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And Next: Mt. Rushmore?
No matter what Obama does in office, for the rest of his life he will be the moral leader of black America.
There is a black Mount Rushmore in the minds of many. It shows, etched in magnificent granite, from left to right: Frederick Douglass, then Marcus Garvey, then Thurgood Marshall, then Malcolm X, then Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. But since the 60s no one has taken the place that King had. Jesse tried but never really got there. Farrakhan and Sharpton never got close. Mandela is beloved and inspirational but not American, and no more of a leader here than Kofi Anan. For decades there was no black leader, no person who black America listened to and respected as our moral compass, directing us toward greatness.
Douglass helped us out of slavery, Marshall and X and King led us out of segregation and into the idea of black power, but the challenges today are more subtle and nuanced and complicated and varied in the different classes and ideologies of black people. Many thought that the black community had grown too complex to have a black leader, that the entire idea was antiquated. But now there is a new face on the black Mount Rushmore: Obama.
Obama will be the zenith of black America for as long as he lives.
Now that he’s been elected, and black America’s home team has won the political Super Bowl, and he's begun touring and planning to live in the most august mansion in America, he’s freed us from thinking this country’s promises don’t extend to us. He has liberated deep-seated chains in our minds—he is on that Mount Rushmore and he will be that zenith of black America for as long as he lives.
Obama is now the big Daddy in black culture and when he speaks it’ll matter. And his moral authority can and will dig deep. He’s already shown he’s willing to use his bully pulpit, saying on the campaign trail young brothers should pull their pants up and black men should be better fathers to their children. If he says forcefully the era of saying nigga is over, it will hold weight.
We have in the black community a virus running rampant—anti-intellectualism. There are some blacks who distrust school and education, as crazy as that sounds. Obama’s life renders that view null. Now, with a jazzman- cool, articulate, unapologetically brilliant black man on the throne won’t going to school and reading and writing and speaking proper suddenly look a lot cooler? Now how many millions of black boys will there be who want to Be Like Barack?
No matter what he does over the next four or eight years in the political realm, for the rest of his life he will be the #1 most respected, most inspirational, towering black leader, who will have the lofty esteem and moral authority that King had.
Touré is the host of BET’s The Black Carpet and the host of Treasure HD’s I’ll Try Anything Once. He is the author of Never Drank the Kool-Aid, Soul City, and The Portable Promised Land. He was a Contributing Editor at Rolling Stone, was CNN’s first Pop Culture Correspondent, and was the host of MTV2's Spoke N Heard. His writing has appeared in the New Yorker and the New York Times.
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Touré is a columnist for The Daily Beast. He's also an NBC contributor and the author of Never Drank the Kool-Aid, Soul City, and The Portable Promised Land. He is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, was CNN's first pop culture correspondent, and was the host of MTV2's Spoke N Heard. His writing has appeared in the New Yorker and the New York Times.
Toure - now you're talking. And I for one hope that Obama will state that the era of saying "nigga" is over. It is a hateful word with a hateful past. It's time.
Just this morning, I was having a conversation with a co-worker and I gave my opinion that an Obama presidency will not only serve as a moral compass to African-Americans, but his family will serve as a role-model for Black families and perhaps, just maybe, we will see fewer single-parent households, and more accountability amoung our culture that shows being a family man is alright. That going against what your boys say is a better choice and that choosing education and knowledge will always be a better option. I truly hope Black families will see this as their Hope - a renewed trust in ourselves.
Can he move mountains? Time shall tell.........
wow Toure- i could not have thought it better than the way you just said it. Although i am not black myself, it makes me overwhelmed with pride that the black community finally has someone worth looking up to. Someone who can be the moral and social role model to not only the world but the black community especially. The black community who so badly needs a leader such as obama so that the black community can finally pull itself out of the stagnant dolldrums of the past few decades and return itself to the glory days of the harlem renaissance and the inspirational values of self betterment and empowernment of the civil rights era. It is time for the black community to harness it's brilliant and creative resources. It is time to awaken from the slumber and push themselves forward to be the respected member of society that they so deserve to be as fellow americans
I'm sorry--wasn't his mother white? I'm so tired of this "black" savior mentality--why his his mom's lineage so discreetly thrown to the wayside? Why aren't we celebrating both races?
turktalk, I'm tired of people questioning the references to Obama as black. Being that science acknowledges that race is a social construct and has no discernable taxonimic or genetic value, Obama is black because he looks black. It is very simple. Were he to resemble Bush then he would be white.
you are kidding, right? because if i look white, but my mom is black and my dad is white, then i should just BE white cuz i look it? that makes total sense (sarcasm inserted here.)
if someone is born of different races, then to say they are only one, is to deny part of their heritage. sure, the black community should be proud--so should America in general--race truly didn't matter, because i know many people of all colors that don't want their child to marry outside their race. i just don't get or appreciate it that it's ok to deny his mom's race. wouldn't be ok to deny his dad either.
African American Vernacular English isn't improper or an imperfect form of English. It's just a different variety. A small point, I know, but it's important not to equate specific varieties with anti-intellectualism.
The world is changing. I hope all of America ends up with a leader we can be proud of. It has been years, after all.
catch22:
That's a brilliant point, I've been looking for some way to diffuse that line of reasoning myself for sometime. I find that people of the progressive persuasion often forget that their informed views of race include so many nuances not considered by the mainstream, least of all the racist fringe. For them, being anything but entirely white makes you something else. People that don't acknowledge the favorable implications Obama's victory has for race relations are naive.
I hope I'm among millions of other white men who hope that Obama gets his face on Mt. Rushmore. It's all about history right?
You are right on Toure. Good job.
Obama is a good substitute for the other phrase. How smart is Jim Jones? Cool
Thank you.
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