Black Americans and the Obama Boogie

The Obama Boogie and Post Partum Palin Results

The good news is that voters came out in record numbers. After the 2000 Election when none of our votes counted, Los Americanos retaliated and red state after red state turned blue, and the black man got the white vote.

Obama, a baby boomer, sailed into office not just on the Black and Latino vote, but rocked the Youth vote as well.  The “Old White Guy” seemed out of touch to most twenty somethings for reasons given in previous blogs regarding WARHAWK. We want to play warhawk online, not in the Middle East for real.  And, in another twist, many young white people identify with being Black.  (“African American” has far too many syllables)

Now, we all know the white rappers pretending to be gangsta, and all that, but really, many poor, white people turned black so they wouldn’t be labeled white trash, honkies, rednecks, etc. and because they believe in cultural values that include the really kewl black culture. And, besides, there’s Oprah.

I’m singing the Blues…

I always said I wanted to be a black backup singer. Growing up on Motown music and lip synching to the Supremes was my favorite pastime. A childhood friend of mine had a household where they owned not one ‘white’ album. 

Maybe black kids wanted to grow up to be president, but I wanted to be a Supreme. Let’s face it, most of the most brilliant songstresses in the past century have been black.  Okay, so I digress and I’m envious and I will never be a torch singer.

When Diana Ross played Billie Holiday in “Lady Sings the Blues,” it opened up a whole new world where I started lip synching Billy Holiday songs for the next five years. I still know all those songs by heart, and in particular, “Strange Fruit” always stuck with me. 

And, then there are the Asians, Latinos, Arabs, Indians, and inbetween biracial people who have been falling through the cracks for years. I’m sure many of them are right wing Republicans but their kids just want to fit in. I met an Indian immigrant once who came over with his cousins and they mocked him because he wore sneakers. He mocked them because they insisted on wearing their turbans.  

We all have immigrant songs to sing. My Irish grandparents ‘came over on the boat,’ circa 1905 and “the Democrats gave them jobs.”

But, my parents were Eisenhower Republicans except for that one notable election where a Catholic got into office.

Nixon queered me on the Republicans for good. I know people think he’s responsible for opening up relations with China, but I give credit for that to Henry Kissinger.

And, as for Obama being compared to JFK, I’m actually seeing more of resonance with Bobby Kennedy, George McGovern, and the era of the Youth Bomb, where young people rose up against Viet Nam, Nixon, and our gas and coal burning society to make changes. Many wonder what happened to that fight, but one good thing came out it. Black power.

Black people taught White people that slavery, civil rights, discrimination, racism, bigotry, IS the American Holocaust. 

As for Sarah Palin, just remember Dan Quayle.