Selected essays, commentaries and interviews written and
recorded by S.Pearl:
SELECTED ESSAYS
SELECTED COMMENTARIES
OTHER RADIO PROGRAMS
This commentary was broadcast on NPR’s “Tell
Me More” on
January 14, 2009 Listen @
www.NPR.org
Memo to: President-Elect Obama
Subject: National Priorities
Mr. President, can I just tell you that
throughout your campaign you only spoke about the needs of the middle class. You
never included the nation’s impoverished citizens, many of whom work as many
hours as you do, with much less to show for it. Each time I heard this I thought
about an incident in 1993. While the government was spending almost $700 million
dollars to correct the Hubble telescope anchored in outer space, a homeless
woman died on a park bench right across from HUD, the national housing office.
Then, and now, we have a national obsession to see ourselves through “black
holes” in space, but so easily ignore the mirrors right in front of us.
I would ask you to help us get our national
priorities back in order -- a return to common sense and the logic of human
caring. You could start with the space program. Huge funds go sailing into space
in missiles, sailing over the heads of citizens who must sleep in their car,
mothers rationing food to their children, social workers overburdened with
legitimate cases of need. Sailing over soldiers on active duty who don’t earn
enough to support their families! And there is the deprivation that cannot be
mended by food stamps -- the slow death of malnourished spirits. Take a chunk of
that space money and use it to nourish our humanity.
This next one is a tall order, Mr. President.
Change the way the Congress does what we sent them there to do. Specifically,
let’s end this practice of attaching unrelated items to a bill. If funding an
education program is a priority, then that education bill should not have beef
subsidies in Wyoming and windmills in Wisconsin stuck into it. That’s a sneaky,
nasty, unhealthy way to govern. It keeps our representatives negotiating against
each other, trading favor for favor, voting tit for tat, rather than focusing on
a pure intention.
Tell us the truth about who we are in the world.
So many citizens have yet to understand why the bombings on 9/11 happened. They
are ignorant of why the United States is so hated, because they don’t know about
the secret, despicable behavior inflicted on others in our name. I know that
healing is one of your priorities, but we can’t see others if we cannot see
ourselves. Become the nation’s embedded reporter. Stamp truth into our passport.
And speaking of healing, I’ve gotta tell you,
sir, we watched you age during the campaign. Yeah. So perhaps good health and
election reform should be merged into one committee.
And finally, I ask you to keep your habit of
calling your daughters, Sasha and Malia, every evening. By example you are
making fatherhood and family a national priority.
You are stepping into a house fraught with
conflict, hostility and volatile situations that may not match your intended
priorities. But you are not alone. The ancestors -- you know who they are -- are
whispering in your ear.
* * *
S. Pearl was an election protection activist during the recent campaign.
“This is poetry by the pound, the words are truth and the
jazz is like honey
to red clover tea, oh so sweet!”
-Truth Theory, host of the web poetry jam Mic Check
S. Pearl is backed by pianist Lanny Hartley, bassist
Edwin Livingston, guitarist Val Ewell, Derf Reklaw on percussion and flutes,
Amos Delone Jr. on saxophone and flute, and drummer Mekala Session. Johan
Beckles and “Rise” radio host Mark Maxwell are also on mike, and esteemed
sculptor and philosopher John Outterbridge joins voices with S. Pearl on a
poem suite. www.aSharpShow.com
“Higher Ground brings us into that 'get up, get down'
sacred ground,
called 'deep thought', called spirit sound ground, called 'healin'/talkin'
blues ground. Yes, it is brilliant!” -Nana Camille Yarbrough
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New York: Sisters Uptown Books,
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