In Regan’s farewell address, he discusses how his time in office as President has made some of the greatest changes for the American people, while also stating what it is to be an American. He try’s to relate to the citizens of America to make them feel as if he and they are in the same boat. He uses the word “we” a lot throughout the address as if Regan was for the people, and only for the people’s best interest. In his address, he felt that “We the people” tell the government what to do…this belief has been the underlying basis for everything I‘ve tried to do these past eight years“, and sort of justifies his actions stating that he only did what “the people”, citizen of America, told him to do. Almost like blaming the people in a really, really nice way. Regan is also very patriotic in his speech, longing for the need to teach younger children of the modern world the importance of being an American. He feels as if “we forget what we did, we won’t know who we are”. As if knowing what it is to be an American defines each and every person of the culturally integrated America. One of the interesting statements Regan said was that “ if your parents haven’t been teaching you what it is to be an American, let ‘em know and nail it on it. That would be a very American thing to do. I felt a little uneasy about this statement, because there are so many different views for America, and neither two people are the same, to say exactly what an American is or what it stands for. But the “nail ‘em on it” statement made me feel that American want results fast, are demanding, pessimistic, always putting pressure on someone, and if they don’t get what they want, “pull the plug”, they are very cold, and non-feeling. Most of the Regan Revolution was using “common sense”. Cutting taxes to produce more for the country, building the economy, and to” become strong again after years of weakness”. He makes his accomplishments sound like one of the best of them all, and applauds his influence through fear of other countries of turning their ideas and beliefs into the best one in his opinion, “the moral and practical way of government”. However, as Zinn explains the contrasting side of the real America, there is a dramatic difference. Most of what is written in Regan’s speech would make me feel like one of the best of people, if I were rich. Zinn argues that most of the speeches for the presidential elections are just filled with unfulfilling promises, hopes, and dreams. And that most politicians state all of these promises to win the hearts of most of the heavy populated voters that are of middle class, or poor class regions and then get their way in office Zinn shows how Regan’s eight year office stay was one of the worst decision the citizens made. He uses sympathy/ pathos towards the middle class for his reader. He speaks very much of President Carter, and his horrendous journey in office as president. The vast amount of “rhetoric, promises, and their major concern was their own political power”, made the voters stay away from polls, and their desires for voting, plummeted. As Zinn gives examples of how the system works, he shows how Regan’s stay in office “would be more crass-cutting benefits to poor people, lowering taxes for the wealthy, increasing military budget, filling the federal court system with conservative judges, actively working to destroy revelatory movements in the Caribbean”. He states that in fact Regan was not for” the people” or for what was “morale”, and he proves this by showing how in “Regan and-Bush years the Rehnquist Court made a series of decisions that weakened Roe vs. Wade, brought back the death penalty, reduced the rights of detainees against police powers, prevented doctors in federally supported family planning clinics from giving information on abortions, and said that poor people could be forced to pay for public education (education was not a “fundamental right”). Zinn gives the picture of the Regan-Bush administration to be selfish, as Regan continued to push the nation into “Corporate America” that was full of essential production and growth for the economy as Regan put it. But there was another side that Zinn addresses and that included that the “19 million” new jobs Regan’s stated in his address, produced great amounts of “poisoning in the air, the seas and rivers, and the deaths of thousands each year as a result of work conditions”. He states that Regan was a “conservative president” and will continue to lean towards conservative things such as economic growth for political survival, rather than the health and safety for “we the American people”, and “business worries about regulation seemed to override the safety of the public. Regan proposed tax cuts of 190 billion dollars (most of this going to the wealthy. What was great in the eyes of president Regan was fatal to the Americans. “ By the end of Regan’s years, the gap between rich and poor in the United States had grown dramatically“…“30 million people were unemployed…16 million Americans lost medical insurance, and free school lunches were taken away for poor children who depended on it, as it might be the only source of nutrition they get for the entire day. Not even the most scholarly person could find a job because the jobs couldn’t afford to pay them any money. Unequal opportunities soared and “black children were four times as likely as white to grow up on welfare”. Regan’s used money for weapons and military force instead of using it to help people. He never wanted to show failure that the nuclear missile test for a shield in space had failed so he faked that the test had succeeded. Regan never wanted to look weak and made a weak attempt at blaming the Americans for his faults, but what was really made into victories in his address, and saying it was what the people wanted. I’m quite sure that that “we the people” did not sign up for the deaths of millions, or approved of being jobless, moneyless, unhealthy, and sick. Zinn addresses this situation, and continues to make the people aware that Regan’s years was not one for the American people.

