My President is Black

Thursday I went to the Black in America 2 screening. Though I can't discuss the specific content just yet, I can say that it looks like it will be better than Black in America was. It seems to focus on solutions and successes as opposed to giving the impression that being black is so horrible. I appreciate that. I still think a White in America would be an eye-opening experience for some white people. Tim Wise should host... =]

Anywho, while I was at the screening, President Barack Obama was speaking at the NAACP 's Centennial Celebration.

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Some people are a little salty about some of the points Obama made in this speech because they feel that he goes too hard on black people "in public." That he continues to speak to black people about taking responsibility for our collective predicament, but doesn't address white people about their collective responsibility for white privilege. I agree with that statement. However if you take this speech alone, a lot of his points are valid.

"What's required to overcome today's barriers is the same as what was needed then. The same commitment. The same sense of urgency. The same sense of sacrifice. The same sense of community. The same willingness to do our part for ourselves and one another [...]"

I mean really... if someone said, "Walk to work until the public transit system is no longer shady," black people would have all kinds of excuses as to why they can't walk to work ("I got arthritis."), and can't carpool ("Me and Shaquan don't get along..."). We definitely don't have the commitment to the cause that they black commuinity had during the civil rights era. A lot of people think that either the hard work has already been done or will be done by someone else, i.e. Black "Leaders."

"The most difficult barriers include structural inequalities that our nation's legacy of discrimination has left behind; inequaliies still plaguing too many communities and too often the object of national neglect."

We all know this statement is true. He concedes that it's "the object of national neglect." But it's his neglect of the issue that has so many people unhappy with him. When he goes on to say, "lay a foundation for growth and prosperity that will put opportunity within the reach of not just African-Americas, but all Americans," I get a little annoyed. He'll will talk and talk and talk about how we need to take personal responsibility, and here, he'll admit that there are "structural inequalities" that we have to face, but his solution is for "all Americans." Improving conditions for everyone will not eventually improve conditions for the black community. It simply will not happen that way. Even if conditions are improved, until the gaps are closed, we will still be behind.

"But all these innovative programs and expanded opportunities will not... make a difference if each of us... fail to do our part by encouraging excellence in our children... One of the most durable and destructive legacies of discrimination in the way we've internalized a sense of limitation." "It means pushing our kids to set their sights higher... our kids can't all aspire to be LeBron or Lil Wayne... I want their horizons to be limitless... Don't feed our children with a sense... that somehow because of their race... they cannot achieve."

These statements are VERY true. It's obvious that the government, his administration, is not focused on helping the black community individually, so we definitely need to be trying to help ourselves. The best strategy for that is to teach our children better and not stunt their growth by allowing them to believe that they can only be a baller or a rapper or a drug dealer. If we start raising children to think they can do and be anything, "structural inequalities" won't matter because our kids won't see them because they'll make their own way, they'll build their own structures.

All in all, I'm not mad at the speech. I do think this needs to be his last public address to a black audience about personal responsibity. If he can't take this message to everyone then I don't want to hear it either, especially not repeatedly. However, he doesn't lose any points with me because of it. Honestly, the moment the shock of his achievement wore off, the reality of the fact that he's a politician set in and my expectations (if I ever had any) for anything he could do to help me and my situation personally went away. He didn't run as a black man; he ran as a man, and oh, by the way, he's black. I still hold some sense of pride in his achievement, but I'm not banking my future on anything he does. But then... again, I'm not banking my future on anyone except myself.

When it's all said and done, I just like being able to say say, "My president is black. ...bitch." =]