All posts by Amok

blog, diversity, race

“The Help,” the new help, and Dr. King: Still a lot of work to be done

 I was touched by Octavia Spencer’s acceptance speech at the Golden Globes on Sunday  as she mentioned Dr.King and domestic help.

Said Spencer: “…with regard to domestics in this country now and then, I think Dr. King said it best – all labor that uplifts humanity has diginity and importance. And I thank you for recognizing that with our film.”

Yes, all work has value. But why do certain people of certain races end up with the domestic jobs? I suppose that’s the indomitable spirit that we celebrate.  Some people just won’t take the jobs we will.  That’s the way it’s always been. But as Spencer talked of domestics, past and present, she didn’t really touch on the main difference among the help these days.

Like everything else, the help is a lot more diverse, with fewer American domestics. And a whole lot more immigrants.

In the 1900s, the help tended to be European immigrants and blacks from the South.

But nowadays, immigrants from around the world dominate, especially from Asia (most often the Philippines), Mexico and Latin America. And when it comes to the blacks, they aren’t from urban places or from the rural south. They’ve been replaced predominately by Caribbean immigrants.

The old South is just that, a dated notion of “the help” as nostalgic as “Gone with the Wind.”

The modern version would be a lot different movie.  The help? It’s Filipino or Latino definitely. They could have Salma Hayek play the part. The Filipina songstress Lea Salonga could do it on Broadway.

Recently, I went to a party at a college acquaintance’s home in San Francisco. I was the only non-white guest in the crowd. It was strange how I actually had more in common with the help than I did with the guests.

The help was a Filipino family that cooked and cleaned and worked for my college friend. They reminded me of my relatives.

When they saw me, they knew not to fraternize. I said a word or two I knew in Tagalog,  but they were total professionals who never broke character. They knew their place. This wasn’t a Filipino family party.

To them, I suppose I might have been a sign of progress.  A Filipino American on tonight’s guest list. How often does that happen?

But I looked at them all night hard at work and saw the opposite. Yes, all labor uplifts and all that.  Dr. King was right. But we were just an update of another kind of continuum.

The past was present, alive and well, with still much work to be done for us all.

blog, news, politics

From New Hampshire to South Carolina, his bane is Bain: Romney the Sado-Capitalist is truly out of touch

The irony of the good capitalists going after the bad capitalists is really hilarious. But that’s the primary issue in the Republican campaign.

We have Gingrich, the former House Speaker, going after front-runner Romney, the bad 1 per center, and talking about the villainy of “Crony Capitalism,” as if he never participated in anything of the sort during his leadership tenure.  

Of course, Romney’s saving grace is that his harshest critic is Gingrich, the campaign’s biggest megalomaniac.   (Rick Perry, you can’t count. This is now just political exercise for him. It is for Gingrich too, but like everything else Gingrich’s attack is so grand).

The others are playing nice because they wouldn’t mind a cabinet post or ambassadorship. Or maybe a job at Bain if Romney loses.

But Bain really does matter. Not necessarily for Romney’s won and loss record, but for all that it stands for. Critiquing venture capitalists and the Wall Streeters for their greed and lack of regulation is a legitimate issue.

Matt Lauer on TODAY exposed Romney, who thinks any criticism is a matter of envy.

Really.

That just shows how out of touch the Mister Mitt really is.

Read the quote in my New Hampshire comments on the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund blog:

http://aaldef.org/blog/sado-capitalist-romney-heads-to-the-south.html

blog, news, politics, race

The Diversity Deficit: Why it’s hard to get excited about the GOP even on Caucus night

Will Mitt Romney eek by? Will Ron Paul upset? Santorum? 

If you’re a person of color, it’s hard to care who says what in Iowa. Or even the next stop, New Hampshire.  The candidates just aren’t talking to the rest of us. At least, not yet. 

http://aaldef.org/blog/the-diversity-deficit-in-iowa-and-new-hampshire-gingrichs-pearl-harbor-and-danny-chen.html

With Cain out of the running, it really is an all-white horse race in these all-white venues.  And by the time they get to a state that looks like America, the race will likely be over.

Did they really want people of color in the Republican party anyway?

www.aaldef.org/blog

Hey, even George Bush had the Patti Labelle and the  O’Jays singing “Love Train” at the 2000 convention. Eleven years later, the GOP still hasn’t quite figured out a way to spread the love.

blog, news, politics

Wake of the week: Kim Jong-il still dead

Kim Jong-il is still dead.  Let’s all have a meal?

There are just three ways North Korea can go after the death of the despot. .

It can get worse. Much worse. Or it can get better. But not that  much better. Or it can stay the same. That’s probably the best of the three options. No heavy lifting required by the U.S., China. The U.S. doesn’t know what to do. And China likes to keep an ideal vision of repression around as it develops its hybrid capitalistic communism.

So it doesn’t look great for North Korea. But we can always hope for a little bit more.

http://aaldef.org/blog/yearning-for-a-north-korean-spring.html

Unlikely that Kim Jong-un is the “Un-Kim Jong-il.

Although, he seems to have a similar hair-thing going on.

What I find strange is that food has become a bargaining chip as governments try to assess the future.

People are starving over there.  The warnings have been out for sometime by UNICEF about the gravity of the situation.

Putting any plans for food aid on hold while the U.S. comes up with a political strategy, isn’t very humane.  Get the people something to eat.  Food first, then politics. 

www.aaldef.org/blog

Happy Holidays to all. I like Christmas, maybe even more than Tim Tebow. But I respect your holiday too.

New things coming up in 2012 on the amok.blog

Thanks for checking in.