Share This Page
About This Blogger
Brian Gilmore is a poet and public interest attorney and contributing writer with Ebony-Jet Online.
He is also a columnist with the Progressive Media Project.
Tags
criminal protocol subsidiaries vetting forum defense sector lawmakers georgetown opportunity justice jobs hispanic cases palimony messages director gender exams marshall processes clifford represent commission clerk implied guidelines foundation knowledge resume status lawpod password barack offensive haffner political chris initiative infringement davis award exam document success detroit arkansas scott student legal firms advice sales seminars rihanna downturn lender united recruiter prospects rapper musings source inclusive scholarship intellectual owner context proprietary parody review entertainment moderator compulsory assessment partner scientific royalty uniform roberts career court government torts mission rights franchise african training retention sampling partnership disclose racial race abanet articles qualified downloads hiring list twitter multistate vision society copyrights backgrounds contracts failure data bargaining royalties fried profit links organization jurisdiction apaba privacy police journal tracker famu strategic providers culture founder official network promoting programs arizona workforce scholarships reputation discrimination fellowships calendar violence letters track relations incorporate development perform dewey reasons liability stress evidence place terms member competent licensing recipients registration besla economy problems media demographics eminem policies effect statute updates license attrition policy economic websites networking procedure borrower hardship general moderators legislation lawshucks mentoring firm benefits campaign reserves school association materials questions including londell maryland marketing sports voice national submissions mentors minority class billable beharie firings employment admissions tompkins studying fired research community women terminate outline features professional practice licensee defined diversity foreclosure private individual federal attorney implement warrant breach samples books provisions recruitment news diverse preparation foster identify asset education family financial hours constitution compensation limitations workplace solicitor gilmore perspective tips judge associate awareness rhianna client spike responsible employees appellate information progress leadership profession ledbetter mumia illegal voting alliances business experience revenue group assignments distribution equal leboeuf affiliates confirmation facebook publishers commitment money products link arab influence claim hire Thurgood stipend iphone mortgage eeoc university creativity history loan industry department interviewing opportunities promotion moreno laws oklahoma secretary respect values exclusive social discretion support alabama domestic coordinator orientation lawsuit environmental strategies patent district hearings offer importance damages allen pool income institute officers layoffs distribute lawyer aclu music practitioners racially frank publish parties trial
| Two Trains Running |
 |
 |
 |
|
Two Trains Running and 9/11
I wrote an essay in 2001 in response to the bombing and all the calls afterwards for war. It appeared in the Progressive Magazine and is called “Stand by the Man: Black America and the Dilemma of Patriotism.” I wrote the essay because I wanted to stress the fact that after the brazen attack on the country, Black Americans, like all Americans would be asked to sacrifice for the country, and go to war. Domestic problems had to wait, and I thought that was very disappointing. It is one of the reasons I opposed the war.
Here is an excerpt:
We would be asked to do what we had always done without any promise of future benefit: to prove our unconditional love and loyalty for America. Drop any grievances or problems we have with our American condition for the time being, or maybe for a generation or so.
Today, that sacrifice continues for Black Americans but on different terms. Black Americans are not being asked to wait (like many others) because we are at war but because the country is broke. There can be no more spending by the government to try to get the economy going and create jobs, and besides, the Republicans argue, more spending won’t work anyway because we know better. Of course, they should probably say, we spent all the money on wars and tax breaks so we do know that the country is broke.
Of course, this is just silly politics. Austerity now is the road to disaster. Banks and corporations are making record profits but the people have to starve, rob to eat, especially Black Americans. It makes no sense.
But while this story of Black America’s woes remains beneath the radar on the tenth anniversary of the bombing of America, also beneath the radar is the reaction of many Black Americans to the unemployment rate and what should happen now. Here is what I am reading more and more: lets’ do our own thing. We have a black President and still can’t get some kind of focus on the severe issues in Black America such as unemployment, poor educational opportunities, and rampant discrimination by financial institutions, so be it, time for a new way – our way.
This is, of course, old stuff: Build your own, hire your own. The pursuit of the American Dream, through traditional means, in other words, has stalled, but we have to eat in the meantime.
August Wilson’s 1992 play “Two Trains Running” explains this dilemma. The play is all about a choice between political pressure to assimilate into the so called mainstream or self help in order to develop your own community and autonomous institutions that will uplift your own. The play is set in 1960’s Pittsburgh. The most important moments in the play are the appearances of a mentally ill painter named Hambone who repeatedly says the same thing over and over throughout the play: “I want my ham.”
Hambone painted a white man’s fence for a ham but was given a chicken. He declined the chicken but continues to demand his “ham.” The symbolism is obvious: Hambone is wasting his time and he is wasting away waiting for his just due just like Black Americans. He should be doing for self.
I am hearing more and more of this these days. It goes back to W.E.B. DuBois’ quest for civic equality v. Booker T. Washington’s famous “drop your buckets” mentality. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. picked up the DuBois’ banner for the most part; Malcolm X and the Black Panthers opted for their own version of Washington’s self help. Integration was victorious; it is and has been the dominant political and economic strategy of Black America for the last 50 years.
But, in light of those unemployment numbers, is it time for Wilson’s other train to began to ride?
In a review of the play in 1992 for the New York Times, critic, Frank Rich wrote that the characters in Wilson’s play did not place their “hopes” in “distance leaders sowing dreams of lofty change.” They have faint “fantasies of justice.”
Black Americans are still waiting for Mr.Obama. But they have to ask themselves: do they really want their ham or something else? They keep being offered chicken.
Brian Gilmore |
