A Prize More Precious Than The Presidency
In case you hadn't noticed, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has already won.
I'm not talking about a debate, or even the election itself. Before a single vote has been counted, or cast for that matter, Obama has captured something that may be far more precious than even the American presidency.
Obama has won the attention of America's black youth.
In a nation where African-American children are subjected to countless images of themselves that are less than accurate and often far from honorable, Obama has lassoed the moon and the stars for black children and brought them back down to Earth--transforming the mythical possibilities of black achievement into tangible and reachable realities.
"If you put your mind to it, you can be anything you want to be, even President of the United States," my mother once told me. Through the years, I'm sure millions of African-American children have heard that or something like that from their parents or grandparents, often folks who were not afforded the luxury to fathom such heights.
Funny thing though, it's never happened. And until now, no African-American candidate has even been in position to make it happen. I imagine that fact has been a major stumbling block for African-American children who dared to dream so high. Some say, "If you believe it, you can achieve it." Well, how many black children can truly--and I mean deep down in their gut--believe that they can reach for such an achievement, if they can't see it?
A year ago, most people probably believed that we were still years, even decades, away from envisioning a black president in the White House.
But things are different now, and today's black youth are taking notice. A stroll through the hallways of my 11-year-old daughter's school revealed this to me.
She and her sixth-grade classmates were instructed to create "hero shields," collages of drawings and magazine clips displaying the students' heroes and thoughts on why they selected them. As you proceed down one of the school's hallways, where the hero shields are prominently displayed, a theme emerges. While there were pictures of LeBron James and other black athletes dunking basketballs and scoring touchdowns, there were far more images of Barack and Michelle Obama, one of my daughter's selections.
The young people who produced these shields may never have the opportunity to vote for an Obama presidency (unless Michelle decides to run for the office somewhere down the road), and these students probably couldn't tell you very much about Barack Obama's position on the nation's economic collapse, his stance on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, or how the candidate intends to break America's dependence on foreign oil.
But it's clear that they've noticed him--and that they've been inspired by him.
As one of the students wrote on his hero shield directly underneath an image of Obama, "the sky is the limit."
Indeed it is.
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
You wrote the article that I've been wanting to write for quite a while. Congratulations! It doesn't matter, though, because there will be many more of those articles to be written in the future.
Like Obama, I'm mixed (Spanish, French and Haitian), and grew up in several countries. I always thought that that was a blessing because it made it easier for me to see both sides of the race issue in America. It also made it easier for me to see that we are all brothers and sisters--Jews and Gentiles, Christians and Muslims, etc., and--in that sense--any human potential that is wasted is not only a loss to that person but a loss for all humanity as well.
I've been delighted about Obama's candidacy since the very beginning, but I am even prouder of the American people and the rest of the world's reaction about turning the page on racism. As to African American youths, I am ecstatic that they will now have in Obama another example of their limitless potential, which is not confined to sports or any other realm of human endeavor.
Thank you for posting this wonderful article!
Carlos Jean-Gilles
Saint Louis, MO
Mr. Loury that was an insightful read. I'm passing it on.
Thank you. Might the MSM pickup on your op-ed piece and go with it? I hope so because the children of today need something to aspire to in their lives and what better way than seeing someone that represents them employed with the biggest job on earth, The President of the United States of America.
"...Obama has lassoed the moon and the stars for black children and brought them back down to Earth--transforming the mythical possibilities of black achievement into tangible and reachable realities.
Remember Michelle's "the world as it is and the world as it should be!" This, Mr Loury, is exactly why Obama's candidacy has captured the hearts and minds of people in America and all over the world. We're turning the page on a history and lifetime of entrenched inequality. Where what is possible for one group is simply not an option for others. Where those that have (supposedly the right race or the right financial position) are entitled to even more and those that have not are told time and again in their lives to be thankful that they have anything at all and are ridiculed for questioning or for aspiring to more than is due to their class and rank.
