EMDAT

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality.

Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.

Yes we can heal this nation.

Yes we can repair this world.

Yes we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics–they will only grow louder and more dissonant. We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check. We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

We will remember that there is something happening in America, that we are not as divided as our politics suggests, that we are one people. We are one nation, and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea:

Yes. We. Can.

While hunting for a job, I happened across this essay, which reminded me why I want to teach. A brief excerpt (I chose this one essentially at random–there were several others equally worthy of highlighting):

They work with kids who are a mixture of self-absorption, insecurity, raging hormones, and ambition. They may have to face parents who want their offspring to get into the Ivy League and have jobs they can boast about, but the teachers’ job is to help their students build a self, create the entity that will be their company throughout their lives. That’s why the best teachers listen to students and draw out their thinking, but don’t try to solve every problem. That’s why the best teachers empathize and care deeply about the individual, but never lower standards or expectations.

Sick children with no health insurance, apparently good…

George W. Bush once claimed to be a “compassionate conservative.” I think maybe he didn’t actually know what “compassionate” meant. We all know how he is with big words.

CNN.com is now reporting that the man convicted of bombing the United States’ and French embassies in Kuwait in 1983 (Jamal Jafaar Mohammed) is now a member of the Iraqi parliament, a position which grants him immunity from prosecution.

The irony is too much.

This is just another example of the bungles in American prosecution of the war in Iraq, a war that we’re supposedly fighting to prevent destabilization of the country. What we supposedly fear more than anything is the possibility that a destabilized Iraq will become a power vacuum and a haven for terrorists.

Well, guess what. Not only are there terrorists in Iraq right now (like we need more than any 10-second clip of news footage to know that), but they’re SITTING IN PARLIAMENT THAT THE UNITED STATES IS PROPPING UP.

What a joke. I wish I could say that I have an rational reaction to this news, but I don’t. It just makes me so incredibly angry. Conservatives love to talk about the men and women who have lost their lives in Iraq not dying in vein, and I would hate to believe that’s what has happened… but what were they fighting for? To protect a parliament that harbors terrorists? Give me a break.

As I was sitting in rush hour traffic this afternoon, I noticed that the pickup truck in front of me had a relatively small bumper sticker that said: “America Needs a Hero.” When I looked more closely, I realized that there was also a picture of Robert E. Lee.

Now, let me say that I have no problem with Robert E. Lee. While I don’t necessarily buy everything that neo-Confederates would have me believe (and also wouldn’t choose him as the “hero” we supposedly need), I do think that Lee was among the more honorable men of the Confederacy.

In the process of trying to find this bumper sticker online, I stumbled across a website selling all sorts of Confederate gear. This, in and of itself, was not surprising. However, I found another bumper sticker for sale that raised my hackles a bit: it pictures Adolf Hitler giving the “Sieg Heil” salute and it reads “Everyone in Favor of BANNING GUNS Raise Your Right Hand.” Overcapitalization aside, this aggravates me, and probably not for the reasons you think.

While I generally consider myself a liberal, I’m fairly moderate on the issue of gun control, possibly even leaning to the conservative side. I favor waiting periods and background checks, and I don’t believe anyone should own an assault rifle, but I generally respect the right of Americans to “keep and bear arms.” I have even used the Nazi example as a reason for why private gun ownership should not be banned myself, but the connection between Hitler and gun control is not my gripe. Also, I’m not going to get into the Constitutional debate, because unless you are very much a “strict constructionist,” the language of the second amendment is very shaky ground indeed.

However, for a website that sells just about anything you can think of with a rebel flag on it, this is perhaps the epitome of historical ignorance. What really gets my blood flowing is the gall of people who use Hitler as a negative symbol to further their own political goals, all the while profiting from the symbol of a racist society that reflected, in many ways, certain aspects of Fascism.

For a long time, I myself accepted the “Heritage, Not Hate” argument voiced by so many people. I do believe that, for some people, the rebel flag truly does not have those racist connotations. But its power as a symbol cannot be denied, and like it or not, much of the “heritage” of the South is based on hatred. We cannot, in good conscience, choose what we want to remember and what we want to forget. We, as a nation, are still coming to grips with the legacies of our hatred, and I’m not sure I can accept such a glossy argument anymore.

I don’t advocate banning the “Southern Cross,” but I do believe that state governments should remove it from their flags. Even if “heritage” is a legitimate claim made by individuals who want to revere their ancestors, the state itself–as a political institution–does not have emotions or ancestors. Thus, it does not have “heritage” in the same way.

It certainly doesn’t help that today I was shown (by a fellow graduate student) an undergraduate paper he graded in which the student attempts to argue (I choose the word “attempts” deliberately) that slavery was not so bad after all. Again, poor writing aside, the best argument the student could provide to support her claim was that slaves received food, clothing, and shelter. At least she acknowledged that “they did break up the families.”

These are but a few of the reasons why I plan to teach.