Reuters photoFor months since Barack Obama all but sealed the Democratic nomination for President, African-Americans wouldn't even discuss the fear. Bring it up and they quickly changed the subject.
Yesterday, however, the fear that Barack Obama's journey toward the White House could be derailed by violence inescapably bubbled to the surface. As news reports broke about the three men suspected of concocting a sinister plan to assassinate our arbiter of hope, black people across America were forced to face the suppressed trepidation that had silently tempered their hope.
Thanks to Tharin Gartrell, Nathan Johnson and Shawn Adolf, we can no longer ignore it. Their faces resemble those that have haunted the nightmares of black men for decades. They represent the faces of prejudice, ignorance and irrational hate. They symbolize the type of hate that induces men to head toward Denver with a stockpile of stolen guns and drugs allegedly on a mission to kill. Their suspected link to a white-supremacist group and lengthy criminal records come as no surprise.
As black people we know for sure that if there are three, there are more who wish ill upon the man who would be our first African-American president. There are thousands who, because of deep-seated intolerance, would rather elect a Christmas goose than a black man calling for change; and there are countless lost souls willing to kill and/or die to keep Obama's victory from happening. Our fear – no longer deniable – is warranted and real.
I hesitated to even blog about it, because I would much prefer to keep banishing all bone-chilling thoughts that there might be attempts on the presidential candidate's life to the background of my daily mental chatter.
I take solace in being sure that the best security money can by surrounds Obama. Every possible threat - both publicized and unpublicized - is curtailed quickly, I tell myself. I'm certain all I's have been dotted and all T's crossed for his historic acceptance speech Thursday at the open-air stadium, Invesco Field at Mile High. (Whose decision was that again?)
I keep these assurances at the forefront of my mind because anything else for me is unthinkable. I was not old enough to mourn first hand the loss of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or witness the riots that followed his murder. I was not yet born when someone did or did not hide in a grassy knoll to assassinate John F. Kennedy.
Our nation recovered after those tragedies. If America lost Obama -its most tangible chance for hope and recovery- I question whether the resulting rupture the fabric of this country could ever be repaired. That may be our biggest fear of all.
Yesterday, however, the fear that Barack Obama's journey toward the White House could be derailed by violence inescapably bubbled to the surface. As news reports broke about the three men suspected of concocting a sinister plan to assassinate our arbiter of hope, black people across America were forced to face the suppressed trepidation that had silently tempered their hope.
Thanks to Tharin Gartrell, Nathan Johnson and Shawn Adolf, we can no longer ignore it. Their faces resemble those that have haunted the nightmares of black men for decades. They represent the faces of prejudice, ignorance and irrational hate. They symbolize the type of hate that induces men to head toward Denver with a stockpile of stolen guns and drugs allegedly on a mission to kill. Their suspected link to a white-supremacist group and lengthy criminal records come as no surprise.
As black people we know for sure that if there are three, there are more who wish ill upon the man who would be our first African-American president. There are thousands who, because of deep-seated intolerance, would rather elect a Christmas goose than a black man calling for change; and there are countless lost souls willing to kill and/or die to keep Obama's victory from happening. Our fear – no longer deniable – is warranted and real.
I hesitated to even blog about it, because I would much prefer to keep banishing all bone-chilling thoughts that there might be attempts on the presidential candidate's life to the background of my daily mental chatter.
I take solace in being sure that the best security money can by surrounds Obama. Every possible threat - both publicized and unpublicized - is curtailed quickly, I tell myself. I'm certain all I's have been dotted and all T's crossed for his historic acceptance speech Thursday at the open-air stadium, Invesco Field at Mile High. (Whose decision was that again?)
I keep these assurances at the forefront of my mind because anything else for me is unthinkable. I was not old enough to mourn first hand the loss of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or witness the riots that followed his murder. I was not yet born when someone did or did not hide in a grassy knoll to assassinate John F. Kennedy.
Our nation recovered after those tragedies. If America lost Obama -its most tangible chance for hope and recovery- I question whether the resulting rupture the fabric of this country could ever be repaired. That may be our biggest fear of all.
Related stories:
Report: Suspect confessed to Obama plot - Denver Post
Armed men were no threat to Obama: U.S. attorney - Yahoo News - Reuters
No evidence of plot to kill Obama: justice official - AFP
1 comment:
This is sad and it's a reflection of the times we live in today or 30yrs ago for that matter, Obama stands for change and just because of the color of his skin, some idiots out there want to stop him from his destiny, they much rather suffer in economic hardship , rising fuel cost,job loss, foreclosure and all of the ill will this president has brought to the american public.The year has change but i guess the mind set hasn't for some.
Vote or Die Yall.
Sportsnut 2008
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