On Obama and Black Boys

By Patricia Wilson-Smith

As of this writing, the current national Gallup poll has Senator Obama leading by a respectable percentage; several previously red states are either leaning or solidly in the Obama column, and Senator McCain is fighting tooth and nail to hold on to other Republican strong holds, including his own home state of Arizona. Though most of us are afraid to say so, it appears that we are in fact about to see our collective dreams come true – one that many of us thought could not happen, and definitely not in our lifetimes. We are mere days away from what could be one of the most historic and defining moments in this nation’s history, and as a black woman, it’s been hard for me to know where to begin when it comes to expressing my thoughts about what’s coming. The fact is, the photo that accompanies this article says it better than I ever could, but here goes.

There are so many black women out there who, like me, are raising young black men. Due to a recent marriage, I’m now raising three. And it is as much a sign of how much this nation has changed that in some ways, my three sons are oblivious to the importance of the coming event, as it is an indictment on our society that as women raising black men, we’ve longed for someone, anyone to ease our fears about our sons’ futures and to be the role models that our young boys have so desperately needed for so long. Not that we haven’t had strong models for them at all, but we’ve been hard pressed to find them outside the fields of sports, music, or other areas of the entertainment industry.

I was left alone to raise the only child I’ve ever given birth to when I was just four months pregnant. The pain and fear I felt at the time soon gave way to resentment, and then to a hatred so pronounced that it threatened to swallow me whole. I had tried my best to play by the rules, only becoming pregnant after six years of marriage during which I had begun to think that I was incapable of having a child.

The news of my pregnancy was at once joyous and terrifying, as it became increasingly apparent that I would be forced to raise my son alone. Back then, I could not comprehend how it was that the father of my only child could not understand how much his son needed him, how much I needed him, and the pain of the rejection of me an my son was unbearable at times. It was everything I could do after the birth of my sweet David to will myself on a daily basis to be grateful for the part-time status of his father, and the modest child support he paid faithfully each month. But it was what I had to do, for my son’s sake, and also because a guiding hand, a role-model, a mentor, my son’s father could and would never be.

What was even harder is that it wasn’t long before I realized that I had to find some way to learn to forgive my ex-husband; I eventually realized that he himself was and is a product of a shattered home, and ill-equipped to play the role of father and husband. Raised without his birth father, and ultimately without his birth mother, he had no real guiding hand, no role model of his own to speak of. His was an existence of sustenance only; as a result, he had no foundation given to him in what it meant to be a father and a husband, to raise a black boy in this society, to set and achieve goals, or anything like that. The condition of his life has been one of playing what he’s been dealt, and the result is that though he loves our son as much as he knows how to, he has nothing meaningful in the way of a winning hand to deal my son.

My story is not unique. From the young woman who may have gotten caught after a cataclysmic lapse in judgment, to those who like me, watched their husbands walk out on them after years of marriage, literally leaving them holding a blue diaper bag, many black women have had to come to terms with the idea that we have been left alone to raise little men. As a population, we have allowed ourselves to fall into a cycle of family disintegration that has become all too common place. These days, it’s the African-American kids who live in in-tact two parent homes who are the weird ones. In our communities, having a father who is in the home, productive and engaged has become a novelty. A tragic, gut-wrenching novelty.

But for the most part as black women, we’ve persevered. Doing all that we can to expose our sons to the right influences, to talk tough to them when we need to in their fathers’ absence, and to do and say whatever we can to try to mold them into the men they need to be. Sometimes without the benefit of having had a male role model to emulate ourselves, and all the while praying that OUR sons will prove the ugly statistics that we can’t escape or get out of our heads wrong.

The reality is, the problem is generational, and has its roots in slavery and the systemic destruction of the African family unit as it was when slaves were brought to this country. Many stories of the time tell of how upon arriving on these shores, men were immediately separated from their children and wives, in order to begin the process of degradation and humiliation that would ensure that their spirits would be broken, and that they would willingly comply with their masters’ wishes. It began way back then, and persists to this day because of our inability to re-discover our strong family ties, through the lingering effects of Jim Crow, the confusion of first segragation and then forced desegregation, and the plain old racism and failed attempts at evening the playing field (like welfare, and in some respects affirmative action).

