Worms Rise Sensing Rain

I REMEMBER MARVELING AT ALL THE WORMS who rise to the surface of the soil the morning after a long rain rhythmically drums upon the world’s skin. I remember curling my lip to gaze upon the sight of so many soggy, pink, snakelike bodies writhing in the bright light of the new day. And although I personally felt distaste at the sight, it cannot touch my feelings when compared to seeing the racist muck of society rise up as it sees one of White Supremacy’s nightmares fulfilled: a black man sitting in the Oval Office…and not as a guest or reporter or photographer.

Nor should I do such a disservice to worms with my unfair comparison.

A man told today how he was shot three times in a London street for wearing a Barack Obama T-shirt.

Dube Egwuatu was buying a mobile telephone top-up card in an off-licence when the gunman confronted him and glared at the top, which carries an image of the Democrat US presidential candidate underneath the legend ‘Believe’.

The man then launched into a tirade of racist slurs, shouting ‘I f***ing hate n*****s’ and urging 36-year-old Mr Egwuatu to leave the shop with him.

The man then left the shop but when Mr. Egwuatu re-emerged, the attacker was waiting for him in broad daylight with a threatening-looking dog and holding a gun behind his back.

Realising what had sparked the increasingly violent assault, the terrified Mr Egwuatu zipped up his jacket to cover the image of Mr Obama and walked to his car.

But the shaven-headed man, who was white, followed Mr Egwuatu and after pulling open the passenger door pointed the gun at him.

After pleading with the man to leave him alone, the married former street warden put the keys in the ignition and turned the engine on.

The attacker then fired the gas-powered ball-bearing pistol three times, hitting the civil servant in the face, hand and shoulder.

—Man shot three times in street by racist gunman – for wearing Barack Obama T-shirt

sombrero tip to superspade, african american political pundit, and baratunde

John McCain and Sarah Palin cannot pretend to be unaware of the world they are living in. They must factor in incidents like this when they put out ads that demonize and Other and cast fear and suspicion about a black man approaching power. To act as if they are so ignorant of society while still feeding the phantoms in this Haunted Land, they may as well be complicit in the pulling of that trigger.

It’s sort of like any group at the lower end of a power dynamic. It’s why I don’t really go after Malkin anymore. Someone commented recently if I was aware of her shtick and I know that means they’ve only been reading the new UMX, and weren’t around for El Grito. Yes, I am aware of Malkin and her situation and writings, and yes, they infuriate me and sadden me and gross me out and I’ve spent plenty of time saying so. So why’ve I left off? Simple. She is a woman, another hunted class in this culture and world. It’s sad that she buys her safety and freedom and power at the expense of the weaker now…it only continues the same cycle that planted such hate in her in the first place. But I will leave it up to others, to Asian Americans and mostly to women, to chase and condemn her. Because there is a resonance that rings out when a man turns his anger on a woman and I’ve since learned that and I don’t want to aggravate that or feed it.

If John McCain were wise enough to be President, he’d know how to apply this truth to campaigning against a black man. But he does not. Or he cares not. And thus, he is not.