I have been gone for a long time but today, I have to speak out, if only for today.
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We voted for President Obama because after President Bush we we longing for authenticity in our politics on all levels.
I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together - unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction - towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren.
Remarks of Senator Barack Obama
"A More Perfect Union"
Constitution Center
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
I believed in the words this President spoke with all my heart. In fact, I yearned so much for authenticity that I truly believed that this man could move us forward. And to a certain extent he is.
However, as the days and months and now years pass I am realizing how compromised he is by the very skin he is in. I am also realizing that the whole Jeremiah Wright story might have done some serious psychological damage to this man. Even though the President finally handled that situation and seemed to rise above it with the words of this speech he was badly hurt at a deep level. I emphathize with him and I can understand why he is running scared to a certain extent.
Thinking about that whole situation made me begin to think about the connections to all of the problems he has had dealing with issues of race since becoming President. The Professor Gates story further compromised him when he did the right thing, at first, by speaking up for Gates and then backed away when he was throttled by the MSM, FOX the Conservative Right and even some Democrats for standing by Gates. Since then he has been going further and further into his shell regarding race. He always tries not to get entangled with anything racial thus we have Van Jones, ACORN, and now Ms. Sherrod.
As a black woman I have seen this coming and I have shared this concern with my husband. My husband believed that his life was going to get harder as a result of Obama's President and so far he has been correct. We, as a family and like many in this country, have lost much in the last couple years and are barely hanging on in more ways than one. However, at least we are hanging on and we are grateful.
But what should one do when one finds oneself imprisoned in one's own skin? This is a hard question to answer. In minority communities many of us feel this way. However, fortunately for us we do not have to work it out on the world stage like President Obama does. Many of us go on with our lives because we have to. He, on the other hand, has no space to work out the damage that was done from Wright and so he keeps deflecting as he gets boxed in further and further from the racial attacks day in and day out. The President is trying to find space to function amidst all this but he cannot because he is avoiding and not dealing with the very issue that can strengthen him.
I have learned in my life that it does not make sense to run from anything. In fact the further you run the faster the crap you are running from in your life seems to catch up with you. The most effective way to deal with any issue that is vexing, is to tackle it head on. Now President Obama might feel he has no space to deal with race in his life but the longer he keeps putting it off the more and more compromised he will become and that will only hurt him more and us, by extension, as a country. Why you might ask? Well, because the more he lets these punks dangle his race in his face without pushing back the more he enables them and the more power they get. In effect he is helping to create a monster and a big stanking boil that will only infect his Presidency and eventually cause major damage. He has to find a way to get out of the cage he is in with regard to his blackness.
He should use the Sherrod incident to push back on this whole narrative that is being created about him being racist etc. If he does not do something definitive about this situation he will lose more credibility and he will cement the view that he is scared of and compromised by race.
The President should probably revisit A More Pefect Union to find inspiration because I have time and time again
He should look at these words:
...But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America - to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.
The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American...
Mr. President it is time to come out of your corner.
He should look at these words in his speech and take his own advice. Use this moment as another teachable moment and accept the fact that his blackness is not something he can put aside or ignore when it is convenient. Until he deals with the fact that he is compromised by his skin color he will never move forward and niether will we. We will be forever trapped with him in moments like the last 48 hours.
Mr. President take the time to fix this. You will be much stronger and better for it. Just look at Ms. Sherrod and all she has gone through if she can do it so can you. Take the time to talk to her and find out how she got pass her hurdles. This happened for a reason. Don't let the opportunity go to waste. Act before it is too late.