I can’t deny the historicalness of the events that occurred this week, the United States of America’s first non-white President. Now I don’t want to take anything away from this event. But I want to look at it from another perspective. Is this something that we should be surprised about? Was this not bound to happen? Throughout American history there have been many first for non-white Americans. The first slave allowed to be in the masters house, the first slaves allowed to eat at the table with the master, the first slave allowed to “own” land, the first slave/blacks allowed to own a business, the first black mayors, governors, senators, representatives, etc. I hope you see where I am going. Again I don’t want to take anything away from Mr. Obama becoming President. I know many people didn’t think they would live to see that event happen and that it means a lot to them. I’m happy that we were all able to see this happen. But as people, we still have many things to do in order to improve ourselves and the people whom we surround. Regardless of who the mayor, governor, senator, or even the President is. We still have to handle our business (if you want to improve or “make a difference”).
We cannot sit back and wait (nor expect) for Mr. Obama to change things for us. Take the initiative to make things happen for yourself. If you lost your job, explore other possibilities for school or employment. Lost your house. Explore why you lost it in the first place. Were you living above your means? Take responsibility for yourself don’t expect a “black man” being in the Presidential office to all of a sudden make things different for you.
Do I think that we as an economy need help? Yes I do. Do I think that they should have bailed out the creditors and banks? No I don’t. Nor do I think they should have bailed out the “Big Three”. But regardless of that, the American people have many problems that need to be solved. But if WE want to solve these problems we cannot sit back and wait for anyone else, white or black, to solve them. There have been many non-white mayors and governors that didn’t make a difference to “us”. There will be more. The main point that I want to make is just because he is a non-white American doesn’t mean that he is our savior. He is the first but he will not be the last. I don’t know him any better than I know the person living down the street from me. Yes I watched him on TV and I listened to him conduct interviews. But what does that mean. Nothing. I’m just being real. I am not saying that he is a liar or that he is not going to do any good. I’m just saying that I don’t know and it remains to be seen. How many times before has a politician, or a person for that matter, said they were going to do something and it not happen? Many times.
Lets keep it real.
9 comments:
Wow, Mr. Kirkland you have yet to disappoint me.
Just as you have always done, you have again left me intrigued.
Anywho,
I don't like it when people try to speak for me so i'll only speak for myself with the following statement:
I don't think Barack Obama's presidency has turned this country around for the better simply because he is a "black man." I think his election into office has turned this nation around for the better because we, as one nation, finally allowed our many differences to be set aside so that we could agree on doing what was best for the common good.
To me, his being black is like having the perfect caked completed with icing on the top of it. The cake is fine without the icing, but the icing makes it more enjoyable.
Living through years of racial discrimination at the hands of a corrupt system makes Obama's victory that much more priceless to me because I know first hand what it is like to be told that your skin color makes you worthless and subservant to others. I know what it feels like to be treated like a second class citizen simply based on the color of one's skin color, I know what it feels like to question God about who I am and why he made me the way I am because of the hatred I faced everyday, I know what it feels like to see first hand young black men and young hispanic men treated worse than dogs simply because of the color of their skin.........it is this kind of pain experienced first hand that makes me, and others like me, see Barack Obama as hope in a society where hope is a faded shade of black.
However, I am also intelligent enough to know that he is a man, he is not God, he does not have super powers, but he does hold the highest honor this country has to offer and it makes people, black people, feel good to be able to say that our President is a black man.
From Slavery to the White House....now that's a clearer sign if you ever needed one that our country is definitely headed in a better direction.
Quite honestly he can be claimed by the caucasian community, the Hawaiian community, Countries in Africa and also by Indonesians.
He was not elected by black people alone, he was elected by a nation of people fed up with the administration of George Bush and his failed policies. What scares me is knowing that it took Bush to screw things up for people to ever consider electing a black man President. Do I think it would have ever happened? Yes I do, just not in my life time. Do I expect our countries problems to automatically take care of themselves..not a chance. I think Obama's got his work cut out for him because he ahs so many people expecting him to fail while waiting for the first chance they can get to find a reason to impeach him.
Yes, Freddie, there are people caught up in his skin color and not giving thought to the job he has ahead of him, but I think there are more of us who rejoice in the fact that our country is one step closer to finally moving out of the shadows of our past and into a place where our childrens History books are not laden with stories of slavery, oppression, depression and racial injustices...
