A moment above and beyond
Thursday, November 6th, 2008As a man of mixed race, a native of Chicago and only 4 years younger than President-elect Barack Obama, I am still trying to make sense of my thoughts and emotions during this most momentous occasion of my life time besides my marriage and birth of my two daughters, thus these words will be a bit jumbled. I know that I am stunned. I am reflective of where America has journeyed as a nation. I am in remembrance of the racism I suffered as the only colored child in a Western New York elementary school. I, like Barack, was not raised in a family which sprung forth from the legacy of slavery. I would venture that I am likely a great grandson of slaves, but I was adopted and thus shorn from that virulent history with its attendant curses and blessings. It was not until I watched every frame of Roots that I understood where I was from and learned that history can never really be escaped. The black man is always a stop by the police, or a woman on a sidewalk pulling a purse a bit closer to her side, away to be reminded of our legacy.
When I saw Barack last night I thought that I too am too tall, too skinny, too dark, too white, too uppity, too well-spoken, too thoughtful. I am from the ghetto. I am from the fields. I am from the slave ships. I am from Jim Brown. I am from Dr. King. I was only 23 months old when he was murdered, but I too was on that balcony. I was but a few months older when the fists were raised in Mexico City, but my hand was inside that black glove too. I wasn’t alive when John Lewis crossed the bridge but I too felt the blast of the fire hoses.
But I am so much more than that. Above all I am human. I have lived my life refusing to be boxed into any category, which was to the obvious chagrin of some of my black friends. I now defend young black men and brown men and white men, and the occasional woman, from the most awful criminal penalties you can imagine. Some are innocent, many are guilty and almost all would’ve lived a life on a different track had the the cards just been dealt a bit differently.
I pray that the next four eight years will establish the legacy of possiblity. For the majority of whites who didn’t vote for Barack Obama, I wish upon them the possibility of understanding and acknowledgement. Recognize where we came from and how far we’ve come. That day will come.
But I have a higher hurdle to place in front of some of my brothers and sisters from Africa. Being a criminal defense lawyer I see the potent pathology of victimhood every day. Generations of some families are seemingly invested in being bystanders to their circumstances rather than the navigators of their journey. Defiance against all forms of authority doesn’t prove anything except that you’re thick-headed. Barack is right, we don’t need laws requiring you to pull your pants up, but dammit, man, pull your pants up! There may be a small set of blacks who will say that only sell-outs or squares can make it to the top. Well, today I ask you this, what is so wrong with making to the top, anyway? The road in front of too many African-Americans is not a smooth one, but instead is filled with the pot-holes of ill-funded schools, dangerous hospitals and an absence of local good-paying jobs. That is all true, but when traveling on that hard road there are a few responsibilities too. To those young men and woman I wish for the possibility of empowerment.
