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GREENVILLE, S.C. – On the last day of his long, troubled life, Grover Cleveland Chapman packed a black duffel bag, washed out his coffee cup, put it in the dish rack and fetched his Smith & Wesson. Aku Cuma Seorang Blogger Yang Cinta Seo

He threw away his favorite slippers and left his house key on his bedside table in the two-bedroom yellow bungalow he shared with his daughter, tucked in an aging neighborhood full of 1950s starter homes a few miles from downtown Greenville.

Harriett Chapman called as she always did on her morning break at the Walmart deli, checking on her 89-year-old dad. Everything is fine, he told her. Aku Cuma Seorang Blogger Yang Cinta Seo

As he shuffled down the steps that spring morning in 2008, Grover Chapman carried the latest letter denying him treatment at the Veterans Affairs clinic in Greenville, directing him instead to take a 200-mile round trip to the VA hospital in Columbia. This time it was about his prostate cancer, though Chapman had received plenty of notices just like it turning him down for help with his jumpiness and frayed nerves. He folded this letter neatly into the bag beside his bottles of medicine and settled into a taxi.

In a few weeks, candidate Barack Obama would take note of what Chapman would do upon arriving at the clinic this last time, calling it an indictment of society’s treatment of disabled veterans. Aku Cuma Seorang Blogger Yang Cinta Seo

And maybe that’s what it was. Or maybe Chapman just didn’t want his daughter to have to come home and find him.

Perhaps this was simply an old man choosing when, where and how to close a life that had turned out, like so many, a good bit messier than he would have liked.

Before heading to the clinic, Chapman had one stop to make. He directed the cabbie to Dewey’s Pawn Shop.

His .38-caliber revolver was out of bullets.

___

The Army made Chapman a sharpshooter in the late 1930s and sent him to the Panama Canal. He spent another two years in the Navy at the end of World War II, manning machine guns on Liberty Ships, merchant marine vessels that moved supplies and men around the world. More than 200 of the 2,700 Liberty Ships were sunk by the Japanese and Germans.

Long into his old age, Chapman spent hours telling military psychiatrists about seeing men buried at sea and how he couldn’t stand the thought of having to kill another person. He reported frequent nightmares and flashbacks, according to his military psychiatry records given to The Associated Press by his family.

Yet it’s unclear how much action Chapman really saw or whether he ever took a life.

Other military records show most of Chapman’s half-dozen trips across the Atlantic were uneventful, with ships’ logs indicating no deaths or enemy attacks. On Jan. 3, 1945, a ship in his convoy was torpedoed. Machine gunners like Chapman were sent to their posts, while others helped rescue sailors in lifeboats. No one died, and the submarine responsible was never found.

Only the eldest of Chapman’s seven children heard their father’s more troubling stories.

“He saw injured soldiers, and I think that really took a toll on my dad,” said Diane Perkins, who lives just a couple of blocks from where her dad last lived. “He used to tell me when they came in from port, the guys were blind and couldn’t see and when they got to the Statue of Liberty, they’d say, ‘Just turn me toward her. I know I can’t see her, but turn me toward her.’ My dad was a very sensitive person.”

Chapman’s military service left him intense and organized and a strict disciplinarian, spooked by loud laughter or talking, Perkins said. Psychiatrists didn’t have a formal diagnosis for post-traumatic stress disorder for another 30 years, but plenty of World War II vets suffered from it silently, said Richard Cohen, the executive director of the National Organization of Veterans’ Advocates.

“These guys came home, they would be anxious. They would be squirrelly or have no emotions. They would drink, they wouldn’t talk about what happened,” Cohen said. “They had all these symptoms of PTSD, but they would never be diagnosed.”

The VA turned down Chapman’s PTSD claims a half-dozen times, even though psychiatrists mentioned he had elements of PTSD as early as 1990. For the rest of his life, his records make frequent reference to PTSD, but the VA kept denying his claim for extra disability without a great deal of explanation.

Even if Chapman didn’t witness everything he would later say that he saw, troops don’t have to dodge bullets and bombs to suffer mental problems. The stress of spending night after night staring at the horizon for enemies could trigger PTSD, as well as seeing buddies hurt in training accidents or in storms, said Cohen, who never met Chapman. Even taking care of others traumatized by battle could cause emotional scars that never heal.

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Chapman dropped out of school to support his family at 13, and when he left the Navy, he went back to work in the textile mills in Ware Shoals. After he was laid off in the 1950s, he moved the family to Greenville, saying he never wanted them to work in the mills. He became a machinist helping to make lawn mowers and similar equipment at Homelite until he had a nervous breakdown in the late 1960s. He never worked regularly again.

