On January 20, only nine short days from today, President-Elect Donald Trump will officially assume his position as President of the United States of America. This is a reality I mourn. Not only because I believe Donald Trump to be incompetent and unqualified, but because it means that President Obama and his family will officially be leaving the White House. Unfortunately.
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Growing up without a strong male presence in my life, has led me to look to the world for my identity as a male. I know gender is in a sense a social construct, and only has as much power over you as you allow it to, but honing in on a strong gender identity is important in development. With that as my reality, I looked to individuals like, Pharrell Williams, John Legend and Idris Elba for my inspiration. I know nothing will ever make up for what my dad didn’t give me, but it cant hurt to take some of the qualities that I admire in others and immolate that. I’m not sure if its somehow a positive or negative thing, but its something I was sort of forced to do.
I believe that gender identification is so important to satisfy in the hierarchy of need in order to focus on more pressing matters. Amongst many, President Barack Obama was and still is someone I look up to tremendously because he is someone I believe to be a strong male figure. Although I didn’t agree with some of the policies he proposed and/or implemented, he’s always been someone I keep in mind when I do or approach things. He’s always been someone I’ve tried to immolate. Jesus Christ is sort of cardinal in that– No brainer– but Obama is someone who exudes strength with elegance and class.
People always say “What has he done for the black community?” Well, I think it’s valid enough to say that his title as the First BLACK President is more than enough; amongst many other accomplishments. For decades, there hasn’t been enough fair representation in media, of strong black figures and I think its so important that we see ourselves depicted in a positive light. Not just as the sidekick, or supporting actor or even the villain. We see in movies and television shows, how the protagonist is always some white guy with a strong jaw and beautiful hair, i.e. Superman, Batman, Iron Man, but there’s never any strong characters that exude black excellence in a positive light.
I believe the subconscious to be something so fragile, and so easily penetrated the most subtitle undercurrent of information. I learned, in social psychology, that there are two types of racism; old fashioned, and modern. Old fashioned is more abrupt and direct, i.e. explicit racism. Modern racism is more of a dog whistle exchange. Modern Racism is definitely something I believe to be more inherently dangerous because it’s not something that is completely consciously done, nor consciously assumed. In order to solve a problem, we must first be able to identify that there is one, and the issue with subconscious parasitic motivations like implicit or modern racism, is that it’s so unrecognizable. Back in the 18th and 19th and even 20th century, it was so clear that racism was an issue. Though, there were some who didn’t see it that was because to directly contradicted there way of life, it was still a problem.
I believe Barack Obama, has contributed so largely to the effect of dimming social injustice in the United States. With a black president in office, it was a bit harder and maybe even presumptuous to suggest black people as incompetent and illiterate when you have a family like the Obamas at the forefront of the nation. I say all this to say, over that last eight years, President Barack Obama has raised the bar and set a higher standard for black men especially in the United States. He’s given hope and bloomed possibility within the hearts of ascending black youth within this country. One could definitely argue that his healthcare reform was counterproductive or maybe even ineffective, but he did lower the poverty rate in the United States by 12 per cent, implemented the International Climate change agreement and replacing NAFTA with the TTP while ending the recession in 2008. One also must take into the account the fact that the house was mainly republican in the second half of his second term as president.
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. Farewell Mr. President. You’ll always be my roll model.