Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Are we ready?

From the beginning of Barack Obama’s campaign the question of “Is white America ready for a black president?” But let me ask a question that has not been asked my many.

Is Black America ready for a black president?

Tavis Smiley on his June 13th show posed two questions I would like to discuss here:

On his June 13th show Tavis Smiley posed the question “Having some body that has to race transcend and has to pivot on race does that mean we are really ready?”

The way he poses this question leads me to believe that he would rather see a candidate like Jesse Jackson who runs an unapologetically “black” campaign and win. In my estimation Mr. Smiley doesn’t see the big picture. When a man runs for president of the United States he’s got to have an appeal that crosses all boundaries. Everyone knows Obama is a black man. Obama reminding white people that he’s black will only serve to marginalize him.

What does black America gain by getting behind somebody who has to jump through hoops just to get in office?

Once again I find it very noteworthy in the way he posses this question. Being that Tavis was an avid Hillary supporter his question is revealing in the way he sees the scope of things. Are we to believe that Black America would gain more if Hillary was the nominee? What is to be gained? Mr. Smiley poses a hard question. One can only speculate about what’s to be gained for all black and white. I do not think black Americans will get any special treatment if Obama becomes the president. I can tell you what we will loose though; we will loose the ability to make the excuses we’ve been making for decades.

We will now have to step up while staying vigilant. It’s going to be hard as hell to convince white people racism still exists with a black man as president but only a fool would think that a black president would end racism in America.

Saturday, June 07, 2008

Now what???

It happened. Obama won the nomination and as of today Hillary Clinton has suspended her campaign.

Now comes the hard part, winning the White House in November. America will be put to the test these next five months we will truly find out how far we’ve come as a nation.

I don’t use this term lightly but I am very happy that Obama has the opportunity to run. It’s a long time coming and it’s not going to be easy but I know in my heart it is possible.

Now that I’ve gotten that positive stuff out of the way I would like to take this time to get some things off my chest.

I really didn’t know what to think of Chris Matthews and Tom Brokaw getting misty eyed Tuesday night. It just felt weird to see them get emotional about the prospect of a black man becoming president of the United States. In one way I felt as if they were patting themselves on the back as if to say, “Look how far we’ve come people see racism is dying.” But that’s how I felt in the moment. As the thought of Obama becoming president sunk in I realized that my first reaction may not have been on point. Maybe just maybe these men were being sincere.

These past few days I’ve come to realize the depth of how whites and blacks view race in this country. In the majority of white people’s minds racism is a dead issue. But to a majority of black people in America it’s still an issue that permeates our daily lives.

There in lies the problem. How can we in the post-Obama world see eye to eye?