I Forgot Obama Was Black, Others Did Not

Shortly after his inauguration, I stopped viewing Barack Obama as the first black President. I made a big mistake.

For the bulk of Obama’s term, I tuned out the racism dripping from Fox News and the far right. I chalked it up to the vocal minority. I wrote them off as a vestige of an America that I read about in history class. We elected a black man to run our country. I thought we had evolved past that.

In retrospect, I’m so stupid.

As I’ve come to terms with the fact that so many Americans believe America exists for white people, I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that so many of my preconceived notions about my country were wrong. It turns out that the disgusting hate sent President Obama’s direction was truly coming from a place of a racism. It wasn’t about politics. It wasn’t about ideology. It was about the black man running our white country.

In retrospect, we should’ve banished Donald Trump in 2009.

The birtherism movement turned out to be a tipping point for America but I missed it because I didn’t take it seriously. Unfortunately, a large swath of America took it very seriously. They were looking for any reason or any excuse to rid the country of the black man in charge.

In retrospect, I need to a better person.

Because I forgot President Obama was black, I did him a disservice. It was not until Ferguson and the murder of Mike Brown that I began to fully realize how depressingly racist our country had become. Maybe they were always that way and kept it hidden – surely they didn’t just discover racism – but the change was profound since then.

After Ferguson, the divide in our country became clear between those who wanted to see equality in this country and those who were, deep down, just racist. I wish there was a more eloquent way to describe their mindset, but there isn’t. If you vote for an unapologetic racist, I am going to believe that you are an unapologetic racist.

Right after the election, I heard from Trump voters who implored me to give the new guy a chance – words that rang hollow after saying “no” to Obama for eight straight years. These same voters told me they weren’t racist. I had Trump voters share their token stories – “I know a black guy who voted for Trump!” said one, “You know I know a Muslim who voted for Trump?” asked another.

In retrospect, these anecdotes revealed more than they thought.

It turns out the far right had convinced white people that they were the oppressed ones. Despite having every possible advantage in life, they made the case that equality would only be achieved by whites giving up something.

Guess what? We don’t have to give up anything. We only need to give others more.

The most painful aspect of today’s Republican Party is how callous and unfeeling their leaders are. Each successive failure on health care only illuminates this further. These men and women do not care for their fellow American. They care about themselves. They care about their rich friends. They care about their donors.

In retrospect, Obama was too good for us.

Because President Obama – to a fault – attempted to make lives better for Americans. His signature piece of legislature was completely focused on giving citizens better access to health care and stay alive. Seriously. This is what had the right going crazy for eight years, because more people received health care to stay alive.

The fight was never about healthcare, obviously. It was about a black man telling white America what to do. Too many in white America didn’t care for it. The undertones from the right have been consistent, though the dog whistles have changed.

One day, it could be Megyn Kelly confirming Santa Claus is white. The next day, it’s the “war” on saying Merry Christmas. It’s rap lyrics. It’s popular culture. It’s drugs. On and on, the far right screamed in a high-pitch to its constituents that their idea of America was being trampled on by a black man from Kenya.

To those of us with brains, this was insanity. President Obama was not attempting to destroy white America. He was trying to make America great. No one saw that because they couldn’t get past the color of a skin, a comment that would likely make Martin Luther King Jr shake his head in knowing disgust.

In retrospect, I failed President Obama.

He needed more support from me – from all of us – and I wasn’t there. Every time I see his successor driving America further into the abyss, I am reminded of this. It sucks.

I am sorry President Obama. I should have remembered.

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