Chapman blamed his military service for the breakdown and asked the VA to pay him 100 percent disability. The military denied the problems were service-related, instead blaming the stress from dealing with his youngest daughter, Caroline, who had to be institutionalized with Down syndrome. The VA would eventually consider him 60 percent disabled from prostate problems he suffered during his service.

Chapman depended on the VA, Social Security and his family for the rest of his life. The amount of disability and the amount of money he got from the VA fluctuated. The agency said it stands by its decisions in Chapman’s case.

The mental problems became too much for his marriage, and Chapman and his wife divorced in 1975 after 34 years together. Chapman lived alone for most of the rest of his life, remarrying twice for short stints. He saved his money and traveled. He tried not to miss “The Price Is Right” and “Wild Kingdom.” He went fishing. He visited with his World War II buddies and swapped stories.

A heart attack in November 2006 left Chapman with a pacemaker and tens of thousands of dollars of debt. With his health slowly declining, Chapman started to plan for the future.

He got on a waiting list for a VA nursing home because he did not want to have to wait a year once he got too feeble to take of himself. He was going to need treatment for prostate cancer, so he asked for a waiver to have the tests and procedures done in Greenville, instead of the 100-mile ride to the big VA hospital in Columbia.

By April 2008, the nursing home decision was dragging. Then came a letter denying him extra money to have someone take care of him at home or pay more of any nursing home bill and a phone call telling him he would have to take care of his prostate problems in Columbia.

The VA reversed its decision on treatment less than six hours later after receiving additional information, but Chapman’s daughter said she never received a letter or a phone call.

Harriet Chapman made hamburgers for her father the night of April 23, 2008. They talked about the denials. She told him not to get down.

“Every time I ask the VA for something, they just turn me down,” she remembered him saying, a line Obama repeated in recounting the story less than three weeks later at a campaign appearance in West Virginia.

“How can we let this happen? How is that acceptable in the United States of America?” the future president said. “The answer is, it’s not. It’s an outrage. And it’s a betrayal — a betrayal — of the ideals that we ask our troops to risk their lives for.”

___

The taxi took Chapman to the pawn shop. After he bought bullets, he went on to the VA clinic. The driver passed the main entrance and dropped him off at the ambulance bay on the side of the building. Chapman tipped the cabbie $4.

There are no surveillance cameras and no one saw everything that happened next, but Greenville County Deputy Coroner Mike Ellis has pieced together a scenario based on evidence:

Chapman loaded all six bullets in the chamber, sat down, put the gun to the right side of his head and pulled the trigger. Doctors and nurses, some who took care of Chapman for years, heard a pop and rushed out to see what happened.

Harriet Chapman figures her father wanted to make one last stand against the VA.

“If he just wanted to kill himself, he would have done it behind the shed in the back yard,” Harriet Chapman said. “He wanted to bring attention to what the VA had done to him and how they treated veterans.”

But Grover Chapman left no suicide note. He appears to have spoken to no one at the VA that day and decided to take his life by the side door, where mostly doctors and nurses come and go, instead of the clinic’s bustling front entrance or lobby. His bag contained all the items needed to identify him. And he almost guaranteed it would be medical professionals used to dealing with death who found him, sparing his family the shock of seeing the kind of things that haunted him since those days on the Liberty Ships, far out in the Atlantic.

Suicide was never far from Chapman’s mind when he talked to his psychiatrists. Sometimes he expressed his suicidal thoughts so urgently he ended up in a VA mental hospital, like in 1998, when a psychiatrist noted the veteran told him “he is taking up space and damn tired of living.” A note from a visit in November 1985 is especially chilling: “When I attempt to kill myself, I will succeed,” Chapman told a doctor.

The doctors and nurses at the clinic received counseling after Chapman killed himself. The counselors stressed that they had done all they could by regularly checking his mental state. “People that truly want to commit suicide do not tell anyone beforehand because they want to be successful,” VA spokeswoman Priscilla Creamer said.

The coroner’s office released Grover Chapman’s body to his family that Friday afternoon, a day after he died. They buried him Saturday morning and six of his children were there. The only one missing was Caroline, whom Chapman used to visit at a group home in Clinton a couple of times a month until his health began to decline.

Chapman had already planned his funeral and demanded it be kept simple. He was buried in his pajamas because he said it made no sense to dress him up after he died. No obituary ran in the local paper. There was no chapel service, just a preacher saying a few words to the 30 or so gathered at the graveside and reading a note written by the young grandson he lived with.

The family did one thing that wasn’t on Chapman’s list. The funeral home noted he served in the Army and Navy and asked if they wanted an American flag to drape his casket. The family agreed.

