American Needs a Black President

When people actually started to see that it was very possible that Senator Obama had a real shot at actually being the President of the United States; the issue of him potentially being the first black president "became" an issue. The next thing that people started to say was that it was irrational to vote for a person, particularly a black person, just because he is black. While I would agree that a person should not hinge their vote solely on the fact that Barack is black, I do think that it can not be discounted as one of the reasons to vote for him. It is the same as when there were a bunch of women in the primaries were pulling for Hillary Clinton- just because she was a woman. And why not? She understands issues that would not have gotten the attention that they deserve for women in a system completely dominate by men. So likewise, the same is true for Barack. He has insite on issues that in the past would not normally get attention when a minority has never held the office.

Let me begin by saying that the country is not falling in love with Senator Obama simply because he is Black. Both Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have run for president and they did not win the White House. Also for those who say that Barack will win because he will get the Black vote are wrong because there are not enough black people in this country to single-handedly win this office. Apparently he is popular among more than blacks. But all of this is away from the point. Let me give you several reasons why American needs a black president. Yes, I said "need."

1. A Black President Will Force America To Confront Its Blatant & Subtle Racism: I was on the train on the way to work a few weeks ago and a white man and his son got on the train with their bikes. The son must have been maybe 4 or 5 years old. The train was somewhat crowded so the man and his son had to stand up, but since the train was jerking around if someone was standing up they needed to hold on to something or they would fall. The man told his son to hold on to the chair next to him. The chair has a black lady in it. The boy was terrified of the lady. The dad was very embarrassed. Now this example seems subtle but I thought about it. This boy and many others have such a negative view of Black people in this country. When I get on an elevator with just me and another white person, they are still so nervous that in the 15 seconds that it takes to get from floor to floor I am going to harm her. The media tends to show minorities in a negative light, which gives people the impression that Blacks are dangerous and wild, when in fact Black people are not dangerous (tough maybe, but not really dangerous) and conservative. If there was a Black president, people like this little boy will get to see Black person in the very esteemed office. His parents would have to respect the office and the person in it, and explain patriotism and America while a Black face is in charge. The little boy will associate Blacks with something good.

There is both subtle and institutional racism and blatant racism. People try to pretend that is not the case, but the "Bradley effect" says it all. Can we get past it? The situation in California a Black man was running for Governor who was leading substantially in the polls, but when people got in the privacy of the voting booth they could not get themselves to vote for a Black man. Having a Black President will get America from a place where we have a Black president to simply a president who is black.

2. A Black President Will Give Whites A Chance That They Can Trust A Black President: If this presidential race has shown us one thing, it is that White America is afraid of a Black president because they are not sure what a Black person will do. In fact I have heard several people admit this on different radio stations. They are simply afraid and not trust that. The old adage of "fear of the unknown." So in an effort to shield the racism, they cloaked it in code words like "Barack is a terrorist," or "Barack is a Muslim." (Which is an awful thing to say because it's not a crime to be Muslim.) I don't understand what people think is going to happen. Does White America believe that a Black President is going to paint the White House Black? Do they think that he will park a broken car in the driveway and leave it on bricks? Do they think a Black president will invite all his friends to the White House and hang out on the front porch and have barbeques? Do they think there is going to be some Black uprising and Blacks are going to take over the country and put whites in slavery? I don't get it. There are black city council people, black mayors, etc. Once a Black President gets into office and not hand the country over to the enemies at a swap meet then whites can see that it was no big deal in the first place.

3. A Black President Will Better Be Able to Talk To Minorities About Accountability and Responsibility: There is this concept that "The Man" is keeping people down. It is a common excuse that is said that minorities tend to make. And the fact is that there is an element of truth to "The Man" being responsible for the initial state of a lot of people, however people don't have to stay in those bad situations. But it is not going to be "The Man" who is going to be able to give that correction and reprimand to those people. It just won't be well received. But it can be palatable from someone who has come from where these people have come from. I remember when Bill Cosby went around telling Black people that they needed to do better. There were few Black people that disagree with the overall concept of what he was saying. And everywhere Senator Obama goes he talks about accountability and responsibility. That is a good message that can be well-received from him rather than from someone that people believe is apart of the corrupt system that have experienced the failure of.

4. A Black President Can View Things From A Different Perspective: We live in a country where different people see things from different perspectives. There are issues that certain groups of people have to experience that is totally taboo and unheard of in other groups. For instance no person can be a better fighter for the causes of women than a woman because she would understand the hurt and pain of what women encounter. The passion can't be there. Nobody would argue that certain women issues are not important just because as a man we have not experienced it. For instance the disparity in pay that women have to endure, the discrimination because of being pregnant and other issues. These issues are not unimportant, but the passion and perspective can be brought to make for a more just system. So likewise with a Black president. A minority can bring perspective to things such as racial profiling, disparity in pay, and other issues that are important but gone unnoticed because of lack of perspective and passion in those areas. They can bring to light issues that when corrected would make for a more just society.

5. A Black President Would Know How to Balance the Budget: One thing that black people are good at is making a dollar stretch. We can do a whole lot with very little. We are used to it as a people. We are fighters. After hundreds of years of slavery, and only recently obtaining many civil rights, we are just starting to see the playing field leveling, but even with all this time in an unequal field Blacks have been arguably pretty successful as a people. A Black President would bring that type of innate ability in and help correct and create.

So America needs a Black president one of these days. Even if it isn't Barack, it needs to happen one day. So to borrow a line from Tupac, "Are we ready to have a Black President?" I think so