A Likely Scenario:
When I was in the 5th or 6th grade in a Mid-Western elementary school, our black teacher Mr. Reaves actually discussed the issue of race, briefly, with our mixed-race class. One of the white female students broke in and expounded; black people are the largest minority so I don’t see what they’re complaining about. Somehow in her mind being the largest translated somehow into being a good thing.
How did the rest of us respond? Well I can only speak for myself – at the time I didn’t know in what way the term minority related to the black community! Where I grew up, as a black American, I and my fellow blacks were not minorities. In fact we were the majority. Even in our classroom and neighborhood, she was the minority!
That was not the only unusual incident to occur. One day we took a quiz during a language arts or history class I don’t recall which. There was a question posed on the test which has caused me great concern until this day, speaking of a relevant curriculum. The question was of the kind that often appeared on Intelligence tests that had been used to prove over and that African-Americans were intellectually inferior. Other questions like, A Church is a quiet place, often tripped up black youngsters. The churches that I attended were far from quiet.
The question posed simply asked ‘what is our ethnic origin’? I am certain that all of the white kids in the class aced that question, because their ancestors were as one of the choices on the quiz indicated, Anglo-Saxons. But where was the proper category for me?
Since it was a ‘multiple-guess’ question, I looked for a category, either A, B, C or D that described me as an African-America. Dudes, there was none! So black kids had to answer that we were Anglo-Saxons. Well, I certainly protested, and the teacher explained that we were to answer according to the categories listed on the test; we were Anglo-Saxons at least in her class. Should I be angry with that teacher? Perhaps she didn’t know any better and really believed it (she was white), or on the other hand she may have been making an attempt at inclusion, hoping to make the black students feel that we were a part by making us feel that we had an Anglo heritage. Granted, some of us are of mixed heritage, but Anglo-Saxon, that was quite a stretch!
How do I work these two scenarios together in this writing that has to do with Senator Obama's attempt at being President of the United States? I suspect that either way, whether Senator Obama prevails or not, the black community is going to loose - for if he were to become President Obama, just like my classmate who I first mentioned, the attitude of many whites and non-whites around the world will this, see America elected a black President, so what are they complaining about now? The other scenario happens to be, what if Senator Obama fails in his bid to elected President of the USA; there is a laundry-list of possibilities that we could examine if that likely or unlikely event were to occur – I don’t know if he will prevail or not.
The first female or minority President will have to do an above average job or that’s it I believe, lights out, and it will be a long time before a minority or female candidate will be given serious consideration. The fact of the matter is that it is he who controls the narrative, and whoever has the ear of the President will decide what will take place in America if either Senator Obama or Hillary Clinton were to become President. Come back, I know you just checked the date to see when I wrote this piece. Relax, Senator Obama won the Democratic Nomination, however, what has been lost on Americans is that Senator Clinton has not given up – she only suspended her election campaign; the door is still ajar. There is still a remote chance of Senator Clinton being drafted during the Democratic Convention., my fingers are crossed!
The likely scenario I that will occur if Senator Obama wins is this, if Obama becomes President and fails, black Americans can forget it. Another black man, even if he has Scotch-Irish or Teutonic blood in him for that matter will never survive a Primary Election cycle again, at least not in the near future. The skinny on that candidate will be, well remember the failed Obama presidency from 2008 to 2012! In dialoging with many individuals in the black community I have concluded that Senator Obama is not the problem, the black community is a bigger problem. Emotion won out over logic, and like the Democratic Congress who was at first for Hillary and then switched to Obama, many in the black community were for Hillary, about 95% I’ve heard, and then all of them like a shifting tidal wave suddenly switched to Senator Obama.
Well that tells me that not a lot of thought went into their decision. Like their Democratic Congress ional Representatives, I have been a registered independent voter for some time now, black Americans jumped ship, and still Hillary won the popular vote. I made an error previously in placing too much emphasis on Senator Obama being an unqualified candidate just as George H. Bush was at the time. I can see that the real issue is a group of supporters many of which will be referring to him as Uncle Tom, right around March 2008, if he were to prevail, and they don’t get what they want. President Clinton was America’s first black President some say, it would appear that some will be referring to a President Obama as America’s first Uncle Tom President.
More and more I realize that he is going to be less of a problem than the people who voted for him are going to be; what an interesting admixture! We will have to wait to see what will happen of course. However, short of death or dismemberment to Senator Obama, I am still hoping for a miracle at the bottom or top of the 9th inning - and that the most qualified candidate to toss their hat in the ring over the past 8-years will still be elected President of the United States, a woman named Senator Hillary Clinton!
Peace & Grace
Rev. C. Solomon
Addenda: You cannot place all of the blame on naive Democratic voters who similar to Republican voters that had been frustrated with President Bill Clinton’s 8 years in office overwhelmingly voted for President Bush twice, Democratic voters have been just as frustrated with President Bush – Independents have also been frustrated with Mr. Bush, too many voters have lost their moral compass if they ever had one and would vote for Arnold the Pig if he could simply an election. There is no honor in that! And for Democrats to repeat both mistakes again, including following the lead of their swinging-back and forth Democratic Congress in their repast, tells me that Democarats are no more astute, politically, than their Republican counterparts happen to be or ever were for that matter!
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