Sets for Press Conferences and Locked Doors in War

It's been a trip to catch glimpses of "my President" in the recent weeks. I don't have much time in between many Senior year classes and hectic hours of work, but I have had enough time to catch ole' "Dubya" in action.

It's amazing to me how still unprepared George Walker Bush is for taking his job seriously. In a teleconference with troops in Iraq, a set was designed with gold decoration and gaudy representations of "plastic patriotism" all over it. Why do you need a "set" when you have the White House, The Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, FDR, Korean War, WWII and Vietnam Monuments?

Okay, scratch the Vietnam Memorial Monument from the list. That's probably not the best place to broadcast a press/teleconference about an ongoing war in an unstable country where America is trying to influence the future of the government. I can empathize with the President on not making use of that monument.

I also was able to catch glimpses of Mr. Bush trying to exit another press conference in China when the questions just got TOO HARD. He got a funny expression when the door he chose was LOCKED!



I got a laugh out of that. However, it is quite sad that the President of the United States, a position that has become one of great power throughout the world, tries to leave a press conference, instead of holding ground on his/her positions.

I feel bad for George sometimes. I still remember seeing the video of him sitting down with James Baker and other Republican heavyweights in 1999 or so to talk about him running for President in 2000. I'm sure he thought it would be a cakewalk after the negative exploits of Bill Clinton and the sloppy Liberals.

He didn't even technically win in 2000. He barely won (if you can call it that) in 2004 and his approval ratings have slipped in the middle. I bet sometimes he wishes he lost in a landslide in 2000 so that he wouldn't have to put up with these annoying press conferences to address the issues related to the war he started in Iraq.

The bottom line is George W. Bush is the President of the United States and with that comes great responsibility to the people that ultimately put him there. He owes it to all of us, Republican, Democrat, Conservative, Moderate and Liberal, to step up to the plate and at least stand on his convictions and not try to hide behind false TV tricks ("Mission Accomplished") or try to run away from the hard part.

President Abraham Lincoln could have had thoughts of returning to Illinois and not dealing with the complex issues involved in the war that threatened his beloved country. President Lincoln continued, however, to open the doors of the White House to open houses and press conferences, despite the safety issues, through his presidency and the Civil War.

He knew that he owed nothing short of his complete dedication to doing everything in his power to serve the American people, even through his own real personal tragedies and those of the country.

You'll get your break, Mr. Bush. Just remember that your job is not over and your responsibility to the people remains. January 20, 2009 is coming soon enough, thank goodness for all of us...including you, Mr. President!

Ringer for Osama bin Laden?

So, I'm doing my best to make it through my life as a husband, student, brother, son, uncle and worker. I don't agree with probably 95% of what the Bush Administration is doing, but it doesn't mean that I'm some crazy rebel terrorist who's going to try to take America down.

I believe in Peace and "The Other Way." There is always ANOTHER WAY to any seemingly dead end situation. No matter what you believe, there are always "cards" (as my History Professor likes to say--you know who you are) that you can add to or take out of your pile.

In that sense, we are all always growing, learning and becoming more and more open to what's out there...or are we?

At work last night, I was doing my best to get the photo orders done on time and make sure the lab looked straight. I very often look up to make sure no one is left standing around waiting to be helped. I noticed this one seemingly happy older gentleman staring my way.

"Could I help you, sir?," I offered.

Still smiling, he said, "You look like a million bucks!"

Thinking he meant our photo lab, I replied, "Well, thank you, sir. We appreciate it!"

He continued, "...You look like a ringer for Osama bin Laden with your beard 'n your skin 'n all..."

"Thank you, I suppose." was my reply. How do you respond to something like that?

I turned my head and made sure that he couldn't see my face, because I felt a great bit of anger rush over me...

...anger because I was compared to someone I know that everyone hates (with good reason).
...anger because that man had no regard for how that would make someone else feel.
...anger because I know his mind will never try to understand that Osama and his Al Qaeda associates do not represent Islam in its true sense.
...anger because I knew there was nothing I could do or can do.

I am part of what I believe to be the silent majority. The minority of this country (Oligarchy might be the word you're looking for) have gained control of "America" and are giving Americans new faces throughout the world. Apparently, in some small minds, my face is not one of them.

Bringing an end to American fueled war in Iraq

The War in Iraq has long been exploited by the Bush Administration. Despite a majority of voices (or at least opinions), the American-sponsored violence in the area continues.

This war is not even the war that President Bush promised the American people and, more importantly, the surviving family members of the 9/11 victims. Bush sent troops into Afghanistan to pursue Osama Bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda leaders for their part in the deaths of many Americans and people of many other nations who died not just in 9/11 but in the bombing of the U.S. embassies in Africa and the U.S.S. Cole in the late nineties. Bush and his team have let Osama slip through by giving him many head starts and by clumsily moving through Afghanistan and diverting many resources to Iraq.

There must be an OVERWHELMING NATIONAL CALL for the END OF THE WAR IN IRAQ! I propose that those who represent the religious, educational, military and other communities who oppose the ongoing war in Iraq organize a common day to ring the bells of the respective institutions to call for the end of the Iraq War.

Each ring should represent each American death in Iraq, as well as possibly ringing the tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi lives that have been lost in the Bush War. It will take several hours to ring the numbers, and some organizations might want to read the names of the dead. Either way, the government needs to take notice of the reality of the negative impact that this war has on EVERYONE! The longer the series of rings or reading of names the more effective!!! Obviously, a shorter list of names and series of rings would be better for the notion of saving the lives of our brave women and men, as well as the innocent local lives of Iraq.

