Y-A-O-O-O-W-L!!

IS THE “FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT” REALLY BLACK?

Answer: By and large in color only, which is how/why he got elected. Hang with The Yowling Wolf.

First, context. The Yowling Wolf voted for Barack Obama—twice. The Wolf went door-to-door for Barack Obama in suburban (white) neighborhoods having to explain that anti-white pastor thing.

The Yowling Wolf was thrilled at Barack Obama’s election. Wolf recalls having breakfast at the Philly airport Sheraton the week after the victory. No other black folk were sitting at tables. Black folk were doing the serving. However, they had a noticeable bounce in their step.

Persons of color can thank Barack Obama for that lift. Yessir! In yo face, Whitey!

Let’s get down to brass tacks.

Just listened to some nonsense [On NPR. The Wolf generally loves NPR.] about why the party that pulled America out of the economic ditch (republicans drove us into), and that has presided over steady economic and job growth and a surging stock market, got it’s ass kicked in the recent midterm elections. Some silly blah blah about dissatisfaction with one’s job and prospects for advancement or changing jobs, not the economy, per se, being the chief driver of voter dissatisfaction. Some bullshit about a spirit of “throw the bums out” being a chief cause.

No, no, no!! The Economy (stupid!) will again be the primary driver in elections going forward. If there are bums to be thrown out, those bums are republicans! What this ass-kicking of democrats was all about is simply that a bunch of folk who used to support Barack Obama—younger, darker, female—sat home. Meantime, well understood by republicans pounding incessantly on “Obamacare” and “[democratic candidate] supported/loves Obama,” a whole bunch of generally older, more affluent white folk who care more about “get that nigger out of the White House” than their own self interest showed up.

Evidence—MF’ers in some states voted to raise minimum wage, which republicans are dead set against, while voting against the democratic candidate!

To hell with higher minimum wage, curing stagnant wage growth, greater medical security, greater national security, protection of the environment, gun control, seeking a curative for climate change, progressive immigration reform, peace on earth, food for children, etc. …

All of which President Obama has been an able supporter of.

Never mind—well meaning, thoughtful (probably more educated) folk—that we are talkin’ major turn toward the dark side, toward the no-nothing side, toward the I-am-a-(racist)-idiot side, toward the undermine-this-democracy side.*

Get that nigger out of the White House carried the day!

And all those dems running for their lives away from anything Obama. Tsk!

This piece is about how and why Black America (“BA”) is still waiting for the first “real black” American president. Why he/she will be some time arriving.

IS PRESIDENT OBAMA (“PO”) A “BLACK” PRESIDENT?
Technically, he surely is! His momma and main influences may have been white. He may have grown up outside the country. (The Wolf includes Hawaii and his tony [Punahou] prep school as “outside.”) However, in America color counts—BIGTIME! As Black folk of a certain age know very well, not just color, but a tiny drop of blood counts. (In this way America is more racist than South Africa ever was.)

PO is way tan, obviously of color—”Black.” His wife and children are even more so. Michelle Obama is the genuine Black American article. A Black family is in the Big House. (Say an “Amen!” and a “Praise the Lord!”)

The dude looks Black. He is surely POTUS.** White America sees him as a Black man, the first Black president. So do most Black Americans, as well as all Hispanic-Americans, Asian-Americans, etc.

Unfortunately, a whole lot of “red-blooded Americans”—meaning, no (known!!) African, Asian, Native American, Hispanic, or any other kind of non-white ancestry!—, … We are talkin’ many millions of folk, the majority male, in their minds and hearts further, through a fog of incendiary passion, are thinking, seeing, “[Black] NIGGER!” Which, again, largely explains recent midterm voting results.

BUT IS PRESIDENT OBAMA REALLY “BLACK?”
Any Black American over the age of, say, 45, can tell you that PO is very different from, say, Jesse Jackson. He is different from his wife. This man ain’t one of US, meaning Black Americans born and raised in the USA, whose parents were also born and raised in the USA.

