After having my absentee ballot chillin' at the bottom of my bookbag for 5 days or so, I couldn't get any inspiration to actually fill out the little ovals in pencil. Until I'm in the school store with my homegirl, and we see Obama on the cover of Vibe magazine...he actually wrote a personal letter to the readers, telling us that it's NECESSARY now, more than ever, to vote. He understands our cynicism, but that shouldn't be the excuse we give for why we didn't put our two cents in.
Of course, in a perfect democracy, this would all make sense. I can't help but go conspiracy crazy once November 4th gets here, and Palin rifles her way to the White House. Neverthless, I jetted to the mailroom and filled out every.last.oval (for Baltimore City, they want us to vote for 5011 different things--namely a $40,000,000 loan to the school system). I guess you can say I felt accomplished.
But in all reality, I haven't been pleased in listening to Obama lately. His war-hungry rhetoric is obviously him saving his ass from being called a Muslim, and his "save the middle class" just seems far too safe for me to relate to. It almost feels like he's not even speaking to us (yeah, US) at all anymore, but trynna walk this tightrope for Joe 6-pack and them middle america white muthafuckas who wouldn't think twice about voting for him. Grant it, he can't be a Jesse Jackson and solely discuss the needs of people of color, but he could AT LEAST mention us. But no, any specifics would deem him playing 'the race card', and would ACTUALLY admit to the fact that wow, there IS racism in this country, and people of color ARE affected by it!
I'm so sick of white folk i dont know what to do.
And not just any white folk, no...the Six Flags America, "I'm not racist, I have black friends" muthafuckas who cannot comprehend their own privilege, and see how racism not only marginalizes us, but elevates them, just by virtue of being white and in this country. I don't care if you, personally, haven't called anyone nigger in ur LIFE, but the system around you that you exist in has fucked us over since the ships. And that's just the gospel truth. So you could at least be aware of this, and of your own accountability in perpetuating this...your naivete and denial doesn't help either.
Okay, I said all that to say Obama's got a hell of a position. These folks are gonna be watchin him like a hawk. And is it wrong of me to think, that just because he gets in office, all of a sudden he's gonna REALLY start talking about our interests? Naw, cuz at any given moment, he has to remain colorblind. To be colorblind is to remain neutral on race and how it has EVERYTHING to do with our positions in this country, and to appease those white folks that think we're soooo over racism and can move on to more important things. Yes. We've definitely reached that promised land.
Come November 4th, I'll be sittin by the TV with my bottle of Captain Morgan's and an icegrill. It's gonna be a long night.
