You of course, are the most protected Black man in the world, and rightly so. Perhaps, the memory of being at the mercy of a police officer when you have been stopped for no real reason – whether on the street or in your car – that feeling of shame or guilt even though you know you’ve done nothing wrong and your license is straight and your registration updated, is now a feeling far removed from you. That’s good, more Black men should be able to feel that way. But perhaps you’ve forgotten that without that office, you would still be one of those Black men, suspicious simply just because.
I think that The Brother’s Keeper initiative is a great thing. In my view, whatever helps a Black man helps the Black community. But the Black men of Ferguson and many other depressed, racially stratified cities, like for example, Chicago or Philadelphia, are not necessarily going to be the beneficiaries. Some of these men are tatted over every visible inch of ther body, or loc’ed or wear their pants looser than what is currently deemed acceptable to the Black establishment.
That certainly doesn’t mean they don’t also take care of their kids or love their mamas or work hard in their jobs or careers. But your initiative will have a harder time reaching them and in any case, no matter what they look like or how menacing they seem to some, they shouldn’t have to die on the streets like dogs for just being. Those signs protestors are using that say “I Am A Man” – you’ll remember those were first used in the Memphis garbage workers strike back in the 60’s. Humanity is God-given, Mr. President. No Black man or woman or child has to earn it.
I hope that you will consider coming home, Mr. President. Not home to the White House, but home to the Black community. In my lifetime, I have never seen 97% of Black people agree on anything. Not even Oprah had that kind of approval from Black folks. But 97% of eligible Black voters elected you. They campaigned for you and they supported you …twice.
When I see Ferguson, it echoes the Kennedy brothers in the White House trying to figure out how to quell Black unrest instead of following their consciences and what they knew was right. I see President Bush thinking flying over suffering Black people literally crying out for help as a sign of his being so out of touch with Black humanity that he thought he was actually doing something good.
I see you, President Obama, golfing in the Vineyard, while folks are choking back tear gas fumes in one of our cities and I implore you to come home and let us know what we have to continue to hope for as Blacks people in this divided America. We need to hear from you. You have said and very eloquently, that this is not an American of red and blue states. That this is The United States of America. Well, in these United States we need everyone to know unequivocally that shooting and killing Black men is not okay, particularly by those who took an oath to serve and protect us. Come home President Obama. Come home.
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President Obama, Please Come Home was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