I have a job that requires computer support, if the job more and more, it will automatically also very much needed computer support. But once a few weeks ago I was so angry and disappointed because the computer is slow in processing all of the program, until when I tried to restart or to shut down the process also turned out for so long.
Then I got information from friends that now Microsoft has launched Windows 7. Window 7 is a refinement of previous operating system. After looking for reliable information so I know that the increase in performance on the window 7 can be identified from time to start (start-up), resume and shut off (shut downs) PC faster and improve power management and the Taskbar in Windows 7 easier control and helps to access programs and files you need faster.
I am very happy to know the presence of window 7, because the presence of Windows 7 is intended to ensure that everything that is done becomes easier and the possibilities are sought to be possible. Many jobs can be completed more easily and quickly.
Apparently before installing the window 7 on the PC, users first have to know in advance about Windows 7 System Requirements and installation which includes processor (CPU), memory, graphics processors, and so forth.
In order to facilitate the installation then the instructions carefully read and use. I strongly believe that by using window 7 so my job will not be neglected, so I am very confident to use the window 7. How about you, Are you interested in using windows 7? Let soon prove greatness window 7.

Aku Cuma Seorang Blogger Yang Cinta Seo

I grew up with a picture of my great-grandfather, Fred Grigsby, casting his first vote. I never knew exactly when it was taken, but the image captures a powerful moment in history. In it, Granddad has on a suit, a tie and a hat. He was so old and infirm at the time that he walked with a cane in one hand and a crutch in the other. In the picture, he is casting his vote in a cardboard ballot box. He had tried many times before but was always denied. His son, Howard, said authorities seized Granddad’s credentials when he was first eligible to vote. The postmaster, who was also the election supervisor, refused to return them, and he was not able to vote for many years. It wasn’t until he was well into his 80s that he prevailed and was finally able to cast his first ballot.

Granddad Fred was a farmer in South Carolina. The son of a slave, he was born five years after Emancipation. With only a fourth-grade education, he made sure most of his 12 children went to a missionary boarding school several miles away. His hope was that his children would become educated and hopefully one day be able to vote.

In that spirit, I didn’t ride the wave of voters going to the polls on Election Day. Instead, I rode to Norwalk, Calif., on Saturday, the only location in Los Angeles County offering early voting, and waited six hours, with about 2,000 other people, to cast my ballot. I had to pay homage to my great-grandfather who waited way more than six hours to vote.

We waited in line with a nurse from a hospital burn unit, a college student who took the train from Cal State Monterey, a radiologist, a paralegal and several others.

The radiologist behind me said she planned to spend her Saturday waiting to vote, so it didn’t matter how long it took. She was there for the long haul and would wait it out. The college student who had taken the seven-hour train ride to cast her first vote, had lost her iPhone by the time we were leaving. “It’s OK,” her aunt said. “She can get another iPhone, but she can’t get another chance like this.” I looked at the new people in line as we headed for the parking lot. The ones who had been with us were headed for their cars with their umbrellas closed and their chairs folded up, all hungry but satisfied. Tired but not weary.

I got home and put Granddad Fred’s picture back on the shelf in my living room where I usually keep it. Done, I thought to myself. Well done, Granddad!

Barbara Martin

St. Louis

America has moved so far away from racism, and I know this because we have a young man named Barack Obama running for the highest office in the land. I have poured my entire being into this election. I have volunteered time, money and my family into this election. I also have learned so much new information—new terminology, political procedure, debate rules, media coverage and the absentee ballot process. Frankly, I am encouraged by the polls because my candidate of choice is leading. I did allow Sen. McCain the opportunity to win me over, but that didn’t happen. I believe his choice of vice president ruined his chance of getting my vote. I am a smart person who doesn’t rely on the new media or pundits to make my choice for president. However, I have listened carefully to reports on Sarah Palin because she appeared on the scene as quietly as Sen. Obama. I did not like what I saw, read or heard about her. She is truly a candidate who is not ready on Day One.

In conclusion, I know that my vote will count. I cannot explain the feeling that went over me after I cast my vote. I believe I must have told everyone that I met that I had voted. I know that I called all of my family members and friends to inform them about my act of civic duty. My children are voting today and are enthused about volunteering. Sen. Obama is a young, brilliant man who deserves to be the next president of our country. He has energized the elderly, middle-aged and young people. Yes, my granddaughter, Miah, loves to watch Sen. Obama on television. She can sit during an entire speech, and she is only 2 years old. I will never forget the St. Louis rally where 100,000 people stood under the St. Louis Gateway Arch to hear Sen. Obama. I now know what people must have felt when they listened to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington in 1

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Zeba Iqbal

New York

Though I am a Democrat, I respect Republicans. I am committed to bipartisan dialogue and collaborations. I agree with Obama when he says, “We are not red states and blue states, we are the United States of America.” I hope that we will unite.

