Ariwa on Obama!!
November 6th 2008 I am on flight AA66 American Airlines just arrived in London from Dallas / Hawaii. "Welcome to London!" Greeted the air stewardess, "I am please to tell you that we have a new president of the United States, Barrack Obama"!
It's hard to describe the feeling that engulfed my soul. Having spent the past 10 days on the East Coast of America, and the past week in Hawaii, I had read the signs. Though knowing Americans, I wasn't convinced that I was reading the correct signs. After all, this is a nation of people that has 2 faces, a public and a private face. The two white youths that picked me up in Buffalo were singing loud and proud Obama.
In Hawaii, where Obama spent much of his childhood, old shopkeepers, taxi drivers, were all quite open about who they were voting in.
The sad truth is that America's history of segregation and racial intolerance of the African descendants continued to have a negative effect on black people up to this day. Even beyond America, countries like Italy and Spain, continues to treat black people as if we are a species of lesser value!
To me, the greatest aspect of Obama's success is the fact that he is clearly out of the Marcus Garvey school of thought that recommended in the early 20th century. Rules that were not taken very serious by many of Garveys' rivals.
It's only when we consider that Obama did not even compromise in the changing of his name, a move that many a black "revolutionary" made to make things easier for the system.
Can you imagine the teasing he would have got going to school in the US, the UK or even in the Caribbean!
We must all use this historical moment as an example, and a reminder that we are who we are. If the system don't like it, they will have to get use to it!
Mad Professor