IS THIS BUSH OR WHAT…..

I was about five or six when I first remembered going to my grandfather’s church on Sundays. I dreaded it. I can clearly remember getting up for the distinct purpose of having a good breakfast in the morning. I scrambled out of the pile of blankets my mom would wrap me in the night before while I was sleep. We didn’t have much money, so I wore the oversized, shoulder padded, flower print dress my older sister wore when she was younger. I would rush downstairs so my brother wouldn’t tackle me down for his pick of the bigger piece of food. Sitting on the table was the warm smell of Pillsbury Grands Biscuits. I always liked the flakey kind because I could peel off each layer at a time to dip it in the syrup. We had to be up and ready to go when the sound of the long doorbell rang. Just like my father, grandpa wasn’t a very talkative man, so he would never come in the house to sit before church. He would always stand at the door just to say a few words, and then make his way to the car. He was very tall and skinny then. I remember when I hugged him my arms would wrap tightly around his thighs and my head would rest on his waist. He would laugh at me while trying to keep his balance so I wouldn‘t get hurt. Speaking very distinctively, he pronounced each word with precision. Many times going over it again to say it clearer. I guess having a PhD and being a Chemist professor made him do it more than the average person. He always wore a black suit with a red button down shirt.
In fact everyone at that church wore black and red. I never really did quite understand it until I got older. The church was called The Shrine of the Black Madonna. It was a big white church, that had big white columns in the front that reminded me of a building out of Washington DC. The shrine of the Black Madonna believed in the temple of the black mother. They believed that Mary was of color, therefore Jesus was also born of color.
My dad was born and raised as a Christian. A very loving, very caring young man met my mother at a bus stop in downtown Detroit after a hard days work as a chef. On the flip side my mother was born and raised as a Muslim. The “cultural norm” is to marry another person of the same religion or to convert to the same religion as chosen. While growing up I had a hard time finding out where I should stand. Some people call my situation confused and universally unacceptable. I call it a gift. A gift that has brought me the knowledge and perspectives of both religions. I have been brought up in a situation to make a choice.
But the choices of this situation is hard for a young adult growing up in the United States of America. The power of religion is a very touchy subject in most cases because there are so many unanswered questions, and so many religions to choose from it’s almost impossible to know the right one to have a straight ticket to heaven. So what do I do? Unlike most kids in the world, I was taught to have a choice. A choice between not only Islam and Christianity, but a choice of what ever religion that I felt was best and suitable for me and my relationship with God. However this choice is not easy.
The idea of cultural fear through religion has been instilled in all of our minds without even knowing it. No matter how diverse America is, Christianity is and will always be the most dominant and the most powerful religion out of them all. I have yet to see the words “After Hanukah Sale” at the malls, nor have I seen a Kwanzaa special on television in place of the movies “A Christmas Story” or “The Grinch“. When walking through a pile of influence, how can you not like Santa Claus? As a young child, I was amazed at all of the bright lights, and color schemes they had going on for Christmas, and most of us have been through the awkward stage of finding out who the real Santa Claus was, and somehow letting your parents know at the same time. I waited in line with my mom to sit on Santa’s lap and ask for a wish. Although my mother grew up Muslim, and my dad Christian, she still had an open mind. In fact one of her favorite movies in her DVD collection is “The Ten Commandments”, and so was my father, taking me down to the Masjid to pray on Fridays, and always joining in himself.
After the attacks on America’s world trade center, the so called free and equal America no longer existed. I call it The Year of the “American” Flags. We cannot help that the ignorance of a particular group associated with the Islamic religion decided to hold an attack on America, but it hurt me to see the generalizations of all the people of the Islamic religion be claimed as terrorist attackers. To be fired from jobs, to have their homes and cars vandalized, to have their children embarrassed to the point that some were even afraid to go to school. Yes it is a matter of religion. Yes it is a matter of race.