But that's not all. He's helped us see that equality is not all we must work to achieve but greater participation and commitment to life in our communities; more questioning and influencing of the decisions of government; collaboration based on respect for all our colourful views and backgrounds - because we all matter and all have to pay the price for exclusion and unilateralism no matter where we're from, what we own, what we look like. We've got a stake in each other's lives.
Get out and vote people! Take your neighbors and friends too!
i remember my little 5 year old niece out of nowhere saying during the primary when i was talking about the election with a friend, "i want the woman to win"....we weren't talking about the candidates, just the election process...
Obama-Biden '08!!!!!!!
Well said...Hea
Thank you Alden! Your words touched my heart!
Sasha Obama should be ready for the presidency in about 40 years.
She's got my vote!! Truly though, the African American community is being changed for the better, some of my friends are talking about politics like I would have never imagined. It's amazing.
That is what is wrong with this country, Ethical behavior, moral ingtegerty, and a judgement of what is wright and wrong is of no concequence. WIN AT ANY COST!! Support him because he found a way to do it!!!
Thanks for writing what many of us have been thinking and seeing. No matter what happens Obama (and the Obama Effect) has forever changed the face of America and the world. No matter what happens now one of the country's greatest natural resources has been unleashed -- the black youth of America. That is one of the most exciting things about this race and it will certainly be the most lasting effect of Senator Obama's many accomplishments. He makes me so proud to be an American citizen.
Its not just black youth, it's all people who aren't white men. It never occured to me in a million years as a child that I could be president. I was the "right" race, but the wrong gender. I look at Obama (and Hillary), and I realize that maybe, just maybe, I could have. It's too late for me, now, but my kids are growing up in a world where the people in power aren't so homogenous, and for them I'm grateful.
I pray every day for Barack's safety and success. I think I'm not alone, and I think it is the will of God that he be elected. This country really needs this change in direction. It needs to get over its racial fetish. No better way to do that than to elect Barack and Joe, and show the world America has come a long way and really walks the talk about equality of the races now. How wonderful this is having such a positive effect on so many children. I remember seeing TV news features months ago that showed high school kids in Brooklyn so involved in the campaign that they were learning geography, civics, US history, and many issues they had no interest in before. This is a great thing going on here! A VERY great thing!
This article brought tears to my eyes. When I was a teen back in the 80s, I had a brief, insane moment where my ambition was to be POTUS. I am black AND female and had no reason to think I could accomplish such a thing. Now seeing Hillary and Barack, I feel that my daughter wont have to extinguish her dreams no matter how lofty they seem for an American black girl.
Even though I was a teen a few years before you, and POTUS never was a dream of mine, and I'm not a person of color (because white actually isn't a color, as it turns out LOL), this article brought tears to my eyes too. I am a woman, but more than that, I'm a citizen who hopes upon hope, and dreams upon dream, and prays every day that we are the country we claim to be -- and, that we are now color blind enough to get this done.
The campaign waged against Barack Obama, most prominently in recent days, is very discouraging and disheartening to me. I thank Mr. Loury for provided a much-needed balanced, more encouraging and hopeful perspective.
I just wrote a similar post to my facebook. I don't think the inspirational ability of Mr. Obama can be understated. It hits black kids especially hard, but it also reaches across races to inspire across the board.
When a biracial kid from a single parent home in Hawaii can make it to the top, you know the American Dream is still alive.
I remember the conversation when I was a little girl and my dad told me I could be President one day. I recall that time often when I see Obama on TV. I feel like I've put so much hope into him, forcing him to be the proof of whether the American Dream is real or a lie. God, I hope it's real.
I think about this every time I see their young faces in the crowds or on the stage behind the politicians.
I watched them as they sat there listening to Joe Biden call out Palin on her despicable rantings.
You could see them processing the information in their own way.
They take it very personally - as most children do at that age.
I hope they understand this is a vicious ADULT game being played at THEIR expense.
It is nasty. It is eye-opening. It is pathetic that it's happening in the 21st Century.
No one ever said just because you have an ADULT body that your mind grows too.....
Ignorance knows no age limit.
Just hold them close and let them know that REAL adults are aware and willing to stand up to it.
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