As a Muslim American, I am sad that my country (America) has allowed some of its citizens (Muslims) to be feared since 9/11. This is not a time for blame, though, it’s a time for rising to meet challenges.

For me, this election was an opportunity to energize Muslim Americans through nonpartisan get-out-the-vote efforts. Through collaboration with other Muslim nonprofits/individuals we worked to streamline Muslim-American GOTV. I worked with the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and focused on Pennsylvania. Election efforts included: multi-state voter registration drives on Eid (Oct. 1), debate parties, voter/policy guides, election town halls, phone banking and busing. Aku Cuma Seorang Blogger Yang Cinta Seo

There is much to do, but every effort counts. Muslim Americans are more engaged in this election than ever before, and we will only look forward from here. Aku Cuma Seorang Blogger Yang Cinta Seo

I have great expectations for Obama, but I know he cannot do it alone. He stands for all of us; let’s all stand with him.

Monique R. Johnson

Philadelphia

I was bitter after the 2000 presidential election. I was told that voting sends a message. Well, I guess no one was listening in 2004 either. As a Democrat, I have been frustrated with the collective outcome of “the vote” in the aforementioned elections. It was also in 2004, while watching the Democratic convention on television, when I saw Sen. Barack Obama speak for the first time. I was captivated. He was speaking the truths I always believed about what I wanted the United States of America to be. I thought to myself, “He is our next president of the United States.” I’m not sure if Sen. Obama was thinking about the presidency then, but I had a sense that he was the change that we needed to move this country forward.

For the first time in my life, I have given financially to a political campaign. I even volunteered locally for his campaign. I canvassed, called and tried to make a difference whenever and wherever I could. I have posted comments and opinions on several Web sites about the political nature of this campaign. I have not felt this way about politics since 1986 when I attended the Presidential Classroom for Young Americans in Washington, D.C. Sen. Obama has inspired me to make a change in my life to do more to improve the lives of others. It was time for me to become proactive and get involved.

This election is bigger than Democrats, Republicans, independents and undecided voters. This election is about the core ideas in which this country was founded and the ability to demonstrate and act upon these ideas. My family, like many others, has lived through the unconscionable acts of slavery, Jim Crow and the hope of the civil rights movement. This election means that change can happen anywhere at any time. As a people, we have to take a stand and choose. It is a time for us to be civil, and it’s time to vote for what is right. And Barack Obama is the right leader.

This election means more than just policy, new laws and political administrative appointments. This election is an exercise of progression. Do we vote for the status quo? Or do we vote for change, the one thing that is a constant in our lives that we all fear at one point or another? I choose the latter.

There’s been an e-mail going around advising black folks on unacceptable behavior now that Obama has won. We at The Root thought we’d add a few tips of our own.

1. No Negro spirituals or quotes from Dr. King. John Hope Franklin can get away with this. The rest of us cannot.

2. Don’t go up to every “redneck-y” looking person and gloat. “It hurts don’t it? It burrrrnnss!” Dave Chappelle warned us about parading our pride too much.

3. Don’t corner your white coworkers to give them a tutorial on black culture just because “the president is black and it’s ’bout time y’all learn!”

4. Don’t go to your local DMV, post office or other government office and try to jump the line, talkin’ ’bout, “Barack’s got my back.”

5. Do not promise to name your first child after Barack Obama. We’ve come far, but Barack Obama Jackson does not have as much of a ring to it as you think.

When it comes to grappling with towering legacies, some scions embrace them; others seek a means of escape. Femi Kuti—the eldest son of the late Afrobeat progenitor Fela Anikulapo Kuti—has balanced the delicate line between hereditary destiny and individual determination for more than a decade. Soon after his father death in 1997, Femi helped usher in a renaissance for Afrobeat with his sophomore disc, Shoki Shoki, which contained his breakthrough singles, “Beng, Beng, Beng” and “Truth Don Die.” His ascension to heir apparent coincided with the confluence of DJ culture’s fascination with Afrobeat and the emergence of other various Afrobeat outfits around the world.

Although he’s embellished his music with touches of electronica and hip-hop on discs such as Shoki Shoki (Barclay, 1999)and Fight to Win (MCA, 2001), Femi was constantly compared to his father. While oftentimes futile, the comparisons came not entirely unwarranted. He exhibited the same sexual magnetism of his father’s on stage as he fronted Positive Force, his formidable band, and channeled his father’s wild dancing and shronky saxophone sound. Femi was also prone to incendiary political lyrics. While they never got him in the devastating trouble with the Nigerian government as his father’s polemics did, Femi’s lyrics spoke of the struggles and injustices of Africans, unapologetically.

