Posted on 11/01/2012 11:07:08 AM PDT by Kaslin
What do I tell my black child if Barack Obama, America's first black president, loses his bid for re-election? This is a question many parents are asking themselves -- especially those who would blame the loss on racism.
Jubilant black parents on the front pages of newspapers, the day after Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, said things like, "for the first time" they could "sincerely" say to their children that a black person could realistically aspire to become president of the United States.
The New York Times wrote: "That a new day had dawned was immediately apparent at breakfast on Wednesday at Eagle Academy, a young public school in the spot where the often hard-edged Brooklyn neighborhoods of Brownsville and Ocean Hill intersect: The sixth-grade boys sat in silence over their eggs, biscuits and apple juice.
"They were too busy poring over the transcripts of President-elect Barack Obama's speech that teachers had handed them as they walked in. Too tired, perhaps, from having been awoken at midnight to hear the news from their tearful mothers. ...
"The 30-year-old principal, Rashad Meade, pushed his proteges, asking why they thought ... this moment was so important ... why their parents had woken them the night before.
"Isaiah Purcell, who is 11, started to say something about the issues, then trailed off. He picked up again, asserting that Mr. Obama's ascendancy to the White House 'makes us think that we could accomplish anything when you put your mind to it (emphasis added).'"
Goodness! Pre-Obama, what were these parents and teachers telling these kids about their future? What would the teary-eyed parents have said had Obama lost? Would they have told their children that racism remains a major force in America and Obama's defeat proves the point? And assuming he loses his bid for re-election, what will this defeat say about "race" in America?
My father, a former Marine, World War II vet, was born to an illiterate single mother in Athens, Ga. An only child, he never met his biological father. He was a 14-year-old teenager in that Jim Crow South when the Great Depression began. Hard, hard knocks.
But as I write in my new book, "Dear Father, Dear Son," my father taught my brothers and me that the only barrier to success is lack of effort. My Huntsville, Alabama-born mother also taught us that, through education and steady application, goals could be achieved -- no matter how lofty.
Yes, even the presidency of the United States.
I write: "Mom made me feel like I could spit lightening and make bullets bounce off my chest. She sat me down on the front porch when I was about 6 years old. She had an illustrated book of all the presidents from George Washington to Dwight Eisenhower. We talked about their achievements and disappointments.
"'Larry,' she said, tapping the book, 'if you work hard enough and want it bad enough, someday you can be in this book.'"
My parents told us that no one can make you feel inferior without your permission. In high school, we read a sad, bitter poem about racism in a black literature course:
"While riding through old Baltimore, so small and full of glee,
"I saw a young Baltimorean keep a-lookin' straight at me.
"Now, he was young and very small, and I was not much bigger
"And so I smiled, but he put out his tongue and called me 'nigger.'
"I saw the whole of Baltimore from May until September,
"Of all the things that happened there, that's all that I remember."
The teacher angrily talked about the permanent damage done to this little boy's psyche. The permanent stain of racism. The assault on the little boy's dignity. The boy, said the teacher, will never be the same. By the time the bell sounded, everyone was angry.
When I got home, I read the poem to my mother. She was in the kitchen, cooking a pot of greens. When I finished the last line, she turned, big spoon in hand, and looked me in the eye.
"Too bad," she said, "that boy let something so trivial spoil his vacation."
If Obama loses, how many parents will tell their children that his race did him in? Already, The Associated Press published a poll supposedly showing that the negative "racial attitudes" people hold against blacks could likely cost Obama 2 points in the election.
Really?
Not only does Obama benefit from a near-unanimous black vote, but also from the many whites who voted for Obama because of his race. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, explained in 2008: "This is (their) chance to demonstrate that we have been able to get this boogeyman called race behind us. And so they are going to vote for him, whether he has credentials or not, whether he has any experience."
Hall of Famer Frank Robinson became the first black manager in the modern major leagues. There have been many since. Robinson's hiring made a statement about the irrelevance of race. Years later, when his team underperformed, Robinson was fired.
Obama can be fired, as well.
Go practice your free throws
Affirmative Action is for losers!
How about you teach them that Affirmative Action will only get you so far- you can’t be an incompetant boob and expect to keep your job forever, just because you’re black.
That would teach them so much more than Obambi hisself ever did....mmmm mmm mmm...
Excellent article by Larry.
Isn’t it strange though, that black parents weren’t holding up a black man like Justice Clarence Thomas as a role model and evidence that, with hard work, we can all become whatever we want to be in America? I’m mean, he did grow up in a shack with a dirt floor in it.
Gosh, I wonder why they don’t do that?
Tell him to pay more attention to Herman Cain.
or Clarence Thomas
or Mia Love
and stop listening to fools.
They can tell their "black" children sincerely that a "black" person who becomes President of the United States will be held accountable for his actions in that office. Just like anybody else.
What ... did these racist idiots think that Barry Hussein would get a pass on his incompetence, his lack of patriotism, and his communistic tendencies because of his dark skin?
Then they can tell their "black" children to STFU about race, that the whole world doesn't revolve around the colour of their skin, that their deep-seated, unconscious racism is poisoning American culture, and that they need to quit blaming everybody else for their problems.
But not a one of them has the guts or the intelligence to do that.
Tell him that if he grows up to run as a conservative, he will be the first black president to be re-elected.
You tell them that more people voted for Romney than obammy.
If they are of average intelligence, they should be able to figre that out.
Is he really suggesting that every elected President somehow has a right to two terms? Tell the child that this is what elections are about - a fair evaluation of two peoples ideas in the marketplace . . . and your ideas don’t always win the day. Great lesson for a child to learn.
Tell the child that only half of Obama that was elected was black and that the next person will be a real black American.
Or, better yet, simply tell the child that Obama is not black or half-black, never was and never will be and that he is an Arab. Use the truth.
That the U.S. is a republic where the people we elect to lead it are subject to the rejection of the people at the time of election, unlike in lesser nations where they are lorded over by despots, and the people are not sovereign.
Seeing that you even found it necessary to ask such a question, I will suggest getting a dictionary first to look up the definition of some of the terms I used so you may know what they mean yourself.
Larry can tell his son that Obama tried to turn America into a communist welfare state and failed. His color had nothing to do with his failure.
Not familiar with Larry?
You picked the wrong black guy.
Tell the child:
1. Get a real education, not the cr*p-ola that the Obamadork took.
2. It might help to actually have real parents to bring you up correctly, versus a slut who apparently liked to bang commie sleezebags. Not much control here, but face it, the dork had even dorkier parents.
3. Get a real job for a while. The Illinois senate is NOT a job of any kind.
4. “Community Organizer” means you absolutely, positively cannot do anything useful and should seriously consider suicide.
“Don’t they have minds of their own??”
Uh, no-—That’s why 97% of blacks voted for him in 2008.
Pathetic. Indoctrinate your get that the white half lost, you abject, tribalist tool.
Anyway, the problem with BO is not that he is black, white or checkered. The problem is that he is Red.
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