An Open Letter to Rep. Doug Lamborn on the subject "Tar Baby"

tar baby
 
noun
a situation, problem, or the like, that is almost impossible to solve or to break away from.
Also, tar•ba•by.

Origin:
after the tar doll used to trap Brer Rabbit in an Uncle Remus story (1881) of Joel Chandler Harris
Ref: www.dictionary.com

*****

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or, fester like a sore,
and then run?
Does it stink like rotted meat,
or crust and sugar-over
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load...
...or does it explode?

*****

This is Langston Hughes' "Dream Deferred." I don't expect the congressman from Colorado has read it.

After hearing the 'tar baby' comment on the Michael Baisden Show in New York, I felt the heavy load. I'm old enough to recall a time at three when my mother and I got on a bus to go home in NC, dutifully moving from the comfortable front to the back. I recall the great civics lesson I received in my living room as my older sister and her friends marched to remove that Jim Crow law, for voting rights, Civil Rights. Her generation made it possible for President Obama to be elected. I've heard the situation he found himself elected to in 2008 aptly compared to someone running up the restaurant bill and sticking the next guest with the check! This egregious comment after Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords last night made her triumphant return to Congress: "Not a dry eye in the place," the cliché I heard from commentators over again. You denigrate that moment of unity after the most deplorable, divisive politics on a non-issue -- raising the debt ceiling -- with this comment.

I was irritated as I shopped; passing the same people I'd passed since moving to New York. I was internally defensive, almost ready for a verbal or physical altercation. I did not "explode," but I felt the heavy load of preparing myself academically; ascending from my humble background; presenting myself professionally; using the diction and syntax that a manager of technical personnel should use.

Then, I recall the dear friends I have of all cultures: Asian, European, Indian, Native American; races and political persuasions. I am friends with African Americans that probably voted the same way you did in the last election. We are fast friends. It is shameful that adults outside the beltway can behave maturely, and those with the responsibility of managing the country...behaving like over-stimulated juveniles.

Rep. Doug Lamborn: in one term, you've denigrated Alan West (FL), Timothy Scott (SC), and every conservative person of color in your district that voted for you.

You painted a broad brush over an entire culture that did not ask to migrate to this country in the first place, focusing on one man, who happens to be the fairly elected President of the United States. Whether or not you respect the man, respect the office he holds. You yourself may hold it one day: karma...sowing and reaping...reciprocity. The respect (or, lack thereof) you met out may come back multiplied. You have apologized, and that is warranted. It IS possible in your insular world; you had professional ignorance to its "other meaning." Consider yourself now, sir...educated.

Yes, you could get away with the strict definition of the phrase. However, you must represent all Coloradans and all Americans: those that voted for you, and those that did not; those that are republicans and those who are not; those that agree with you and those who do not; those who are part of your culture, and those who are not.

We are the United States of America, congressman. E Pluribus Unum: out of many...one.

The New Jim Crow...