THE REDEFINITION OF WE

© Breeze Vincinz

In the story of my life, one of the most absolutely horrendous chapters would most definitely have to be my experiences with working at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip. In retrospect I can see now that "disappointment" was a huge part of my ill feelings towards that experience. To me, the House of Blues was synonymous with everything young, hip, fresh and liberal. It was for me a den of profound hippies making an honest buck on their search for a higher truth and I was ever so honored to be elected to be a part of that trek.

However, it did not take long for me to see the little impotent men pulling the strings behind the great Wizard of Oz's paper mâché head. This was not left of center, alternative types staking a claim in mainstream society for the pursuit of individualism and culture, this was corporate America whoring out their own sanitized version of the cutting edge at prices just inflated enough to keep it out of reach of the working class it was exploiting and palatable enough for the upper class it was catering to.

Despite the exaggerated slogans, catchphrases and artwork that saturate the place, there was really no true regard for culture, ethnicity or multiculturalism. This was never as evident as in its (in)famous Foundation Room; a VIP room where the crème of the crème come to drink, mingle and hobnob. The Foundation Room has two private exclusive dining rooms; a Buddha Room and a Ganesh Room, the centerpiece of each room being a splendorous statue of Guatama Buddha and Ganesh in each room respectively. And throughout the House of Blues itself are various statues and depictions of Mexican gods, Hindu gods and Mayan gods; all under the auspice of an environment that is multicultural and forward thinking.

However, one glorious day, the Retail Store stocked little figurines that displayed Jesus Christ on a crucifix with an exaggerated afro. Offended customers complained so much that the Retail Store decided to not stock them; though patrons still bought coffee cups with Ganesh rocking out with a guitar, t-shirts with Shiva holding various cosmetics in each hand, piled themselves into the Ganesh and Buddha rooms, made out, drank alcohol and smoked weed in front of statues that represent God for millions of people… including some of the cleaning staff who used to leave tidings of dried flowers at the feet of the statues every morning after cleaning up the mess left behind the night before.

It really got me thinking about the true meaning of multiculturalism and can it be respected and understood in an environment that is monolithic or exist in an environment that is ruled by a monolithic state. A friend of mine had this same query back when Hilary Clinton was in the running to be the Democratic Nominee for the President of the United States. The media automatically reported that because she is a woman that she would automatically get the female vote. My friend was angered by this assumption as well as the assumption that the Feminist movement was to uplift womankind as a whole when in her mind, neither Hilary Clinton nor the Feminist movement even remotely addressed the specific needs of African American women. Because the majority of the women in America are Caucasian, the media always seems to trump their opinions over their African American counterparts.

The same way I feel the beliefs of the Christian patrons of the House of Blues trumped the belief systems of the multitude of other religions that are on display there. People smoke blunts and make out with random sketchy concert goers all the time up there right in front of Ganesh. The same way Matthew McConaughey asked a juror of all white men in the film A Time To Kill to imagine the crimes perpetrated on a little black being perpetrated on a little white girl in an effort for them to sympathize with the pain, I ask the House of Blues and Christianity as a whole, imagine people smoking blunts, drinking and making out with random sketchy concert goers in front of a statue of Jesus Christ on a crucifix in the "Jesus" room or Mary Magdalene in the "Magdalene" room.

I ask Caucasian women, would they feel comfortable with the idea of all media outlets claiming dark women with afros and hips to be the epitome of the classic American beauty? Would they begin to curl their hair in thick locks, wear dark brown contacts and eat carbohydrates the same our sisters dye (die) their hair blonde and wear blue contacts?

I experienced a multitude of other incongruities within the House of Blues in terms of mishandling issues dealing with age, gender, sexual orientation and sometimes even class. I think that they were trying to handle situations the best way that they could, however this meant that the solutions consistently came from a young, Caucasian, heterosexual, male paradigm. There was always this explanation that was some paraphrasing of the phrases, "This is what WE feel" or "This is what WE feel should happen" or "WE can't have you feeling that way about us Breeze." Really. Well… define WE. "We" couldn't be the Buddhist community who object to fucking in front of Buddha. "We" couldn't be the homosexuals who heavily patronize your establishment but yet you have never had a Gay Sunday Gospel Brunch despite the fact your establishment is in West Hollywood. "We" couldn't be the multitude of immigrants disproportionately employed there in minimum wage positions while their Caucasian counterparts are managers and supervisors. And "We" most definitely could not be the Black people whose music the place is named after despite the fact you could count on one hand the number times that music has been featured in your venue.

The upcoming election between Obama and McCain has reentered these questions into my world view. The platform for McCain is "America First." Really. Well… define America. Who's America do you plan to put first? The homosexuals with a desire for the basic civil right of marriage? The inner city whose education system is horribly flawed? The African Americans disproportionately underemployed? The immigrants in need of realistic immigration laws? The women who want to make their own decisions in regards to their own bodies? Because they're all Americans too.

I see a McCain run America as one big House of Blues; a state where "We're First"… and so many of us are not the "We" he has in mind. A state where our culture, our customs, our ethnicity are not respected, cultivated or appreciated but more or less… commoditized and used to filter money to the upper class. We'll never be on the main stage, but we'll clean the toilets, and sweep the floors and sell the tickets. Our sexuality will be acknowledged if it affects the greater fiscal picture. Our Gods will be nothing more than amusing fixtures in the background.

"We" would still be maligned.

I actually thought it was somewhat unwise for Oprah Winfrey for the first time in her career to make such a biased political opinion and fully support Barrack Obama. Once you make such a glaring endorsement for any political party you automatically alienate half of your supporters which could prove to be detrimental if your supporters are directly connected to your income. But I can now understand the decision. For one, for Oprah, to lose half of her audience would mean she would still have another billion or so left. But most importantly, this change has to happen. The idea of a McCain run America sends a chill up my spine. Just thinking about it makes me think of that little girl near the end of "Poltergeist" when the ghosts came back and she said wearily, "Oh no, not again!"

"We" are not the monolithic brood that saturated the Republican National Convention, "We" do not all worship the same God(s), "We" do not all have straight, blonde hair, "We" are not all heterosexual, "We" are not all young, "We" are not all men, "We" are not all American-born but… "We" all are Americans, and "We" all need to vote… before "We" all wind up living in a House of Blues.