Well Election day is here and I just finally have to say it. I have heard a few people say that they worry blacks are voting for Obama just because he is black. First of all I think that is a crock. I’m sure there may be some blacks voting just for that reason but the majority have thought through the issues and made a choice based on that. And as for the ones voting for Obama based solely on race so what? I think they have earned that right. People (usually white people) say the past shouldn’t matter but it does matter when your people are the ones that endured it.
I am part Native American. I remember my great grandma who was full blood Cherokee telling me about her family that died on the trail of tears, about how they were taken from their homes, forced to move, forced to stop speaking their language and treated like they were just “filthy Indians” Was I there to experience it? No. Does it still make me hurt? Yes. Because I saw the pain in my grandmothers eyes and she and her experiences connected me to the past.
So again I say so what if blacks vote because they are proud that Obama could be the first black president. I remember seeing as a child the Civil Rights movement. I thank God that I had parents that taught me that ALL people were equal especially in a time when some people were fighting for that equality. I remember seeing the signs when visiting in the South “Colored use back door” I remember riding the Cota buses in Ohio and blacks being given a hard time, a stare, called names if they sat in the front .I remember watching the firemen turn hoses on black protesters and watching rocks being thrown at children who were going to school. So I think that African Americans certainly have earned the right to have a deep pride that a black man is running for president and vote accordingly.
Some will say prejudice is dead. But it is not. It is rearing its head when some remarks are made about this election. It did also when my grandson was born and some friends ended the friendship when they saw he was bi racial and one lady upon seeing him instead of a white baby changed her awwwww tone of voice and said with disgust “what IS he?” It’s alive today when people see us together. Prejudice is here, just not out in the open. Don’t even get me started on how some whites react when my grandson speaks Swahili lol
One last thing that bothers me about all this too...why is it society in general complains there are no good African American male role models but then when a black man accomplishes something he gets told it’s because he got special treatment as an African American?
The whole thing drives me nuts. All I know is that I saw an elderly black man voting today and he was crying because he never thought he would see the day a black man was a candidate. Think about how the world was when this man started his life and how it is now. He has been through it all to get to this point where he can enter that booth for the option of voting when he used to never even be allowed to vote, let alone for a successful African American. It is an amazing thing.
I’m not sure if I got my thoughts out well enough .I just know that while there is still a lot of prejudice to overcome, I am proud of how far we have come and I applaud and encourage the pride African Americans must be feeling. They deserve it.
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