Fela’s shadow has loomed large on Femi’s career, but the artist has taken it in stride. “I’ve never been scared of it; I will always appreciate my father’s legacy,” he says. “People always compare me to him. I think it’s important for me to overcome all of that. I know that I have to work very hard to make a name for myself.”

In Day to Day (Mercer Street), Femi’s newest disc, his first recording in seven years, the 46-year-old artist succeeds in doing just that. During his recent hiatus from recording, he concentrated on learning the trumpet, his childhood instrument that he long abandoned. “It’s been one of my most desired things to do,” he says, explaining that he once took lessons from one of his cousins, but the tutelage abruptly ceased after his cousin disappeared. “I took the time to practice the trumpet because I knew that time was running out, so I was practicing 12 hours, everyday.”
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The new disc doesn’t reveal any amazing trumpet playing from Femi. It does, however, show a newfound level of confidence. Day to Day paces itself considerably more than its two predecessors, opting for more medium tempos that accentuate Femi’s more contemplative verses. “I think it’s maturity,” he explains. “On ‘Shoki Shoki,’I was 10 years younger; I was more aggressive and doing a lot of experimenting. Now I know where I want to go; I know what I’m doing.”

The roguish flirtations with hip-hop and electronica that distinguished Shoki Shoki and Fight to Win have been replaced by subtle shades of reggae and dub. Femi’s tenor voice takes on a weightier, less-frenzied quality, sometimes suggesting a sobriety that comes with age. Take for instance, the title track, on which his measured singing conveys a worldly weariness as he touches upon the daily grinds of the working class. “I think I painted a more realistic picture of daily struggles; I’m talking more directly to the people,” he says. “I’m more direct in addressing people’s issues, but this time not giving them hope. They have to find their own answers.”

He then points on the melancholy “You Better Ask Yourself,” the disc’s emotional centerpiece. Filled with Biblical imagery, he sings of a savior coming to rescue Africa from political corruption but encourages its people “to do something for yourself” instead of waiting for divine intervention. “Why are we the richest continent on the planet and have the poorest people? We have to ask these questions,” he says.

Speaking of the historic election of Barack Obama, Femi was hopeful. “We never had dreamed of this in the early ’90s. It would have been forbidden to dream of this in the ’80s. It comes at a very good time, at the turn of the century. It shows a new light; it shows that change can happen.”

When asked how he hopes Obama’s presidency will shape the United States’ foreign policy toward Africa, Femi responds: “I hope that the U.S. will stop dealing with corrupt African governments. Any African government that is not doing the right thing for its people, America should cut off support with them immediately.”

Interestingly enough, Femi’s father, Fela, was routinely nicknamed “the first black president.” This summer, Tony Award-winning dancer and choreographer Bill T. Jones brought that mythology to the stage with the off-Broadway production of Fela. Femi says that he hasn’t seen the production but has read about it in the New York Times. He says that both he and his family are elated about Jones’ production.

Also earlier this year, Femi’s youngest, half-brother Seun Kuti, released a blistering, eponymous debut with his father’s last band, Egypt 80. Considering Femi’s absence from recording, Seun’s emergence threatened to steal Femi’s shine, offering yet another person to be compared with. Not surprisingly, there were reports of sibling rivalry—something that Femi argues was more of the machinations of management and members of Egypt 80 than between the two brothers. “They wanted to use [Seun] to make money and use my father’s name,” he says. “They were doing things that I could never imagine if my father was alive.”

Things escalated to the point where Femi says that he was brought to court with charges that he was trying to sabotage Seun’s career out of jealousy. “The judge couldn’t understand it; they couldn’t prove that I was jealous and that I wanted to stop his career. What had I done?” says Femi.

It’s noteworthy, though, that Seun performs regularly at Lagos’ famous Shrine, which Femi took over after his father’s death. Seun’s band has been playing there since 2006, suggesting that the family drama has quelled somewhat. Can we expect any collaboration between Femi and Seun? “”I don’t know,” Femi responds, cautiously. “I don’t know what the future holds

Black people aren’t the only ones worried about embarrassing themselves now that Obama is president-elect. Here are a few pointers for white people.

1. Don’t personally congratulate all your black friends.

Black people are not a sports team, and Obama did not win the Super Bowl.

2. Don’t declare that you “never thought you’d see the day.”
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You never thought you’d see the day?

3. Don’t start crossing the street in order to walk next to a black person.

President Obama is glad you support racial reconciliation, but he takes a hard line against jaywalking.

4. Don’t name drop “Dr. King.”

If you absolutely must make some comment about how this is a victory for civil rights, pick a marginally less obvious figurehead.

5. Don’t use the phrase “white people” in any way that suggests it doesn’t include you.

Contrary to popular belief, having voted for Obama does not make you even “semi-down.” Sorry if there was any confusion there.