So it was, that we the black mothers of America found ourselves; over the years, frightened beyond all measure that our young men would be sacrificed to the ravages of an unfair justice system, or worse to the violence of the mean streets; or engulfed in the culture of fake opulence and self-degradation that is some rap music, and some aspects of the Hip-Hop culture; or lost and forgotten in an educational system that is tilted towards their white counteparts, and none too anxious to fix itself in order to help to turn the tide of drop-outs and illiterate graduates it produces in startling higher proportions in the minority community. And most of all we were certainly convinced that though blacks in this country have made many strides, there were still some very obvious limits, when on the national stage walked Barack Obama.

Now please don’t zone out on me. I know that Senator Obama is not the second coming, or even the answer to all our problems, but what he is is a shining beacon of hope, and proof of what we’ve all known all along – that black men can be real fathers, good husbands, and strong and thoughful leaders, hard stop. That we are a nation of little budding Obama’s waiting to happen. That with the proper care and feeding, our boys are capable of achieving the unthinkable. The beauty of Senator Obama is that he not only displays these qualities as a legislator and candidate, he displays them even more as a father to his gorgeous daughters and husband to his wife.

And so just like in the photo, Senator Obama, along with every other weight he carries on his shoulders, literally is caring the hopes of the black boys who will soon be men in this country, who generation after generation, have been able to hide their brilliance and potential behind the mantle of hopelesness that said that they could only go so far, or achieve so much. And he and his family stand as the most shining example of a strong family, black, white, or purple that we’ve seen on the national forefront in a long time. It is an astounding feeling, as the final days of the campaign fade away, to look forward to the days after November 4th, when we can all breathe an endless sigh of relief and spend our days reminisicing about the fight. And it will not be lost on any of us what this historic event can and will mean to the young black boys of this country, who after that date, will be able to say with confidence and without hesitation, “one day, I will be President of the United States”.

Look at the picture again. I get great joy in the wide-eyed wonder on my sons’ faces when I tell them that once black kids and white kids couldn’t play together – not totally unlike the giggle I get out of watching them collapse into a fit of laughter when I tell them that when I was their age, we only had four channels to watch on television. One day, my sons, and the boy in this picture will be able to astound their grandchildren with wild tales of a time in our nation’s history when the idea of a black man running for President was laughable – unheard of. And hopefully, they will smile, and take great joy in their chuckles, and marvel at the innocence that comes from being the beneficiaries of the brave and remarkable accomplishments of those who came before us.

See You At The Finish Line!

By Patricia Wilson-Smith

I have to admit – at times, I have been just about ready to shoot myself in the face over this nomination process.

I can’t quite tell whether or not I’ve been antsy because I’ve never been this engaged in a nomination fight before, or if this really truly has been the world’s longest primary race, or race of any kind in fact. I guess I could delve into Wikipedia to try and gain some historic perspective, but damnit, I just don’t have the energy.

I think the most amazing part of being so deeply interested in the happenings of this particular race has been watching the cataclysmic shift in the political power base, and specifically watching Billary go kicking and screaming into their joint political sunsets. I don’t think anyone could have imagined a year and a half ago that we would be about to witness the bitter end of the Clinton era, and everything that entails. I don’t think anyone saw it coming, especially not the Clintons themselves – the ushering in of a new day, rife with so many possibilities. I also don’t think anyone could have predicted how really truly enlightening the whole thing would be – how many bright hot lights would be shone on so many things and people who I’m sure would rather have continued to dwell in the dark.

Let’s see – you have the Bush Administration, just recently being outed by Scott McClellan, who essentially in one fell literary swoop, validated everything that the nation has slowly on its own grown to know about Dubya’s White House, and it’s shady and reckless dealings. It feels to me like a pretty rare moment, when a consummate administration insider breaks under the pressure of his own conscience to cast such damaging aspersions on a sitting President – and just in time to save us from a possible third term at the hands of a man who thinks it was all okay. Whoa.

