The Black Informant

(nydailynews.com) WASHINGTON - In his first TV interview after declaring for President, Sen. Barack Obama says being African-American won’t damage his chances to be elected.

“If I don’t win this race, it will be because of other factors: …[that] I have not shown to the American people a vision for where the country needs to go…that they can embrace,” Obama tells CBS’ “60 Minutes.” (more…)

So for those that feel the calling to convince folks that we are a breath away from the 1950’s, please remember what this brotha has said. Now, use that same energy to talk about his vision stance on the issues.

MEANWHILE, ON THE FLIP SIDE…

His wife also chimes in:

“…I don’t lose sleep over it because the realities are that… as a black man… Barack can get shot going to the gas station.” (source)

Hmmm, let’s see.

-I went to the market yesterday (several times), paid for my purchases and the cashier offered to take my stuff to the car. Cashier was White.

-Took my kids to Chick-fil-A yesterday. As expected, the cashier gave me my food. We even shared a laugh before pulling off. Cashier (both of them) were White.

-Took our dog to the vet without an appointment. They saw us quicker than I thought. Checked out the dog, gave her medicine, paid them their money and I was out the door. The staff was mostly White.

-On my downtime I love going to one of the many beaches in Orange county (a mostly White county I might add). If I do talk to the people there, they tend to be very friendly and in many cases be the first one to say “hi” to me. There are plenty of other times where we will engage in conversations about the area.

-While looking for a new home, sales associates treated us like everyone else…BECAUSE THEY WANTED THE SALE. Most of the salespeople we encountered were White.

-Both of our kids are part of a homeschool program where 2 days out of the week I take them to a school where they have their classes (the other days of the week I am teaching them at home). This is a VERY small school where our kids alone make up the Black demographic. While there was room for my daughter in her class, unfortunately there was no room for my son. This school went as far as to consider breaking one of its rules on class size. TOGETHER, we decided it was best for me to homeschool him full time until an opening was made available. This program has a long waiting list so his chances of getting in this year did not look to good. The other week we got a phone call from the school telling us they had an opening for him. The staff were excited to have him (again, all White).

More on my son–

During my teaching of my son here at home, I noticed that he was hitting a brick wall when it came to reading. My wife and I decided to enroll him at the local Score Learning Center. In just a few weeks both his reading and math skills have drastically improved. His main tutor is White and on some days his other tutor is Hispanic.

-My wife works for a company based in Orange country where she is one of a handful of Black employees. Based on her job performance, she has received accolades from as far up as the CEO REGULARLY. Many of her co-workers look up to her professionally because she is one of those people who is willing the help those who need it without stepping on them. Her supervisors regularly speak to her off the record letting her know about future upcoming decisions regarding the company. As a reward for her hard work, from time to time they give her things like season tickets to Disney or restaurant gift certificates for our family. One of the executives of her company sent me a “Thank You” card with a American Express gift certificate thanking me for my patience with them as it is a very demanding position.

- We currently live in a diverse neighborhood (White, Black, Hispanic) and so far after living here two years no problems that I can think of. The neighborhood we will be moving to in a couple of months pretty much has the same demographic.

But that’s just me.