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My President is (insert color here)...

So it is official, America has a new President. First off I would like to start by saying that I wish President Obama all of the success in the world. Because for me to root against him and hope for him to fail would cement my place in moronic history. Our very existence as a people depends on the success of those in power for our Country.
Now, here is my issue... Everywhere I turn I see signs and web posts proclaiming "My President is Black". Now, while I do understand the historical significance of having a President in office who does not fit the standard "white-bread" mold we have seen for centuries, to simply say that the President is black is not entirely true. I could proclaim loudly that "My President is White", and I would be just as right as you are. The truth of the matter is, that our President is a mixture of several races and cultures all rolled up in to one well spoken, family oriented and educated man. He is representative of what most of our Nation consists of. But more importantly he represents what we all want our sons to become (no not President of the United States). We want our sons to become educated, diverse, responsible, family oriented, and very proud.
Now, believe me black people, I am in no way implying that this event is not monumental nor would I try to take that from you. I have absolutely no problem with people showing pride and excitement with what has transpired for Mr. Obama and African American people everywhere.
But as Americans, let's not cheapen what he has accomplished by assuring that his presidency becomes defined and dependant on the color of his skin. Let's focus on ALL of the reasons to be proud to have him as our President. I watched the BET awards at the end of last year during the elections, and throughout the entire program there were Obama supporters making a plug for his candidacy every chance they got, and I have absolutely no problem with that. I watched Puffy, LL Cool J, Common, Russell Simmons, and many other people proclaim their support for Obama and was not the least bit offended or surprised by that. But, when I saw Ice Cube (someone who I thought quite a bit of for his talent) come out and finish his speech by telling everyone to go to the polls and "vote black", I took great issue with that. The message that I felt he was sending was that it was okay to go out and vote for someone just based off the color of their skin without educating yourself on what that candidate has to offer, or what his/her stances on the issues are. I saw another rapper come out with a song that proclaimed... "My President is black, my Lambo (Lamborghini) is blue"!!! Are you serious??? With all of your talent, this is the most intellegent thing you could say about this monumental achievement? This is exactly the kind of focus and thought process that is going to make President Obama's job even harder. I am sure that if we asked him, even he would express a distaste for the parallel drawn between him and an overpriced foreign car during these tough economic times we are facing. People... These things affect us all equally as Americans regardless of our color. And we owe it to our children to make sure that they are aware of the facts and stances of all candidates and that when they are old enough to vote, they are free to do so for whatever candidate they believe is the best for the job, regardless of the color of his skin.
So instead of proclaiming to our youth that "Our President is Black", why don't we instead proclaim that our President is an educated man, or that he is a good husband, or that he is a great father, and let all of our nation's youth follow those examples first and teach them to focus on race last.
President Obama broke barriers, but it is up to us to break habits !

Posted by prouddaddy on 2009-06-23 17:58:17 | Rating: