Occasionally, we were issued weapons to carry during exercises. He made a joke once in reference to a man who was a known bigot. I don't remember the specific circumstances, but the punchline was, "... and I was his worst nightmare - an angry black man with a gun." It was truly funny, mainly because, 40 years previously, it would not have been funny at all.
I went into his office one day because a problem had vexed me. I had a task to perform, and, caught between some Army intransigence and Air Force denial, I didn't quite know which way to move. I asked for guidance.
He was silent for a while, and then he asked me, "Well, what do you think you should do?"
I paused. I had requested a decision and he had simply asked me what I wanted to do. I gave him my best guess and he nodded. Then, I knew what I should do. I should make up my mind and be a leader.
It was a lesson in leadership I never forgot. That operations officer was just one man among the many I served, but he knew what I know now. We all make our own reality, and we all decide our own truths. We don't need help; we need the strength and courage to do what we already know is right.
It was not a truth only a black man could tell me, but the fact that it was a black man also told me this: Life is the same for us all. We live, we learn, we teach, we die. That is all there is to life on Earth. It is enough. It is a gift.
The racists don't like to be called that anymore. Too bad for them. Here is a short summary of Joseph Loconte's take on the matter in The Weekly Standard, March 18th, 2008: Blacks, such as the Reverend Wright, who criticize this country are guilty of using "fierce rhetoric of rage and victimhood." Obama is guilty too, by simple association with Reverend Wright. Or maybe he has the rage just because he's black. "How much of this (Reverend Wright's rage) has found its way into the soul of Barrack Obama?" the writer asks. The message, in case you missed it, is Fear the Black Man.
You know, we have to face this sooner or later. If we don't get past it now, it will come around again soon. Eventually, we're going to have to deal with it. Let's hope it's this time.
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