Change
So I was going through my RSS feeds this morning, reading my normal ration of news and I came across an article discussing a new batch of photos depicting the young presidency of Barack Obama.
Regardless of your politics, etc…one picture really struck me…
…and it had the following caption…
“President Barack Obama bends over so the son of a White House staff member can pat his head during a family visit to the Oval Office May 8, 2009. The youngster wanted to see if the President’s haircut felt like his own.”
Just a seemingly sweet photo right. A little silly even. And some called it cute.
For me I got a bit emotional.
Why you ask?
Because this photo was the first time it really, really struck me. The real historical impact Barack Obama’s election has had and will have on us as a nation…as a people.
Having grown up severely confused and self-hating due to my sexuality, one thing I know I never had at that time was anyone I could identify with as a kid. No one I could look to and especially not talk to as these thoughts of identity raced through my head. Due to that fact I spent a lot of time in my youth hiding…believing I was a sexual deviant. That struggle still has lasting impressions to this day.
But here is the thing for that little boy in that picture and other children now and in the future. The levy has been broken…the door flung wide open…kids now of African-American heritage have that person they can identify with…and believe that they to could be President one day.
I have had conversations with a number of Black friends or colleagues about what I saw as a lack of role models in the Black Community. That there was too much of the “rapper who made it big” and not enough of people to the level of Barack Obama. Politics aside…Obama is a well-spoken, intelligent, educated, family man. For people who still cling on to old, tired bigotry of Blacks, the messages and lifestyles of rappers, who seem to make such an impact on not just Black youth, but poser White suburban youth as well, helps reinforce hate-filed ideas.
If you crack a book and do some reading on the times prior to the movements of the 60′s – many felt and looked at Black people as basically dumb and animals. Hence why they were treated as sub-human with separate water fountains, bathrooms and places to sit. Even as things changed and improved, I think the media still kept reinforcing the idea of “Fear the Black Man” in news reports about crime, etc.
Even when Obama was running for President, I was amazed when, more then one longtime Democrat would make the following statement around me, “No I am not voting for Obama, there is just something I don’t like about him.” Uhhhh, to me that was always a more acceptable way to say they would never vote for him due to the fact he was Black. How else would one interpret that? I could understand if they said they weren’t voting for him because…and then rattled off his political stands on issues and they disagreed. No it was never that.
One person I knew kept saying they thought he was the anti-Christ, since the Bible referred to someone who would be well-liked. I had another friend make a similar inference. This really floored me. I had to point out that their have been a number of beloved political figures…Kennedy, Reagan, etc, etc. I lived through Reagan’s election and following Presidency and I use to see people all the time who would go on and on about him, wearing shirts, etc. I don’t remember people saying that due to that he was the anti-Christ.
So yes, all of this came from a photo of a little boy patting President Obama on the head to see if his haircut felt the same. Why? Because a whole Generation of youth will have someone just like them, that achieved greatness, made history through the quality of his mind and the heart of his character.
