This is an excerpt from a response to a distinguished colleague concerning a virtual debate about the nature of the request for President Obama's credentials beyond those which were deemed necessary for him to become a member of congress and to hold the highest office in the United States of America.
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| A school book used in Public Schools Authored by Booker T. Washington |
To one of my most distinguished members,
Please allow me to attempt to clarify the issue of the request
for President Obama's birth certificate and credentials as I see it, therefore,
in my opinion. This issue has been one
of heated and fascinating intellectual debate among several members of “For The
Brothas: A Virtual, Cultural, Intellectual Salon” and yourself. As the Administrator of the group I have
largely remained silent encouraging your l debate but so interesting were many
of its fine points I was inspired to compose a separate response of my own, one
which I hope will answer your valid questions.
First let me say that it is American to question everything and so I
support your curiosity about Obamas past, for he is truly a great man of whom I
feel Americans know precious little. However, the dearth of popular knowledge about this great mans past does not lead me to conclude that he has something to hide, on the contrary, there is nothing about his character that shows anything except a man who is wise and contemplative, an quality much overdue in the white house. The past two presidencies have been riddled with scandals and unrest. The president who preceded Obama was accused of drug abuse and his cabinet of insider collusion and a host of other ethical crimes, none of which were ever seriously pursued. Does this absolve Obama or any other president of scrutiny? No it does not. But we must carefully weigh the value of all claims of impropriety ere we charge a man of any wrongdoing, after all we are a country that prides itself in having invented the concept of "Due Process". Who
he was may not be so important now as who he is today and what he
represents. In a country on the verge of
economic failure I am more interested in the policies and philosophy of Obama
now than where he went to high school and what he wore to the prom or if he may
have ever had a brush with the law.
Remember that in the 1950’s through 1970’s many freedom fighters were
willingly arrested as humanitarian acts of civil disobedience… I am not saying
that Obama was one of them but I am saying that we must look much closer to a
man’s record to see the nature of the crime in order to determine if one had
been committed. But I digress…
Out of the previous 54 American Presidents Obama, president
number 56 is the first in over 200 years to have his credentials as an American
Citizen openly questioned! Ironically,
he is the very first Black American to hold the hallowed office as Commander In
Chief! If this were a real issue for
such a high profile job then it should have been addressed before he was sworn
in. Bi-Partisan differences have
summoned heated controversy and rivalries over many different issues throughout the existence of the
Presidency itself but never before has such a serious claim been made against a
president. The issue is not so much that
he has something to hide, rather it is that if this is going to be adopted as
criterion for all presidents of the future then let it be set into law that all
Presidential candidates must make specific aspects of their personal history
available as public record.
So you see this is more of a legal issue than anything
else. Obama, as an American citizen is entitled to his
privacy and likewise he is not required to provide any data that was not agreed upon as terms of his office save by personal choice. Should the practice of providing a clear disclosure of specific personal data including proof of birth, criminal background, and even more personal data like known associates and affiliations as sort of public dossier become ratified as law
then not only Obama but all future presidents will have to abide by it. Again the question is, in the words of a famous American folk tune, "If it's good enough for Lincoln, it's good enough for me"! And I do not remember anyone ever asking about Lincolns credentials when he took the oath of office even in the midst of Civil unrest his "Americanness" was never questioned though his particular brand of it was bitterly fought against and defended with hundreds of thousands of lives...
In America, unfortunately we must always be sure that we are
not blind-sighted to racism, for it has been so intimately woven into the
fabric of this nation. Many of our past
presidents came from families that had recently immigrated to America but their
record of public service and citizenship was proof enough that they were indeed
Americans. Do you realize that during
reconstruction black voters were kept from voting when a law was passed stating that if your grandfather could
have voted they you could vote? This is
where the term “Grandfathered” comes from.
It was an outrage and it instantly eliminated millions of blacks from
voting for the next 80 or so years because their grandfathers were slaves and they had no vital records to
prove otherwise!
Be careful of what you feed into, understand the dynamics, the double standards so evident in a system that is far from perfection. If America is legendary for anything it would be its
long, bloody, violent history of racism and unfortunately all of the breakthroughs
of the Civil Rights Era cannot erase in 50 years what has been festering as a
staple of American “Matter-Of-Right” policy for the past 400 years… This, my son, takes time… But more so it
takes vigilance! The pendulum of freedom
can turn against you at any moment! It is poised to do so! Every gain that you
make must be fought for with blood sweat and tears… I was inspired with such emotion when I read a passage on the new WWII memorial stating, "Freedom Is Not Free"!
You have been fortunate enough to have lived to witness one
of the truly rare, groundbreaking events of all human history with the
presidency of Barak Obama. Had you been
living 60 years earlier there is a high likelihood you would have been answering, “Yez’um Massuh” in some menial occupation under
the yoke of Jim Crow. Had you been born
160 years ago you would be rotting at the stinging tip of the bullwhip of your slavemaster’s iron
will to keep you oppressed as mere chattel in a free slave labor economic machine. How very much you have to be thankful for, and virtually all of it done through the labor of others... you it's beneficiary...
Too long have I digressed to explain the cancer of racism,
you know what racism is and if you do not then open your eyes brother for
surely this issue was quelled from the dark recesses of that abominable
beast! Racism…It is a thing I have no
personal use for, I am bigger than racism… I love all men as equal but as a
black man in America I must always be conscious of it’s presence…
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| From the 1800's until the 1960's white minstres in "Black Face" performed as comic buffoons with affected black dialects and nannerisms they imagined to be typical of Black Americans. |
In conclusion I say to let the law of the land declare to Obama if
he must produce evidence of his birth and of his life’s history, otherwise he is
doing only as each of the 56 presidents before him has done… Obama has been
nominated to represent the Democratic party in the race for the 57th President of The United States,
the country is galvanized to support him on his historic journey. Let the law of the land dictate to the
president what credentials he must set forth for public consumption. If you have a problem with the law then take action to change it! Be a man of action! But whatever you do have a
mind and ear for history, for therein are your questions best answered….
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| Many Black Americans died never owning their lives, their undocumented history lost to the ages... |
David Vollin
Administrator
