This land was made for you and me.
I have spent the past few years writing extensively about the GOP, the religious Right, and the fight for civil rights for the lesbian and gay community. I’ve written about the machinations of radical politicians like Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich, radical hate groups like “Focus On The Family,” and of course, our President. Over the past two weeks, with the “outing” of former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman, some say there’s been a change in the air. (It seems there are a few Republicans who actually do not hate the LGBT community.) This renewed debate has given me even more insight into (and in some cases, contact with,) Republicans.
Republican politicians like Ken Blackwell, Republican hate-group chiefs like Maggie Gallagher, Republican columnists like Don Feder, and countless other right-wing pundits and policy-makers.
And, it seems, one woman, who read a piece I wrote about Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, titled, “Top Republican Wants Americans ‘Scared For Their Country’s Future’.†Via Facebook, she says,
“I am scared for my country David, perhaps in NYC you all enjoy the crazy things happening there. Here in the south, we don’t like the crazy things that are happening; like the Mosque and ‘cultural center’ near GZ. Americans need to be scared, our beloved country is going to the dogs under Obama!
“just read your article and heck yes, we are scared! Scared of Washington giving our country away, scared of behind closed door politics, scared of people who don’t love this country, and people who aren’t PROUD of America (Michelle Obama). I am scared this country continues to go in the wrong direction…away from our beliefs…away from our constitution, away from the laws that have served us well for OVER 200 yrs. Come to MS David, see how the real people live.”
Now, I don’t generally spend a lot of time on the casual Facebook musings of people I don’t know, but this one caught me not for it’s point of view or passion, but for its sincerity.
I truly believe this woman (I don’t think it’s fair to name her. If you need to know who she is contact me,) speaks for many Americans.
But so do I.
She says, “I am scared for my country David…” Of course she is. She is scared because people like Haley Barbour and John Boehner, all her local and national Republican politicians, and their master, Fox News, TOLD her to be scared!
She continues, “perhaps in NYC you all enjoy the crazy things happening there. Here in the south, we don’t like the crazy things that are happening; like the Mosque and ‘cultural center’ near GZ.” And then ends with, “Come to MS David, see how the real people live.”
There you have it. “The real people.” “Real Americans.” “Real Americans” think people in NYC aren’t “Real Americans.” Well, guess what? We are. New Yorkers are the backbone of this country. We move the wheels of the financial industry, the fashion industry, the art world, the entertainment world, museums, even, my Dear “Real Americans,” FOX “News,” which, if you hadn’t noticed, is based right here in little old Midtown Manhattan, right across the street from Radio City Music Hall.
That’s THE Radio City Music Hall, which hosts things like the Tony Awards, that you “Real Americans” love to watch. Oh, and speaking of the Tonys, New York City is home to Broadway, which tourists across the world use as a paragon of live theatre.We’re also home to the New York Yankees, the New York Mets, the New York Knicks, and the New York Rangers.
I, for one, am tired of “Real Americans” telling New York City’s citizens that we’re a great place to visit, but we’re not part of your “Real America.”
Recently, the surviving members of the iconic folk group “Peter, Paul and Mary” (a group, by the way, that was formed right here in New York City,) had to issue a “cease and desist” letter to the National Organization for Marriage, who had been using their song, “This Land Is Your Land,” at their hate rallies. The song, written in 1940 by Woody Guthrie (who grew his career in, yes, New York City,) is perhaps the most-recognized American folk song. No doubt, every “Real American” knows it goes like this:
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.
As I went walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me.
I roamed and I rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
While all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me.
When the sun came shining, and I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
A voice was chanting, As the fog was lifting,
This land was made for you and me.
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.
Dear “Real Americans,” did you happen to catch that?
“This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island.”
That’s Manhattan, the center of New York City.
Now, getting back to our Facebook reader, who says, “Here in the south, we don’t like the crazy things that are happening; like the Mosque and ‘cultural center’ near GZ. Americans need to be scared, our beloved country is going to the dogs under Obama!”
Really?
Well, Dear “Real Americans,” here in New York City, we don’t like that many of you are applying your hate and bigotry to our issues. New York City is the melting pot of the melting pot that used to be America. Yet, the American melting pot has cooled and separated, and the Republican party is to blame. The 90% white, mostly-highly-religious Republican Party that hates New York City and hates the LGBT community, is no more the face of “the American People” than a dandelion is the face on a grassy knoll.
This land was made for you and me. Not made for you or me. Not made to be intolerant, hateful, war-mongering, fear-mongering, divisive, selfish, or theocratic.
And yet, and contrary to our Facebook reader who claims Michelle Obama is not “PROUD of America,” (I believe the First Lady IS proud of America, by the way,) I am proud of America. I love my country, despite the fact that almost every day its people give me more and more reason to not be. Despite the fact that I’m still a second-class citizen, denied the very rights our worst pop-icons, for example, Bristol Palin, are delivered at birth and flaunt and toy with to the endless delight of the main stream media gossip machines. Despite the fact that there are, yes, 1138 federal rights that a great many, especially those in the Republican Party, want me to continue to be denied.
Yes, America, this land IS your land, and mine. But until we learn to use it and its resources, including its people, wisely, and to respect and honor our differences, it will go down — in flames. The choice, I’m afraid, is yours, AND mine, as well.