*Note to reader: the following
reflection isn’t meant to elevate President Obama as a savior or messianic
figure, he like every President before him and all who will follow is a flawed
human being whose leadership decisions are sometimes questionable, detrimental, and
ill-advised.
America, particularly white America,
to understand the weightiness and significance of Barack Hussein Obama’s Presidency, the lens of politics is insufficient.
To grasp #44s tenure, a cursory
glance at America’s soiled history toward Black, Brown and Yellow humanity
provides the aperture through which to see, think and feel.
Clearly, America never
intended the vestments
of the most powerful office to be adorned by a Negro.
The pundits and historians will forever
debate the leadership and policies of the Obama Presidency in attempts to
define his legacy. Perhaps, altogether overlooking the single greatest impact (of
the election of Barack Obama).
Mr.
Obama is a non-white male citizen. . .
The two-term Presidency of Barack
Obama, like the Affordable Care Act, granted millions upon millions access to a
healthy soul. The mere presence of his Blackish-Brownish-Yellowish face in the
Oval Office signaled at once: the possibility of healing, restoration of
humanity, evidence of America’s striving toward a More Perfect Union and demonstrating
a commitment to upholding her Declaration:“We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all (Black, Brown, White and Yellow) men (women) are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
POTUS Obama, the leader of the free
world, forced America to acknowledge the legitimacy of Blackness. Irrespective of
the historical rejection and subjugation of people designated as Black, America
had elected a Commander-in-Chief, whose pigmentation years ago, would have
legally denied him recognition as fully human. From 1787 to 1861, the U.S. Constitution
instituted the Three-Fifths Compromise declaring: “for purposes of representation in
Congress, enslaved blacks in a state would be counted as three-fifths of the
number of white inhabitants of that state”.
Although,
prior to negotiating with Congress
or
foreign leaders, signing any laws or vetoing any bills,
Barack
Obama would be known as a historic President.
Yet, 2008 and 2012
proved so much more than just a historical note. This election became therapeutic,
a symbol of pride strengthening our resolve, and encouraging us to stand unmoved in the struggle to be human.
In a real sense, #44 empowered Black people to emerge from the despairing shadow of invisibility.
No longer would our Blackness go unnoticed! As President Obama, soulfully and
with swagger boarded Air Force One, so too were Black people taking flight –
more importantly being seen. Either during Mr. President’s debriefs in the
West Wing, strolls through the Rose Garden or hosting Heads of State, etc.,
there we stood.
At last, we like the Narrator in
Ralph Ellison’s Invisible
Man could confidently reject
invisibility and assert: “Must I strive
towards colorlessness? But seriously and without snobbery, think of what the
world would lose if that should happen. America is woven of many strands. I would recognize them and let it so remain.”
In short, ladies and gentlemen the
President of the United States of America...reinvigorated our worn and waning hope in
American ideals. Our President’s ascendancy to the highest office seemed to secure the often-elusive legitimacy of Black folks’ place within the chain of
humanity. We now sat at the proverbial welcoming table! Once meager “huddled masses yearning to be free” we
were among the gathered, partaking in the selective delicacy of freedom.
Black America, Brown America, White
America, Yellow America. . .politics aside, President Obama’s arrival to the White
House affirmed our deep-seated conviction: politics isn’t the measuring stick for one's humanity,
humanity is governed by an Omnipotence of whom we all are image bearers. The swearing
in of our lengthy–eared Chief Diplomat seemed to give rise to a repentant America
embracing her prophetic preamble “all
men (women, people) are created equal” and her pledging allegiance to a “God (that) shows no partiality”.
The 2008 election powered by then
Senator Obama’s campaign belief, “Yes We Can!” was a resolution of
sorts. A proclamation moving us beyond
politics as usual to a spiritual mandate not bound by term limits:
Yes
We Can – We can Be Human (God Inspired)!
Yes
We Can – We can see Human(ity) in every hue!
Inspired By Love,
Pastor Marcus J. Singleton
