Yes we did
It’s been a long road.
Some will say they believed in him from the start, all will deny having actually voted for “The Mac” yesterday.
Still more will claim they pushed him over the top (here’s looking at you, Virginia Democrats) while others will claim outright credit for his victory.
It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in the light, and I don’t care when you realised that Barack Hussein Obama was a leading light in dark pit of vipers.
What matters is we’re here, now. Not just Americans, but all citizens of the world, celebrating the remarkable achievements of this young goffal oke from Hawaii.
He didn’t just dare to dream; he dared to challenge US to dream. To hope that maybe, just maybe, Dumbericans may just redeem themselves after the last eight years.
That’s why he won – he made them hope to be better people. I’m not expecting fireworks or even rapid shifts in policy from the start. Bureaucracies are lumbering beasts, at their fastest.
But I’m glad he made it, despite all the negativity – sometimes the good guys really do win.
Welcome to the new world.
Luck. They gonna shoot that man.
Put down the crack-pipe, friend. Why can’t losers ever just admit they failed? Sheesh.
Don’t talk about as … I almost said the A-word there. Don’t verbalise it. The world will sink into crisis.
well put JB
Seriously. Someone said to me over lunch, they’re going to shoot him. I told her not to even think along those lines, it’s that defeatist attitude that we don’t want.
Positive thoughts, positive thoughts. Who’s that stupid?
Don’t answer that.
In the quest for balanced knowledge and the search for wisdom and all that jazz I often stumble into dangerous portals. In this morning’s installment I wanted to see what the neo-nazi freaks at stormfront.org were saying and they think shooting Obama will only make a larger martyr out of him rather than help the cause of the white race. I’m not posting a link because you the good people of the gate need not tread down that wormhole.
We ain’t scurred. I’m going there now. Lol.
theres nothing wrong with discussing and considering these possibilties. the truth is there are some who will seek to take him out.
Meanwhile in other news, California has banned same sex marriage just a few months after legislating its approval. Now I have always said, why should only heterosexual couples be entitled to being miserable in the matrimonial state. Look at how quickly that guy from Little Britain got divorced, let gay people in on the misery act too. Then hetero couples can stop taking all the blame for high divorce rates.
Gays should be put on an island – the lesbians can stay (only if they are pretty though)
Squire you homophobe, what you scared of? Look, in my opinion The Gays can do whatever the fuck they want, long as it’s not to ME.
If they wanna marry, by all means, go ‘head wit yo bad selves. Feel the burn, okay? I don’t curr.
I have no room for gay gansters!
Wait, did they ask you to make room for them? Or are they just going about their business?
(RE: Squire) Sigh! (Shaking head) 🙂
On the Obama front, I have to admit that during his speech, I was half expecting his head to do a Kennedy on ours asses. I ain’t being defeatist. I am just taking heed of history. Can’t ignore the fact that Abe Lincoln, JKF, Bobby Kennedy and Marti King all have two things in common: 1. Were for the ‘Black man’, and 2. Were as-*cough* for it. That is a cold fact. One we would be folly to not bare in mind.
Oh, and just an observation made having watched the news most of the day yesterday. . .
Never before have I heard white folks say the word black so many times in quite so many ways and with such relish as I heard on the news yesterday. I’ve also not seen so many black people stopped on the street and asked their opinion on something other than gun crime or government corruption . . .
I’m loving it – I’m starting a new game ranking newscasters on how many times they manage to squeeze “black” into their pieces. . . there’ll be an award for the most unnecessarily gleeful white news presenter on TV.
Yeah, the fucking idiots are forgetting that he’s not just black. It’s like, “Black guy now Pres” instead of “Smartest guy in country now Pres” or “coolest guy” or “Inspirational figure”.
Just … black guy. Sad.
Don’t act like you don’t know the droplet rule in the US, if you are a little bit, you a might as well be completely. There are no loop holes like in the Old World where being BLACK is difficult. Here, if there is even a whiff of non black blood, you ain’t black. I ain’t sure which is wronger. AND the blacks of the world will settle for half black at the rate things were going.
Now, for a Black UK Prime Minister. I know all eyes were on the US with regard to that, but here. Sheesh! Never happen. The sad thing is, no one actually tries or makes noise about it. Black peeps here are content (somewhat). The issue is not an issue because … God, I don’t know why, but no one is complaining either. That’s really weird. My head hurts now.
