The Use of Paradoxes

(I write about paradoxes; I find them far more interesting than stories about victims. /wr.) History should never scrub itself clean of all its paradoxes, for within these are its potential transformations. Mississippi elected black officials to local offices than any of the 50 states,

including sheriffs, school superintendents, council members, and mayors, men and women. George Wallace, struck like Saul, appointed more African-American department heads and state officials than any Alabama governor after apologizing for his racism publicly to the communities, and following through on his promise to do so--still the only public official to directly admit and rebuke his own racism (unlike Haley Barbour, Ron Paul, and others) and then act intentionally to make amends. Ironically, Arthur Davis, the former black Democratic Rep who introduced Barack in 2008, and who ran for Alabama's governorship in 2010, losing his hometown precinct, showed up in Tampa as a newly reborn Republican, failed to follow Wallace's populist appeal. Compare Tim Scott to Strom Thurmond for a political paradox! Paradoxes are to history what handholds are to an unharnessed rock climber on El Captain; the anomalies of opportunity that are often the way forward, that we don't see from the distance. As we push for grace, we should subdue the self-interest of our judgement. I am always astounded that so few recall the American enslaved came to the day of jubilee laughing, in a spirit of rejoicing, not always so for a liberated people. It was not their understanding of politics, but their knowledge and mastery of paradox that kept them alive and bound to mercy.

Two Elephants Digital and Mobile Publishing Great Content, Great Design On The Move