“Jeez Hank. What is it with you and coffee shops? It used to be I only found you over beer.”
“You don’t understand. There’s no place like Nestor’s and besides, I feel better since I stopped drinking.”
“Stopped drinking? You? That would be like me giving up coffee or Andy Rooney giving up complaining.”
“The doctor said if I didn’t give up smoking and drinking I wouldn’t live to see my grandson’s high school graduation in this great new world” Hank said. “I haven’t had a beer or a smoke in two weeks.”
“Wow Hank. Impressive. What else is on your mind?”
“Obama. I don’t get how they keep linking him to Lincoln. What does one have to do with the other?” Hank asked.
“Obama is black. Lincoln freed the slaves. Now Obama is president. Real simple Hank.”
“So what,” Hank said. “Obama had a white mother and a father from Kenya. He has nothing to do with the people Lincoln freed.”
“But he’s the same color. Doesn’t that count?”
“He’s not the same color. The people Lincoln freed looked like this,” Hank said, gesturing to his coffee. “Obama looks like this, kind of like Tiger Woods without the Asian.”
With that he poured some milk in his coffee.
“Besides,” Hank said, “celebrating Obama for being latte violates Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream. King told us we weren’t supposed to judge people by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
“Hold on a minute, Hank. You are twisted. How can you argue that Obama being president isn’t linked with Lincoln or Martin Luther King Jr.? Without them, Obama never gets a shot.”
“Of course he does,” Hank said. “It’s his ideas and how good he is at speaking that got him elected. Why are people so focused on celebrating his race? If he were Italian or Catholic would they still be talking about it?”
“Oh jeez. Some days you make my head hurt.”
I left Hank and headed home. Then I looked up King’s words to see if he had a point. Here’s the famous quote Posluszny referenced:
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.’… I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.”
I’m still not sure I agree with Hank but he might have a point. If Obama can be half the leader King or Lincoln was, we will be in a better place when he’s done. The only thing he’s grown so far is the government, but he still deserves a chance.
Thanks for reading.
Word of the Week: Obsequious – polite, graceful and compliant. One of Arthur Ashe’s favorite words.
LM Boyd of the Week: If that sheep and cow are typical, the cow eats seven times more than the sheep.
Contact Joe Genco at joegenco@gmail.com.
Columns
GENCO: Judging the color of coffee
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