“First Black Presidential Nominee”
(those are some weird/surreal ass words to read, and they’re all over the internet)
In a country built under the guise of freedom while simultaneously enslaving Africans and committing genocide against Native Americans. In a country where the current president’s overt racism and ignorance led him to perceive Hurricane Katrina as not worth his attention. In Amerika, where Dubya and his oligarchy are so consumed and blinded by tenacious greed and power that they have sent the countries poor and working class to fight, kill, and die in erroneous, illegal, unjustified wars, killed thousands of people over seas, worked harder than ever at destroying the global environment, and driven the economy into a recession.
In a country where the majority of the wealthy came to be that way through owning slaves. In a country that is still only leasing black people the right to vote. In a country that brutally criminalizes, strategically policies and without hesitation marches all who are deviant from the norm of whiteness into concentration camps, secret and not so secret prisons.
I could go on: Jim Crow, the Militarization of the border (guess which one), the counter revolutions to the revolutionary action of the 1960s, the Education Industrial Complex, etc. etc. etc.
In a country this fucked up and racist, Barack Obama has just won the presidential nomination of one of the major political parties and has earned the right to possibly be voted into office as the first black president in the history of this fucked up, oppressive, racist, genocidal, colonizing Amerika that we call home.
Congratulations.
It’s wild to see how a wealthy, white, Christian, homophobic administration fucked up soooooo bad with this country that even white people were like, “Fuck this shit!” and down to vote and nominate this black man potentially into office.
This is an historic moment in my life. I actually am so distracted with finals and papers right now that i haven’t really left this computer for a couple days, so i’m kinda not paying attention to anything. But this shit is nuts, and I am not really grasping the magnitude and the impact of this shit right now, but DAMN man…I don’t really have more words right now. I’ll just put up a picture and holler at ya’ll later.
A black man with a white mama. Makes sense. We do got mad privilege. Damn this shit is wild.
wow.
G*Mitch aka Slavename
June 4, 2008 at 2:30 pm |
Right? I’m saying it’s like, too much to comprehend right now, too many thoughts that I’m going to have to write about later, and I’m not even in finals.
Good luck, bruh, handle ya bidness.
KC
June 4, 2008 at 6:54 pm |
Amen to handlin’ that business, and I agree wholeheartedly that this sh*t is HUGE and many, many thoughts are bouncing around in my head as we speak.
I think its important, and I respect you so much for acknowledging the privilege that comes with having a white mama, but I think its also key to remember that:
1. There are a huge number of biracial Black men in the prison system and having a European parent didn’t stop white racism from destroying/stealing their lives.
2. Had Barack been a drug dealer, his having a white parent would never had mattered to anyone, and would never have been brought up.
3. Mixed race people of color face certain things that neither of their parents EVER had to think about, thinking about.
In other words, I think its blatantly obvious that Barack has had a lot of privileges (NOBODY in Amerika can go to Harvard Law without some kind of privilege/advantages), but he is also one of the most resilient, intelligent, hard-working mahf*ckas that has ever lived, and I hope we don’t chalk this huge day up to him having an Anglo mama (not that that’s what you said at all).
I really like that you point out the ways that the Bush administration pushed ppl into making this happen. To quote the always wise Christopher Rock: “Bush done f*cked up so badly, he made it hard for a white man to win the Presidency!”
Things always have to get really f*ckin terrible before they start getting better. Things Fall Apart. Even the truly evil, demonic, oppressive things.
Barack Hussein Obama for President in 2008.
BIG love G-Slavename,
C-to-the-plus-sign
p.s. I said this on KC’s post already but it makes a lot of sense to me: “The day he wins, I will run screaming into the street and will break-dance all night long. The very next morning when I awake, I will become his FIERCEST critic.”
-Dr. Cornell West
June 4, 2008 at 9:47 pm |
right man. that c.west quote is really how i’m feeling right now.
now, i’m definitely not saying that simply having a white mama erases histories of oppression and injustice. but what i am saying that is that the deep seeded racism and white supremacist ideologies in this country definitely have a HUGE affect in the minds of not only white people, but all people in this country.
I believe that by Barack having a white mama assuaged certain fears and stereotypes in the minds of many people voting. Many people still percieve black people as violent, dirty, uneducated, criminals.
June 5, 2008 at 8:32 pm |
“I believe that by Barack having a white mama assuaged certain fears and stereotypes in the minds of many people voting. Many people still percieve black people as violent, dirty, uneducated, criminals.”
I couldnt have said it better myself. I think I can sometimes have a “kneejerk” response to feeling like ppl believe that life is handed to you on a silver platter if you are a mixed person of color with a white parent. I see your point 900% and personally do NOT believe that had Barack had two parents of African heritage, that he would’ve stood a chance for a single, solitary second. Word to Rev. Sharpton & Jackson.
Sh*t like this makes me wonder if the only way to break down the concept of “whiteness,” is to “breed it out” the same way colonizers attempted to with indigenous folks in Australia, for example. With the whole “one-drop rule,” “White” people are headed for extinction at some point. I want to be hopeful that there can a be a revolution of the mind within all people someday, but from the truth/realism of your quote above, I am not feeling very optimistic about all that.
On one hand, I think the thought of everyone being mixed is beautiful – but I also see how groups of people (of color and otherwise) who have been targeted for (implicit and explicit) genocide and destruction, will feel a survivalist need to stay “pure,” and I truly CAN’T be angry at them for feeling this way.
The sh*t just seems to get more confusing erryday don’t it? I believe that by dialouging/thinking about it on a daily basis, at least we aint movin’ backwards…