Obama And Orenthal

Much speculation has surrounded the recent ascendency of Barack Obama in the landscape of US politics and what his eventual fate will be should he succeed in his bid for the Presidency. Some have predicted that he may suffer the fate of others who before him aspired to or achieved that office only to be denied by death in the form of an assassin's bullet, and while Obama is certainly no JFK or RFK, the possibility remains real to many.

History shows us that the track record of black men involved in social and political change in the USA does not lend itself to longevity. MLK and Malcolm X come easily to mind. So what's to prevent another fanatic white supremacist from taking a bullet to Obama? Has the psyche of such extremists changed sufficiently since the sixties to allow a black President?

There are differences besides the passage of time which make for a more optimistic outlook as far as Obama is concerned, not least of which is the fact that he is only half-black. Or perhaps he is half-white. This puzzles me: it seems that when a man has a touch of the tar brush that he is white with it, yet when he has a touch of the whitewash brush he remains black. Thus Obama, half-white as he is, is still considered black. Yet he of the black mother and the white father with the straight hair and the tan skin is considered very much white.

Color prejudice runs deep in some circles, just as class prejudice is perpetuated in certain countries and societies. The English hold onto such traditions: low class, middle class, upper middle, lower middle, high class. Class as category, just as in other societies race counts to categorize people, to put them in their place.

So Obama, in spite of being half-white, is black, and I, with perhaps a touch of the tar brush remain white. Strange.

To return to the speculation surrounding the eventual fate of Barack Obama and the possibility of the bullet, I remain optimistic that things have changed sufficiently since the sixties to ensure the fulfillment of his potential. 

After all, Orenthal Simpson is still alive.