West Virginia racists against Obama, Obama’s Black vote, and the state of Hip Hop

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Yep, this article is able to link them all together.

First up we have this video of West Virginians being interviewed in regards to the Democratic Primary held there:

1. There are people who still think Obama is Muslim

2. There are people who think Obama isn’t American

3. There are people who think being president is about reciting the Pledge of Allegiance (which Obama does know by the way)

4. There are people who don’t want a Black president REGARDLESS of his stances on the issues and would rather vote for McCain, when they are a Democrat, as a result.

Now this leads me to the next part of this article: people saying that Black Americans are ONLY voting for Barack Obama because he is black and also saying that Obama is only this successful because he is black (I’m looking at you Bill).

Now this is pure rubbish. Think about it, if Black folks were ONLY voting for him because he were Black, then why isn’t Alan Keyes a serious contender for the office?

Now the next part: people thinking that Obama has only gotten this far because he is Black. Come on now, Obama has gotten this far for numerous reasons:

1. He represents change, and boy do we need a lot of that after the past 8 years.

2. Lets be real, he has run an EXCELLENT campaign that not only has stuck to his ideals, but has ignited the country in a positive way as well. Who else did that? John F. Kennedy. Now did Kennedy only get into office because he was white? Nope.

When talking to others about the disconnect between this generation and the generation of the Civil Rights Movement, I always bring up the following point: many of this generation look at figures like Martin and Malcolm as being larger than life. As a result, they don’t feel they can live up to that or make change on the level that they did and ultimately don’t try.

This is unfortunate, because Martin and Malcolm were regular men wanting change in the community, not for just Black folks, but society as a whole. And for those people who still live in the incorrect mindset that Malcolm was racist, check this quote from one of his interviews:

I believe in recognizing every human being as a human being, neither white, black, brown nor red. When you are dealing with humanity as one family, there’s no question of integration or intermarriage. It’s just one human being marrying another human being, or one human being living around and with another human being.

But back on point: they were regular men wanting to make change. They both come from different backgrounds but had a common goal. This to me is a prime example of how everyone has the power to make a difference in some way.

Look at Obama.

After graduating law school, he went to Chicago’s southside and became a community organizer (he could have easily gone on to some high paying corporate law job, but he didn’t). I have done the same thing (community organizing) and let me tell you, it is long hours for pitiful pay. What he and I recognized is that all it takes is one person to make a difference. Now what would happen if you got, instead of one person, you got MANY people to make change in their community. Now that is change.

This is what Obama is reminding us of and I absolutely love it.

Remember the early 90’s and Hip-Hop? The artists back then felt this way and the music reflected that hugely. There are some out today who embody the spirit of the 90’s Hip Hop movement. One artist is 6th Sense. Check out his video to see what I mean:

A snippet of a conversation I was having with my cousin, Timid, about this very subject:

Timid: see if hip hop was where it was in the 90’s stuff like this would be playing all over the place and obama’s place among the youth and urban vote would be more solidified
me: oh hell yeah
Timid: imagine if hip hop was in that same mindstate today
Timid: it would be a wrap
me: that would be insane, my head is ready to explode at the thought lol
Timid: groups like tribe, krs, black sheep all with videos about obama and the state of affairs and going at mccain and clinton
Timid: man it would be crazy

So what about you? What are your thoughts on the West Virginia video above? This notion regarding Obama and the Black vote? What do you do to make a difference in the community?

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