ReportFromTheFront's Blog

           I think it’s a pretty safe bet to say that – barring unforeseen circumstances – Barak Obama will be our next President. Between them, the Clintons have both stuck their feet in Hillary’s mouth so often, it’s a wonder she doesn’t drop out from sheer embarrassment and John McCain is, unfortunately, the present day Republican equivalent of Michael Dukakis.

           I have a co-worker who is an African émigré and very proud to be on his way to American citizenship. He is intelligent, articulate, well read and well spoken. Sadly – depending on your point of view – he is more knowledgeable about the political process in this country than many native born Americans I know. He is so fired up about this election he even donated his vacation time to work for the candidate of his choice in Ohio during the primary there. In many ways, he is a man to be admired and sets a wonderful example that I wish more people would follow.

            We had an in-depth discussion the other day about Barak Obama and the very real possibility that he will emerge victorious this upcoming November, thus making history as the first African American President of a country whose Declaration of Independence promised equality for all, but failed so horribly to deliver throughout most of its history.

            ‘I fear for him’ I said. ‘I’m worried for Obama the same way I worried about Joe Lieberman when he ran with Al Gore in 2000’, remembering the three political assassinations of the 60’s which occurred within a five year span of time.

            My friend then said two things I did not expect. Rather than admit the very real possibility that someone opposed to an Obama Administration might choose to express himself by getting rid of the problem in, shall we say, a very final and definitive manner, he laughed and merely brushed off my remark as nothing more than negative thinking. Instead of looking backward, I should, instead, look forward. He then expressed confidence that, 40 years later, such a thing could not possibly happen because between blacks and Hispanics, white people are in the minority and besides – black people own more guns than do whites.

            My reaction, of course, was one of incredulity.

            Let me state for the record that eventual Democratic candidate or not, eventual President or not, I hope nothing happens to Barak Obama. Even if he fails to garner the Democratic nomination or - if he does manage to get the nod - if he fails to win the general election, I sincerely hope there isn’t another Lee Harvey Oswald, Sirhan Bishara Sirhan or James Earl Ray waiting for his chance to make a place for himself in the darker annals of American history. Sometimes, when I find the time to devote some thought to this, I am saddened somehow. I am saddened and I feel a sense of shame because – as one of those native born Americans I referred to earlier – I don’t have the confidence in this country that my friend has.

            You see, I am of an age where I can remember segregation in this country. I remember passing businesses in Southern and Eastern Maryland that fearlessly displayed signs stating ‘Whites Only’ and ‘Coloreds Only’. I remember the furor over school integration and the antics of George Wallace and Strom Thurmond. I remember the marches, the images of flailing billy clubs, the hosing of peaceful crowds, the dogs. I remember the riots.

            I remember it all.

            Apparently, so does the federal government, which wisely decided to provide secret service protection to Obama and his entire family. Someone, somewhere in Washington correctly reasoned that even in 2008, there are still prejudiced people out there who have been taught discrimination and hate as family values; people who would rather be publicly disemboweled rather than see a black man in the White House.

            By way of example, allow me to cite the state of post-Katrina New Orleans. If you’re not familiar with the general location and layout of that fine city, you should know that New Orleans is, in the simplest of terms, situated basically at the bottom of a bowl. When the Army Corps of Engineers was designing the series of dikes and levees which were eventually destroyed, the decision was made to construct them to withstand only a force 3 hurricane reasoning that the chances of a more powerful storm were so astronomically remote the additional cost could not be justified. Had I been there, I would have cautioned that the additional expenditure of funds would pale against the cost of rebuilding an entire city. As for the odds of a force 4 or 5 storm? Remote or not, it would only take one. As it turned out, New Orleans got pummeled with two such storms only a week apart.

            ‘Why then’ my friend asked, ‘didn’t they provide protection to Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton or Shirley Chisholm?’

            Good question. Easy answer. Neither was ever a serious contender in the grand scheme of things. Neither Jackson or Sharpton have ever held elective office. Jackson was (and still is) so mush-mouthed, one can barely understand him. Sharpton is nothing more than an attention junkie who would never have achieved notoriety of any kind had it not been for the Tawana Brawley debacle. Chisholm, unfortunately for her, was just way ahead of her time. Barak Obama, on the other hand, is a serious contender. This, in the eyes of an extremist, makes him a threat.

            Whether Obama gets the brass ring or not, one can’t help but be proud of him, of his accomplishments and of just how far he has come. After all, within my lifetime, this country has gone from overt, unbridled racism to a time when a black man can run for President and actually have a real chance of winning.

            To my friend, I say that I hope that we, as a country and as a culture, have grown somehow, that we have made progress along the road to being a colorblind society; that segregation, racism and separate-but-equal are fast on their way to becoming dishonorable historical footnotes. I would like to think that Barak Obama would be safe for these reasons and more, and not just because whites fear the black uprising that would surely follow the discharge of an assassins’ bullet. I'd like to think that we're just a bit better than that.