“I won’t have to pay for my petrol anymore. Obama is going to help me.”

 

Last Sunday (9/11/08) it was reported in one of the British tabloids that African Americans ‘really think that things will change – for them.’ Peggy Joseph who was at an Obama rally told a TV interviewer: “I won’t have to pay for my petrol anymore.  I won’t have to work to pay my mortgage. He’s going to help me.”  Somewhere else in Washington, near a popular market, Isaac Johnson was wandering around in a dream like state with tears running down his cheeks, repeating “We’ll get respect now, we’ll get our dream.”  But will Obama actually do something for African Americans?

 

The Obama camp has help to put some distance between him and African American problems. “President-elect Obama did not put himself forward as an African-American president; he put himself as an American who happens to be black.” Said Colin Powell.  The report went on to say that Obama cannot risk being too caught up with favouring blacks if he wants to still remain popular with the other multi-racial communities that put him into office.  He also has no choice but to distance himself from the likes of Jesse Jackson, Sharpton and Farrakhan.

 

However, some blacks are already reporting that they are getting better tables at restaurants because maitres d’ think they may know the new president, so change is taking place. But joking aside, I do hope that everyone realises that how this job is going to be challenging and that not only does he need the support but also tolerance and understanding for those inevitable mistakes he will make.

 

Where were you and what were you doing when Obama claimed victory??

Where were you when Barack Obama claimed victory and what were you doing?

Unfortunately I was fast asleep but at 5:30am, my husband switched on the light and shouted “He’s done it. The man has won!!  I smiled briefly and nodded off back to sleep thinking I was still in a dream  A few hours later, I woke up to see my husband still glued to the TV, and that’s when I realised it was for real. Obama, an African American, had won. I reminded my husband that he would be late for work.  He told me about the interview with Gore Vidal and Oprah. 

I’m now watching the TV, and at the same time checking my watch as I will have to leave for work but I wished I had the energy to stay up all night. But never mind, as I wrote else where on my blog, it is a great day.  Let us know what you were up to when it was declared that Obama had won the Presidency.

What a Day! What a Day! What a Day!

America, I’m so proud of you.  Congratulations!!

Are we done with the ‘inexperienced’ tag yet?

I read somewhere in today’s paper that some people are still trying to firmly nail the label ‘inexperienced’ to Barack Obama to  such extent that it will never go away.  For sure, if he is elected, he will certainly take a slender CV to the office than any president in history.  But surely over the past two years he has gained invaluable experience. They say that Obama has never run anything but that’s not true. His campaign has been run with incredible discipline and has magically and subtly acquired the Democratic Party establishment as represented by the Clintons.  It also helps that the team around him are loyal and dedicated.

 

The article also said that he may prove to be disappointment just like Jimmy Carter who also had good intentions but was also overwhelmed by the job.  America, right now, is like a sick patient that is depressed, tired and penniless and needs someone like Obama to inject new kind of political energy – into its citizens and to be seen in a new light around the world.  I thank America and am proud of America for giving this guy, and the rest of the world, a chance.

The One

I just know that I can beat you!!

I read an interesting piece about Barack Obama yesterday (Click onto cutting – I am the chosen one).  A really good article except its author, Andrew Sullivan described Obama as a ‘miscegenated Black man’.  I didn’t know that you could have a Black man (or a White person for that matter) that could be ‘miscegenated’.  Let me know what you think?

 

 

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article5061437.ece

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are African Americans being ‘racist’ because of Barack Obama’s ‘White Experience’?

I watched the BBC programme Newsnight where the Nobel Prize laureate, Toni Morrison, was being interviewed about her new book ‘A Mercy’.  The presenter asked Morrison if African Americans could be accused of being racist towards Barack Obama because of his alleged ‘white’ experience.  Morrison responded tactfully by saying ‘that African Americans were worried that Obama had no slaves in his family and senior members of the Civil Rights Movement begrudged the fact that he had not participated in the struggle.’  Morrison ended by saying that this was no longer a problem for her community and that they were proud of the fact that it was highly possible for Barack, an African American, to be the next President of the United States. 

 

But as I listened, I wondered why on earth should this be seen as racist??  The community can be accused of being resentful or bearing ill will or being wrongfully suspicious but not racist.  The Black community should be forgiven for wanting Barack to be pulled over as many times as they have by racist cops, just so that they can say he ‘qualifies’ but I don’t think that makes the community racist.  The Black community has the right to comment even if that comment(s) is misplaced or taken out of context.  Redefining and misinterpreting what the community thinks, is racist and if we don’t watch it, racism will lose its true meaning.