Hustler's Peace of Mind

The Black Vote???

Words Noel C. Rock

As long as I can remember, the cry amongst most black Americans has been “We need a black President of the United States.” Many of us, whether born here or not, firmly believe that by electing an African-American President we as a people would see our issues dealt wi th in a more effective and timely fashion. Some even joke and say that we c ame pretty close when former President Bill Clinton was in office (1992 -2000). Although President Clinton was widely accepted by the black Am erican community, the mere fact that he was not of African-American des cent couldn’t put him over. To many blacks, something was still missing.

Let’s fast-forward to the Presidential Elections of 2000 and 2004, both of which had the same black Presidential candidate. World-renowned blac k activist Reverend Al Sharpton placed himself on the list of Democrati c Presidential candidates in both electoral periods. Based upon his ca mpaigns, Rev. Sharpton took his run for president very seriously. This was the point in time where I imagined that every black man and woman with the power to cast a vote would band together and support their candidate . In typical fashion, blacks in this country showed true cowardice and s elf-hatred in their mockery of Rev. Sharpton. Not only was he ridiculed and embarrassed, but he also was not even voted onto the final ballot.

Now it’s the year 2007, and the United States is preparing itself for another P residential Election in 2008. The Bush regime will end in 14 months, and most of the world couldn’t be happier. For many black Americans, Barack Obama has become somewh at of a “ray of sunshine” in our hopes for a black American President. Hailing from Illinois, Ob ama is amongst the most popular Democratic presidential candidates. H owever, there is an interesting twist to this fame; most of his supporte rs seem to Caucasian-Americans! This, in my opinion, is a slap in the fac e both to Mr. Obama and to the black community. For decades our parents an d parents’ parents have cried for a black man in the White House as Commander-in-C hief. Now that we as a people have equal rights to support and vote for who we choose, we clearly do not exercise that right. The truth of the matter is that it does not matter what ethnic group the President of the United S tates is. The real issue at hand is the character of the leader we vote int o office. However, as I see it, we as a people “bitch and moan” for many things. There are always 1 or 2 men of honor and integrity willi ng to step out and represent our people on these issues. The sad truth is t hat once these leaders step out into the light, a lot of our people crawl b ack into the shadows. Bottom line: Black people need to support their ow n. Stop barking, start biting. Too long we have been doing this “black President” song and dance. Well, guess what? The time to face the music is now…

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