Black People Should Be Happy . . . . Everythings Even With the Election of President Obama!

Listening to AM radio this morning, which I am almost certain contributes to 98% of the reason I walk into work with a mean mug you would normally associate with prison photos, the stand in host asked the question of "Do black people feel as if they have gotten even with whites with the election of a black President?" This rather assinine question I dismissed as radio entertainment and an attempt to solicit callers and increase radio ad revenue by the show host, until people actually called in to comment. The points people made were more assinine than the question itself, so much to the point that I have subconciously blacked them out of my head and thus can't regurgitate them, however they were catalyst enough to prompt me to call in myself.

My point was this, 1 for 43 should never be considered "even" in any situation. When it comes to matters of race, I do not believe 50/50 is necessary (which is the counterpoint the host attempted to use . . . asserting I wouldn't be happy until 41 more black men became president). Nevertheless, I do feel "even" should be a reflection of what portion of the American Pie you represent. For example, take any publicly founded college campus. If there are 20,000 students, and America is 13 - 15% minority, shouldn't 13-15% of the students on that campus be minority as well? This would assert a "equal" representation to the opportunities of college education.

A subsequent caller responded to my statement saying that "black people are all over the board on this one" (because another caller called in stating she didn't vote for Obama despite her being black because her family couldn't relate to his elitism as a result of his being Harvard educated. I could write another blog on this idiot notion in itself but who has the time) and that blacks have had opportunities to become President for "generations" now and haven't capitalized upon it until Barack Obama came along.

That response got me to thinking, perhaps the better question for the day that the host should ask is if white people feel that blacks should be satiated by the election of a black President as a guage for things being "equal" or "even" in our society. I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this one, but it'd be interesting to hear the responses.

Getting back to the "black people are all over the board" comment, is this something that is ridiculous an idea? Is it crazy to think that two black people, with two different upbringings, two different sets of life experiences and personalities would have differing ideas and thoughts? Does the shared pigmentation of our skin lead one to think that our thoughts too are one in the same? Homogenous thought is perhaps one of the most significant contributants to the persistence of bad ideas. Variety in our ideas is the premise for which our nation is built. It is the agent which is the catalyst for the ideas and ingenuity which has made us the model society on Earth. Therefore, the expectation that all black people be on the same page with respect to any idea is in itself an underestimation of black people.

I must too address the idea that black people have for "generations" had the opportunity to become president. My first action was to find the definition of generation. There are many, all of which point to a period of time. Here's one:

the term of years, roughly 30 among human beings, accepted as
the average period between the birth of parents and the birth of their
offspring.

Assuming this definition is widely accepted and agreed upon, permit me to walk you down a time line regarding the notion of the "generations" of opportunity black people have had with respect to becoming President of the greatest country on Earth. The first Pilgrims arrived (slaves in tow) in 1614. The Declaration of Independence was made real in 1776, with the promise of equality for all men as a endowment given to them by their creator. The United States constitution, which in itself proclaimed the inferiority of blacks in relation to whites with the three-fifths compromise, was accepted in 1786. The Civil War, renowned as the war to free the slaves, began in 1861. Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his March on Washington speech in 1963. So, assuming the caller was speaking to the generations of opportunity allowed to black people to become President, it took black people bit over one generation to accomplish this goal, a rather expeditiously and seemingly insurmountable feat to have been accomplished in a nation with a rich history of racial tension and oppression. The notion that many generations were afforded us is a farce.

Which returns me to my suggested question "if white people feel that blacks should be satiated by the election of a black President as a guage for things being "equal" or "even" in our society"? This callers commentary would suggest that we should. It also asserts that white people feel as if the election of one black President (and their more than apparent contribution in accomplishing that feat) absolves them of the injustices, discrimination and prejudices they have placed upon the welted backs of black people since the day the first Pilgrim set foot on Plymouth Rock.