Black History Month 2020 - Reflections

As 2020's Black History Month starts winding down it's getting to be time for me to make my annual Black History Month Post. Yeah, I do one a year.

I don't talk about who I vote for as a matter of policy. The only exception to that rule of mine is Barack Obama. I voted for him the first time and I say so unashamedly and without compunction.

Whether I agreed or disagreed with what I believed he may or may not do as President I felt then, and still feel, that it was an historic opportunity for us, as a country to do something bigger than the presidency.

There is more than one America. If you're white and male you will probably react very negatively to that statement. But if you're black you'll most likely nod your head in agreement with it. The American experience is different, completely different for a white person than it is for a black person. It just is. Periodt.

The Internet is a good example. You've probably heard of Black Twitter. It's there. It's Twitter just like you're used to, but it's pretty much black people only. BlackAmericaWeb is a website. It's out there. This isn't a fringe. It's a real thing and it exists because a portion of the country doesn't experience the country the same way I do. And the reason for that isn't that they're criminals or because they're poor or because they live in the wrong part of town. It's simply because they're black.

When Barack Obama as President looked like it might become a thing, a real, actual thing I was hugely excited. Not for myself. My life is fine. My America is fine (If you ignore the fact that a huge segment of the population feels like it isn't a part of it and doesn't have a seat at the table.). But if you're a young black kid growing up and looking for role models who look like you, who grew up like you... you've got sports figures and musicians.

This was an opportunity to put truth to what we all tell our kids, white, black, yellow, or brown, "You can be anything in America."

This generation is the first generation ever to see a black man as President, in a real position of power, at the table with heads of state and leaders of the world. It was too historic, too amazing of an opportunity to pass up. I *had* to vote for him.

I don't regret it. There are kids out there right now who grew up in a country where a black man could become President. No, it doesn't undo slavery in the past. No, it doesn't undo the day to day racism that still exists in overt and covert ways that they experience every time they leave their homes. But what it does do, what it did do, was provide some kind of light, some kind of hope, some kind of message, that yes, those things are bad, and they exist, and in spite of them you can become President. The road will be harder than it should have to be if you're not white, but that road is open now in a way that it wasn't open when I was growing up.

The idea of a black man sitting in the White House when I was growing up was laughable. Race riots were still happening. It had only been legal for interracial marriage to exist for a year when I was born. In some places, schools were still segregated... But now, in my lifetime, and in the lifetime of everybody alive today and in the future, there has been a black man in the White House. And that can't be taken away from them.

The two Americas still exist, there's no question, but inroads are being made, bridges are being built, and Barack Obama was a big part of that and for that reason, I voted for him and I'm glad I did. The message to the black youth of the time and in the future was worth it to me then and continues to be..

Now, I know a lot of you will disagree with his politics and that's fine with me. Knock yourselves out... but do it somewhere else. Not in this thread. I wasn't talking about his politics and am not going to. I'm talking about the man that did a world of good and made a real, honest, tangible difference to a whole country of people you don't know much of anything about who live near you and work with you every day.

So, Happy Black History month. And don't shit all over my blog with politics.Just block me or unfollow me instead if you can't contain your hatred for the man's politics.