Treason

Treason

John Harington invented the precursor to the modern flush toilet in England around1596 hence the reason we often refer to the bathroom as "the John". Sir John was an avid writer and wrote about his invention, which he referred to as the Ajax, in his 1596 work A New Discourse on a Stale Subject: The Metomorphasis of Ajax. Although he did present his new invention Harington also used the volume as a political allegory in which he attacked the excrement that he felt was poisoning society. John is known for epigram: “Treason doth never prosper, what is the reason? Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”

Treason is not a term we often hear in this country as it is a rarely prosecuted crime. Article III, Section 3 of the United States Constitution defines treason against the United States as levying war against the US or giving aid and comfort to enemies of the US. Treason is a crime punishable by death. The last truly famous trial for treason was of the infamous Julius and Ethel Rosenburg who were accused and convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage and executed for it June 19, 1953 in Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, NY. More recently (2001) Robert Hanssen, whose treason was made famous by a major motion picture, pled guilty to espionage. For 22 years, Hanssen spied for the Soviets and the Russians all while appearing to be a loyal FBI and competent agent in the FBI. Hanssen's involvement with the Soviets and later the Russians has been called the worse intelligence disaster in US history. If we wanted to go further back to the first infamous traitor to the country, we must go back to Benedict Arnold show while the general in command of a fort at West Point, NY plotted unsuccessfully to surrender his fort to the British. When his plan was revealed, Arnold defected to the British army. At the time, Arnold was viewed in a harsher light than Judas Iscariot who, as Benjamin Franklin noted, "sold only one man" whereas Arnold sold three million. Knowing how we as a country punish those who we deem betrayers to the Union, many of us continue to celebrate the treasonous acts committed by those who seceded from the Union and for four years chose to exist as another country: The Confederate States of America.
Beginning on December 20, 1860 with the state of South Carolina, 11 states asserted that they had the legal right to secede from the United States of America--Abraham Lincoln did not agree. These states: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina (Kentucky and Missouri have been claimed by the Confederacy although they never formally seceded from the Union. The New Mexico Territory which consists of modern day Arizona and New Mexico also seceded though for very different reasons) were in dispute with the Union states over the expansion and maintenance of slavery. The spark that lit the fire was the magnitude of the support for Lincoln's party in the northern states. According to Civil War historian, James M. McPherson quoting the Richmond Examiner, the Lincoln's Republican Party was viewed as "A party founded on the single sentiment...of hatred of African slavery" and the New Orleans Delta referred to the party as a revolutionary party. It was for this reason, that southern states in their belligerence rebelled against the United States and chose to commit the greatest act of treason ever recorded in American history: The American Civil War.
In Virginia and across the South, treason has endured. Confederate influence remains remarkably poignant the death of this "nation" 145 years ago. The Confederacy little more than an outlaw band of traitors responsible for the murder of hundreds of thousands of Americans. They murdered not for patriotic cause but, as Lincoln so eloquently stated, to continue “wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces.” The actions of the Confederacy are not cause for celebration. In remembering the Confederacy we should honor the sacrifice of life and limb by thousands of Union solders and the theft of the lives and labor of Blacks in this country. Yet, like a petulant child the South cries and longs for the return of the antebellum norms and mores. For them, a simpler time when cotton was king, women were at home, and when a nigger knew his place. This White supremacist attitude is clearly expressed in the motto of the Arlington Confederate Monument which reads "Victrix causea Diis placuit, sed victa Catoni" which translates into "The winning cause pleased the Gods but the losing cause pleased Cato", a stoic advocate of freedom. To imply that Cato would have sided with the Confederacy in support of their freedom proves that they viewed (and still view) the defense of the enslavement of Blacks as a just and righteous cause.
What simultaneously disturbs and surprises me is that American establishment at large, including the United States government, tolerates the remembrance of Confederacy and its treasonous past. Confederate flags wave atop of capital buildings, in state schools and in and around the homes and vehicles of many Americans and not just those in these 11 states. How the display of Confederate flags is not seen as unlawful and seditious behavior is beyond my comprehension. It would seem that a state that flew a Confederate flag would at the very least place its federal funding in jeopardy for essentially advocating the overthrow of the United States government. It would be appropriate for a governor who advocated for a state sponsored celebratory period of the Confederacy be immediately removed from office for violating his oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America.
Besides being seditious, the major issue with the Confederacy is that it fuels (and is fueled by) racist and xenophobic behaviors. Southern obsession with their illicit past has lead to the mistrust of government resulting in the lack social safety nets that have stunted the type of economic growth that leads to large gains in quality education and employment opportunities. If you want to find the states that are the unhealthiest, most illiterate, polluted, underpaid and uneducated look to the states of the Confederacy.
As a nation, we should begin to marginalize Confederate romantics. We should threaten to withdraw funding to states and institutions that wave the Stars and Bars. Politicians that advocate views of the Confederacy (such as Texas Governor Rick Perry, Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell and Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour) should be charged with treason. For the many Americans who claim that the remembrance of the Confederacy is about heritage and not hate, let us revisit the words of Alexander Hamilton Stephens, the vice president of the Confederacy, as quoted in his famous Cornerstone Speech:

"Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical and moral truth"

With every Confederate flag displayed and purchased, symbolic violence is inflicted upon Blacks in this country and warfare is declared: a treasonous act. Those who claim the Confederacy as heritage should be reminded that a patriot cannot exist where treason is a celebrated and their heritage is one of hate. In our country if we are to exist as a people we must call the Confederacy what it really is: treason and we should force our people to turn away from treasonous acts and work to heal the rupture that these actions have caused and continue to cause.