There is so much silent opposition to this war. I say that we all stand up and organize days periodically to ring the bells of this nation's institutions to remind George W. Bush and all who can make a difference of the deaths that have resulted from this self-serving military blunder! These bells should especially ring in Washington, DC to DROWN OUT ANY OTHER PROPOSITIONS OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION UNTIL THEY REALIZE THAT IT'S TIME TO STEP UP TO THE REALITY, COME CLEAN and FIX IT!!!

There are enough of us to do this! Spread the word, network...we can get it done. Even if we start small. Only a handful of voices stood up against the Institution of Slavery at first and we see what happened there. Brave women kept at the government until they won the right to vote. We still have a long way to go with so many things. Think about what you can do today to work to end this war and work toward a harmonious humanity in the months and years to come!

Saint Domingue and Gregoires

August 8, 2010
American Airlines flight 822 was canceled Tuesday due to Hurricane Alex coming into the area. My tour of Robert F. Williams’ activities in Cuba was over and I had set a two day schedule to check out my connection to Haiti. Two days was definitely not enough to research the Gregoire presence in Saint Domingue. I have Alex to thank for what I discovered.

The book “Negroes with Guns” led me to “Radio Free Dixie.” The fact the author of “Dixie” just happened to be the author of “Blood Done Sign My Name” and a fellow “Preacher’s Kid” was most certainly a sign. “Blood” was an excellent book about Tyson’s father’s bold stance against the racial violence that prevailed in his hometown of Oxford, NC. Tyson’s father lost his Methodist ministry in Oxford and the family had to move on to the next calling. I felt a kinship to Tim Tyson, as my own father had taken bold stances and been forced out of churches.

I was able to get in touch with Tyson back in May. He pointed me in the right direction with regard to getting in to explore the presence of Williams on the island of Cuba. I was able to move without hassle after Tyson briefed me on how to work the Cuban government. Thank goodness I had those years of Spanish in high school and college, as well. I could almost see Williams’ ghost sitting in front of the microphone, drawing on his military training and his experience with racial oppression to force the issue of the position of the marginalized African Americans. Though Williams upset the Soviet presence in Cuba and the American Communist Party with his broadcasts, he was still able to maintain the respect of Cuban revolutionary Che’ Guevara.

An obviously conflicted man, Williams advocated near military preparation on the part of the black community. It was strange to think that Williams was in the same organization as Martin Luther King, Jr. and W.E.B. DuBois, but that’s what research is: discovering and understanding new points of view.

At the end of my time in Cuba, I was beginning to gain the introduction of the motivating factors for Williams to advocate answering violence with violence. I especially understood the notion when I began to shift gears on my flight to Port-au-Prince.

On the flight over, I thought about my family history. It’s hard for me to fathom that the Gregoire family actually were slave owners and sugar planters on Hispaniola. I couldn’t imagine how those Gregoires must have treated their slaves. In the context of my mind, however, I assumed the worst and with that I had no trouble with wrapping my mind around the notion that one of those slaves would have slit the throat of a Gregoire during the activities the Haitian Revolution.

Toussaint L’Ouverture was certainly more diplomatic than violent in his movement, but he was a talented military mind much like Robert F. Williams. General Dessalines struck me as a rightfully pissed off new Haitian. It was in his spirit of things, that most of the Gregoire family was murdered. “Kill Whitey!” was a phrase that came to mind as I sifted through my Hurricane Alex granted material. I got the impression that living as a slave under the conditions on a Santo Domingo sugar plantation was much like being crushed into disease infested mound of soil by a giant white hand. I thought that I might grab a sharpened stick and start stabbing that hand myself. Whispering injustice under those conditions would have accomplished nothing. I understood the violence motivator.

However, there he was. A slave of French Roman Catholic sugar planters found his former master wandering the streets of Port-au-Prince looking for any glimmer of hope, despite the fact that his whole family had been slaughtered. Caspar Ramsey Gregoire was found by this man in the hectic streets and it struck me to seem like one of those scenes out of a movie, where the murderous villain finds himself to be alone with his longtime rival. Surely the villain will get his due with some dramatic slit of the throat or profound puncture of the innards. This was not the case with Caspar and…there it was…The name…Alexandre! Alexandre spoke the boy’s name and escorted him to the harbor to negotiate his passage off of the violent island. Alexandre found a spot for Caspar on a boat headed for the originally Quaker city of Philadelphia. What a fitting reflection of Alexandre! Philadelphia literally means “loving people.”

Alexandre could have very easily followed the movie plot and extinguished the last of the Gregoires. He chose the less traveled path and spared Caspar. Caspar was taken in by a Presbyterian family in Philadelphia, and Gregoire became Gregory. It’s no wonder that, in the summer of 1967, my father, Henry Duval Gregory IV, found himself speaking to Martin Luther King, Jr. about working to get the United States of America out of Vietnam. As a family, we owe it to Alexandre. We are, by debt, pacifists. With one slit of the throat, I could not even be writing this today. To Alexandre go profound thoughts of gratitude!
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The preceding was my fictionalized account of the research I would very much like to accomplish in the coming years. The story of the salvation of our family is most certainly true, except for knowing the name of the Gregoire family slave. If anyone has any knowledge of the events that took place on the island of Hispaniola around the time of the Hatian Revolution, please contact me, as I wish to trace the path back!

Most humbly and peacefully submitted,
Asa Abraham Gregory