Barack Obama and Treyvon Martin [View all]

[ehrnst]

I'll preface this by saying I'm a caucasian woman, and that affects my veiws on this.

I was listening to an NPR story interview this morning with a writer who, as a black mother, spoke about "the Talk" that black parents have with their sons when they reach pre-adolescence. She and her sons talked about this and the Treyvon Martin murder.

I recalled being pulled over by police - for no reason - when I was a passenger in the very expensive car of a black male friend. I saw his demeanor turn into an uncharacteristic "yes sir, yes sir," and "You have a nice day, sir." I was stunned. I had heard about "Driving while Black" but certainly hadn't experienced it. I was angry, and I wished that he had questioned the officer more directly about why he had been stopped. My friend sighed, and told me that's how his dad taught him to deal with this situation. His dad had given him "the Talk" when he was 12, when his family came back from being stationed in military service in Thailand.

I realize that much of my frustration with Obama, and his perceived kowtowing to whatever powers that be must have to do with "the Talk" that he must have recieved when he reached adolescence.

He must have experienced being looked at as the "Thug in the hoodie" anywhere in the dominant culture where he's worked. He has to walk that line between "Yes, sir, have a nice day, sir" and "You people will NEVER believe that I am anything but a threat to you, so deal with me."

Treyvon's murder jolted me into the realization that Obama has to work 20 times as hard as any white president to mitigate the perception that he's a threat - a thankless, perhaps futile job that I will never fully appreciate as a white woman.

Obama is in the whitest gated community in the world - the White House. He's "driving while black" in the wealthiest neighborhood in the world - the Executive Branch of the United States.

I'm not going to be pissed off at him anymore (or at least as pissed off) for dealing with crackers of this country with kid gloves.