Well, our president was forced to release his birth certificate yesterday in order to prove that he is, in fact, an American citizen. I say “forced” because all the whining and attacks from some noisy, less than democratic Americans, has finally managed to push him to reveal something that he shouldn’t have been asked to reveal in the first place. The fact is, that if his name were “John Smith” and if he’d been born without a decidedly “foreign” skin tone, the questions wouldn’t have even been asked. The question is, is it really a crime to be Black and Muslim in the U.S.?
Forgive the truth…that Obama isn’t even Muslim! There are Americans out there who find “fact” in their ignorance and push it as such. But regardless, it boggles the mind that even the idea of being Black and/or Muslim grows distrust and speculation in the American mind. Why on earth are we questioning the president of the United States!??? This question goes way back…to the history of our mistreatment of Black Americans as inferior and Muslims as terrorists and anti-Christians. (Please give me a break! Being Muslim does not mean that you are the anti-Christ!) These established sentiments run deep, but in spite of the Jim Crow beliefs that prevent some from accepting our president, many of us respect and value him. We elected him, we stand by him and we cringe at many of the hoops he’s had to jump through when other presidents would often be taken at “face” value.
The fact is though, that Americans elected Obama, a light in the dark tunnel of cold bureaucracy, to bring compassion and common sense back to “White” house and with it a perspective of diversity and understanding. To all the haters out there…can you guess where my vote’s going in 2012? ;)
© 2011, Chantilly Patiño. All rights reserved.