So what is culturally accepted? America did not attack white man nor deny the faith of Christianity when Timothy McVey bombed Oklahoma. Not one American flag was raised. Not one vandalism, at least not for the killings of Columbine High School, and so that only leaves me to think what we “ Americans” stand for is not justice, peace, life, and the pursuit of happiness. Those flags during September symbolized the modern version of egocentric bigotries towards Muslims, and their religion. So until this day I believe in a higher power than all man. I believe in God, and have my own personal relationship with God. I’ve cried in church, I’ve prayed in Arabic, I’ve received and given away Christmas gifts, I know the seven days of Kwanzaa, and what they mean, I’ve been to Kingdom hall services, and passed out Jehovah witness pamphlets. But I question, who am I to judge the face of God? Our government is run by the strong Christian faith religion, but it confuses us all when you say not to abort a baby that has been conceived by a father’s raped daughter, and yes to kill a mistakenly innocent man on death row. A heated argument in Texas questions if the U.S Supreme court should publicly display the stone slab bearing the Ten Commandments out front. Rick Wingrove is the Virginia director for a group called American Atheists. He was asked what would happen if the Supreme Court ruled that the displays were legal; “It would mean that the court has done wrong,” he said. “They have abandoned the Jeffersonian (President Thomas Jefferson) principles of the Constitution and that Christianity had gained official favoritism in this country, which will be very bad for people like me. People like me, atheists, who have come to a different conclusion about religion than these people have” (Jim Marlone, Supreme Court on Ten Commandments).
We call ourselves people, followers of God, any God that we have chosen for our own personal benefits, but are we really followers in the eyes of God or just followers of the power of mankind? Followers of the universally accepted crowd. Afraid of change, and afraid of standing out. As the idea of mainstream Christianity continually grows, an invisible force field is formed. Many individuals must associate themselves with an identity to distinguish them from other people, Christianity could be looked at as a way to achieve this goal. Many people also want to be looked at as a good person. A person of excellence and even more in today’s society, a person of perfection, flawless, powerful, and in control just as the image of God or Jesus has been pictured to be. This “good”, “flawless” image is created and manipulated to somehow justify the actions, of the imperfect human being. But I choose not to be this way. Throughout all of my life I have been exposed to different religions, and even when I was a young child attending church with my grandfather I was brought up learning the ways and beliefs of Christianity in a far more different way than most. This taught me to view these same ideas and beliefs from a different perspective. Even though I dreaded waking up early on those Sunday mornings, there was a bigger plan in store for me to learn new things, and to be that special one to look beyond the superficial. I always wanted to know the answer to the many different religions around the world, but I’ll never get it. So I’m waiting for it to hit me one of these days. And if it happens to be something out of the cultural norms, I won’t be afraid.

REYNOLDS: Do you blame anybody for this?

LONDON: Oh, yes. I mean they’ve been allocating federal funds to fix the levee system, and it never got done. I fault the mayor of our city personally. I really do.

REYNOLDS: Did you harbor any anger toward the president because of the slow federal response?

LONDON: No. None whatsoever, because I feel like our city and our state government should have been there before the federal government was called in. They should have been on their jobs.

REYNOLDS: And they weren’t?

LONDON: No. No, no, no. Lord, they wasn’t. I mean, they had RTA busses, Greyhound buses, school buses, that was just sitting there going underwater when they could have been evacuating people.

So similar to the speech he gave at Gorey Island, Senegal:

“The spirit of Africans in America did not break. Yet the spirit of their captors was corrupted. Small men took on the powers and airs of tyrants and masters. Years of unpunished brutality and bullying and rape produced a dullness and hardness of conscience. Christian men and women became blind to the clearest commands of their faith and added hypocrisy to injustice. A republic founded on equality for all became a prison for millions.” (July 8, 2003)

He loves talking about himself, and feeling superior to the people he’s gulling.