American Burkha

The first time I saw film of a woman in the middle east walking down the street with sky-blue fabric covering her from head to foot... with a matching blue mesh to cover her eyes... I was immediately grateful I hadn't been born in THAT country. I thought about how lucky I am to have lived my life in a free country, one where I could go to school, vote, work, own property, and never have to be married unless I really, really liked the guy. To have so many choices, so many opportunities, and so many rights was suddenly much more clear and apparent to me than it had ever been before. Things I had taken for granted throughout my life suddenly seemed so precious and rare, especially in the glowing television light of the global society that we have become.

I promised myself to never again gripe about my job, or complain about the cost of rent, or the automatic increases in car insurance despite a spotless driving record. I even swore never to complain about my taxes (I know... call me "special"). I was one of the lucky ones who had a right to an education, the right to drive a car, and a right to say whatever I pleased. There are no men with sticks waiting to give me a lash or two should I be out in public without a male relative, or worse yet, inadvertantly showing a little bit of my ankle while walking down a dirt road in footwear of questionable sturdiness.

Hell... I served in the US Army. A Military Police Officer on a NATO anti-terrorist team. My pay was equal to that of the men who wore the same number of stripes on the collar of the same exact shirts. My platoon Sargeant swore at all of us equally when we ignored his commands. We all gossiped without gender bias about the baby-faced "Butterbar" who was our platoon officer. Male and female, black and white, religious or not, we were Americans. We were soldiers. We were equal.

My America was so distant from the world of that poor woman wearing the blue veil.

Since the day I first saw a bhurka, those thoughts have continued to cross my mind as daily newscasts of the middle east scroll across my big-screen HD TV. I sometimes feel guilty about that damn TV, and I feel it most acutely when I see the poverty and oppression in other parts of the world displayed on it's massive screen. But, a few other images have caught my attention lately. Another America slowly unfolding for all to see. It's the America that I didn't believe existed.

Now, it's not like a grew up in bomb shelter, isolated and alone. I had seen the old black-and-white footage of Kennedy, King, and Black Americans being blasted with jets of water from the fire hoses held by white men. As a child, it just seemed as distant to me as the old newsreels of Hitler. That was a long time ago. That was our history. That was certainly not the America of today.

So at first, it was mildly shocking but explainable, really. A man said on the local news: "I'm not prejudiced, but I just can't vote for a woman or a black." Hah! I thought...he's just "old school," simply raised in a different era. He's a holdover from days gone by. Most Americans don't feel like that. We've come so far since those days. My America, the America of today, outgrew the attitudes of this man. He was easy to ignore. He was irrelevant.

Then came the "birthers" and the "truthers." I was embarassed, at first. I could see why American's aren't taken too seriously by other first-world countries. However, there have always been those oddball conspiracy theorists. The ones we might listen to, and nod at, while wondering how quickly we can gently move away from them while passing their ranting on a street corner.

Then came the angry, religious nutjobs wearing tea bags on their hats. They travelled across the country to shout down anyone who opposed them. I watched this, with much of the world, in astonishment and with shame. But, I still thought that these people were an irrelevant and annoying minority. Just people sqwaking and presenting a real time demonstration of our right to freedom of speech and of the press.

Now, the talking psychobabble of people like Palin, Boehner, and Bachmann feed the irrelevant nutjobs, stirring them into a frenzy of crazy conspiracy theorists with guns. Guns they gladly tote to public events. These actions have a purpose, to intimidate their fellow citizens. To shut down any discussion. They would allow no opposition, if they could.  Think about it, who would counter-demonstrate against an armed mob of conspiracy riddled and paranoid bigots?

These people are like the men in Islamic countries that police the streets with sticks to smack anyone who gets out of line with what they believe. They would enforce their religions and their bizarre beliefs on everyone around them with no thought of democracy, and no voice for anyone except their chosen few... the American Imams.

Like a rabid theocrat, busily issuing fatwa's from a golden microphone, the would-be dictators spout propaganda like a gushing oil well. Teapartiers bandy about the word "liberal" in the same manner one might expect to hear the word "infidel." Ronald Regan has become a marytyr for their cause, an old man they can worship like an Ayatollah.

In the end, they would have us all wear an American Bhurka, to live under the oppression, fear and ignorance they so avidly pursue and engender in our media, churches, and politcal process. It isn't a pretty sky-blue and it doesn't have the drape or weight of a fabric. That gives us the illusion that it isn't here... but, it is. It is a veil of lies and enforcement of bigotry. And these people would have us all wear it.