Editorial
Part IV: Why Obama Will Win in November 2012
As your humble correspondents, my colleagues and I know that you expect us to report the facts, the truth and just about enough information so you can make your own mind up about things. And God knows that we try to do this as best as we can!
However, how can one separate themselves from their background? How can we write a story about racism without drawing from some of our own personal experiences? We are, after all, integral members of the African Diaspora.
Yes – we are supposed to be journalists and columnists; but we are exactly like those journalists embedded with an advance platoon during a war. Most of what these journalists see is chaos, blood, guts, glory; and the fog of war comes directly from their narrow prism. In juxtaposition, a rag such as ours cannot help but be hostage to circumstance. Besides, we are, ostensibly, not alone in this.
American television and online news networks like Fox News and MSNBC are successful simply because they are divided along the lines that divide America as a country. They, each and respectively, appeal to conservatives and progressives while the credible CNN – forebearer of cable news – suffers from lower viewership, readership and listenership.
This introduction is basically to make a point: How can we write of Barack Obama without feeling a certain sense of collegiality with the man? His father was from the continent, for crying out loud! Not only did Obama Senior achieve the ultimate with an Ivy League education; he also, surreptitiously, squirreled his way into the American dream with a biracial child.
Many members of the Diaspora can, absolutely, relate to this. But that is not to say that they blindly support Obama. No. Besides, the 44th President has not done as much as he ought to have done given his position as the most powerful man in the world. Frankly, if we had had our way, Obama would have cured world hunger, gotten rid of dictators and started the process of healing the Black World of all that ails it.
But just like the wretched of the earth, members of the Diaspora are also realistic and patient. Many will tell a tale of a time they had to bite their tongue, and not say what was on their minds when slighted by another who did not treat them as equal. And many of those in the Diaspora see Obama not leap into battle simply because another white person has spoken down to him or questioned his legitimacy. Donald Trump and Orly Taitz know for a fact that Obama was born in America – but know that a certain segment of the population does not want Obama in the People’s House simply because of his skin color.