I think about John Harington and his invention of the early flush toilet and his controversial book. How odd is it that a man who would invent the toilet would speak so eloquently about treason? Maybe it is not such a stretch to think that treason, if left to fester can sink an entire nation down the toilet.

She Don’t Want No Scrubs: Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas and her search for love

The media has made it has been a rough few weeks for black women. In addition to the new-found fascination with their seemingly inescapable singleness First, there was the release of Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too that displayed black women as little more than sophomoric children who only care about money and conjuring up ideas in their heads about who and where there loyal husbands might be cheating. Then, Basketball Wives made its premiere. This show depicted Black women as money hungry groupies who are currently or formerly married NBA players. They were crafted as desperate, jealous and self-centered women who cared nothing about their families or building a future. Finally, there was the more interesting What Chilli Wants?

What Chilli Wants followed the former music sensation as she searched for a man on the streets of Atlanta. She had a laundry list of specifics. Chilli wanted a man who was a teetotaler, non-smoker, had a six pack, successful, saved and sanctified, got along with her family, an abstainer from pork and hung. After watching the show I had to scratch my head and ask if Chilli is representative of the wants of Black American women and if so, could this be the reason that so many Black women are sans husband.

I decided to take an informal poll and ask some Black, White and Hispanic women what they were searching for in a husband. Though not a representative sample, the answers were somewhat surprising. The White women focused heavily on humor and adventure. They felt that their men did not need to have an education but they did need to have a career and be ambitious. The Hispanic women said college was important but not necessary. They thought religion was important and had a height requirement though it could be waived. They stated that a man had to be open-minded, funny, intelligent and knew how to have a good time. Black women placed a heavy emphasis on education and career but more importantly occupational prestige. Black women did not say funny. They did not say adventurous. They did not say intelligent or ambitious. In fact, Black women used no adjectives that would endear a man to them personally. Black women presented a list that was less like a shopping list for a husband and more like a list of qualifications for a new corporate hire. In many ways, their list was very similar to Chilli’s: all shine and very little substance.

Everything on Chilli’s list made her man appealing to people who don’t know him. He looked great on paper. A college would happily enroll him. A job would happily hire him. A bank would gladly give him a loan. Chilli failed to mention those qualities that facilitate true intimacy. She spoke nothing of a compassionate, loving, understanding, man who would support her on her worst days and laugh with her on her best. The characteristics that Chilli omitted from her list of qualifications are exactly those that Chilli Should Want if Chilli wants to be happy and have her relationship blossom into something more than a temporary distraction. If Chilli wants a Sunday kind of love that lasts past Saturday night (as Etta James would sing), then she needs to reevaluate her list.

I read an article in the Boston Globe written by Dr. Robin Schoenthaler, a radiation oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. She wants women to ask an important question when attempting to ascertain if a man is husband material: Will he hold your purse? After years spent providing medical care to women with breast cancer, Dr. Schoenthaler feels that everything she learned about marriage, she learned in her cancer clinic. Dr. Schoenthaler has seen thousands of couples and encountered many men that she refers to as great “purse partners.” Every day these men drove their wives in for radiation treatments and every day these couples silently sat side by side in the waiting room. Dr. Schoenthaler describes, “Each wife, when her name was called, would stand, take a breath and hand her purse over to her husband. Then she’d disappear into the recesses of the radiation room, leaving behind a stony-faced man holding what was typically a white vinyl pocketbook.” Dr. Schoenthaler reports that of all the men that she’s seen pass through her clinic, the “purse partner” is her favorite. He sat in silence holding that purse “with the knowledge that 20 feet away technologists were preparing to program an unimaginably complicated X-ray machine and aim it at the mother of his kids.”

A man with a great career and education is important, but will he be there when you need him the most? Can he make you laugh when things are the most difficult? Does he stick by you when you are at your worst? Would he sit in the waiting room and hold your purse?

I encourage Black women to find happiness with compassionate steadfast men and not to put something as shallow as looks or wealth ahead of those things. Relationships such as marriage and parenting are long term ventures that outlast the transient characteristics that Chilli is looking for in a mate. In order to have a relationship that endures, you need a mate to love you when even when you feel there is no one else who does. You need a great purse partner.

Below I’ve posted the ad that Dr. Schoenthaler would recommend for any woman who is dating online and the ad that I recommend for any women who is looking for a long-term mate. In a few simple sentences, she’s encompassed the highs and lows and joys and sorrows that a couple will experience over time and the type of man that a woman needs in order to get through these experiences in one piece. She’s described the perfect purse partner.

