Obama's America, and mine
Not to be narcissistic or nuttin', but Obama's celebrated "we are..." riff at Selma, which widened the circle of national inclusion to encompass the Lost Boys of Sudan and (implicitly) undocumented immigrants crossing the Rio Grande, as well as "the Tuskeegee Airmen, Navajo code-talkers, and Japanese-Americans who fought for this country even as their own liberty had been denied," reminded me of a children's poem I wrote in the mid-nineties. It reflects a children's book canon (and a little extracurricular YA reading at the end) from the sixties and early seventies that perhaps Obama shared in part:
American Child
I've heard a lot of stories, I'm from everywhere.
I'm Abe Lincoln splitting logs, one swing for each,
Alone, speechifying the squirrels.
I'm a redbacked Hebrew slave, gathering straw
Under a red Egyptian sun.
I'm the old slave Joe, head bending low,
Crossing cottonfields, heading home.
I'm an Indian girl, gathering berries,
Pile-driving whalebones, building a shelter,
Alone on my island with dogs and dolphins.
I'm Sonny Boy Brown, Harlem warrior,
Ringing cash registers, sleeping in subways,
Fighting till sundown, left fist pounding.
I'm a Japanese daughter, wood clogs clacking
Through Market Street in moonlight, past silver fish stalls.
I'm a Spanish lord in chain mail, crossing a continent,
Looking over a new ocean, driving home a cross,
Then bending my head on a chopping block.
I'm Goodwife Mary Wilson, held for a witch,
Waiting for trial, watching and praying.
A hundred peoples, a hundred stories,
A hundred women, a hundred men
In one mind, American.
---
Here is Obama in Selma:
We are Lewis and Clark and Sacajawea – pioneers who braved the unfamiliar, followed by a stampede of farmers and miners, entrepreneurs and hucksters. That’s our spirit.
We are Sojourner Truth and Fannie Lou Hamer, women who could do as much as any man and then some; and we’re Susan B. Anthony, who shook the system until the law reflected that truth. That’s our character.
Read More http://xpostfactoid.blogspot.com/2015/03/obamas-america-and-mine.html
