I may be a little more sympathetic towards Barack Obama because at a much lower level I understand having expectations placed on you by black folks. I was probably one of the multitude of black boys that were given IQ test in the late 50s early 60s, who were told you could be the first Black President. That was a tremendous amount of pressure for a child. I was expected to be the magical negro. I was expected to have answers to questions that had not even been formulated. I found out that, when my mother saw how it affected me ,she regretted letting me be skipped up in school. Of course there are major difference. I maladjusted under the pressure and didnt even find success as a criminal. Obama fulfilled the dreams and prophecies, of our old quietly and dignifiedly rebellious, secretly NAACP colored teachers, who labored in those old ramshackle schools ,with wood heaters and outdoor toilets . Secondly I didnt apply for the job, not even back then. I did not want to be the smart one and have to learn to fight by getting beat up everyday after school, by someone who was asked(and infuriated) by some frustrated black teacher asking why cant you be like him ? . Barack Obama sought the pressure. Obama represents to a lot of black folks acceptance by white folks. We dont want to admit it. But its true. We are programmed ,whether we like it or not , to seek the approval of white folks. Especially us older black people. We ,through Barack Hussein Obama, are vicariously being accepted and approved by the good white folks (anybody old enough to remember your mother and her friends sitting around bragging about how I got some good white folks, after getting off work cleaning those good white folks houses ,washing their clothes, cooking their meals, and raising their children for $5 to $7 a day ?) That vicarious acceptance may be why we are reluctant to criticize or hold Obama accountable . By criticizing him we are at some level tarnishing that acceptance we have so long sought. By holding him accountable we are possibly admitting that we still havent met the mark of acceptability. Before you beat me up on this I want you to think about how often your diction ,and vocabulary improves when you are around white folks. I want you to think about how you try to act intelligent around white folks. Once we acknowledge that we seek that pat on the head ,we will be less likely to need it. After Denzel Washington finished the movie Malcolm X he was in an interview where he said that America is in denial about its racial problem. Are we in denial about our need for acceptance by our oppressors. In a previous post , Jackie Lampkins quoted her then 98 year old great-grandmother as saying the lion will NEVER know what its like to be a sheep! #dnt care how much of self searching they do How about seeking our own acceptance. That is what I have been trying to do to the best of my ability for a long time. But still I often find myself cringing at James JJ Walkers tom-foolery , or Mike Tysons face tattoo, or Beyoncés multimillion dollar pole dancing, or some young teen sagging, because somewhere in my subconscious they are a disgrace to the race.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 10:42:33 +0000
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