He's Got the Whole World In His Hands

Obama must be feeling a lot like Atlas right now.

For those of y'all not up on your Greek mythology, Atlas was one of the Titans, and according to legend, he was forced to hold the entire world on his shoulders for all eternity. In fact, the only time he got a break was when Hercules was stupid enough to take on the duty for a couple of hours. Once freed of that burden, Atlas decided he liked life a lot more without having to carry the Earth on his back and told Hercules the job was his.

As strong as Hercules was, he almost died trying to hold the world. However, Atlas's stupidity eventually saved old Hercules. He convinced the Titan that he loved holding the world, and asked Atlas to hold the Earth for one second while he got a cushion for his shoulders. Atlas agreed, and Hercules left him there looking stupid.

Now that I've finished with that history lesson, back to my idea that Obama must feel like Atlas right now. And, George W. Bush is playing the role of Hercules.

See, Bush used trickery, deception and division to gain access to the White House for the past eight years. During his tenure he's royally screwed us all. The economy is crap, national security is crap and the environment is crap. In fact, the world currently looks like the backyard at Clifford the Big Red Dog's house, big stinking piles of crap everywhere.

So, I'm guessing that President-elect Barack Obama feels the weight of the world weighing pretty heavily on his shoulders right now as Bush shifts that burden away from himself as quickly as possible. Everybody was praising Bush for promising to make sure the transition to a new administrations was smooth, but I wasn't surprised at all. I'm pretty sure Bush doesn't have any desire to be president anymore; he's made all the money he needed to make, and he damn sure doesn't want to clean up his own mess.

To make matter worse, Obama is inheriting one of the toughest jobs in the world with massive expectations of success and failure. Everybody who drank the hope Kool-Aid expects Obama to make their lives better, and everybody who passed when the cup came around expects him to bring on Armageddon. I read a piece on a website I frequent that basically noted that five days into his tenure, Obama was already looking like a failure due to the selections he's made for this White House staff.

Five days in!

I appreciate that need to expect results and not let Obama slide just because we share a race, but I'm going to need all the cynics to fall back. As a cynic myself, I think I've earned that right. Just fall back.

Give the man time, at least one term, to see if he can right this ship and stay true to the ideals he espoused on the campaign trail. If he fails, don't vote for him again. Trust me, if black people refuse to vote for him, there is no way Obama gets another term in the White House. It's that simple; if he doesn't make our lives better, we can just withhold our support.

The truth is, Obama has a lot of power right now, and he's got a big ass mess to clean up using that power. I honestly don't expect him to get around to throwing the might of the presidential office behind many issues other than the economy or Iraq for quite some time. I'm cool with that. All I expect him to do is make smart decisions that improve people's lives. Nothing more and nothing less.

Although he could curse Bush our for me the next time he visits the White House.


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Get A Tissue and A Notebook

Great story by Wil Haywood over at the Post about a black man who served as a butler to eight presidents in the White House.


Check it out if you've got some time.

But, I suggest you grab a notebook and a box of tissues.

And my real post for today is below this one.


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While We Were Celebrating

Black people have a strange relationship with homosexuality.

For those of you who may have missed it, residents of California recently approved a ban on gay marriage. African Americans voted overwhelmingly in favor of that ban. It was a huge blow to the civil rights of gay people, and there are plans to take the issue to the Supreme Court.

I've read several stories in recent days about how exactly this ban was passed (The Mormon Church played a huge role. Imagine that, blacks and Mormons working together!). What stood out to me was how supporters of the ban preyed on heterosexual people's fear that allowing gay marriage would somehow threaten marriage between straight folks.

I've been married for almost three years now, and if I've learned one thing, it's that the biggest threats to my marriage are me and my wife. I just find it laughable that people are really afraid that if they allow gay people to get married it will make it harder for them to stay married.

What's ironic is how easily this line of thinking gained traction in the black community. Honestly, we should be the last people attracted to the idea that granting a minority group rights will threaten the majority, but that wasn't the case.

Which brings me back to my original comment about the strange relationship between blacks and homosexuality.

Throughout my life, raised as a pretty traditional Christian, I've been taught two things about being gay: it's a sin and it's none of my business.

That seems to be the attitude for many black church folks. We readily acknowledge that homosexuality is wrong according to the Bible, but we typically consider what people do behind closed doors none of our concern.

How else do you explain the way black preachers can unabashedly lampoon "sissies" from the pulpit while at the same time employing obviously gay men as the musical directors of their choirs? How about the one lesbian sister who comes to church dressed exactly like a man and who is hugged and kissed by the same folks who refer to gay men as faggots?

