Government Against the People

In the shadow of 9/11, the Bush administration developed domestic security and foreign policy that crystallized every racist and paranoid sentiment of White America. This doesn't mean that every white American is racist or paranoid. It means that the paranoid and racist beliefs inherited by White Americans, whether they subscribe to those beliefs or not, was at the forefront of policies and programs such as the no-fly list and the INS Special Registration ofAliens. The Bush Doctrine was the mea culpa since it had the international community and human rights organizations crying foul.

The election of President Obama signaled the expectation that such inherently oppressive policies would be chucked. This had less to do with Obama's party affiliation than his pedigree which is a reflection of the 1960s instead of the 1860s. In the 1860s, Americans fought over whether a person was fit to be enslaved by the virtue of skin color. In the 1960s Americans witnessed the Civil Rights Era, the British Invasion, the dawn of the hippies and a radical shift in American social norms. African-Americans moved from being an after-thought to being in the forefront of the American psyche in politics and media. 1961 is the year Barack Hussein Obama was born to a white mother and a Kenyan father. He was raised by his single mother and later by his maternal grandmother. Obama has publicly discussed his struggle in establishing his identity and core values to align with his bi-racial lineage.

In the 1960s, his bi-racial lineage was an anomaly. Today a bi-racial or mixed lineage is the norm for a majority of Americans. There is still a White America but it is blending with a America whose citizens don't trace their roots back to the Puritans. The probability of meeting a blonde, blue-eyed American today is as much, if not lower in some areas, as of meeting an American who isn't. However, the probability of seeing a blonde, blue-eyed terrorist is as low as seeing Duchess Kate take the subway in rush hour.

The Obama administration followed the previous administration's precedent by reauthorizing NSA surveillance. By extending its scope to encompass all telephonic and web activities of all Americans including press organizations, the Obama administration established a new precedent of pitting the government against the people. The unspoken acknowledgment is that America is not comprised of only blonde, blue-eyed people. There are darker colored Americans of varying lineages. The underlying message is that since blonde, blue-eyed terrorists are rare and darker colored Americans aren't, the government can expect an attack by its citizens. Therefore, instead of protecting the rights of and serving all Americans, the government must arm itself against them by searching for and finding fault with them.

Americans will start to minimize their perceived faults. If the government is looking for terrorists, then Americans will diminish any characteristic or censor any idea that smacks of terrorism. The question is what activity smacks of terrorism? Is it praying in a mosque, is it wearing a turban, is it questioning why we quietly support Saudi Arabia while refuting the legitimacy of the Iranian government, is it stating, “I don't like how America is doing as a country”? Many Americans will think they are safe from scrutiny or prosecution because of their skin color, their creed and their heritage. Many others will subscribe to ideas that are not their own but belong to a “pre-approved” set. That is an unfortunate path to follow. The tragedy is that our elected officials are the ones to direct us to it. The irony is that the first bi-racial President did nothing to stop them.