Eating Our Young and Starving for the Future
Posted: 06 Dec 2020, 13:59
I remember it like it was yesterday, a most random moment of a black guy walking the streets of Columbus, Ohio with boxing gloves on prodded me to act. This was during the heat of the 2008 presidential primaries; I traveled to the Buckeye State with my friends Mike and Jimmy under the banner of Ethiopians for Obama to get as many Ohioans registered to vote for the upcoming primary.
I approached the guy, who looked like a cross between Mike Tyson and Sugar Ray Leonard, to ask him if he was registered and to give him my spiel about Obama’s “platforms”. Before I could even get a sentence in, he abruptly cut me off and said “I’m not voting for that n***a, I’m voting for Hillary”.
He said that with such a level of disdain in his voice that I was taken aback; I wanted to engage him in a debate but seeing that this fella was walking around in broad daylight with boxing gloves on, I decided the better of it and walked away instead of offering my body as a punching bag in defense of a politician I never met—there is a limit to my audacity.
Though that incident was extreme, it was by no means the exception but the norm. You would never be able to tell now seeing how much support Obama enjoys within the African-American community, but 12 years ago, the reality of his support level within the African-American community was anything but overwhelming. There is no need to mince words here; sometimes harsh truths are needed in order to wash away soft lies that keep us back as a people. The first black president would not have won in 2008 if lily “white” Iowans did not endorse his candidacy, it was WASP acceptance that made us embrace Barack.
Before Obama won Iowa, Hillary Clinton had a marked advantage within the African-American voting bloc. A poll commissioned by CNN revealed that Hillary garnered 53% of the “black” vote while Obama was lagging behind at 33% three months before votes were cast in the nation’s first primary. Had Hillary pulled out a win in Iowa, Obama would have...continued...
READ FULL ARTICLE AT: https://ghionjournal.com/eating-our-you ... he-future/
I approached the guy, who looked like a cross between Mike Tyson and Sugar Ray Leonard, to ask him if he was registered and to give him my spiel about Obama’s “platforms”. Before I could even get a sentence in, he abruptly cut me off and said “I’m not voting for that n***a, I’m voting for Hillary”.
He said that with such a level of disdain in his voice that I was taken aback; I wanted to engage him in a debate but seeing that this fella was walking around in broad daylight with boxing gloves on, I decided the better of it and walked away instead of offering my body as a punching bag in defense of a politician I never met—there is a limit to my audacity.
Though that incident was extreme, it was by no means the exception but the norm. You would never be able to tell now seeing how much support Obama enjoys within the African-American community, but 12 years ago, the reality of his support level within the African-American community was anything but overwhelming. There is no need to mince words here; sometimes harsh truths are needed in order to wash away soft lies that keep us back as a people. The first black president would not have won in 2008 if lily “white” Iowans did not endorse his candidacy, it was WASP acceptance that made us embrace Barack.
Before Obama won Iowa, Hillary Clinton had a marked advantage within the African-American voting bloc. A poll commissioned by CNN revealed that Hillary garnered 53% of the “black” vote while Obama was lagging behind at 33% three months before votes were cast in the nation’s first primary. Had Hillary pulled out a win in Iowa, Obama would have...continued...
READ FULL ARTICLE AT: https://ghionjournal.com/eating-our-you ... he-future/