And of course you have Billary – and the take-no-prisoners, leave no truth standing approach to power grabbing that they’ve been accused of for so many years by the political right. I cannot tell you how many Rush Limbaugh littanies I’ve sat through during which he described the Clintons and their tactics in terms that at the time seemed petty, sarcastic, exaggerated, and otherwise unbelievable. As I re-play some of those snarling recitations back in my head now, I have to admit that the guy had a lot of it right. Much to the Clintons’ chagrin, the power of the media, the Internet, and technological advancements in general have made it possible for each and every one of their campaign-trail transgressions to be vetted and broadcast and bandied about in near real-time for every rabid blogger and every news organization in the world to guffaw about. I mean, even with my deep disdain for Ms. “they-shot-at-me-so-I-deserve-to-be-President”, I can’t help but believe that she honestly just didn’t realize how easy it would be for someone to produce the very footage of the Bosnian event that she tried to re-write in her many retellings of the story. A Jehdi-mind trick gone awry, and all because of a tragic underestimation of the power that is access to instant information.

Then there are the lunatic ministers – Hagee on the right, Wright on the left, and so many others somewhere in between, who in
doing what has in the past come so naturally (and without repercussions or consequences) have managed to create an entirely new discussion about Religion and Politics, Religion and Race, Religion and Gender (I thought Michael Pfleger’s imitation of Hillary was hilarious, by the way), and Religion and well, Religion. Are we better off because we all now know what some who claim to be purveyors of the Gospel, spreaders of the good news of the deity of their choosing, etc., also may have dangerous opinions, and way too much power through which to spread them? This is a question that I think we’ll all begin to ask once the dust settles, and President Obama is busy about the business of running the country; but for now, still only a question.

But finally – we have the colossal, glaring spotlight that now shines on the failings and mis-steps of the Democratic Party rule-makers (see “Superdelegates – Who the F&%$ Knew?!?”, and ” A Brief History of the Michigan and Florida Democratic Primaries”). If we hadn’t been thrown head-first into what now feels like a never-ending nominating process, would we have ever been alerted to the disastrous and possibly even unconstitutional methods by which the Democratic Party has decided to select its candidates? Most certainly not!

Yep – these have been truly illuminating times, and it’s not over yet. This week will be one for the history books. This week, we resolve the issue of “hey, those votes don’t count – no wait, I need them, so uh, yes they do!” This week, your favorite Senator and mine will almost assuredly be rewarded for playng by the rules, and running one of the most honorable campaigns on record when he overcomes the remaining 45 delegate deficit to secure the nomination. And this week, the nation takes a historic quantum leap towards electing a non-white-male to the presidency of the United States. I’m awe struck.

It’s been tough, though. So many days and nights of political disagreements, phone calls, events, road trips, etc. Now that I’m on the other side of this thing? I feel like, hey – if as a nation we were forced to suck down a blue pill and open our eyes to the realities of our churches, our political process, and our society in general, then so be it. No matter what happens from this point forward, this race has changed the nation forever – we’ve seen the matrix, and we can never go back now. The only thing left for us to do is don the cool black outfits, slick our collective hair-do’s back, and begin to do the work that will turn what we realize now is a flawed reality into the one we long for. The one that Senator Obama has proven by his historic candidacy is attainable.

It has been tiring, emotionally draining, exhilerating, and yes, ever-so frustrating, but now that we’re in plain sight of the finish line, I think we’d all have to agree, it’s all been so worth it! Black Women for Obama loves you, America! See you at the finish line!

The Definition of Representin’

By Patricia Wilson-Smith

I wrote a book a couple of years ago called “Duped By Love”, and in that book, I had a great time making fun of how the media here in the A.T.L. loves to walk the streets of the worst neighborhoods, looking for stuff to report on, and trying to find the least articulate person on the planet to interview about whatever newsworthy thing has taken place.
Don’t act like you don’t know what I mean.

