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Chris Weigant: Guest Column: Why Obama’s Election Should Be Considered Historic
[Note: This column is a repeat. I ran it last year, but unfortunately it was the day before Thanksgiving and I felt it didn’t get the attention it deserves. As the Inauguration Week of President Barack Obama kicks off this Martin Luther King Day, I thought it was most appropriate to run it again, for those who may have missed it earlier. My blogging from the Inauguration will begin later today and continue intermittently for the next three days, but I wanted to kick it off with the following.]
For only the third time in this column’s two-and-a-half year history (see note below), I am turning over my soapbox to a guest columnist. As with both previous times, the author is a commenter here at Huffington Post.
Known as “LewDan,” he took exception to a column I wrote, and let me know how he felt in the comments, and later through a private email exchange. While he wasn’t exactly agreeing with what I had written, I found him to have a unique perspective on the issue of race in Obama’s election and also found him to be an original and well-reasoned thinker. While we disagreed on some things, we did so respectfully and with the intent of making our positions clear to each other.
Because I was so impressed by his writing, I offered him the chance to write a column for the public to read. At first he deferred, but in the end I convinced him that others would enjoy reading what he had to say. The following began as part of our email exchange, and was rewritten as a column by Llewellyn Daniel, who describes himself as:
“A Chicago native who’s first personal computer was something you had to solder together yourself. After 40 years in Information Technology all the shiny rubbed off and it’s now how we use them, not the machines, that fascinate. A lifetime’s experience in analysis gone rogue.”
So without further introduction, I’d like to thank “LewDan” for allowing me to share this with you.
[Note: Previously, I have run columns titled “Rules Democrats Should Use To Take Back Congress,” by Huffington Post commenter “CotyJarret” (9/7/06), and “How Hillary Could Win Fair (And Lock Up The General Election, Too!)” by Joshua L. Eisenstein, Ph.D. (2/13/08). Anyone with a private thought for me about anything I write is welcome to use my “Email Chris” page at my website to contact me personally.]
– Chris Weigant
Why Obama’s Election Should Be Considered Historic
My paternal great-grandfather was a slave in Georgia until he was 21. At five years old he witnessed his mother’s sale on an auction block. After the Civil War he became the “boss” of his Georgia county (its wealthiest resident) and spent the bulk of his life selling land and lumber. His grandson, my father, was the first black salesperson in Chicago’s business district. Upon his return to Chicago following World War II, Dad was unable to open a diner because no one would rent to a black man. My dad’s Chicago Alderman had to personally accompany him to a city leasing office for Dad to secure a lease on a vacant city lot. That lot was under elevated train tracks on city land that no one else wanted. Back then, no one realized that a site opposite a train station — even if under the tracks — was the best location for a diner. Dad had to put up his own building and then sub-leased a small strip to a shoeshine stand. He told me that in six months he’d recouped the cost of the building from the shoeshine stand alone, and was turning a profit on his investment. Eventually Dad owned a substantial share in over a dozen restaurants. In the 1970’s he was even awarded a Bronze Star for his service in World War II.
America’s sad racial legacy afforded my generation and my dad’s generation far more opportunity to achieve “historic firsts” than should be or would normally be the case. As such, I can attest from personal and familial experience that many of those achievements, while historic firsts, were every bit as ordinary and unexceptional as when historically and routinely accomplished by non-blacks. Therefore what I expect from an Obama presidency is inspirational and effective progressive leadership that’s not the least bit “black” (whatever that may be).
Politics is not a sport, and it is most especially NOT a blood sport. For 40 years the GOP acquired power by demonizing their opponents, promoting an us-versus-them mentality and an unswerving loyalty to the Republican brand, as if it were the “home team.” It should have surprised no one that Republican candidates who see the country as us-versus-them, once elected, feel no need to represent us. That their only loyalty is to themselves. But we continued to register our objections. Voting, not for, but against thos …
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