As an African American who hails from The "Heart Of Dixie" I would like to take time to offer another perspective of the impact of President Barack Obama's recent inauguration.
Despite the overwhelming accolades that our President has earned for his extraordinary ability to "unite" our country, I offer another viewpoint, from a Southern perspective.
While I wish him the best, this is merely a Southern reality check, and as I offer this perspective, I wonder if there is anyone else out there who feels the same way I do.
For almost two whole years I watched and supported President Barack Obama; prayed for him and Michelle and their girls, every day on the campaign trail. Early on, I grabbed hold to his message, and tried to embrace his idea that there is more that unites us than divides us. Along with that, I accept and appreciate his core values. And though I never met the man, I bonded with him in a very profound way. I ran in the Democratic primary as a delegate from Alabama for Barack Obama. More importantly, I voted for him. And since November 4, I have rejoiced in his unfathomable victory. I have been glued to the television following his every movement in anticipation of the day he would assume the mantle of leadership.
BUT, I also worry-- that many of us have allowed ourselves to become enraptured with the idea that President-Elect Obama can lay hands on us and miraculously heal this nation (and it’s people) of all of its ills – or that he’s some magical Mr. fix-it, whom everyone is equally enchanted with.
Yes, Obama’s election and his whole pilgrimage toward power has been quite surreal. But, with respect to his new rise to power, I believe there is a such thing as being too patronizing, which can in a sense become misleading. And in the case of CNN, this media giant has been overly patronizing to a point that approaches the mythical.
Being from the South, I believe there are realities that must eventually be faced. Everybody’s talking. But, I haven’t heard or read very much from any Southern voices.
The best thing President Obama can do for people like me, is help us fully comprehend how his ideology is to come to fruition in an environment that pretends to embrace inclusion and diversity, while promoting separation and exclusion.
So many of us from Southern states like Alabama and Georgia have sustained such deep battle scars, from decades of good-ole-boy politics, corruption, lies, cover-ups, exclusion, and miscarriages of justice that are so deeply ingrained into the fabric and fiber of the rural South, until it is difficult at best to really believe that the change we need, can or will come. They stem from decades of internalized racism in the minds and hearts of both whites and blacks alike.
Every day, I live around white folks in the south who still don’t respect Mr. Obama’s victory or his status as the newly inaugurated President of The United States, and express insult at the mention of his name.
I live an area where on November 5th, local newspapers in general circulation blatantly snubbed him, relegating his Presidential victory to the size of a 4-inch ad space with a thumb-nail photo, in a corner of the front pages.
And I know of schools, like the one where I formerly taught, who would not permit the students or the staff to celebrate his victory or prepare bulletin boards displaying his image.
I live in a community where white men dressed like cowboys --boots and all -- ride around in big 4 X 4 pick-up trucks with shot-guns hanging in the rear windows and confederate battle flags plastered on the vehicle, who still believe that "South Will Rise Again!"
I live in a community where banks and other institutions will close their doors on Monday, January 19th, but flamboyantly advertise with signs on their windows and doors that they are NOT closed in observance of the King Holiday, but rather, in observance of President’s day.
Note that CNN openly criticized of Ed Vaughn, Alabama’s NAACP State President, because he expressed the view that the Azalea Maids from Mobile degraded the black race, and because he likened D.L. Hughley’s Show to a "Minstrel Show." But, the reality is, you are not in the same place we are. Much of the injustice that abides in the rural south is rooted in the psyche and emotions of those who have been long victimized by it.
I so want to grab hold to that "hope" that he preaches. I so want to believe that change will come. Just as white America has long needed healing. I, too need to be healed.
Perhaps, as a part of that, President Obama can help me understand why I shouldn’t feel that antebellum "hoop dresses" are degrading toward black people.
The reality of the rural south suggests that President Obama’s phenomenal victory will touch only those who allow themselves to be touched by it.
While I have not discussed my impressions with others, I still believe that others of my generation, and perhaps older probably have that same sense of being disconnected from the "change" we really need.
What I really need at this point, is for President-Elect Obama to help me and others of my generation understand what really needs to happen—or what can happen -- in these southern hick towns where democracy and freedom of speech seem to be mere pipe dreams that can never be realized.
I’m only eight years older than Obama. But, time and circumstance have given us very different perspectives on the true State of the Union, where the south is concerned. When I was younger, I, too held this youthful optimism about black life, believing in that "beloved community" that Dr. King preached about. But, as each decade of my life has unfolded, I realize that dream has become so twisted and contorted, and turned into something totally foreign in comparison to it’s original intent. And after things stay the same for so long, one comes to a point where he or she stops believing that change or racial progress will ever be a reality. Enter cynicism. It is reminiscent of an old slave song that goes, "I been down so long ‘til getting’ up don’t cross my mind."
The minds and thinking of both blacks and whites in the rural south must be re-trained and re-shaped to fully experience the change we need.
There is no way I would EVER have wanted to see Obama ride through Alabama or any southern state in a "slow-rolling" train under any circumstances, President or not.
God knows I love and respect Mr. Obama, from the bottom of my heart. I am filled with pride for him and I pray for a successful and prosperous term of office.
But, I’m from Alabama, and I am sure there are others of my generation who will need a lot of time and attention to fully embrace this idea of "we-are-oneness". Because where I’m from, without question, we are not.