BEYOND POLITICS: FAREWELL FORTY-FOUR

*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