Black people have mastered the art of ignoring homosexuality, while at the same time fearing it.

It's not a particularly hard situation to understand. The black family and black manhood have always been under attack in America. Combined with black people's overwhelming support of traditional Christianity, it's not surprise that many black people are uncomfortable with homosexuality. In fact, if you consider the fact that many black people also have experienced racism at the hands of white homosexuals, and that gay activists love to tie their movement to the civil rights movement, well it was damn near inevitable that the two groups clash.

Since so many black people are already worried about the decline in successful heterosexual marriages in the black community, they are much more willing to believe lies about the cause of this problem. It's the same reason so many white Americans are willing to believe the lies about black criminality. When people feel threatened, they look for targets to lash out at, and they are not circumspect when it comes to assigning blame.

However, despite black people's poor choices on this issue, I am bothered by the response from some prominent gay white people, like Dan Savage and Andrew Sullivan, and their supporters. They have decided to lay the blame for the Proposition 8's passage solely at the feet of black voters ignoring the fact that whites were pretty split on the measure and that the Mormon Church spent millions to get the proposition passed.

There has always been a weird tension between gay people and black people. Many gay people seem shocked that a group that has been oppressed as much as black people could participate in oppression. It's as if gay people have never actually taken the time to understand the complicated history of African Americans.

Black people oppress each other. During the civil rights and black power movements, black men oppressed women. We've oppressed Asian, Mexicans and any other group that we view as a threat. We've even oppressed white people when given the chance. Just because black people have been victims of oppressions does not bestow upon us any special sort of nobility or even empathy. We are still human beings that behave like most other human beings.

Personally, I believe that the solution to reducing tension between black people and gays is a cessation of comparisons between the two experiences in America and an honest dialogue between the two groups about their needs and concerns. Instead, we all seem determined to spend our time sniping at each other and playing the blame game.

That's not going to get things done.






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Afterglow

Somebody pass me a cigarette.

And I don't even smoke.

But, this feels like the kind of moment that needs smoke rings and a tiny pinpoint of orange light glowing in the dark to be appreciated.

I'm sleep-deprived and dealing with a lingering cold, but man I feel good. I feel real good.

Sated.

I started this blog in January. More than 300 posts later, I have people regularly reading what I write and being inspired by my words. I began this blog because of Barack Obama and what his candidacy would mean for racial conversations in this country. I haven't been disappointed.

I didn't canvass any neighborhoods, I didn't call any voters. I don't have any lawn signs and aside from a few shirts my wife got for my son, I don't own any Obama paraphernalia. But, I still feel like I'm a part of this.

All of us are.

When I say "us" I don't just mean black people or Obama supporters. I don't even mean just Americans. Every person on this planet who cared about this election, who understands the significance of an Obama victory is a part of this triumph. This is a moment for us all.

We have many more mountains to climb, many more rivers to cross, but we have reached a mountaintop. Big dreams can be fulfilled. None of us can deny that now.

I've seen people all over the internet and real world try to explain what this moment means to them. Some have been painfully eloquent, others have been dreadfully ignorant. I'm just happy folks have this amazing event to discuss.

There is a special feeling of charity in the black community right now. We feel closer to our fellow Americans than we have since the slaves were freed. Seriously, I think black people understand that this moment isn't just about us, it's about everybody who was willing to let go of some baggage and trust again.

I didn't wake my son up to watch Obama give his speech. He gets really cranky when you break his sleep and he had already been up pretty late watching the returns come in. I wonder if I'll regret that decision in the future?

I mentioned my son because I picked him up this morning while watching cable news and I looked into his face. He had a little chocolate on his lip from eating a cookie he had begged and pleaded to get. I looked at him different today. When I looked in his face I truly believed that his life would be better than mine.

For the past few years, I've never believed that. I thought that my son would inherit a much worse world because people were no longer willing to be honest about racism, and therefore progress had ended. I am so happy I was wrong. As my son squirmed in my arms, desperate to be put down so he could run around some more, I thought, "Yes you can."

Yes you can be the world's preeminent doctor.

Yes you can live a life of happiness and not one crushed beneath the burden of double consciousness.

Yes you can raise your children to fully invest their hearts in this country.

Yes you can be president.

See, most of the world may not change, but I think black people will. This is a defining moment in our history. We will believe more, we will work harder and we will acomplish things. Sometimes all it takes is one victory to believe things will be different. This is that victory. Our communities may still be overrun by crime, our schools may be overburdened and underfinanced, but I think black people now realize that things don't have to be that way.

We don't have to settle for less. We don't have to hoard success. We can dream HUMONGOUS dreams.

That is powerful.

He can.


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