Question: Who are we?
Jim Lehrer: Well, at the risk of sounding political – and I don’t mean this politically at all – I think some of the awful things that have happened in the country [USA] recently are the result of our not having shared experiences as citizens of all races, creeds, ages, sizes, abilities, whatever.
We go to war, just a certain number of people do the fighting for us. And the rest of us aren’t even affected. On Iraq, I asked the President of the United States [George W. Bush] in an interview I did. I said, “Mr. President, you’ve said the war against terror is the single most important thing that’s come into this country, for the United States of America, in centuries. But have you not asked all of us to participate?”
“Oh well, you know . . .”
I don’t mean to put the President down; but the thinking isn’t that you have to sacrifice when there’s a situation that arises like war, or a Katrina.
Katrina; Remember how everybody rose then, too? They say, “Oh, well what can we do about Katrina?” Go to New Orleans today. Go to the shoreline of Mississippi today. Misery is still there. We don’t follow up. We don’t feel responsible for New Orleans. We don’t feel responsible for Iraq one way or another.
Question: How do you make sense of what you see today?
Jim Lehrer: Some people would argue – I’ll let the politicians argue this – some of them would argue that if we didn’t have a volunteer military, we’d never have gone to war in Iraq because the public argument would have kept that from happening.
I’m not so sure. I don’t know. But who knows what might have happened?
The more of us who are involved in all of these big events; it’s cumbersome as hell--because democracy is always cumbersome, it’s complicated.
But three guys can’t get in a room and decide to go to war. You just can’t do that. It’s going to take all kinds of new forms of communication, and leadership – leadership, leadership, leadership – to get all these things done.
But to answer your question, I’m not upbeat at all about where we are with our country right now. Some of the things we have done as a country, as a nation, as a people, disturb me. Because I think we’ve done some things. Things have been done in our name. As far as I’m concerned, we did it.
Question: What is America’s place in the world?
Jim Lehrer: I’m an American. I’m responsible for what happens in my name, and that’s how I feel about it. It’s one of those things that really bothers me.
I hate it that we couldn’t get our act together and help those people rebuild in New Orleans and on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I don’t understand why we had to take military action against Iraq in such a way that caused the calamity that has resulted.
There are people in the world who hate us. I mean really hate us. You say “America” or “American"; we’re a red flag to a lot of people in the world. And it really disturbs me because we’re basically really good people. We have got to be given an opportunity to demonstrate our goodness. Our goodness has got to be called upon all the time. It can’t be haphazard. That’s the big lesson; the last several years leading up to this very moment; that if you don’t ask of the good, the good may not happen. And you get what you expect. And if you expect the best, then you have the means by which to call everybody to task. And you must absolutely need to encourage people, and to encourage us all to do better. And I don’t think we’re doing that. And that bothers me more than anything.
Recorded: July 4, 2007.
Discuss
Tony Purdom on January 21, 2008, 2:14 PM
It is a sad state of affairs. Now racial descrimination is so subverted and prevalent in our media, I am not convinced that we will ever free ourselves from this burden.
I fear that the hateful power establisment has now moved on from the overt baligerent hate. To subverting their message into more socially acceptable forms of hate. This hateful propoganda is obvious in shows like Dave Chapelle, Rap music, and cartoons like the Simpsons and especially South Park. These subverted messages teach minorities to hate themselves, and destroy one another.
Young minority children learn this self loathing from a young age. In a study that often replicated, children from around the globe would rather play with a white doll, than a doll or toy of their own color. They also more commonly associate good with the white toy, and bad or evil with the doll of color.
http://www.culturekitchen.com/mole333/blog/deep_deep_racism_in_american_culture_the_doll_t
It is great that Martin Luther King day is celebrated to stir the debate on this issue. Far more progress is needed.
Greater awareness is needed so that we can have higher expectations from our media, and a more informed consumer.
Tony Purdom on January 21, 2008, 7:14 PM
It is a sad state of affairs. Now racial descrimination is so subverted and prevalent in our media, I am not convinced that we will ever free ourselves from this burden.