A young black man is a witness to a drive by shooting, and describes what he saw with a heavy dirty South accent. A middle-aged black woman witnesses a domestic disturbance, and through barely decipherable English, recounts the tale to the reporter and camera man who have her framed against a background of urban desolation, eager to exploit her for the amusement of their audience. I HATE that crap.

There is no denying it – in cities and states around the country, the news media make it a point to seek out those that they feel will portray the black man, woman, and sometimes even the black voter in the worst light possible. Enter Derrick Ashong and a CNN reporter known only as “Mike”.

On January 31st, Derrick Ashong, a 32-year old musician found himself pulled into the fray of the Democratic debate being held at the Kodak Theatre. He was talked into standing outside the event and holding an Obama sign by a good friend. Now, it must be noted, that to look at Mr. Ashong is to see nothing particularly special. Outwardly, he looks like any other street kid, and if we were to be 100% honest with ourselves, he has the exact look of someone that some people might cross the street rather than confront face to face for fear of being robbed or worse. Yes – outwardly, Derrick Ashong could be the poster child for the image of young black men that the media has taught the viewing public to fear.

So I’m fairly certain it was with this (and ratings) in mind that a CNN cameraman/reporter walked up to Derrick Ashong and asked him pointedly, and rather rudely why he supports Senator Obama. I’m ashamed to admit, that when I was first told to watch the video, and the first few seconds rolled across the screen, I felt a certain discomfort over what was coming.

You see, in an age where people often amuse themselves by recording each other’s most idiotic moments and publishing them to YouTube for the entire world to see, I was certain that what I was about to be treated to was more of the same. I can distinctly recall that I felt that pang of dread that I often feel when viewing some new example of blatant black stereotyping by the media. I felt it, yes I did. But I sat there and made myself watch, and I continued to listen – and what I saw and heard brought pure joy to my heart.

Mike the CNN reporter hammered Mr. Ashong with probing question after probing question about why he was standing outside the Kodak Theatre that day in support of Senator Obama. At first, Derrick gave a few canned answers that sounded suspiciously like something you might pick up from Obama paraphernalia. And so Mike probed more deeply. He asked Derrick about the candidates’ health care plans, how they would be funded, he asked him about socialized medicine, and the likely economic impact of an Obama Health care plan – and as the questions grew more complex, Derrick Ashong proceeded to school both Mike the CNN reporter and me on the superior aspects of the Obama plan, and why it makes the most sense for the nation.

And it’s not just that he beat back an obvious attempt to make an Obama Supporter look substance-less – he did it with so much finesse, authority and in such a knowledgeable way, that the reporter had no choice but to allow himself to be drawn into an engaging conversation with a young man who was obviously his intellectual equal, and abandon what I am convinced was meant to be an opportunity to show the world that young black men, and the youth of this country in general are rallying behind Senator Obama like the unwitting victims of some pied piper, or like groupies to a rock star. Wow.

Derrick Ashong single-handedly destroyed about half-a-dozen stereo types in the space of 6 minutes during that interview. He proved, first, that young black men do much more than sit around smoking weed all day waiting for opportunities to rob and loot, as is so often portrayed in the media. Secondly, he showed that even the very young can be extremely well-versed in the issues of the day, and knowledgeable of the candidates they support. Thirdly – in casually announcing that his father was a pediatrician, he showed the reporter that young black men can be the product of good homes, headed up by educated professionals, and that not all black men standing around on a street corner come from broken homes.

Fourth – he shattered the myth that the typical Obama supporter is just somehow ‘in-love’ with the Senator, or only on the campaign’s bandwagon because Senator Obama makes good speeches. Fifth – he proved that even someone who has made a conscious decision to be a musician can still be politically engaging, and an intellectual. Sixth, he dispelled the myth that young voters don’t understand what’s at stake in this election – I could go on and on and on.