I also think that more minority men will aspire to be president one day now that they see it as being an attainable goal and not a pie in the sky pipe dream.
PLEASE......keep writing!
Glad you can see what I am trying to say here. A lot of people wouldn't get it.
There is more to it than skin color or anything for that matter.
We have to try and continue to grow as a culture and getting closer and closer to be just American's.
But who knows when that will happen. Probably not in out lifetimes.
Thanks for reading.
Hey bro. Glad to see you're putting some thoughts down.
I think his race was blown way out of proportion. My take is; yes, it was historical, but lets not let race overshadow the REAL reasons most of us voted for him. There are a few reasons I think we SHOULD be especially proud of having him as president:
1. A man with the ability to inspire the masses can accomplish far more than one who tries to brute-force his goals by hard work. Words, compassion, and respect can get your former enemies to put their guns down, not military or financial pressure.
2. His emphasis on transparency. He's giving the public the benefit of the doubt. He thinks we are interested in what happens in D.C. and want to voice our opinions more often than every 4 years. So, he's putting weekly addresses on youtube, and keeping a whitehouse blog, and publicizing legislation that is corrupt or just doesn't work. We just have to keep up our end of the bargain.
3. He's willing to work in the gray areas. He understands that there's a middle ground in most divides, whether it be in mutual tensions among races, the sides of the wars in the middle east, or partisan politics. I think a guy that's willing to discard tradition, or habit, for reason is exactly what we need.
So, yes, I think his election was overblown, because it was overly celebrated for the less important reasons. But he IS a game-changer, and I don't think it's wrong to instill some faith in his potential, as long as we are willing to be forgiving when he falters.
Jake...what's up man? Its been a long time.
I agree with a lot of the things you wrote, if not all of them. His ability to inspire the masses is huge, and lets be honest, people need to understand that WE have the power to make changes as long as WE exercise that power. The use of the military and the capitalistic mentality of the previous Presidency has left us in a hole and with many enemies. But can/will we change that?
He has a lot of work ahead of him and a lot of people are going to have to make changes for there to be a major change in our country. The "big wigs" have to be held accountable, as do the common consumer, and we ALL have to focus on gaining respect from our enemies and building the economy of America. Although I don't think it is likely, a less capitalistic mentality would change this. I hope it does change, but these people who have been making tremendous amounts of money at least over the past 8 years don't want to stop making that money.
We shall see what happens over the next 8 years (yes I said 8 because I think he will be re-elected no matter what) and I hope that we have learned from our mistakes of the past.
I did see that there is a white house blog, but I didn't know about the weekly youtube address yet. I will have to check that out.
Thanks for reading Jake.
While I think his race was highly publicised, more so than the issues he stands for to some degree..I don't agree that it was blown out of proportion. To say that it was blown out of proportion is to say that a bigger deal was made of it than what should have been and that is simply not true.
We live in America, and we just elected a black man as our president..that is definitely something to celebrate.....it's just not the only thing!
We live in a country where certain states still see black people as inferior and they show their feelings by not allowing their children to attend proms with black children. In areas such as those, of course you will find people more concerned with his race than what he can do for our country as a whole because for them race is a big issue and it's the one issue they contend with more than any other issue on a daily basis. Seeing a black man elected president gives them hope that their environment will get better.
It doesn't mean they are blowing it out of proportion, it simply means they have a different vantage point.
Furthermore, you have a country full of people, of all races, sick and tired of what's been happening over the last 8 years so much so, that a history making event (black man elected president) has collided with our need for change.
While I think their are people who can only see Obama clear enough to see that he's black and he's just been elected president...I can also see people who can see the change he represents with the fact that he's black as an added bonus, or some people who could care less about his race all together and simply want the change he promises to deliver.
Barak Obama is the full package to me. While I have dealt with racism in my past, and I know that his being black leads me to puff my chest a little bit, I also recognize the task he has ahead of him as the president of this country. The fact that my vision is what it is doesn't mean that another person view/vantage point is any more or less valid, but I would have to strongly disagree with anyone who uses the term "blown out of proportion" where his race is concerned. It's nice to know that there are peolpe out there whose lives can aford them the notion that Obama's race was blown out of proportion. The problem with that theory is you have history books and current events to back up anyone's claim that his race within and of itself is cause for celebration.
