SHOULD WE HOPE?

The electoral season has placed the United States of America on the cusp of revolutionary change. The Democratic nominee was chosen from two unprecedented candidates; Barack Obama, an African American male, and Hillary Clinton, a Caucasian female. Obama won the party's nomination. And now, the race for the White House has paired together, on both sides of the party lines, former oppressor and oppressee. Barack Obama has chosen Joe Biden as his Vice Presidential running mate. Biden, a sixty-four year old white male, could be viewed as a model of the legislative body that deemed blacks as property rather than humans afforded the same inalienable rights guaranteed to white United States citizens. On the other hand, John McCain has chosen Sarah Palin, a forty-four year old white female, as his Vice Presidential running mate. Palin, could serve as a model for the women of America who have courageously fought for women to share the same rights that were granted to men. It was not until August 26, 1920, that the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution became law, granting women the right to vote in the Presidential election. However, this electoral season has provided our nation with a female Presidential and Vice Presidential candidate.

It would appear, on the surface, that this is a great time of change in America. However, appearances are often the masks that we wear to disguise the true hatred and resentment, that have so often defined American society. In Pittsburgh, a young, white female volunteer devised a plan to further incite the racist and prejudicial attitudes that have become a part of the presidential campaign. Ashley Todd claimed that she was robbed and pinned to the ground, while having the letter "B" carved into her forehead, by a black male, due to her political support of John McCain. After further investigation, Todd admitted that she lied and was charged with making a false police report. Todd's behavior has been attributed to recurring "mental health issues," rather than its obvious motivator- hatred. It is because of this type of hatred that I wonder if America has a reason to hope.

Police have reportedly foiled over two hundred attempts and conspiracies to assassinate Barack Obama. If there have been over two hundred reported attempts, how many have been unreported? And, what impression of America will Malia and Sasha, Obama's children, have of a nation that would advocate murdering their father, in an effort to resist change. And, this is part of America's history. We have a history of silencing the voices of change. We silenced the voice of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the voice of Malcolm X. We silenced the voices of John and Robert F Kennedy and the voice of Abraham Lincoln. And now, once again, America is determined to silence another revolutionary voice of change, Sen. Barack Obama.

Therefore, I ask "Why should we hope?" Why should we hope that the voices of slavemasters are not as loud and cruel, in today's society, as they were over four hundred years ago? Why should we hope that we have become a society of intelligent people, able to see beyond the color of a person's skin, and see only a majesty of cells, forming and reshaping themselves, in this wonderful system known as the human body? Why should we hope that racism, prejudice, and hatred are the institutions of a decadent past, when the Christian community proliferates such institutions? Why should we hope?

The conclusion of the presidential elections frighten me. If Obama wins, how long will it be before we receive a newsflash that the president has been assassinated? If McCain wins, we endure another four years of peril, while the supremacists gleefully shout cheers of victory, filling more empowered than during the days of colonization. And, again I wonder, why should we hope?

It is my sincere hope, that when casting your vote, you are able to look beyond the opinions that have been ingrained in us by our parents; and programmed in us across the pulpits of our churches. It is my sincere hope that our country can begin afresh with a future as bright , as our past is dark. It is my hope that we will be friends, and educated colleagues on November 5th, instead of adversaries that pass one another in the hall staring while silently saying, "Go to hell!" It is my hope that my faith in my fellowman may be renewed, and not separated from me, as far as the east is from the west. This is my hope.