THINGS THAT BOTHER ME

THE BARACK PROBLEM

America faces a serious problem this election. It’s called Barack Hussein Obama. He, the said named, also faces a very serious problem. It’s called the stubbornly traditional segment of the American population, sometimes called the real "heart" of America. The meeting of these two is giving birth, excitingly, to the most important American election in decades.

NO PRECEDENT

All the problems we are facing we have faced before – high gas prices, inflation, the falling dollar, stock market ebb and flow, crime in the inner city, police brutality. As such we can fall back on systems that have been tested and proven.

Never in its glorious history has the Presidential nominee of one of the two main political parties been black. Even if Dr. J.A. Rogers’ ("The Five Negro Presidents") contention that Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Warren Harding, and Calvin Coolidge had black ancestry is granted, their elections do not serve as precedents, because their "black ancestry" was not known in their lifetime.

Barack’s ancestry is well documented, and only those not politicized or those who refuse to accept facts do not know that his father was black and his mother white. In another universe he might be called white, but in the universe that is the United States, he is black.

PRESENTED DATA

Problems are solved by applying known formulae. Since none exists for this problem, voters would turn to news media or their biases and prejudices. I include as news media: the internet, the print medium, and television. Although none of them is without a downside, they all provide valuable data, which the questioner is asked to select objectively.

However, it is only as useful as we want it to be. For example, the internet might provide A with facts that describe Barack Obama as a practicing Christian. Since A knew that the name was Muslim, A had assumed that Barack was a Muslim. How-ever, after studying the facts presented, A changed and regarded him as a Christian. B was like A before the change, and was presented with the same facts as A. However, B continued, however unreasonably, in the belief that Barack is a Muslim.

On the opening night of the Democratic National Convention, Chris Matthews, MSNBC’s co-anchor for their coverage, recounted an experience he had shortly before he came on air. Three white women were talking about Obama’s being a Muslim. He asked them how they knew, and if they hadn’t been listening to the news, which states categorically that he is not a Muslim, has never been a Muslim, and has always been a Christian. They replied that they knew all the facts; but that to them he was still a Muslim.

That’s the crux of the matter. There will always be persons who interpret data to agree with their assumptions. Others only consult opinions, commentaries, analyses that establish the validity of their conclusions.

BIAS AND PREJUDICE

Bias is holding on to an opinion on a subject while having a particular point of view. It is a person’s unique point of view about things, without a predisposition to change it. Prejudice is an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought or reason.

Man is a creature of emotion, not logic. We have emotion, but learn logic. We know instinctively what we like or hate; but have to learn how to choose between the two. In this sense, bias and prejudice are natural mental states.

Many persons have a gut feeling about Barack. Some support him without knowing his policies. Others studied his policies and consider them good for America, and support him. There are also those who dislike him instinctively, and are not predisposed to changing their opinions or minds, even if an angel from heaven were to beseech such.

RACIAL PREJUDICE

The worst prejudice in America is racial in origin. Enough legislation exists outlawing systemic racism. But no law can outlaw or stop racial feeling. Many education psychologists posit that the right kind of education can eradicate racial prejudice. To date, neither the information highway, or better trained teachers, or very objective analysts on racial issues, nor the very many advances made by blacks have solved the problem.

When I was a boy, black people all over the world were "the white man’s burden." No nineteenth century or any white thinker from the past century or this has dared to question Kipling’s prejudice. Why? The black man was considered inferior to the white man. These days, when black scholars present evidence to the contrary, they are called Afro-centric.

As I said in a previous article, black persons have made great advances in science, education, literature, music. My assertion is not meant to imply that black people will be accepted because of these. We have always had outstanding black persons. The problem is that prejudice and bias are mindsets that will survive forever.

BARACK’S PROBLEM

Based on the preceding discussion some of Barack’s problems are: there is no precedent to his candidacy, and no models exist for solving the problem of assessing it; and those that might be relied upon are more unfavorable than favorable to him.

Permit me to respectfully submit that the most difficult of his problems is his racial identity. We define him as black, implicitly giving him most of our social and other attitudes. The problem is that he is "more white" than black. Do not misread what I am saying. I am merely reporting a fact that should be in his favor. Before I proceed, I feel compelled to explain my statement.

Barack’s father left the family and returned to Nigeria when he was five. He was brought up by his white mother and her white family. Based on his achievements they did a good job. When he became curious about the modus operandi of black people, he went to Chicago on a learning experiment. Blacks do not hold that against him. We know that it was based on the inescapable logic of his situation.

One would, therefore, think that he would be accepted by the whites, since he went to their best schools, knows their modus operandi, and is not a product of the sixties. He does not rant and rave about white racism and exploitation, or slavery, or black empowerment. He talks of reconciliation and wholesomeness.

He is damned if he does and damned if he does not. His beautiful black wife (he did not do, like so many of our successful brethren – marry into whiteness) was honest when she said, "I have never felt so proud to be an American as now." We all knew what she meant. She meant her husband’s candidacy made her proud to be American, because it is not possible in any other developed country.

She, an outstanding Harvard graduate, was compelled to describe how American she is, and even that would not do. She is black, damn it! The elitist tag the Pat Buchanans and Hilary Clintons have put on him is another example of white America’s refusal to accept a true American, merely because he has black in him.

CONCLUSION

The good news is that most problems are solvable. I have faith that the open-minded and fair among us are the majority. I have faith that voters’ choices will be determined by policies and not the color of skin. I have faith that Martin Luther King’s dream that the children of the former slave master and those of the former slaves will rise up as one people -from East, South, North, and West – under God.

This is how I see it this week. Think your own Thoughts. Onward ever, forever, fellow comrades. God bless the DNC and the RNC. God bless America.