The bigotry that I endured over my 43 years has been worth it.
Growing up in Cleveland in the ‘70s and its suburbs in the ‘80s as a black kid wasn’t easy.
Living in a predominantly white, blue collar Collinwood, an ethnic neighborhood, African-Americans weren’t particularly welcome. In Collinwood, I can still hear the taunts of "nigger," "spook," "jigaboo," "moulie" and "spearchucker" as I was being chased up London Road, a predominantly Italian neighborhood, to the safe haven that was Euclid Avenue.
My mother, who raised two sons to speak proper English, respect elders, work hard for what you want, eventually moved us to Euclid, an eastern suburb. Because I valued education, because I worked hard for my grades and because I believed in this country, even when I thought it didn’t believe in me, I succeeded. That is the promise of Barack Obama – hard work pays off. If you play by the rules, it pays off.
I lived in Euclid, excelled in school, but because I valued education, hard work and other things, immediately I was considered to ‘’not be black.’’ In sociological terms, it’s called being the exception to the rule. Imagine, in my naiveté, being delighted with that and even more so when a school mate held a telethon for surgery to ‘’turn me white.’’
Wonderful. That’s the balancing act many blacks had to walk in that era. Stuck between two cultures, not knowing which to belong. I eventually found myself. I got to be comfortable in my skin. I got to know what I believed. I went from voting for Reagan in 1984 to supporting Dukakis in ’88.
I never, ever in my life suspected that I would ever see an African American male get any nomination from a major political party. Can I emphasize the never ever?
That is the promise of Barack Obama. People belittled his message of hope as naïve and they ridiculed it as well. They threw the kitchen – to hell with the kitchen sink – at him. They said he couldn’t lead. But you see, that’s what African-Americans have been told they couldn’t do all of their lives. You can’t do this. You can’t do that.
Fredrick Douglass. Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., my grandfather, me. All told that we couldn’t. Well, yes, we can. Emphatically: YES. WE. CAN!
And I will not leave out those European Americans who are savoring this, wallowing in this victory. That would be a grave disservice. That would be intellectually dishonest. Abraham Lincoln. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. John F. Kennedy. Robert Kennedy. It would be even more intellectually dishonest to NOT mention William Jefferson Clinton, whether some like it or not, he did a lot for African Americans and vice versa.
In some ways we are still haunted by the bigotry that threatened to destroy this country just two short decades ago. I got all tingly when I saw this diary headline:
Blacks Continue to Vote Race and Stick with Obama
On a DKos diary courtesy of user bethrsingleton. You see that short headline implies one thing – that African Americans as a group are incapable of independent thought. We’re held captive by group think. Nevermind that the diarist fails to mention her candidate’s hold on white voters. It allowed me to temper my joy and realize there’s still work to do. Yes, there is but for now I will savor it.
I started writing this at 12:23 a.m. EDT. My 13-year-old and 4-year-old sons are long in bed. Today I woke them up knowing that Barack Obama is the presumptive Democratic nominee, I awoke knowing that I can tell them that anything in America is possible, regardless of skin color.
Obama will apparently accept the Democratic nomination on Aug. 28, 2008. That shows that God has a sense of irony. It marks the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream Speech. That makes the name calling, the condescension and the supposedly benign insults regarding turning me white tolerable.
Finally having a candidate with the depth of Barack Obama made being called a nigger, spook, moulie and spearchucker all worth it.
Update: Wow guys, the rec list. Thank you very much.
Update II: Some have suggested I edit the title. I've always been a better reporter than copy editor-headline writer, so if you post suggestions, I'll be happy to comply.
Update III: Folks I am seriously overwhelmed with this response. I would love to be able to run through all the comments and thank everyone of you and I did to some, to those I missed, THANK YOU.