April 20th, 2011
San Francisco, California
In a swirling, misty wet wind, courtesy of the Pacific ocean, we stood across the street from the Masonic Auditorium atop Nob Hill in San Francisco. There were only a few hundred of us huddled up against, Grace Cathedral bundled up and shivering, but we were there nonetheless. With us was the growing gulf between "Haves" and "Have-nots" that has gone unchecked by this administration which began with such hope. Present were the torn and bleeding bodies of civilian casualties of drone attacks. With us were the thousands of military veterans in VA hospitals all over the country trying to put their shattered lives on a footing that is at least functional let alone "normal", (whatever that is). Standing with us in that frigid drizzle was the spiritual trauma of never ending war, environmental degradation and criminal neglect of the poor that the Democrat Party seems to be real unhappy about but have shown no inclination to mitigate.
I remember the night President Obama was elected. I was watching the returns in a deli standing next to an African American women in a wheelchair. She was beaming. I could see in her eyes that she felt that she was at the end of a very long road. She seemed to be feeling a huge joy in that she lived to see a black man elected president of the United States. I have to admit that I shared much of that joy and a part of me was very hopeful. However, I'm also pretty jaded after a half century of watching the political process in our nation. There was a voice inside that kept reminding me that no matter how good a person Barak Obama is, or how good his intentions were, he is just one man. He would be a single person in a morass of corporate dollar bought influence, greed based power and policy making for the elite. I knew, but did not want to acknowledge, that the election of Barak Obama would change very little beyond rhetoric, because that is all the Democrats seem to be able to offer. They were, and still are, very long on rhetoric and short on spine. Two years into this administration we have seen a lot of lip service but little action. In fact, we have gone backwards in many ways.
Standing out there in the wind and wet, I reflected on what was going on across the street. The great liberal elite of San Francisco was gathering to pay $38000 a plate for a meal and an audience with the president. These are what has been called the limousine liberals. The people with the wealth and influence to get a private concert with Stevie Wonder, eat free range chicken and organic wild rice (I don't know what was actually on the menu but you get my point)and be protected from the realities of urban life by legions of police officers surrounding the building. It was the great Northern California ATM machine. "Liberal" Democrats return to this well over and over again then pretend that we don't exist until they need a refill. The range fed rubber chickens were consumed literally within sight of a neighborhood where shopping means buying over priced milk at the corner liquor store (along with booze, porn and condoms) and the real possibility of getting shot by gangbangers or jacked up by the police on the way for no other reason then they happen to be there. There is no "Whole Foods" or "Trader Joe's" in Hunters Point. Capitalism has decided that neighborhoods like that are too much trouble.
A sort of chilled depression came over me when the President actually arrived. It started with a phalanx of police motorcycles, red and blue lights blazing, twenty of them at least. Then a long processions of vans and SUVs full of well dressed young men and women with ear pieces and bulges under there coats. There was an ambulance in the company and a mysterious black truck, driven by a couple of suited Secret Service types. God only knows what that truck was for. I reflected on how distant the President is and how many resources are used to keep it that way. While I certainly appreciate the need for presidential security, it was saddening nonetheless to see the disconnect.
I spoke to a number of people and listened to several speakers from organizations like the Gray Panthers, Code Pink, The World Can't Wait and, of course ANSWER who organized the rally. (all these organizations have websites and I would strongly encourage everybody to visit and at least hear what they have to say). The mood of these activists was one of betrayal and dismay. There was a real sense of the futility of continuing the meaningless process of moving political power from one wing of the same party to the other, all the while real control still resting with the same political elite, who squabble with each other from time to time, but always agree that real political power should be kept well away from working people. It is in their interested to keep us in continual, and profitable, war. It is in their interests that they duck their responsibilities for maintaining civil society by refusing to pay their fare share of the taxes. It is in their interests that the services that are essential for working class prosperity be obliterated to save them from these taxes. It is in their interests that the working class remain outside in the rain while they grove to Stevie Wonder at $38000 a pop.
After the rally, I had to make the trek back down Nob Hill to the BART station. The cops had blocked California Street so I had to go one block over to Sacramento and walk down there. This is China Town, but it's not the China Town one sees on postcards. This is the servant's quarters. It's a neighborhood where people work long hours at menial jobs for short money. It is a neighborhood where people live in tiny rooms and lie awake nights worrying about how they will care for their elderly parents. This is a place where, for many, public clinics are the only option they have for health care, and public programs are one of the only options to care for their kids when they work. Every bomb that is dropped on Libya also explodes in neighborhoods like this. It is an inescapable fact that the bombers fly at the expense of the poor. The "Government Waste" that the Tea Party vilifies is the only thing that keeps many in this area alive. These are the true Americans, working people who want nothing more then to take care of their families and have a grain of dignity in their lives.
I am starting to realize that we have a lot more in common with the people cowering in basements in the Gaza Strip hiding from Isreali shells or dodging Hellfire Missile (drones) in Pakistan or being neglected and brutalized on the streets of many US neighborhoods, then we have with the well heeled set that was just a few short blocks away at the Masonic Auditorium.
Last night, it was just a few hundred, but I long for the Day that we fill the streets. I dream of the day when working people all over join hands and with peace and love in our hearts refuse to participate in a system that is so opposed to our own interests. I long for a mass movement of non violent resistance dedicated to healthy communities, a healthy planet and an economic system based on the needs of creation, not the wants of materialism. These are the people and ideals that put President Obama in office and he seems to have forgotten. I don't mind standing in the rain for these ideals, I will to continue to do so as well as anything else I can think of.
Some links to check out:
www.worldcantwait
www.PSL.org
www.ANSWERsf.org
www.strikemay2011.org
You may agree with some and disagree with others but everybody should listen to the tune before they decide if they are into the music.
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