Proud to be an American - We're coming back!
Anybody here who knows me knows that I am not a bit shy about criticising my country, especially her foreign policy. I have written many articles complaining about the war in Iraq, tax policies, neo-Facist government by corporations, etc.
But sometimes I just can't help but get all patriotic about my great country, and today is one of those times. First I saw a great story on a news program about our Democratic presidential candidate named Barak Obama. No, that doesn't sound like an American name. Actually, his father was an African from Kenya and his mother was a white American woman. They met in Hawaii as college students and
Barak had a rough childhood when his father left his mother and returned to Africa and he was raised mainly by his mother's parents. But he got past racial discrimination and identity problems and was an honors graduate of Harvard Law School. He became a senator from my home state of Illinois and his extraordinary speaking skills and steadfast opposition to the Iraq war brought him to the attention of the public during the 2004 presidential elections. Now, he is a leading
candidate for president and I am very proud that he could become our first African-American president.
Then there was another story about the female popular singer Nora Jones, who is
a winner of five Grammy music awards in one year. Little did I know that she grew up just a few miles down the road in Grapevine, Texas and surprisingly I found out that she is the daughter of famed East Indian musician Ravi Shankar. She grew up as a Texan, hardly knowing her father, but she became an excellent music
student, attending the same college as my daughter, and began her career in New
York. Her first record sold 20 million and she was a star over night. To me, this made clear the true greatness of America; our incredible cultural diversity and great "land of opportunity".
This idea was then driven home as I watched the live Grammy Music Awards show.
It was a wonderful celebration of American culture! The first award was given to Stevie Wonder, one of my favorite black artists, for a duet with the famous Italian American singer Tony Bennet. Again, we mix up our talent from all around
the world and create amazing culture!
Then the best part - A country western group called the Dixie Chicks, who I had
the good fortune to see way back in 1990 when they were just getting started, won five awards, the most of any artist or group! They are from Dallas, Texas and
they are rather famous for telling the audience at a concert in England in 2003
that "George Bush makes us ashamed to be from Texas!" When I heard that I immediately bought their CD, but many Facist supporters of George Bush were very angry and actually threatened their life and many radio stations stopped playing their songs. But as Bush's war in Iraq went bad and most people turned against Bush, the Dixie Chicks became sort of heroes. They wrote a song called "Not Ready
to Make Nice", meaning they were still angry about the way they were treated and they wouldn't appologize for their remarks. Here are some lyrics from the song:
Forgive, sounds good.
Forget, I'm not sure I could.
They say time heals everything,
But I'm still waiting
I'm through, with doubt,
There's nothing left for me to figure out,
I've paid a price, and i'll keep paying
I'm not ready to make nice,
I'm not ready to back down,
I'm still mad as hellAnd I don't have timeTo go round and round and roundIt's too late to make it rightI probably wouldn't if I couldCause I'm mad as hellCan't bring myself to do what it isYou think I should
I know you saidWhy can't you just get over it,
It turned my whole world aroundand i kind of like it
I made by bed, and I sleep like a baby,
With no regrets and I don't mind saying,
It's a sad sad storyThat a mother will teach her daughterthat she ought to hate a perfect stranger.
And how in the worldCan the words that I saidSend somebody so over the edgeThat they'd write me a letterSaying that I better shut up and singOr my life will be over...
So they stood up for what they knew was right and pointed out evil and never backed down. And their bravery was rewarded when they got awards for song of the year, album of the year, country western song of the year and two others. One of the Chicks said “I think people are using their freedom of speech with all these awards. We get the message.” And that is a message we all need to get. We need to
protect the freedom to speak, especially when a criminal is about to start an illegal war. The Dixie Chicks are true American heroes. And that makes me proud
to be from Texas.
If you can download it I hope you can see the Grammy Awards Show. It is an awesome celebration of American music. Besides the Dixie Chicks you will see the amazing and sexy Arab/Colombian Shakira belly dancing with Wyclef Jean and Christina Aguilera singing the late, great King of Soul James Brown’s “It’s A Man’s
Man’s Man’s World”.
And don't be worried about losing your Chinese culture to American culture, because in reality, American culture is just the wonderful blending of the best of the world's culture. China is in there too. We can all be proud to be part of the amazing, soulful human race.
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