this piece got me a standing ovation at JLP Boulder
thats the way rickydoc like to roll - i put some
performance licks on it that wont show up here but still
WHAT IS AMERICA TO ME?
I am flowers of the delta clan flowers and the line of o killens, I am hoodoo, I am griot, I am a man of power, my words true words, my story true story, my lies true lies, I am mythmaker
so what is America to me, this actually been on my mind of late, first the battle between hillary and bernie & I had to choose between them & when I chose hillary folk jacked me up for it and I had to justify my choice, repeatedly, this when I realize just how much I care about America, this surprise me, in my youth being an outlaw intellectual was the essence of cool
now we got the option of hillary or trump, and this not even a real choice but I find myself concerned about the character of America that this reality show con artist could even be considered a contender - and he is a contender only and precisely because he has unleashed the America I dread
I had to decide when I agreed to speak here today am I going to remain above the fray, neutral, academic, atopical, or am I gon call it like I see it, and its precisely because the choice before us is so momentous I decide ima speak truth to the people, otherwise whats the point of being here, thats part of what being an American means to me, to so forthrightly say what I see, damn the torpedoes, im gon be me
and its clear to me that America is standing at the crossroads, think of those supreme court justices vs citizens united and repeal of the voting rights act and its like we got to choose, which vision of America will it be, the America I love, the aspirational America, or the one that crawl along in a gutter of darwinian exploitation that does not recogonize the social contract that makes life worthwhile
I was reading this book a little while back, why nations fail, and it basically said nations that don't take off are the ones where regular folk are unable to constrain their elites from exploiting them, I look at citizens united and other blatant republican strategies of repression, or as trump once put it, ‘I love the poorly educated’ - and I fear for the America I love and depend on, the caring America, the America at its best America,
the America im afraid of is trump’s America, the republican party bet on that america sometime ago, now they reaping its poisonous fruit
I fully acknowledge I am biased in this matter, I grew up in the apartheid south, came of age in the civil rights movement, and now I see blatant voter repression that once would have been considered shameful, I see intolerance and rampant exploitation of the weak, i endure homegrown fundamentalists trying to impose their beliefs on the rest of us, our own little Taliban, and im like what is this America they want, I want no part of it, this is not an America I want to live in, this is not an America I want to impose upon the world
Apparently I believe in American exceptionalism afterall, the aspirational America that cares, that tries to be a force for good in a world riddled w/complexities of the human condition that force you to constantly question yourself, constantly recalibrate your vision of what America is, what it stands for, what it could be,
those of us who believe in the aspirational America, those of us who care about humanity, we will have to step up, we’ve come to the crossroads
as a young man I did a year in Vietnam and Vietnam blew my young mind, I realize then that I was in the middle of history being forged and I had always thought of history as other places, other times, but Vietnam I realize history is always now - and it is in our every thought, word and deed that we shape the future & I have since become very conscious of my legacy, what do I want my life to mean for future generations, what do I want my name to stand for, what is my Fa
well I can tell you this, it is not trumps America, America at its best is the America I believe in, America at its worst I do not want to contemplate - and every chance I get to encourage that America I love ima take it, it is a responsibility to our generations, and to all the world, we cannot fail
cause we standing, standing at the crossroads - which way will we go
we who have gathered, here this evening, in the name of the word - the almighty and sacred word - and when my people gather together, like this, in peace and love and harmony, then that place, that gathering place, this place, it is holyground, o holyground
may your days be full of passion, may your lives be full of grace, may your works serve many generations, the universe is our place
we got this america, me and you, we got this, times is hard
and struggle is long, don't get weary now – we got this
may the gods of literature be good to you - and yours,
may gods blessings be on us all, gods blessings on us all
that is all, this spell is done – demoja
gods blessings on us all
go
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