The title of this post is the title Michelle LaVaughn Robinson (now Obama) used as her senior thesis as an undergraduate student at Princeton University. Subsequently, she graduated with cum laude honors in 1985 and enrolled in Harvard Law School the same year and graduated in 1988.Sophisticated, polished beautiful, effervescent, and exemplary are all words that aptly describe Michelle Obama. She is every bit of that description and much more. Ironically, those adjectives seem to mirror the characteristics of my wife. :)
It is not a clandestine fact that I support the Obama ticket for President. If you read my earlier blogs you will discover that although I am a fundamentalist at heart, I have many good reasons for my choice.
However, it is strange to me that you literally have a husband-wife team that attended Ivy League institutions for their undergraduate degrees and ensuing Juris Doctorates, worked as community organizers in one of the toughest cities in America, but yet are purported as having no experience. Conversely, if you look at Senator McCain's grades and conduct in the Naval Academy they are quite alarming and don't seem to contribute to the makings of Presidential character.
Contrary to popular belief and sentiment, the point is not to degrade McCain, what he's done for this country cannot be refuted or repaid for that matter, and anyone who denies him that honor, is anti-American, period.
The point is that it seems no matter how much African-Americans do, how much they achieve (even if we excel at the "same" schools that we were previously denied admission due to color), or how many barriers we break, we're not judged on a level playing field. It's almost as if there's a whisper saying, "Yeah, you're Ivy League educated, you're lawyers, you've gained respect in the community, but President...sigh...wake up and smell the coffee and go work for a firm, your sights are set too high!"
I think we can scoff at our scoffers now, whether they win or lose. READ Michelle's entire undergraduate senior thesis provided by http://www.politico.com/ and a condensed biography of Michelle.
Remember the words of Frederick Douglass, "Without struggle, there is no progress."
6 comments:
Great post my brother, I find it hard to agree with your position that blacks are not judged on a level playing field. It's hard to make that argument today. Valid argument 20yrs or so ago, but not today. Most of the people who are against an Obama White House would be against a John Kerry or Al Gore White House. For most Americans, it comes down to the issues.
Good grades does not make one more qualified to be commander and chief of a country. By the way, Obama has not released his grades from Columbia, nor Harvard.
Pastor,
That's true. Good grades are not a barometer of leadership, but the point I was trying to make (probably not clear enough in my haste and the many failings of blogger)was that "we" don't get credit for the good we do. I still think it's a valid argument, maybe not in California, but in Oklahoma where I'm from it still is and you can see it. Now as I stated in my blog, "How Far We've Come", I'm not waiting on anyone to give me anything, however, I am aware that the disparity is more economical than it is socially propagated. Sure, some will rise to the top and I thank God for that, but I've still got to work that much harder. I think California is a hard place to see that.
Additionally, I think you may be coming from a utopian mindset. The argument is as long as we think it's that way, it will always be that way. Well, what do you do about the people who have become openly racist at Palin rallies?
It's not the same. People forget that we've only had the right to vote for 44 years! 44 YEARS! That's just one generation! The struggle in many respects has just begun! I believe it will get better. I believe it has gotten better, but we've still got some ways to go. My experience tells me different. I'm not talking about holding on to a restrictive disposition based upon past events, I'm talking about real-life 2008, where the unseen tension and untrust is still there.
Pastor, it's still there. The Christ it me doesn't want it to be there. I wish people would judge me by character and work ethic, but they don't. I wish the doors wouldn't lock as I walk through the parking lot, I wish the woman wouldn't grab her purse in the elevator, I wish I wouldn't see people less qualified, with lesser pigmentation get a job that I was next in line for, but it ain't like that. (I know God is sovereign over all, so I ain't tripping, but I'm talking what really happens)
I would love to know how you propose to defend the fact that we're on a level playing field? We're close, but it's still lopsided.
Well put, but again I disagree with a couple points you raise. The economic disparity has very little if anything to do with race, many of our people are doing much more harm to their economic condition then good. Irresponsible parenting is the number one reason for the economic crisis in our community. We have to start placing the blame on the right people (ourselves).