Christopher Beam is a Slate political reporter.

Chris Wilson is Slate’s editorial assistant in Washington, D.C.

I remember the day in January 1981 when the Americans held hostage in Iran arrived at Andrews Air Force Base. I sat on a school bus, waiting for what seemed like years, as heightened security slowed our entry onto the base. I remember the yellow ribbon tied to the antenna of my dad’s car and the one tied to the tree in front of our home. I also remember the sheer joy people felt when they learned the hostages’ 444 days of captivity had ended.

We tend to remember important events by noting where we were when they occurred. Clearly, Nov. 4, 2008, could be one of those days, but Simone, my self-aware 3-year-old, will be asleep when all the votes are counted in this presidential election.

So if Barack Obama wins, should I wake her?

I’ve been thinking about this as the polls have shifted in his favor. On one side, it’s history; on the other, she is sleeping, for goodness sake.

If elected, Obama would be the first African American, and more specifically, the first biracial president of the United States. He would be an instant role model for children of color everywhere. I’m inclined to wake Simone.

Seeing Obama, “the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas,” on television, giving a speech about where he plans to take this nation would be a memorable moment. I’d like to give my daughter, whose mother is black and whose father is white, the opportunity to tell others she was awake that night when history was made.

I’d like to apologize to all the pediatricians who may say children’s sleep cycles are too important to be interrupted. To all those grandparents, yes, I know you shouldn’t wake a sleeping child.

We’ll have to agree to disagree on Election Night. I want Simone to see that she and all children of color can be elected to the highest office in the land, and as my late mother so often told me—you can do anything as long as you set your mind to it. It’s vital for me as her first teacher and, as some may argue, her most important teacher, to teach her how what happens in this world affects her.

I was 11 when the 52 American hostages came home. I understood that people in another country had taken them and that we tied the yellow ribbons on cars and trees in hope of their safe return. Ten years later, I wore yellow ribbons and tied one on my car when my father was deployed to Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf War. I was supporting a war and hoping for my father’s safe return. I’ll never forget the day he came home.

If Obama wins, it may take years, decades even to see the effect it will have on the generation that has yet to be bestowed a name. Simone may remember the evening of Nov. 4, 2008, or maybe she won’t, but she won’t have the opportunity if I let her sleep through it.

I know where to go…I know what to do…”

–Ready For The World

It’s getting late—have you made up your mind? Here’s one last thing for you undecided voters to consider.

As soon as the next president is sworn in, he’s going to have a waiting room full of folks with global problems to deal with. Iraqis have yet to reach a foundational economic and political power-sharing arrangement, Iranians have yet to allow full inspections of their nuclear facilities by the IAEA, Pakistan’s secular, parliamentary, nuclear-armed government is susceptible to overthrow by Islamic fundamentalists, and two U.S. allies, Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan, are at each other’s throats. In the lame duck phase of the Bush administration, Europe has taken the lead in steering the course on global financial management. Cuba and Darfur probably won’t be able to get past the White House lobby.
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Now ask yourself if a President McCain could advance his diplomatic agenda with Barack Obama as his secretary of state, and then ask whether President Obama could move his diplomatic agenda with McCain as his secretary of state.

American prestige and influence are on the line like never before, in large part because in the past eight years, we have acted as though the greatest country in the world (us) can do whatever we want (we can’t) without consequences. If we want to avoid becoming Southern Canada or Northern Australia—large, prosperous, democracies that usually follow and rarely lead in world affairs—then we have to get someone in the job who knows how to negotiate with, and not just antagonize our allies and foes. After all, the last word in “foreign relations” is “relations.”

Over the course of this election season, it’s become apparent that a hypothetical President McCain could confidently send a hypothetical Secretary of State Obama out to press his case with other world leaders. We can always talk before we start dropping bombs, so if McCain’s goals are to eventually expand the Iraq war into Iran and fast track Georgia’s NATO membership (and acquire the obligation to defend it militarily against a future Russian attack) he might as well send Secretary Obama out to take a few meetings first.

But don’t take my word for it. Just play a mental video for yourself of Obama’s campaign over the past year. Way back in July, McCain dared Obama to travel the world, and Obama went out and conquered it, with the most influential heads of state—Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown—eagerly lining up to meet with him while he shuttled effortlessly between helicopter sorties with General David Petraeus, meetings with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, and tours with Israeli Foreign Minister and Kadima Party leader Tzipi Livni, who easily looks like she could be one of Obama’s law school chums.

