The Stove Has Been Turned Off

An interesting point was brought to my attention while I was at a local café. America is no longer a melting pot. Do not get me wrong, it is true that we are a country of immigrants and different nationalities. But do we really live together? Do we have a common goal? Or do we isolate ourselves to our own culture?

I often record in one of the poorest parts of San Francisco. One day I had to take my children with me until their mother could pick them up. My son looked at me and said “Daddy, there are two different Californias”. I looked at him and his wide eyes scanning the scenery, and said “yes son, there is”. This is one of those moments as a father you are waiting for. The moment to explain some real shit to your child.

My children have not been exposed to the real world. They’ve never seen streets filled with trash, homes that looked like they were going to collapse and police cars every 10 minutes. But this was nothing new to me at all. I was exposed to this as a child, and I knew that this was the real world to the black community. Even though my grandmother moved me away from the city when I was in kindergarten, I still had the black experience growing up.

My father use to take me to the barber shop in the Fillmore. I would buy clothes and shoes right next door. I would visit my Grandmother in the Bayview district and walk to the store for 10 cent candy. Then I would return home to stare at the ocean and fall asleep to the sound of the waves hitting the shore.  I grew up knowing that I was in one world but there were others struggling and suffering in another.

This is not about staying in the Asian, Black, or Latino community, but rather assimilate and become one. America should be a country with a common goal to make things better for everyone. What is our common goal? Do we have one at all? Can we please pick- and soon- before we have no chance at all?

In order for America to return to glory we to need to come together and realize that we are repeating history. Sure it may not be full out Civil Rights in the streets, but some of the scenes in the news could be changed to black and white and we may not be able to tell the difference.

While I lived in Texas, every day I would see the Texas flag everywhere I turned. It was sort of like a cult thing in a way, but it worked. I had pride for the state of Texas, and was proud to be a Texan even though I was a transplant. There was common goal in the Lone Star State pride, the pride of being a Texan. My son and daughter still have that pride to this day. They enjoy California and family and their new friends, but when you say “Texas” it makes them smile. The pride they have should be the same pride that we have when we see the American flag.

But in order for this to truly happen we have to assimilate, we have to define an American culture that has rituals that embrace our different cultures but remains focused on us being united. Without all citizens of a country being behind one goal we will accomplish nothing. We will continue to be divided by politics, religion, sexual preference, gender, and last but not least, class.

I am proud that my children have lived in Texas and California. I’ve learned how to assimilate myself in an environment that was not known to me. I knew that in order to be successful and to make it in Texas I would have to assimilate. Assimilating is not destroying your own cultural beliefs, but rather accepting the community that you live in and becoming one.

We do not need separate classes for children that speak one language; we need classes that teach our children all languages, so that we can compete in a global world. In order to return to number one we have to realize that we are no longer the top dog- we need an objective.

A melting pot is something that takes ingredients from all over the world and makes one delicious dinner- a common goal.

Remember Me?

Alright fans, Winters Writes is back and ready to talk politics, race, sex, car accidents, tattoos, and sports cars. No, seriously, I have neglected my favorite passion of all time- writing and sharing thoughts with the rest of the world. As some of my fans know I have moved from Texas back to California. But no worries, my conservative values are still in place, even though I switched from calling myself a conservative and now wear the badge of a Libertarian.  But let’s talk politics later.

I would like to catch up on a few things that I missed, like the NFL lockout. What the hell was that? They had the NFL Draft on schedule and got us hooked like medical marijuana card holders. I am glad that football is back, but too bad my team sucks and there may be no end in sight. A mighty empire falling, no not America, the 49ers; but we play in the NFC West so I am hopeful- oops I mean Faithful.

And I can’t forget to mention the politician that got booted for sexting (there is your sex). Man that old dude spent a lot of time doing some real important government things, yeah things, they do nothing but talk and sign their name and we pay them. Most of the time they do not know what they are writing their names down own. You often hear it in their speeches, “I did not support that part of the bill at all”. But Misses, your John Hancock is right there in black and white.

With the election heating up you know the keys on my laptop will start to sound like rain on a tin roof. Yes I am still waiting for the government to create jobs and watch them fall from the sky (most know I believe it is not the responsibility of the government or the president). Yes they can make policies and rearrange the tax structure, but that leads to nothing but more fat cats on the top of the food chain collecting huge profits while the little guy or girl embraces six figures like they hit the lottery.

 I sit in amazement because that guy we started two wars to look for, was not in a freaking cave, but a mansion like Charlie Sheen watching porn and the occasional clip of himself on FOX…  All the time telling us we needed more money for the war, or for another x-ray machine at the airport, or a reason to pat down your kids before you visit the happiest place on earth.

For some, America is the definition of freedom. People have died all over the world to achieve the type of freedom that we have.

So let us really demand freedom. The freedom to love who the heck you want, as long as he or she is not in my bed that is not my problem. Go ahead smoke a little bit if you feel the pain of Capitalism. Let children be children and do not be scared to tell them the truth, even though you might think they are not ready to accept it.

In closing, I would like to give a shout out to Bill Brenner. I admire his tenacity and dedication to letting the world know who he really is, and sharing the challenges and obstacles he has faced.