The bottom line is, it seems like lately, every day in every way, we are beginning to get the proof that our nation is turning a corner. We are beginning to really get a flavor for the power our diversity gives us as a country. You see, Derrick Ashong is an immigrant from Ghana, educated here in the states. He is young and passionate, but old enough to recall that there was a time when he lived in a land where he did not have the right to vote. His command of the issues was amazing, his enthusiasm for Senator Obama clear. The reporter repeatedly (at first) chided him about providing ‘technical’ answers, and not just ‘emotion’ to support his positions. So in the face of what most would consider to be grilling on the part of the CNN reporter, he kept a cool head, and stuck to the facts.

The video of his interview that day has been played on YouTube by hundreds of thousands of people, and has become so popular that he’s been accused of being an Obama plant, which is ridiculous when you think about it. But to answer the nay-sayers, he produced a follow-up that he calls ‘The Emotional Response’, and if the first video impresses the heck out of you, this one will move you beyond belief.

In it, he discusses his love for this country, his unique ethnic background, and his appreciation of our democracy. He talks about why it is so important that we figure out a way to get past our differences, and come together for the good of our country. Sound familiar?

The beauty and the power of what occurred outside the Kodak Theater that day cannot be overstated. Out there that day, two men, one white and one black, bridged both an age and racial chasm, to find common agreement on an important political issue. What happened out there that day? Without trying to, one young man showed America the face of yet another black man who cares more about the collective well being of our country than he does about any singular racial or socio-economic group. What happened was that Derrick Ashong validated what Senator Obama has often said in his writings and in his speeches. “I know they’re out there”, he says in the ‘Audacity of Hope’. “Those people who are tired of politics as usual, and want a different kind of politics”. He showed America that not only are they out there, but they might show up in the most surprising ways, wrapped in the most unlikely packages.

Thank you Derrick, for being the very definition of ‘representin’.

Hillary’s Math Problem

By Jonathan Alter

Source: Newsweek Web Exclusive

Forget tonight. She could win 16 straight and still lose.

Hillary Clinton may be poised for a big night tonight, with wins in Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island. Clinton aides say this will be the beginning of her comeback against Barack Obama. There’s only one problem with this analysis: they can’t count.

I’m no good at math either, but with the help of Slate’s Delegate Calculator I’ve scoped out the rest of the primaries, and even if you assume huge Hillary wins from here on out, the numbers don’t look good for Clinton. In order to show how deep a hole she’s in, I’ve given her the benefit of the doubt every week for the rest of the primaries.

So here we go: Let’s assume Hillary beats expectations and wins Ohio tonight 55-45, Rhode Island 55-45, Texas, 53-47 and (this is highly improbable), ties in Vermont, 50-50.

Then it’s on to Wyoming on Saturday, where, let’s say, the momentum of today helps her win 53-47. Next Tuesday in Mississippi—where African-Americans play a big role in the Democratic primary—she shocks the political world by winning 52-48.

Then on April 22, the big one, Pennsylvania—and it’s a Hillary blowout, 60-40, with Clinton picking up a whopping 32 delegates. She wins both of Guam’s two delegates on May 30, and Indiana’s proximity to Illinois does Obama no good on May 6, with the Hoosiers going for Hillary 55-45. The same day brings another huge upset in a heavily African-American state: enough North Carolina blacks desert Obama to give the state to Hillary 52-48, netting her five more delegates.

Suppose May 13 in West Virginia is no kinder to Obama, and he loses by double digits, netting Clinton two delegates. The identical 55-45 result on May 20 in Kentucky nets her five more. The same day brings Oregon, a classic Obama state. Oops! He loses there 52-48. Hillary wins by 10 in Montana and South Dakota on June 3, and primary season ends on June 7 in Puerto Rico with another big Viva Clinton! Hillary pulls off a 60-40 landslide, giving her another 11 delegates. She has enjoyed a string of 16 victories in a row over three months.

So at the end of regulation, Hillary’s the nominee, right? Actually, this much-too-generous scenario (which doesn’t even account for Texas’s weird “pri-caucus” system, which favors Obama in delegate selection) still leaves the pledged-delegate score at 1,634 for Obama to 1,576 for Clinton. That’s a 58-delegate lead.

