Obama: First African American President

Chapter 2 Road map to Change we can believe in The coming of black people to America in the early days (1619 to 1865) was mainly through forced displacement from their fatherland, in the harsh form of slavery and slave trade. The evils of slavery and slave traders are beyond the scope of this book. My intention is to show how emancipation of slaves through the times and the struggle for recognition of contributions of these slaves and their progeny to the present day happenings in America and the world in general. The thawing of master slave relationship was a long struggle by many black men and women, who themselves were either slaves who brought their freedom, or of those who fled the inhuman treatment. Of these are Frederick Douglas, W.E.B. Du Bois and Harriet Tubman. Many tools were employed by the dominate group, the whites to keep the minority group the blacks, from gaining political power of becoming economically independent. All form of discrimination was meted out to the average black person; there was deliberate avoidance of persons of brown skin in congregational settings, places of work and recreation, including institutions of education. There was also state sponsored exclusion of able bodied black persons from legitimate means of economic and political advancement. Countless incidences of police brutality and torture of black people were supported actively by the establishment, including unfortunately the judicial system. Individuals and law enforcement routinely carried out massacre of black for the simplest excuse with little or no reprimand. Minority groups response to prejudice & discrimination Vast majority of historians situate the genesis of the new movement for civil rights in the United States to the incidence which happened in Montgomery, Alabama when a black woman Rosa parks, an unknown seamstress, would not give up her seat for a white person. Her insistence to remain seated in a 3 person arrangement, after 2 black men had given up their seats for 1 white man, led to her arrest and fine for violation of a city ordinance. This single act of courage and bravely in the face of legal consequence on December 1 1955, led to organized movement to defy the laws of segregation, resulting in Montgomery Bus Boycott. An unrelenting and constant call for more freedom and right of participation by many blacks, aided by a sizeable number of whites and other concerned minority groups, developed into what is termed the freedom march on Washington. The march which took place in 1963 was organized by Bayard Rustin, A. Philip Randolph, John Lewis, Martin Luther King, Roy Wilkins and Whitney Young. The initiative original was that of Randolph, who was responsible for planning a similar march in 1941. It here that MLK gave his famous I have a dream speech, the result of the march and brilliant outing by MLK and the team, gave rise to Civil Rights Act (1964) and subsequently the National Voting Rights Acts (1965). The dream of MLK that one day his sons and daughters would be judge by their character and not by the color of their skin, was not going to remain a dream, many blacks knew what they were up against, but only a few men would be prepared to stake their reputation and intelligence to advance the course of their kith and kin in politics. Again to offer a chance at aspiring to be whatever a black man wishes to be, a rare moment was provided by Shirley St Hill Chisholm, who in 1964 ran for the New York state assembly seat, she also made it to the US Congress by 1968 and was re-elected to for a second term by 1970. She was credited with a lot of progress in women and minority affairs, actively campaigning for the betterment of the woman folk, she announced her candidacy for Presidency in 1972 at the Democratic Party Convention in Miami, becoming the first woman of any major party considered for nomination as a presidential candidate and as a black person. Twelve years later, in 1984, Jesse Jackson ran as a democrat for the office of the president, he was placed third in a race that saw Walter Mondale became the presidential candidate. Not deterred by his low delegate count about 8% of the total delegates, he ran for the office again in 1988 and put up a better showing. About twenty years after Jackson ran, Obama took the stage in 2004 at the Democrat convention for John Kerry and made his famous speech about a united States of America, where there were no Red states and or Blue states, but a people united by common goals. The stage was being set a powerful orator, many commentators were actually predicting he was going to displace President Clinton, as one of the best orators the party had. When Obama got his chance in the sun, he made very good use of it, he did not come across as a civil rights activist nor was he considered an angry black man. He came across in the political scene to many in the Democrat party as one of their rising stars. It is easy for anyone of us to gloat over Obama’s victory at the polls on November 4th 2008, making him the first black man to occupy the highest office of the land. Many would want us to believe that his intelligence, his charm, the message of change, including the campaign strategy adopted by his team, still others would add his rather cool temperament got him on the side of majority. While some would have Americans thank Bush for giving US Obama, citing the failed war in Iraq, spying on and wire tapping defenseless citizens. Yet there some who would say that McCain would have won, due to Bradley effect, were it not for the melt down of Wall Street and near collapse of the entire financial system, with the comatose effect on the economy. These commentators are quick to point out that McCain was leading in the polls, right after he announced Sarah Palin as his running mate, only to see a decline in fortune when the Wall Street brouhaha started. Sarah Palin’s divisive politics, is the way of the Republican elections success, many conservatives would agree, they talk of red meat, use slangs like anti- God and continue as if anyone in the opposite camp was to be feared and considered anti- American. For sure the scare tactics worked for the Republicans against candidates who, were either too timid to confront them, or rather slow to respond or even those who try to imitate them at their game. If you were timid, you looked weak in the eyes of the unsuspecting electorates, many voters were bamboozled, and confused so much that they turned their gaze away from what mattered most in elections- the issues. The talking point was either “soft on crime” or simply accuse a candidate for being “soft on defense”, many Americans have been made to believe for a long time that until they go to war, they are weak. In casting their opponents as weak, the Republican normally expects one of the three ways mentioned above, as a possible mode of response, if your response was slow, then they chew their opponent up so quickly, he may find it very expensive to mount a counter, either as a denial, which can be seen as being on the defensive or on the offensive. Either way, the efforts dedicated to cleaning up the mess generated by such claims and counter claims, could place an usual financial burden on a Democrat with limited resources, as the case is wont to be. Imitate these guys, then you risk turn off from many Democrats, who really want to hear the issues, and unfortunately, nearly all Republicans agree they would never vote a Democrat no matter what. Some republicans have started to analyze this whole blitz by Barack Obama, some have written their own side of the story, citing issues like grumpy old white men’s party, loss of demographics- educated white men, upscale white women, blacks, Hispanics and Asians.