Memo from a friend.

Memo from a friend of mine who chooses to remain sort of anonymous, edited a little here and there:

My wife and I worked our backsides off for the President in NY and then here in Florida. We hit the streets and tasted the wrath and the warmth of the American voter. 

The rage and contempt was never spoken in terms of arithmetic or an economic plea. It was engaged in terms of race. The hate we encountered was like a Roberto Duran left hook. It was brutal. 

(editor's note: If you ever saw old Manos de Piedra in action, you'd get a good idea of what the analogy felt like)

Many of us felt the same door to door fear that we encountered during the 60's Civil Rights blitz. Many of us, African American, white or Latino such as my wife, often returned home in tears regardless of the THICKNESS of our skins. There is a severe case to be made for contempt toward anyone who will not answer a simple question.

 If you believe in equality in America how could you vote for a man with an obvious intent to pander to the very worst in the human condition and not once denounce those intrusions? There can be little understanding if one refuses to reach out. 

Speaking strictly for myself, certain explorations can cross a line and the division in this land is not a game. My life has been devoted to the craft of learning how to live. I have been teacher and student. I still am. 

Here is all I know regarding our President's triumph.

This election did not allow for a hiding place. 

As evidenced by the hearts and tongues of E*** W******* and every conscientious male and female I know, there exists a livid sense of 'how could you'? 

 I could see it in my wife's eye's as she was called a 'N****r loving Spic' by the white male whose door we knocked upon. 

This race is over but the card is still in play. 

Therefore you best not come into my house and proclaim that the re-election of Barack Obama was a 'sad day for America' without a willingness to express the reasoning that brought you to that conclusion. Some of us simply have a bit more skin in the game than others. 

In the case of this radical American with a poet's inclination I must quote Kinky Friedman. 'They ain't makin' Jews like Jesus anymore, we don't turn the other cheek the way we did before'. 

I will gladly request the title of fool before I fall for further insult as a human being and as a devout American. Enough is enough. In the name of the Father, the son, Carl Sandburg and my Grandparents who escaped Adolph for better lives. They both came to know the ghost of Joe Hill and denounced Joe McCarthy. They initiated my political quest. 

We have traveled too far to now quietly turn a back or a clock on them or any journey so prolific. Later Amigos.