Back For The First Time?

As you've heard everywhere else, November's election and the presidential race to the pulpit are making history. There is a Black man running for president, for the first ti --... Oh shit. Wait, what? You mean to tell me this isn't the first time a Black person has run for president? When did this happen???

Black Presidential Candidates:
1972 - Shirley Chisholm (D)
1984 - Jesse Jackson (D)
1988 - Jesse Jackson (D)
Lenora Fulani (D)
1992 - Lenora Fulani (D)
1996 - Alan Keyes (R) .... yes, that R stands for Republican.... Black Republicans do exist
2000 - Alan Keyes (R)
2004 - Al Sharpton (D)
Carol Mosley Braun (D)
2008 - Alan Keyes (R)
Cynthia McKinney (Green)
Barack Obama (D)

Imagine that... Black presidential hopefuls for the past 36 years, you say? Now you can argue that Barack Obama is probably the most successful of them all, and I'd probably agree with you.

But I digress from my initial point, that I have yet to make.

I remember talking to my sister and brother-in-law a few weeks ago, about these cats in Florida who demanded to know "What about the Black Community, Obama?".


We argued around the idea that Black people are always looking for some messiah - to lead us to freedom - and in 2008, this idea that somehow Obama is going to lead Black America to the land of milk and honey, lead us to the promised land. Crime, poverty, miseducation, incarceration, and every -ism you can think of will cease to exist, when he wins in November. Get outta here. If you think Obama's got your 40 acres and a mule on his presidential platform, you must have lost your mind. What a lot of us don't realize is that Barack Obama is running for president of America, not BLACK America. I'm sorry to disappoint you. This doesn't mean don't support Obama, or that I don't support Obama, but let's just be real for a minute. He can't POSSIBLY secure a Democratic nomination, much less the presidential office relying solely on the Black vote. Black folks make up roughly 12% of the nation's population, which leave a whooooole 88% of people to outvote us. But then take from that 12%, the number of folks that are under 18 and cant vote, or that have felonies and cant vote. Hmmm, that spirals the number of votes down to some number I have yet to calculate (lol). But the point is that gunning solely for the Black vote isn't the most sound political strategy.

With that said, my fellow Americans, don't expect miracle legislation, reparations, or nationwide affirmative action.

But am I excited about the possibilities of November? Damn right.

--Crown Royal On Ice--