Being a cynic comes with the natural propensity to thrive in disbelief, or engage in doubt, or omit to hope – as my mother and mother-in-law demonstrated over a year ago when I relayed to them that there was a black guy running for the American Presidency who could win.
Being a cynic comes with the natural propensity to thrive in disbelief, or engage in doubt, or omit to hope – as my mother and mother-in-law demonstrated over a year ago when I relayed to them that there was a black guy running for the American Presidency who could win. You see, they, being black, were inherent cynics. My mother, being African, was pleased to know that this character’s name was ‘Barack Obama’ (As has being stated numerously, ‘Barack’, roughly, is Swahili for ‘Blessed one’.). Being Christian, though, she did not approve of the name ‘Hussein’ (whatever!). My mother-in-law, being Jamaican, simply could not conceive in her mind the physical act or process of white people—in their senses, with all faculties working as they should—voting for a black man. "They ah go kill him", she would say in Patois. I would laugh and say, "Just watch." I, being mixed race, born and bred in Britain, always believed it was possible for Obama to win, though I suffered no illusion that it would be a tough race. My father, Irish, muttered not a word. As my diary history will reveal, I have been an ardent supporter for over a year.
It is understandable that black people, especially older black people, felt that way. Nobody, except them, understands what they have been through and how much they have had to grapple with; the Jamaicans coming to England in the 40s, the Africans coming to England to study law, then returning to Africa to practice law in lands where the constitution was a talisman and the closest thing to a Barrister was the local Medicine man. Then returning when things didn’t work out so well to work useless jobs, build underground tunnels and sweep railway stations. All with degrees in their pockets. All the while, being conditioned to believe, to understand that they were inferior. Bearing all that in mind, it is totally understandable that they felt anemically skeptical about the chances of a skinny black guy named ‘Obama’. Same thing in America as well. Black people didn’t warm to Obama’s candidacy until white Iowa validated him. They did not believe until the seal came down. Now, they are the bedrock of his coalition.
I’ve always been thankful for the fact that I was born in an era of tolerance. Even though the moral fabric of society is undoubtedly on the course of what appears to be irreversible corrosion (with teenagers carrying knives and guns, etc), racial attitudes have vastly improved. Most white people now understand that you cannot blurt out certain things, or do certain things. Most people of black and ethnic minority backgrounds understand that there are legitimate mechanisms one can use to rectify or address acts of intolerance or occasional stupidity. Most people have friends from diverse backgrounds, many are engaged in interracial relationships, most people are no saddled with the animosity of the old timers. Perhaps it was because of this backdrop that I never failed to entertain belief that Barack Obama could be the 44th President of the United States. What does this possibility even mean to me? The notion of a black man being sworn in as President of America would mean a lot in many respects, especially psychologically. But it is the idea of this black man that would tickle our imaginations the most. God damn, he makes us proud. When he speaks, when he articulates things, and defines concepts so succinctly, or squints, or put his fingers to his lips—as only a President does, as Kennedy did. Fucking hell, he makes us proud. He is not a token figure either; he is not the token black Partner in some city law firm chucked on there to make everybody feel good. This is not equal opportunities; he did this all by himself. On that cold day in Springfield, Illinois, when he declared his candidacy, when black people grimaced at his audaciousness, when I tapped at my laptop and concluded, after having seen his speech that: "this geezer is going to be a problem", when tears dropped from my mother eyes with brazen disbelief at the fact that white Iowa picked a black man over the white opponents, when my father smiled that knowing smile. God damn, he made us proud. He makes us proud.
Dreams aside, on the other side of the aisle, we have the old warrior and his feisty partner, riling up crowds, appealing to the worst in humanity, declaring that: "Barack Obama does not see America the way [they] do", ignoring the fact that the reality of a black man—or mixed race man—while different from that of a white man, converges at a certain point, because at the end of the day, we are all citizens of our respective countries. We pledge allegiance to the same flags, defend the same freedoms, thirst for the same things and aspire to the same goals. Our differences should not be perceived as liability, or wedge issues to be exploited by contemptuous politicians, but rather as strength. The Republican Party’s lack of ideas, moral core and sense of fairness is responsible for the kind of divisive campaign they are running. After having being at the helm for 8 years, after having fostered on the world a mechanism of government that is alien to any understanding of most sane people, not to add devoid of any academic categorisation, they wage a campaign in the 21st century, in which they compare the Democratic Candidate for President, a black man, to Osama bin Laden, the terrorist murderer. They propagate evil similes and innuendos designed to appeal to worst of human sentiments. In the 21st century, people hang effigies of a black man in the incomprehensible bid to make statements understandable to them alone—racists, extreme right wingers and intolerant bastards. And John McCain, a man hailed as honourable, stands by and praises the "energy" of people who attend his rallies? Sarah Palin, the lipsticked instigator, smiles on stupidly while declaring—just so that it was thoroughly clear—that their opponent, a black man, "palls around with terrorists", an appeal to the worst in humanity. As was pointed out on the Huffingtonpost.com, we have racist idiots like Rush Limbaugh, who charges that Obama -- aided and abetted by Ayers and ACORN -- is "smack dab in the middle" of a 30-year plot to teach black children to "hate, hate, hate" America. Despicable and criminal allegations and smears rooted in the fantasy of racist marauders and extreme ideologues. People with the power to shape opinion, instead of using the tool for good, bask in hate and intolerance.
The farce that is the American media has been very helpful in propagating this stupidity. American journalists bother about mundane trivialities when there are burning questions that require thoughtful responses. They concentrate on small things—like Joe the Plumber, at the expense of deserving issues. Somebody on Fox news, a fully grown man with an education and probably a mortgage, insisted that Sarah Palin had foreign policy experience because she can see Russia from Alaska. The foolery here is equivalent to me saying I am a good Doctor because my wife told me about a surgery she performed two days ago. It is imbecilic, laden with baffling senselessness, and obviously dangerous. When your justification for placing a uniquely naïve woman, with unsurpassable incuriosity, a heartbeat away from the most volatile office on earth (think Taliban, Putin, global financial crisis, etc) is that she can see Russia from her house, you are either indescribably stupid or irredeemably cynical. This is the Republican Party. This is the Conservative movement. This is John McCain.
It never really was about race. Because if Obama was McCain and McCain was Obama, I would support McCain, and I imagine many people would as well. However, the Republicans have tried to make it about race hoping that along the line, the dynamic of white racism would become a component in the process, thus ensuring an Obama loss. It may yet happen. Obama may yet lose. I will take the day off work on the 5th of November to observer the results as they come in. I hope, as do many people on DailyKos, that Obama wins. Indeed, some people believe it’s over (I went to the bookies on Saturday to place a bet on the American election and they said they were no longer taking any bets.). In any case, whatever happens in this election, even if the Republicans succeed in their evil plot, as a black man, as a mixed race man, even though I am not American, I will be able to tell my children that they can be anything in the world, that there is no limit to their potential if they dare to hope.
Bless.