Good Evening and Greetings on the Last Day of 2008....Yeah, Y'all, It Looks, Like We Made It....whew...to God be the Glory!
I hope this message reaches you all in the midst of blessed and relaxing holidays. I send my congrats to all the December 2008 graduates (go head, y'all, go head!!!). However, I also send all my prayers to those experiencing financial reversals (I can soooooooooooooooooo relate!!!) and those who have lost loved ones this year. I send you sincere prayers and good wishes in the absence of all the checks and love offerings I'd love to send, but can't right now.
Living within one's means and being willing to say "I'm sorry I can't come", "I don't have it", "I can't swing that right now", but God bless ya and I'm gon' pray for ya...is excruciating---but feels better, truer, more honest than building up more and more debt.
Alright, enough about that, on to the other juicy subjects.So, I hear some 'uh y'all are headed to DC in a few weeks for the big Obama-tillions and 'Bama-galas and various Barackulous events. One request: pour out a lil' su'in-su'in for the sisters and brothers who ain't there.
It is indeed a time of excitement for many. And yet, as cabinet members have been named, and scandals have popped aloose, and Burris has been "seated" by Guv Blago and spats break out over "appropriate" preachers giving invocations and "Magic Negro" insanity, the Presidential transition is gettin' thick in the Chi yall!
And yet, what really drove me to the keys tonight was all the mess above--- coupled with this journalist I heard discussing the Burris appointment tonight. I heard a young, white, female Politico commentator say that the battle over the Illinois senate seat was "a battle between Civil Rights Era politicians of the Bobby Rush/Roland Burris era and the post-civil rights politicians like Barack Obama".
And my gut reacted violently to that assertion---just the fact that white folks need Barack to be "post-Civil Rights" and not a descendant and BENEFICIARY of the the Civil Rights movement REALLY got next to me.It is just amazing to watch AGAIN AND AGAIN how "beloved" Blacks have to systematically separated from the Black community and the taint of anything "Black". All this Barack worship smacked up against some of my own concerns about the complicated side of the Obama ascendancy.
Candidate Obama was a political genius that took the nation by storm. He deployed amazing political acumen, profound grace under pressure, amazing management of his image and used the double weapons of pedigree and bi-raciality/complexion to his advantage. Yes, I said it COMPLEXION/SKIN TONE/LIGHT-SKIN-DED'NESS--- since complexion is STILL a form of cultural capital in America that impacts people of all races in America and beyond. And let me say that I mean no offense to all of the fair skinned folks in my life who I love deeply, but I'm just tryin' to talk about what's real from where I sit.
FURTHERMORE, FOR MY MONEY, PREZ-BRUH-ELECT OBAMA CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO BE REPRESENTED AS THE ONLY "ACCEPTABLE" BLACK POLITICIAN/THINKER/LEADER OR ROLE MODEL.
For those of us who happen to be too dark, too nappy, too broke, too hurt, sorely undereducated and under-resourced and living here in the hells of North America (as Elijah Muhammad would say)---you not gon' be able to make folks feel comfortable 'cuz you look like them or live like them. So, you still gon' have to figure out how to open up your mouth and say something about your condition.
I do understand that the President-Elect is the political darling of the nation (and with good reason). But let us still make room for a myriad of Black political voices including those like Bobby Rush who was willing to peer into the hallowed halls of the United States Senate, see the racial disparity and figure out how to open up his mouth and SAY SOMETHING about it. The tradition of speaking truth to power---along with prayer and the Black church--- is what has gotten the race this far...so just because we got Bruh Barack in the Big House don't mean that we go blind, deaf and dumb around issues of injustice and inequity or malicious oversight of the under served among us...and it don't mean that we don't challenge HIM when he gets to talkin' and ack'in crazy.
Yeah, he has run a two-year clinic for the nation on how to run for office and get paid: do your homework, play cool, wink at Black folks to keep us sweet while playing footsy with everybody else, make everybody else "at ease with you". So, we now have the formula down: in order to be elected President, you must raise over half-a-billion dollars, run a nearly perfect campaign...and be Black enough, but not too "Black"...and pray you have the fortune of being on the fairer end of the color spectrum. If not, yo' Black tail better be ready to raise billions!!!
However, for my money, we need to be careful not to let any ONE individual---yes, I include myself in the number--- come to define "Black politics, Black perspectives and Blackness" even if that individual was elected President. I raise this only because I fear that folk will become convinced that deploying the Obama playbook is the only way one can be heard or engaged or achieve. We ain't all rollin' like he rolls (and don't have to), but still must continue to innovate and keep it movin.
Toni Morrison offered some of my favorite reflections in a wonderful conversations with Charlie Rose on her new novel, "A Mercy", her reflections on the history of racism in American life and her thoughts about the significance of the Obama election. I love her cautious optimism and yet her reminders about the work WE ALL MUST DO, THE DIFFICULT QUESTIONS WE MUST ENGAGE AND GET BETTER AT DOING. Check her out below:
http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/9464
I'll end here having given you enough to chew on, but promise to send along the second part of this: my New Year's Wish List for Bruh-Prez-Elect Obama.
May a blessed and beloved New Year's Day be yours!
---Nicole
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
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