Is America Ready for a Black President?

My aunt just sent me an email congratulating me on my candidate winning the democratic nomination. “He deserves it” she says, but follows that up by saying that he is far too liberal for her to vote for, and while she wishes she could vote for him, she doesn’t think that “being black alone is reason enough to vote for anyone.” I couldn’t agree more. But I smile at the irony of this statement, as I am certain that only four years ago when this country proved capable of re-electing George Bush, being black alone would have been reason enough NOT to vote for someone. Now some say he is lucky to be black and in the right place at the right time. My, how far we have come. And we only had to dangle by a thread over rock bottom to get here.

Of course, my father, who has always voted Republican but has promised me he would vote for Barak Obama if he won the nomination (perhaps because he never believed he had a chance) still insists that this country is not ready to elect a black president. He reminds me that there are at least three organizations in our town that do not accept blacks. This, I insist, is precisely why Obama must win. Not because he is a black man, but because he is the first person to cross our deep seeded racial divides and to galvanize people so much so that they see beyond his color and threatening name.

Barak Obama has defied a nation. He stared down the face of a mercilessly ignorant society and somehow saw something he believed in. Something that told him we were ready to get to the heart of the matter, to face our greatest demons and answer some burning questions, and thus, to heal. We CAN learn from our centuries of mistakes, lies, and hypocrisies. We CAN accept that the white men do not have all the answers and do have far too much power! We can face racism head on; acknowledge it, admit to it, discuss it, and even survive it. YES WE CAN! And let’s face it, only a black man raised by white people in a inherently racist country, who was always damned if he did and damned if he didn’t and succeeded in spite of it all, has not only the Audacity of Hope, but the audacity and the right to hold up that mirror in our faces, and to put under a microscope, everything we have been terrified into believing was “right”.

While the media and campaign smear tactics threw us every bone to justify our racist tendencies, we refused to bite (enough of us anyway). We were able to consider the idea that we do not know the depths of our racial divides the way this biracial man does. We appreciate the experience that overcoming these obstacles may play in facing the detrimental class and partisan divides of this country and our world. We trust that the experience he lacks in the debacle that is our government and foreign policies has afforded him a steadfast commitment to and faith in basic human decency. (Anyway, how much experience does one need to make such a mess of things? Can’t his opponents hear the resounding “thank God” and collective sigh of relief every time they mention his lack of political experience?) And finally, we appreciate his genuine desire to forgive and rise above and to help us all do the same.

I recently heard one pundit explaining the generational divide in our country. Speaking of racial inequalities and gay rights, he says “to the younger I generations, it is obvious.” He is right, thank goodness. It is obvious that we are all entitled to equal EVERYTHING. It is obvious that believing otherwise has damaged our society and shamed our reputation in this world. And it is obvious that the ignorant and antiquated views that suggest, or more often demand otherwise have overstayed their welcome and are a fading phenomenon. Barak Obama’s victory is just the exclamation point we needed to reinforce this statement.

I feel for Hillary Clinton’s supporters. I understand what her nomination meant to those women whom are now too bitter to vote for any man of any color. These are the women who remember the days when their kind had no say, or the women who had the right to vote, but whose votes were meant only to echo and reinforce that of their husbands. But those days are long gone. And I, in my thirty two years, have never felt that any man had anything on me. I knew we were ready for a woman President, but I never imagined we were capable of legitimately considering a Barak Hussein Obama. And now I pray that the spite and disappointment of these Clinton supporters does not come at the expense of my children’s future.

I love that Barak Obama is a black man, but it is truly just the chocolate icing on the cake (pun intended in the sweetest way). His nomination represents the leaps and bounds of progress this country has made and speaks volumes of our possibilities and future. This cannot be ignored or denied. But it is his steadfast optimism, faith in our nation, insurmountable voice and vision for our country that feels like the answer to my nightly prayers and pleas for a better world for my children.

I will continue to pray every night that the Good Lord lead us in the right direction. I have made a point of wording it this way rather than to flat out ask that Obama become our president, in an attempt to express my faith in an all-knowing higher power. However, I will not consider it a coincidence if my greatest political wish is the answer to my prayers.