Fond Memories of Ronald Reagan.

by Staff February 23, 2012 3 Comments News Opinion Politics Weekly Columns

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(ThyBlackMan.com) Our 40^th president’s birthday earlier this month caused me to reflect upon how Ronald Reagan impacted my life.

In 1981, I was a young singer/songwriter, clueless about politics, when Ronald Reagan won the presidency. An event planner asked me to perform at an Inaugural Ball.

Reporters asked, “Why are you here and why do you like Reagan?” I could not help noticing the baffled looks on their faces upon hearing my reply. “I like Reagan because every time I hear this man speak, I feel good about my country and myself.”

I later learned that as a black person, I was suppose to hate Reagan. Democrats said Reagan’s talk about welfare reform was “code” for his racism and hatred of blacks. As I said, I was young and clueless regarding politics, codes and such. And yet, in my gut, I knew Reagan was a good man.

My aunt hated Reagan. She said, “Ronald Reagan wants to cut my check!” Even as a non-politically informed person, I noticed my Aunt’s bold and arrogant sense of entitlement in her voice when she said, “My check!” Here is a woman who from as far back as I can remember lived in the projects on welfare. I do not ever remember her having a job. In fairness, if my Aunt had a disability which prevented her from working, I never knew of it, as it was not visible. She had five kids and a boyfriend, but no husband.

Her daughter got pregnant really early out of wedlock with both the new teen mother and her baby adding to the welfare roll. My Aunt’s drug using sons, my cousins, impregnated girls out of wedlock, repeating the welfare government dependency cycle.

I overheard my mom commenting to my dad about how her sister practically lived in the Johns Hopkins Hospital Emergency room. At the slightest cough, off my Aunt went with her child to the emergency room. But why shouldn’t she? It was free.

So, you can understand my being taken back a bit hearing my young seemingly healthy Aunt who had lived her whole life, totally dependent on government, trashing Reagan for daring to suggest she do something for her freebies or receive a little less.

Over the years, I have grown to have compassion for my Aunt. Our lives are a manifestation of what we believe. Tragically, my Aunt had little or no confidence in her ability to succeed in America. I believe the Democratic Party promoting that America is a racist country and blacks can survive only via democrat legislated government programs contributed to my Aunt’s distorted view of her country; the greatest land of opportunity on the planet for all who choose to go for it.

Ronald Reagan inspired me to believe in myself and America.

I believe you can tell a lot about the character of a person based on how they treat “the little people”; people who can not advance their career or social standing.

On TV, a former secret service agent told a great story about Ronald Reagan confirming, in my mind, Reagan’s greatness. The agent said he and Reagan had been out horseback riding. Upon their return, Ronald Reagan always prepared his horse to be put away. On this occasion, due to Alzheimer’s disease, Reagan could not remember the procedure for putting away his horse. The agent felt bad for Ronald Reagan and was visibly upset. Reagan feeling compassion for the agent said, “It’s OK.”

Rather than feeling pity for himself, Ronald Reagan chose to comfort his bodyguard/secret service agent. I found the secret service agent’s story quite moving and a window into Reagan’s character. The Bible speaks about Jesus, the master, washing his servant’s/disciple’s feet. I believe Reagan’s attempt to comfort the secret service agent was, in essence, washing his servant’s feet; thus, displaying Reagan’s greatness as a leader. Inspired, I penned a tribute song to Ronald Reagan, respectfully borrowing Mrs. Reagan’s nickname for the president titled, “Ronnie Stayed The Same”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqZUe_EiqDY

Despite all of his landmark achievements, Ronald Reagan never forgot who he was. Reagan knew how to connect with us, the American people and we connected with him. Mr President, we miss you.

Staff Writer; Lloyd Marcus

Chairman of The Campaign to Defeat Barack Obama.

Please help me spread my message by joining my Liberty Network.

Lloyd is singer/songwriter of the American Tea Party Anthem and author of Confessions of a Black Conservative, foreword by Michele Malkin.

