The early hysteria surrounding Sarah Palin’s emergence on the national stage has called somewhat into question Barack Obama’s message and model for change – of an America that can get beyond the dramatics of race and focus on our many and formidable problems as a nation.
The reception to Palin in Black America has largely been one of shock. We have seen too many times the eyes of the majority community directed at our families with suspicion (and even disgust) when our families did not conform to the ideals of a stable, intact nuclear family. Yet Palin is being somehow – mysteriously, to us – celebrated for harboring the sorts of problems that have been employed to demonize the black community when our families exhibit these same flaws.
However, now is not the time to get mad or disgusted. We have heard more than enough insulting terms and images for Palin. Let the mainstream media do its work in uncovering any aspects of her career that call into question her qualifications. The more black folks react in outrage, the more polarized the electorate becomes – and that polarization will benefit John McCain and the Republicans, not Barack Obama and the Democrats. If we focus on Palin and the phenomenon of her troubled family being celebrated, we are wasting our time and energy when we have none to spare.
We don’t have time to get mad. We also don’t have time to feel good about how far Barack and Michelle Obama and their exemplary children have advanced the image of a positive, stable and loving black family (actually, black and white family, when we include the grandparents). The victory that black and white Democrats helped Obama to achieve in the primary, and its positive resonance for the health of our families and community, are ours to cherish for the rest of our days.
But now is not the time to celebrate. The Obama campaign and a growing number of grass-roots efforts are now busily organizing to register voters in St. Louis and Missouri before the October 8 deadline. We should feel some relief to see these efforts engaged, yet we should also feel alarm that these efforts are so desperately needed. The black community in St. Louis, Missouri and all over this nation has never voted its true strength. Organizing ourselves to vote with our true strength on Nov. 4 should be the only tasks on our minds, in our email inboxes, in our public conversations, until this election is decided.
Don’t waste your time demonizing Sarah Palin or those Americans who embrace her. Do not take the time now to savor what the Obamas have reminded us about our own strong and beautiful families. Organize your family, your congregation and your community to register to vote before Oct. 8. We must register to vote at the address where we live before Oct. 8, and we must vote in the polling place where we are assigned to vote on Nov. 4. We have the power to win this election for Obama and America, and if we do not mobilize that power now, we will have at least four more years to savor those magical moments onstage in Denver – and to grind our teeth over John McCain and Sarah Palin.