Are We Ready for a Black President (Or Just Another Rich White One?)

I wish that more of my Tampa Bay area friends had been present on Wednesday, 7/16/08 (although we did have a standing room only crowd) as Motown Maurice and The Combination facilitated lively debate between panelists and audience from many different perspectives. That's what The Combination, and Wide aWoke Wednesday are all about--uniting us despite our many differing perspectives on the same topics.

While it's true that maybe the color of the President should not matter, unfortunately it does due to to a variety of historic, social, economic and political factors. After all if it didn't matter then I'm sure we would have had a Black, Native American, Latino, or Asian President w/in the last 400 years, seeing as how those were the people that built the America we enjoy today. However, it does matter in the context of our western/Eurocentric mindset, and historically, socially, economically, politically, and symbolically.

Now, does the possibility of Obama mean that racism will seek to exist? NO. Does it mean that the single Black mother working 2 jobs at $7/hr to get through college and to put food on her family's table will suddenly have an easier life? NO of course not. Does this mean that cops will stop racial profiling or our prisons will not continue to be 80% filled with the blacks and the poor? NO--although a President can actually have some impact in reforming the criminal & civil justice system. (Recall Pres. Ronald Reagan's alleged "War on Drugs" and how that has forever impacted the legal system. More recently, recall Pres. Bill Clinton’s controversial 1996 “one-strike” rule which made first-time offenses by those in public housing as punishable by incarceration? By the way, the "President and Congress have direct control of the federal prison population". Now there were more things that the average Joe without proper legal representation could rot in jail for.)

The bottom line is that the Presidency represents the world's most prestigious job in the world's richest country, and up until now, anyone with a drop of Black or non-WASP blood had absolutely no chance of navigating the networks or making the path that it takes to become President. This accomplishment is symbolically important b/c it tells the rest of the world, that yes, there is hope that ONE DAY it won't actually matter what color a person is as long as they are a capable leader. Until that day, we still have a long way to go, but as the old commercial says, "You've come a long way, baby."

For more information on Wide aWoke Wednesdays, please visit http://www.wideawoke.com/

http://www.thecombinationtv.com/ or call 813-951-0794. Our once monthly forums are typically held the 3rd Wednesday, 7:30pm with refreshments & a Meet & Greet at 6:30pm at USF Alumni Center - Traditions Hall 4202 E. Fowler Ave. Tampa, FL 33620.