Security

The going joke among black comics is the bit about the first Black President, delivering his State of the Union address, not at the podium, but rather running across the floor of Congress, all in an effort to dodge the bullet from a would-be-assassin. This image of a grown man, much less the Commander-in-Chief, having to skitter across the floor of Congress is hilarious. Yet, you can imagine the fear that a black President must have each time he stepped out into public, wondering whether this would be the day a bullet would deliver a fatal blow. Colin Powell, another black man of political stature, had entertained thoughts of running, but he was, supposedly, discouraged by his wife. It seemed she was afraid she would become another national widow, like Jackie Kennedy, Coretta Scott King, and Ethel Kennedy, all of their husbands now part of the myth of lost hope and opportunity for this land of ours, a job she did not want.

As I watch the excessive coverage of Barak Obama, a contender for the top job by all the projections, I can't help but wonder how much money is involved to keep him safe. And whether his security detail will be greater, more intense than any other President in our country's history. Our world, now a place where terrorist threats are a reality, is also a country deeply conflicted about gender and race, despite the unexpected results of this primary season.

It may not be a crazy fundamentalist, from some country where men wear grow beards to show their piety, who may do the unthinkable. He or she may be a homegrown, whose fervency is not about religion but about purity of race, who may be the person to pull that trigger, thereby ending this new era of hope, change, and new direction.

My son, all of five years old, has asked us whether we are voting, and for whom. A part of me is proud he knows the names of all the candidates, even if he calls Barak Barakie. He has plugged into the significance of Barak Obama being the first black, or in his words, first brown President if he were to win in this election. Again, I'm immensely proud to see him absorbing the reality of a black man and a woman candidate. While all of us focus on the significance of this moment, given our country's history, for him this is just the way the world works. And isn't that what we hope for our next generation?

I'm sure as Barak Obama's stature has grown, the crowds he addresses swelling to sizes not seen in a long long time, his security detail has also grown. No doubt, political powers, behind closed doors, must be wringing their hands each time he steps up to a podium or reaches into the crush of well-wishers. If he were to be elected President, a part of me will be holding my breath, perhaps for the entire four years, that the unthinkable will not happen, yet again. I'd rather see his superstar status tarnished as we realize that he is mere mortal, full of idiosyncrasies, complexities, and contradictions, all of it to be played out on the stage of our political arena. I don't want his image to become mythologized, joining the ranks of so many, his image this momentary flash for hope and healing--the tentacle-like shackles of our slave past finally cut off the limbs of our country's consciousness. So, let his security detail swell to a size that none of us had seen ever if this is our only hope to keep him out of harms way.