I think the more we try to understand each other, the more we will find ourselves in a country where someones race won't be the highlight of a victory.
Jake I agree with everything you said except......well, you get the point!
Do I think he can fix the hole Bush dug with our enemies? Well, he can definitely gain some momentum in that direction. As with any human population, there will be those that embrace his peace offering immediately, and there will be those that need some time to get over their grudges. But I know that in any country, there are huge numbers of people that just want peace, regardless of what their leader is doing (sound familiar?). The hope is that those people will speak up.
Some friends and I were speculating on inauguration day what Obama's presidential approval curve will look like. I'm guessing Regan. I envision the first dip because he's not going to be able to fix the economy by printing money (thereby destroying the dollar). There is going to have to be a long period of market correction. People are going to have hard times and they are going to blame him for not fixing it. I envision the second dip for all the other problems that are going to take time to fix (the middle east, environment, etc.)
I think your right. There's a lot of responsibility put on Obama, but there's an equal need for personal responsibility too.
LaKiesha, I agree that we should celebrate. I think we disagree on the context of my claim that his race was "overblown." Let me illustrate the point a bit.
It is a big deal that America was able to elect a non-white president. To me, it means that the majority of our population is more open-minded than I gave them credit for.
There were a few indicators to me that it was going too far.
1. Every black correspondent or politician interviewed on news channels was being asked the same questions "Did you ever think you'd see this day?" "How far have we come since...?" It seemed as though they were trying to make the case that "racism is over." My take is that it isn't even close. But we are able as a population to elect someone on merit regardless of race. So, let's be proud that we are at this point. It's an indicator of social progress and it opens a lot of doors. But, it certainly doesn't mean we're in utopia.
2. We voted a black man into the president's office. But with the amount of news coverage about his race, you'd think that his race was the REASON we voted him in. I sure hope not. And we certainly don't want the rest of the world thinking we elected him just because it was the socially-progressive thing to do.
3. Would you like to buy an Obama commemorative coin? How about a tee shirt? Lawn chair? Plates? Stickers? etc.
Personally, my chest was puffed out a bit more with this election (even though you might think that I have less of a reason than a non-white citizen). It restored my faith in the American people. It proved that although there's a lot of ignorance, but it can be out-voiced.
That said, he has a very important job to do, and I would hate to see his performance in that job tethered to his race, because, what if he fails? So by saying that his race was overblown, I'm not saying that we should discount the importance of his election in racial terms, just that when you turn on the news the coverage shouldn't be out of proportion; 80% racial significance, 20% issues, as it seemed for the first few days.
Jake your comments are very well thought out and well put. The mere fact that you speak/type as eloquently/intelligently as you do is the only reason I would even attempt to have this conversation with anybody regardless of their race.
There are lots of things that no two people will ever completely agree on, but it says a lot about the people having the conversation when they can disagree than agree to disagree without disrespecting the other person and trying to merely crush them in an attempt to make ones self stand tall.
With that being said....I can see your point on the news coverage, but that's news coverage everywhere all the time. We're more likely to hear about someone getting shot than someone helping their neighbor, or someone robbing a store opposed to someone giving back change to a cashier when they were given too much money.
The fact of the matter is that our society seems to thrive on drama, and Obama's race and the ratings he surely brought the stations who covered anything Obama is nothing new...the topic is new but the tactic is old school...very old school.
LMBO at the t-shirts, coins, lawn chairs etc. comment because it is so true.....but don't we do the same thing for sports champions and famous teen characters....???
Our society is about making a quick buck, so why wouldn't Obama be the newest money maker?
Anywho, thanks for the enlightening discussion.....I'd sit and chat with you and Freddie any day of the week!
I think you're right. My point about the press is a symptom of a more general problem with the mainstream media. It's all about ratings.
As for the commercialization of Obama, I think it could be done more responsibly. Many of these items have nothing to do with him or his agenda. I would rather not see his name cheapened.
Thanks for the kind words!
I agree that this conversation would normally be an emotional one, so thanks for your inviting/encouraging attitude and perspective.
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