Yes. That is how The Yowling Wolf is going to draw the line defining who is and who is not a true Black American. If you or your parents got off a boat, plane, or other vehicle as your avenue to citizenship, if you or they walked into this country from Canada or Mexico, then you’re not really a Black American (BA). PO is one of YOU—congratulations! He is not really one of US. Of course there are shadings and gradations. However, that is mainly WHAT IT IS.

If Barack Obama were truly a Black American, he would not have come much closer to being elected than Jesse Jackson. (Okay. A lot closer than that. However, still not very close.)

The Wolf recalls an aunt, a privileged, bourgeois lady (and Black civil rights warrior), early on noticing senator Barack Obama’s blue-black lips. “Uh-uh, honey,” she intoned in the syrupy Birmingham, Alabama drawl she brought north to Howard University and Washington, DC, over 50 years earlier. “He looks different. Those lips are African or something. Must have come from his [Kenyan] father.”

This sentiment was echoed by a southern cousin. To both women candidate Obama seemed foreign. Pointing to his lips was their way of confirming his otherness.

For The Yowling Wolf, however, the tell is the seeming lack of animosity toward whites and America on any level. The man genuinely loves America (as those who emigrate tend to do).

PO is not unaware of race and its meaning in America. However, similar to others of African origin, not hailing from a slave past, race and color is not freighted with feelings deep in the unconscious (if not conscious), of oppression, confusion, inferiority, self hatred, and ultimately and appropriately ANGER at Whitey (and America). Racism is a mere fact with consequences, many of which happen to be adverse.

Barack Obama, similar to other non-Black Americans, views and experiences race, in particular being “Black” (or non-white), as a mere factor, albeit a generally negative factor, to be dealt with, countered, overcome, much the same as other negative factors—e.g., humble beginnings, lack of capital and connections, etc.

Barack Obama’s view is not colorblind. However, to the extent it is not, it is a mere intellectual posture. Being “Black” does not burden him. It does not have a negative emotional aspect.

As a consequence, unlike most American Blacks of similar age, particularly males, he does not down deep and on some level dislike and distrust “Whites.” Seemingly, not in the least. Certainly not emotionally.

Indeed, having been raised by his white mother and kindly white grandparents, PO is thoroughly comfortable with Whites. Reciprocally, Whites are (reasonably) comfortable with him. They are relieved that he is not angry—a scary Black man. They like him well enough. (PO is hardly cuddly.) Which is why enough of them voted for him.

The Yowling Wolf has quite a few (much) younger brothers—7 in fact. Unlike The Wolf, who grew up in Africa (Liberia), (segregated) Tallahassee, Boston, DC, and LA, they grew up in post-civil-rights America, mostly on eleven acres 12 miles east of St. Paul, Minnesota (w/ horses!). Smart, attractive, good athletes all, they were a novelty in all-white schools. Blackness was not a burden. It added to their exotic aspect.

[It did not register to Wolf’s brothers that early on, before it became known what an asset they would be to athletic teams, at least one high school blocked their admission.]

The Yowling Wolf’s brothers were well liked by white classmates and teammates. (Naysayers held their tongues.) Similar to Barack Obama, most—not quite all—do not harbor or express animus against Whites. They are utterly comfortable with Whites, which makes Whites comfortable with them. Indeed, it endears them with Whites. It explains why, dispite lackluster grades in college, all received job offers from Fortune 500 companies upon graduation, one even without graduating.

The Yowling Wolf is not contending that ALL Black Americans, in particular Black males, necessarily harbor animosity toward Whites and America. However, The Wolf thinks most do.

Given the experience of an American upbringing, having observed and listened to the experiences of their parents, they damn well should!

There are, of course, some few, such as most of The Yowling Wolf’s brothers, who, by dint of advantage and extraordinary experience, have reason not to harbor suspicion and animus against white America.

What’s The Wolf’s point?

A REAL BLACK AMERICAN PRESIDENT WOULD HAVE ACTED DIFFERENTLY.
First off, he would have known from the git that Mitch (punk-ass-looking old white guy) McConnell, John (weepy) Boehner, and Whites from both parties (including Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid) viewed him through a thick veil of … disbelief, inordinate jealousy, anger, suspicion, underestimation. I.e., WTF has the world come to? … How did this happen?! How did this [fill in the blank] get the top spot?! WTF, WTF, WTF, WTF???!!! … And acted accordingly.

