Can you believe it?
Can you believe Illinois Senator Barack Hussein Obama, a person of color, has been elected President of the United States of America?
I’m still scratching my head, trying to figure out how something like this could happen. Yes, Obama did run a superb campaign, winning all three presidential debates and displaying a level head in the midst of the country’s economic meltdown, but I thought white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant males had the American presidency on lock-down. I also thought that we Americans would once again be bamboozled into believing that fear must trump hope, especially in an era where acting President George W. Bush has declared a War on Terror. But that didn’t happen. Instead, we American voters chose hope over fear because there is a need for America to once again be that shining beacon in the night.
Our founding fathers had the audacity to write in the United States Constitution that “all men are created equal.” But even when the ink was drying on that piece of stained parchment, black Americans like me were forced to complete work for white masters without receiving compensation. Yes, these black slaves were freed with President Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, but the country’s white citizens still endorsed systems that made them richer, persons of color poorer.
By choosing hope over fear, we Americans have now entered a period where true healing can begin. Barack Obama even received the support of white Americans. But that doesn’t mean we Blacks should forget the way we have been, and continue to be, mistreated and marginalized. It doesn’t even mean we should stop demanding recompense from local, state and federal governments. What it does mean is we black Americans now have an icon at the top that we can identify with. This alone should encourage black children, youths and adults to, in the words of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., raise their personal standards for living.
Truth be told, we black Americans, as a collective, have low standards for what we can achieve in this country. If this wasn’t the case, our children would be achieving academically on both the secondary and postsecondary levels. If this wasn’t the case, more black fathers would be active participants in the lives of their children. If this wasn’t the case, we wouldn’t be using white Americans as a crutch for our lack of prosperity. What Barack Obama has shown us is we can achieve the impossible if we put our best foot forward.
What do you think? Why did you choose hope over fear?
I look forward to reading your responses.
Jeffery A. Faulkerson, MSSW
The “FIRM…but fair” TOWN HALL MEETING
www.firmbutfair.connectplatform.com
Posted By: J. A. Faulkerson
Wednesday, November 5th 2008 at 10:11AM
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