’t sure. Let’s make some noise TEXAS, let them know you are in the house, vital, “on purpose” and important. Then Crunch, Crunch, Crunch, the sound of Frito’s in a Santa Fe Chili pie with a cold Heineken at the Obama Party coming to a town near you or give us a call, we are in the planning stages.

Minerva Williams,
Mighty Thunder