My Dear Family & Friends:

The Obama-Clinton presidential contest is coming to Texas. The primary is March 4. What an exciting time for those of us who thought we would never see the day when a man of color could possibly win the White House.

To young people, age 30 and below, it is no big deal. They grew up an integrated generation and have little post-effects of racism. They grew up together without being aroused to hatred by the color of a person’s skin. But the older generation is not dead yet.

I was born on August 3, 1946, not a very special day in history, as a Negro male child. My birth certificate identified my race as Negro, and Malcolm X told us what the word “negro” meant.

Contemporaries:

George W. Bush — Date of Birth: 6 July 1946
Eddie G. Griffin – Date of Birth: 3 August 1946 (Negro)
Bill Clinton — Date of Birth: 19 August 1946
Hillary Rodham Clinton — Date of Birth: 26 October 1947

I know these guys. They are my contemporaries. Not that I know them personally. I remember their kind, during my time. As long as language doesn’t change, we are all speaking of things, mutual to our understanding, from a long continuous dialogue from the past. I am one of the Black Panther Party, the third political, in lieu of the southern Dixiecrat.

Sure, I would have loved to have been the first black President of the United States. But the times were not right. But I remember my early aspiration.

“When I grow up, I was to be the first Negro President of the United States,” I told my eighth grade classmates. Then I was immediately ashamed of having the “big head”, wanting to be more than it was possible for me to be. I was innocent in the knowledge of racism. I was a dreamer, like Joseph.

First Touch of Mutual Love

Some of us overcame hatred to come together and embrace each other in love. Electing an African-American President of the United States, would be a star in the crown of America. It will have meant that WE HAVE OVERCOME (RACISM).

Nobody ever asked us why we Negroes sang that song: We Shall Overcome. There was always a hidden meaning about what we were overcoming. Electing Barack Obama will have demonstrated that we have overcome the ideology that those of white color should always rule over those of black color, and to discriminate against providing avenues of opportunities for a people’s self-improvement and self-determination.

A Time of Freedom and Refreshment

Freedom is at hand, against the tyrannies of those who rule by “Divide and Conquer”. O How long have we been divided and entrenched in our prejudices and hatred? But the heart hardened will not cede power. Clearly, the fight is not about race, but about supremacy of white-skinned people who feel its their right to rule the world. Upon this ideology is built the premise of hatred between races and nations.

WE SHALL OVERCOME only when a child of the descendant of Africa has an equal chance at the presidency as a German-Irish child. Though we were ashamed of being Negroes, there is nothing to be ashamed of being an African-American. In fact, I am more proud to be an American because an African-American has the greatest opportunity in the world: To become the President of the United States.

YES WE CAN