Black UK PM not for ages. Tories are winning the next election. The nearest blackman is a Labourite – old Boateng – our man in SA.
Suprised McCain thought he could win – you can’t beat a Kenyan in a race.
Tara his secret service detail was doubled and there was bullet proof glass on stage. The US of A has come a long way since Reagan got shot
Tara, I hear you about the state of the black political landscape in the UK. The civil rights movement there wasn’t so rampant because a lot of the black people who are there CHOSE to be there, it’s not like they were frog-marched onto boats and a lot of them can trace back their roots, usually to the Caribbean. So the hang-ups they have are very different. So you don’t have very many black people positioning themselves at the forefront of advancing black people’s causes.
Lewis Hamilton for Prime Minister! LOL
I don’t mean to sound like I have issues about race, but notice in UK news, the black thing never comes up with Lewis unless it is about racists trippin. You hear a lot about Youngest blah blah blah blah. But you’d think that with all the Obama stuff, someone’d throw in the Black angle every once in a while. Is someone in denial? What’s wrong with World’s youngest and blackest. It ain’t like I’m exaggerating anything here. It IS something to be proud of right? Unless I’m mistaken and black people are in fact always winning in motor racing.
Hey JHB, now that Barack Hussein Obabma is in power, you gonna change back to just plain JB?
Nah, I think I’ll be a Hussein for a little while longer!
Tara I lived in blighty for a few years and came away with the feeling that UK institutions are in the whole fundamentally racist – Metropolitan Police et aliter. However, if you want to live in a country where race is not always rubbed in your face then it’s a great place. The states and Zim have nothing on the UK with its pseudo racial harmony.
As a result the thing that they push is Britishness above all. You embrace that then you are a hero – Lennox Lewis, Amir Kham, Naseem Hamed, Frank Bruno, Lenny Henry, Linford Christie, Ian Wright, Trevor Nelson, Trevor McDonald, Trisha. I can go on and on. So the most important thing is how British are you.
Also racial mix up is happening. Brixton is trendy now – so becomes mixed race. Hackney is being regenerated, etc. If anything the largest divide in England is class rather than race.
Nov. 4, 2008–Black people aren’t the only ones worried about embarrassing themselves now that Obama is president-elect. Here are a few pointers for white people.
1. Don’t personally congratulate all your black friends.
Black people are not a sports team, and Obama did not win the Super Bowl.
2. Don’t declare that you “never thought you’d see the day.”
You never thought you’d see the day?
3. Don’t start crossing the street in order to walk next to a black person.
President Obama is glad you support racial reconciliation, but he takes a hard line against jaywalking.
4. Don’t name drop “Dr. King.”
If you absolutely must make some comment about how this is a victory for civil rights, pick a marginally less obvious figurehead.
5. Don’t use the phrase “white people” in any way that suggests it doesn’t include you.
Contrary to popular belief, having voted for Obama does not make you even “semi-down.” Sorry if there was any confusion there.
Christopher Beam is a Slate political reporter.
Chris Wilson is Slate’s editorial assistant in Washington, D.C.
Nov. 4, 2008–There’s been an e-mail going around advising black folks on unacceptable behavior now that Obama has won. We at The Root thought we’d add a few tips of our own.
1. No Negro spirituals or quotes from Dr. King. John Hope Franklin can get away with this. The rest of us cannot.
2. Don’t go up to every “redneck-y” looking person and gloat. “It hurts don’t it? It burrrrnnss!” Dave Chappelle warned us about parading our pride too much.
3. Don’t corner your white coworkers to give them a tutorial on black culture just because “the president is black and it’s ’bout time y’all learn!”
4. Don’t go to your local DMV, post office or other government office and try to jump the line, talkin’ ’bout, “Barack’s got my back.”
5. Do not promise to name your first child after Barack Obama. We’ve come far, but Barack Obama Jackson does not have as much of a ring to it as you think.
South Park did an excellent episode about the election and the whole change thing. It’s not all ha-ha funny, but it raises some good points about how different people understand the term ‘change’ and how immediate it’s going to be.
Still wrapping my head around this, but it sure is interesting at first glance – in part because of the speed in which it was launched.
http://www.change.gov is a website launched by the Obama team’s Presidential Transition Project which documents the transition into power and solicits ideas from the public.
cant help but think we ought to thank Bush. He fucked up thingz so bad America figure we might as well give a nigga a chance. They say every cloud has a silver lining.
