Standing up for Justice in the Age of Obama

Standing up for Justice in the Age of Obama

Howard Zinn delivers this talk in Washington, DC, on February 2, 2009, at the arts venue Busboys and Poets, describing the crowd's overflow and the making of a documentary based on Voices of a People's History of the United States, the collection he assembled with Anthony Arnove, in which actors including Viggo Mortensen read historical documents; Mortensen, backstage, writes "impeach, remove, jail" on a T-shirt before going onstage, prompting Zinn to note they aren't at that point yet. Zinn recalls the emotional power of Obama's election victory, citing the televised reactions of Jesse Jackson and John Lewis and, especially, the students at Spelman College, where he taught for seven years during the civil rights era. He then moves from that feeling to sober analysis, insisting that citizens must not become uncritical cheerleaders for a president, since Obama, however sensitive, intelligent, and promising, remains a politician like Lincoln or Roosevelt. He cites Obama's 2006 support for Joe Lieberman over peace candidate Ned Lemont in Connecticut as an early sign of this. Zinn invokes his Columbia University teacher Richard Hofstadter and The American Political Tradition to argue that American presidents, liberal and conservative alike, share a common thread of nationalism and capitalism, and that Obama has not broken from this heritage. He argues the capitalist system is currently falling apart and welcomes this as an opportunity for fundamental change, criticizing reliance on "the market," which he blames for forty-five million people lacking health care, two million homeless, and widespread inability to pay rent. He condemns the $700 billion bailout given to financial institutions, endorsed by both McCain and Obama during the campaign, arguing the money should instead go directly to people facing unemployment and mortgage payments. He criticizes Obama's stimulus plan for relying too heavily on tax breaks to corporations rather than direct government job creation, contrasting this with the New Deal's Civilian Conservation Corps and federal arts program, which employed young people and unemployed artists, playwrights, actors, and musicians, producing WPA murals and inexpensive public plays. Zinn quotes Obama's campaign statement that the country must escape not just the Iraq War but the militaristic "mindset" that led to it, tracing this mindset through claims of bringing civilization to Mexicans in 1846, freedom to Cubans in 1898, and democracy to Filipinos in 1900. He criticizes Obama's plan to send thirty thousand more troops, recounting a conversation with a cab driver near Reagan National Airport, from the country under discussion, who says his country needs food, health care, and houses instead. He reviews the history of English, Russian, and American attempts to impose control on that country by force. Zinn criticizes Obama's call for a bigger military, the existence of US military bases in a hundred countries including fourteen on Okinawa, and programs for weapons in space, noting popular demonstrations against US bases in Italy, South Korea, and Okinawa. He describes the imprecision of remote strikes that kill "suspected" terrorists along with civilians, including children, and criticizes the misuse of the word "defense" to describe bombing and the Israeli destruction of Gaza. Zinn outlines his vision for the nation: liked rather than feared, without foreign military bases, using the money spent on the military budget instead for free health care, guaranteed jobs, rent assistance, and child care centers, and for humanitarian aid such as helicopters for disaster relief rather than bombing. He criticizes Obama's cabinet choices, naming Hillary Clinton and Lawrence Summers as figures showing no break from the past. He closes by comparing the citizens' role to that of the abolitionists before the Civil War, who refused to adopt Lincoln's political calculations and instead pressed their own position until it grew powerful enough to force Lincoln's hand, producing the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, arguing that all historical progress has come from citizens acting, organizing, and sometimes rioting rather than merely accepting the decisions of those in power.

By Howard Zinn · Genre: Political Commentary, Social Criticism, Persuasive Essay · 4,163 words

First lines

Washington, DC, February 2, 2009.

Zinn spoke on a number of occasions at the arts and culture venue Busboys and Poets, a combination bookstore, bar, restaurant, and performance space run by the remarkable Iraqi American activist Andy Shallal. So many people showed up for the talk that Busboys and Poets had to set up speakers for those outside who couldn't get in.

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activism · political commentary · social justice · American history · civil rights · protest · government critique · democracy · human rights · progressive politics · citizen engagement · resistance

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