I fear that the hateful power establisment has now moved on from the overt baligerent hate. To subverting their message into more socially acceptable forms of hate. This hateful propoganda is obvious in shows like Dave Chapelle, Rap music, and cartoons like the Simpsons and especially South Park. These subverted messages teach minorities to hate themselves, and destroy one another.
Young minority children learn this self loathing from a young age. In a study that often replicated, children from around the globe would rather play with a white doll, than a doll or toy of their own color. They also more commonly associate good with the white toy, and bad or evil with the doll of color.
http://www.culturekitchen.com/mole333/blog/deep_deep_racism_in_american_culture_the_doll_t
It is great that Martin Luther King day is celebrated to stir the debate on this issue. Far more progress is needed.
Greater awareness is needed so that we can have higher expectations from our media, and a more informed consumer.
Samantha Cobb on January 28, 2008, 8:49 AM
About what he was saying that all black americans are thought to act the same, it is also the same with every other race in america. the sterotypes wont be broken until people acctually care about other americans enough to find out what they are really like.
example: white southern americans are all "rednecks". but if people visited the southern states they would find that the sterotype is not true.
Samantha Cobb on January 28, 2008, 1:49 PM
About what he was saying that all black americans are thought to act the same, it is also the same with every other race in america. the sterotypes wont be broken until people acctually care about other americans enough to find out what they are really like.
example: white southern americans are all “rednecks”. but if people visited the southern states they would find that the sterotype is not true.
Vakil Smallen on May 14, 2008, 6:14 AM
I like what you have to say about wanting to be treated as an individual, and I suppose that the aim of anti-racism initiatives is to treat people as individuals not as racial categories (the content of their character, if you would). As much as I understand the desire to stand by one's own, especially in the face of real injustice (from loans to voting to police behavior, racism against blacks is clearly still alive), it tells people who feel as if they have been living their lives ignoring racial differences that race does matter. I'm not claiming that either position is right or wrong, simply that defensiveness will make it very difficult for a solution, and since we all are going to continue living together, a solution is of mutual benefit.
Vakil Smallen on May 14, 2008, 10:14 AM
I like what you have to say about wanting to be treated as an individual, and I suppose that the aim of anti-racism initiatives is to treat people as individuals not as racial categories (the content of their character, if you would). As much as I understand the desire to stand by one’s own, especially in the face of real injustice (from loans to voting to police behavior, racism against blacks is clearly still alive), it tells people who feel as if they have been living their lives ignoring racial differences that race does matter. I’m not claiming that either position is right or wrong, simply that defensiveness will make it very difficult for a solution, and since we all are going to continue living together, a solution is of mutual benefit.
Logics Child on June 22, 2008, 6:12 AM
I agree with KINGSHOLTO. There is also this perception that all 'whites' are xenophobic and hate people of color. The ridicule lies on both spectrums. I am African-American in a mixed relationship, and I constantly here about people who categorize one sub-culture with an entire race. When I say sub-culture, I am refering to the people within a particular race in which these qualities actually apply: ignorant, hateful, xenophobic, belligerent, disrespectful, informal, etc. The problem is that the few individuals that exhibit this type of behavior have their actions publicized on national television. This in turn creates stereotypes and misconceptions attributed to every race.
Logics Child on June 22, 2008, 10:12 AM
I agree with KINGSHOLTO. There is also this perception that all ‘whites’ are xenophobic and hate people of color. The ridicule lies on both spectrums. I am African-American in a mixed relationship, and I constantly here about people who categorize one sub-culture with an entire race. When I say sub-culture, I am refering to the people within a particular race in which these qualities actually apply: ignorant, hateful, xenophobic, belligerent, disrespectful, informal, etc. The problem is that the few individuals that exhibit this type of behavior have their actions publicized on national television. This in turn creates stereotypes and misconceptions attributed to every race.
Add a Comment
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or Register