By Austin Weatherington
As a young black man in America, I realize that we must “Understand Differences, and Embrace Similarities”. I say this because in 2008, the “black experience” comes in so many different forms. Whether you grew up in the burbs or, or grew up in the hood, you can not be blind to the fact that the “black experience” is diverse. We have gone from being enslaved, to being empowered.
As a youth, growing up in suburban Cleveland, my teachers differentiated me from the other black kids. For whatever reason, I was seen as the “good” black kid. The way I was treated was separate from the other “bad” black boys whose expectation may have not been as favorable from the teacher, as mine were.
I believe that as a result, somewhat of an “institutional divide” had been created. Everybody’s divide may have not come in school; however I do believe that with many of our people, we look at each other and don’t see a piece of ourselves, which creates this divide. The fact that someone grew up in a different neighborhood, drives a different car, listens to different music, or wears different clothes, should not be cause for partition. Nobody should have to prove that they are black enough.
Case in point, the next leader of our country, Barack Obama. I have already made up my mind that whether he wins the election or not, (and I am praying he does) that Obama is my leader. Even though he is a black man, whose experiences were wildly different from my own.
Obama grew up in Hawaii. He is the child of a Kenyan father, and a white American mother. Throughout his childhood he spent time in Indonesia, before returning to Hawaii, where he stayed until he graduated high school. Upon graduating he moved to Los Angeles to attend Junior College, and from there he transferred to Columbia University where he finished his undergraduate career. He later attended Harvard Law School where he was elected the first black president of the Harvard Review. He received his J.D. from Harvard University, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1991.
I tell you his story not to brag and boast his accomplishments, but to tell you of his “black experience” while Obama’s story may be wildly different from yours, does that make him any less black? That is why I was outraged upon hearing people in the black community, as well as black leaders talk about how Obama was not” black enough”, as if there is a checklist of things you must have to be black.
This is the divide that I speak of. The fact that people look at Obama, and don’t see the similarities, but much rather point out the differences. When I see Obama I see a strong black man, with an equally strong black woman, raising a strong black family. Furthermore, for the first time I see a piece of me in the highest position in America, and maybe the world. That reality alone, trumps any differences that me and this brotha might have!
The fact of the matter is, black people in this country have overcome slavery, segregation, discrimination, and a rack of other “ism’s”. So with all things considered, a black man standing on the threshold of doing what many considered would never happen, should be a time for black people to unite, right? Well I will let you answer that for yourself.
In closing, this divide can be very harmful to us, if we continue to let it manifest through America, and the black community in specific. Let the presence of Obama be a reminder to us all that we are a great people, who have come from all different backgrounds, and are capable of doing anything we put our minds to. After all, no matter what situation you come from, or what situation you are in, we are all one in the same.
Stay Up,
Austin Weatherington