Meaning, go through the motions of accommodation, get along, bipartisan whatever. Of course. However, understand that folk—such as the congressman who, in an unprecedented show of disrespect (loudly applauded on Fox News and throughout ranks of conservative republicans and Tea Partiers), shouted “liar!” at a State of the Union address—need to be brought into the White House one by one, or in very small groups—meaning everyone in a position of power not vetted and appointed—, and you get in the face and space of each and every one, you lean in close, and you say:

“Dig it, mothafuckah! There’s a new sheriff in town, and he happens to be BLACK! I know and you know that burns your ass. You don’t like it! You don’t like me! You don’t think I should be here! You don’t think I’m up to the job. Because you, my friend—I would like to be your FRIEND! I really would!—are saddled with all sorts of racist perception!

GET THE FUCK OVER IT!! …Cause I am here! The American People have spoken! I am the President of the whole damn country! And I can kick your ass and will call you out and drag you in here and do it! … If I and this office are not given the respect properly due. … Is that clear?! … Do we have a problem with that?! …

Don’t like me, and I suspect you don’t. LIKE AND LOVE YOUR COUNTRY! … Mothafuckah!”

Given the slightest show of disrespect or bullshit, said person is grasped by the lapels and jerked back front and center.

He/she is eyed carefully, while caught like a bug, then let go.

What they gonna do? … Whine that “The President grabbed me by the lapels. … The President acted like a Bad Niggah. … The President didn’t treat me nice.”

Hell, no! A la former President, Lyndon Johnson, known for imposing his size and personality personally on members of Congress, you set a tone. Then you get down to the nation’s business.

You do not apologize for being Black via deference, politeness, and trying to make nice. Ain’t no need for your Attorney General, chief law enforcement officer in the land, to carry the Blackness water for you. Because you know the reality of how much ingrained opposition there is.

EXAMPLE OF HOW A REAL BLACK PRESIDENT WOULD/SHOULD HAVE ACTED DIFFERENTLY
Along comes, say, an octagenarian, racist MF’er grazing his cattle on the public lands without paying, … proclaiming (in typical western American fashion) state’s rights, his rights, waving his gun, and daring the federal government to do anything about it.

As one Cliven Bundy did in Nevada a few months back. And tens of (white) anti-government, survivalist, Tea Party types literally come forward with guns to confront, intimidate, and force federal Land Management officers seeking to enforce the law to back down.

A real Black American President would see this as a perfect opportunity to show ALL of America who is in charge. He would immediately call in the national guard of the state, the army if need be, and, Waco-be-damned, make those white survivalists and insurrectionists eat humble pie. Bigtime!

Would this have been personally satisfying to do? … Damn right! (For a Black American.)

Make the worst fears of Tea Party insurrectionists a reality. Take their guns! Toss ’em in jail. Reveal the true extent of plots against the nation.

Course, such an American is not going to be elected President, or even senator. Not for a long time to come. But SHE will be elected.

Yeah. You know the score as well as The Yowling Wolf.

First truly Black American President is gonna be a she!

Y-A-0-0-0-0-W-W-L-L!!
_______________________________________________________
* Make no mistake about it. Those who talk—yell, of course—about curtailing Big Government (as if impassioned spurts of local and state government are not the real danger!!), because, “I don’t want you touching my medicare!,” … And who vote! … Are taking this supposed “democracy” down a path reminiscent of 150+ years ago.

Seriously! Not just counties want to secede from the larger entity. PO should have crushed that octagenarian, racist, typical western, totally-dependent-upon-government-management (especially of water resources) “I-am-so-self-reliant-and-free,” grazing-on-the-public-lands-for-nothing insurrectionist and his (all-white) supporters immediately and completely! (The Wolf will revisit this topic.)

Waco be damned! Call in the army and kick some insurrectionist, secessionist, survivalist (lily-white) ASS!!

** President of the United States.