Before I get started, I'd like to encourage you to read the article linked below. It's quite long and I am actually still reading it as I am penning this blog. But it, so far, is a very insightful look into Barack Obama, President. It's written by one of my favorite authors, Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of Between the World and Me.
My President Was Black
As January 20th approaches and we get ready to transition to the Donald Trump presidency, I can't help but wonder how things may change for Black people over the next four years. As I looked through my Instagram feed the day after Obama's farewell speech, many of those I follow expressed how much they admired the President and the First Lady. I felt the need to post my own tribute as well. What I noticed is that many people weren't just posting or expressing their feelings about Obama, the President. What touched them the most was the relationship that Barack and Michelle displayed so openly, one of support, of loyalty, of strength, of love. It came across as genuine, something not seen too often amongst public figures, especially amongst politicians. I think that is something that many Black Americans were drawn to in their admiration of the First Couple. I know it was something I was drawn to.
Some people on my feed bristled at the attention all us black folk were giving the Obamas. After all, these were "celebrities" that everyone was getting worked up over. Barack and Michelle don't know us, and we don't know them. They're going to go back to Chicago or stay in D.C. and go on living their life and we'll go back to or lives, filling the space some of us have for them with the pissed off angst that many of us will have for Trump and his rhetoric. But I think there is one thing that gets lost in this whole dynamic: We will more than likely never see this again.
Will we one day have another Black president? Maybe. I don't think that will come anytime soon because under the 8 years that Obama has held office, I think society has dictated that this was a once in a lifetime event. You know the saying, "everybody gets their one"? I feel like the actual election of Donald Trump was the American public saying that to Black America. They gave us our 'one', and now Trump is their path back to normalcy. White America is back with a vengeance, giving us our one so we can shut up our talk of a racist America. This is the America they want and this is the America they shall have. "Let history record that we gave you one, though!", is what I hear when I see Trump preparing for his upcoming 4 year term.
The politics of it all, was very interesting over the last eight years. Conversation on the ground was even more interesting, with white people going from pissed off that a Black person was president to hailing the day another white man would take his place. When he as re-elected, it seemed the countdown began to the day when the Obamas would leave office. There would be no more history to be made (aside from the type of history a country makes when they elect someone like Donald Trump to be president). No more progress with electing a much more qualified (and white!) woman into office. No, our country went full anti Obama and they were proud of it on election night. This was America taking it's country back! I had one of my coworkers say "It took us eight years to get a new president.", while another said that Trump was exactly what this country needed to get back on track. I've heard people say things like "It's a shame what has happened to free speech over the last eight years". I've even heard people blame Obama for the rash of police and other shootings against unarmed Black people that occurred, saying his rhetoric made race a divisive issue in this country. What I never heard from any of these people? The truth about the things that Obama was actually able to do, in spite of the major resistance and down right refusal to cooperate he experienced from his fellow lawmakers. I never heard my white counterparts express sadness over the rash of police brutality. I never heard reason. All I heard were reasons why they felt Obama was to blame.
Obama was the best of the best, as is often required by Black people when they are chosen for high regarded positions. He was often criticized for his interpretation of the constitution, even though, as a president that held a law degree and taught constitutional law, his understanding of the constitution was pretty clear. While it's true he did bend in some areas where a lot of us would have preferred to see him stand firm, those areas in which he held tight were major legislative changes that benefitted many Americans, Black and white. He stood for the people when tragedies occurred, he spoke out against wrongful actions and, when the need arose, he spoke for those who's voices were squelched for one reason or another. He walked a fine line between white and Black America but not once did he leave his Blackness outside of his presidency. He embraced it without being threatening. He governed in his Black body without ever having to compromise his Blackness. He made a lot of people believe that this country could and would change, mainly because he believed he was an example of that change. Obama really believed in America, as Coates noted in the article above, especially when he plainly stated, regarding a possible Trump presidency, that Trump couldn't win.
For a moment, I believed in America, too. When I voted for Barack Obama, that was the first time I had ever voted. I didn't want to vote for Obama, just because he was Black. so I checked out the other candidates and what they stood for. I remember telling my parent's, who don't vote, that I felt the need to vote because I couldn't live in a country where Sarah Palin could possibly become president. So I voted for Obama because I felt his message and I believed if he actually was elected and allowed to serve a full term as president, then maybe this country was changing. Eight years later, I now see that this country wasn't ready for that type of change and that it was never intended for this country to change. Obama knows it now, even though I think he may still believe it can change. While white America may feel like Obama's sometimes candid discussions on race lead to a more divisive climate, I think the racial divide became wider as a response to his presidency. White people with issues against minorities felt threatened by what they thought was a social shift that would no longer have them at an advantage. Those insecurities played out violently in some cases and when Black America reacted in outrage, protest and, in some cases, riots, we were looked upon as savages. Our motives were questioned, our tactics were marginalized and called unpatriotic. When we spoke up for our lives, we were called reverse racists. We were told not to discuss politics at work and whenever tragedies occurred that involved people that looked like us, it seemed at time that we were the only ones outraged. We talked about those issues amongst ourselves, while our white counterparts avoided any dialogue when things happened. There were no moments of solidarity when Dylan Roof murdered the Charleston 9. No one came by my desk and said anything in support. But I watched as many people stopped the officers I worked with and thanked them "for what you do"days after each shooting incident involving an unarmed Black person. I couldn't help but feel like I was being slapped in the face every time that happened, right next to me at times.
So our nation's first Black president will soon be a historical reference. His beautiful wife and two daughters will leave their mark on this country's history, for good. Obama will eventually be noted as one of our country' greatest presidents, as he rightfully should be. In pure comparison to where we were eight years ago, you cannot dispute that we are in a much better position economically than we were when George W. Bush left office. There are other things that we as a nation still have much work to do. It can be said that we have regressed as a nation when it comes to racial and social issues, but that is only true if you really believe real progress has been made. Having a Black person serve eight years as president in this country might seem like progress to some of us, but when you look at everything that has occurred over those eight years, can we really call this progress? Electing Donald Trump shows me this country has really never moved forward, but that it has made some concessions and allowances along the way.
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