In his speech last week at the Republican National Convention, Clint Eastwood made a mockery of something the whole nation should be proud of — that we elected a person of color as president of the United States of America. It made us feel good as a nation for the first time since before 9/11. Yes, Oprah Winfrey shed tears, and so did I, a white male. When Eastwood was talking to the empty chair, he mocked millions of people who shed heartfelt tears of joy that Obama’s election brought.
His election was a metaphor for throwing off the shackles of slavery. Tears from centuries of injustice, tears of every person who knew slavery had been in their family, flowed. The tears of those of us who have enough charity and class to imagine what it was like to live as second-class citizens for hundreds of years joined in.
Eastwood mocked our putting racial prejudice in its proper place, and the audience of Republicans laughed and applauded his mockery. Come November, I hope that he and those Republicans eat crow for that contemptible performance.