In Defense of Cindy McCain

“Just a little comment on your slight against the McCains. How do you know their ancestors weren’t discriminated against in America? Do you know their ancestry? If the McCains are of Irish descent then they have a long history of discrimination in this country. Ever heard of ‘No Irish need apply’? Italians, Slavs, and East European Jews also faced virulent prejudice and discrimination. So stop thinking that Blacks have a monoply on victimhood in America or anywhere else. And if you think America is such a bad place to live for Blacks why don’t you leave? That’s a serious question, not a rhetorical one. And I’m Black, btw.” – Seane-Anne

It has finally happened! On the eleven month anniversary of me starting this blog, just one month short of my blog’s one year anniversary, a visitor to my blog suggested that I leave the country. Why? Because I wrote a stupid comment about Cindy McCain after she pounced on Michelle Obama for saying that she is proud to be an American for the first time in her adult life. Ms. McCain stood in front of a crowd of white Republicans and said something like, I don’t know about you but I’ve always been proud to be an American. Ms. McCain took a cheap shot and I took a cheap shot at Ms. McCain. And like the proverbial shit that rolls downhill, my visitor took a swipe at me.

I knew it was just a matter of time before some less than clever visitor would make the suggestion that I should leave the country if I find the behavior here so reprehensible. I have to admit that I did try to leave. But immigration is an expensive and time consuming process these days. I actually went to Toronto, Canada and talked to a few immigration lawyers about making the transition. It was my understanding that Canada was in need of information technology professionals and so I went there looking for a company to sponsor my application. Nobody wanted to hire me unless I had a visa. But I couldn’t get a visa until I found someone to work for. Canadian law had a provision that I could get my visa within days if I could find a job. I couldn’t find work mopping floors at a Tim Horton’s, Canada’s version of Wendy’s, or doing anything else without the equivalent of a Canadian social security number. I think it’s called a social insurance number. After four months and a steadily dwindling bank account I had to throw in the towel and come back to the United States. This was back in late 2005 through 2006.

I would be more than happy to leave the country. I think America is a country full of people who think nothing of telling black people that racism is dead and the perpetual state of black subjugation is nothing more than the result of black stereotypes. We look the other way when black children are murdered by boot camp guards and young black adults are thrown in jail for having sex. But let a black man kill a dog and people line up volunteering to pull the switch for the electric chair.

But like I said, legal immigration can be an expensive and time consuming process. And with a family to support the expenses grow exponentially. However I do hold on to hope that it will become doable. If this visitor, and other people who feel the same way, want to make a donation to the Brotherpeacemaker Immigration Transition Expense for Maximum Exodus fund. I like to call it BITE-ME for short. I will be more than happy to accept the help.

There was a time when I may have been shocked or even hurt to hear another black person make the suggestion for me to leave. But if my first eleven months have taught me anything is that there are black people who are more than happy to champion the supposed conservative, family oriented values wrapped around a focus on trickle down economics where tax breaks to the wealthy total four point three trillion dollars and average out to close to two hundred eighty thousand dollars for each of the fifteen million millionaires in the highest tax bracket. Consequently, the value this group of conservatives places on helping the fifteen million poor children with a three hundred million dollar aid package averages about to twenty dollars a child. Family values are important to this group as long as they apply to rich families. Poor people need to just suck it up.

Ms. McCain probably doesn’t deserve to be compared to the fictional Eva Von Aryan. My visitor is correct about the fact that I don’t know about Ms. McCain’s past. But Ms. McCain opened this can of worms up with her assertion that Ms. Obama should be proud to be an American regardless of her history. America’s treatment of black people has been, is, and from the looks of things, will always be, generally inauspicious and usually dysfunctional. America’s history is full of instances that black people would find woeful, uncomfortable, and downright upsetting if they just took a look. It isn’t difficult to understand why a black person would have reason not to be proud of America.

But Ms. McCain is proud of America and is proud of America’s history. The woman has no clue as to why black people wouldn’t be proud to be an American. Such a lack of compassion for black people shows her contempt for the black community. Ms. McCain wants to stand in front of her conservative, family values, predominantly white audience and ridicule this black woman for her soulful confession. I know people are trying to score political points. But Ms. McCain was callous and indifferent. Her attitude, combined with the blond hair slicked back into a tight bun in the back of her head, walking around with all the leather, and with the cold blue eyes, makes her the epitome of a Helga von Sprechensiedeutsch caricature. My comment may have been offensive to some. I’m sure it was offensive to the McCains. But I, along with many others for sure, find Ms. McCain and her kind offensive as well.

Why the black Ms. Seane-Anne is offended enough to tell me to leave America is truly troubling for me. I’m willing to bet she’d never make the suggestion that Cindy McCain should leave the country if she didn’t like Ms. Obama’s comment.  Ms. Seane-Anne is totally one sided.  But it is not unexpected at all. I would’ve bet that it would be a white person that would make the suggestion that I leave America.  But the odds were good it would have been a black person who wishes to protect the status quo. I honestly wish all black people would open their conscience and ask themselves why they choose to become so offended when black people talk about white people who talk about black people. John McCain promises to do his best to stop abortions and such. And I’m sure that when poor black children are born, as our President Mr. McCain will make sure each of these children will receive their twenty dollars.

I guess Ms. Seane Anne is planning to become one of those fifteen million millionaires. She’s another one of those black people who thinks the American dream applies to the black community. A relative few blacks will make it. But the odds are long against her. It really doesn’t matter. Ms. Seane Anne has made the choice to expend her energy defending the McCains like a good little black conservative.  Too bad she doesn’t make the choice to do anything to defend the black community.