Keith Ellison

While almost every American knows the words to “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee,” most do not know there was an abolitionist version written in 1843. It speaks of the history of slavery and white privilege but ends on a hopeful note for everyone as it looks towards the day when slavery ends. This song and these verses molded Keith Ellison’s history and goals. MY COUNTRY ‘TIS OF THEE articulate that history and goals very well.
Even if he accomplishes nothing more the rest of his life, he has assured his place in history as the first Muslim elected to Congress. This book is his personal story as well as the stories of his philosophy and political perspective.
He grew up in Detroit. His father had very strong expectations for his children. He recalls, “My father believed you had to give people something to reach for.”His father wanted him to be a lawyer or doctor and he did receive a law degree after studying economics as an undergraduate student. Based on his experiences, he discusses the effects of forcing children into careers for which they have no interest.
He learned about racism in school by its treatment of blacks. One teacher told him he was “smart for a black student.” When he changed schools before sixth grade, his teachers had low expectations for him because of his race.
MY COUNTRY ‘TIS OF THEE explains his religious journey. Raised as a Catholic, he began to lose interest in Catholicism while he was a student at Wayne State in Detroit. One day, he wandered into the makeshift mosque at the student center. He learned about Islam and, at age twenty, converted. The Islam he knows, based on the Quran, has very little to do with the terrorist actions of Muslim extremists and terrorists who make up a minority of Muslims but are treated as typical of all Muslims. “Islam teaches that men and women are equal before God.....[P]eople confuse faith with custom, laws, and politics.” “Nothing in the Quran says a Muslim should hurt people who are not Muslim.” “Violence is not preached in the Quran. And violence was never the nature of Muhammed.”
He was at a meeting in Washington, DC during the Million Man March and decided to participate in it. The media focused on Louis Farrakhan’s role but, in actuality, he was neither its central figure nor the man who helped sustain its objectives. The focus on Farrakhan was an effort to, “...minimize the importance of the event itself, and thereby dismiss the demands of the march’s participants....The unmet promise of the civil rights movement.” “And if we could control and organize ourselves, we might control the system.” The objectives applied to Americans of all races.
Ellison has an inclusive view of the US. He recognizes that his constituents represent a wide range (almost seventy five percent are white) and addresses the problems faced by other cultures, economic groups, and religions. He notes that Minneapolis was the anti-Semitism Capital of the US until Hubert Humphrey was able to bring about change during his term as mayor in the late 1940s. He writes that today the ethnic group that is the target of the most attacks of hatred is the Muslims. This sentiment is repeated throughout the country, including in the halls of Congress. Former representative Tom Tancredo of Colorado said if there was another terrorist attack on America, we should bomb Mecca in Saudi Arabia. In other words, if a small group of extremists harm the us, we should kill masses of innocent people from their country. We don’t blame all Christians for bombing the Federal Building in Oklahoma City because the act was committed by white Christians but are willing to blame all Muslims or Arabs because of the act of nineteen extremists.
“An American is defined by an attitude. An ethos.” We states that we should be very proud that a black man was elected President and asks if a black person could achieve that office in an Asian or European country. In some countries, you cannot become a citizen unless you and your parents were born there.
There have been cases, such as in Dearborn, Michigan, where the pastor of a small church decided to hold a Quran-burning rally. While Dearborn was once a very segregated community, it is now the home to a large Muslim population. The number of people – Christians, Jews, atheists, and Muslims-- who came to protest the rally outnumbered the haters five to one. “We need people who are willing to stand up to them and say, ‘You do not represent America.’ Every American is entitled to liberty.
Ellison traces the source of many of today’s political problems to Lewis F. Powell, Jr. In 1971, he wrote a confidential letter to the Director of the Chamber of Commerce “calling for corporate America to get more involved in shaping our political landscape.” This included giving more influence to corporations and the wealthy, spying on left-wing organizations, especially on college campuses, and censoring textbooks and television programs. Soon thereafter, President Nixon nominated him to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by the death of liberal Hugo Black.
Not surprisingly, with a background in economics, that remains a primary focus of Ellison’s Congressional agenda. He is very concerned with the economic inequality in the US and proposes steps to reverse it. The first bill he introduced was to curb universal default. Prior to its enaction, if a person did not pay on one credit card, the interest rate on all the other ones could be raised. He also addresses other ways the wealthy are trying to expand their influence such as dismantling voting rights even though there have been very few cases of actual voter fraud. He notes that was not an issue until President Obama was elected largely by the votes of lower income, non-white and younger voters.
On the positive side, he points out the many ways that Congress and government do work well. The message people receive from the media is distorted. “Some media outlets are not disseminating the news but are replacing news with opinion and entertainment. Others focus on reporting about personalities and ‘the horse race’ in politics, presenting ‘both sides’ of any question with no effort to sort fact from falsehood. Too few focus on giving voters the information they need to make up their own minds.”
MY COUNTRY ‘TIS OF THEE is primarily his biography but Ellison does include political comments as well. A few, unfortunately, seem more suited to a campaign speech but they do not detract from the overall story.… (mehr)