Note: Originally posted August 28, 2008 to the blog "A POSITIVE LIGHT: Discovering the Good within the Black Diaspora" by Jeffery A. Faulkerson
http://apositivelight.blogspot.com/ Last night, Thursday, August 28th, to be exact, I watched as an extraordinary American laid the foundation for his legend.
On the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech, Illinois Senator Barack Obama walked onto a makeshift stage set up on the infield of Denver, Colorado’s Invesco Arena to accept the Democratic Party’s nomination for the United States presidency. After accepting his party’s nomination, he delivered a speech that is being hailed as one of the all-time best political speeches.
In this speech, Obama described in vivid detail what change would look like under his administration. He also demonstrated how Arizona Senator John McCain, his chief Republican rival, is wedded to the failed practices and policies of the current American president, George W. Bush, who has spent his eight years in office focusing on a war that can’t be won, at least not through conventional means. Obama let citizens of the world know that “John McCain is more of the same.”
But for me, Obama’s speech was more than a counter to his harshest critics. Barack Obama makes me proud to be a black American male. Don’t get me wrong, this sentiment was in place long before Obama emerged on the scene back in 2004, at the Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts. I come from a long line of black Americans whose pain, suffering and sacrifice enabled me to attend integrated schools, graduate from a postsecondary institution, contribute to this country’s prosperity. But seeing that beautiful, articulate, black brother up on that stage gave me hope for the future – that we, the American people, are finally starting to reap the benefits of a fully integrated society.
Back in the day, integration was frowned upon by both Whites and Blacks. White Americans had carved out an existence that had allowed most of them to live in the best neighborhoods, attend premier schools, and secure higher paying jobs. We black Americans, however, were seemingly conditioned to be mindful of our place. It didn’t bother us that “our place” was to the left and right of the American mainstream. As long as we were able to feed and clothe ourselves and our children, we didn’t have any problems with the way white folk treated us.
The 1954 Supreme Court ruling in Brown versus the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas changed all that. Credence for this change should also be given the Civil Rights Act of 1964. We black Americans had grown tired of being the brunt of white American’s disdain. So now we were declaring in one voice that we also wanted rights to life, liberty and happiness.
Integration has forced us to squarely look each other in the eye and then do what we must to repair broken relationships. The once-hard hearts of some white Americans have softened, giving them the ability to apologize for their ancestors’ crimes against humanity and their own prejudices about our worth.
Many of us black Americans have accepted their apologies, but we also require that they enter a state of enlightened sensitivity. We need to know that they understand the toll that this struggle for equality has had on us. We also want them to understand that Blacks are the only ethnic group in America that has never received compensation for their pain and suffering. We want them to ask why this is the case when it is universally known that we are the only American ethnic group with ancestors who were brought from Africa to America to serve as slaves.
And that is why so many of us Blacks love what Barack Obama is on the verge of doing. We know that his occupation of the American presidency is not going to be a cure-all for our woes – he’s only one man, remember? – but his very presence will cause his white colleagues to address their individual prejudices and discriminatory behaviors. It will also cause more of us to raise our living standards so that we can accumulate the kind of wealth that can be transferred to our children.
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© 2008 Jeffery A. Faulkerson. All rights Reserved.
Posted By: J. A. Faulkerson
Friday, August 29th 2008 at 11:18AM
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