Let’s say the Democratic National Committee schedules do-overs in Florida and (heavily African-American) Michigan. Hillary wins big yet again. But the chances of her netting 56 delegates out of those two states would require two more huge margins. (Unfortunately the Slate calculator isn’t helping me here.)

So no matter how you cut it, Obama will almost certainly end the primaries with a pledged-delegate lead, courtesy of all those landslides in February. Hillary would then have to convince the uncommitted superdelegates to reverse the will of the people. Even coming off a big Hillary winning streak, few if any superdelegates will be inclined to do so. For politicians to upend what the voters have decided might be a tad, well, suicidal.

For all of those who have been trashing me for saying this thing is over, please feel free to do your own math. Give Hillary 75 percent in Kentucky and Indiana. Give her a blowout in Oregon. You will still have a hard time getting her through the process with a pledged-delegate lead.

The Clintonites can spin to their heart’s content about how Obama can’t carry any large states besides Illinois. How he can’t close the deal. How they’ve got the Big Mo now.

Tell it to Slate’s Delegate Calculator.

http://www.slate.com/features/delegatecounter/

Superdelegates: Who the F*&%! Knew?!?

By Patricia Wilson-Smith

Okay. I consider myself an intelligent woman, and I am NOTHING, if I am not forthcoming. So I’m going to admit it to everyone. Right here, right now, on BlackWomenforObama.org. I had NO IDEA that superdelegates existed before, oh, say a month ago. Got THAT off my chest. Whew! I feel a lot better!

What I want to know is, am I all alone? This election season has been historic in that it has drawn more people into the political process, and not just in a passive way, but in a way that has gotten people like me truly engaged, and getting engaged means becoming aware of some inconvenient truths. If you’re like me, you know that the REALLY scary part is, the more we learn about our electoral system, the more broken it seems. And that’s not good.

In a nation that prides itself on barn-storming communist or socialist or dictatorial nation states and cramming democracy down their throats, I’m a little baffled over how the Democratic and Republican parties could have thought that the superdelegate system was a good idea or even remotely in line with what our fore fathers had in mind when they gave every man the right to vote (unless you were black – that’s another subject entirely). I mean, seriously – do YOU think the signers of the Declaration of Indepence really meant for us to vote, march, rally, demonstrate, make our will known, all so that 800 seemingly randomly chosen people could pat us all on our collective heads and do whatever the hell they want? I don’t!

And yes – I’m using expletives liberally today. It is no friggin’ wonder that the political establishment is scared to death of Senator Obama – he’s dragged most of us kicking and screaming into the Matrix! He gave us all pleasant-tasting blue pills to suck down, and we thought we wanted them, and now we find out that the Matrix is running our political lives, and that we have much less control over who we elect as leader of the free world than we thought! Amazing!!!!

Think of it – what will we look like to the rest of the free world, let alone evil dictatorships, third-world countries and the like if we elect Senator Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee by popular vote, and 800 of the ‘chosen ones’ in this country end up going, “Nah, we don’t think so. He’s a hope-monger. Hillary – do your thang”. I submit that our status as the most free nation in the world will be called into question, and our credibility will be shot. Again.

So what can we do about it? At this point, just pray. Pray that Hillary Clinton will want to avoid an ugly showdown at the convention. Pray that someone wins by a large enough margin that no showdown is necessary. Pray that Howard Dean can pull a rabbit out of his hat if things start to go awry. Pray, pray, pray.

As someone who is newly addicted to all things political, I have to say that though I’m disillusioned, there is an upside. Now I want to know what ELSE I’ve been bamboozled, run amuck, and led astray about. I mean, what’s next? A hidden tax? Independence Day is really December 25th and Christmas is really July 4th?!?! I mean, sheesh, is anything what it seems?

Only time will tell. Thanks to Senator Obama in large part, the eyes of millions of Americans have been opened to the possibilities of what one person on a mission can do, when they band together with the like-minded. My hope is that the leaders of the Democratic party, and the candidates themselves will endeavor to do the right thing when the time comes. But if they don’t? There’s always revolution. And yes, it will be televised. Take THAT Fox News!