Meanwhile, candidate McCain has persisted in deriding Obama as a “smooth talker,” despite the obvious requirement in diplomacy for precise language, an ability to build consensus and a correct pronunciation of the word “nuclear.” A diplomat negotiates for hours in a conference room at Sharm el-Sheikh in the hope that his efforts at persuasion might stave off tragedy. Everything about Obama’s now famous “cool, steady” temperament says, “Hey, let’s talk.”

But now consider whether President Obama would want to send Secretary of State McCain out as his emissary.

I’m not sure that anything articulated by George W. Bush should really be called a “doctrine.” But as a result of his full-throated backing of Bush’s foreign policy, regardless of his other attributes, Secretary McCain could never really expect to be seen as an honest broker in the Middle East. After months of ridiculing Obama for his proposals to negotiate with Iran and an election year reversal on talking to Hamas, what evidence is there that he could effectively bring Sunni and Shia together in Iraq to hammer out a Status of Forces Agreement, even on behalf of President Obama?

McCain’s problem all along is that he wants, a little too badly, for people to think of him as “Mr. Foreign Policy.” He regularly rattles off the names of Eastern European leaders (Yushenko) and regions (The Crimea), to the point that we half expect to hear him tell us about the time he secretly met with Boris Badenov.

For a year we’ve been told that McCain has more experience than Obama. He does. But experience only counts if you can call on it to help you make good decisions. McCain has never been able to explain why all of his experience could not help him reach the conclusion that invading Iraq would have disastrous results.

A few weeks ago, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said, “Sen. McCain understands war, I think, better than any of us.” Maybe. But to truly defend the interests of the United States around the world, the next president has the responsibility of squeezing out every last drop of peace before war becomes necessary. For this job, Obama is “ready.” McCain is not.

As our country prepares to make history next week, I have been thinking a lot about race. My father came to America from Bangladesh to pursue his education and a better life, just like Obama’s father. He expected that hard work would be rewarded. Like other immigrant families we rarely discussed race; it was assumed we would become “model minorities.” While many will see Barack Obama’s achievement as a sign that our nation has moved past race, I hope that for immigrants like my parents it will encourage a much-needed conversation.

Forty-five years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. shared his dream that America would achieve its greatness by eliminating racism, race still has its effects. Dr. King reminds us that the promissory note signed by our founding fathers that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” remains unpaid. No matter who is elected president, the time has come to cash the check of freedom and equality for all Americans.

Although immigrants have always faced our own unfair treatment, we should also examine our role in American racism. Much energy has rightfully been spent examining relations between blacks and whites, but little attention has been given to the relationship between blacks and non-Whites. Sadly while many minorities suffered discrimination in their countries of origin, only a few have stood in solidarity with their African-American brothers and sisters. Fewer still understand or acknowledge the debt we all owe to the civil rights movement. In our drive to succeed, we sometimes forget that there were those before us who worked hard without being rewarded.

While we were taught to play by the rules, the breaking of unjust rules made our current lives possible. If Rosa Parks had not refused to give up her seat, if Martin Luther King Jr. had not urged civil disobedience we may still be waiting for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which outlawed racial segregation or the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 which allowed many of our families to immigrate to the United States. As our nation braces for an economic downturn, no doubt racism will rear its ugly head. It is long overdue to appreciate the efforts of African Americans in keeping us accountable to our highest ideals.
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The chains of overt discrimination may have been broken, but the poison of prejudice still lingers. Shamefully some of us cross the street when an African-American man walks in our direction. Others claim that blacks are less intelligent or more likely to commit crimes. Even some with the darkest complexion and most liberal politics shudder at the thought of their daughter marrying a “kallu” or “darkie.”

I regret the times I have lacked the moral courage to speak out against such bigotry or ignored racist jokes. As a Muslim-American, I am especially grateful to the civil rights movement for guidance on rights protection post-9/11. I am embarrassed at how African-American Muslims are treated by Muslim immigrants and humbled by their graciousness in dealing with it. Let the conversation begin with my apology.

In this campaign, questions about Barack Obama’s experience or identity often mask intolerance. We may not admit our bias, but let us not vote based on our fears. Perhaps with the inauguration of a President Obama, we will come to celebrate the true gift that is America—one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.

Next week I will cry tears of joy at how far we have come and dread how far we still must go. Record numbers of Americans will have voted for a leader who embodies the hopes of our great nation. Yet millions more will still face health care, employment and other socioeconomic disparities because of their race or class. Others will continue to claim that Sen. Obama and his supporters do not represent the “real America.”

No matter what happens next week, let us come together as a nation—of natives and refugees, founding fathers and immigrants, descendents of slaveholders and slaves to reclaim the promise of America. Fortunately my father was able to achieve the American Dream for his four children, but only because others sacrificed to overcome injustice. As Dr. King pointed out, we cannot walk alone—many immigrants in fact do stand shoulder to shoulder with others to fight inequity. Yes, we still have a ways to go before we are truly equal, but another payment will have been made on that promissory note of equality.