Thanks George
LOL – Anonymous, you funny guy!
I’m still tryina wrap my head around this whole thing – the black Pres thing, and all this interweb governing stuff… it’s all too much change for one week 🙁
RE: racism in Britain – to some extent I prefer that they don’t flaunt the whole L. Hamilton black thing. Our people have only ever been famed for sport prowess in this country more than intellectual. So now we have a driver too. Yay.
Change is a good thing, honey.
Fck Lewis Hamilton. He always tippy toes around the black issue. To be honest, ive never heard him used the “B” word himself. He seems to think its taboo. Like his white supporters he thinks he has found it so easy to see past his own skin color. Whoever thought that the F1 Champion would fail to adequately deal with “a race”. It disappointing that he has so many supporters who support him purely for being blck. Black motherfuckers that know fuckall about F1 creating and joining ” I support Lewis Hamilton” facebook group. That nigga dont even realise he is black until the spainish paint themselves black and wear shirts labeled “Lewis hamilton family”. Then the monthefucker screams racism.
And the British press have made little reference to him being the first black Formula1 champion. They only started mentioning it after Obama won.
Now I dont expect them to go overboard with the whole black thing. Like they doin with Obama. Ive never seen so many black pple being interviewed on BBC and Sky before. They even interviewd Dizee fuckin Rascal (whom they referred to as Mr Rascal) on his thoughts on a Black Prime Minister in the UK.
I was really hoping for some mutherfucker at work to ask me how i felt about the Obama victory. Now that would have been interesting.
Was that a rant? Phew…deep breath
(I should confess that I am a staunch Ferrari man and was hoping for Massa to win)
So wait … you want Lewis Hamilton to define his efforts, his achievements and his success framed by the colour of his skin?
Really? What’s wrong if he chooses to focus on his talent, his team, his car or whatever the heck F1 people talk about? So what if he doesn’t wanna be boxed into your tiny racial corner.
Why you so mad?
Exactly. Black people… tut tut.
Like i said i’m a Ferrai supporter. I’m mad coz my man lost. 🙂
I said nothing about LH framing his success on his race. Its one thing to frame his success on being black and its another thing to choose to completey ignore that his achievment represent a first for black pple. But thats his choice he can do whatever the fuck he want. I aint mad at him though.
I’m mad at the blck fan who choose to support LH purely becoz hes black and think that he is someone they can identify with.
I’m mad at the British press who will rarely link success to race but negative issues will always have a racial spin
I’m mad coz its Friday and its still 2 o’clock so i got at least 3.5 more left before i can get the fuck out of here
Yeah! I never expected Hamilton to make a big deall about it. Had he done so, I’d hate him even more than I already do. (Currently find him annoying. I have always had a negative thing aboout ‘pretty’ boys)
Erm… does anyone recall that he’s half-white? Or doesn’t that matter? Cuz in that light, we all win 🙂
One drop rule my friend. Only kidding, that only applies in the US. Why is that?! Why doesn’t it apply in the rest of the World?!
he a house nigger
RE Tara – why doesn’t it apply in the rest of the world so we can boast? LOL. The States are special.
Anon I’m with you on the Ferrari thing. Who defines race – do you or does society? IMO society – so if Tigere Madondo wants to call himself Cablinasian – he still black. If Hamilton wants to be just a driver – he’s still a black driver.
Funny I supported Obama because of his message and that he is black and I like him. I support the Williams sisters because they are darkies same for Tiger Woods (also because he is a phenom) but I am not a Hamilton fan
I support these people because they are highly talented. Of course, on some level I identify with them because of pigmentation, but that’s not a big deal for me.
As for LH … what does he do again? Volleyball?
I can understand white folks being surprised about a “black first” because they do not and would not want to believe that the black man is capable of doing well what has been exclusive to whites. “Black firsts” give white supremacy a kick up the ass and since white priviledge is based on notions of supremacy over all races, that puts whites in a precarious situation, particularly in SA and the states where there are marginalsed darkies.
What I do not get is why us black people make a fuss about a””black first”.
Are centuries of slavery and colonialism so entrenched in us that we are ecstatic when we “suddenly” realise we can do what white people have been doing?
Im disappointed it took an intelligent, charismatic…etc..man (read Obama) to beat a geriatric, unintelligent, corrupt…etc..(read McCain)in that election.