Obligatory Obama blog

I know I’m not a full fledge blogger mostly because the amount of time I have to blog these days is infinitesimal. So because of that, I feel guilty even referring to myself in the same breath with some of the other bloggers I read. Tooling around the blogsphere reading more than writing blogs I realized that as a black person I needed to blog about Barack, I mean almost every black blogger I know has had something to say about him even if it is how UTTERLY yummy he is ( you know that’s his hype on the gossip blogs). I thought to myself, OG, you haven’t blogged one word about Obama since the primary race began. While I KNOW being black means I will need to blog about Barack on some level I haven’t gotten around to it. I mean EVERYONE who is black and LOVES to share their opinions, feels the need to share their opinion on him. I mean whether it’s why they like him, why he isn’t ready, why he should run, why he shouldn’t run, will he live if hebecomes president, will he die before he has the chance to be president, yadda, yadda, yadda! ( yes, I just yadda, yadda, yadda’d Barack Obama.). So I began to wonder if I don’t write about Barack what will happen to my racial identity as I know it, because it is apparent that while it isn’t required to like or vote for Barack to be black , your blackness is most definitely defined by weighing in for your race on HOW you feel about Barack Obama.

Its funny I feel the obligatory nature of these blog doesn’t stem from being a black, for me it stems from being a black woman. The black woman for those who pay attention is twice marginalized in this society along with being used as a tool of castration on her black brothers. Yep. I said it, unlike many white men I am completely aware of “my privilege”. As a black woman in corporate America, I see how my privilege undermines the family structure and silently leads to the Black America we face today. One set of full grown men behaving as boys and young women nowhere in touch with the self worth and then another set of women who find their value in diminishing other women’s worth instead of leading by love and understanding. Anyway, I feel my obligation to write this blog falls on me because I am black and a woman, and like so many times when its time for minorities it comes down to a white woman and a black man. It first amazes me how vicious white women get when it comes down to a choice between right and kind of right.

I think back to Susan B. Anthony and the women’s suffrage movement and as a CARD CARRYING member of the feminist movement she is viewed as founding mother for the equality movement. However she thought that as a white woman she deserved to vote before the niggers did. I mean the women suffrage movement was all about WOMEN’S right to vote and by WOMEN they did not include me. As a matter of fact the white women’s feminist movement never thought of the corner they stuck me in. Even in the early 90s when I was understanding the movement and what it stood for, my marginalization became clear it was the first time I studied black feminism it was the first time I truly understood that the anger or inability to find comfort in the feminist movement was because the W in the Women’s Movement almost always stood for White in addition to Women. That if it ever came down to it and the choice was white woman or blacks she is going to play her privilege card of race. She is going to say just like Susan you can’t let a black MAN vote before a WHITE woman. I men really as a black woman I possess no membership to any group that has advantage in my natural state.

However during the civil rights movement “the man” did a funny thing. He began to systematically destroy or community by getting rid of what I consider the building block of any community, the man.

I know I may get my feminist card revoked however while I believe in independence and being able to take care of yourself I also believe in order. I think that feminism is something that is a result of sin. I mean in a world as God intended it was built for a man and woman to run together. God made man first, so yes he should be the head of the household however man was NOT MEANT TO LIVE ALONE, so God made woman to HELP him. As a feminist I feel you can’t be a help to any man by being a burden. So I believe you should be able to take care of yourself. Anyway enough on my random theological view of feminism, “the man” began to break a part the family structure and remove the black man from the community in large numbers.

He did this in the usual ways we think of, drugs, jail, poverty, etc ( my belief if you start any man down a road of self destruction they will indeed DESTRUCT THEMSELVES!) but they also did it by elevating black women in place of black men. As a black woman many people find it easy to promote us, I mean after all no matter how angry you are, you are still a WOMAN. I mean when you talk about human nature women are not threatening as men. Even if the woman is the more ferocious hunters like Lions they still are no match for their male counterparts.

When you place the complex glasses of race on life the view that you see is still out of focus, often making black women invisible, the only place you seem to find visibility is through your success in your career, all while being alone because that success may have alienated you from the black men, YOU LOVE ( one day Imma blog how we have the BEST men and I am so tired of everyone wanting to get a piece!! LOL). For some reason white women in the workplace seem to manage to balance being everything they need to be wives, mothers, and tycoons. Hang in with me I promise this will make sense in the end.

So I stand here now, usually the invisible minority, being one who will have to make the choice. A big choice between sisterhood and "the brotherhood”, I mean the thing is they pit BLACK men against BLACK women and we WIN and then they pit white WOMEN against black WOMEN, and THEY win. So it’s no surprise that when they pit black MEN against WHITE women that the choice should be… LOL… exactly, that is exactly my point. As a black woman we have an experience that differs completely. What do you do when you come from property!

I mean think about it, if I were only a woman and not black, I would still be a part of group who was considered inferior at one time and even still today by some. If I were only black and not a woman, I would be considered a part of a group that IS still seen as inferior by many, some with out even realizing it. Its crazy and no one notices us, NO ONE sees this struggle, because we know how to survive as a black person in America and as a woman in America. WE KNOW HOW TO SURVIVE PERIOD. Isn’t that evident?

So when questioned with who will I vote for, it is clear to me. I mean really, white women never want to talk about our sisterhood until they need something. I mean they will quickly speak against our race and say something that offends your brotherhood in a blink of an eye, sometimes they don’t even realize it.

I often ask myself would Barack’s “inexperience” be such an issue if he were a white man. I mean clearly that would not be a card she could play or probably even think of. I mean look where experience has gotten us, and I hardly thinks she really is in a position to call someone inexperienced with barely two terms in Senate , and only in America can a white woman get credit for being the wife of a powerful man to count over actual experience of a black man who served in the State Legislature.

I mean basically Hillary is saying being married to the President is the same as being the President…really. I mean if you just look at political experience Hillary is the inexperienced one, she is also a Jr. Senator even though she has one term more than Barack, he had 7 years as a state senator in Illinois. However, I think inexperience is just a code word. So with that being said come March 4th I know who I am voting for, mostly because I want change. I want a new name in the game and it doesn’t hurt he is half black either. I think what Hillary is trying to sell us is a package by running on her experience as first lady she is telling us that she helped her husband run the world, not just provided support. And don’t worry cause he will help her run the country too. Remember our GOOD OL DAYS!!

Only in America can a white woman get credit for being married over a black man actually doing the work. That’s how it always seems to go, but for whatever reason (my personal opinion is that white men find what Hilary is doing as offensive and she is SUCH a polarizing figure) a black man has a REAL chance, not a placation to keep our votes. I love it! Take care and as always…

Be EZ,
OG