Campus Protest Arrests Exceed 2,300 & The Growing Epidemic of Elderly Abuse
Langston Hughes Quote is a Call to Action for Americans, A Wild Orangutan Heals Wound with Plants, "Challengers" is Shallow, "Shōgun" is Exciting, Kandace Springs Sings “Run Your Race”
What I’m Discussing Today:
Kareem’s Daily Quote: Langston Hughes comes in hot about our role in America.
Israel-Hamas war protests close on a handful of US campuses as arrests exceed 2,300: Why can’t we learn our lessons from protest movements of the past?
The Growing Epidemic of Elderly Abuse: It’s worse than you think. And it’s waiting down the road for too many of us.
A wild orangutan used a medicinal plant to treat a wound, scientists say: Orangutan, heal thyself. And he did.
Kareem’s Video Break: Sometimes people do amazing things just for the fun of it.
What I’m Watching—TV and Movies: Challengers is a boring sports movie about shallow people; Shōgun is an exciting TV series about fascinating people.
Kandace Springs Sings “Run Your Race”: Jazz singer Springs presents a touching song about her father.
Kareem’s Daily Quote
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!
from “Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes
The quote is a little longer than usual but this part of the poem has always had a great effect on me (read the entire poem here) because it addresses both the frustration and the hope of being an American—as well as the responsibility. Democracy requires so much pampering and attention that it’s easy to become exasperated, the way a parent becomes impatient with a stubborn child. But the extra demands that we embrace are what makes us good parents/citizens—and what makes for a strong and independent child/country.
It’s the lazy parent/citizen—quick to anger, quick to punish, quick to force their opinions—that encourage our “gangster death” (what a powerful phrase!) through corruption, greed, and lies. I find a special irony in Hughes’ phrase “And make America again!'“ and the MAGA version. Hughes longs for an America that looks to the Constitution as a sacred covenant to fulfill the promises of the visionary Founders. MAGA looks to slide backward to recreate the America of their nostalgic fantasies: A place where White heterosexual men ruled with paternal wisdom and benevolence toward their lessers (that’s the fantasy part).
And though Hughes admits that “America never was America to me” in that its promise failed Blacks and other marginalized people by keeping them marginalized, I am moved and inspired by his commitment to and love for the country when he proclaims: “And yet I swear this oath—/America will be!”
But it “won’t be” without our diligence, pampering, and frustration. That’s just the process every parent, artist, and good citizen endures because the final product is so worth it.