| Written by Eric L. Wattree Sr., (Columnist), on 11-08-2007 14:14 |
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Page 2 of 3 It is extremely important that we recognize that we are at a crossroad. For once—and quite possibly, only this once—Black people have the power to determine the direction that this country will go. If every Black person, just this once, would pull together, we could elect a Black man president of the United States—that’s of America people. Now, think about this: We have Black people campaigning against that!!? We simply cannot let this opportunity slip through our fingers—we can be fools about something else later, but not this! We have the opportunity at our command to not only save Black people, but to save All of America—and wouldn’t that be ironic? Just take a minute to think about what having Obama as president would mean—what it would mean to the self-esteem of your children, what it would mean to your own self-esteem. Think about what that would mean to the self-esteem of every Black person on the face of this Earth. If Obama is elected president, the very next morning, your child would be able to say, for the very first time, that I can be whatever I want to be—and he or she would be able to say it with conviction. Attitudes towards Black people would immediately begin to change—especially if Obama becomes the kind of president that I’m sure he will be. After all, how can you love and embrace your leader, and hate his people? How can you respect your leader, and not develop a respect for the people from which he’s come? It would be a new beginning for America, because the American ideal would no longer be an experiment—it would have finally lived up to its promise. So what’s wrong with these Black businessmen, clergymen, and politicians who say they can’t support Senator Obama!!!? I don’t care what their alleged reason, if they turn their backs on Obama, they’re not just turning their backs on a man, they’re turning their backs on Black people as a whole—they’re turning their backs on our children, and on the pain and suffering in our history. They’re also turning their backs on our future—on Black souls yet unborn. So if they turn their backs on Obama, we should also turn our backs on them. What do we need with leaders, preachers, and businessmen who don’t have sense enough to know what’s in the best interest of Black people, and who hasn’t learned the importance of sticking together? How can they lead, when they haven’t learned to follow? How can they show us the way, when they’re headed in the wrong direction? But I guarantee you, our ancestors would recognize these people. These are the offspring of the very same people who said we couldn’t run away from the fields, because, “Who gon be left to pick Mr. Charlie’s cotton? He’s been good to us. If we leave, he’d be ruined!” That’s their mentality. They have more loyalty to Hillary’s ambition than they do to their own history—they’ve been raised that way. But here’s the biggest irony of them all—if Hillary wasn’t his wife, I’d be willing to bet everything I own, that even Bill would be supporting Obama. Let us not forget that some of these very same people who say he lacks experience—in spite of the fact that Senator Obama has more experience in elective office than Hillary or any of the other front runners—asked for our vote when they didn’t have ANY experience at all the first time they ran for office. Now all of a sudden they want to become deliberative. Well, maybe we should become deliberate the next time they want our vote. And maybe we should tell some of these businessmen who claim that Obama’s not ready, that we’re not sure that their new businesses are ready to compete with Wal-Mart.
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