Moushumi Khan is a Bangladeshi-American attorney and a graduate of the John F. Kennedy School of Government where she was a Zuckerman Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership.

You don’t have to have firsthand memories of the T-formation or of the American Football League to recall vividly when the regular season game between the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts amounted to a playoff preview.

These two teams meet on Sunday night, but anyone calling it postseason precursor is either wildly optimistic or they haven’t followed pro football this year. The NFL prides itself on the topsy turvyness; the word “parity” entered the sports lexicon because sometimes in the ’70s, Pete Rozelle, then-league commissioner, said that the goal was to have a league in which, on any given Sunday, one team could beat the other.

Back when he said the league was a bit of a hegemony. Each decade has had a dominant team, and a fairly stable class of runners-up. Rozelle would like this season. Last season’s doormats, Atlanta and Miami, are now tough matchups, and 13 of the 16 AFC teams still harbor reasonable playoff dreams. Only Kansas City, Cincinnati and Oakland are through, and a devoted Raiders fan could dispute that; their team is still in it as they are only two games behind division leading Denver.

Let’s start by looking at the AFC out west; it’s now the weakest of the four divisions: Denver leads with a mediocre 4-3 record and play that has underwhelmed. Great teams don’t get blown out of the building, but that’s what happened in Foxboro a few weeks ago when the Patriots stomped the Broncos 41-7. Bronco fans can be optimistic about the years ahead due to the play of QB Jay Cutler and OT Ryan Clady, but the weeks ahead bring a tough slate of games and the Broncos may struggle to match last season’s 7-9 record.
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San Diego is 3-5 and has been unlucky this season; they have lost two games in the final seconds, one due to a bad call. But they have played poorly, especially on defense. That’s why the change in defensive coordinators from Ted Cottrell to Ron Rivera should help. Although Cottrell has had success in the past, the biggest difference between this Chargers team and the ones that went 25-7 over the past two regular seasons is the quality of the defense. The Bolts are giving nine more points a game this year than last. The early season loss of linebacker Shawne Merriman hurts, but no single player has that much impact. Rivera, who coached the Chicago Bears Super Bowl defense two years ago and spent several seasons on the Philadelphia sidelines, will make the Chargers defense more aggressive. San Diego finished last season on a roll and likely do so this season, too.

I don’t think the Tennessee Titans, 7-0, are en route to an undefeated season, but they are for real. Their defense has allowed only 87 points, which looks like a typo but isn’t. Normally a team that goes undefeated through the season’s first eight weeks and boasts an incredible defense should start dreaming about the Super Bowl, but the Titans have a big weakness in their offense. The Titans passing game doesn’t intimidate anyone; QB Kerry Collins best game has been 199 yards. Teams have won Super Bowls with little in the passing game, but it is putting a lot of pressure on their defense to maintain their elite play. Any one—or two—of the three teams bunched behind Tennessee, Indianapolis, Houston and Jacksonville, could get hot and win the wild card. The schedule favors the traditional choices of the Colts and Jaguars.

Talk about the immovable object meeting the immovable object; the AFC North features three of the best defenses in the conference and three of the least productive offenses. According to the DVOA ratings at Football Outsiders, a site where the metrics take into account such key variables as down and distance as well as quality of opposition, the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers have the second- and fourth-best defenses in the league. Both teams have played tough slates to this point and have very difficult schedules ahead. It may come down to the offenses and while neither team is burning up the league, the Steelers have a slight edge.

At this point last year, it seemed like New England’s undefeated regular season actually underrated how good they were. This season, their 5-2 record so far overrates them. The Pats have beaten up on some cream-puff teams and gotten blown out of the building by the two best teams they have played so far. It looks like the Super Bowl loser’s curse may apply to the Patriots. Buffalo and Miami have played better than expected and neither has that tough of a schedule going forward; if New England suffers more injuries (they’ve already lost QB Tom Brady and SS Rodney Harrison), then the Bills or (gasp) Dolphins might see the first round of the playoffs. The Jets haven’t been very good on either side of the ball, but I’ve watched football too long to discount a team with Brett Favre in the lineup. It would be a fitting conclusion to this wacky season to see Favre lead the Jets on some late charge to the playoffs.

So where does that leave us? For my $2 (anyone who bets more than that on the NFL has too much money on their hands) the division winners will be (in order of seeding) Tennessee, Pittsburgh, San Diego and New England with Indianapolis and Jacksonville as the wild cards. And if I’m right, then this Sunday night’s game is a playoff preview, just not the tier of playoffs we’ve come to expect