by IOTW Reports
The First Black President
6:30 pm in Uncategorized by IOTW Reports
by Torey Dawn
Recently this comment was dropped on my facebook page: “wow, u really hate black, i mean obama.” I decided to engage this and another black man in conversation; one that isn’t over yet. My initial words were: “It’s nice to meet you Marcus, but I don’t like Obama’s white half or his Arab part either.” He responded:
“My problem with Torey is that she has all these cartoon posts about black following Obama as if we brainwashed or something. My thing is that we have dealt with 43 white presidents. We finally get one, let us be happy! We are americans too, for so many years we have had a Commander in Chief who could not identify with us. We have one now, it may not happen for another 43-44 terms. Dont make us feel bad for being proud to have a black man be the President! she’s saying he’s half white, he’s arab…HE’S YOUR PRESIDENT!”
And I loved that comment. It was passionate and honest. I can deal with honesty. I can be honest right back because there is no pretense. I’ll get back to that.
Morgan Freeman made recent statements on a talk show, which this cartoonist is depicting. “[He] informed his host that, contrary to the prevailing wisdom, Barack Hussein Obama is not America’s first black president. He is the country’s ‘first mixed-race president.’ The first black president, Freeman continued, has not as yet ‘arisen.’”
Freeman goes on to blame Obama’s white opponents for the characterization of Obama as black. Huh? He had previously identified Obama as the first black president, and tea partiers protesting his ideology and policies as racists, but now he’s had a change of perspective; Obama isn’t so black after all. Then I suppose we aren’t so racist for opposing him after all either—ha!
The comment Marcus dropped on my page and the latest Freeman interview statements are good examples of the struggles blacks are having in defending Obama. First, in 7,000 cartoons on my toon page and at least 4,500 cartoons on my main page, I don’t recall seeing one about blacks following Obama because they are brainwashed. I do recall one cartoon that showed Obamabots in a trance blindly following him and there may have been a black character included, but certainly not all black characters. Regardless, the evidence is everywhere that what has been promised has not been delivered. And what was delivered is not what was wanted, and certainly not what was needed.
My interpretation is that Marcus was reading his own cognitive dissonance over Obama’s performance and lack thereof into the cartoons, and he’s projecting some of his frustration onto me too. He wants to be happy about Obama, but he’s not happy about Obama. He’s upset, too, and perhaps questioning why blacks should blindly follow Obama. And, like Freeman, he’s blaming white opponents because old habits are hard to break.
Blacks understandably wanted a first black president to be proud of. Obviously whites did, too, because they voted en masse to put him in office. But blacks are conflicted over Obama’s support of gay marriage; his failure to address (or acknowledge) black unemployment; his lavish lifestyle partying with rich white guys, but mainly they see his arrogance. He takes them for granted. And he talks down to them. And he doesn’t tell the truth.
