Yes, I admit it, I am afraid for Obama. I am afraid for this wonderful Black man and his family who want to take us to new heights in this country. I am afraid that those who have no other interest than not seeing a Black man in the highest office in the land will make every attempt they can to hurt him now that it appears as though this could be a reality. Yes, I am afraid for him. He offers us such positive thoughts and ideas, so much of himself, so much that we need at this time after eight years of Bush, that I cannot imagine why anyone would not want to see this happen. But I know that those who don't like it, don't want it, won't tolerate it, are making their plans. I fear for my country in a way I have not feared for it in almost 40 years. I fear that the voices of reason will be shouted down by the lunatic fringe. I fear that the gold ring we are once again being offered, won't be accepted.
Join me as I turn on the light and watch the roaches scatter......
I remember, during the late 50s and early 60s, the promise that this country felt. JFK, Dr. King, Bobby Kennedy, and the many, many others who helped us get back from the precipice, were all targets. Targets of those who felt that their own dream was being snatched away by people who had been downtrodden, enslaved, humiliated, and left along the road of life to be turned into nothingness. They believed that the only ones who deserved to take part in the dream, or to have a dream, was them. They felt that anyone who didn't look like, or think like, them did not deserve to dream, to desire, to want, to need, to obtain. Anyone's dream but theirs was not valid. They tried to make us believe that we had no stake in this country. And for a while, they made us believe it.
As an African-American woman who came of age during those turbulent times, I remember how I felt when I couldn't try on clothes in a particular store, or couldn't ride in the front of the bus, or couldn't sit at a counter and order food. Those times are burned into my soul and like a computer, I can recall exactly where I was when certain events took place. I don't want to belabor the point, but I feel about Obama the way I feel about any African-American person who has achieved and who wants to do more. I care about his safety and about whether or not he will be able to accomplish all that he has set out to do. At this moment, as I watched Obama and Biden on stage, I wanted to scream at the Secret Service people to form a tighter circle around him. To protect him, to make sure that nothing happens to him. When I read some of the incendiary language put into print or on the radio or TV by Rush, Hannity, Combs, and others, it gives me pause, fearful pause. I know that there are some who take this language as tacit approval for doing what they want to do, to cause harm. They think that they've been given permission to hurt, and perhaps even kill, those who donot agree with them and who they feel do not have their best interests at heart. I don't know the thinking of these folks, but it seems to me that they see no other way of dealing with issues except with violence.
Obama represents, to them, what they perceive to be, as "coloreds taking over" and "this is my country, not yours." They make him out to be "different" or "not like you and me." They use language that is incendiary, racist, thoughtless, hurtful, and shameful. They don't care that the face of this country is not just their face. To them, it should be, and they are angry that it is not.
My fear for Obama comes at a high price to myself. Everytime I turn on the news or listen to the radio, I first listen for "Breaking News" then I wait to see what the breaking news is. I pray that it is not Obama or his family. My stomach hurts and my hands shake. I live in constant fear for him because I know what the wingnuts can do, and what they would do if given the chance. I hope that the moment never comes, but like most African-Americans, I wait! Because I, like my brothers and sisters around the country, know the ones that are out there. We know them....I know them....and I know that in their little minds they are doing what they do for the good of the country, to save the sanctity of their homes, to guard the white woman against the monster of a Black man, to preserve their dream. Their thinking is so distorted and so out of whack that to even try to think like them gives me a headache.
Please, America, let's do this right this time. Let's not let the wingnuts and the kooks take this election and make it into a farce. Let's make sure that Obama and Biden get the opportunity to serve ALL OF US. After all, that is what they want to do. My prayer is that Obama and his family will be safe. It should be your prayer, too.