When Barack Obama was elected president of the United States, I was wary of his associations, economic notions, views on foreign policy and disarmament.
At the same time, I was enthusiastic that a black American who had come from a home without a father, who had lived in Indonesia, and who had experimented with marijuana and cocaine, could overcome those disadvantages.
I was enthusiastic because Barack Obama had succeeded at Harvard, gotten his law license, gotten himself elected to the Illinois state Legislature, then to the U.S. Senate and ultimately to the highest position of trust and confidence in the land -- the U.S. presidency. Someone may have helped him along the way. But he still earned his own success.
I felt the most important message of the 2008 election was that "the doors were open" to any person in the United States -- regardless of religion, color or humble beginnings -- to become president. His success proved that work paid off.
If Obama, a minority, who had formerly messed with illegal drugs could become president, then any child from a broken home messing with drugs in Chicago or LA, could do the same thing -- if he set his mind to it!
Mr. Obama's election dispelled the myth that most of white America still wanted to keep black America down. (In 2010, 72.4 percent of Americans were white; 12.6 percent were black.) Without a great many white votes, Mr. Obama could not have been elected president.
Mr. Obama's election strongly suggested to me that Martin Luther King's dream of an America living up to the promises of the Declaration of Independence was inexorably coming true: "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'"
Former President Obama's election and MLK's speech inspired me to write a play, which I called "Mornings After the Dream."
The heroine is "Ethel," a black mother whose husband had been shot to death while perpetrating a liquor store robbery. Ethel was inspired by one of my favorite bailiffs down at the courthouse. All "facts" of my play came from my imagination -- except those pertaining to Ethel's character.
My Ethel is a woman widely respected in her church and her community. She is raising Terry, a surly, disrespectful teenage son, a school dropout, who has gone into the "businesses" of theft and dealing cannabis.
Terry blames the police for his father's death. Ethel doesn't. "It was all caught on a security camera. Your dad came out of the liquor store. ... [He] saw the officer, shot at him twice, and missed. ... The police officer returned fire. The camera showed it all. I must have watched it 20 times. ... You watched it, too, but you sees things that aren’t there, and which aren’t ever going to be there."
My Ethel, however, is a realist: "I realize there are still racists out there. But I also know millions of white Americans put race behind them and voted for President Obama ... Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream, President Obama had a dream. Why can't you share in their dream? ... If the white folk didn't work together to stop Barack Obama from getting to the White House, why should they waste their time messing with your?"
If President Obama has moved us closer to Rev. King's dream, then despite any other shortcomings, he will go down as a successful president.
Posted: QCOline.com January 22, 2017
Copyright 2017, John Donald O'Shea
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