2004-05-22 - 14:25

Cooler Than You Are: Dick Gregory

For awhile now I've been talking about doing, more or less, a regular "column" for my little site here and calling it Cooler than you are.. Well, I've done enough dicking around on this subject. Today is the first installment. The inspiration for this column comes from two places. I don't know exactly where the phrase came from, but In Indian Wells, Fiona kept saying, "You just think you're more clever than Dawson, don't you?" And, for some reason that makes me think of cooler than you are. The second comes from Beth who introduced me to the person featured today.

Dick Gregory was a civil rights leader who ran for president in 1968. He was a comic who stood up against the Vietnam war. His biography is, if I remember correctly, carried in most bookstores, despite the title.

Dick Gregory's absolute coolness was pointed out to me by Beth, who one day this spring was doing research for a class. There's an American saying, that was recently reintroduced to us by Sports Night. The saying is, Nobody beats my little brother but me. This is how I feel about America. America may be a quasi-imperialistic asshole that needs to overhaul our foreign policy. America may have problems with race relations, with feeding its hungry, or getting everyone to see a doctor. America may even need to be taken down a peg or two. But, that's my job. This may come from spending too much time on messageboards where people post from all over the world. I don't take people talking shit about my country. If I want to do it, (or other Americans want to do it) that's fine. But, if your European or Austrailian, uh-huh. No way. Our problems are our problems, and we've got it covered. So, this spring when Beth read me America was Momma's Momma from Dick Gregory's The Shadow that Scares me, I was amazed. The metaphor may be different, but the sentiment is the same. And, Dick Gregory is way cooler than I am.

Dick Gregory's piece is emotional and raw. It is succinct. When he talks about taking lady liberty to the ghetto, he's not just talking about problems he's starting to talk about solutions. I like that. I also like his unswaying stance on nonviolence. So, here for your reading pleasure, America was Momma's Momma.

America was momma's momma Now that I am a man, I have "given up childish ways." I realize that America is my momma and American was Momma's momma. And I am going to place the blame for injustice and wrong on the right momma. Even today, when I leave my country to appear on television and make other public appearances in foreign countries, I find it difficult to speak of the injustices I experience in this country. Because America is my momma. Even if Momma is a whore, she is still Momma. Many times I am asked if I would go to to war if drafted. I always answer, "Yes, under one condition; that I be allowed to go to the front line without a gun. Momma is worth dying for, but there is nothing worth killing for. And If I ever change my opinion about killing, I will go to Mississippi and kill that sheriff who spit in my wife's face."
America is my momma. One Fourth of July, I want to go to the New York harbor and talk to Momma - the Statue of Liberty. I want to snatch that torch out of her hand take her with me to the ghetto and sit her down on the street corner. I want to show her the "tired, the poor and the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.: I want to show Momma what she had been doing to her children. And Momma should weep, For the grief of the ghetto is the grief of the entire American family.

Gregory, Dick. America was momma's momma; The Shadow that Scares Me. Doubleday & Company, Inc. 1968

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Artificial Sound for the Artificial World:

Still more noir than you are.