Obama Acts as Leader of the Free World (op-ed)
In 1987 President Reagan stood by the Berlin wall, the symbol of communist oppression, and challenged the Soviets to “welcome change and openness” because the advancement of human liberty strengthens the cause of world peace. Then Reagan made the boldest statement of the cold war. He said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
The crowd cheered. But they didn’t cheer the American president they cheered the leader of the free world. (A phrase invented during the cold war. The U.S. president was the leader of the world’s democracies until the Soviet collapse in 1989. After that the term “free world” was replaced by “world community”.)
Recently President Obama made an official trip to Kenya. Weeks before his arrival local leaders (Aware of Obama’s support of gay marriage) threatened to demonstrate across the country if Obama commented on same-sex marriage. In Kenya gay marriage is unconstitutional.
At a press conference Obama didn’t mention gay marriage. He stated treating people different because of who they love is wrong, and he said, “He’s painfully aware of the history when people are treated different under law.” The press interpreted this statement as a parallel to the treatment of Black Americans in the south. Is this accurate? In America the gay rights movement often compared itself to the civil rights movement. The comparison is false, gays weren’t segregated.
But in Kenya homosexuality is illegal.
Homosexuals aren’t segregated from heterosexuals, but its illegality may have the same consequence as forced segregation.
How?
Segregation was declared unconstitutional because of the results of a psychological test conducted with dolls. Black children were presented with a black and white doll. When asked which doll was bad and ugly the children indicated the black, when asked which doll was good and pretty the children indicated the white, and when asked which doll resembled them they buried their heads in shame.
The Supreme Court concluded segregation laws produced psychological damage by creating an inferiority complex that stunted the black child’s potential.
With that evidence in mind when a Kenyan adolescent is attracted to the same sex after puberty do anti-homosexual laws produce the same psychological damage?
The president of Kenya dismissed Obama’s concern calling gay-rights a “non-issue”. And maybe it always will be a non-issue until there is an equivalent of the doll test to discover the damage done by declaring some delinquent and others lawful based on attraction. But the official position of the Kenyan government was previously expressed by its deputy president, “We would not allow homosexuality in our nation, as it violates our religious and cultural beliefs.”
The next day Obama delivered a speech in front of 5,000 Kenyans and emphasized progress. He stated you can’t just accept the world as it is. Progress requires confronting the dark corners of your past, extending rights to more of your citizens, and seeing diversity as strength.
Obama went further, “There is a tradition of repressing women and treating them differently. Treating women as second-class citizens is a bad tradition. It holds you back. There’s no excuse for sexual assault or domestic violence. There’s no reason that young girls should suffer genital mutilation. There’s no place in civilized society for the early or forced marriage of children. These traditions may date back centuries; they have no place in the 21st century.”
The crowd cheered the American president who proclaimed like his predecessor the official tearing down of walls. At that moment Obama returned the prestige of the title “leader of the free world” back to the American presidency. Too bad it’s just symbolic support at the end of the Obama era. Shakespeare might have concluded: The world community’s a stage we’re all actors, even leaders of the free world.
First published in New Pittsburgh Courier 8/5/15
The crowd cheered. But they didn’t cheer the American president they cheered the leader of the free world. (A phrase invented during the cold war. The U.S. president was the leader of the world’s democracies until the Soviet collapse in 1989. After that the term “free world” was replaced by “world community”.)
Recently President Obama made an official trip to Kenya. Weeks before his arrival local leaders (Aware of Obama’s support of gay marriage) threatened to demonstrate across the country if Obama commented on same-sex marriage. In Kenya gay marriage is unconstitutional.
At a press conference Obama didn’t mention gay marriage. He stated treating people different because of who they love is wrong, and he said, “He’s painfully aware of the history when people are treated different under law.” The press interpreted this statement as a parallel to the treatment of Black Americans in the south. Is this accurate? In America the gay rights movement often compared itself to the civil rights movement. The comparison is false, gays weren’t segregated.
But in Kenya homosexuality is illegal.
Homosexuals aren’t segregated from heterosexuals, but its illegality may have the same consequence as forced segregation.
How?
Segregation was declared unconstitutional because of the results of a psychological test conducted with dolls. Black children were presented with a black and white doll. When asked which doll was bad and ugly the children indicated the black, when asked which doll was good and pretty the children indicated the white, and when asked which doll resembled them they buried their heads in shame.
The Supreme Court concluded segregation laws produced psychological damage by creating an inferiority complex that stunted the black child’s potential.
With that evidence in mind when a Kenyan adolescent is attracted to the same sex after puberty do anti-homosexual laws produce the same psychological damage?
The president of Kenya dismissed Obama’s concern calling gay-rights a “non-issue”. And maybe it always will be a non-issue until there is an equivalent of the doll test to discover the damage done by declaring some delinquent and others lawful based on attraction. But the official position of the Kenyan government was previously expressed by its deputy president, “We would not allow homosexuality in our nation, as it violates our religious and cultural beliefs.”
The next day Obama delivered a speech in front of 5,000 Kenyans and emphasized progress. He stated you can’t just accept the world as it is. Progress requires confronting the dark corners of your past, extending rights to more of your citizens, and seeing diversity as strength.
Obama went further, “There is a tradition of repressing women and treating them differently. Treating women as second-class citizens is a bad tradition. It holds you back. There’s no excuse for sexual assault or domestic violence. There’s no reason that young girls should suffer genital mutilation. There’s no place in civilized society for the early or forced marriage of children. These traditions may date back centuries; they have no place in the 21st century.”
The crowd cheered the American president who proclaimed like his predecessor the official tearing down of walls. At that moment Obama returned the prestige of the title “leader of the free world” back to the American presidency. Too bad it’s just symbolic support at the end of the Obama era. Shakespeare might have concluded: The world community’s a stage we’re all actors, even leaders of the free world.
First published in New Pittsburgh Courier 8/5/15
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