3 Comments

Deeann D. Mathews says:

May 10, 2013 at 2:59 pm

President Reagan always produces mixed feelings for me. I was a little child when he was president, and so my personal memory of him is sort of as a white version of my own beloved grandfather, who passed when I was still a little child. To see the president’s smile and the twinkle in his eyes, especially if he was dealing with little children, and to hear his softly aged male voice was a great comfort to me in the years after Grandfather’s death. At the same time I knew there was this country called the Soviet Union, and when I was five my parents forgot to send me out of the room while they were watching a documentary called “Hair Trigger,” which described how the Soviets could destroy every major city in the United States, and vice versa. Somebody had to fix up that situation, obviously… and it confirmed my childlike faith in grandfather-figures when President Reagan apparently got that done! So, I personally remember him as a great president… to the extent that he reflected the characteristics an impressionable little girl remembered about a truly noble grandfather.

Obviously, I’ve grown up; the things I’ve heard both good and bad about President Reagan since are utterly amazing to me, almost as amazing as if someone had described unassuming Grandfather Mathews in the same terms. He seems to be either cast as Savior of the (free) World or the Destroyer of all things designed to help those poor and especially Black. With the exception of this comment, I tend to avoid the arguments back and forth; the subject is too emotionally fraught for me.

But today as I was thinking on this article, and reflecting on the vast differences between the lives of President Reagan and Grandfather Mathews (who were approximately the same age), I struck upon the greatest commonalities, and the greatest differences. Both men cared deeply about and would do whatever they had to do for what they conceived of as their “family” — Grandfather’s struggles as a Black man just come to California way back in the day were at least as difficult in degree as President Reagan presiding over the end stages of the Cold War. Both men were victorious, vindicated, and revered in the eyes of those that mattered to them. The difference: Ronald Reagan, like many white men of his day (and ANY day since the Greek designated the entire rest of the world as “barbarians”), conceived of the American “family” as white — and for that family he would face down the other most powerful nation on earth, and in that we all share the benefits. Yet, in that conception, non-whites are at best guests and servants in the “family home,” welcomed only so long as they mind their place and follow house rules set up solely for the benefit of the “family.” Now I remember two things about Grandfather and HIS family home; nothing or no one that was going to bring drama into the space was tolerated in the space while his grandchildren were around, and that he spent his energy on us when we were there — nothing else seemed to be important, for he had to marshal his remaining energies carefully. All that was very well and good, and I love Grandfather to this day for it. But the way a dying Black elder runs his personal household in terms of his small family may not translate well to running a diverse country of 250,000,000 or so full citizens (in those days); the domestic decision-making for a president has to be far more expansive and inclusive to be of greatest benefit to everyone.

And that is where I will leave it. I have fond memories of President Reagan because he reminded me so much of Grandfather in his glories, but in long retrospect, President Reagan shared also in Grandfather’s limitations, only stretched out in a domestic sphere in which the problems for those not conceived of as “family” have left a bitter legacy for many. I still miss my grandfather, and I half-expect to see President Reagan smiling in the Oval Office at any time, to this day. But in terms of unsullied legacy, Grandfather stands alone…

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lewis orr says:

February 25, 2012 at 2:00 pm

Don’t you wish you were born White?

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jdgwisd says:

February 25, 2012 at 9:12 am

As Jamie Foxx would say, “You had better blow that @#%! out!” ReRon?!?!!!! A man famous for bring forth many of the societial problems America currently deals with. Rampant drug culture(Iran-Contra, anyone?). The attack of the Middle Class? The impotency of Congress? I’m not a social liberal(if you are typical in your thought, and you have to group indviduals who disagree with you with a label). I recognize ReRon for being instrumental in spending the amount of money militarily that finished the job of breaking the Soviet Union. But one’s love for an individual should always be well rounded. ReRon cared little for Blacks in America. Funding his insurrections in Central America by dumping crack into vunerable communities makes my point. Have an admiration for a president(I met the man too……The most arrogant president I’ve met). But please, when one writes articles such as you have, it runs the risk of one of Dr. King’s favorite comments of mine, namely the comment about “conscience stupidity.”

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