Awwww, geez, dad!!!!!

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

I coined the term "The Break" to refer to the emotional, symbolic – and many times physical –cutting off of one’s self from their culture, family, or group of friends necessary to fulfill one’s purpose in life. This election season has brought several puzzling and tragic examples.

Take Barack Obama: from the start he has been operating in his own spirit, completely focused on his goal of becoming the U.S.’ first president of color. Aside from his guiding vision of himself and the consciousness he wants to bring about with such a historic achievement, people don’t know quite what to make of him. He’s simultaneously too black, too white, too affluent to be in touch with the plight of low-income folks of all colors, and too young and too good at basketball to be taken seriously by parts of the established Caucasian ruling class across the country.

He’s heralded by white America’s favorite Black woman and has been consistently panned by black America’s most visible black leader. If you hadn’t heard, earlier this week the Reverend Jessie Jackson was caught on a live mike making disparaging remarks about Obama because Jackson feels he "talks down" to black people.

Obama successfully avoided making The Break with black people, but paid the price of having to make The Break from his polarizing pastor Jeremiah Wright. There are more Breaks ahead – he’s leaving some in his wake.

Jackson issued his apology and Obama accepted, but there was another voice as well, "Reverend Jackson is my dad, and I’ll always love him," his son, U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. rushed to announce. "I thoroughly reject and repudiate his ugly rhetoric. He should keep hope alive and any personal attacks to and insults to himself."

This is certainly not the first time Jackson Jr. has come out against his dad, a smaller, more diplomatic Break was made in an op-ed piece "You’re wrong on Obama, dad" Jackson Jr. published in the Chicago Sun-Times last December. Watch for a bigger one if the Rev. can’t keep in line with the purported party line, or down the road when Jackson Jr. feels it’s time to run for his own higher office.

Here’s another one for you: Chicago Alderman Ricardo Munoz is making a silent Break right now. His father, Elias Munoz, pleaded guilty to taking pictures to manufacture fraudulent IDs in the Little Village Discount mall location which, as a result of a sting, was raided by ICE agents and made headlines across the country.

Alderman Munoz, understandably, declined to comment when I called him Thursday afternoon but according to Wednesday’s Chicago Sun-Times story where Munoz Jr. is quoted from last year, "Adults need to be held accountable for what they do." He was on his way to a Break even then.

Thanks goodness my parents aren’t the lightning-rod type, but what do you do when your job is based on your personal integrity and your loved ones screws up?

"I think most people can identify with having someone in the family who is crazy or a drunk, or someone who you have to look the other way and tolerate them because we love them and that’s what matters," said Chicago-based Public Relations Consultant Chris Martin. "My first reaction is ‘blood is thicker than water’ or anything else and a lot of Americans – aside from politicians – we all know we’ve been in that spot and can have some sympathy."

I asked Chris, who has handled a client’s media crisis or two in his day, how to manage a Break in the media. "At that point, the person would have to trade on their own reputation – having people come to his support and say ‘we’re closing ranks’ most people would understand that on a visceral level," Chris said.

"With the Jacksons my first reaction was surprise that he came out so strongly, so quickly I would think he could have waited a do or two for the emotion to subside – maybe the thinking was ‘if I come out now I could kill this – that’s being stuck between a rock and a hard place."

Breaking out of that hard place is what The Break is all about, and it’s almost always grueling and painful. Jesse Jackson Jr. must be used to his dad’s outrageous foot-in-mouth disease but I’ll be keeping tabs on Ric Munoz who last year – before U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez decided to stay in the game after announcing his retirement – had been planning on running for Congress. He’ll have to face his father’s music at some point.

Chris perfectly speculated about Alderman Ric Munoz’ parental/political pickle: "We all have a dad… hopefully everyone can give him a break."

Read an excerpt from the introduction to my book "The Break" here.

Esther J. Cepeda writes the "600 Words" & "Pregunta del Dia" columns, and is also the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for the Illinois Student Assistance Commission. Her views and reporting do not necessarily reflect those of ISAC. "600 words" is a registered trademark of EeJayCee, Inc., Copyright 2008. May be reprinted with permission, contact eejaycee@600words.com

Comments

[jack spatafora]

Nice coverage of a tricky topic. Whenever I think of parents and kids, I'm reminded of an old wisdom: A child has reached maturity the day he/she understands how to forgive his parents

[Phillip Jackson]

Nice column!