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OpEdNews Op Eds    H2'ed 10/21/08

As an Irish lass, I stand shoulder-to-shoulder with my kin, Barack Obama

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Message Mary MacElveen
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I would like to offer my heartfelt prayers to Barack Obama’s grandmother, Madelyn Payne Dunham who is now gravely sick.  The Obama campaign has reported that he will fly to her side on Thursday and will return Saturday. It shows only his strength in character and love for a woman who raised him most of his life.  A life in which he has only given back which is a testimony to Mrs. Dunham. While the campaign is not reporting what is wrong with, Mrs. Dunham is in, one has to wonder if she knows of the hate directed at her grandson during this campaign.  I pray that she not, but most likely she does.  Most likely when he was a child she had to wipe away his tears as he confronted such hate.

 

For those of you who do not know this, Barack Obama also comes from Irish lineage, so he is my kin and my brother.  I recognize that scrappy fighting spirit within my Irish brother.  We Irish have also known our fair share of hate within this country.  But, we fought back and thrived.

 

In this essay, Today is St. Pat's Day, a day commemorating the end of Irish racism in America, this passage stood out, “Once upon a time, the Irish were more vilified than any other group of people in America. Businesses held signs keeping them off the premises ("No dogs or Irishmen allowed". The Irish worked the worst jobs available in America. They did more than that, they worked at making themselves intrinsically American without giving up their roots. They embraced America with gusto. And, slowly, reluctantly, then with increasing enthusiasm, America embraced the Irish back."

 

The same can be said of African-Americans who have seen this hate and yet, they embraced their Americanism.  They did so even after being told which drinking fountain to drink from, what seats they could have in a diner and on a bus.

 

In this presidential race, has America embraced African-Americans back as one of their own as well as one of Ireland’s own in Barack Obama?  Instead of understanding the substantive reasons for Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama, Rush Limbaugh said it was all about race.  When ignorant folks such as Limbaugh refuse to fully understand the context of what Powell was saying, they will go for the gutter of racism.  Yes, Rush, you are a racist.

 

I for one am getting darned sick of the racist overtones coming from the conservative-right.  How dare they lash out at those who oppose them when hate runs through their veins.  How dare they lash out at my Irish brother who happens to have African blood in him as well.  Like it or not, this country is a melting pot and who knows what blood flows through our veins.  If you are of Irish descent: How can you stand by and allow the Republicans to use racist overtones towards your brother, Barack Obama? He is your kin!

 

These Republicans are using other code words such as socialist and dividing this country of ours by denoting that some parts of the country are real and others fake.  Each and every day, I visit Buzzflash.com and on top of their page, they have feeds for their readers to watch and in one, Jon Stuart reacts to Palin calling small towns as real America by saying f you.  I think that is what all of us should be saying and carrying that sentiment over to November 4th.

 

As Rep. Michelle Bachmann who is a Republican congress member from Minnesota appeared on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, where she said, “I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America? I think the people would love to see an expose like that.”

 

Perhaps, Rep. Michelle Bachmann should question Sarah Palin and her association with the Alaskan Independence Party who are clearly anti-American.

 

According to Salon.com, they reported of Palin, “There's a lot of talk of her moving up," Clark said of  Palin. "She was a member [of the AIP] when she was mayor of a small town, that was a nonpartisan job. But to get along and to go along she switched to the Republican Party … She is pretty well sympathetic because of her membership."

 

AIP’s founder, Joe Vogler stated, “The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government,” He also said this of the American flag, “And I won’t be buried under their damn flag,” Could one say of Palin that by being a member at one point of this party, she too hated America?

 

In this modern-day America, the violence caused by terrorism is never far from our minds and one has to wonder if the Republicans will insight a terrorism based on racism and trying to label who is anti-America and pro-America.  Could their divisive nature within this campaign take us back to the sixties when we experienced one of the darkest decades in our history during the civil right’s riots?  That is my greatest fear as they use code-words and labels.

As I was searching the Internet, I came across this quote whose author is unknown to me, "Racism is the worst of sins, the gravest of public dangers, the most repellent of spiritual disorders. Any taint of racism soils and discredits in all respects." Will this forever be the new Republican Party’s legacy, or will we a civil people try and correct it, by staring this hate down?  I also believe that trying to label who is a true American vs. a fake American is just as dangerous as racism.  Both are incendiary devices that have no place in our current politics.

 

All of us as patriotic Americans must condemn these coded messages coming from the Republican Party if we are to survive as a country. Because if we allow it to take hold and thrive, it will forever divide us and may even destroy us. As an Irish lass, I stand shoulder-to-shoulder with my kin, Barack Obama as he tries to bring us hope instead of hate.  Where he is looking to unite us and not divide us.  Let we a civil people reject the messages of hate coming from the Republican Party and tell them we have had enough and then show up at the polls and prove them wrong once and for all eternity.

 

Author’s email address is, xmjmac@optonline.net

 

End note: Please view this feed YouTube - Barack Obama is IRISH!

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Mary MacElveen Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

I am a writer who currently writes pieces for my own blog http://www.mary-macelveen.blogspot.com I have been published by Buzzflash.com, TheLiberalPatriot.org and MikeHersh.com. I was a guest on the Jay Diamond Radio Show on WRKO in Boston and have (more...)
 
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