As far as us being on level playing field, Obama is proof of that. Not to mention that we have more black millionaires today then ever before, more blacks own businesses today then ever before, more blacks own homes today then ever before. That's pretty good, especial when you consider that we only make up 12% of the population and many of our people are in prison, come from broken homes, on drugs or in gangs.
I personally don't know how it is in California but I have a sister that lives in L.A. who will not come back to her home state of Texas because there is a far better playing field there. I don't know how it is in Oklahoma but I did live in Omaha Nebraska in 1971 before you were born. The playing field there in the early 1970's was better then, than it is now (in many ways) down in South Texas in the 2000's and that's a fact. My Son who has recently been discharged from the military with specialized skills, have been past over and not hired more than once. Someone who had no previous experience and had to be trained on the job was hired instead. It is NOT a level playing field. We see it here everyday, everywhere. I taught my children the same thing my parents taught me, being a minority you have to be two times better.
Yes it is all about the issues. I do know a multi millionaire doesn't have the capacity to relate or empithize with the everyday working class people. McCain thinks you can buy health care insurance with $5,000. That would be hard for a perfectly healthy 10 year old to do. He has no clue.
I agree grades doesn't quailify anyone to be commander and chief, we see this in Bush. But, for a black man he better NOT jump up and try to run for anything without the best he can get. But, just like in Bush's case it was pre-destined for Obama to get this far to becoming our next President. I see the hand of God in this. God has had Obama on a path towards this end since birth. Completely orchestrated by the Lord. Everything around Obama has been so ordered on a path towards the white house. It is fitting that the first black President have the surname of our African decent rather than the last name of our slave masters given to us. Even the economy co-operated just at the right time to show us we can't afford another four years without a Democrat in office.
Whether he wins or loses he is still an African American hero and champion. He made history and brought about some change even in the face of threats and death.
gObam 08
Pastor,
How can one man be the proof of that. Indeed, he is the proof of progess. Earlier in your responses you said that blacks not being on a level playing field was a "valid argument 20 yrs or so ago." Do you remember what has happened in the last 20 years? Jesse Jackson ran for President, Rodney King was beaten, affirmative action almost got repealed, our right to vote was threatened, a black man was tied to an electric fence in a rural town in Oklahoma just 8 years ago, and the list goes on an on.
If it's a level playing field then the Urban League, SCLC, NAACP, 100 Black Men, et al, and all these other organizations that continue to push for equality in every aspect of life need to cease and desist immediately because we've already made it. Are we to suggest that they are still in operation in name only? That civil rights is a thing of the past?
Am I saying that we are not responsible for our actions as a people? Of course not. But how can you say economic disparity has NOTHING to do with race when quite simply we've been catching up since we got here! LOL You're right that we need to focus MORE on personal accountability so that we don't ADD to what disparity that is present, but we can't deny its existence. I'd like to believe what you believe, but it's not everyday life.
Just as much as Obama is NOT proof of a level playing field, but one star in the constellation that is still being formed, in the same sense a few black millionaires that have broken the glass ceiling don't equate equality. Please hear me. Am I saying that we can't make it. No, of course not. Am I saying that we should go around saying that the "white man" got his foot on my neck, not that's silly talk, but what I am saying is that we still need to know what the deal is, and that I've got to excel above the status quo each and every time.
Just because Obama made it, and just because a few black are millionaires, and just because a few laws were changed, none of those are indicative of a change of thought, heart, or predisposition and didn't we learn from Jeremiah Wright and the national response that it's not dead.
I am not attempting to keep it going. I wish it would go away and people would see Dan as Dan. I don't walk into an interview negative saying that because I'm black I may not get it, but I'm well aware of the hidden things, that are still prevalent in this country. We've swept this under the rug for years. Look at all the people who are now admitting that the reason they won't vote for Barack is because he's black. I'm feeling some bumps in your level playing field... :)
Until we have an intelligent conversation about race relations in this country, it WILL NOT be over and there won't be a level playing field.
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