Obama Is Not Our Savior by Rambling Raven

I too cried a million tears on election night, how could I not. It was the first time I was emotionally invested in a candidate and an election. For nearly two years, I watched, wondered, hoped and even prayed that the man who I wanted to see as the leader of this country would be elected. I had the audacity to hope. I hoped like millions of others that I would see what so many said would never happen. I hoped that in this life time I would get to experience history as it unfolded.

There was something truly different about this new candidate. He didn’t march for civil rights or see first hand the vicious injustices that took place then. He was in many ways like myself. He was someone who grew up post-civil rights, and who reaped the benefits that so many spilled blood for. He, like I, appreciated and respected those who laid the ground work for the current freedoms so many of us take for granted. This new guy was appreciative of the past but understood that as a people we needed to move forward. We have to continue to make the dream a reality. So, on November 4, 2008 a baton was passed, from the man who dared to have a dream to the man who dared to live it. Yes, I cried a million tears that night.

I have shared in the joy and hope of so many who see the passing of the baton as a new beginning. In so many ways it is. However, I am starting to hear some things that make me believe that we are fooling ourselves. We are fooling ourselves into believing that one man is going to change the world overnight. It is true that we no longer can look at our sons and daughters and say to them that there are limitations to what they can accomplish. Yet, we must not forget to remind them that the road is still a littler harder and paved with a few more obstacles then others, and like before, they will have to work twice as hard to prove themselves. They cannot be led into a sense of false security that the world is now color-blind. No, it will take many more black firsts for that to even begin to take place.

I hear people say that for once we have someone who will cater to our needs. Again, the first black president isn’t just the president of black America, but of all Americans. Obama wasn’t voted into the White House on the African-American vote alone. It took many different groups of Americans coming together to make our dream into a reality. And the last I checked there weren’t officially two Americas. Although many times it has felt that blacks and whites existed in two different realities.

My fear is that too many of us are going to hold President Obama accountable for our personal well being. Too many are going to expect government to take responsibility for things that we should personally be held accountable for. Yes, government should help provide a quality education for us all, but whose responsibility is it to teach respect for education, and a need for it? As an educator, I witnessed too many children who have no desire to learn. I taught too many children who have no one at home who is responsible for making sure their homework is done. I have known too many households where parents are not interested enough in their children’s future to even walk a few blocks to pick up a report card or meet the teacher. I am not sure how Obama can instill a sense of personal responsibility in a parent towards the education, physical and emotional well-being of their own child.

I have heard from several people, that now that Obama is president, the black man will get more respect. And I always respond that it’s not the election of Obama who will garner respect for black men. It is black men who will have to take the reins and command respect by their actions. No one is going to respect a man just because we now have a president who resembles him in some way. That man will have to do things that are deemed respectable. That man will have to be someone who shows self-respect first. He will have to step up and be a man by getting an education, a respectable job, and being responsible to his children, family, friends and community.

The election of President Obama is just the tip of the iceberg. He certainly is someone to look to as an example of what many can aspire to be. However, the true role models have to come from the everyday people within the household, the people who are present and attainable on a daily basis for children. Those who I credit for me being me are my parents. My mother conducted herself like a lady no matter what socio-economic status some statistic said she belonged to. And, in turn, she taught her daughters to behave like ladies. My mother taught me how to conduct myself as a woman in the home and in public. She helped to foster in me the self-esteem she knew I was going to need to combat the evils that this world offered. It was through her that I learned that no matter what my skin tone or shape of my body, I was as beautiful and worthy as any blonde haired princess in a fairy-tale. It is because of my mother and my aunts that I learned that I didn’t need any man to validate my beauty and self-worth. And it was my father who gave me the love and protection that a father should give his daughter. He taught me that any man can make a child but a true man sticks around and raise it. It was my dad who helped me understand the virtues of hard work. I don’t understand how a president is going to instill any of that in a person.

The election of the country’s first black president is definitely something to be proud of. It is something to celebrate and give praise for. But we can not mistake that this moment in history will solve all the ills that face the black community. Too much of what is wrong in our community stems from the actions of those from within the community. No man can repair the soul. Give us pride, yes. But to truly begin to eradicate the ills that plague our community, every one of us will have to look in the mirror and take responsibility for his/her own actions. And eventually come to terms with what is in the heart and soul.

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