Black Love Obama Style

Hello my lovelies! I know it’s been over a month since we last spoke, but I’ve been unexaggeratedly busy. However, I could not let this momentous occasion pass by without comment. The momentous occasion of course being the official declaration of Barack Obama as the democratic candidate for the United States presidency. I do, however, want to come from a different perspective.

Yes, it was definitely moving to watch Mr. Obama make that inspiring speech accepting the nomination and declaring the change he would make for the good of all Americans. I had the biggest cheese smile on my face throughout his speech. I didn’t even know I could possibly smile that long without my face getting stuck that way (hey mom! I guess your theory has been debunked). And yes, there were several lines that stood out, profound sound bites that will inevitably be revisited and replayed throughout the rest of the election. Here are a couple of my favorites: “8 is enough!,” “McCain likes to say that he’ll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell – but he won’t even go to the cave where he lives,” and “I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to take a ten percent chance on change.”

While his speech was undoubtedly moving, I was also moved by something else. That something else being the unabashed exchange of love and solidarity between Barack and Michelle Obama. You can see it in the way they look at each other, touch each other. It’s present in both their verbal and non-verbal interaction. Every time I see it, I am overwhelmed with emotion. I beam from the inside out. Why, you ask? Black love of course, on public display for the whole world to see.

So often the Black household is criticized on matters such as, absent fathers, single mothers, poverty, and other issues that disproportionately afflict the Black community. And then there’s also the issue of the Black man who defies the negative statistics, to go on and acquire that white trophy woman to adorn his arm.

However, in the case of the Obamas, they defy every stigma, statistic and stereotype. You have a Black man who has attained the highest level of success possible by his mere candidancy and adorned on his arm is a beautiful Black woman. And not a light-skinned Black woman (and that’s not a crack or put down to light-skinned Black women), but an unmistakably Black woman. Their obvious love and support of one another serves as a model example for all families but especially the Black families of America. It puts the world on notice that it is possible for our Black men to be good husbands and fathers and that the Black woman is willing, able and qualified to be that supportive figure encouraging the success of her Black man. This display of love, unity and commitment, while usually glazed over by the media, is having a subliminal yet profound effect on Black America, just as much as Barack Obama’s historical candidacy.

Black Love? Yes We Can!

Speak Soon,

~ J

~ by www.blackgaygossip.com on August 30, 2008.