OBAMA’S INDULGENCES

I have thought a good bit about President Obama’s comments on the situation with Henry Louis Gates and Cambridge Police. Being white, I must preface my remarks by saying I am woefully unqualified to address the plight of black America and justice. I have never been the victim of unfair treatment by someone with a gun and a badge because of the color of my skin. Since President Obama has indeed been a victim of unfair racial stereotyping, I guess he deserves the opportunity to speak against such injustice when it occurs. Some in the black community might even say he is obligated to address injustices. During the press conference on Healthcare this week the first black President indulged himself by commenting on the Cambridge situation.

The case can be made President Obama’s indulgence did a disservice to the black community.

While the President answered questions on the Cambridge situation for the next week, I wonder how many in the black community lost their healthcare coverage. I wonder how many were deciding whether to buy insulin or groceries. I wonder how many had to pay their periodic extortion payment to petro-dictators. I wonder how many lost their jobs. I wonder how many young black men were shot in the streets. I wonder how many young black people dropped out of school. I wonder if the President’s time would have been better spent addressing the desperate needs of the black community. Finally, I wonder if the President regretted his indulgence when so many other things need to be done for the black community and the other people he serves too.

I’m not naïve. I live in a state rife with racism. We have a huge Confederate Battle Flag which flies between Montgomery and Birmingham on Interstate-65. You can see it for miles along the interstate. They tell us it flies for the sake of heritage and not hate. I wonder if the irony of the flag’s placement between the two epicenters of the struggle for racial equality even dawns on the caretakers of the flag. A few weeks ago, I overheard someone who said he had elected Senator Jeff Sessions to keep the “N” word and liberals off the Supreme Court. If Sessions didn’t, he said, he would vote for someone who would. The person didn’t even get his bigotry right if he was referring to Judge Sotomayor. He was obviously too ignorant to tell the difference between a Hispanic and an African American.

However improved, racism still exists. President Obama’s election tells us we have gone a long way but, we still struggle. President Obama, however, can serve his community better by not providing the collateral motivation for right wingers to kill legislation which the black community and all Americans so desperately need. He is the President now. The President of the United States is the most influential person in the world. Every word he utters will be dissected and rehashed ad-nauseam. He makes a decision every time he speaks about the whole world’s conversation. Regretfully, we have a finite amount of energy for discussion. Maybe next time, the President will be a little more hesitant to change the subject.