WANTED

A partner for richer or poorer and for better or worse and absolutely, positively in sickness and in health. A partner for fishing and French food and beach walks and kayak trips, but also for phone calls from physicians with biopsy results. A guy who knows that while much of marriage is a 50-50 give-and-take, sometimes it’s more like 80-20, and that’s OK, even when the 80-20 phase goes on and on. A man who truly doesn’t care what somebody’s breast looks like after cancer surgery, or at least will never reveal that he’s given it a moment’s thought. A guy who’s got some comfort level with secretions and knows the value of a cool, damp washcloth. A partner who knows to remove the computer mouse from a woman’s hand when she types phrases like “breast cancer death sentence” in a Google search. And, most of all, a partner who will sit in a cancer clinic waiting room and hold hard onto the purse on his lap.

Don't call it a comeback Call it redemption

I am an adamant Barak Obama supporter; I worked for his campaign, talked him up to anyone who would listen to the point that I would downright offensive if you even uttered anything negative about MY president. I loved his wife and marveled at the beauty of his children. But my dirty little secret is that I didn’t support him first, my heart was with a well known trial attorney who had little chance of winning, John Edwards.

My first confession is that I am a lawyer as is Barak Obama, and so is John Edwards. The truth is though Barak Obama is no lawyer only a person with a law degree and there is a difference. John Edwards is a lawyer, a prominent trial attorney who did not get by on an Ivy League pedigree, but through hard work; taking the cases no one else would, the type of cases that we as young attorneys all dream about. So your daughter gets her intestines ripped out because a pool manufacturer wanted to save a few cents by not installing a safety product, call John. Hospital accidentally gives you AIDS, call John; doctor give you brain damage during routine surgery, yep call John. What if you go to every lawyer in the city and none will take your hopeless case as your spouse lay in bed dying because of a mistake made by some manufacturer or hospital. You have contacted your state senator and legislator and they turn you down, you would not have called Barak Obama, the man we now know as the black superman, you would call the John. Edward would not only take your case, he would be your David and fight until you won.

I heard John’s story sometime after he won the his seat as the Senator of North Carolina, unlike Obama through would be no coronation for his senate seat, Edwards would have to fight the republican establishment who held the seat for years. As you can imagine John was the underdog in that campaign; he fought against an incumbent and won by 4 percentage points in a race most experts thought he would lose.

John would go on to leave that seat to run for president he would lose, but not without a fight to the bitter end. John would then be John Kerry’s pick for the VP spot, he would lose; however, what few people know is that when the Ohio results came back skewed Edwards wanted to fight the results, Kerry chose not to fight and conceded. He would run again and for those who follow the news the rest is well we are still finding out.

There has been a lot of recent talk in the news about Eliot Spitzer’s return, for those that don’t know or can’t remember he was the former governor of New York who got caught in a prostitution scandal. Spitzer may be posturing for a run at public office again he is making the Sunday round tables, giving interviews about Wall Street corruption there are full spreads about him in the New York Times. All of these things got me thinking could Edwards make a return and what would it take. Most experts say no there could never be a return, but the experts have always been wrong about John.

Here is what I would tell John in preparation for his comeback. David the hero we all love, the man who battled and brought down a giant with a mere stone had quite the scandal of his own. Sending Uriah to die in battle because he coveted his wife, David’s son, Solomon, born of the wife of Uriah would be equally plagued by scandal surrounding women. George Washington had slaves, and was also known to be quit the ladies man. Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklyn, FDR, JFK, Martin Luther King all had their issues with fidelity. They all became great and are remembered for contribution and not scandal.

So what will it take, sex therapy will not work, it will take a genuine sincere apology on every TV and radio station that will have you. You should be contrite but honest, you have let Elizabeth and other talking heads talk too long it is time you talk now and have the final say.

Next divorce your wife, the rumors are already about that it had been a troubled marriage to begin with, right now it seems as you were the evil husband that cheated on his unsuspecting wife with cancer. We all know this is not the truth; you married a woman who behind closed doors was disparaging and downright abusive. Tell the world that divorce is something that you should have considered a long time ago long before the scandal.

Do not marry Ms. Hunter! Take care of the child, but for god sakes John find a woman that would be a darling to the causes you love.

Do not talk about the sex tape; say you know nothing about it, and if it was filmed you are very sorry that a woman you trusted with do something so despicable.

Next align yourself with underdog issues find class action suits against bullies and others that take advantage of the poor, show up at small community meetings, let them use your resources and name to fight back against banks, polluters, and corrupt government, be there champion again.

Start practicing law and taking the cases that made you famous; it is imperative that you should be once again be seen as a fighter for the people that live in the lesser of the two Americas and in your case if there is no one to fight, go pick a fight. John, your story will be about redemption it will be about finding out that you are in fact vulnerable confessing that much and rebuilding an image that I believe rests at the core of your soul.

Then one day, maybe ten years from now, you should re-run for your senate seat in North Carolina and after that who knows…