It is often said that Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America, and there’s truth in that; but it is just as true that black middle class life is almost invisible to white America.
In “One More River to Cross” Walter Dean Myers has culled archives, junk stores and other places where old photographs hide and assembled an album that would be merely nostalgic if the faces were white. But most of them are not, which means that for many readers, an America they never knew existed looks out at them: A lean and tough-looking young cowboy, complete with bandanna, chaps, cartridge belt, Winchester repeating rifle, saddle and lariat -- and a head full of wild, long but (apparently) processed hair. Part Indian, too, maybe.
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| Nat Love, or Deadwood Dick |
The selection is rich and broad, with laborers in cotton fields, a lynched man and a gangster, and at the other end of the social scale, celebrities like Duke Ellington; but there is a weight toward scenes of middle class aspirations, recreations and work.
Always work. Myers, a poet, accompanies the photographs with a sparse but effective text that returns again and again to work.
This is worth repeating, since in 2012 we had a presidential candidate of a major party who claimed humble people avoid work; and in 2014 we have a large fraction of his party rallying around the same losing (but comforting to them) message.
This is worth repeating, since in 2012 we had a presidential candidate of a major party who claimed humble people avoid work
ReplyDeleteWhat, exactly, did Romney say?
No, not your mangling impression, but his exact words.
You are nailing your flag to those guys' mast, aren't you? I cannot understand why.
ReplyDeleteYou and I both watched the tape.
I'm not nailing my flag to anyone's mast. I want to know if what he actually said substantiates your allegation.
ReplyDeleteIn truth, I don't know what he said, since I never watched the tape. I'm just using history as a guide.
I guess not.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you watch the tape? No need for me to transcribe it then.
ReplyDeleteIn actual real truth, I had a pretty good idea of exactly what he said, which is this:
ReplyDeleteThere are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it -- that that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. ... These are people who pay no income tax. ... [M]y job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.
Where in that quote does he say since in 2012 we had a presidential candidate of a major party who claimed humble people avoid work?
Ummm ... uhhh ... nowhere.
Once again, you got it wrong.
[crickets]
ReplyDelete