Neo-Liberalism

I had a wonderful childhood and upbringing. My parents will tell you that they know they made some mistakes (what parent doesn't) but now that I am an adult and have kids of my own, I know without a doubt that parents don't get any better than mine. They are children of the 50's and 60's. They were some of the first to integrate Georgia State University back in the 60's. Somewhere along the way (I'll have to do a little research to determine exactly where) blacks realized that it was in their best interests to align themselves politically with the Democratic party. I want to say that the arrival of the Kennedy family in the late 50's had something to do with it. My mom and late-grandmother speak very highly of the Kennedy's always, and the Civil-Right's era has in some ways always been associated with this family.



Needless to say, as a child of the 70's, I was taught by example and experience that Democrat (Liberal) = GOOD and Republican (Conservative) = BAD. In the now defunct "Black Community" that just went without saying. I think it's fine to have an opinion, but the sad thing was that I was never actually told why people felt this way, or why I should feel this way.

Well, once I got married to my hubby who grew up in Chicago, I got a different perspective on what liberalism actually meant. In fact, the more exposure I had to white liberals and conservatives, the more my own feelings actually began to change. Being around white conservatives has always been very easy. I always feel like I know who and what I'm dealing with at all times. But since I've been in my mid-twenties I've had a gripe with most white liberals I encounter and spend time around. I could never figure out how to succinctly express it, but Los Angelista expresses it perfectly today:

"...there are those who call themselves liberals, Democrats or progressives but they are happy to identify themselves as such as long as the "other" stays on the other side of the city. Everything is all good as long as folks only have to fund raise for a cause or argue at cocktail parties about the cause. However, they don't want the cause coming and moving across the street, actually being competitive for spots at top universities or getting the job they wanted for themselves."

BINGO. That's what I have been trying to communicate to my family members and friends for a few years now. My black friends especially, don't seem to get it, but I attribute that to the fact that they live here in Atlanta, a city that is atypical of the rest of the South and nothing at all like living up North. I have a black friend that moved away recently to a big city dubbed the "2nd most liberal city in the U.S." She expressed the exact same sentiment after living there for a few months. Her exact words were "It's really easy to want to join hands and sing "Kumbaya" when you don't have to actually hold hands with black people." Well put.

A few years back, I was at the birthday party for the son of a guy I used to work with. His parents were there along with a few of he and his wife's friends. One lady there (liberal, of course) who is a teacher in Atlanta Public Schools started on a rant about "those kids" and "their parents" and such. Chris and I sat there quietly because this was very typical mindset and nothing new to us. However, my former co-worker's wife's father (who lives in Connecticut) spoke up, and pointed out that there are inner-cities in his town also, but they don't have the same problems that she is speaking of. His point was that it's not a "them" vs "us" thing. I think he was suggesting that it's probably more of "get your damn act together down here" thing. After driving home from the party Chris and I remarked on the fact that it was nice to finally spend some time with an "old school liberal". And I could finally understand why my parents would have wanted to align themselves with people such as this.